percent symbol in Bash, what's it used for? [duplicate]

Question

I have a filename which ends with .zip and I wanted just the filename without zip. Here I found a trick in bash.

$f="05 - Means-End Analysis Videos.zip" $echo "${f%*.zip}" 05 - Means-End Analysis Videos 

What is happening here? How come %*.zip is removing my extension?

Answer 1

Delete the shortest match of string in $var from the beginning:

${var#string} 

Delete the longest match of string in $var from the beginning:

${var##string} 

Delete the shortest match of string in $var from the end:

${var%string} 

Delete the longest match of string in $var from the end:

${var%%string} 

Try:

var=foobarbar echo "${var%b*r}" > foobar echo "${var%%b*r}" > foo