Hash (#) as a variable


 
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# 1  
Old 05-16-2002
Hash (#) as a variable

Hi

I'm writing a cript that copies and renames files to a backup location. This script can be used in a "test" mode, whereby all the files that will be copied are listed. The problem is that the destination file will not yet exist, so I want to comment this part (I'm shure you'll see what I'm getting at from the example below!)

I have the following in the script:
Code:
if test "$control_code" = "cp";
 then
   echo ""
   echo "You have chosen $control_code"
   echo "Files are being copied."
   echo ""
   ext="/backup"
 else
   echo ""
   echo "You have chosen $control_code"
   echo "No files will be copied, only tested"
   echo ""
   control_code="ls -l"
   ext=#
fi  

...

echo "cp /dir/testfile /backup/testfile_1"
$control_code /dir/testfile $ext/testfile_1

echo "cp /u01/testfile /backup/testfile_2"
$control_code /u01/testfile $ext/testfile_2

...

Currently I get the result:
#/testfile_1: No such file or directory
#/testfile_2: No such file or directory

You can see that the hash (#) comment value is not recognised.

How can this be done???


Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

added code tags for readability --oombera

Last edited by oombera; 02-19-2004 at 11:28 AM..
# 2  
Old 05-16-2002
Whoa.... your code is certainly interesting. I'm very surprised that it works as well as it does. I'm gonna reread my ksh book tonight to try to figure this out.

But, in the meantime, the answer to your question is:
eval $control_code /u01/testfile $ext/testfile_2
# 3  
Old 05-16-2002
Thanks - it worked!

Your comment got me a bit worried, as it sounds as though I'm doing something wrong...if so, PLEASE tell me!

(Note: I only posted part of the script!)
# 4  
Old 05-16-2002
The first thing that worried me is this sort of thing:
x=date
$x

It seems to me that the bourne shell used to barf on code like that. But ksh sure seems to take it in stride. I am used to doing:
x=date
eval $x

which did indeed work with the bourne shell. Since you are using an eval anyway, the point is kinda moot. But it's cool that this works and I'm gonna start using it.

But next we have this:
y=#

I would have expected that to be the same as:
y= # I just set y equal to nothing

Again, I can't make it fail, so I guess it's probably legal. But I sure can't convince myself of that by reading Dave Korn's book. A quoted pound sign can never start a comment, so I would go with
y="#"

which is, I think, somewhat more clear. And it may be a fluke that y=# currently works. If a new release of ksh was to break that, you would suddenly have a hard bug to find.
# 5  
Old 05-17-2002
Thanks Perderabo!
# 6  
Old 05-21-2002
Quote:
The first thing that worried me is this sort of thing:
x=date
$x
I use a similar type of substitution in a monitoring script:
Code:
[...]
lynx="/opt/lynx/bin/lynx"
site="www.company.com"

${lynx} -dump ${site} >/dev/null 2>&1
case $? in
[...]

It makes it easier for me to change, and makes the commands themselves easier to read for me...
 
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