Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi all,

I am trying to use the Ex editor and its commands in a script - more specifically within an if statement within a while loop.

Here are the basics of the loop:

Code:

cat $file1 | while read line
do
  grep $line $file2
  if [[ $? != 0 ]]
  then
    echo $line > $file2
  elseex $file2
    /ESI185
  fi
done

FYI:
$file1 is a text file, and $file2 is another text file.
I want the second line in the else section to search for the string "ESI185", and then i want it to go to the next blank line and that will be where i'd like it to begin entering more text.

The problem is, once "ex $file2"is read, it then goes into the ex editor, but will not execute the search string, and therefore stays in the editor.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Luke.

you need use a HERE document. see Here Documents for an example

Hi,

I've now got this:

Code:

cat $file1 | while read line
do
  grep $line $file2
  if [[ $? != 0 ]]
  then
    echo $line >> $file2
  else
    ex $file2
    /ESI185
    /^$
    i
    EOF
    echo $line >> $file2
  fi
done

But how would I get the echo command to echo the contents of $line to the line of $file2 that the ex commands have looked for above? (i.e. the next blank line after ESI185).

There has to be an easy way to do this, i'm probably just not thinking straight. Never the less, i'd appreciate a bit of help

Cheers,
Luke.

Moderator's Comments:

Please use [CODE] tags when posting source listings, console output, ...

Do simple things before jumping into complex ones so get the here-document thing working and then focus on the ex part of the script...

It is often simpler to use the ed editor for such tasks. Suppose your original file is;

Code:

$ cat file
AAA
BBB
ESI185
CCC
DDD

and you want to add the text line "sultan kudarat" after ESI185, here is one easy way of doing it:

Code:

$ line='sultan kudarat'
$ printf '%s\n' /^ESI185 a "$line" . w | ed -s file
ESI185
$ cat file
AAA
BBB
ESI185
sultan kudarat
CCC
DDD