How to make "dictionary" with shell functions? - linux

Question

This is my code:
#!/bin/sh
echo "ARGUMENTS COUNT : " $#
echo "ARGUMENTS LIST : " $*
dictionary=`awk '{ print $1 }'`
function()
{
for i in dictionary
do
for j in $*
do
if [ $j = $i ]
then
;
else
append
fi
done
done
}
append()
{
ls $j > dictionary1.txt
}
function
I need using unix shell functions make "dictionary". For example: I write in arguments default word, example hello. Then my function checks the file dictionary1 if that word is existing in the file. If not - append that word in file, if it's already exist - do nothing.
For some reason, my script does not work. When I start my script, it waits for something and that's it.
What I am doing wrong? How can I fix it?

Answer 1

An implementation that tries to care about both performance and correctness might look like:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# ^^^^- NOT sh; sh does not support [[ ]] or <(...)
addWords() {
local tempFile dictFile
tempFile=$(mktemp dictFile.XXXXXX) || return
dictFile=$1; shift
[[ -e "$dictFile" ]] || touch "$dictFile" || return
sort -um "$dictFile" <(printf '%s\n' "$#" | sort -u) >"$tempFile"
mv -- "$tempFile" "$dictFile"
}
addWords myDict beta charlie delta alpha
addWords myDict charlie zulu
cat myDict
...has a final dictionary state of:
alpha
beta
charlie
delta
zulu
...and it rereads the input file only once for each addWords call (no matter how many words are being added!), not once per word to add.

Answer 2

Don't name a function "function".
Don't read in and walk through the whole file - all you need is to know it the word is there or not. grep does that.
ls lists files. You want to send a word to the file, not a filename. use echo or printf.
sh isn't bash. Use bash unless there's a clear reason not to, and the only reason is because it isn't available.
Try this:
#! /bin/env bash
checkWord() {
grep -qm 1 "$1" dictionary1.txt ||
echo "$1" >> dictionary1.txt
}
for wd
do checkWord "$wd"
done
If that works, you can add more structure and error checking.

Answer 3

You can remove your dictionary=awk... line (as mentioned it's blocking waiting for input) and simply grep your dictionary file for each argument, something like the below :
for i in "$#"
do
if ! grep -qow "$i" dictionary1.txt
then
echo "$i" >> dictionary1.txt
fi
done

Answer 4

With any awk in any shell on any UNIX box:
awk -v words="$*" '
BEGIN {
while ( (getline word < "dictionary1.txt") > 0 ) {
dict[word]++
}
close("dictionary1.txt")
split(words,tmp)
for (i in tmp) {
word = tmp[i]
if ( !dict[word]++ ) {
newWords = newWords word ORS
}
}
printf "%s", newWords >> "dictionary1.txt"
exit
}'