If It is a directory append text

Question

Im trying to append a text if it is a directory.

calculation="$(ls -l | sed 's/[d]/This is a directory -> /')"

printf "%s" "${calculation}"

Im just womdering if somebody could give me a tip on what is wrong with my code

Answer 1

Not sure what you're doing, but:

$ calculation="$(ls -l | sed 's/^[d]/This is a directory -> d/')"

Two changes:

• I added a ^ which says that the line must begin with one of the characters in the square brackets (which d is the only one).
• I added a d on the end of the substitution, since you replaced it with your string. This way, your directories still have the correct permissions.

You don't need [d]. Just d would do:

$ calculation="$(ls -l | sed 's/^d/This is a directory -> d/')"

And you don't need ${calculation}:

$ echo "$calculation"

or, if you want to use printf:

$ printf "%s\n" "$calculation"   # Note the ending NL which printf doesn't supply

Or even more simply:

$ printf "$calculation\n"