help extracting subdirectory names into variable

[PilotCS]

Hi Linux experts,

I am a beginner at Linux. Is there any way I can extract subdirectory name into a variable.

I am trying to create symbolic links. I know how to do that one directory at a time.

For example,

Fruit_directory has subdirectories
apple
orange
banana
prune
mango
grapes
....

ln -s orange/ 1
ln -s banana/ 2
..etc

But instead of writing one by one, I would like to run that in a for-loop. Is there any way I can read the subdirectory names into a variable (eg., subdirectory) so that I can use that variable (eg., $subdirectory) in creating symbolic links eg.,

for ((x=1; x<= 10; x+=1))
do
ln -s $subdirectory $x
done

I am manipulating several hundred directories and would like to automate it in a loop. It would help me a lot. Thanks.

[Lahntaler]

I haven't tested it thoroughly but this should work unless your directory names contain spaces:

for subdirectory in $(find /where/to/start/* -type d -prune)
do
   for ((x=1; x<= 10; x+=1))
   do
      ln -s $subdirectory $x
   done
done

The option -type d makes find only deliver directories.
The option -prune prevents find from descending into subdirectories.

To better understand, you may first try with and without -prune:

for subdir in $(find /where/to/start/* -type d -prune); do echo $subdir; done