Very Computer

I wish to write a script using getopts to allow me to change permissions,
owner & group on a file or multiple files by supplying different options and
arguments to it.

I'm a newbie, so take it easy on me...haha ;-)

so far my code is as such:

I've actually called this script 'mychmod', same as the function name and
FPATH is set in my .profile file.

mychmod()
{
while getopts p:o:g: option            # p=permissions o=owner g=group
do
   case ${option} in
        p )    chmod_opt=${OPTARG};p_opt=yes;;
        o )    chown_opt=${OPTARG};o_opt=yes;;
        g )    chgrp_opt=${OPTARG};g_opt=yes;;
   esac
done

shift `expr ${OPTIND} - 1`

do
  test "${p_opt} = "yes" && chmod "${chmod_opt}" $file
  test "${o_opt} = "yes" && chown "${chown_opt}" $file
  test "${g_opt} = "yes" && chgrp "${chgrp_opt}" $file
done

Quote:}

#echo "this is a dummy file" > dummy

When I run the function, it spits out the following error:-
#mychmod -p 777 dummy
usage: chmod [-fR] <absolute-mode> file ...
           chmod [-fR] <symbolic-mode-list> file ...
where <symbolic-mode-list> is a comma-separated list of [ugoa] {+|-|=}
[rwxXlstugo]
Cannot open file

What am I missing? Or what does the above error mean?  Your help is very
much appreciated.
Thanks

        test "${p_opt} = "yes" && chmod "${chmod_opt}" $file

you should have this:

        test "${p_opt}" = "yes" && chmod "${chmod_opt}" $file

Although actually I would just do this instead:

        [ -n "$chmod_opt" ] && chmod "$chmod_opt" "$file"

It's not harmful, but it's not really necessary to use the braces in
this case -- you only need to use those as a separator if it's not
obvious where the variable ends, and to me it's sort of visual clutter
to use them when they're not necessary.

Also note the quotes around "$file".

Anyway, if the quoting issue isn't it (and I bet it's not), then one
easy way to proceed is to use the trace feature of the shell.  Do
this:

        set -x
        mychmod -p 777 dummy
        set +x

Then you'll see what the shell is doing at each step, and you can
figure out why it's creating a chmod command with bad syntax.

  - Logan
--
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I'm you're he's she's we're they're _it's_

words, change the above to: