Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:00:00 GMT Expect is a venerable tool for scripting interactive command-line tools. One normally sees expect coupled with the TCL programming language -- for example, in the DejaGNU test environment. Expect-lite is a wrapper for expect designed to allow you to capture an interactive session more directly mapped into a script. The expect-lite language also includes simple conditionals and other programming language elements, and can be readily mixed with bash programming.
I've been reading the O'Reilley expect book and I'm trying to create partial automation for common questions asked on screen in a telnet session and return to interact so the user can resume control.
For example
while {1} {
expect {
-re "What color is the sky?" {send... (0 Replies)
Dear experts, please help me .
I've found simple EXPECT scripts and all works fine. But I need more automation in error handling and sending list of commands/output logging from multiple remote hosts.
I have 10 hosts, for example:
host1 192.168.1.1 LOGIN1 PASSWORD1
...... ... (2 Replies)
DISLOCATE(1) General Commands Manual DISLOCATE(1)NAME
Dislocate - disconnect and reconnect processes
SYNOPSIS
dislocate [ program args... ]
INTRODUCTION
Dislocate allows processes to be disconnected and reconnected to the terminal. Possible uses:
o You can disconnect a process from a terminal at work and reconnect from home, to continue working.
o After having your line be dropped due to noise, you can get back to your process without having to restart it from scratch.
o If you have a problem that you would like to show someone, you can set up the scenario at your own terminal, disconnect, walk
down the hall, and reconnect on another terminal.
o If you are in the middle of a great game (or whatever) that does not allow you to save, and someone else kicks you off the ter-
minal, you can disconnect, and reconnect later.
USAGE
When run with no arguments, Dislocate tells you about your disconnected processes and lets you reconnect to one. Otherwise, Dislocate runs
the named program along with any arguments.
By default, ^] is an escape that lets you talk to Dislocate itself. At that point, you can disconnect (by pressing ^D) or suspend Dislo-
cate (by pressing ^Z).
Any Tcl or Expect command is also acceptable at this point. For example, to insert the contents of a the file /etc/motd as if you had
typed it, say:
send -i $out [exec cat /etc/motd]
To send the numbers 1 to 100 in response to the prompt "next #", say:
for {set i 0} {$i<100} {incr i} {
expect -i $in "next #"
send -i $out "$i
"
}
Scripts can also be prepared and sourced in so that you don't have to type them on the spot.
Dislocate is actually just a simple Expect script. Feel free to make it do what you want it to do or just use Expect directly, without
going through Dislocate. Dislocate understands a few special arguments. These should appear before any program name. Each should be sep-
arated by whitespace. If the arguments themselves takes arguments, these should also be separated by whitespace.
The -escape flag sets the escape to whatever follows. The default escape is ^].
CAVEATS
This program was written by the author as an exercise to show that communicating with disconnected processes is easy. There are many fea-
tures that could be added, but that is not the intent of this program.
SEE ALSO Tcl(3), libexpect(3)
"Exploring Expect: A Tcl-Based Toolkit for Automating Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates, January 1995.
AUTHOR
Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology
7 October 1993 DISLOCATE(1)