sh: syntax error: `...' unexpected???


 
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# 1  
Old 06-22-2004
Question sh: syntax error: `...' unexpected???

Hello all,

I want to create a script that polls every hour a directory for the existence of a file. The file I look for is a `token` dropped by an external process at the completion of a successful FTP process. I wrote this script `checkfile.ksh`:

#!/usr/bin/ksh

if [[ -e $HOME/tokenfile ]] then
mailx -s "Token file found! Data files received!" email_address < $HOME/emptyfile
fi
exit


To test it, I touched a file (`tokenfile`) in my $HOME directory, ran my script and got this error

sh: syntax error at line ...: `$HOME/core' unexpected


I declared the file name as a variable
: ${COREFILE:=/$HOME/tokenfile}... [[ -e $COREFILE ]]
but got the same error

sh: syntax error at line ...: `$HOME/COREFILE' unexpected


What the @!*%%# (sorry!) am I missing here?? I run this script as the owner of the directory, I have the default `umask` value (not sure if it matters) and I run HP-UX B11.11.

Any help is welcome. I feel like the solution is here: I am just not seeing it.

TIA!!!

Al.
# 2  
Old 06-22-2004
There is no -e. Maybe you want -a or something.
# 3  
Old 06-22-2004
And "then" has to be on a separate line or preceeded with a semi-colon.
# 4  
Old 06-22-2004
Quote:
Originally posted by Perderabo
There is no -e. Maybe you want -a or something.
Okay. It works if I use "-a" instead of "-e". Thanks for the help.

Using "-e" only works on versions of KSH never than the 11/16/88f version.

This is also the version I run...

Again, thank you.

Now, I have to go kick myself...

Al.
# 5  
Old 06-22-2004
ksh seems to tolerate the absence of the semicolon providing that you use the double brace version of the test construct. I have tested this on HP-UX 11.11.
# 6  
Old 06-22-2004
Try using -f which is TRUE if the file exists and is a regular file or -s which is TRUE if the file exists and has a size greater than zero.
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