didn't get what it does.

please explain.

thanks

I wrote the script using some functions from posts on these forums, that bit was something that Perderabo came up with I think... It is a bit confusing, thats why I added an explanation for it at the top of the script. It think thats a good explanation and I wouldn't know how to explain it any differently.

thanks for all of the help.. i guess i should have mentioned that i am running sco openserver.. i dont know if it matters or not, but the more information the better.... anyway, it looks like the best way to do this is to set up a script and use crontab..
manually, i was using the get command from the back up machine, but if its all the same, put from the production machine will work fine.
now, its time to get down to the creation of the script and setting up cron to run it...
my unix background is about three weeks, but i have been an (i apologize in advanced) NT admin for over a year, so please forgive my ignorance.
anyway, if any of you would like to assist me in setting this up i would be very gratefull... This website, Unix: the complete reference, and sco unix in a nutshell are the only resources i have so far, so i am relying on you all a little...

thanks again...

e0--

anyone else remember using Vi for the first time??? is this our only option???

e0-

Vi hater

Well... I first started using it 17 years ago
and all I can remember is that it was 1000 times
better than "ed"

You do have emacs as another option but I
don't think you'll like that much better.

If you have X, you should be able to find
a X text editor (perhaps pretty basic).

The thing about vi is that you can pretty much
find it on any **IX system. Anything else and
all bets are off.

I'm sure you could find a substitute on the net
somwhere but I've never looked for one myself.

Sorry about that

If you're using Linux, or have pine installed, look for pico. In any case, I too would recommend vi. Again, if you on a Linux system, and vim is installed (Vi IMproved), try the command vimtutor.

HTH

First off, thanks for explaining that Perderabo! I thought that was all dealing with fds, but I wasn't sure. I love this forum...

As far as editors, vi is probably the most powerful, but one of the hardest to get used to... I myself used to be a vi hater...

But there are several text editors available... kwrite (kde), pico, joe... the possibilties are endless. Several of them will color code scripts as you write them too. It's really quite fun! ... hmm... does that make me a nerd?

Anyways, don't forget crontab -e to edit your crontab. It will use whatever you have the $EDITOR set to.

In case you didn't know, here's the syntax for crontab:

MIN HOUR DAY MONTH DAYOFWEEK COMMAND

ie. 5 2 * * * /home/username/bin/script

That will run your script every day, at 5 after 2 in the morning.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions.