expect module 1

[LAdProg2005]

I am going through documentation of expect and I came across somethings I do not understand if someone can please help me understand I will appreicate it.

In the below code what does shift signify, i do not understand what it is doing.

$exp->expect($timeout,
              [ qr/username: /i, sub { my $self = shift;
                                       $self->send("$username\n");
                                       exp_continue; }],
              [ qr/password: /i, sub { my $self = shift;
                                       $self->send("$password\n");
                                       exp_continue; }],
              $shell_prompt);

writing in below manner accomplishes the same result as above?

$newExpect = new Expect;
$newExpect->expect(5,"username:");
$exp->match();
$exp->send("string(tempUser)\n enter\n ");

If i have gui that allows to input username how can i pass that username to the above code to accept the passed in value from gui? Any pointers will be helpful.

thanks
LAdProg

 

[Annihilannic]

Why are you asking this in a Perl forum? It would be better to ask in the Tcl/Tk forum since that is the language Expect is derived from.

Annihilannic.

 

[Annihilannic]

Sorry, ignore me! I wasn't aware of the Expect PERL module.

Annihilannic.

 

[LAdProg2005]

No help?

 

[Annihilannic]

Your question appears to be answered here:

Furthermore, patterns can now be specified as array refs containing [$regexp, sub { ...}, @optional_subprams] . When the pattern matches, the subroutine is called with parameters ($matched_expect_obj, @optional_subparms). The subroutine can return the symbol `exp_continue' to continue the expect matching with timeout starting anew or return the symbol `exp_continue_timeout' for continuing expect without resetting the timeout count.

So the shift is assigning the reference to the expect object to $self, allowing convenient access to its methods.

If you prefer the "below" manner then use that instead; I imagine the former would be more useful when expecting multiple strings without being certain of the order in which they may arrive.

Annihilannic.

 

[LAdProg2005]

Thank You