[SOLVED] Q: Dynamic Variables

jakekatz · 04-22-2010, 02:45 PM

Good day.

I'm writing what I thought was a VERY simple script to interface the cdrecord command which is too complicated for the average user.

I want the script to run the cdrecord --scanbus and present the user with a list of burners installed on his/her system. Many PC's have multiple drives install, thus the reason I need this script. This is only the first step in this script, more interaction will follow, but I just can't get past the first step. I want to scanbus, store device names in dynamic variables and present user with the description, not the cryptic 0,0,0 or 0,1,0 or 1,0,0 device addressing.

For this example, lets say the following produce this output on my particular system

Code:

$ cdrecord --scanbus 2>/dev/null | grep "[0-9],[0-9],[0-9]"
   0,0,0     0) 'LITE-ON ' 'LTR-52246S      ' '6S0D' Removable CD-ROM
   0,1,0     1) 'HL-DT-ST' 'DVD-ROM GDR-H30N' '1.00' Removable CD-ROM
   0,2,0     2) *
<snip>
   0,7,0     7) HOST ADAPTOR

So, what I want to do is capture the device "#,#,#" and the description, so the user can make an informed decision as to which device his blank CD is in.

I need to create dynamic variables, I though I knew how to do this, but for some reason they don't get exported outside of the while loop.

Here is Example that does NOT (err NOT) work:

The man script: cdmenu

Code:

#!/bin/bash
set -a
echo ""
echo "Choose a #number,  0 -> 6 to select your recording device..."
echo ""
c=0
# grep -v "*" on next line omits empty drive addr which are represented with the * symbol

cdrecord --scanbus 2>/dev/null | grep "[0-9],[0-9],[0-9]" | grep -v "*" | \
while read line; do
  a=`echo ${line} | awk '{print $1}'`
  b=`echo ${line} | awk '{print $2 " " $3 " " $4 " " $5}'`
  eval a_${c}=\`echo \"$a\"\`
  eval b_${c}=\`echo \"$b\"\`
  #eval echo \"Value of a_$c: \$a_$c\"
  #eval echo \"Value of b_$c: \$b_$c\"
  eval echo \" \#$c  --  \$b_$c\"
  let c="$c + 1"
done

# Okay, at this point, I'm assuming this is what I have in my dynamic,
# variables, your milage may vari as output differes from linux/UNIX
#
# a_1 = 0,0,0
# b_1 = 'LITE-ON ' 'LTR-52246S'
#
# a_2 = 0,1,0
# b_2 = 'HL-DT-ST' 'DVD-ROM GDR-H30N'
#
# This is proven by the two lines commented out in 
# the while loop
#
# Here's where I get totally stuck.
echo ""
read -p "Answer: " d
eval device=\`echo \"\$a_$d\"\`
eval description=\`echo \"\$b_$d\"\`

# debug uncomment
echo "Device value is: $device"
echo "Description value is: $description"

Results when run?

Code:

Choose a #number,  0 -> 6 to select your recording device...

 #0 -- 0) 'LITE-ON ' 'LTR-52246S
 #1 -- 1) 'HL-DT-ST' 'DVD-ROM GDR-H30N'
 #2 -- 7) HOST ADAPTOR

Answer:

I'll Answer 0 to choose the LITE-ON

Code:

Answer: 0
Device value is:
Description value is:

My answer should be: 0,0,0, but I get nada!

What am I doing wrong?

Any takers, I'm SURE it's some darn switch I'm forgetting to add for exporting beyond a while loop? I-dunno, my head hurts.

Thanks in advance!

J.

chrism01 · 04-22-2010, 06:53 PM

Might I suggest you store the info in 1 or more arrays. That'll make it easier to retrieve the info by numbered index. Alternately, store the info in a temp file, 1 rec per line and store the matching index in an array.

Personally, if it was me, given you say there's more interactions etc to come, I'd do the whole thing in Perl. It's more powerful/better equipped to do this imho. YMMV
Not that it can't be done in bash.

Kenhelm · 04-23-2010, 01:15 AM

The while loop is in a pipe and so is running in a subshell.
Variables set in a subshell are not available to the parent shell.
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/process-sub.html
Look at Example 23-1. Code block redirection without forking

Code:

# Instead of the pipe to the while loop:
commands | while read line; do
 ...
done

# try process substitution:
while read line; do
 ...
done < <(commands)

catkin · 04-23-2010, 02:56 AM

+1 to using arrays and not setting values in a pipeline.

Will this script be run with root privileges? cdrecord --scanbus does not work for an ordinary user on my system.

grail · 04-23-2010, 07:03 AM

Quote:

cdrecord --scanbus does not work for an ordinary user on my system.

Does on mine??

I do like the array idea but depending on what you want to show the user and whether or not you play with IFS
to get the right format???
I came up with an alternative but you will have to see what ya think:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

var=($(cdrecord --scanbus | awk 'NR > 1 && $3 !~ /\*/'))

select x in $(cdrecord --scanbus | awk 'NR > 1 && $3 !~ /\*/{gsub(/\47/,"");print $3}')
do
	echo $(cdrecord --scanbus | awk '$3 ~ /'"$x"'/{print $1}')
	break
done

catkin · 04-23-2010, 08:25 AM

Or this

Code:

#!/bin/bash

i=-1
while read bus driver rest
do
    rest=${rest//\'/ }
    let i++
    array[i]="$bus $( echo ${rest%Removable CD-ROM*} )"  # The echo changes multiple spaces to single spaces
done < <(cdrecord --scanbus 2>&1 | grep 'Removable CD-ROM')

echo 'Choose a drive by number'
select drive in "${array[@]}"
do
    echo "You chose '$drive'"
done

EDIT: added redirection (in red) to keep things pretty

jakekatz · 04-23-2010, 08:47 AM

I thought that it was a subshell problem because variables were set in the loop, but not outside.

Thanks for the pointer to that article, cleared it up in a second!

Code:

#!/bin/bash
declare -a DEV
declare -a DES
index=0
while read line; do
  DEV[$index]=`echo ${line} | awk '{print $1}'`
  DES[$index]=`echo ${line} | awk '{print $2 " " $3 " " $4 " " $5}'`
  ((index++))
done < <(cdrecord --scanbus 2>/dev/null | grep "[0-9],[0-9],[0-9]" | grep -v "*")
read -p "Answer: " x
echo "DEV$x = ${DEV[$x]}"
echo "DES$x = ${DES[$x]}"
DEVICE=${DEV[$x]}
DESCRIPTION=${DES[$x]}
#etc...

Works great!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenhelm

The while loop is in a pipe and so is running in a subshell.
Variables set in a subshell are not available to the parent shell.
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/process-sub.html
Look at Example 23-1. Code block redirection without forking

Code:

# Instead of the pipe to the while loop:
commands | while read line; do
 ...
done

# try process substitution:
while read line; do
 ...
done < <(commands)