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UNIX head command not working?

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Homework and Emergencies Homework & Coursework Questions UNIX head command not working?
# 15  
Old 12-15-2014
As we dont know what OS you are using we cant figure out like that what error message you would be getting... but you were asked to try on command line tail -2 <a directory name> to see the behaviour of that command with a directory, we are not going to to your work for you...
Once you have tested and told us the result can we help you go further...
Since if you have corrected now your script to use $2 (which we hope is a numeric value...), you are left with solving how to input files for the given directory...
# 16  
Old 12-15-2014
I have tried the command and it came up with this:
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

$2 is a numeric value

Also the OS is Windows.
# 17  
Old 12-15-2014
Quote:
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
Wasnt that your error?
...
So now you see that you were asked to enter a directory, but the assignment was clear:
All files in that directory are to passed to tail/head
But in your script we see nothing of the sort...
# 18  
Old 12-15-2014
I honestly thought that the code I had written was right, just needed tweaking to get rid of the error.

I'm assuming you pass the files in the directory to tail or head by using the -n option to specify the amount of lines.
# 19  
Old 12-15-2014
No.
Read man head, man tail, and the man page of your shell.
And the script you posted has several weak points, as I alluded before. Try to go through it line by line, maybe with the shell's -vx options set.
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