Shell Programming and Scripting

It seems to me that you don't actually have .Z files in your directory, as indicated by the error you got. can you show a listing of what is currently in your directory?

Why not put

Code:

set -vx

at the beginning of the script and see what is happening. May the the contents from the file is not being read into the variables properly.

Here Is the long listing :
total 4966860
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 573694919 Jan 21 2006 01.det_26dec_10jan06
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 106617087 Jan 30 2006 01a.det_11_25jan06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 115342143 Feb 14 2006 02.det_26jan_10feb06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 104965439 Feb 28 2006 02a.det_11_25feb06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 91796895 Mar 18 2006 03.det_26feb_10mar06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 136879104 Apr 4 2006 03a.det_11_31mar06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 96888889 Apr 18 2006 04.det_01_15apr06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 92467706 May 2 2006 04a.det_16_30apr06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 92596770 May 19 2006 05.det_01_15may06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 93294139 Jun 2 2006 05a.det_16_31may06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 84315109 Jun 19 2006 06.det_01_15june06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 82132177 Jul 3 2006 06a.det_16_30june06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 81434327 Jul 17 2006 07.det_01_15july06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 83665061 Aug 8 2006 07a.det_16_31july06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 74758692 Aug 19 2006 08.det_01_15aug06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 80815415 Sep 2 2006 08a.det_16_31aug06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 75974892 Sep 16 13:36 09.det_01_15sep06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 73488779 Oct 4 15:16 09a.det_16_30sep06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 69199285 Oct 17 11:42 10.det_01_15oct06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 70560621 Nov 3 09:01 10a.det_16_31oct06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 67741625 Nov 16 15:47 11.det_01_15nov06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 64394867 Dec 1 10:52 11a.det_16_30nov06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 62518866 Dec 16 12:30 12.det_01_15dec06.Z
-rw-r--r-- 1 oracle dba 64592095 Jan 1 10:15 12a.det_16_31dec06.Z

Here is the output after set -vx
cat 2006cases | awk '{print $1,$2}' | while read var1 var2
cat 2006cases | awk '{print $1,$2}' | while read var1 var2
> do
do
> zcat $var2*.Z | grep "^00011$var1" >> output
zcat $var2*.Z | grep "^00011$var1" >> output
> done
done
+ cat 2006cases
+ awk {print $1,$2}
+ read var1 var2
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ grep ^0001120093878
+ read var1 var2
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ grep ^0001120901190
+ read var1 var2
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ grep ^0001120004616
+ read var1 var2
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ grep ^0001120004648
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005124
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005157
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005163
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120010938
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120026220
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120039617
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120055789
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120074845
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120563414
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120908313
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120908355
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120908355
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120908868
*.Z at 01
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005124
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005177
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005225
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005269
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005277
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120073065
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120563414
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120567427
*.Z at 02
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005528
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005550
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005558
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120005562
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120047199
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120049280
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120069616
*.Z at 03
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120090604
*.Z at 04
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120098202
*.Z at 08
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120065833
*.Z at 10
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2
+ grep ^0001120900330
*.Z at 11
*.Z: No such file or directory
+ read var1 var2

Paste the top 10 lines of '2006cases' file.

Thanks.

20093878 01
20901190 01
20004616 01
20004648 01
20005124 01
20005157 01
20005163 01
20010938 01
20026220 01
20039617 01
20055789 01
20074845 01
20563414 01
20908313 01
20908355 01
20908355 01
20908868 01
20005124 02
20005177 02
20005225 02
20005269 02
20005277 02
20073065 02
20563414 02
20567427 02
20005528 03
20005550 03
20005558 03
20005562 03

Actually, the variables are being read properly. But instead of zcat command being executed, you get Check if there are any special characters in your file (Try octal dump - od -c). I am not sure if that really shows up anything.

Actually, when you set the -vx option, you get the verbose output of whats actually being substituted. It looks like the zcat is command itself is not seen anywhere in the ouput. May be you could check for aliases for zcat or it could be some other issue not related to your code.