[SOLVED] Trying to understand script

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 02:21 AM

In the following script why does it use the read builtin the first time it accepts input from the terminal and the cat utility the second time?

$ cat journal
# journal: add journal entries to the file
# $HOME/journal-file

file=$HOME/journal-file
date >> $file
echo -n "Enter name of person or group:"
read name
echo "$name" >> $file
echo >> $file
cat >> $file
echo "------------------------------------" >> $file
echo >> $file

catkin · 07-23-2011, 02:31 AM

No idea; it's dysfunctional without a prior instruction to the user to enter data and terminate it with Ctrl+D.

micxz · 07-23-2011, 02:39 AM

cat will accept a multi line input. After you hit enter with read all you get is one line.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 02:42 AM

From what I gather from the text book is that read is used to store inputted information and cat is used to recall stored information. Is this correct?

catkin · 07-23-2011, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

From what I gather from the text book is that read is used to store inputted information and cat is used to recall stored information. Is this correct?

No. cat writes the content of a file. If no file name is given it reads stdin until it ends. Does your text book explain stdin, stdout and stderr? They are essential concepts for understanding how cat and many other programs work.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

No. cat writes the content of a file. If no file name is given it reads stdin until it ends. Does your text book explain stdin, stdout and stderr? They are essential concepts for understanding how cat and many other programs work.

I am unable to locate any of those. the name of my textbook is A practical guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If this helps.

The book says when you use cat, it copies a file to standard output. What is stdin??

catkin · 07-23-2011, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

I am unable to locate any of those. the name of my textbook is A practical guide to Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If this helps.

The book says when you use cat, it copies a file to standard output. What is stdin??

Don't know that book; its description of cat is correct.

Wikipedia explains stdin, stdout and stderr.

Nylex · 07-23-2011, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

The book says when you use cat, it copies a file to standard output.

Yes, but you need to tell it the file that it is to read!

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

Don't know that book; its description of cat is correct.

Wikipedia explains stdin, stdout and stderr.

Ok, I'll check those out.
Thanks for your help.

grail · 07-23-2011, 03:20 AM

My main concern would be the same as catkin's original one, ie the script never tells the user to press Ctrl-D so they will be stuck at the command line until they read about this somewhere
or press Ctrl-C which most know will kill something but is incorrect here.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylex

Yes, but you need to tell it the file that it is to read!

The files name is journal-file, how do I tell it to read this file? is that where the #!/bin/bash comes in to play?

Nylex · 07-23-2011, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

The files name is journal-file, how do I tell it to read this file? is that where the #!/bin/bash comes in to play?

No. That line tells the shell which program is used to interpret the commands in your script.

You have the line

cat >> $file

which says to send the output from cat to the file in the $file (which is journal-file). Without the redirection, you just have

cat

In this case, cat will wait for you to type input at the command line (and terminate it by pressing Ctrl-D). If you want to output the contents of $file to the command line with cat, you use

cat $file

Does this help?

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylex

No. That line tells the shell which program is used to interpret the commands in your script.

You have the line

cat >> $file

which says to send the output from cat to the file in the $file (which is journal-file). Without the redirection, you just have

cat

In this case, cat will wait for you to type input at the command line (and terminate it by pressing Ctrl-D). If you want to output the contents of $file to the command line with cat, you use

cat $file

Does this help?

Should I insert a comment telling to type and then press Ctrl-d after the cat >> $file

catkin · 07-23-2011, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

Should I insert a comment telling to type and then press Ctrl-d after the cat >> $file

A comment would help anybody looking at the code/script. I guess you would prefer to help people running the script, in which case you could insert an echo giving instructions on the line before the cat.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

A comment would help anybody looking at the code/script. I guess you would prefer to help people running the script, in which case you could insert an echo giving instructions on the line before the cat.

Is this right: echo "Input information and then press Ctrl+d" on the line before cat >> $file