#!/bin/bash shopt -s nullglob shopt -s extglob f="${1}" f="${f%/}" b=1 for g in v+([0-9])__"${f}" do g="${g#v}" g="${g%%__*}" (( b = (g > b) ? g : b )) done (( b = b + 1 )) echo Creating v${b}__"${f}" cp -r "${f}" v${b}__"${f}"