how to check null variable

sachin.gangadha · #1 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

korn shell

If [ "$a" != "" ]
then
update_smartcare_user_password "$u_id"
else
echo "Not a database user"
fi

i get this error
Syntax error at line *** : `then' is not expected.
what should i do.

I want to check whether $a is null or not.

porter · #2 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

Code:

if [ "$a" != "" ]
then
     update_smartcare_user_password "$u_id"
else
     echo "Not a database user"
fi

I presume the 'I' was supposed to be 'i'?

sachin.gangadha · #3 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

thank you very much porter. It was 'I' that wasted my hour. Seriouly debugging sucks when you have couple of hundreds lines of code. once again thanx

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