bash get first word last line

Question

I got a bash script and I started to write a changelog to keep track of changes.

I added in the script a function that echoes "Script version --> " But I have to manually edit it.

So I would need a function to get the first word until space of the last line and store it as $CURRENTVERSION

Changelog syntax is:

v-0.3.2 Added x, y.

v-0.3.2.1 Fixed y.

v-0.4 Added z.

Briefly I would need to store v-0.4 as $CURRENTVERSION

Answer 1

Using awk:

awk '{w=$1} END{print w}' file

OR using sed:

sed -n '$s/^\([^ ]*\).*$/\1/p' file

Answer 2

If you don't like awk or sed, you can do this:

tail -n1 file | cut -d' ' -f1

But really, awk and sed are better tools for the job...

Answer 3

bash:

read CURRENTVERSION rest < <(tail -1 changelog)

Answer 4

CURRENTVERSION=$( perl -anle 'print $F[0] if eof' changelog )
echo $CURRENTVERSION 
v-0.4