Carriage return \r on bash script

Question

I have this bash script on my CentOS 5.3.

#!/bin/bash

RESULT=$(cat /tmp/logfile.log | grep -i "Backlog File Count" | awk '{print $6}')

if [ "${RESULT}" -lt "5" ];
  then
      echo "${RESULT} is less than 5"
  else
      echo "${RESULT} is greater than 5"
fi

/tmp/logfile.log:

Backlog File Names (first 1 files)

This bash script should supposedly to get the value "1" on the log file and print the output. However, when I run the script, this is the error message:

: integer expression expected

So when I set the debug mode, I found the "RESULT" variable output:

+ RESULT=$'1\r'
.....
+ '[' $'1\r' -lt 5 ']'

I've noticed that "\r" output is attached on the value.

I would appreciate if any one could lead me why there is "\r" on that output and how to get rid of that error. I tried on CentOS 6.3 and there is no issue.

# rpm -qa bash
bash-3.2-32.el5_9.1

Thank you. James

darthbith · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-15 23:39:47Z

4

Your input file contains CR+LF line endings. Strip the CR before reading the variable. Say:

RESULT=$(tr -d '\r' < /tmp/logfile.log | grep -i "Backlog File Count" | awk '{print $6}')

Alternatively, you could remove the carriage returns from the input file by using dos2unix or any other utility.

Moreover, saying:

cat file | grep foobar

is equivalent to saying:

grep foobar file

and avoids the Useless Use of Cat.

edited Aug 15, 2016 at 23:39

darthbith

19.8k11 gold badges64 silver badges81 bronze badges

answered Mar 3, 2014 at 6:49

devnull

124k33 gold badges247 silver badges234 bronze badges

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

2 Comments

James Wise Over a year ago

I have tried dos2unix filename filename and it doesn't work out too. But with what you've suggested, it's working well. Thanks!

Erwin Waterlander Over a year ago

A single \r is a mac line break. You should have used mac2unix.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Carriage return \r on bash script

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related