Match exact word in bash script, extract number from string - bash

Question

I'm trying to create a very simple bash script that will open new link base on the input command
Use case #1
$ ./myscript longname55445
It should take the number 55445 and then assign that to a variable which will later be use to open new link based on the given number.
Use case #2
$ ./myscript l55445
It should do the exact same thing as above by taking the number and then open the same link.
Use case #3
$ ./myscript 55445
If no prefix given then we just simply open that same link as a fallback.
So far this is what I have
#!/bin/sh
BASE_URL=http://api.domain.com
input=$1
command=${input:0:1}
if [ "$command" == "longname" ]; then
number=${input:1:${#input}}
url="$BASE_URL?id="$number
open $url
elseif [ "$command" == "l" ]; then
number=${input:1:${#input}}
url="$BASE_URL?id="$number
open $url
else
number=${input:1:${#input}}
url="$BASE_URL?id="$number
open $url
fi
But this will always fallback to the elseif there.
I'm using zsh at the moment.

Answer 1

input=$1
command=${input:0:1}
sets command to the first character of the first argument. It's not possible for a one character string to be equal to an eight-character string ("longname"), so the if condition must always fail.
Furthermore, both your elseif and your else clauses set
number=${input:1:${#input}}
Which you could have written more simply as
number=${input:1}
But in both cases, you're dropping the first character of input. Presumably in the else case, you wanted the entire first argument.

Answer 2

see whether this construct is helpful for your purpose:
#!/bin/bash
name="longname55445"
echo "${name##*[A-Za-z]}"
this assumes a letter adjacent to number.
The following is NOT another way to write the same, because it is wrong.
Please see comments below by mklement0, who noticed this. Mea culpa.
echo "${name##*[:letter:]}"

Answer 3

You have command=${input:0:1}
It takes the first single char, and you compare it to "longname", of course it will fail, and go to elseif.
The key problem is to check if the input is beginning with l or longnameor nothing. If in one of the 3 cases, take the trailing numbers.
One grep line could do it, you can just grep on input and get the returned text:
kent$ grep -Po '(?<=longname|l|^)\d+' <<<"l234"
234
kent$ grep -Po '(?<=longname|l|^)\d+' <<<"longname234"
234
kent$ grep -Po '(?<=longname|l|^)\d+' <<<"234"
234
kent$ grep -Po '(?<=longname|l|^)\d+' <<<"foobar234"
<we got nothing>

Answer 4

You can use regex matching in bash.
[[ $1 =~ [0-9]+ ]] && number=$BASH_REMATCH
You can also use regex matching in zsh.
[[ $1 =~ [0-9]+ ]] && number=$MATCH

Answer 5

Based on the OP's following clarification in a comment,
I'm only looking for the numbers [...] given in the input.
the solution can be simplified as follows:
#!/bin/bash
BASE_URL='http://api.domain.com'
# Strip all non-digits from the 1st argument to get the desired number.
number=$(tr -dC '[:digit:]' <<<"$1")
open "$BASE_URL?id=$number"
Note the use of a bash shebang, given the use of 'bashism' <<< (which could easily be restated in a POSIX-compliant manner).
Similarly, the OP's original code should use a bash shebang, too, due to use of non-POSIX substring extraction syntax.
However, judging by the use of open to open a URL, the OP appears to be on OSX, where sh is essentially bash (though invocation as sh does change behavior), so it'll still work there. Generally, though, it's safer to be explicit about the required shell.