LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] beginner script errors 2

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beginner script errors 2

Hi guys,

my scripts is not giving me the desired output and i can't seem to figure out why.

all its doing is pinging a host and based on the exit staus print a few lines.

here's the code:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

#Purpose: to ping the gateway 5 times 



STATUS=1



COUNT=0



until [[ $STATUS -eq 0 ]]

do

  ping -c 1 192.168.0.45

  RETURNVAL=$?  

  echo "return value: $RETURNVAL"



if [[ $RETURNVAL -eq 0 ]]

  echo "entering loop if return value is 0"

  then 

  echo "gateway reachable"  

    let "COUNT+=1"

  echo "count: $COUNT"

  sleep 3

  elif [[ $RETURNVAL -ne 0 ]]

  echo "entering loop if return value is 1"  

  then 

    echo "$?"

    echo "gateway unreachable"  



  fi

 

  if [[ $COUNT -eq 5 ]] 

  then

  STATUS=0

  fi

done

the issue i'm having is in the following:

Code:

ping -c 1 192.168.0.45

  RETURNVAL=$?

the variable RETURNVAL holds the value 1 (host 192.168.0.45 doesn't exist) but it keeps entering the loop for

Code:

if [[ $RETURNVAL -eq 0 ]]

so my output looks like this:

Code:

PING 192.168.0.45 (192.168.0.45) 56(84) bytes of data.

From 192.168.0.20 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable



--- 192.168.0.45 ping statistics ---

1 packets transmitted, 0 received, +1 errors, 100% packet loss, time 0ms



return value: 1

entering loop if return value is 0

gateway reachable

count: 1

can somebody please tell me why this is happening..? thanks!

The ``then'' statement must immediately follow the ``if'' statement.

That's why I usually use the following style:

Code:

if [[ $RETURNVAL -eq 0 ]]; then

  echo "entering loop if return value is 0"

  echo "gateway reachable"  

  let "COUNT+=1"

  echo "count: $COUNT"

  sleep 3

elif [[ $RETURNVAL -ne 0 ]]; then

  echo "entering loop if return value is 1"  

  echo "$?"

  echo "gateway unreachable"  

fi

Try moving the lines

echo "entering loop if return value is 0"
echo "entering loop if return value is 1"

AFTER the then statement.

Thanks a lot guys, that was a fundamental error on my part. cheers!

The bracket tests are really designed for use with string values. In bash, when testing numerical values such as exit codes, the arithmetic operator is recommended.

Code:

if (( RETURNVAL == 0 )); then

Or since 0 evaluates as false in numeric tests, and !0 evaluates as true (some value exists), you can even just do this:

Code:

if (( RETURNVAL )); then

This does reverse the logic of the if construct, however.

There's also no need to do use elif here, since the result is just the inverse of the first test. "else" only will do. elif is only needed when you have two or more independent tests.

Code:

if (( RETURNVAL )); then

        echo "entering loop if return value is 1"  

        echo "$?"                #see the note below about this line

        echo "gateway unreachable"  

else

        echo "entering loop if return value is 0"

        echo "gateway reachable"  

        (( COUNT+=1 ))

        echo "count: $COUNT"

        sleep 3

fi

This doesn't do what you think it does, however.

Code:

  echo "entering loop if return value is 1"  

  echo "$?"

$? will always be "0" here, because it contains the exit code of the previous command, which is echo.

Edit: Come to think of it, a case construct would also be a viable option here.

Code:

case "$RETURNVAL" in

        0) echo "entering loop if return value is 0"

          echo "gateway reachable"  

          (( COUNT+=1 ))

          echo "count: $COUNT"

          sleep 3

          ;;

        *) echo "entering loop if return value is 1"  

          echo "gateway unreachable"

          ;;

esac