Syntax error

[Hygelac]

Hey all,

I'm new to bash programming and i'm writing a directory compare script that is giving me a syntax error since i've added some functions to it, and I can't find the error - probably because of my lack of familiarity with bash. Here is my error output:

Retrieving listing of dir: testdir
: command not found
'ircmp: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `{
'ircmp: line 3: `ChkFile(){

My code is:

echo "Retrieving listing of dir:" $1

ChkFile(){
	filename="$1"
	status=0
	if [ ! -e "$filename" ] ; then	
		#========================================
		# Check fails if the file does not exist.
		#========================================
		status=1;
	elif [ -d "$filename" ] ; then
		#==============================================
		# Check fails if a directory file does not have
		# both x (search) and r (read) permissions.
		#==============================================
		if [ ! -x "$filename" ] ; then
			status=2
		elif [ ! -r "$filename" ] ; then
			status=3
		fi
	elif [ -f "$filename" ] ; then
		#==============================================
		# Check fails if a regular file does not have
		# r (read) permission.
		#==============================================
		if [ ! -r "$filename" ] ; then
			status=4
		fi
	else
		#==============================================
		# Check fails if the file is of another type.
		#==============================================
		status=5
	fi
	return $status
	}


GetLst(){
	if [ "$1" = -r ] ; then
		maxDepth=""
		shift 1
	else
		maxDepth="-maxdepth 1"
	fi

	#------------------------------------
	# Get the list of files using "find".
	#------------------------------------
	dirname="$1"
	cd "$dirname" 2>/dev/null
	list=`find . -mindepth 1 $maxDepth "(" -type d -o -type f ")" 2>/dev/null`
	#-----------------------------------
	# Find has "./" at the start of each 
	# filename. Remove.  Also sort.
	#-----------------------------------
	list=`echo "$list" | sed 's/..//' | sort`

	#--------------------------------------------
	# Check each file in the list passes ChkFile
	#--------------------------------------------
	status=0
	[ -n "$list" ] && while : ; do
		read filename
		[ $? != 0 ] && break
		ChkFile "$filename"
		if [ $? != 0 ] ; then
			list="$filename"
			status=1
			break;
		fi
	done <<<"$list"

	echo "$list"
	return $status
	}

GetLst $1

[Cabhan]

So in fact, your code is almost perfect. The problem is actually one of Bash's most annoying features: it cares about whitespace.

You have this line:

ChkFile(){

The problem is that Bash requires a space before the '{':

ChkFile() {

This is the same reason that you need to put spaces between the 'if', '[', the condition, and the ']'.

It's annoying, and everyone gets caught by it initially .

[Hygelac]

Hmm I added those two spaces between the function's () and the { but I am getting a very similiar error, but this time with the spaces included.

Retrieving listing of dir: testdir
: command not found
'/dircmp: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `{
'/dircmp: line 3: `ChkFile() {

[Kieren]

I don't think you need the brackets in your function name. Try:

ChkFile {

[Cabhan]

In fact, your script works for me.

Are you sure that you're running as Bash? Add a shebang line ("#!/bin/bash") to the top of the file. If you are running as Bash, what version? It works on 3.2.17.

[secondmouse]

The code works on my ubuntu 8.04 with bash 3.2.39 and opensuse 10.3 with bash 3.2.25, with or without the #!/bin/bash.