UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi!

I've just started learning shell scripting, and have been somewhat 'thrown in at the deep-end and told to swim' so excuse my complete lack of knowledge and ignorance, but here goes...

I've been given a unix script to 'tidy up'. Basically the script consists of the few lines of code being repeated over and over again with the only a few variables being changd. Example code:

/usr/local/bin/scp echo.xxx.com:/opt/netscape/server4/https-w-cai/logs/access-ref*${LOG_DATE}* /logs/w-cai
> /export/home/xxx/ec_copy_tmp 2>&1

The above is being repeated over and over again in the script with the 'w-cai' being the only piece of text changed each time to different text. Is there a way I can store it as a variable in an access table so that each row in the table is called, one after the other, this section of code is updated with a different variable? Sorry if I'm being unclear, any help appreciated.

eg.

next section of code reads:

/usr/local/bin/scp echo.xxx.com:/opt/netscape/server4/https-countrywide/logs/access-ref*${LOG_DATE}* /logs/w-cai
> /export/home/xxx/ec_copy_tmp 2>&1

As you can see, 'w-cai' has been changed to 'countrywide'.

Are the values that change predictable? Do you know what to look for? If so, use a loop. I use an array to hold the values and then loop through them.

The value of "i" would be the variable portion of path that is changing. Replace the echo statement below with your scp

using Korn Shell:
#Create an array called VAR and initialize it with 8 values
set -A VAR 1 Foo 2 Bar 3 Cool 4 Loop

# Iterate through the array and print out each iteration
for i in ${VAR[@]}
do
echo $i
done

Hi,

Just specify al the dirs you need to look at :

myvar="dir1 dir2 dir3 dir4"

Then fit it around your scp string :

for i in $myvar
do

/usr/local/bin/scp echo.xxx.com:/opt/netscape/server4/${i}/logs/access-ref*${LOG_DATE}* /logs/w-cai
.

done

Must be not too hard.


Regs David