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Unix Beginner needs help

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# 1  
Old 03-02-2011
Unix Beginner needs help
how do i implement a script that asks user to input a word. it should ask for input a word continuously until the word is longer than 5 characters then stop.
this is what i have so far
Code:
#!/bin/bash
read -p "enter word" word1
while [ "word1"; -lt 5 ]; do
 echo "continue"
done

Last edited by Franklin52; 03-02-2011 at 07:25 AM.. Reason: Please use code tags, thank you.
# 2  
Old 03-02-2011
There is no post test loop construct in bash so you have to do something like the following:

Code:
read -p"Go on say it: " word1
while [ $(echo $word1 | wc -c ) -lt 5 ]; do
  read -p"Go on say it: " word1  
done

# 3  
Old 03-02-2011
Code:
echo $(expr length $word)

or with ksh/bash:
Code:
echo ${#word}

gives the length of the variable.
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to Franklin52 For This Post:
Dahu Skrynesaver
# 4  
Old 03-02-2011
I'll post a version which unify the comments :
Code:
#!/bin/bash
word1=""
while [ ${#word1} -lt 5 ]
do
  read -p "enter word" word1
done

I don't like writing the read line multiple times, it leads to unwanted behavior Smilie
# 5  
Old 03-02-2011
Thankyou
Thanks a lot
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