Get the last 4 characters of output from standard out

linux bash shell character
bing281 picture bing281 · Feb 9, 2012 · Viewed 64.3k times · Source

I have a script that is running and uses 

lspci -s 0a.00.1

This returns 

0a.00.1 usb controller some text device 4dc9

I want to get those last 4 characters inline such that 

lspci -s 0a.00.1 | some command to give me the last 4 characters.

Answer

Diego picture Diego · Feb 9, 2012

How about tail, with the -c switch. For example, to get the last 4 characters of "hello":

echo "hello" | tail -c 5
ello

Note that I used 5 (4+1) because a newline character is added by echo. As suggested by Brad Koch below, use echo -n to prevent the newline character from being added.

Related questions

How do I prompt for Yes/No/Cancel input in a Linux shell script?

I want to pause input in a shell script, and prompt the user for choices. The standard Yes, No, or Cancel type question. How do I accomplish this in a typical bash prompt?

Read More
How to run a shell script on a Unix console or Mac terminal?

I know it, forget it and relearn it again. Time to write it down.

Read More
How do I test if a variable is a number in Bash?

I just can't figure out how do I make sure an argument passed to my script is a number or not. All I want to do is something like this: test *isnumber* $1 && VAR=$1 || echo "need a number" Any …

Read More