Shell scripting question [newby]

[Jan Grant]

On Sun, 9 Apr 2006, Malcolm Fitzgerald wrote:

> I'm trying to follow the instructions at
> <http://www.daemonology.net/freebsd-upgrade-5.4-to-6.0/>
> 
> At point four it offers this shell script.
> 
> cut -f 1 -d '$' /usr/local/freebsd-update/work/md5all | uniq |
>         while read X; do
>                 if [ -f $X ]; then echo $X; fi;
>         done | sort > /root/base-old
> 
> Running this from root shell in konsole (bash) I get "while: Expression
> Syntax". The various hints and clues I get from the shell, the web and man
> bash haven't helped me. Would someone provide the correct syntax for me?

That syntax is correct for sh and bash; you're not running it, however. 
Double-check that after you su to root, you're really running bash. That 
error is what csh will tell you.

-- 
jan grant, ISYS, University of Bristol. http://www.bris.ac.uk/
Tel +44 (0)117 3317661   http://ioctl.org/jan/
Whenever I see a dog salivate I get an insatiable urge to ring a bell.