<< symbol causes error in a loop

[Tim Medford]

I have a very simple shell script that connects to oracle and runs a procedure. I need to run the procedure multiple times, so I'm trying to put it in a loop. Every time I try this it chokes on the <
This works ok:
#!/usr/bin/sh

export ORACLE_SID=$1

thetime=`date +%X`
sqlplus -s "/ as sysdba" <exec time_kicker ('$thetime');
!sleep 5
!thetime=`date +%X`
exec time_kicker ('$thetime');
!sleep 5
!thetime=`date +%X`
exec time_kicker ('$thetime');
!sleep 5
!thetime=`date +%X`
quit

All I'm trying to do is run time_kicker 3 times so I put it in a loop:

#!/usr/bin/sh

export ORACLE_SID=$1

for i in 1 2 3
do
thetime=`date +%X`
sqlplus -s "/ as sysdba" <exec time_kicker ('$thetime');
!sleep 5
quit
!
done

Running this script results in "Syntax error at line 8 : `<<' is not matched"

Any ideas why that won't work in a do-done loop?

Thanks, Tim

[Alan Meyer_4 · Accepted solution]

you need to place the EOF end marker in the script

for i in 1 2 3
do
thetime=`date +%X`
sqlplus -s "/ as sysdba" <exec time_kicker ('$thetime');
!sleep 5
quit
!
EOF
done

[Tim Medford]

That did it Alan, thanks.

[Tim Nelson]

Just another item. On occassion using EOF (i.e. end of file) sometimes conflicts with while read loops and etc..

If these weird instances occur I have just changed the marker from EOF to something else i.e <<-TIM
cat file|while read list
do
command <<-TIM
this
that
those
TIM
done