Get reply why reading a file 1

[wdellin]

Looking for some help again with my scripting. I'm trying to read a file and for each entry in the file I want to ask the person running if they want to export that table. If they do, I put the table name in a final output file.

the file I'm reading has

book
chapter
case


My part of the script in question has the following:

rm -f finalout.txt
while read tabname;
do
echo 'Do you want to export '${tabname}
echo 'reply Y to export, N to skip'
read ans1
echo ${ans1}
if [ $ans1} = 'Y' ]
then echo $tabname >> finalout.txt
else
echo 'table will not be exported'
fi
done

output.....

Do you want to export book
reply Y to export, N to skip

test4.sh[XX]: test: argument expected (where XX is the line number of the if statement)


Any ideas on this. I have a feeling I cannot use the read within a read, but do not know how else to do it.

thanks

 

[wdellin]

Sorry, I forgot an important part of the script. On the done statement is the file that I'm reading. The script has been updated.


rm -f finalout.txt
while read tabname;
do
echo 'Do you want to export '${tabname}
echo 'reply Y to export, N to skip'
read ans1
echo ${ans1}
if [ $ans1} = 'Y' ]
then echo $tabname >> finalout.txt
else
echo 'table will not be exported'
fi
done < newtableout.txt

 

[cptk]

try this ...

exec 3< your_file
quite=1
while [ $quite -eq 1 ]
do
read -u3 f1 f2 f3
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
read anw?"do you want to export $f1"
.
.
else
quit=0
fi
done

 

[wdellin]

cptk

thanks for your answer. My problem is the number of lines in the text file can range from 1 to 10, so I'm not sure how many I would have in a run.

 

[cptk]

I should note that this based on ksh shell, which handles "read" a little different than the other shells.

But to answer your initial question, yes, multiple "read" cmds can be used.

Let me know what shell your using - I'll explain how this works -- simple!!

 

[cptk]

number of lines is not a problem at all in my script ...
Let me know what shell your using - I'll explain how this works -- simple!!

 

[wdellin]

I'm using korn shell

 

[cptk]

perfect ...

then my example as shown should work ...

Do you want me to elaborate on the specifics?

 

[wdellin]

Sorry to take your time on this but if you could provide some insite into the commands I would appreciate it.

 

[cptk]

rm final_out.txt 2> /dev/null #remove final file, traps for errors (i.e. - if file doesn't exist)
exec 3< your_file.txt # sets your initial file to a file descriptor (note no space btween 3<)
quite=1 # sets while loop variable
while [ $quite -eq 1 ]
do
read -u3 f1 f2 f3 # read from file descriptor 1 line at a time into three fields
if [ $? -eq 0 ] # checks the exit status of previous cmd (i.e. read cmd)
then
read anw1?"do you want to export $f1 (Y|y)? "
if [[ #anw1 == "Y" || $anw1 == "y" ]]
then
echo $f1 >> final_out.txt
fi
read anw2?"do you want to export $f2 (Y|y)? "
if [[ #anw2 == "Y" || $anw2 == "y" ]]
then
echo $f2 >> final_out.txt
fi
read anw3?"do you want to export $f3 (Y|y)? "
if [[ #anw3 == "Y" || $anw3 == "y" ]]
then
echo $f3 >> final_out.txt
fi
else
quit=0
fi
done


...now you could clean up the 3 separate read stmts (if you don't know the # of fields within each line, but to keep it simple, I left it this way)

 

[cptk]

alright, because I'm heading home (u caught me at a good time) ...

This is a little cleaner

rm final_out.txt 2> /dev/null
exec 3< your_file.txt
quite=1
while [ $quite -eq 1 ]
do
read -u3 line # read from file descriptor 1 line at a time into one field
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
for x in $line #breaks out each field in the line (thus the line can be variable # of fields)
do
read an?"do you want to export $x (Y|y)? "
if [[ $an == "Y" || $an == "y" ]]
then
echo $x >> final_out.txt
fi
done
else
quit=0
fi
done

 

[SamBones]

You're original error is because you had a typo in your script. The line [tt]if [ $ans1} = 'Y' ][/tt] should have been [tt]if [ ${ans1} = 'Y' ][/tt]. Note the missing left brace ([tt]{[/tt]) on [tt]${ans1}[/tt].

Hope this helps.

 

[wdellin]

cptk

Thank you so much for the solution and your time to explain, greatly appreciated.

 

[p5wizard]

another possibility is to read the answer from /dev/tty, while redirecting stdin from your input file for the while read line loop:

while read line
do
...
read ans1 </dev/tty
...
done </path/to/file

HTH,

p5wizard