How to loop over files in directory and change path and add suffix to filename

Question

I need to write a script that starts my program with different arguments, but I'm new to Bash. I start my program with:

./MyProgram.exe Data/data1.txt [Logs/data1_Log.txt].

Here is the pseudocode for what I want to do:

for each filename in /Data do
  for int i = 0, i = 3, i++
    ./MyProgram.exe Data/filename.txt Logs/filename_Log{i}.txt
  end for
end for

So I'm really puzzled how to create second argument from the first one, so it looks like dataABCD_Log1.txt and start my program.

Answer 1

A couple of notes first: when you use Data/data1.txt as an argument, should it really be /Data/data1.txt (with a leading slash)? Also, should the outer loop scan only for .txt files, or all files in /Data? Here's an answer, assuming /Data/data1.txt and .txt files only:

#!/bin/bash
for filename in /Data/*.txt; do
    for ((i=0; i<=3; i++)); do
        ./MyProgram.exe "$filename" "Logs/$(basename "$filename" .txt)_Log$i.txt"
    done
done

Notes:

• /Data/*.txt expands to the paths of the text files in /Data (including the /Data/ part)
• $( ... ) runs a shell command and inserts its output at that point in the command line
• basename somepath .txt outputs the base part of somepath, with .txt removed from the end (e.g. /Data/file.txt -> file)

If you needed to run MyProgram with Data/file.txt instead of /Data/file.txt, use "${filename#/}" to remove the leading slash. On the other hand, if it's really Data not /Data you want to scan, just use for filename in Data/*.txt.