UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

when i use this code for the script of the magic 8ball, i get an error message and it always displays the sam answer. What am i doing wrong or what am i missing thanks

#!/bin/sh
#< Magic eight ball!
# KW 26/11/04
# Requires "rand"

echo "Enter \"q\" followed by return to quit"

function ask_it
{
echo -e "\nAsk the mysterious 8-ball a question..."
read question
}

ask_it

while [ "$question" != "q" ]; do
rand=`rand 100`
if [ "$rand" -lt "10" ]; then
echo "It is definite"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "20" ]; then
echo "It is looking probable"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "30" ]; then
echo "There is great certainty"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "40" ]; then
echo "Maybe"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "50" ]; then
echo "It doesn't look promising"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "60" ]; then
echo "Probably not"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "70" ]; then
echo "A definite no"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "80" ]; then
echo "All the signs point to yes"
elif [ "$rand" -lt "90" ]; then
echo "All the signs point to no"
else
echo "Who can be sure? I'm not..."
fi
ask_it
done

exit 0

Code tags for code. They make things readable. [ code ] stuff [ /code ] stuff without the extra spaces in the tags.

It might be useful to know what the error message actually is. And what answer it always displays.

I'd be curious to know what do you get when you echo this out the value of $rand from the line rand=`rand 100`?? Do you have rand on your system?

i get a file does not exist and it always comes up with the same one answer

I would assume (without seeing any actual error information) that you are getting the same answer for two reasons.

1.) Your rand() call isn't working correctly. (Again, we would need error information.)

2.) You are doing

Code:

if [ $FOO -lt $BAR]

in several if/elif statements. You really should(tm) be doing ranges, not 'first match wins' -- ie, checking if the rand() number is between 0 and 9 executes one action, 10 to 10 another, and so on.

I keep getting " it is definate". How would ichange it so all the answers have the chance to appear

You might need to srand() before you rand(), e.g...

Code:

$ function rand () { echo $1 | awk '{srand(); printf "%d\n", rand()*$1}'; }
$ rand 100
62
$ rand 100
77