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find command in while loop - how to get control when no files found?

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# 1  
Old 04-02-2008
find command in while loop - how to get control when no files found?
I have the following statement in script:

find ${LANDING_FILE_DIR}${BTIME_FILENAME_PATTERN2} -print | while read file; do
...
done

When there are no files located by the find comand it returns:

"find: bad status-- /home/rnitcher/test/....." to the command line

How do I get control in the script once the find behaves in this fashion? "$?" immediately following the done returns 0.

tia
# 2  
Old 04-03-2008
A possible way:

Code:
findok=
find ${LANDING_FILE_DIR}${BTIME_FILENAME_PATTERN2} -print | \
while read file
do
   findok=Y
   ...
done

if [ -z "$findok" ]
then
   echo "No file found !"
done

Jean-Pierre.
# 3  
Old 04-03-2008
Hi.

One could also break the pipeline into pieces, using scratch files to communicate, so that one could test the exit status of each part.

A more complex solution involves using another process for each piece, as explained in ``Answers to Unix'' Column: No. 003 -- quite inventive I think.

Some shells may offer pipefail -- bash and ksh, for example:
Quote:
If pipefail is enabled, the
pipeline's return status is the value of the last (rightmost) command
to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands exit success-
fully.
-- excerpt from man bash
... cheers, drl
# 4  
Old 04-03-2008
thanks for the posts Smilie
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