I am having a problem with the following statement in a korn shell script:

if "$all_recs" = "ALL"; then

commands

fi;

I keep getting the error syntax error at line 999 : 'then' unmatched.

I'm sure it is a minor problem, but have been unable to find any answers online. Any help would be appreciated. Also appreciated are any good online sources for korn shell scripting.

Thanks,

Amber Taylor

You should enclose your if statement in square brackets:

Thank you for your response.


I made the changes you suggested and now I have the syntax error at line 999 : 'if' unmatched. Now the statement looks like:

if ["$all_recs" = "NEW"] then

commands

fi;

Also, I am coding behind someone and many of the if statements they used do not have the []'s around them. They are formatted like:

if test $# -ne 3;
then

commands

fi;

--or--

if test $file_ext = "file_ext";
then
continue;
fi;

Why would they above work, but not the one I did?

Thanks Again,

Amber Taylor

The answer is simple: you either use the test construction -or- square brackets. Also to keep coding simple and avoid having to use semicolons all the the time to delimit commands, put the several components of the if-then-else-fi construct on separate lines:

In your case, you were missing a semicolon just before the 'then'

__________________
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

The use of square brackets is another way
of using the "test" command. Note on the
square brackets... You must have a white
space after the open bracket and before the
close bracket: [ "$somevar" = "somestring" ]

The code: if "$all_recs" = "ALL"; then

...neither had the "test" nor the [ ] and you
need one OR the other.

Now I am getting the 'then' unmatched again.

Here is exactly what the statement looks like:

if [ "$all_recs" = "NEW" ]
then

# Flush the staging table
echo "=== Cleaning the staging table..."
sqlplus -s $connect_string > /dev/null << EOF
begin
iws_clean_staging_pkg.iws_clean_staging_prc;
end;
/
EOF
fi;


Is there a man entry for the if statement? If so, what keyword is it under?

Thanks,

Amber Taylor

Also, $all_recs is a command line argument. I don't know if that makes a difference. Thank you for your earlier reply, I would have never known that spaces were needed inside the brackets!

Regards,

Amber Taylor

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

The 'here' doc is the statements between EOF and EOF.

I am pretty sure the quoting is the problem because I vaguely remember bumping into it myself. Unfortunately I don't have access right now to one of the servers where we store similar scripts, so I can't check. Try to add the double quotes.

__________________
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