LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Some annoying output - something small, just cannot see what?

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Some annoying output - something small, just cannot see what?

Hi again Batistuta,

Your script has some structural problems. Here is my interpretation of what I think you're getting at:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

# ... blah blah ...

# ... find command here ...

retval=$?



if [ $retval -eq 0 ]; then

    echo "Do backup stuff"

else 

    perror $retval

fi



exit $retval

...even worse using 'find -L */"$filename";' definitely isn't the right way: either make the user supply the full path, a search path or search the local directory (use 'optargs'?). Then $filename isn't propagated down the script so 'echo "file "$filename" found;' doesn't even show the actual file (or files!) found and it doesn't protect against spaces and such. And usually you have an idea of which files to back up. I mean you don't go backing up random files.

Code:

function help() { echo "Bash scripting guides:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html 

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/index.html 

http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/index.html

http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sh.html

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/ 

http://wooledge.org/mywiki/BashFAQ?action=show&redirect=BashFaq 

http://wooledge.org/mywiki/BashPitfalls"; }

Batistuta,

It's coming along, keep up the effort! A few things.

Your if statements are still not correct, but they're closer. Please see my other post.

Here's a marked up version, discussing a few of the issues:

Code:

#!/bin/bash



# This find command looks for a file named retval.

find retval



# So this is probably going to set the variable retval to 1, not 0 (true.)

retval=$?



if [ $retval -eq 0 ]; then

    echo "Do backup stuff [y/n]"

    read yn

      # the second 'if' is out of flow.

      # You should at least quote (with ") your variables.

      if [$yn = y] || if [$Y = Y] 

        # "do" is for loops, not for the if statement. See the man page.

        do "Blah"

      # Why not just use an else statement?

      # This is the correct way to use || with two expression clauses, though.

      elif [$yn != y] || [$yn != Y]

        # see above comment about do.

          do Exit

      fi

else 

    # You're missing an echo call.

    "not found exiting"



fi



exit $retval

Another free tip: try debugging your scripts by adding set -x to the top.

Here's another revision that should do what you want.

Code:

#!/bin/bash



set -x



# Assume you run some find command that returns 0, here we mock up with the 'true' binary.

true

retval=$?



if [ $retval -eq 0 ]; then

    echo "Do backup stuff [y/n]"

    read yn

    do_backup=$(echo "$yn" | grep -c '^[yY]$')



    if [ $do_backup -eq 1 ]; then

        echo "Doing backup stuff..."

        # Do the backup stuff.

    else

        echo "Okay, bye."

    fi

else  

    echo "Couldn't find any files."

fi



exit $retval