Try this,

if [ conditions ] <b>;</b>
then
commands......
fi

Thanks, but I am still getting the same error. I have tried the semicolon's just about every which way I can.

Amber Taylor

Amber,

Get of rid of all your semicolons - except the ones in the 'here' statement and put all your commands on a separate line. There's no man page for 'if' as it is not an external command but rather a shell built-in.

__________________
Patrick Van der Veken - UNIX consultant (c) 2001 - 2001 http://www.baanboard.com - http://www.ux-core.com
'True strength lies in gentleness' - Irish proverb

A couple of things...

First, remove the ";" after the "fi"
also, if $all_recs is from the command line,
I assume you are assigning it...

export all_recs=$1


Second, try changing:
sqlplus -s $connect_string > /dev/null << EOF

to:
sqlplus -s $connect_string << EOF > /dev/null

...the second part should not have anything
to do with the "unmatched then" but it may cause
you execution problems. Additionally, the "if"
command is a shell built-in and would be
documented in the KSH(1) man page (assuming you
are using ksh (just man the shell you use).

Thank you all for taking the time to help me with this.

I am using ksh.

Everthing inside the if statement worked before I tried to enclose it in the if statement.

I did assign the variable and tested it with an echo.

Also, I have tested it a few times without the ';' after the fi and still it wont work.

The line listed in the syntax error corresponds to the 'then' line number in the snippets above.

The only ;'s remaining (besides the one at the end of the if line) are the ones inside the sqlplus routine.

Then there must be double quotes missing for your here doc:

Try:

<< "EOF

and

EOF"

I am not 100% sure about the exact placement of the first double quote though...

__________________
Patrick Van der Veken - UNIX consultant (c) 2001 - 2001 http://www.baanboard.com - http://www.ux-core.com
'True strength lies in gentleness' - Irish proverb

What do you mean by "here doc"?

Thanks,

Amber Taylor