String manipulation won't work in script but will if extracted
 

Using Slackware 13.37 w/ bash 4.1.10.
Using the following commands in a bash script fails with:
syntax error near unexpected token `}'

bash-4.1$ pknt=789 <-----added for interactive mode
bash-4.1$ jj="00000$pknt"
bash-4.1$ jj=`echo ${jj:(-3)}` <-----error??
bash-4.1$ echo $jj
789
but as U can C it works fine when cut and pasted in interactive mode.
Tried as ${jj: -3} but gets same error.
Did I leave out some command to tell bash I would use string manipulation or is this a bug?
If there is a sad face it is covering ":("

Do you mind pasting the code here? It would make debugging easier

Are you using
instead of
at the start of the script? I think parameter expansion like this may be a bashism...though I could be wrong.

Here is the list of everything that does change when you do (call it as sh) :-

http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/man...OSIX-Mode.html

I don't have a 13.37 computer to work with but it works on Slackware64 14.0 no matter what the shebang I use, as well as in interactive mode. I'm not sure why you would want to use the first echo statement. It is pretty much redundant in that usage.

It also works on Slackware64-13.37 using /bin/sh and /bin/bash, but it does not work when using /bin/ash (or in interactive mode using ash). The link wildwizard posted mentions parameter expansion but not *which* uses are valid. Obviously bash doesn't discriminate, but other shells might (see `man ash`, which doesn't list
as valid). I have no idea why it isn't working for you though, assuming /bin/sh is linked to /bin/bash.

String manipulation won't work in script but will if extracted
 

willysr, when I went to get that segment of the script I found a missing preceding "if"-- Dah! working too long
Apologies