Hello,

I have been googling for a while to solve a little problem in my script but I couldn't find any solution for it.

I have a shell script that requires an imput to be typed during its execution and I don't know how I can "answer" this prompt automatically, without having to interact with the script.

It's a script to restore an Oracle database. The script calls a .sql file, in this .sql file there is the following command:

recover database until cancel using backup controlfile;

after running this command the message below is displayed requiring an imput that can be: filename, AUTO or CANCEL.

Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL}

I'm always going to use option "AUTO", so I need to find a way to tell the script to use this option whenever the prompt appears.

Any help will be very appreciated!

Best Regards,

Rodrigo Azevedo

The first thing to try is just echoing the answer into the script:

# echo "AUTO" | ./script.sh

That is the simple answer. There are lots of others, but it really is a bit for trial and error to find the one that fits you own style.

:-Dan

There is a language made for this called "expect".

Try looking at that its very simple from what i hear and intergrates nicely with shell scripts.

If AUTO is the only response that you need, you can use the "yes" command:

./script.sh < <(yes AUTO)

Expect really is easy, and is the appropriate tool if you need interaction with a script or program. You can find it here:

http://expect.nist.gov/

There is also a very good O'Reilly book on Expect with TCL/TK.

Of course, if you only need a one liner input this one time, and the other suggestions work for you, then use those suggestions.

I am no oracle expert, but if your input is always going to be AUTO, then cant you hard code this into your script? If there is a facility to pass this argument to the command that you are issuing it would save you the hassle of the program prompting you for stdin.

ie recover database until cancel using backup controlfile --AUTO;

I made that last part up --AUTO ... it would be handy if you could do that i think.

Hello Everybody!!

I'm really thankful for your help and sorry for the delay. This issue was
solved by just putting the word "AUTO" after the recover command. I guess it
is an sql specific sintax because I have neven seen this kind of sintaxe
used in shell scripts.

The following is a piece of the code:

recover database until cancel using backup controlfile;
AUTO
alter database open resetlogs;

Thank you guys again!!!

Obs: This language "express" seems to be very good... I'm going to spend
some time studying it.

Rodrigo Azevedo Medeiros