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279
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I have gotten the following to work:
for
i
in
{2..10}
do
echo
"output:
$i
"
done
It produces a bunch of lines of
output: 2
,
output: 3
, so on.
However, trying to run the following:
max=10
for
i
in
{2..
$max
}
do
echo
"
$i
"
done
produces the following:
output: {2..10}
How can I get the compiler to realize it should treat $max as the other end of the array, and not part of a string?
asked
Sep 18, 2009 at 15:57
6
This answer is useful
327
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Brace expansion,
{x..y}
is performed before other expansions, so you cannot use that for variable length sequences.
Instead, use the
seq 2 $max
method as
user
mob
stated
.
So, for your example it would be:
max=10
for
i
in
`
seq
2
$max
`
do
echo
"
$i
"
done
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:06
3 Comments
There is no good reason to use an external command such as
seq
to count and increment numbers in the for loop, hence it is recommend that you avoid using
seq
. This command is left for compatibility with old bash. The built-in commands are fast enough.
for (( EXP1; EXP2; EXP3 )) ...
2016-07-25T09:27:01.267Z+00:00
@miller the
for (( ... ))
syntax isn't POSIX and that means for example that it won't work out of the box on things like Alpine Linux.
seq
does.
2016-09-30T22:21:49.397Z+00:00
@Wernight Not just Alpine Linux;
#!/bin/sh
is Dash in Debian/Ubuntu.
2019-03-12T20:50:46.243Z+00:00
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102
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Try the arithmetic-expression version of
for
:
max=10
for
(( i=
2
; i <=
$max
; ++i ))
do
echo
"
$i
"
done
This is available in most versions of bash, and should be Bourne shell (sh) compatible also.
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:18
system PAUSE
38.9k
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2 Comments
@Flow: Hm, I just tried it on a couple of systems (Linux and BSD based) with #!/bin/sh and it worked fine. Invoked under bash and specifically under /bin/sh, still worked. Maybe the version of sh matters? Are you on some old Unix?
2012-03-26T21:29:02.433Z+00:00
Very few systems have a dedicated
sh
, instead making it a link to other another shell. Ideally, such a shell invoked as
sh
would
only
support those features in the POSIX standard, but by default let some of their extra features through. The C-style for-loop is not a POSIX feature, but may be in
sh
mode by the actual shell.
2013-09-12T19:41:22.943Z+00:00
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Step the loop manually:
i=0
max=10
while [ $i -lt $max ]
do
echo "output: $i"
true $(( i++ ))
done
If you don’t have to be totally POSIX, you can use the arithmetic
for
loop:
max=10
for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done
Or use
jot
(1) on BSD systems:
for i in $( jot 0 10 ); do echo "output: $i"; done
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:17
Nietzche-jou
14.8k
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3 Comments
true $(( i++ ))
doesn't work in all cases, so most portable would be
true $((i=i+1))
.
2012-03-22T14:50:01.037Z+00:00
semi colon should not come in "for (( i=0; i < max; i++ ));"
2014-02-10T13:02:15.42Z+00:00
jot 0 10
might be an infinite loop starting at 10. To get the same effect as
max=10; for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done
I think the syntax should be
jot -w 'output: %d' 10 0
(directly print out sans loop) or just
for i in $( jot 10 0 ); do …..
for the looped variant
2024-05-26T01:20:19.787Z+00:00
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If the
seq
command available on your system:
for
i
in
`
seq
2
$max
`
do
echo
"output:
$i
"
done
If not, then use poor man's
seq
with
perl
:
seq
=`perl -e
"\$,=' ';print 2..
$max
"
`
for
i
in
$seq
do
echo
"output:
$i
"
done
Watch those quote marks.
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:01
mob
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We can iterate loop like as C programming.
#!/bin/bash
for
((i=
1
; i<=
20
; i=i+
1
))
do
echo
$i
done
answered
Jul 21, 2018 at 12:07
rashedcs
3,763
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There's more than one way to do it.
max=10
for
i
in
`
eval
"echo {2..
$max
}"
`
do
echo
"
$i
"
done
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:20
ephemient
207k
40 gold badges
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404 bronze badges
2 Comments
A security risk, since
eval
will evaluate
anything
you set
max
to. Consider
max="2}; echo ha; #"
, then replace
echo ha
with something more destructive.
2013-09-12T19:45:27.713Z+00:00
(S)he set max to 10. No risk.
2014-04-21T01:13:16.847Z+00:00
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This is a way:
Bash:
max=10
for
i
in
$(bash -c
"echo {2..
${max}
}"
);
do
echo
$i
;
done
The above Bash way will work for
ksh
and
zsh
too, when
bash -c
is replaced with
ksh -c
or
zsh -c
respectively.
Note:
for i in {2..${max}}; do echo $i; done
works in
zsh
and
ksh
.
answered
Jul 12, 2015 at 12:30
Jahid
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Well, as I didn't have the
seq
command installed on my system (Mac OS X v10.6.1 (Snow Leopard)), I ended up using a
while
loop instead:
max=5
i=1
while
[
$max
-gt
$i
]
do
(stuff)
done
*
Shrugs
* Whatever works.
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:16
eykanal
27.3k
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1 Comment
seq is relatively new. I only found out about it a few months ago. But you
can
use a 'for' loop!! The disadvantage of a 'while' is that you have to remember to increment the counter somewhere inside the loop, or else loop downwards.
2009-09-18T16:23:03.563Z+00:00
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These all do
{1..8}
and should all be POSIX. They also will not break if you
put a conditional
continue
in the loop. The canonical way:
f=
while
[ $((f+=
1
)) -le 8 ]
do
echo
$f
done
Another way:
g=
while
g=
${g}
1
[
${#g}
-le 8 ]
do
echo
${#g}
done
and another:
set
--
while
set
$* .
[
${#}
-le 8 ]
do
echo
${#}
done
answered
Dec 19, 2015 at 18:51
user4427511
1 Comment
Wonderful, I'm looking for a solution for busybox's ash, and your answer is perfect
2023-01-27T19:57:03.243Z+00:00
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Here it worked on Mac OS X.
It includes the example of a BSD date, how to increment and decrement the date also:
for
((i=
28
; i>=
6
; i--));
do
dat=`
date
-v-
${i}
d -j
"+%Y%m%d"
`
echo
$dat
done
answered
Dec 6, 2013 at 5:42
minhas23
9,761
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Use:
max=10
for
i
in
`
eval
echo
{2..
$max
}`
do
echo
$i
done
You need the explicit 'eval' call to reevaluate the {} after variable substitution.
answered
Sep 18, 2009 at 16:27
Comments
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0
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Use
seq 2 10 | xargs printf 'output: %d\n'
, if you only need the output, and the loop may be implicit.
answered
Dec 15, 2025 at 0:47
Jens Jensen
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# [Shell script "for" loop syntax](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax)
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16 years, 4 months ago
Modified [1 month ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax?lastactivity "2025-12-15 00:47:30Z")
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I have gotten the following to work:
```
Copy
```
It produces a bunch of lines of `output: 2`, `output: 3`, so on.
However, trying to run the following:
```
Copy
```
produces the following:
```
Copyoutput: {2..10}
```
How can I get the compiler to realize it should treat \$max as the other end of the array, and not part of a string?
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6
- 2
what system and shell are you using? What kind of goofy system has sh or bash, but doesn't have seq, a coreutil?
whatsisname
– [whatsisname](https://stackoverflow.com/users/8159/whatsisname "6,228 reputation")
2009-09-18 16:08:19 +00:00
[Commented Sep 18, 2009 at 16:08](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment1291436_1445452)
- 13
FreeBSD doesn't.
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2009-09-18 16:12:09 +00:00
[Commented Sep 18, 2009 at 16:12](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment1291459_1445452)
- Small style nit: I usually see the `do` and `then` keywords on the same line as `for` and `if`, respectively. E.g., `for i in {2..10}; do`
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2009-09-18 16:33:13 +00:00
[Commented Sep 18, 2009 at 16:33](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment1291589_1445452)
- possible duplicate of [Is it possible to use a variable in for syntax in bash?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17787681/is-it-possible-to-use-a-variable-in-for-syntax-in-bash)
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2013-08-01 15:00:53 +00:00
[Commented Aug 1, 2013 at 15:00](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment26315779_1445452)
- 1
FreeBSD, at least 10, does have /usr/bin/seq.
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2015-05-10 18:46:48 +00:00
[Commented May 10, 2015 at 18:46](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment48417686_1445452)
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## 12 Answers 12
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Brace expansion, *{x..y}* is performed before other expansions, so you cannot use that for variable length sequences.
Instead, use the `seq 2 $max` method as [user *mob* stated](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax/1445471#1445471).
So, for your example it would be:
```
Copy
```
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment64518405_1445507)
There is no good reason to use an external command such as `seq` to count and increment numbers in the for loop, hence it is recommend that you avoid using `seq`. This command is left for compatibility with old bash. The built-in commands are fast enough. `for (( EXP1; EXP2; EXP3 )) ...`
2016-07-25T09:27:01.267Z+00:00
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment66894225_1445507)
@miller the `for (( ... ))` syntax isn't POSIX and that means for example that it won't work out of the box on things like Alpine Linux. `seq` does.
2016-09-30T22:21:49.397Z+00:00
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment97002463_1445507)
@Wernight Not just Alpine Linux; `#!/bin/sh` is Dash in Debian/Ubuntu.
2019-03-12T20:50:46.243Z+00:00
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Try the arithmetic-expression version of `for`:
```
Copy
```
This is available in most versions of bash, and should be Bourne shell (sh) compatible also.
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answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:18
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment12601002_1445564)
@Flow: Hm, I just tried it on a couple of systems (Linux and BSD based) with \#!/bin/sh and it worked fine. Invoked under bash and specifically under /bin/sh, still worked. Maybe the version of sh matters? Are you on some old Unix?
2012-03-26T21:29:02.433Z+00:00
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Very few systems have a dedicated `sh`, instead making it a link to other another shell. Ideally, such a shell invoked as `sh` would *only* support those features in the POSIX standard, but by default let some of their extra features through. The C-style for-loop is not a POSIX feature, but may be in `sh` mode by the actual shell.
2013-09-12T19:41:22.943Z+00:00
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Step the loop manually:
```
i=0
max=10
while [ $i -lt $max ]
do
echo "output: $i"
true $(( i++ ))
done
```
If you don’t have to be totally POSIX, you can use the arithmetic *for* loop:
```
max=10
for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done
```
Or use *jot*(1) on BSD systems:
```
for i in $( jot 0 10 ); do echo "output: $i"; done
```
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment12516457_1445562)
`true $(( i++ ))` doesn't work in all cases, so most portable would be `true $((i=i+1))`.
2012-03-22T14:50:01.037Z+00:00
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semi colon should not come in "for (( i=0; i \< max; i++ ));"
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`jot 0 10` might be an infinite loop starting at 10. To get the same effect as `max=10; for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done` I think the syntax should be `jot -w 'output: %d' 10 0` (directly print out sans loop) or just `for i in $( jot 10 0 ); do …..` for the looped variant
2024-05-26T01:20:19.787Z+00:00
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If the `seq` command available on your system:
```
Copy
```
If not, then use poor man's `seq` with `perl`:
```
Copy
```
Watch those quote marks.
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We can iterate loop like as C programming.
```
Copy
```
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There's more than one way to do it.
```
Copy
```
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment27676920_1445577)
A security risk, since `eval` will evaluate *anything* you set `max` to. Consider `max="2}; echo ha; #"`, then replace `echo ha` with something more destructive.
2013-09-12T19:45:27.713Z+00:00
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(S)he set max to 10. No risk.
2014-04-21T01:13:16.847Z+00:00
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This is a way:
Bash:
```
Copy
```
The above Bash way will work for `ksh` and `zsh` too, when `bash -c` is replaced with `ksh -c` or `zsh -c` respectively.
Note: `for i in {2..${max}}; do echo $i; done` works in `zsh` and `ksh`.
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Well, as I didn't have the `seq` command installed on my system (Mac OS X v10.6.1 (Snow Leopard)), I ended up using a `while` loop instead:
```
Copy
```
\**Shrugs*\* Whatever works.
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system PAUSE
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment1291527_1445552)
seq is relatively new. I only found out about it a few months ago. But you *can* use a 'for' loop!! The disadvantage of a 'while' is that you have to remember to increment the counter somewhere inside the loop, or else loop downwards.
2009-09-18T16:23:03.563Z+00:00
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These all do `{1..8}` and should all be POSIX. They also will not break if you put a conditional `continue` in the loop. The canonical way:
```
Copy
```
Another way:
```
Copy
```
and another:
```
Copy
```
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answered Dec 19, 2015 at 18:51
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[Over a year ago](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax#comment132808667_34374215)
Wonderful, I'm looking for a solution for busybox's ash, and your answer is perfect
2023-01-27T19:57:03.243Z+00:00
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Here it worked on Mac OS X.
It includes the example of a BSD date, how to increment and decrement the date also:
```
Copy
```
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answered Dec 6, 2013 at 5:42
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Use:
```
Copy
```
You need the explicit 'eval' call to reevaluate the {} after variable substitution.
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[edited Jan 19, 2018 at 22:15](https://stackoverflow.com/posts/1445612/revisions "show all edits to this post")
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answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:27
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Use `seq 2 10 | xargs printf 'output: %d\n'`, if you only need the output, and the loop may be implicit.
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answered Dec 15, 2025 at 0:47
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I have gotten the following to work:
```
for i in {2..10}
do
echo "output: $i"
done
```
It produces a bunch of lines of `output: 2`, `output: 3`, so on.
However, trying to run the following:
```
max=10
for i in {2..$max}
do
echo "$i"
done
```
produces the following:
```
output: {2..10}
```
How can I get the compiler to realize it should treat \$max as the other end of the array, and not part of a string?
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen)
asked Sep 18, 2009 at 15:57
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6
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Brace expansion, *{x..y}* is performed before other expansions, so you cannot use that for variable length sequences.
Instead, use the `seq 2 $max` method as [user *mob* stated](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1445452/shell-script-for-loop-syntax/1445471#1445471).
So, for your example it would be:
```
max=10
for i in `seq 2 $max`
do
echo "$i"
done
```
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen)
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:06
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/8159/whatsisname)
3 Comments
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There is no good reason to use an external command such as `seq` to count and increment numbers in the for loop, hence it is recommend that you avoid using `seq`. This command is left for compatibility with old bash. The built-in commands are fast enough. `for (( EXP1; EXP2; EXP3 )) ...`
2016-07-25T09:27:01.267Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/167897/wernight)
@miller the `for (( ... ))` syntax isn't POSIX and that means for example that it won't work out of the box on things like Alpine Linux. `seq` does.
2016-09-30T22:21:49.397Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/4451732/franklin-yu)
@Wernight Not just Alpine Linux; `#!/bin/sh` is Dash in Debian/Ubuntu.
2019-03-12T20:50:46.243Z+00:00
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Try the arithmetic-expression version of `for`:
```
max=10
for (( i=2; i <= $max; ++i ))
do
echo "$i"
done
```
This is available in most versions of bash, and should be Bourne shell (sh) compatible also.
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:18
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@Flow: Hm, I just tried it on a couple of systems (Linux and BSD based) with \#!/bin/sh and it worked fine. Invoked under bash and specifically under /bin/sh, still worked. Maybe the version of sh matters? Are you on some old Unix?
2012-03-26T21:29:02.433Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1126841/chepner)
Very few systems have a dedicated `sh`, instead making it a link to other another shell. Ideally, such a shell invoked as `sh` would *only* support those features in the POSIX standard, but by default let some of their extra features through. The C-style for-loop is not a POSIX feature, but may be in `sh` mode by the actual shell.
2013-09-12T19:41:22.943Z+00:00
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Step the loop manually:
```
i=0
max=10
while [ $i -lt $max ]
do
echo "output: $i"
true $(( i++ ))
done
```
If you don’t have to be totally POSIX, you can use the arithmetic *for* loop:
```
max=10
for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done
```
Or use *jot*(1) on BSD systems:
```
for i in $( jot 0 10 ); do echo "output: $i"; done
```
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:17
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`true $(( i++ ))` doesn't work in all cases, so most portable would be `true $((i=i+1))`.
2012-03-22T14:50:01.037Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/975199/logan)
semi colon should not come in "for (( i=0; i \< max; i++ ));"
2014-02-10T13:02:15.42Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/14672114/rare-kpop-manifesto)
`jot 0 10` might be an infinite loop starting at 10. To get the same effect as `max=10; for (( i=0; i < max; i++ )); do echo "output: $i"; done` I think the syntax should be `jot -w 'output: %d' 10 0` (directly print out sans loop) or just `for i in $( jot 10 0 ); do …..` for the looped variant
2024-05-26T01:20:19.787Z+00:00
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If the `seq` command available on your system:
```
for i in `seq 2 $max`
do
echo "output: $i"
done
```
If not, then use poor man's `seq` with `perl`:
```
seq=`perl -e "\$,=' ';print 2..$max"`
for i in $seq
do
echo "output: $i"
done
```
Watch those quote marks.
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:01
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/168657/mob)
[mob](https://stackoverflow.com/users/168657/mob)
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We can iterate loop like as C programming.
```
#!/bin/bash
for ((i=1; i<=20; i=i+1))
do
echo $i
done
```
answered Jul 21, 2018 at 12:07
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/6714430/rashedcs)
[rashedcs](https://stackoverflow.com/users/6714430/rashedcs)
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There's more than one way to do it.
```
max=10
for i in `eval "echo {2..$max}"`
do
echo "$i"
done
```
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:20
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/20713/ephemient)
[ephemient](https://stackoverflow.com/users/20713/ephemient)
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2 Comments
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1126841/chepner)
A security risk, since `eval` will evaluate *anything* you set `max` to. Consider `max="2}; echo ha; #"`, then replace `echo ha` with something more destructive.
2013-09-12T19:45:27.713Z+00:00
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/218830/conrad-meyer)
(S)he set max to 10. No risk.
2014-04-21T01:13:16.847Z+00:00
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This is a way:
Bash:
```
max=10
for i in $(bash -c "echo {2..${max}}"); do echo $i; done
```
The above Bash way will work for `ksh` and `zsh` too, when `bash -c` is replaced with `ksh -c` or `zsh -c` respectively.
Note: `for i in {2..${max}}; do echo $i; done` works in `zsh` and `ksh`.
answered Jul 12, 2015 at 12:30
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Well, as I didn't have the `seq` command installed on my system (Mac OS X v10.6.1 (Snow Leopard)), I ended up using a `while` loop instead:
```
max=5
i=1
while [ $max -gt $i ]
do
(stuff)
done
```
\**Shrugs*\* Whatever works.
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen)
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:16
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seq is relatively new. I only found out about it a few months ago. But you *can* use a 'for' loop!! The disadvantage of a 'while' is that you have to remember to increment the counter somewhere inside the loop, or else loop downwards.
2009-09-18T16:23:03.563Z+00:00
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These all do `{1..8}` and should all be POSIX. They also will not break if you put a conditional `continue` in the loop. The canonical way:
```
f=
while [ $((f+=1)) -le 8 ]
do
echo $f
done
```
Another way:
```
g=
while
g=${g}1
[ ${#g} -le 8 ]
do
echo ${#g}
done
```
and another:
```
set --
while
set $* .
[ ${#} -le 8 ]
do
echo ${#}
done
```
answered Dec 19, 2015 at 18:51
user4427511
1 Comment
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/11338291/kkocdko)
Wonderful, I'm looking for a solution for busybox's ash, and your answer is perfect
2023-01-27T19:57:03.243Z+00:00
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Here it worked on Mac OS X.
It includes the example of a BSD date, how to increment and decrement the date also:
```
for ((i=28; i>=6 ; i--));
do
dat=`date -v-${i}d -j "+%Y%m%d"`
echo $dat
done
```
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen)
answered Dec 6, 2013 at 5:42
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/2458916/minhas23)
[minhas23](https://stackoverflow.com/users/2458916/minhas23)
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Use:
```
max=10
for i in `eval echo {2..$max}`
do
echo $i
done
```
You need the explicit 'eval' call to reevaluate the {} after variable substitution.
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/63550/peter-mortensen)
answered Sep 18, 2009 at 16:27
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Use `seq 2 10 | xargs printf 'output: %d\n'`, if you only need the output, and the loop may be implicit.
answered Dec 15, 2025 at 0:47
[](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1235724/jens-jensen)
[Jens Jensen](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1235724/jens-jensen)
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