Bash script error. Syntax error near unexpected token

Question

I'm trying to work through a script to email me a notification if the load is too high on our server. I found a good one but it's giving me and error when I run it, and I can't see why.

Running the code below gives the error:

line 13: syntax error near unexpected token `fi'

I thought I had to laid out correctly though. Thanks!

#!/bin/bash

THR=10
MAIL="[email protected]"

VAR=`uptime|awk -F, '{print $4}'|awk '{print $3}'`
OUT=`echo "$VAR $THR" | awk '{if ($1 > $2) print "yes"; else print "no"}'`
if [ "$VAR" == "" ]
then
  # it's within the first 24 hours of uptime
  VAR=`uptime|awk -F, '{print $3}'|awk '{print $3}'`
  OUT=`echo "$VAR $THR" | awk '{if ($1 > $2) print "yes"; else print "no"}'`
fi
if [ "$OUT" == "yes" ]
then
  echo "The current load $VAR is greater than the threshold $THR" | mail $MAIL
  -s "Server Load Alert"
  echo "Alert generated because $VAR is greater than $THR"
else
  echo "No alert as $VAR > $THR"
fi
echo "load = $VAR"

execute with the flag -vx in your shebang line and check exactly what the error is! #!/bin/bash -vx — Vijay
– Vijay, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 9:10
Hmm the whitespace was giving me an error so I've removed that. Now I'm getting an unexpected end of file — Adam
– Adam, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 9:20
Trying running it in debug mode, #/bin/bash --debug --verbose file.sh — manav m-n
– manav m-n, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 9:27
Same error, is this supposed to put the contents of the error into a file? — Adam
– Adam, Commented Dec 4, 2012 at 9:33

gniourf_gniourf · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-04 12:08:27Z

2

Sorry, no offence, but your bash style is terrible!

Here's a better version:

#!/bin/bash

thr=10
mail="[email protected]"

read var _ < /proc/loadavg

if (( $(bc -l <<< "$var>$thr") )); then
    echo "The current load $var is greater than the threshold $thr" | mail "$mail" -s "Server Load Alert"
    echo "Alert generated because $var is greater than $thr"
else
    echo "No alert as $var <= $thr"
fi
echo "load = $var"

The changes are the following:

Use lower case variable names, as upper case variable names are considered bad bash practice.
Don't parse the output of the command uptime using millions of pipes, subshells and awks because it's inefficient, the same information is obtained directly from the file /proc/loadavg, with a read builtin.
Don't use awk to test for inequalities, use bc, it's more efficient (and you don't need a variable $OUT at all).
No backticks! Use the $(...) construct instead (easier to read, to nest, and better bash practice).

I haven't tested the script, just corrected yours as I read it. Please tell me if it works for you.

edited Dec 4, 2012 at 12:08

answered Dec 4, 2012 at 9:45

gniourf_gniourf

47.4k10 gold badges105 silver badges113 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

8 Comments

Adam Over a year ago

I got the following output when running.

root@server[~]# bash /scripts/load_check.sh : command not foundcheck.sh: line 2: : command not foundcheck.sh: line 5: : No such file or directory: line 6: /proc/loadavg : command not foundcheck.sh: line 7: /scripts/load_check.sh: line 15: syntax error: unexpected end of file

gniourf_gniourf Over a year ago

@AdamG What are the scripts load_check.sh and foundcheck.sh? Could you edit your OP and include them there?

Adam Over a year ago

load_check.sh is this script that I'm excuting. I have no idea what foundcheck.sh is. I've got plenty of other scripts running on the server, I'm not sure why this one is causing such a headache.

gniourf_gniourf Over a year ago

@AdamG Ah it's about the script check.sh, not foundcheck.sh... Could you please check that the file /proc/loadavg exists by issuing cat /proc/loadavg. Could you also check that you have bash installed and check its version by issuing bash --version.

Adam Over a year ago

There is definitely no script called check.sh and I'm not running a command for that. cat /proc/loadavg gives me 0.32 0.29 0.27 1/235 14795 which looks correct? Lastly it's Bash 3.2.25(1)-release.

|

Arnestig · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-04 09:24:32Z

0

#!/bin/bash

THR=10
MAIL="[email protected]"

VAR=`uptime|awk -F, '{print $4}'|awk '{print $3}'`
OUT=`echo "$VAR $THR" | awk '{if ($1 > $2) print "yes"; else print "no"}'`
if [ "$VAR" == "" ]
then
# it's within the first 24 hours of uptime
VAR=`uptime|awk -F, '{print $3}'|awk '{print $3}'`
OUT=`echo "$VAR $THR" | awk '{if ($1 > $2) print "yes"; else print "no"}'`
fi
if [ "$OUT" == "yes" ]
then
echo "The current load $VAR is greater than the threshold $THR" | mail $MAIL -s "Server Load Alert"
echo "Alert generated because $VAR is greater than $THR"
else
echo "No alert as $VAR > $THR"
fi
echo "load = $VAR"

This works for me. I changed so that "mail $MAIL" and -s "Server Load Alert" keeps on the same row.

answered Dec 4, 2012 at 9:24

Arnestig

2,34818 silver badges30 bronze badges

3 Comments

Adam Over a year ago

I'm still getting an Unexpected end of file. Are there any changes I need to make on the server for it to be more forgiving?

Arnestig Over a year ago

Execute the script but swap #!/bin/bash with #!/bin/bash -x and post the output

Adam Over a year ago

I got the following output when running.

root@server[~]# bash /scripts/load_check.sh : command not foundcheck.sh: line 2: : command not foundcheck.sh: line 5: line 22: syntax error: unexpected end of file

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Bash script error. Syntax error near unexpected token

2 Answers 2

8 Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

8 Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related