Here is my script so far:

set dirs = ` find . -name "message.jar" 2> /dev/null | cut -d "/" -f 2 ` | uniq
foreach dir ( $dirs )
if (grep $dir/* someText==null) --> how do I write this in script?
print $dir
end
end

You should take a look over man find
Tips: Find directory that contain the file message.jar

find /usr -type f -name "message.jar" -exec dirname {} \;

Hi.

It looks like you are using the csh family and you wish to know how to run a command and test the exit status in an if. Most people agree that members of the csh family are not good for scripting because of technical drawbacks and flaws. The Bourne shell family is considered superior for scripting.

However, if you must use csh, you can use braces to obtain the exit status of a command:

#!/bin/csh

# @(#) s2       Demonstrate csh braces: run command, test exit status.

# Create a scratch file if one does not exist.
touch t1

echo
if ( { ls t1 } ) then
        echo " command ls succeeded."
else
        echo " command ls FAILED."
endif

# Remove file.
rm t1

echo
if ( { ls t1 } ) then
        echo " command ls succeeded."
else
        echo " command ls FAILED."
endif

exit $status

% ./s2

t1
 command ls succeeded.

ls: t1: No such file or directory
 command ls FAILED.

Hi drl,
I am not bound to csh, I can use ksh if necessary. Would using ksh make this any easier?

ksh is Bourne-compatible, so yes, that would be recommended. It's not like this is hard to do in either, just that csh is more likely to limit your future options for developing the script further if you stick with it.