[SOLVED] Need help with homework!!

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 12:30 AM

$ whereis date
/bin/date
$ echo $PATH
.:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
$ cat > date
echo "This is my own version of date."
$ date
Tue May 24 11:45:49 PDT 2005

The question asks what is the unexpected result for this script. When I input this script, I can't get past $ cat > date. Can someone tell me why and steer me in the right direction on answering this question right.

catkin · 07-23-2011, 12:43 AM

It is happening because cat, when called without a file name, reads from stdin. When it hangs, type in something and press Enter; whatever you typed will be written to file "date".

EDIT: sorry -- that should have been Ctrl+D to end the input, not Enter. Thanks to subsequent posters for pointing it out.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 01:15 AM

how do I get the $ back so I can type the last command or can I ?

Nylex · 07-23-2011, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenny53067

how do I get the $ back so I can type the last command or can I ?

Ctrl-D will "quit" cat.

kenny53067 · 07-23-2011, 01:28 AM

Thank you Nylex

Nylex · 07-23-2011, 01:33 AM

No problem. Ctrl-D sends "end of file" to the process (i.e. telling it that the end of the input has been reached), so it's a general keystroke, rather than being specific to cat.