goto statement

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I have a test script for using goto statement but its not working. please help

i tried both in linux and hp-ux it's not working please help

#! /bin/ksh
t=`ps -ef|grep ti.sh|grep -v grep`
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
goto start
else
goto stop
fi
start:
echo "start"
stop:
echo "stop"

2

There is no goto statement in ksh. Other shells support it, for example, tcsh.

3

With all respect, a goto statement is for those who cannot program. It is a "dirty" way to jump from 1 place in the code to another.

As already mentioned, a goto statement doesnt exist in a Korn Shell.

Instead you could define 2 functions.

#! /bin/ksh

start()
{
  echo "start"
}

stop()
{
  echo "stop"
}

t=`ps -ef|grep t.sh`
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
  start
else
  stop
fi

By putting "" around 1 letter of the search pattern in the grep command there is no more need for the "grep -v grep" command.

The "grep -v grep" was wrong in this scenario anyway.
Because when you check for the return code "$?", you actually check the return code of the command "grep -v grep" and not of the command "grep ti.sh".

4

Or:

ps -ef|grep [t]i.sh>&-&&echo start||echo stop

With some shells you'll get an error with the above operation (closing fd1),
so redirecting fd1 to /dev/null will be more portable,
and, of course, with GNU grep you can use the "q" option.

5

Never seen the Linux Kernel source code?
Sometimes goto statements can make the code more efficient, cleaner and concise.

Linus about the use of goto's:

Regards

6

According to the rules:

(8) No BSD vs. Linux vs. Windows or similar threads.

And that applies to arguing about goto's as well. The question has been answered so I will close this thread.