direction symbol in a variable as part of the command

peterloo · #1 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

Hi,

How can I get this to work?

#!/bin/ksh

if [ -n "$1" ]; then
direction=">>"
else
direction=">"
fi

cat some_file_name $direction temp.txt

exit

This shell script is not happy with using "$direction" opposed to ">" or ">>".

Thanks.

Peter

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

Try

direction=\>

maybe, just maybe...

peterloo · #3 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

Nope it did not work. When I echo it out, it shows "\>". I tried using eval, but with eval, I can get the return code if there was a problem with the command.

Perderabo · #4 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

eval is the key to getting this work and I do not understand your objection. You can ignore the return code if you want. Or you can test it if you want. This is the way any command works.

Code:

$ eval true
$ echo $?
0
$ eval false
$ echo $?
1
$

peterloo · #5 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

You are absolutely correct. I don't know what I did, but it did not work earlier. Thanks for your help.

porter · #6 (**permalink**) 12-06-2007

An alternative would be to run shell again...

Code:

sh -c "cat some_file_name $direction temp.txt"

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