Shell Programming and Scripting

hi,

i have an existing ftp script that needs to be translated to SFTP so i have to use expect script to automate the login to the remote server.

Now im facing with a problem becaise i have at least 50 files to be renamed ont he remote server. It's a hassle to hardcode every single command inside the expect script and because the filename is also changing according to date. So im thinking of putting the commands in a singel file name which will be read by teh expect script.

The file will look like:

Code:

rename file1 file1_date
rename file2 file2_date
.
.
rename file50 file50_date

I know this can be easily done with shel using the while read LINE command but not sure how to do this inside expect script.

Is is possible to do it in expect or they have a similar WHILE command in expect. If they have, really appreciate your help.

You don't need expect to automate the login anymore(which is fortunate, since that's a very poor security practice.) ssh/scp/sftp (all the same protocol, ultimately) let you use a pre-shared key instead, much simpler, easier, more secure, and less bug-prone.

If sftp is available, ssh may also be available, which would let you run a full-fledged shell script on the remote host. You could do:

Code:

ssh user@host /bin/ksh < myscript.sh
# ...or bash or csh or whatever your shell of choice.

..and therein feed the local script 'myscript.sh' into the remote host and execute it there. If shared keys are set up, this will happen without a password -- all is needed are the right keyfiles in the right places.

Otherwise, you could do something like:

Code:

sftp user@host <<EOF > files
cd $DIR
ls
EOF

process_files_however_I_please < files > command_list

sftp user@host < command_list
rm -f command_list files