topic Re: another question for scripting in Operating System - HP-UX

another question for scripting

kholikt — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:07:46 GMT

Hi,

I have a script and an input file. I would like to declare some of those variable in the input file so each time I can just pass the input file to the script. This will save my time of trying to create 20 scripts for 20 servers.

For example, I can simply run

script.sh myinputfile.

The reason for that is because the input file will have set of variable define and will be different for all the machine.

Here is how myinputfile look like
myinputfile:
servername=Venus
serverowner=Alex
Serverapps="Oracle:Sun:ERP"

so when I run the script.sh it will take those variable define in myinputfile and execute the script accordingly.

What is the best way to do this?

Re: another question for scripting

Steven Schweda — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:14:03 GMT

man sh

Perhaps:

. myinputfile

Or, if you want to put the file name on the
shell script's command line:

. "$1"

Did I suggest "man sh"?

Re: another question for scripting

Steven Schweda — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:15:30 GMT

A Google search for keywords like, say:

shell script primer

or:

shell script tutorial

might also be helpful.

Re: another question for scripting

James R. Ferguson — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:15:44 GMT

Hi:

You need to 'source' (read) the input file into your environment:

# . /myinputfile

Note carefully the dot ('.') followed by *whitespace* and then the name of the file containing the variables you want to import into your environment:

# cat ./mysh
#!/usr/bin/sh
. /myinputfile
echo "I am ${servername}"

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: another question for scripting

Dennis Handly — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 02:17:48 GMT

>I have a script and an input file. I would like to declare some of those variables in the input file

Do you have anything else in your input file other than variables?
The above sourcing solutions only expect shell commands there.

Re: another question for scripting

kholikt — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:07:14 GMT

Yes the above solution only work for data file. In my scenario the file should be only variable. Not sure whether in shell script has anything similar like php script that you have an include statement to include other file.

Re: another question for scripting

Dennis Handly — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:19:51 GMT

>like php script that you have an include statement

As JRF said, that's called sourcing, using a ".". (In the scummy C shell, it's "source".)

Re: another question for scripting

kholikt — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:34:52 GMT

yep source is the keyword and I manage do it right

Re: another question for scripting

James R. Ferguson — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:18:54 GMT

Hi (again):

> yep source is the keyword and I manage do it right

And you will recall that "sourcing" was the term I used.

It would have helped both *you* and *us* if you had _defined_ your environment better. In this HP-UX forum, in the absence of stating otherwise, it is fair to assume that shell-related questions are for the POSIX shell ('/usr/bin/sh' or /sbin/sh') unless otherwise stated.

...JRF...