I am trying to write a script to access sqlplus and use the output to replace the result in another file. But I am having some issues with it (This script is just a test script and I am just trying to print the updated value.

#!/bin/bash

a=`echo exit|sqlplus -S -L xxx/xxx@xxx @test.sql`
bb=$a
echo a is $a
echo bb is $bb

var=he-llo

echo "goodbye friend" | sed "s/goodbye/$var/"

echo "goodbye friend" | sed "s/goodbye/$bb/"


The output I get is

a is 30-APR-10
bb is 30-APR-10
he-llo friend
sed: -e expression #1, char 10: unterminated `s' command

I am not sure why the last statement alone is not executing. Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Hi,

I don't think you are missing anything. If I try the example you posted it does work.

Your programming style could be better and could cause problems later on, but that's not the problem in this case. (you need to quote; var='he-llo', bb="$a". single or double, depends on what you want/need. use double for the time being).

Recheck you original script, maybe there is a typo or something else that doesn't belong.

Hope this helps.

Thanks druuna for the reply. The script is ugly because its test, once I make it work, I will copy the one to the original script.

Anyways I have tried bb="$a" before, but still I got the same error.

I defined var="he-llo" initially. Just to check I removed the quotes.

Anyways I am running this script only and I still get that error.

The sql file I execute is
set echo off
set feedback off
set verify off
set heading off

select max(date) from tablename;

Thanks again.

A newline in $a could cause the error message.
Demonstration:-
To remove all newlines in $a try either
bb=${a//$'\n'/}
or
bb=${a//
/}

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes, just like I stated in my previous reply. The problem lies elsewhere.

Are you still talking about the quoting or is this about the sql file? I assume it is about the quoting, an sqlplus statement cannot produce a sed error.....

One thing I don't get:
In your first post you showed a script and its output. This part a=`echo exit|sqlplus -S -L xxx/xxx@xxx @test.sql` does fill a (a is 30-APR-10).

Does echo exit|sqlplus -S -L xxx/xxx@xxx @test.sql work from the command line (although post #1 does suggest it works)??

Thanks Kenhelm,

its just the newlines and your suggestion worked fine.

druuna,

echo exit|sqlplus -S -L xxx/xxx@xxx @test.sql executed fine, its just that the newlines messed it up. After I did what Kenhelm suggested, it worked. I should have thought of that before.

Thanks to both for the help.