UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I've looked at several of the previous posts and can't seem to find any that pertain to my problem, I'd appreciate some help if possible.

I have a directory with numerous logs of various names all named by heading and date ie.
dog.20050529.log
dog.20050530.log
pig.20050527.log
cat.20050521.log
etc.

What I'm trying to do is find the current date and see if there is a log for that date. After I find if the file is present I have a function to run (a simple tail). If a file for the current day is not there I want to have some instructions for people to follow to lead them to the proper log in another directory.

The logs change locations depending on the config and status of the system ie. system A is up the logs are on system A, if A is down the logs are on B.

Here is what I have for code very simple but...

#! /bin/ksh

##gets the file for the current date
set d1 = ls /log4/scripts/logs | grep dog.`date +%Y%m%d`.log

#compares the dates to ensure it is the current date
set d2 = `date +%Y%m%d`.log

if [[ $d1 = $d2 ]] then

tail -25 /log4/scripts/logs/dog.`date +%Y%m%d`.log

else

echo " instructions"

fi


my problem is that the tail works but I can't get any other function to run if a file of the current date is not available. I've tried the 'if' without the else, and with a separate 'if' with a new function but no luck. Thanks in advance.
Gil

You have a few problem here. The set command doesn't set variables like that. If you want d1 to be set to "something" you do:
d1="something"
No spaces around the equal signs. If you want d1 set to the output of the date command, you could use the old syntax:
d1=`date`
or the new syntax:
d1=$(date)

The advantage of the new syntax is that nesting works and you need that advantage here:
d1=$(ls /log4/scripts/logs | grep dog.$(date +%Y%m%d).log)

But are you trying to see if a file exists?

if [[ -f /path/to/file ]] ; then

Thanx for the answer, I've got to work with it for awhile to actually
understand what is going on and why (I'm a little slow and have to
see things a time or two for it to sink in).

Thanx again
gil