Hi All,
I have a question about shell script
I have a file named a.txt
#a.txt
RBS155_SITE1
IP=10.42.33.3
OptBootF="/WRAN/smrsslave1/AIF/Site1RBS155/summaryFile.xml"

RBS15_SITE1
IP=10.42.33.2
OptBootF="summaryFile.xml"


eRBS15_SITE1
IP=192.168.1.2
OptBootF="summaryFile.xml"
NTPservs=10.42.52.99
UTCoffst=23005253

Now I want to write a function who has two parameters

#para1: target file for example a.txt
#para2: target for example RBS15_SITE1
#return: 1: find target in the file 0: doesn't find the target in the #file
find_client(){
res=`exec awk '/'"$1"'/ {print $1 }' a.txt |cat`
if [ $res = $2 ]; then
return 1
else
return 0
fi
}

the problem is when I invoke the function as follows
find_client a.txt RBS15_SITE1

I find the value of res is
RBS15_SITE1 eRBS15_SITE1

the expected value of the res is RBS15_SITE1

How can I modify the function?


Thanks and BRs
Damon

Welcome to LQ,

the output is as can be expected from your code:
As awk is called, it will print every first field in each record matching your regexp /$1/. Therefore two values are in res after this call. If you want only to extract the first result use "|head -1" instead of "|cat". If you want also to check for beginning and ending of lines in your regexp use ^ for the beginning and $ to match the end of the line.

Some additional questions:
1. What is the purpose of "|cat" at the end of the pipe command?
2. Why do you use `exec ...`?

Actually I would be curious how this function works at all!!

You have said:
This would make:

$1 = a.txt
$2 = RBS15_SITE1

Therefore, based on your script:
This would mean that your awk is actually saying (after variable expansion):
Based on this I would say that res has the following string: #a.txt

I would also agree with irmin's last 2 questions as well???