Whats wrong with this 5 line script!

c19h28O2 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

Hi

Code:

#!/bin/sh

user=$1

if [ "$user | grep [0-9]" -eq 0 ]
        echo "No"
else
        echo "Yes"
fi

I'm not quite sure whats wrong with this but I know its something silly.

Any ideas?

Thanks

tmarikle · #2 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

Besides the "if" syntax error, you have a major misunderstanding on what can be inside the test brackets

Code:

user=$1

if [ "$user | grep [0-9]" -eq 0 ]
then
        echo "No"
else
        echo "Yes"
fi

Code:

$ ksh -x test.sh bob
+ user=bob
+ [ bob | grep [0-9] -eq 0 ]
test.sh[3]: bob | grep [0-9]: 0403-009 The specified number is not valid for this command.
+ echo Yes
Yes

c19h28O2 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

Thanks for that very constructive feedback but not what i'm looking for

tmarikle · #4 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

Sorry, I was only prompting you to examine the code (through the trace) since the error is clear. I really don't know what you are trying to acheive with "$user | grep [0-9]". Nothing will be "grep'd" because KSH doesn't know that you are trying to grep anything. KSH thinks that this is one big string. Your test needs to be along the lines of this:

[ $(some shell commands like piped through grep) -eq 0 ]

You are going to run into more problems since "$user" is treated as a command when inserted into $(); I'm certain that you want to echo this through grep.

c19h28O2 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

Hi,

Apologies, think we got off on the wrong foot, i've just started to learn scripting, it was just to test the word entered in $1 if it started with a digit or not, but i wanted to use an if statement to do it.....

Thanks for your help

tmarikle · #6 (**permalink**) 05-09-2006

No worries.

You can test for digits using built in functionality rather than a process.

Code:

if [[ ${user##+([0-9])} != ${user} ]]
then
    echo "$user starts with a digit"
else
    echo "$user does not start with a digit"
fi

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