Hi,
I have a variable (var) which can be any number. I would like to use the cut command on a string depending on the variable.
eg
var=4
echo $string | cut -c 1-$var
This doesn't work as cut sees $var as $var rather than as 4. Can anyone suggest how I can evaluate $var in the cut command so cut sees $var as 4 ?
Many thanks
Helen:confused:
The exact code that you posted works fine for me. I can't imagine why you're having trouble with it.
Hi Perderabo,
I get "cut: The list arguments following the c option are not correct." from my script.
Although I did a quick command line test and it worked ok.
You must have some other problem. Maybe "var" has some other value. Do a:
echo var = $var
before the cut statement.
As the code stands in my script I'm doing the following
string2=`echo $string | cut -c1-c$length`
I did an echo of the whole line just before I executed the line
ie
echo "string2=\`echo $string | cut -c1-c$length\`"
string2=`echo $string | cut -c1-c$length`
and ran the script again
I got
string2=echo 524286918 | cut -c1-c6
cut: The list arguments following the c option are not correct.
The line which was output is how I wanted it to look but I still get the error message
I've tried running it both under sh and ksh
it's a bizzare one!
You want "cut -c1-$length". Lose that "c" directly in front of the variable.
Thanks Perderabo
Can't believe I missed that - I think I've been working far too many hours!