Any expect script experts

john83reuben · 07-18-2008, 06:18 AM

I have a problem

Quote:

#!/projects/john/bin/expect
set var "f in `ls -tr /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`"

send "ssh -p 22 john@server.com for $var;do mv $f /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir;done\n"

expect "h>"

I cant able to do this, it gives an error

Quote:

can't read "f": no such variable
while executing
"send "ssh -p 22 john@server.com for $var;do mv $f..."
(file "./mytesting.exp" line 19)

but when i execute the

Quote:

for $var;do mv $f /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir;done

it works, ...whats the problem in expect script..please help

arungoodboy · 07-18-2008, 06:51 AM

Instead of using the set command, why don't you use a foreach?

Code:

foreach file [ls] {
#do something
}

matthewg42 · 07-18-2008, 06:51 AM

If you want to execute a non-interactive command on a remote server with ssh, you simply don't need to use expect. Set up public key authentication (so you don't need a password to log in), and then use a shell script, like this:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

ssh john@server.com 'mv /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt /john/expect/backupdir/'

You only need to use expect if the command you wish to execute prompts you for input with the keyboard. For security reasons, you should not use expect to respond to password prompts (because your expect script would have to contain a copy of your unencrypted password).

john83reuben · 07-20-2008, 09:26 PM

if normally in an expect script, u do this means in works

Quote:

spawn /bin/ksh

send "ssh -p 22 username@server.com cd /any/directory;ls -la file.txt\n"
expect "h>"

#note..already set up the server in such a way so the password is disabled.

the code aboe works, spawn a shell and then send commands to the waiting shell..

but y this doesnt work

Quote:

send "ssh -p 22 username@server.com for f in `ls -tr /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`;do mv $f /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir;done\n"

expect "h>"

it shows the error

Quote:

can't read "f": no such variable
while executing
"send "ssh -p 22 username@server.com for f in `ls -tr /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`;do mv $f..."
(file "./mytesting.exp" line 19)

because if i execute the script below on a shell means, it works. Y its not working on the expect script, which suppose to execute the shell script commands....

Quote:

for f in `ls -tr /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`;do mv $f /projects/johndir/john/expect/backupdir;done

pls help

john83reuben · 07-21-2008, 02:27 AM

is this correct

Quote:

for f in `ls -ltra /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`; do scp $f username@server.com:/projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir; done

matthewg42 · 07-21-2008, 05:21 AM

You expect script doesn't work because you have not spawned a process to expect output from or send input to.

In the vase of this:

Code:

for f in `ls -ltra /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt`; do 
  scp $f username@server.com:/projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir
done

A few comments:

You would be better off not calling ls with backtick expansion. The shell is already doing the expansion of the file pattern /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt into a list of files - calling ls on that list has no use, and can cause a problem when there are spaces in one or more of the file names.
You should get into the habit of quoting your expanded variables in the shell. The case where there is a space in a file name will cause the scp line to malfunction the way you did it.

These things considered, a better version would be:

Code:

for f in /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt; do 
  scp "$f" username@server.com:/projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/
done

Even better, scp can take a list of files as arguments, so there's no need for the loop at all.

Code:

scp /projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/testtest/*.txt username@server.com:/projects/ilinterf/john/expect/backupdir/