how to get output of an ftp command into a variable

[Gopi Kishore m]

Hi I am using the below command for getting the files from remote server using ftp.
message1=`ftp -i -n -v ${server} >> $LOG < user $USERNAME $PASSWORD
ascii
umask 022
cd $FROM_DIRECTORY
lcd $TO_DIRECTORY/$dt_stamp_yday
ls
mget *.txt
bye
EOF`

It is running successfully. But now I want to download the files based on time.

JRF (Forum member) suggested modtime command to get the modified time of remote file.

Now my question is I want to take output of modtime command to a variable so that I can refer that variable in the script.

Please tell me how can I do that.

[Dennis Handly]

>I want to take output of modtime command to a variable so that I can refer that variable in the script.

You can get the output of ls into a file:
ls [remote-directory] [local-file]

modtime doesn't seem to be able to redirect the output. With your above message1=$(ftp ...) you can capture that output and the parse it.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

In a reply I made in your previous thread, I wrote, "You could use something like 'dir' to collect a listing (with dates) of the files in a directory and then parse that list, though."

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/System-Administration/Download-files-to-local-server-using-ftp-script-based-on-date/m-p/4735316#M386809

Since you are redirecting your FTP session output to a file (${LOG}) you can parse ('grep', 'awk', 'perl') that after the FTP session ends and thus deliver the information you want to the encapsulating script. I would think that this should include the response from 'modtime'. If so, you will need to parse it out of the ${LOG} output.

I don't see the value of using 'message1' to collect information.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gopi Kishore m]

ThanQ James and Dennis,

I will do the parsing.

Actually I am searching for a way to directly get the output of ftp command like dir,pwd into a variable.

It seems there is no direct way other than parsing.