extract string from filename

[Ted Roche]

On Jan 12, 2006, at 8:25 PM, Ben Scott wrote:

>   It sounds like you could use a tutorial on Unix text processing and
> command line tools, specifically, one which addresses pipes and
> redirection, as well as the standard text tools (grep, cut, sed, awk,
> etc.).  While Paul's recommendation about the O'Reilly regular
> expressions book is valid, I suspect it might be a little too focused
> on regex's and not cover some of the *other* elements you seem to be
> needing.

Gee, I wonder if that would be a good topic for a meeting <g>.

Bruce Dawson and David Berube did a presentation on Regular  
expressions that helped me grasp what they were and why I'd want to  
know more. Bought the Reg Exp book on my next visit to SoftPro <s>.

A similar kind of presentation that explained the place of sed, grep,  
awk, pipes, redirection, tee and so forth.

>   It's been forever for me, but I seem to recall that _Unix Power
> Tools_, also published by O'Reilly, covers all of the above and much,
> much more.  If others on this list second my suggestion, you might
> want to obtain a copy.  Alternatively, maybe list members can suggest
> alternatives?

Re: UNIX Power Tools. Third time I've heard that recommended. Guess  
I'll add that to my wish list.

Jerry Peek (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/28 - a number of  
articles and book extracts linked here), one of the original authors  
of Unix Power Tools, has been running a series in Linux Magazine for  
a while now on working from the command line, including the  
inscrutable 2&1 and other arcana.

Linux magazine is online at http://www.linux-mag.com/ and posts their  
issues sixty days after publication at http://www.linux-mag.com/ 
backissues/.

Ben's other links are quite useful, too. The Answers Are Out There.  
The challenge is finding the answer you need now.