Basic BASH scripting question

Dark_Helmet · 06-24-2003, 11:12 PM

I have a script, and I'd like to have it echo the standard output to a file; similar to using tee. However, I don't want to force the user to use tee or any file redirection. I want the script to do all of it by itself. Obviously, the simplest answer would be to copy every echo statement. Then change one of each pair so it's redirected to the file.

Another option would be to have a script wrapper. That is, have the wrapper script call the intended script, but add the necessary tee command.

Am I right in thinking there's a better/more elegant way of doing this?

david_ross · 06-25-2003, 01:29 PM

The only other thing I can think of is to echo everything to the file then "cat" or "less" the file at the end. This is probably no good if the script is slow or hangs at all.

crabboy · 06-25-2003, 03:40 PM

You could write you own print or write method that will do the work for you:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

write()
{
   echo $@ | tee -a outfile
}

write hello dude
write another test write

Dark_Helmet · 06-26-2003, 05:45 PM

Yeah, other people might be using this script, and it might also take a while to run. So, delaying the output might encourage widespread use of Ctrl-C and complaints that my script "hangs". So it would be a mixed bacg waiting until the end of the script and cat'ing the log file as visual output.

I like crabboy's take. That's basically what I was looking for, but just didn't make that mental leap.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input.