# Brace expansion ![](keywords>bash shell scripting expansion substitution text list brace) {string1,string2,...,stringN} {..} {....} (Bash 4) {........} {........} {........} Brace expansion is used to generate arbitrary strings. The specified strings are used to generate **all possible combinations** with the optional surrounding prefixes and suffixes. Usually it's used to generate mass-arguments for a command, that follow a specific naming-scheme. :!: It is the very first step in expansion-handling, it's important to understand that. When you use echo {a,b}$PATH then the brace expansion **does not expand the variable** - this is done in a **later step**. Brace expansion just makes it being: echo a$PATH b$PATH Another common pitfall is to assume that a range like `{1..200}` can be expressed with variables using `{$a..$b}`. Due to what I described above, it **simply is not possible**, because it's the very first step in doing expansions. A possible way to achieve this, if you really can't handle this in another way, is using the `eval` command, which basically evaluates a commandline twice: `eval echo {$a..$b}` For instance, when embedded inside a for loop : `for i in $(eval echo {$a..$b})` This requires that the entire command be properly escaped to avoid unexpected expansions. If the sequence expansion is to be assigned to an array, another method is possible using [declaration commands](../../commands/builtin/declare.md): `declare -a 'pics=(img{'"$a..$b"'}.png)'; mv "${pics[@]}" ../imgs` This is significantly safer, but one must still be careful to control the values of \$a and \$b. Both the exact quoting, and explicitly including \"-a\" are important. The brace expansion is present in two basic forms, **string lists** and **ranges**. It can be switched on and off under runtime by using the `set` builtin and the option `-B` and `+B` or the long option `braceexpand`. If brace expansion is enabled, the stringlist in `SHELLOPTS` contains `braceexpand`. ## String lists {string1,string2,...,stringN} Without the optional prefix and suffix strings, the result is just a space-separated list of the given strings: $ echo {I,want,my,money,back} I want my money back With prefix or suffix strings, the result is a space-separated list of **all possible combinations** of prefix or suffix specified strings: $ echo _{I,want,my,money,back} _I _want _my _money _back $ echo {I,want,my,money,back}_ I_ want_ my_ money_ back_ $ echo _{I,want,my,money,back}- _I- _want- _my- _money- _back- The brace expansion is only performed, if the given string list is really a **list of strings**, i.e., if there is a minimum of one \"`,`\" (comma)! Something like `{money}` doesn't expand to something special, it's really only the text \"`{money}`\". ## Ranges {..} Brace expansion using ranges is written giving the startpoint and the endpoint of the range. This is a \"sequence expression\". The sequences can be of two types - integers (optionally zero padded, optionally with a given increment) - characters ```{=html} ``` $ echo {5..12} 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 $ echo {c..k} c d e f g h i j k When you mix these both types, brace expansion is **not** performed: $ echo {5..k} {5..k} When you zero pad one of the numbers (or both) in a range, then the generated range is zero padded, too: $ echo {01..10} 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 There's a chapter of Bash 4 brace expansion changes at [the end of this article](#new_in_bash_4.0). Similar to the expansion using stringlists, you can add prefix and suffix strings: $ echo 1.{0..9} 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 $ echo ---{A..E}--- ---A--- ---B--- ---C--- ---D--- ---E--- ## Combining and nesting When you combine more brace expansions, you effectively use a brace expansion as prefix or suffix for another one. Let's generate all possible combinations of uppercase letters and digits: $ echo {A..Z}{0..9} A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 G0 G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 H0 H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 I0 I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 J0 J1 J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 J8 J9 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 L0 L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 N0 N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 O0 O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 O7 O8 O9 P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 R0 R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 S0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 T0 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 U0 U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 U7 U8 U9 V0 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 W0 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 X0 X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 Y0 Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Z0 Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6 Z7 Z8 Z9 Hey.. that **saves you writing** 260 strings! Brace expansions can be nested, but too much of it usually makes you losing overview a bit ;-) Here's a sample to generate the alphabet, first the uppercase letters, then the lowercase ones: $ echo {{A..Z},{a..z}} A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ## Common use and examples ### Massdownload from the Web In this example, `wget` is used to download documentation that is split over several numbered webpages. `wget` won't see your braces. It will see **6 different URLs** to download. wget http://docs.example.com/documentation/slides_part{1,2,3,4,5,6}.html Of course it's possible, and even easier, to do that with a sequence: wget http://docs.example.com/documentation/slides_part{1..6}.html ### Generate a subdirectory structure Your life is hard? Let's ease it a bit - that's what shells are here for. mkdir /home/bash/test/{foo,bar,baz,cat,dog} ### Generate numbers with a prefix 001 002 \... - Using a prefix: ```{=html} ``` for i in 0{1..9} 10; do printf "%s\n" "$i";done If you need to create words with the number embedded, you can use nested brace: printf "%s\n" img{00{1..9},0{10..99},{100..999}}.png - Formatting the numbers with printf: ```{=html} ``` echo $(printf "img%02d.png " {1..99}) See the [text below](#news_in_bash_4.0) for a new Bash 4 method. ### Repeating arguments or words somecommand -v -v -v -v -v Can be written as somecommand -v{,,,,} \...which is a kind of a hack, but hey, it works. \
#### More fun The most optimal possible brace expansion to expand n arguments of course consists of n's prime factors. We can use the \"factor\" program bundled with GNU coreutils to emit a brace expansion that will expand any number of arguments. function braceify { [[ $1 == +([[:digit:]]) ]] || return typeset -a a read -ra a < <(factor "$1") eval "echo $(printf '{$(printf ,%%.s {1..%s})}' "${a[@]:1}")" } printf 'eval printf "$arg"%s' "$(braceify 1000000)" \"Braceify\" generates the expansion code itself. In this example we inject that output into a template which displays the most terse brace expansion code that would expand `"$arg"` 1,000,000 times if evaluated. In this case, the output is: eval printf "$arg"{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,} \ ## New in Bash 4.0 ### Zero padded number expansion Prefix either of the numbers in a numeric range with `0` to pad the expanded numbers with the correct amount of zeros: $ echo {0001..5} 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 ### Increment It is now possible to specify an increment using ranges: {....} `` is numeric, you can use a negative integer but the correct sign is deduced from the order of `` and `` anyways. $ echo {1..10..2} 1 3 5 7 9 $ echo {10..1..2} 10 8 6 4 2 Interesting feature: The increment specification also works for letter-ranges: $ echo {a..z..3} a d g j m p s v y ## See also - [Introduction to expansion and substitution](../../syntax/expansion/intro.md)