Very Computer

this is not my ultimate goal, but I thought I should test this before
writing the full script.

I have a file of filenames.
file1:
dog
cat
fish

not I want to execute the following script;
I can't figure out why I cannot get the script to run without the error
message

the script:
1  #!/bin/sh
2
3  prefix="~/tempdir"
4
5  for filename in `cat dfiles`
6  do
7      TARGETFILE="$prefix/`echo $filename | sed 's/.*\/\([^\/]*$\)/\1/'`"
8      echo $TARGETFILE
9      cat $TARGETFILE
10 done

only line 10 seems to be the problem

the error message:
[schoi_d11776b] % compfiles
~/tempdir/dog
cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/dog
~/tempdir/cat
cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
~/tempdir/cat
cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
[schoi_d11776b] %

the strange thing is that I am able to perform
%> cat ~/tempdir/dog
on the command line just fine; it just doesn't like executing the
command in the script

ls -l for the file and directory says
drwxrwxrwx - for directory
-rwxrwxrwx - for the files

would appreciate your insights as to what i'm doing wrong

thanks
Sean

Quote:>this is not my ultimate goal, but I thought I should test this before
>writing the full script.

>I have a file of filenames.
>file1:
>dog
>cat
>fish

>not I want to execute the following script;
>I can't figure out why I cannot get the script to run without the error
>message

>the script:
>1  #!/bin/sh
>2
>3  prefix="~/tempdir"

try this:

eval prefix="~/tempdir"

IIRC, it's a question of when the tilde gets expanded.

Chuck Demas

Quote:>4
>5  for filename in `cat dfiles`
>6  do
>7      TARGETFILE="$prefix/`echo $filename | sed 's/.*\/\([^\/]*$\)/\1/'`"
>8      echo $TARGETFILE
>9      cat $TARGETFILE
>10 done

>only line 10 seems to be the problem

>the error message:
>[schoi_d11776b] % compfiles
>~/tempdir/dog
>cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/dog
>~/tempdir/cat
>cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
>~/tempdir/cat
>cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
>[schoi_d11776b] %

>the strange thing is that I am able to perform
>%> cat ~/tempdir/dog
>on the command line just fine; it just doesn't like executing the
>command in the script

>ls -l for the file and directory says
>drwxrwxrwx - for directory
>-rwxrwxrwx - for the files

>would appreciate your insights as to what i'm doing wrong

>thanks
>Sean

--
  Eat Healthy    |   _ _   | Nothing would be done at all,

  Die Anyway     |    v    | That no one could find fault with it.

Exactly the way to go about it!
And conversely, the way to debug a script is to test each part separately,
i.e. find the smallest section of code that will reproduce the error.

Quote:> I have a file of filenames.
> file1:
> dog
> cat
> fish

> not I want to execute the following script;
> I can't figure out why I cannot get the script to run without the error
> message

> the script:
> 1  #!/bin/sh
> 2
> 3  prefix="~/tempdir"

How does your version of /bin/sh handle tilde expansion?

Try leaving out the quotation marks:
        prefix=~/tempdir

Or you could use $HOME/tempdir instead.

Quote:> 4
> 5  for filename in `cat dfiles`
> 6  do
> 7      TARGETFILE="$prefix/`echo $filename | sed 's/.*\/\([^\/]*$\)/\1/'`"
> 8      echo $TARGETFILE
> 9      cat $TARGETFILE
> 10 done

> only line 10 seems to be the problem

> the error message:
> [schoi_d11776b] % compfiles
> ~/tempdir/dog
> cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/dog
> ~/tempdir/cat
> cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
> ~/tempdir/cat
> cat: cannot open ~/tempdir/fish
> [schoi_d11776b] %

> the strange thing is that I am able to perform
> %> cat ~/tempdir/dog
> on the command line just fine; it just doesn't like executing the
> command in the script

> ls -l for the file and directory says
> drwxrwxrwx - for directory
> -rwxrwxrwx - for the files

> would appreciate your insights as to what i'm doing wrong

> thanks
> Sean

--
    Chris F.A. Johnson                        http://cfaj.freeshell.org
    ===================================================================
    My code (if any) in this post is copyright 2001, Chris F.A. Johnson
    and may be copied under the terms of the GNU General Public License

of the suggestions I received, this was the one that worked
prefix="$HOME/tempdir"

prefix=~/tempdir
and
eval prefix="~/tempdir"

did not work

thanks for your help

Sean

Sean Choi
Duke University School Engineering
Class of 2000

This works from the command line, but not in a script that begins with
#!/bin/sh; are you sure that your login shell is /bin/sh and not bash or
ksh?