more shell questions

icecubeflower · 03-31-2009, 07:08 AM

Hey I tried a tutorial's example and I can't make it work

Q.5.Modify above and store division of x and y to variable called z
For Ans. Click here
$ x=20
$ y=5
$ z=`expr x / y`
$ echo $z

Oh wait, I made it work. That's not a single quote, that's that crazy backquote character by the 1 key.

Okay but I still have to do this:
$ z=`expr $x / $y`

His example doesn't use the $ signs. Why?

hifun · 03-31-2009, 07:20 AM

$x means value inside the variable x.If $ not used, then echo will treat it as x only and flash an error
non-numeric constant

maxy7710 · 03-31-2009, 07:22 AM

its printed wrong in the tutorial, cos without the $ we would never get the values.

maxy7710 · 03-31-2009, 07:23 AM

its printed wrong in the tutorial, cos without $ we would never get the value for x.