Shell Programming and Scripting

Thanks for your time, really! I ran:

Code:

truss -o trussOut sh./backup.sh

I'm not completely sure how this truss command works, aside from its man page's explanation (and the output it produced is 241 lines of stuff that looks over my head) - I would paste it, but previewing my post with a paste of it is showing that it doesn't get its only scrolly frame and instead is HUGE. So i'm attaching it. Let me know if ANY one comes up with anything.

maybe someone can tell me that the way i'm going about my end product is ridiculous and I should be doing it differently?

The another try.
Please try to use
if [ $work -eq "STARTING" ]
instead of
if [ $work = "STARTING" ]

Why don't you use:

test [ -d $toBackUpDir ]

instead of

if [ -d $toBackUpDir ]

the option -d <file> should use with test command,isn't it?

Your if statement may not correct.
Since the -f <file>, -z <file> should use in test statement instead of if cause.

I've tried this before and I get and error explaining that "eq" is for mathematical tests, after looking it up I found that indeed its = that's used for strings.
Ahhh - just the kind of advice I was looking for! (I'm still quite new to UNIX).

I tried your suggestion with test, but get this (with and without quotes):

Code:

backup.sh: 131: Syntax error: EOF in backquote substitution

I now am using (according to the wikipedia outline of test):

Code:

if test -d "$toBackUpDir"

but alas, the above gives the same exact error I've been getting:

Code:

backup.sh: 29: Syntax error: end of file unexpected (expecting "fi")

incase my code has changed drastically since my initial post, I've attached an updated copy.

Oop! I give you a wrong syntax.
please use test within if cause fore example:
#!/bin/sh
cfile="./download"
if test -d $cfile
then
echo "$cfile is exist "
ls -l $cfile
else
echo "can not find $cfile"
fi

this script has been tested. if you can use it on your site. Then you can apply it to your script.