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Value of variable is NULL, but test doesn't seem to recognize

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Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Value of variable is NULL, but test doesn't seem to recognize
# 1  
Old 04-14-2012
Value of variable is NULL, but test doesn't seem to recognize
Hello, Unix-forums!

My problem:
Code:
read -p "Enter any number, please" number
sleep 1
echo $number | tr -d 0-9
test -z $number && echo "Thank you" || echo "This is not a number"

Test always displays "This is not a number". It doesn't matter if I entered a or 1.

But if I order
Code:
echo $number

before the test command, it displays nothing, so the $number should be NULL, not?
Last edited by intelinside; 04-14-2012 at 08:37 AM..
# 2  
Old 04-14-2012
Try:

Code:
read -p 'Enter any number, please: ' number
sleep 1
number=$( tr -d 0-9 <<< "$number" )
test -z "$number" && 
  echo "Thank you" || 
    echo "This is not a number"

Actually you could avoid calling external commands in this case:

Code:
read -p 'Enter any number, please: ' number
sleep 1
test -z "${number//[0-9]}" && 
  echo "Thank you" || 
    echo "This is not a number"

P.S. The code above uses non standard shell features, but that shouldn't be
a problem, considering that the original post uses non standard features too Smilie
This User Gave Thanks to radoulov For This Post:
intelinside
# 3  
Old 04-14-2012
Thank you. But can you tell me what's wrong with my code. I'd be really interested in that.

Edit: Solved. Looked closer to radoulov's syntax. You're my hero Smilie
Last edited by intelinside; 04-14-2012 at 12:46 PM..
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