How can i pass strings from a file as keyboard input for a bash script?

Question

I've got a script which is configuring a software. When i run the script it asks for user input like the ports etc.

Is it possible to run the script and pass it strings from a file?

My file with inputs looks like:

8080
1100
password
password
y

I've tried to run this:

cat /installation/inputs | /etc/init.d/myprogram configure

EDIT: After editing the password the command worked. Maybe there was a wrong char in it which caused the error...

The output is an endless loop of the message "input3 cannot be null. Enter input3:" until i stop it with ^C. — oops
– oops, Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 12:43
I mean: copy/paste the real input of your program and the real values and edit your question for that. — Jean-François Fabre
– Jean-François Fabre ♦, Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 12:46

Vince Sh · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-05 22:53:42Z

1

The syntax below will run your script and pass each line of text from /installation/inputs as a single line of arguments.

/etc/init.d/myprogram configure `echo $(cat /installation/inputs)`

results in:

/etc/init.d/myprogram configure 8080 1100 password password y

Your script simply needs to check if there are command line args, assign each arg $1 - $5 to each necessary field and then bypass the input prompts.

answered Dec 5, 2016 at 22:23

Vince Sh

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