Re: How to use [[ string =~ regexp ]]?

[Mike Stroyan]

On 5/21/06, Peter Volkov <pvolkov@mics.msu.su> wrote:

> I have problems using =~ operator. I've tried to search for answer, but
> failed. I'm using GNU bash, version 3.1.17. Can anybody give me some
> examples of usage?
>
> I really do not understand why
>
> $ [[ "string" =~ "[a-z]" ]] && echo something
> something
>
> echo me something. IIUC the regular expression [a-z] matches any single
> letter, so how string "string" matches one letter?

The =~ regexp match will match a substring by default.  You can use ^ and $
to anchor the expression to the start and end of the string.  You
won't get a match
with
[[ "string" =~ "^[a-z]$" ]] && echo match
But you will get a match with
[[ "string" =~ "^[a-z]{6}$" ]] && echo match
because it matches the correct number of characters.

--
Mike Stroyan
stroyan@gmail.com