RUNSCRIPT(1)						      General Commands Manual						      RUNSCRIPT(1)

NAME

       runscript - script interpreter for minicom

SYNOPSIS

       runscript scriptname [logfile [homedir]]

DESCRIPTION

       runscript  is  a simple script interpreter that can be called from within the minicom communications program to automate tasks like logging
       in to a Unix system or your favorite BBS.

INVOCATION

       The program expects a script name and optionally a filename and the user's home directory as arguments, and it expects that it's input  and
       output  are  connected  to  the	"remote end", the system you are connecting to. All messages from runscript meant for the local screen are
       directed to the stderr output. All this is automatically taken care of if you run it from minicom.  The logfile and home directory  parame-
       ters  are  only	used  to tell the log command the name of the logfile and where to write it. If the homedir is omitted, runscript uses the
       directory found in the $HOME environment variable. If also the logfile name is omitted, the log commands are ignored.

KEYWORDS

       Runscript recognizes the following commands:

	    expect   send     goto     gosub	return	 !
	    exit     print    set      inc	dec	 if
	    timeout  verbose  sleep    break	call	 log

OVERVIEW OF KEYWORDS

       send <string>
	    <string> is sent to the modem. It is followed by a '
'.  <string> can be:
	      - regular text, e.g. 'send hello'
	      - text enclosed in quotes, e.g. 'send "hello world"'

	    Within <string> the following sequences are recognized:
		
 - newline
		
 - carriage return
		a - bell
		 - backspace
		c - don't send the default '
'.
		f - formfeed
		^ - the ^ character
		o - send character o (o is an octal number)

	    Control characters can be used in the string with the ^ prefix (^A to ^Z, ^[, ^ ^], ^^ and ^_). If you need to send the  ^	character,
	    you must prefix it with the  escape character.
	    Also $(environment_variable) can be used, for example $(TERM).  Minicom passes three special environment variables: $(LOGIN), which is
	    the username, $(PASS), which is the password, as defined in the proper entry of the dialing directory, and	$(TERMLIN)  which  is  the
	    number of actual terminal lines on your screen (that is, the statusline excluded).

       print <string>
	    Prints <string> to the local screen. Default followed by '
'.  See the description of 'send' above.

       label:
	    Declares a label (with the name 'label') to use with goto or gosub.

       goto <label>
	    Jump to another place in the program.

       gosub <label>
	    Jumps  to  another place in the program. When the statement 'return' is encountered, control returns to the statement after the gosub.
	    Gosub's can be nested.

       return
	    Return from a gosub.

       ! <command>
	    Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. On return, the variable '$?' is set to the exit status of this  command,  so  you
	    can subsequently test it using 'if'.

       exit [value]
	    Exit from "runscript" with an optional exit status. (default 1)

       set <variable> <value>
	    Sets  the  value  of <variable> (which is a single letter a-z) to the value <value>. If <variable> does not exist, it will be created.
	    <value> can be a integer value or another variable.

       inc <variable>
	    Increments the value of <variable> by one.

       dec <variable>
	    Decrements the value of <variable> by one.

       if <value> <operator> <value> <statement>
	    Conditional execution of <statement>. <operator> can be <, >, != or =.  Eg, 'if a > 3 goto exitlabel'.

       timeout <value>
	    Sets the global timeout. By default, 'runscript' will exit after 120 seconds. This can be changed with  this  command.  Warning:  this
	    command acts differently within an 'expect' statement, but more about that later.

       verbose <on|off>
	    By	default, this is 'on'. That means that anything that is being read from the modem by 'runscript', gets echoed to the screen.  This
	    is so that you can see what 'runscript' is doing.

       sleep <value>
	    Suspend execution for <value> seconds.

       expect
	      expect {
		pattern  [statement]
		pattern  [statement]
		[timeout <value> [statement] ]
		....
	      }
	    The most important command of all. Expect keeps reading from the input until it reads a pattern that  matches  one	of  the  specified
	    ones.   If	expect encounters an optional statement after that pattern, it will execute it. Otherwise the default is to just break out
	    of the expect. 'pattern' is a string, just as in 'send' (see above).  Normally, expect will timeout in 60 seconds and just	exit,  but
	    this can be changed with the timeout command.

       break
	    Break out of an 'expect' statement. This is normally only useful as argument to 'timeout' within an expect, because the default action
	    of timeout is to exit immediately.

       call <scriptname>
	    Transfers control to another scriptfile. When that scriptfile finishes without errors, the original script will continue.

       log <text>
	    Write text to the logfile.

NOTES

       If you want to make your script to exit minicom (for example when you use minicom to dial up your ISP, and then start a PPP or SLIP session
       from a script), try the command "! killall -9 minicom" as the last script command. The -9 option should prevent minicom from hanging up the
       line and resetting the modem before exiting.
       Well, I don't think this is enough information to make you an experienced 'programmer' in 'runscript', but together with  the  examples	it
       shouldn't  be too hard to write some useful script files. Things will be easier if you have experience with BASIC.  The minicom source code
       comes together with two example scripts, scriptdemo and unixlogin. Especially the last one is a good base to build on for your own scripts.

SEE ALSO

       minicom(1)

BUGS

       Runscript should be built in to minicom.

AUTHOR

       Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.ow.org> Jukka Lahtinen, <walker@netsonic.fi>

User's Manual						   $Date: 2007-10-07 18:13:51 $ 					      RUNSCRIPT(1)