Using linux 'find' command's multiple name feature in a variable?

Question

I newly learned how to search multiple file names with find like:

find . \( -iname "*.srt" -o -iname "*.mp4" \)

But in some cases I had to use so many filters like this and that simple command line became so long:

find . \( -iname "*.srt" -o ......... \)

Can I create a variable and add this all filters in it, then use it again in find command? Thank you!

Answer 1

With the GNU implementation of find, there is another way to search multiple file names:

rgx='.*\.srt\|.*\.mp4'
find . -iregex "$rgx"

The \| is the logical regex OR (in the default regexps types of GNU find which are the emacs ones). A naked . means any char. and a dot is \..

You could define a $rgx_compr and a $rgx_media, and then combine it:

find . -iregex "$rgx_compr" -o -iregex "$rgx_media"

I left out the parens here.

Answer 2

Since you're using a shell that supports array variables (i.e. bash) you can create an array variable and use that directly.

Constant expression

find . \( -iname "*.srt" -o -iname "*.mp4" \) ...

Variable expression

opts=(-iname "*.srt" -o -iname "*.mp4")
find \( "${opts[@]}" \) ...

Or

opts=( '(' -iname "*.srt" -o -iname "*.mp4" ')' )
find "${opts[@]}" ...

Notice that the array variable expansion itself must be double-quoted ("${opts[@]}") even though it contains one or more items. If the array contains no items it will expand to nothing (not the empty string, "").

Answer 3

Yes, it is possible. With the method I show below, take care of the usage of quotations, wildcards, etc. Nonetheless, here is one solution in BASH:

opt="-iname '*.srt' -o -iname '*.mp4'"
find . \( $(eval echo ${opt}) \)

While it is not possible to simply call the ${opt} variable in the find command, we can work around it by using the eval command in $(eval echo ${opt}) line.