Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:40:31 -0500 From: Kevin Kinsey <kdk@daleco.biz> To: "N. Ersen SISECI" <siseci@gmail.com> Cc: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bourn Shell -n Flag Questions Message-ID: <4452B5FF.7040304@daleco.biz> In-Reply-To: <848f55ff0604281642i1262ffc9w499dbd217590f590@mail.gmail.com> References: <200604281634.k3SGYNhn093282@dc.cis.okstate.edu> <848f55ff0604281642i1262ffc9w499dbd217590f590@mail.gmail.com>
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> On 4/28/06, Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu> wrote: > >> I read about the noexecute flag or -n flag which is supposed >> to check the syntax of a Bourn Shell script to see what it would do if >> run, but not actually do anything. This sounds like a wonderful >> thing, especially when one is going to run a dangerous script and you >> only get one chance to get it right. >> >> I tried sh -n scriptname and it always silently succeeds even >> if I type sh -x -n somescript. I even deliberately created a script >> with a syntax error in it and tried sh -x -n again. It still did >> nothing but exit. Does this just not work or am I misunderstanding >> the purpose of the flag? >> >> Thanks for your help. >> N. Ersen SISECI wrote: > Hello, > > Bourne shell is bash. So you should try > bash -n scriptname Um, "Bourne shell" is /bin/sh. "Bourne Again SHell" is bash, which is not installed in FreeBSD by default. As for "sh -n", consider: [343] Fri 28.Apr.2006 19:35:03 [kadmin@archangel][~/scripts]# cat foobaz #!/bin/sh PRE="Foo ECHO=/bin/echo TARGET=/tmp/foobar $ECHO $PRE > $TARGET [344] Fri 28.Apr.2006 19:35:20 [kadmin@archangel][~/scripts]# sh -n foobaz foobaz: 3: Syntax error: Unterminated quoted string So, it would appear that "-n" is merely a "lint" type option or "syntax checker". Whether or not it's smart enough to catch your error I can't tell; it caught mine with and without "-x" .... HTH, Kevin Kinsey -- The giraffe you thought you offended last week is willing to be nuzzled today.
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