I really have no idea what you exactly want to achieve! But I had a look at the script you linked in your last edit. Since you have a hard-coded array you might as well instead use an associative array:
declare -A dir_h
dir_h["A"]=A
dir_h["B"]=B
dir_h["C"]=../path/Clarification
dir_h["D"]=D
dir_h["E"]=E
to loop on the keys of dir_h
, i.e., on A B C D E
:
for k in "${!dir_h[@]}"; do
echo "$k => ${dir_h[$k]}"
done
Try it, this might help you with your "alias" problem (or not).
Here's your script from your other post, using this technique and in a more consistent and readable form (note: I haven't tried it, there might be some minor typos, let me know if it's the case):
#!/bin/bash
# ./test.sh = 1. searches for existing archives
# 1.a. if they exist, it backups them into BKP/.
# 1.b. if not, displays a message
# 2. archives all the directories in the array list
# ./test.sh N = 1. deletes all the folder's archives existent and
# specified in the array list
# 2. archives all the directories in the array list
# ./test.sh {A..F} = 1. searches for existing archives from arguments
# 1.a. if they exist, it backups them into BKP/.
# 1.b. if not, displays a message
# 2. archives all the directories passed as arguments
# ./test.sh {A..F} N = 1. deletes all the archives matching $argument.zip
# 2. archives all the directories passed as arguments
# The directories to be backed-up/archived, all in the current (script's) path
# except "C", on a different path
declare -A dir_h
dir_h["A"]=A
dir_h["B"]=B
dir_h["C"]=../path/Clarification
dir_h["D"]=D
dir_h["E"]=E
dir_h["F"]=F
declare -A nope_h
nope_h["A"]=bogus
nope_h["B"]=bogus
nope_h["C"]=nope
nope_h["D"]=bogus
nope_h["E"]=bogus
nope_h["F"]=bogus
die() {
(($#)) && printf >&2 "%s\n" "$@"
exit 1
}
bak() {
if [[ "$1" != N ]]; then
# Check that arg is in dir list:
[[ -n ${dir_h["$1"]} ]] || die "Error in bak: argument \`$1' not handled"
if [[ -f $1.zip ]]; then
mv -vi "$1.zip" "BKP/$1.zip_$(date +"%H-%M")" || die
else
echo "$(tput setaf 1) no $1.zip$(tput sgr0)"
fi
fi
}
# The archive function, if any argument is "N", processing it is omitted. Folder
# "C" has special treatment
archive() {
if [[ $1 != N ]]; then
7z a -mx=9 "$1.zip" "${dir_h["$1"]}" -r -x\!"$1/${nope_h["$1"]}" || die
fi
}
# Let's check once for all whether N is in the arg list
foundN=0
for a in "$@"; do [[ $a = N ]] && foundN=1 && break; done
if (($#==0)); then
# case #1: no arguments
for d in "${!dir_h[@]}"; do
echo "$(tput setaf 2) backup$(tput sgr0)"
bak "$d"
archive "$d"
done
elif (($#==1)) && ((foundN)); then
# case #2: one argument, "N"
for d in "${!dir_h[@]}"; do
echo "$(tput setaf 1) no backup needed, removing$(tput sgr0)"
rm -v "$d".zip || die
archive "$d"
done
elif (($#>1)) && ((foundN)); then
# case #3: folders as arguments with "N"
for f in "$@"; do
if [[ $f != N ]]; then
echo "$(tput setaf 1) no backup needed, removing$(tput sgr0)"
rm -v "$f.zip" || die
fi
archive "$f"
done
else
for f in "$@"; do
echo "$(tput setaf 2) backup$(tput sgr0)"
bak "$f"
archive "$f"
done
fi
From this you can do a lot, and have pretty much infinite "alias" handling possibilities.