Shell Programming and Scripting

I know many will probably say go read some tutorials...I would like to say that I am. However, I need to know this for work and it needs to be done soon.

In my script I have a while loop that reads a .tbl file of 4 columns and assigns them to variables a, b, c, d.

Once in the loop i do

echo "$a"

and it works but if i do

echo "$a" %prints a
newvar = "$a"
echo "newvar" %prints echo "" (i.e. empty quotes)


I'm sure its some simple beginner syntax for reassigning variables so if someone could let me know how to fix this i'd appreciate it.

Code:

newvar = "$a"

should not have spaces on either side of the = sign.

Bah, yeah i know it doesn't have them in my code. There is also a $ in front of newvar that I forgot to put when i posted this. It's just habit for me to put the space

Is this correct or am i missing something?

echo "$a" .......prints a
newvar=$a
echo "$newvar" .....prints ""

also if i try and make it a file path it doesn't print
i.e.

home/a/b/c/$newvar......prints home/a/b/c/

Somehow something isn't assigned.

I'd love to show the code but I don't have it at home. However, this is exactly what i have. Guess maybe i'll ask monday if no one sees anyting else obvious.

Works for me:

Code:

$ a=a
$ echo $a
a
$ newvar=$a
$ echo $newvar
a
$

What shell are you using?

It looks like you already noticed the two things I would have mentioned. You did not mention what shell you are using. I've tested it with bash and it seems fine. Here is my code and output.

Code:

#!/bin/bash
a=ABC
echo "$a"
newvar=$a
echo "$newvar"

output:
ABC
ABC

Can you provide the actual code and output you are using?

- B

Bourne, or SH i believe.

This same code works fine for Bourne shell also. Can you post your code and output?