How to create a script in linux to display an error?

Question

I have the code below, but whenever I run it and enter an incorrect name it doesn't show the error message, it just goes blank.

#!/bin/bash

name=$1
if [ "$name" = "" ]
    then echo -n "Enter a name to search for: "
    read name
else
    echo "Name '$name' is not in directory"
fi
grep -i $name ~uli101/2015a/phonebook

choroba · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-07 23:26:02Z

2

Read the code: The "error message" is shown when $1 is not empty. You probably wanted something like

if ! grep -i "$name" ~uli101/2015a/phonebook ; then
    echo "Name '$name' is not in directory"
fi

answered Apr 7, 2015 at 23:26

choroba

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1 Comment

that other guy Over a year ago

For good measure you can also write the message to stderr instead of stdout with echo >&2 "...."

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