bash: put list files into a variable and but size of array is 1

Question

I am listing the files in a directory and looping through them okay, BUT I need to know how many there are too. ${#dirlist[@]} is always 1, but for loop works?

#!/bin/bash
prefix="xxx"; # as example

len=${#prefix}; # string length
dirlist=`ls ${prefix}*.text`;
qty=${#dirlist[@]};  # sizeof array is always 1
for filelist in $dirlist
do
    substring="${filelist:$len:-5}";
    echo "${substring}/${qty}";
done

I have files xxx001.text upto xxx013.text
but all I get is 001/1 002/1 003/1

Answer 1

This:

dirlist=`ls ${prefix}*.text`

doesn't make an array. It only makes a string with space separated file names.

You have to do

dirlist=(`ls ${prefix}*.text`)

to make it an array.

Then $dirlist will reference only the first element, so you have to use

${dirlist[*]}

to reference all of them in the loop.

Answer 2

You're not creating an array unless you surround it with ( ):

dirlist=(`ls ${prefix}*.text`)