Problems with using grep to make backups to a different directory

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I am trying to program a script that is using grep to find lines in a file in my home directory, and then use a pipe command to copy what is shown into different files in a different directory to create backup files. When I run it, though, it only creates a copy of the file that grep was going through, not the actual lines it found in that file. Here is a sample of the code:

 if (-e $argv[1]) then
   if (-d $argv[2] then
    grep '.*' $argv[1] | cp $argv[1] ~/$argv[2]/$argv[1].bak
   endif
endif
exit 0

The first argument is the file you want to use grep on, and the second argument is the directory I want the backup to be put to, with the same filename with a .bak at the end. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong and why it isn't copying the whole thing? Thank you

2 
grep '.*' $argv[1] > ~/$argv[2]/$argv[1].bak
3

My problem is that at the end even if I use the redirection operator,

 >  ~/argv[2]/$argv[1].bak

I'm thinking it is only taking the file that I am using grep on, and not the actual stuff listed by grep. What would I have to put besides $argv[1] to make the lines different files in the other directory instead of one renamed file that grep was just used on?

Thank you for your suggestion.

4

Did you give it a try? Here's an example:

[user@host ~]$ cat file
hello
world
hellomars
[user@host ~]$ grep hello file > ./test/file.bak
[user@host ~]$ cat test/file.bak
hello
hellomars
[user@host ~]$
5

I am wanting each of the things listed to go into different files, though, and not just one file in the other directory. For example after I do the backup files when i do an

 ls ~/test

i would get back a hello.bak and a hellomars.bak

6

If you make the file contents the new filenames, what should be the new file contents?

7

The file contents would be the scripts that are in the file names

8

Your requirements are stated in a very confusing way and I see absolutely no need use grep. I don't write code using csh, but I think the following Korn shell script will do what you want. (It should also work with bash or any other shell that recognizes basic POSIX shell syntax.)

#!/bin/ksh
ec=0
IAm=${0##*/}
if [ $# -ne 2 ]
then    printf "Usage:\t%s list_file dest_dir\n" "$IAm" >&2
        printf "\t\$HOME/dest_dir must be an existing directory\n" >&2
        exit 1
fi
if [ ! -f "$1" ]
then    printf "%s: \"%s\" is not a regular file\n" "$IAm" "$1" >&2
        exit 2
fi
if [ ! -d ~/"$2" ]
then    printf "%s: \"%s\" is not a directory\n" "$IAm" ~/"$2" >&2
        exit 3
fi
while read -r file
do      if ! cp "$file" ~/"$2/$file.bak"
        then    ec=4
        fi
done < "$1"
exit $ec