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273 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
273 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
# Brace expansion
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{string1,string2,...,stringN}
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{<START>..<END>}
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{<START>..<END>..<INCR>} (Bash 4)
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<PREFIX>{........}
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{........}<SUFFIX>
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<PREFIX>{........}<SUFFIX>
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Brace expansion is used to generate arbitrary strings. The specified
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strings are used to generate **all possible combinations** with the
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optional surrounding prefixes and suffixes.
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Usually it's used to generate mass-arguments for a command, that follow
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a specific naming-scheme.
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:!: It is the very first step in expansion-handling, it's important to
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understand that. When you use
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echo {a,b}$PATH
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then the brace expansion **does not expand the variable** - this is done
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in a **later step**. Brace expansion just makes it being:
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echo a$PATH b$PATH
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Another common pitfall is to assume that a range like `{1..200}` can be
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expressed with variables using `{$a..$b}`. Due to what I described
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above, it **simply is not possible**, because it's the very first step
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in doing expansions. A possible way to achieve this, if you really
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can't handle this in another way, is using the `eval` command, which
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basically evaluates a commandline twice: `eval echo {$a..$b}` For
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instance, when embedded inside a for loop :
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`for i in $(eval echo {$a..$b})` This requires that the entire command
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be properly escaped to avoid unexpected expansions. If the sequence
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expansion is to be assigned to an array, another method is possible
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using [declaration commands](../../commands/builtin/declare.md):
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`declare -a 'pics=(img{'"$a..$b"'}.png)'; mv "${pics[@]}" ../imgs` This
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is significantly safer, but one must still be careful to control the
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values of \$a and \$b. Both the exact quoting, and explicitly including
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\"-a\" are important.
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The brace expansion is present in two basic forms, **string lists** and
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**ranges**.
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It can be switched on and off under runtime by using the `set` builtin
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and the option `-B` and `+B` or the long option `braceexpand`. If brace
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expansion is enabled, the stringlist in `SHELLOPTS` contains
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`braceexpand`.
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## String lists
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{string1,string2,...,stringN}
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Without the optional prefix and suffix strings, the result is just a
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space-separated list of the given strings:
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$ echo {I,want,my,money,back}
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I want my money back
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With prefix or suffix strings, the result is a space-separated list of
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**all possible combinations** of prefix or suffix specified strings:
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$ echo _{I,want,my,money,back}
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_I _want _my _money _back
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$ echo {I,want,my,money,back}_
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I_ want_ my_ money_ back_
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$ echo _{I,want,my,money,back}-
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_I- _want- _my- _money- _back-
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The brace expansion is only performed, if the given string list is
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really a **list of strings**, i.e., if there is a minimum of one \"`,`\"
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(comma)! Something like `{money}` doesn't expand to something special,
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it's really only the text \"`{money}`\".
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## Ranges
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{<START>..<END>}
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Brace expansion using ranges is written giving the startpoint and the
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endpoint of the range. This is a \"sequence expression\". The sequences
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can be of two types
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- integers (optionally zero padded, optionally with a given increment)
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- characters
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```{=html}
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<!-- -->
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```
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$ echo {5..12}
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5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
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$ echo {c..k}
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c d e f g h i j k
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When you mix these both types, brace expansion is **not** performed:
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$ echo {5..k}
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{5..k}
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When you zero pad one of the numbers (or both) in a range, then the
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generated range is zero padded, too:
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$ echo {01..10}
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01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
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There's a chapter of Bash 4 brace expansion changes at [the end of this
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article](#new_in_bash_4.0).
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Similar to the expansion using stringlists, you can add prefix and
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suffix strings:
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$ echo 1.{0..9}
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1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
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$ echo ---{A..E}---
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---A--- ---B--- ---C--- ---D--- ---E---
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## Combining and nesting
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When you combine more brace expansions, you effectively use a brace
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expansion as prefix or suffix for another one. Let's generate all
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possible combinations of uppercase letters and digits:
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$ echo {A..Z}{0..9}
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Z0 Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 Z5 Z6 Z7 Z8 Z9
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Hey.. that **saves you writing** 260 strings!
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Brace expansions can be nested, but too much of it usually makes you
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losing overview a bit ;-)
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Here's a sample to generate the alphabet, first the uppercase letters,
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then the lowercase ones:
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$ echo {{A..Z},{a..z}}
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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
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## Common use and examples
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### Massdownload from the Web
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In this example, `wget` is used to download documentation that is split
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over several numbered webpages.
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`wget` won't see your braces. It will see **6 different URLs** to
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download.
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wget http://docs.example.com/documentation/slides_part{1,2,3,4,5,6}.html
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Of course it's possible, and even easier, to do that with a sequence:
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wget http://docs.example.com/documentation/slides_part{1..6}.html
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### Generate a subdirectory structure
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Your life is hard? Let's ease it a bit - that's what shells are here
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for.
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mkdir /home/bash/test/{foo,bar,baz,cat,dog}
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### Generate numbers with a prefix 001 002 \...
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- Using a prefix:
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```{=html}
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<!-- -->
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```
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for i in 0{1..9} 10; do printf "%s\n" "$i";done
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If you need to create words with the number embedded, you can use nested
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brace:
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printf "%s\n" img{00{1..9},0{10..99},{100..999}}.png
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- Formatting the numbers with printf:
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```{=html}
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<!-- -->
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```
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echo $(printf "img%02d.png " {1..99})
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See the [text below](#news_in_bash_4.0) for a new Bash 4 method.
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### Repeating arguments or words
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somecommand -v -v -v -v -v
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Can be written as
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somecommand -v{,,,,}
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\...which is a kind of a hack, but hey, it works.
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<div round info>
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#### More fun
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The most optimal possible brace expansion to expand n arguments of
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course consists of n's prime factors. We can use the \"factor\" program
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bundled with GNU coreutils to emit a brace expansion that will expand
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any number of arguments.
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function braceify {
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[[ $1 == +([[:digit:]]) ]] || return
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typeset -a a
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read -ra a < <(factor "$1")
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eval "echo $(printf '{$(printf ,%%.s {1..%s})}' "${a[@]:1}")"
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}
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printf 'eval printf "$arg"%s' "$(braceify 1000000)"
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\"Braceify\" generates the expansion code itself. In this example we
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inject that output into a template which displays the most terse brace
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expansion code that would expand `"$arg"` 1,000,000 times if evaluated.
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In this case, the output is:
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eval printf "$arg"{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}{,,,,,}
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</div>
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## New in Bash 4.0
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### Zero padded number expansion
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Prefix either of the numbers in a numeric range with `0` to pad the
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expanded numbers with the correct amount of zeros:
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$ echo {0001..5}
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0001 0002 0003 0004 0005
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### Increment
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It is now possible to specify an increment using ranges:
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{<START>..<END>..<INCR>}
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`<INCR>` is numeric, you can use a negative integer but the correct sign
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is deduced from the order of `<START>` and `<END>` anyways.
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$ echo {1..10..2}
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1 3 5 7 9
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$ echo {10..1..2}
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10 8 6 4 2
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Interesting feature: The increment specification also works for
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letter-ranges:
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$ echo {a..z..3}
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a d g j m p s v y
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## See also
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- [Introduction to expansion and
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substitution](../../syntax/expansion/intro.md)
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