Hi guys i added a screen shot of the script; sorry couldnt copy and paste =(

anyhow it keeps saying grep command is not found

but if I were to run a simple script like

#!/bin/bash
WORD=ping
grep -r -i --col $WORD /document

it will execute it. so why is the attached script not able to?

Attached Thumbnails

 

because you changed PATH.

1 members found this post helpful.

To elaborate, your script sets the path to notes/Job-Steps. It's probably a bad idea to use a relative directory in your PATH, and if you need programs like grep, you mustn't overwrite what was in PATH before.

So, a possible fix is PATH=$PATH:$PWD/notes/Job-Steps. $PWD is you current directory.

I am not exactly sure what you mean =( I am not sure how path is reflecting the error "grep command not found". Sorry, I am still getting used to bash scripting =(

so pretty much, it is ( i changed the paths; is this what you meant?)

#!/bin/bash
PATH=$PATH:$PWD/notes/Job-Steps
read -p "would you like to grep or find? 1 for grep 2 for find .. " selection

if [ $selection == 1 ]
then
echo " "
echo " "
echo "what would you like to grep for?"
read -p "please insert string to grep for... " STRING1
echo " "
echo " "
echo " you selected $STRING1 "
grep -r -i --col $STRING1 notes/Job-Steps
else [ $selection == 2 ]
echo " "
echo " "
echo "what would you like to find?"
echo " "
echo " "
fi

yes, that's what I meant. Does it work?

Explanation: The PATH contains the list of all directories where the shell looks for programs to execute. When you use grep. for example, it will find it in /usr/bin. If /usr/bin is not in the PATH, the shell won't find grep.

PATH=notes/Job-Steps sets the PATH to this directory and no other. Since grep is not in notes/Job-Steps, it's not found.

PATH=$PATH:notes/Job-Steps takes the original PATH and adds notes/Job-Steps. So grep will be found.

PATH should contain the absolute pathnames of directories. That is, they should start with a slash "/". If not, once you go to a different directory, notes/Job-Steps doesn't exist. It's a relative pathname that only exists if your current directory contains "notes". Using $PWD/notes/Job-Steps instead is a far superior solution, as this pathname will be valid no matter in which directory the script will be executed.

Written after ingestion of various types of alcohols; no guarantee.

1. You need an 'elif', not 'else' there http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/06/...ment-examples/
2. You're using string comparators where you want numeric ones http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/comparison-ops.html

Because $PATH contains the directories that are searched to FIND the executables. It cannot find grep because it's not in notes/Job-Steps.

$ which grep

You could use the full path to execute grep and it should work. But your method is not a good practice. PATH is a reserved environment variable for bash (and other shells). It is not a USER defined variable.

Ahhh. It does work.
and #which grep is where the command lives which is /usr/bin/grep
so, what you are saying is, I am moving the "grep command to that directory?" the script works 100 just trying to understand it.

you also mentioned, you have to specify the absolute path of grep in order for it to work, so why would
#!/bin/bash
WORD=ping
grep -r -i --col $WORD /document

work?



also, Only thing I do not understand is, i thought you would have to call out that variable? like, this is how I am understanding the script...
#!/bin/bash

word=HELLO WORLD
echo "$word"

so... I would assume if you had
PATH=$PATH:notes/Job-Steps .........and as mentioned above, he is saying that PATH contains where the searchable stuff is at, not where grep lives? put technically, isnt this PATH still pointing where the searchable executables are?

you would have to call it out like

grep -r -i "string to search for" $PATH

that is the parth I am confused about =/

If /bin/grep is in your $PATH as the script runs, then it will work within the script.

My style is to always determine the full path for a command such as that and then code that within the script.

For my system:Therefore were I to code that in a script:And please use [code][/code] tags when you enclose code or examples. Makes things better to read.

Actually the path environment is a user defined variable. The global default is defined in the /etc/profile and is typically different for root versus regular users. The user can change the path for their specific needs in their local profile i.e. .bash_profile or .bashrc depending on distribution and shell as well as in a script.

As stated the path environment variable is used to search for executable files. In a nutshell if you want to run grep you can just type grep at the prompt instead of the absolute path of /bin/grep

In the case of your script grep -r -i "string to search for" $PATH would expand to something like grep -r -i "string to search for" /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin which would produce an error no such directory.

Not sure what you are trying to achieve with setting the path as posted.