Shell Programming and Scripting

Is this a homework assignment?

If not, please explain what determines whether or not a file compared to your "parametrized" file should be kept or removed:

Here are the answers to your questions:

Is this a homework assignment?* Work related

If not, please explain what determines whether or not a file compared to your "parametrized" file should be kept or removed:If a file is a symbolic link, what should be removed? (The file to which the symlink points? The symlink itself? Both?) File is not a symbolic link, both are physical files, both needs to be removed i.e. parametrized file and all other files which has exactly same contents under the directory structure which I explained above.

You haven't said what operating system or shell you're using. The following seems to do what you have said you want done when using a system where ls -l output conforms to the standards and your shell accepts basic Bourne shell syntax (such as bash, ksh, and on almost any system /bin/sh):

Code:

#!/bin/ksh
for pfile in "$@"
do	ls -l "$pfile" | (
		read x x user group x
		find Directory1 -user "$user" -group "$group" -type f \
			-exec cmp -s "$pfile" {} \; \
			-exec echo rm {} +
		echo rm "$pfile"
	)
done

If you save the above script in a file (for example tester) and make it executable with:

Code:

chmod +x tester

then executing this script with one or more operands will show you all of the rm commands that would be needed to remove all files with the same user ID, group ID, and contents as the files named by operands in the file hierarchy rooted in Directory1:

Code:

./tester file1 file2

If the output from ls -l on your system doesn't print the user and group names as the 3rd and 4th fields in the output, adjust the read command to capture the user and group IDs in the correct fields.

If the output looks like it is correct, remove the echo in both lines shown in red to actually remove the files instead of just showing you what files would be removed.

You must be sure that the operands you pass to this script name files that are not in the file hierarchy rooted in Directory1. If any file operands do reside in the file hierarchy rooted in Directory1, that file (or those files) may be removed before all of the files that meet your criteria have been found.

Thanks a lot Don, I really appreciate it. I am going to execute it and let you know.

---------- Post updated at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous update was at 10:47 AM ----------

Hi Don,

When I execute the script, it does not compare given file with others in the path. It gives me following output

Code:

Usage: cmp [-l | -s] File1 File2
rm /Dir1/o34620760.out

Thanks

What operating system and shell are you using?
The cmp in the find -exec primary I supplied matches the synopsis form:

Code:

cmp -s File1 File2

shown in the diagnostic message, so please show us the exact text in your copy of my suggested script.

OS: Unix
Shell is Korn Shell.

Script:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/ksh
for pfile in "$@"
do	ls -l "$Filename" | (
		read x x user group x
		find /u50/payments1 -user "$user" -group "$group" -type f \
			-exec cmp -s "$Filename" {} \; \
			-exec echo rm {} +
		echo rm "$Filename"
	)
done
return 0

File Name passed as parameter was /home/rjohn/abcd.out

The code you showed above would not produce the output you showed us in post #11. Note that in the script I suggested, there was no $Filename; all of the places you are using $Filename were $pfile in the script I suggested. If you want to use Filename as your variable name instead of pfile, that is fine; but you have to be consistent. You can't assign the pathnames given on the command line to the variable pfile and then use $Filename to reference that pathname. All four of the variables marked in red above must be identical.

And, for the record, UNIX is not an operating system; it is a brand that applies to several operating systems (such as AIX, HP/UX, OS X, and Solaris). If someone asks you what model of car you drive, they would expect an answer like 2014 Toyota Camry hybrid, not sedan.