Problem with Ksh scripting

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi,

Below is the code for my script

#!/bin/ksh
 
for file in "file1.txt" "file2.txt" "file3.txt" "file4.txt"
do
 L="$(tail -1 $file)"
 NUM=${L%%|*}
 DAT=${L##*|}
 echo $NUM
 echo $DAT
done

Now here,suppose for file1.txt
L will have data like 56|06-07-2010
So, it should be
NUM as 56 & DAT as 06-07-2010

but through the script NUM is getting NULL value and DAT is having 56|06-07-2010 although when am running it without script all works fine...Please tel wher am i wrong..... :confused:

2

What is your login shell? Post output of ps command.

3

What happens if you escape the | like so:

 NUM=${L%%\|*}
 DAT=${L##*\|}
1 Like
4 
 ls file[1-4].txt |xargs -i awk -F \| '{a=$1;b=$2} END {print a,b}' {}
5

Thanks all.....!!!:slight_smile:

My login shell is ksh.....!!!
scrutinizer's "\" is working fine for me......but why is it required in scripting but not in normal input???

Danke!!!
C u all...!
tc.

6

I don't know, perhaps you are not using the exact same ksh as you are using in your script?

In this case whether | should be escaped in variable expansion is at least a grey area and probably is open to interpretation. In this case I would just escape it - even if it is not required - just to avoid problems. This should work in any Posix shell.

7

hmmm....!!!

Thanks :slight_smile:

i jus give ksh to change my shell.....anyways now its working fine...may be that escape thing was the problem.

NB: Please if can any one let me know how to close threads so that this will signify that my problem is solved..!

8

Thanks for keeping us informed, and pleased to hear "SOLVED"...

On your request I will close the thread