Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi,

We are using isql in our scripts to connect to sybase dataserver on Solaris

See the following snippet:

isql -U${USER} -S${SERVER} -w999 <<- EOB
${PASSWD}
use ${QS_DBNAME}
go
EOB

The above code works even if there are spaces before the ${PASSWORD}
But if we remove the "-" in the isql (after the << ), the code won't work....

Also the above code works in bash ... but not in tcsh
Can anyone thhrow some light... what is the "-" for? and any sites where in i can get info about the isql behaviour with different shells.

Thanks in Advance.....

Rgds,
JustSam

The "-" tells the shell to ignore all leading tabs (not spaces) up to and including the "EOB". This allows you to tab indent the code.