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# 15  
Old 07-18-2011
Thanks mirni,
but my code is working fine i have tested with multiple files being in dir ...Smilie as soon as i change “#!/bin/sh” to “#!/bin/bash” is starts giving "too many arguments" error any explanation to this ? Smilie

PS : I am working on Sun OS.And the scheduler tool executes the script as "scriptname" at the command prompt...Let me know in case you need any more info.

Thanks,
Ajay
Quote:
Originally Posted by mirni
The problem was too many arguments, just like it said.
Your wildcard pattern K*-*-*-*.s matched more than one file, or there was a space in the filename. However, the [ -f file ] test expects exactly one file.
To test for existence of multiple files, the most common way is to make a loop:
Code:
for i in /path/name/K-*.s ; do
  if [ -f "$i" ] ; then
    echo "file $i exists"
  else
    echo "$i does not exist, or is not a regular file"
  fi
done

Please not the quotes in the test, "$i", which will make it only one argument even for filenames with spaces.
# 16  
Old 07-18-2011
It's normal that line has some limit. If line length is problem - like in this case, then use while with pipe and if input is huge, then use tmpfile.
Code:
ls -1 /path/name/K-*.s | while read i
do   
    if [ -f "$i" ] ; then     
        echo "file $i exists"   
    else     
    echo "$i does not exist, or is not a regular file"   
    fi 
done

# 17  
Old 07-18-2011
On my Linux box, it doesnt work on either sh nor bash:

Code:
$ ls file*
file1  file2  file3  filelist
$ cat testf.sh
#!/bin/sh
if [ -f file* ] ; then
    echo exist multiple 
fi
 $ ./testf.sh
[: 4: file1: unexpected operator
 $ cat testf.bash
#!/bin/bash
if [ -f file* ] ; then
    echo exist multiple 
fi
 $ ./testf.bash 
./testf.bash: line 2: [: too many arguments

actually, my sh is 'dash' Smilie :
Code:
$ ls -l `which sh`
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 2011-06-09 11:33 /bin/sh -> dash

This User Gave Thanks to mirni For This Post:
ajaypatil_am
# 18  
Old 07-19-2011
can you please try executing just as "scriptname" at the command prompt without "./"
e.g $testf.sh
BTW, my sh is "sh" only
> which sh
/usr/bin/sh
> uname -v
Generic_118558-27
> uname
SunOS
> uname -a
SunOS ssdb0046t 5.9 Generic_118558-27 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-V890
Thanks,
Ajay
# 19  
Old 07-19-2011
Quote:
can you please try executing just as "scriptname" at the command prompt without "./"
e.g $testf.sh
That returns "Command not found", just as expected, since the current dir is not in PATH.

---------- Post updated 07-19-11 at 01:36 AM ---------- Previous update was 07-18-11 at 10:32 PM ----------

I'm sure that the test won't work in either sh nor bash, if you have more (or less) than one argument to test -f. The difference may be in how the error is reported, but nevertheless, supplying test -f with more or less arguments is a syntax error on your side.
# 20  
Old 07-20-2011
test command accept only 1 argument when using option -f.
Look my while loop and try it.
- read filename
- test it

If you give next echo, you will see your test problem
Code:
echo if [ -f file* ]
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