sh script writing help

[Anh Ky Huynh]

On Sun, 30 May 2010 14:10:36 +0800
Aiza <aiza21 at comclark.com> wrote:

> Dan Nelson wrote:
> > In the last episode (May 30), Aiza said:
> >> In a .sh type script I have && exerr " very long message gt 250
> >> char" all on the same line. This is a real pain to edit.
> >>
> >> Is there some code a can use to continue this on the next line
> >> so I can see it on the screen and still have the command
> >> function? I tried \ with no luck.
> > 
> > \ should work just fine:
> > 
> > $ echo "long line \
> > split onto two"
> > long line split onto two
> > $
> > 
> 
> 
> You example works only because the continuation starts at position
> 1.
> 
> $   [ -n "${test-name-fowarding}" -o -n "${test-noname}" ] || \
>      exerr "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\
>             xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
> this is for ease of reading the code but will display with a bunch
> of spaces in the middle of the sentence. The \ works fine bypassing
> all white space between code not so for white space between the "
> ".
> 
> Is there a coding method to get around this?

Do you try to read your expression from a file?
	exerr `cat /path/to/data`

the contents of /path/to/data are your very long string.

Regards,

-- 
Anh Ky Huynh