UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello !!!

I´m really new at Unix and have to write a script to copy some files from some locations to another one.

I need to be sure that each file has finished copied before starting to copy the other one. I believe unix returns the control to a script before the command really ends.

my script is something like

cp /u/test1/file1 /backup/file1
cp /x/test2/file2 /backup/file2
cp /y/test3/file3 /backup/file3

I´m running Solaris 2.8 bourne shell.

Is there any way to ensure thet the second cp cpmmand starts after the first one really ends?

TIA

Lisandro

Hi,

If you leave your script that way, it will do what you pretend.

Jorge:

Thanks for your help.

What if I copy to a tape device? I was told that the device may return control really finiching the copy.

I think that if you want to backup to a tape device, you'll need the tar command.

tar cvf(crete new job) /your_tape/device ./your_directory_to_be_copied_1 ./your_directory_to_be_copied_2

It worked for me...

Jorge Ferreira

I'd be sure to check the return value of each step. As a general rule, you want to check the return value of anything that does return a value. The built-in variable $? will have a 0 for success (with a few exceptions).

Cheers,

Keith

You mean check for every directory copied?
I used the other script because i didn't found any other way to do it.
By the way, can you please tell me how can i do to "join" several directories to a backup job?
Like this

tar cvf /device ./First #This one always cvf
tar ??? /device ./Second
...

How does it return anything and how can i treat the variable?

Best Regards

Jorge Ferreira

Jorge,

It would be helpful if you identify why you want to ensure a sequential order of the copies. Is this for something like an Oracle database backup where you are putting tablespaces in backup mode, then backing up member datafiles? Either way, I'd like to understand why you want to be sure that each file has finished copied before starting to copy the other one.

The cp checks can be done many ways. There is a built-in conditional that can be specified with ||, for example

cp ick1 ick9 || cp ick88 ick99 || cp ick3 success

The next operation will not be performed unless the previous is successful. The same conditional would work with tar specifying each directory. You would just have to be sure that you are specifying a non-rewinding device (ie. /dev/rmt/1mn instead of /dev/rmt/1m).

Cheers,

Keith