shell pattern matching

The problem is that the asterisks can match anything,

 even the commas used as delimiters. However,

 if you add the delimiters to the pattern, you can

 no longer match the ends of the list:

list=orange, apple, banana

case $list in

*, orange, *)        echo "The only fruit for which there is no Cockney slang. "; ;

esac

[no output]

To resolve this, wrap the list in an extra set of delimiters when expanding it:

list=orange, apple, banana

case , $list, in

*, orange, *)        echo "The only fruit for which there is no Cockney slang. "; ;

esac

The only fruit for which there is no Cockney slang.