Another validate input Question.

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I'm writing a bash shell script to 'help' me post to susepaste (I can NEVER remember the time options).
Here's the code:

#!/bin/bash

##########
# 
# Project     : personal script.
# Started     : Wed Aug 03, 2011 
# Author      : Habitual
# Description : susepaste c-li script with user input.
# Todo        : I need to validate "$EXPIRATION".
# 
##########

clear
echo -n "Post as: "
read NAME

echo -n "Post Title: "
read TITLE

echo -n "File to post: "
read FILE

echo -e "Expiration:"
echo -e "30m (Minutes)"
echo -e "1h (Hour)"
echo -e "6h (Hours)"
echo -e "12h (Hours)"
echo -e "1d (1 Day)"
echo -e "1w (1 Week)"
echo -e "1m (1 Month)"
echo -e "3m (3 Months)"
echo -e "1y (1 Year)"
echo -e "2y (2 Years)"
echo -e "3y (3 Years)"
echo -e "n (Never)"
read EXPIRATION

# An Array to validate $EXPIRATION?
# expiry=("30" "60" "360" "720" "1440" "10080" "40320" "151200" "604800" "1209600" "1814400" "0")

case $EXPIRATION in
    '30m') EXPIRATION="30" ;;
    '1h') EXPIRATION="60" ;; 
    '6h') EXPIRATION="360" ;; 
    '12h') EXPIRATION="720" ;; 
    '1d') EXPIRATION="1440" ;; 
    '1w') EXPIRATION="10080" ;; 
    '1m') EXPIRATION="40320" ;; 
    '3m') EXPIRATION="151200" ;; 
    '1y') EXPIRATION="604800" ;; 
    '2y') EXPIRATION="1209600" ;; 
    '3y') EXPIRATION="1814400" ;; 
    'n')  EXPIRATION="0" ;; 
esac

# test output during coding:
echo susepaste -t "$TITLE" -e "$EXPIRATION" -f bash -n "$NAME" "$FILE"
exit 0

# EOF

That works, but wanting to be a better coder/scripter, I want to 'validate' the $EXPIRATION, and re-prompt for a "valid" selection (choices in case statement)

Here's what I have tried:

...
if [ $? != $EXPIRATION ]; then
echo "Invalid entry: "
read answer
else
echo susepaste -t "$TITLE" -e "$EXPIRATION" -f bash -n "$NAME" "$FILE"
exit 0
fi
# EOF

and

...
case $EXPIRATION in
    '30m') EXPIRATION="30" ;;
    '1h') EXPIRATION="60" ;; 
    '6h') EXPIRATION="360" ;; 
    '12h') EXPIRATION="720" ;; 
    '1d') EXPIRATION="1440" ;; 
    '1w') EXPIRATION="10080" ;; 
    '1m') EXPIRATION="40320" ;; 
    '3m') EXPIRATION="151200" ;; 
    '1y') EXPIRATION="604800" ;; 
    '2y') EXPIRATION="1209600" ;; 
    '3y') EXPIRATION="1814400" ;; 
    'n')  EXPIRATION="0" ;; 
      *) echo "Try again "
      read $EXPIRATION
     ...
esac

I thought to validate the answer against an array, but I think that may not be the most efficient way to do this.

Thank you for your time.

2

Add a case (*) to every case before esac to catch invalid data. Use both parens to keep vi % working for you.

3

DGPickett:

so...

case $EXPIRATION in
    '30m') EXPIRATION="30" ;;
    (*) ;; 
    '1h') EXPIRATION="60" ;; 
    (*) ;; 
    '6h') EXPIRATION="360" ;; 
    (*) ;; 
...

?

4

How about something like this:

#!/bin/bash
menu_items=(
    "30 Minutes" "1 Hour" "6 Hours" "12 Hours" "1 Day"
    "1 Week" "1 Month" "3 Months" "1 Year" "2 Years"
    "3 Years" "Never" )
 
items_period=(
    30 60 360 720 1440
    10080 40320 151200 604800 1209600
    1814400 0 )
 
PS3="Expiration:"
select s in "${menu_items[@]}"; do
    if [[ -z "$s" ]]
    then
        echo "Option $REPLY is invalid - Please select a number from 1 to ${#menu_items[@]}"
    else
        period=${items_period[$REPLY-1]}
        echo Period selected is $period
        break
    fi
done
1 Like
5

Chubler_XL:

That rocks.

http://susepaste.org/26599207

6 
case x in
(a) ... ;;
(b) ... ;;
(*)
     echo Not a or b ! >&2
     exit 1
     ;;
esac