I need help to find the appropriate way to write my conditional statement because it is not working.
cumonth= date +%m
cudinamic=
if [ $cumonth =10 ];
then
cudinamic=a
elif [ $cumonth =11];
then
cudinamic=b
elif [ $cumonth =12];
then
cudinamic=c
else
cudinamic=$cumonth
fi
#Echo display message
$echo $ytday
$echo $cmonth
echo "$cudinamic"
To save the output of a command, use command substitution $(...):
cumonth=$(date +%m)
The arguments to [ must be separated by spaces, spaces aren't optional:
elif [ "$cumonth" = 11 ];
Note that there are 4 parameters: "$cumonth", =, 11, and ]. It's a good habit to quote the variable, in case it's empty or contains spaces, it will still be considered a single word.
Related
Below is my requirement. I have a text file that has following content
File name - abc.txt
Content -
apple=0
mango=1
strawberry=10
I need to kick off the subsequent process only if any of the above stated variable has non zero values.
In this case, As two variables have values 1 and 10 respectively, I need to update an indicator - SKIP INDICATOR=N
If all variables have 0 as value, I need to update SKIP INDICATOR=Y
How to achieve this functionality in Linux. Kindly advise.
with very simple greps :
if [ $(grep '=' your_file | grep -v '=0') ]
then
echo "non zero values detected"
SKIP_INDICATOR=N
else
echo "all are zeroes"
SKIP_INDICATOR=Y
fi
Just note that this is a quick and dirty solution and it would NOT work properly if you have for example a=01 or a= 0 (eg with space)
Try:
grep -q '=0*[1-9]' textfile && skip_indicator=N || skip_indicator=Y
=0*[1-9] matches an '=' character followed by zero or more '0' characters followed by a digit in the range 1 to 9.
See Correct Bash and shell script variable capitalization for an explanation of why I changed SKIP_INDICATOR to skip_indicator.
#!/bin/bash
flag=`awk -F'=' '$NF!="0"{print;exit}' input`
if [ ! -z $flag ] ; then
SKIP_INDICATOR=N
echo "some variable value is different from 0. do something"
else
SKIP_INDICATOR=Y
echo "all variables have 0 as value. do another thing."
fi
exit 0
I'm writing bash scripts that need to work both on Linux and on Mac.
I'm writing a function that will return a directory path depending on which environment I'm in.
Here is the pseudo code:
If I'm on a Mac OS X machine, I need my function to return the path:
/usr/local/share/
Else if I'm on a Linux machine, I need my function to return the path:
/home/share/
Else, you are neither on a Linux or a Mac...sorry.
I'm very new to Bash, so I apologize in advance for the really simple question.
Below is the function I have written. Whether I'm on a Mac or Linux, it always returns
/usr/local/share/
Please take a look and enlighten me with the subtleties of Bash.
function get_path(){
os_type=`uname`
if [ $os_type=="Darwin" ]; then
path="/usr/local/share/"
elif [ $os_type=="Linux" ]; then
path="/home/share/"
else
echo "${os_type} is not supported"
exit 1
fi
echo $path
}
You need spaces around the operator in a test command: [ $os_type == "Darwin" ] instead of [ $os_type=="Darwin" ]. Actually, you should also use = instead of == (the double-equal is a bashism, and will not work in all shells). Also, the function keyword is also nonstandard, you should leave it off. Also, you should double-quote variable references (like "$os_type") just in case they contain spaces or any other funny characters. Finally, echoing an error message ("...not supported") to standard output may confuse whatever's calling the function, because it'll appear where it expected to find a path; redirect it to standard error (>&2) instead. Here's what I get with these cleaned up:
get_path(){
os_type=`uname`
if [ "$os_type" = "Darwin" ]; then
path="/usr/local/share/"
elif [ "$os_type" = "Linux" ]; then
path="/home/share/"
else
echo "${os_type} is not supported" >&2
exit 1
fi
echo "$path"
}
EDIT: My explanation of the difference between assignments and comparisons got too long for a comment, so I'm adding it here. In many languages, there's a standard expression syntax that'll be the same when it's used independently vs. in test. For example, in C a = b does the same thing whether it's alone on a line, or in a context like if ( a = b ). The shell isn't like that -- its syntax and semantics vary wildly depending on the exact context, and it's the context (not the number of equal signs) that determines the meaning. Here are some examples:
a=b by itself is an assignment
a = b by itself will run a as a command, and pass it the arguments "=" and "b".
[ a = b ] runs the [ command (which is a synonym for the test command) with the arguments "a", "=", "b", and "]" -- it ignores the "]", and parses the others as a comparison expression.
[ a=b ] also runs the [ (test) command, but this time after removing the "]" it only sees a single argument, "a=b" -- and when test is given a single argument it returns true if the argument isn't blank, which this one isn't.
bash's builtin version of [ (test) accepts == as a synonym for =, but not all other versions do.
BTW, just to make things more complicated bash also has [[ ]] expressions (like test, but cleaner and more powerful) and (( )) expressions (which are totally different from everything else), and even ( ) (which runs its contents as a command, but in a subshell).
You need to understand what [ means. Originally, this was a synonym for the /bin/test command. These are identical:
if test -z "$foo"
then
echo "String '$foo' is null."
fi
if [ -z "$foo" ]
then
echo "String '$foo' is null."
fi
Now, you can see why spaces are needed for all of the parameters. These are parameters and not merely boolean expressions. In fact, the test manpage is a great place to learn about the various tests. (Note: The test and [ are built in commands to the BASH shell.)
if [ $os_type=="Darwin" ]
then
This should be three parameters:
"$os_type"
= and not ==
"Darwin"
if [ "$os_type" = "Darwin" ] # Three parameters to the [ command
then
If you use single square brackets, you should be in the habit to surround your parameters with quotation marks. Otherwise, you will run into trouble:
foo="The value of FOO"
bar="The value of BAR"
if [ $foo != $bar ] #This won't work
then
...
In the above, the shell will interpolate $foo and $bar with their values before evaluating the expressions. You'll get:
if [ The value of FOO != The value of BAR ]
The [ will look at this and realize that neither The or value are correct parameters, and will complain. Using quotes will prevent this:
if [ "$foo" != "$bar" ] #This will work
then
This becomes:
if [ "The value of FOO" != "The value of BAR" ]
This is why it's highly recommended that you use double square brackets for your tests: [[ ... ]]. The test looks at the parameters before the shell interpolates them:
if [[ $foo = $bar ]] #This will work even without quotation marks
Also, the [[ ... ]] allows for pattern matching:
if [[ $os_type = D* ]] # Single equals is supported
then
path="/usr/local/share/"
elif [[ $os_type == L* ]] # Double equals is also supported
then
path="/home/share/"
else
echo "${os_type} is not supported"
exit 1
fi
This way, if the string is Darwin32 or Darwin64, the if statement still functions. Again, notice that there has to be white spaces around everything because these are parameters to a command (actually, not anymore, but that's the way the shell parses them).
Adding spaces between the arguments for the conditionals fixed the problem.
This works
function get_path(){
os_type=`uname`
if [ $os_type == "Darwin" ]; then
path="/usr/local/share/"
elif [ $os_type == "Linux" ]; then
path="/home/share/"
else
echo "${os_type} is not supported"
exit 1
fi
echo $path
}
So I have some code where I'm trying to only do the while loop if the first character of a string isn't or is a certain character.
while IFS=$'\t' read -r -a myArray
do
like=${myArray[0]}
position=${myArray[1]}
while [ ${like:0:1}=="E" ]
file=$like."Rput"
echo "$file"
So when I echo the file, the file name is ##file.output which is a file that I do not want at all. In the sense, I want it to completely skip it.
Could someone tell me what's going on?
Thanks!
It works if while is replaced with an if-then statement:
while IFS=$'\t' read -r -a myArray
do
like=${myArray[0]}
position=${myArray[1]}
if [ "${like:0:1}" == "E" ]
then
file=$like."Rput"
echo "$file"
fi
done
Note also that spaces are important. The following tests first character of like for equality with E:
[ "${like:0:1}" == "E" ]
But, the following does something unrelated:
[ "${like:0:1}"=="E" ]
Since the equal sign here is not separated by spaces, "${like:0:1}"=="E" is interpreted simply as a single string. Tests of a single string return true if the string is nonempty and false if it is empty. Since ${like:0:1}"=="E" is always non-empty, it will always return true.
Can someone explain why these echo commands doesn't output [#10] and so on?
# echo [#10]
1
# echo [#11]
1
# echo [#12]
1 2
# echo [#13]
1
# echo [#14]
1
You have a file named "1" and a file named "2" in your current directory.
The shell is performing pattern matching on the glob patterns before handing the results to echo. [#10] is a character class containing a #, a 1 and a 0.
See http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Pattern-Matching
If you want the literal [#10], etc, you have to enclose it in quotes, single or double doesn't matter.
(to answer the question in your last comment)
You could use the printf(1) command:
printf "Error: %s went wrong. Error code [#%d]\n" "something" $[10+2]
The $[10+2] is here to show how to do arithmetic in shell. You could replace "something" with e.g. $somevariable ...
The following code gives
[: -ge: unary operator expected
when
i=0
if [ $i -ge 2 ]
then
#some code
fi
why?
Your problem arises from the fact that $i has a blank value when your statement fails. Always quote your variables when performing comparisons if there is the slightest chance that one of them may be empty, e.g.:
if [ "$i" -ge 2 ] ; then
...
fi
This is because of how the shell treats variables. Assume the original example,
if [ $i -ge 2 ] ; then ...
The first thing that the shell does when executing that particular line of code is substitute the value of $i, just like your favorite editor's search & replace function would. So assume that $i is empty or, even more illustrative, assume that $i is a bunch of spaces! The shell will replace $i as follows:
if [ -ge 2 ] ; then ...
Now that variable substitutions are done, the shell proceeds with the comparison and.... fails because it cannot see anything intelligible to the left of -gt. However, quoting $i:
if [ "$i" -ge 2 ] ; then ...
becomes:
if [ " " -ge 2 ] ; then ...
The shell now sees the double-quotes, and knows that you are actually comparing four blanks to 2 and will skip the if.
You also have the option of specifying a default value for $i if $i is blank, as follows:
if [ "${i:-0}" -ge 2 ] ; then ...
This will substitute the value 0 instead of $i is $i is undefined. I still maintain the quotes because, again, if $i is a bunch of blanks then it does not count as undefined, it will not be replaced with 0, and you will run into the problem once again.
Please read this when you have the time. The shell is treated like a black box by many, but it operates with very few and very simple rules - once you are aware of what those rules are (one of them being how variables work in the shell, as explained above) the shell will have no more secrets for you.
Judging from the error message the value of i was the empty string when you executed it, not 0.
I need to add my 5 cents. I see everybody use [ or [[, but it worth to mention that they are not part of if syntax.
For arithmetic comparisons, use ((...)) instead.
((...)) is an arithmetic command, which returns an exit status of 0 if
the expression is nonzero, or 1 if the expression is zero. Also used
as a synonym for "let", if side effects (assignments) are needed.
See: ArithmeticExpression
Your piece of script works just great. Are you sure you are not assigning anything else before the if to "i"?
A common mistake is also not to leave a space after and before the square brackets.