UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

I'm trying to use the while statement to increment a positive number, with a leading "0". when I pass it through, it seems to come out with a negative value, and all the increments remain negative.

This is what I have:

i=010986294184
j=010986988888

while [ $i -lt $j ]; do
echo $i
i=(($i + 1))
done

The output i get is:
010986294184
-1898607703
-1898607702
-1898607701
-1898607700
-1898607699
-1898607698
-1898607697
-1898607696
-1898607695
-1898607694
......
.....

Does anyone have a clue why this is happening? The numbers increment quite satisfactrily once $i has become -ve, but why does it become negative?

Thanks

take this,

Code:

#! /usr/bin/ksh

typeset -Z12 i

i=010986294184
j=010986988888

while [ $i -lt $j ]
do
echo $i
i=$(($i + 1))
done

exit 0

It hasn't made any difference matrix

it works perfect in ksh

what shell are u using ?

Not every implementation of every shell has 64 bit arithmetic. Sometimes 32 bits is all you have.

Code:

$ bc
10886284184 % 2^32 - 2^32
-1998617704
$

Hey its working fine wheni work at my end

Well, grats. You must be using a shell with 64 bit arithmetic. Here is what happens when you use a shell with 32 bit arithmetic...

Code:

$ i=010986294184
$ i2=$((i))
$ echo $i2
-1898607704
$ bc
10986294184 % 2^32 - 2^32
-1898607704
$