search a string for a character

Hello people,

I have variable that contains a path address of sorts, as seen below. What i need to do, if possible, is to search the string from the end to find the last '/' character and then delete everything that comes after the /

So i would start with:

MY_PATH=./tools/calculator

and then finish up with:

MY_PATH=./tools/

How could this be done?

Cheers Mike

man basename
and
man dirname

Ok cheers mate i've got it working now

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

Mike...

Hi,

very useful but very rarely used technique is the notation

${variable#pattern}
${variable##pattern}
${variable%pattern}
${variable%%pattern}

The pattern can be anything legal in shell script, i. e. variable reference or output of a command etc. So this method is not limited to the patterns starting with a slash. Try this:

:
A=X/aaa/bbb/ccc
echo 1. ${A%/*}
echo 2. ${A%%/*}
echo 3. ${A#X*/}
echo 4. ${A##X*/}

Have a fun

you still insist a well known shell is running
try to be a little more 'portable'

Well yes guggach,

I am trying to help people even if they do not specify their interpreter. So I usualy specify the interpreter I am using. This time I have forgotten to do so. Can you forgive it to me?

My present script was tested under ksh or bash on AIX, HP-UX, Linux and SCO. Are you satisfied with it?

And what YOU are doing for the people who need help?

Regards