[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #2739: Allow wildcards in multiple map input and evaluate to map lists accordingly

[GRASS GIS]

#2739: Allow wildcards in multiple map input and evaluate to map lists accordingly
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 Reporter:  sbl          |      Owner:  grass-dev@…
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:
Component:  Default      |    Version:  unspecified
 Keywords:               |        CPU:  Unspecified
 Platform:  Unspecified  |
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 For GRASS beginners and people who stick to the GUI the ability to use
 wildcards in multiple map input might be handy.

 People who are not afraid of the command line can of course easily pipe
 g.list output to modules with multiple input or re-use the latter from
 file like e.g. in temporal modules.

 An idea would be to allow something like this:
 {{{
 # Example: calculate average temperature for Norway`s national day
 r.series input=temperature_*_05_17
 output=norway_national_day_temperature_avg method=average
 }}}
 in the GUI or command line, where wildcards are evaluated to a list of
 available maps following that pattern.
 Since the asterisk is not allowed in map names, it might used to trigger a
 respective g.list operation whenever it appears in a multiple map input …


 One suggestion would be to reuse a dialog for selecting multiple maps
 using regular expressions (accessible from layer manager) and have a small
 button near the map entry in the autogenerated dialogs which would open
 this dialog and transfer the resulting map series back in the map entry
 field. So this would be implemented on the GUI level.

 Another suggestion would be to implement this on parser level.
 Both have some pluses and minuses.

 Anyway, a potential risk is that result might be - especially for
 beginners - difficult to anticipate. That may result in unexpected
 behavior, esp when several mapsets are in the search path ...

 See also: https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-
 dev/2015-September/076222.html

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2739>
GRASS GIS <https://grass.osgeo.org>