Very Computer

Hi
this works:
$for i in 'a b c' 'd e f'

Quote:>do
>  echo $i
>done

a b c
d e f

This does not:
$cat file
a b c
d e f
$for i in `cat file`

Quote:>do
> echo $i
>done

a
b
c
d
e
f

How do I give the for the strings "a b c" "d e f" ? I tried adding " with awk
and tricks with eval, but it does not work. Is there a solution?
I would prefer not to reread the entire file for each line ...

Georges.
--
Georges Kesseler


IRC: Gunstick

 >  Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
 >  Date: 10 Nov 1993 16:37:35 GMT
 >  Organization: cetrel
 >
 >  Hi
 >  this works:
 >  $for i in 'a b c' 'd e f'
 >  >do
 >  >  echo $i
 >  >done
 >  a b c
 >  d e f
 >
 >  This does not:
 >  $cat file
 >  a b c
 >  d e f
 >  $for i in `cat file`
 >  >do
 >  > echo $i
 >  >done
 >  a
 >  b
 >  c
 >  d
 >  e
 >  f
 >
 >  How do I give the for the strings "a b c" "d e f" ? I tried adding " with awk
 >  and tricks with eval, but it does not work. Is there a solution?
 >  I would prefer not to reread the entire file for each line ...

Use:

$ while read i
  do
    echo $i
  done < file

The while-read loop is a very important part of sh programming,
IMNSHO.

 - Arne H. Juul

Well, you can check what he wrote.

Arne Juul has already suggested this (which also avoids the call to cat):

        while read i
        do echo "$i"
        done < file

Though I prefer that solution and would have suggested it myself had it not
already been posted, this works too (under sh) with the original syntax:

        OLDIFS=$IFS
        IFS="
        "
        for i in `cat file`
        do echo $i
        done
        IFS=$OLDIFS

But the while-read answer is much better.

David W. Tamkin  P. O. Box 3284  Skokie, Illinois  60076-6284

|> Hi
|> this works:
|> $for i in 'a b c' 'd e f'
|> >do
|> >  echo $i
|> >done
|> a b c
|> d e f
|>
|> This does not:
|> $cat file
|> a b c
|> d e f
|> $for i in `cat file`
|> >do
|> > echo $i
|> >done
|> a
|> b
|> c
|> d
|> e
|> f
|>
|> How do I give the for the strings "a b c" "d e f" ? I tried adding " with awk
|> and tricks with eval, but it does not work. Is there a solution?
|> I would prefer not to reread the entire file for each line ...

What you need to do is to reset the Internal Field Separator (IFS) to 'newline'.
The for loop extracts each field.  In your case, the field separator is
probably set to space, tab, and newline; therefore, the spaces in each
line are acting as a field separator and the 'for' loop is seeing each
of these characters as a separate field in the line separated by spaces.
You want it reset the IFS to newline only.  Following are a couple of
examples.

Try this...

$ IFS="               # Just hit the enter key here#

Quote:> "

$ for i in `cat file`; do

Quote:> echo $i
> done

a b c
d e f
$

If you want to save the old IFS value prior to changing it, try

$ OLD_IFS=${IFS}
$ IFS="

Quote:> "

$ for i in `cat file`; do

Quote:> echo $i
> done

a b c
d e f
$ IFS=${OLD_IFS}
--
+==============================+=============================================+
| David W. Pledger             | S T R A T E G I C   D A T A   S Y S T E M S |

| Custom Database Applications | Phone (513)748-2460, (800)253-5624 ext 2940 |

Quote:> Arne Juul has already suggested this (which also avoids the call to cat):

>         while read i
>         do echo "$i"
>         done < file

Thanks all for the tip, I really should have found out myself, but sometimes
there is some internal blocking in the brain :-)
It's already running fine (the script I mean).

Georges.
--
Georges Kesseler


IRC: Gunstick