Hi all, i'm new to linux and i have a problem. I have an assigment where i have to sum any amount of numbers entered on the command line.
EX: ./addany 2 3 4
Where 2 3 4 would be summed and 9 would be outputted. Also if no numbers are entered it just outputs zero. I have to write it using a for loop and a while loop. This is script by the way. I already have the for loop and the code looks like this:

#!/bin/bash

sum=0

for foo in $*
do
sum=$(($sum+$foo))
done

echo "$sum"


...and it works. But i can't get the while loop to save my life. I have tried using a counter, $*, $#, and $@, nothing works. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

LQ.org is NOT here to do your homework, and it is techniaclly against the rules you have agreed to abide by. however i'll give a few tips...

1) you can use "test" (or it 's [ ] notation) to see if $* is empty
2) you can use "shift" to move the command line parameters along by a given amount.

This is to MilkMan:

This question is unrelated to your quest but to satisfy my own curiosity.

When I was in school 50 some odd years ago and we had an assignment, the solutions to it were based on information available in a text book.

Today, what sources of information are you students given to help solve things like this?

Anyone else out of school recently care to comment?

Thanks
Dave

well i recently completed a degree in comuter engineering, and never once did i get someone else to do the work for me

You have a degree in computer engineering and can't write a simple script?

As my youngest is 45 you can see by this follow up question that it has been years and years and years since I have been in or around a classroom of any level of education.

For CS courses are there standard text books adopted by the CS department or does each instructor sellect something that you would obtain from a bookstore? Such as "Teach Yourself C for Dummies".

The text book that is given is for administration of Unix servers and has no script examples. IF you will read my first post you will see the problem is two steps: To be written with a for loop and in a while loop. I solved the for loop using the Man Bash pages, and tried to use the same process but i'm having trouble figuring out with $ to use to take input off the command line. I'm not asking anyone to do my work for me, if the text book contained any programming information I wouldn't even be here, I just want to learn how, and i thought the purpose of this site was to help each other. I'm not a cheater, but i can't figure it out from the man pages. If you don't want to help fine, but don't call me a cheater.

If you took my questions as an accusation, then I apoligize. There are a lot of questions simular to yours and I was wondering why.

Is your assignment based on a question in the text book? It seems odd that you would be asked to solve such a basic problem in an advanced course. Forgive me! Just an old man rambling about the younger generations problems.

Let me give you a line that might jog your mind into the correct path.

while shift != newline