[SOLVED] Executing and killing a process from sh file

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 05:02 AM

Hi,
i have recently started a bit of sh coding. i was trying out sm commands from an sh file.

#!/bin/bash
txt1="top > temp.txt"
eval $txt1
echo "\n\nContents of temp.txt....\n"
cat temp.txt

In the above code, wen the command is evaluated, it doesnt go any further coz the top is running. Is there any way i can kill the process so dat the o/p is printed in the required file?

Thank You!

acid_kewpie · 12-21-2010, 05:19 AM

i think you just want to read the top manpage to do a single shot. "top -n 1" for example.

druuna · 12-21-2010, 05:20 AM

Hi,

Top needs to be told that it is in batch mode and also how many times it must refresh. The following will do just that (run in batch mode and refresh once):

top -b -n 1

You also need to put the top command between $( and ), this way it is executed: text1=$(top -b -n1 > tmp.txt)

Hope this helps.

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 05:36 AM

thx for replyin. what if the process, which will be invoked after the evaluation, has to be killed manually? Is there any way to do dat?

acid_kewpie · 12-21-2010, 06:00 AM

if you run a program in the background, e.g. with a & at the end then the $! variable will contain the pid of that forked process whcih you can then kill. Alternatively you can use a tool like pkill to kill it by name.

druuna · 12-21-2010, 06:01 AM

Hi,

Have a look at the kill command.

kill 1234 will kill the process with PID 1234.

Hope this helps.

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 06:22 AM

considering the above code as the example, instead of top consider sm other process is invoked which does not stop unless its done manually. if u try executing the code i wrote, although a temp.txt is created wid the expected o/p, the control does not proceed to cat statement coz top is still running. is there a way to kill this 'top' process from the code itself?

acid_kewpie · 12-21-2010, 06:25 AM

wid? dat? cos? pfffft.

druuna · 12-21-2010, 06:29 AM

Hi,

Your original code does not work, you need to implement the advise given by both acid_kewpie and me.

This works:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
top -b -n 1 > temp.txt
echo "Contents of temp.txt...."
cat temp.txt

And please spell out your words.

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 06:34 AM

m sry for not being able to say wat i wanna do

instead of creating a new process, can it b killed from the same code
smthin like:

#!/bin/bash
txt1="top > temp.txt"
eval $txt1
kill (wateva pid it is)
echo "\n\nContents of temp.txt....\n"
cat temp.txt

(this dsnt work coz the control never arrives at kill statement)
druuna...this code does not complete the execution becoz top is still running.
plz dont consider only the 'top' process. take any process 'pro1' which has to be started n terminated manually

druuna · 12-21-2010, 06:45 AM

Hi,

1) Which part of spell out your words don't you understand??

2) You are posting a (none working) solution and _not_ the problem you are having.

Tell is, in understandable English, what it is you are trying to accomplish.

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 06:54 AM

my bad...i will try to be specific

run this code...

#!/bin/bash
txt1="top > temp.txt"
eval $txt1
echo "\n\nContents of temp.txt....\n"
cat temp.txt

the execution wont b compeleted. hw can this code be modified so that the code is fully executed? after the eval statement is called i want to kill the top process which has been invoked. can this be done?

druuna · 12-21-2010, 07:01 AM

Hi,

Your code doesn't make any sense, which has been explained to you in the previous answers.

This: txt1="top > temp.txt" will store top > temp.txt into txt1. It will _not_ run top!!!

The code given by me in post #9 works. It will run top (once) in batch mode and stores the output in temp.txt. No evaluation is needed, no top process needs to be killed.

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 07:08 AM

dude...what u said in post #9 works...i tried it. if i replace the top command with a process that doesnt stop by itself, can it be killed in mid execution?

silverghost · 12-21-2010, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

This: txt1="top > temp.txt" will store top > temp.txt into txt1. It will _not_ run top!!!

execute the code in the terminal. open up another terminal n run 'top' command. it will show u 2 'top' processes.