How to make case statement match a number range?

Question

I'm running a switch case with column numbers which can be in the range 0 - 50. Now each case supports discrete column number and I observe its failure.

Here is the code:

    i=10     a=1     b=0.65     if [ "$a" != "$b" ]; then         case $i in               [1]|[2]|[5]) echo "Not OK"; ;;              [9-10]|[12]) echo "may be ok"; ;;              *) echo "no clue - $i"; ;;         esac    fi 

I expect this code to output may be ok but get no clue - 10.

Answer 1

Bash case doesn't work with numbers ranges. [] is for shell patterns.

for instance this case [1-3]5|6) will work for 15 or 25 or 35 or 6.

Your code should look like this:

i=10 a=1 b=0.65 if [ "$a" != "$b" ] ; then    case $i in         1|2|5) echo "Not OK"; ;;         9|10|12) echo "may be ok"; ;;         *) echo "no clue - $i"; ;;    esac; fi 

If i can be real between 9 and 10 then you'll need to use if (instead of case) with ranges.