i'm just learning scripting, and have been banging my head against this

I want to check if my WAS6 java process is running and if so..echo me a messages. If not then echo me a different messages

the problem i have is I dont know how to represent a NULL return value. If i grep for a was6 java pid, the $? is always '0'...no matter if a PID came back or not. any idea on how to write/rewrite this??

PID=`/usr/ucb/ps -auxwww |grep -i [s]erver1 |grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`

if [ $? -eq ] ; then ( i have also tried `if [ $PID -eq ] ; then)
echo " WAS6 is down,please restart"
else
echo " WAS6 is running, no action needed"
fi
--------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition, i've tried this variation below, which seems like works ..but i always get the error when executing..

# cat test.ksh
#!/bin/ksh
#
# Check to see if URLs respond in a given time period
#
BASE_DIR="/local/apps/adminutils"
WGET="$BASE_DIR/bin/wget"
DAT_FILE="$BASE_DIR/etc/url_check.dat"
MAIL_LIST="user@net.net"

PID=`/usr/ucb/ps -auxwww |grep -i [s]erver1 |grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`
if [ $PID = ] ; then
echo " WAS6 is down,please restart"
else
echo " WAS6 is running, no action needed"
fi
# ./test.ksh
./test.ksh[11]: test: argument expected
WAS6 is running, no action needed
#

~

z option is used to check whether variable is null

thank you so very much... I HAVE search countless books and searched the entire library on www.books24x7.com and safair.orielly.com and none of then could tell me this...

i'll be a regular on this forum for sure...tks again...i'll try this method out

btw, do any of you guys know where I can get a list of these kind of directives and what they do?

Im trying to get better at shell scripting....but its like trying to write a letter without knowing the dictionary....

-z
-eq
-$?

etc..etc...etc...

You can read the following document :KornShell 88 Manual Page
You will find ather links on the page KornShell Documentation

Jean-Pierre.

thank you,will read!