title: How to loop through the first n letters of the alphabet in bash
body: <p>I know that to loop through the alphabet, one can do</p>
  
  <pre><code>for c in {a..z};  do   something;  done
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My question is, how can I loop through the first <code>n</code> letters (e.g. to build a string) where <code>n</code> is a variable/parameter given in the command line.</p>
  
  <p>I searched SO, and only found answers doing this for numbers, e.g. using C-style <code>for</code> loop or <code>seq</code> (see e.g. <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/169511/how-do-i-iterate-over-a-range-of-numbers-defined-by-variables-in-bash">How do I iterate over a range of numbers defined by variables in Bash?</a>). And I don't have <code>seq</code> in my environment.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>