[SOLVED] echo command is not quite working the way I prefer

[aus9]

Ok I have tried echo  as in /bin/echo and loading coreutils  for /usr/local/bin/echo

I am trying to create a script inside a build script

The script is being built but has the appearance attempting to action as well

first the working bit.......which acts correctly is

Code: [Select]

mkdir -p cups/usr/local/tce.installed
root@box:/tmp# echo '#!/bin/sh
>
> if [ ! -d /usr/local/etc/cups ]; then
>   mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/cups
> fi
>
> if [ ! -f /usr/local/etc/cups/cupsd.conf ]; then
>   cp -p /usr/local/share/cups/files/cupsd.conf /usr/local/etc/cups
> fi
> ' > $T

Now the bad , the real text file in a code box for display purposes only

Code: [Select]

mkdir -p cups/usr/local/etc/init.d
#######################
/usr/local/bin/echo '#!/bin/sh

start() {
if ps | awk '{print $3}' | grep -e "dbus-daemon" >/dev/null; then
/usr/local/etc/init.d/dbus restart
start-stop-daemon --start --exec /usr/local/sbin/cupsd 2>/dev/null
sleep 2
else
/usr/local/etc/init.d/dbus start
start-stop-daemon --start --exec /usr/local/sbin/cupsd 2>/dev/null
sleep 2
fi
}

stop() {
start-stop-daemon --stop --exec /usr/local/sbin/cupsd 2>/dev/null
sleep 2
}

status() {
if ps | awk '{print $3}' | grep -e "/usr/local/sbin/cupsd" >/dev/null; then
echo "cups is running."
exit 0
else
echo "cups is not running."
exit 1
fi
}

case $1 in
start) start
;;
stop) stop
;;
status) status
;;
restart) stop; start
;;
*) echo -e "\n$0 [start|stop|restart|status]\n"
;;
esac
' > $I

The effect of copy and paste into a terminal is horrible and I can't grab it all but a snippet is

Code: [Select]

dumpkmap                     klogd                        pg                           stdbuf                       zsync
dumpleases                   lame                         pgawk                        strings                      zsyncmake
dump.p                     last                         pgawk-4.0.0                  strip
> ;;
> *) echo -e "\n$0 [start|stop|restart|status]\n"
>
2to3                         dvipdf                       ld                           pgrep                        stty

To my untrained eyes, it looks like its trying to action my paste instead of respecting the first part of the echo command

2)  If this can not be easily resolved, feel free to suggest a better way to add scripts inside a build script.

Be aware I am a simple coder so an example may assist

thanks for reading

[aus9]

its also destroying the correct layout for my tcz.info files if I use the build script and the echo feature

I am too tired to see my mistakes

[Rich]

Hi aus9

its also destroying the correct layout for my tcz.info files if I use the build script and the echo feature

See the attachment here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,15046.msg86197.html#msg86197
for another way of creating your info files.

[aus9]

Rich

thanks heaps for that, but at the moment I can't use it for cups stuff.

cups split at different dates into cups-dev libcups etc.......so the info files have different changelogs

For the moment I will just create the text files the old way using leafpad and add them to /tmp for when I run submitqc4

[gerald_clark]

Your echo command is delimited by the ' character, but you are including unquoted ' characters in the echo string.

[aus9]

gerald_clark or others

I am not sure what that means.

I thought I was echoing the contents of a text file to create the contents and name of a file.

I used this method but using ' or " both seem to work ok
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/echo-multiple-lines-of-text-312048/#post1585203

Code: [Select]

echo 'line 1
>     line 2
> ' > /tmp/zz
tc@box:~$ cat /tmp/zz
line 1
    line 2

That is, space is not truncated. So it should work for an info file, and in the recent past it has.

Questions, if anyone has time
Should I change my build script to /bin/bash and load bash?

If I define a number of variables, does that affect /bin/sh and cause it to bork a little?

###########

I can easily go back to my old method for building the info files outside the build script

I could upload any tce.installed or init script and have the script download it
----but I would prefer to have it all in the script.

Thanks for reading

[althalus]

From what I can see, the script you are trying to create uses ' and " inside it. So, either escape these marks (ie, inside the echo, use \' and \" instead of ' or " - which is what gerald_clark was refering to) or use something more robust for quoting multi line strings. For example (ash on a raspberry pi, should work almost regardless of shell though):

Code: [Select]

tc@pibox:~$  cat > infofile <<EOF
> hello
> this is a string
> EOF
tc@pibox:~$ cat infofile
hello
this is a string


[gerald_clark]

Also,
echo '$VAR'
is not the same as
echo "$VAR"

You should spend some time reading a shell manual.

[tinypoodle]

Code: [Select]

tc@pibox:~$  cat > infofile <<EOF
> hello
> this is a string
> EOF
tc@pibox:~$ cat infofile
hello
this is a string


What exactly is the purpose of those ">" preceding each line?

[althalus]

What exactly is the purpose of those ">" preceding each line?

That was a copy and paste from terminal. I've always assumed they're visual indicators to just remind you this line is continuing the previous command. The majority of shells and interpreters I've used do something similar.

[tinypoodle]

Oh, ok, gotcha, had thought that it was copy of script.

[aus9]

althalus

I test.....eg input text = (in a code box to show space)

Code: [Select]

title: line 1
line 2
EOF

then do a command based on your method (copy and paste from terminal input and results)

Code: [Select]

cat > /tmp/test << EOF
> title: line 1
> line 2
> EOF

cat /tmp/test
title: line 1
line 2

Input is truncating space.

gerald_clark
You are right, but my time is limited by my learning skills, good looks or thereof and time issues

[aus9]

edit now irrelevant

[althalus]

Input is truncating space.

If you pasted in those extra lines, the truncating happens in the paste. Same thing happens if you use echo "" and paste multiple lines.

also I gather, if I had no internal 'string' or "string" my original method might just work?

Yes, but that's obviously going to be problematic for cases like the init script in your initial post.

[aus9]

thanks everyone so far.

I can get around it, with my current skills

I use the echo ' string with spaces' > /pathway/file

then if I encounter " or ' internally, I do one line at time with an append

echo '  blah  "string"  blah ' >> /samefile