Making a shell script but the script is not taking any input

Question

I am trying to make a shell script that works as an ordering system. I have started with the first steps but it does not take the input I am not sure of what I am doing wrong. I have attached an image of what end result should be. What is the next step I should take and what should I begin to research

#!/bin/bash

clear
echo "orderBeds"
read -p "Please Enter you choice (Quit/Order)" order
if [$order -e Order|order]
then
    echo "Please enter you name?"
elif [$order -e Quit|quit]
then 
     exit 
fi
done

"Does not take the input" is not a good description of the error. But -e is for testing the existence of files; to test the equality of two strings, use ==. — Beta
– Beta, Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 17:26
Hi I tried your suggestion, but this has given me a new error on line 6 and 9 which is "command not found". what have I done wrong here? — Kevin Medjiako
– Kevin Medjiako, Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 17:35
if [$order -e Order|order] will attempt to execute a command named [$order with arguments -e and Order and pipe the output to a command named order]. That is almost certainly not what you want. — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 17:38
Actually, the POSIX way is a single "=" sign; but "==" will work on the most recent shells. — user8747928
– user8747928, Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 17:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-17 21:32:41Z

2

I'll start giving some general advice.

1) [ is a command. That means you probably don't want to expand a variable just next to it without separating them with white spaces.

2) If you will check against more than one option, use the case construct. Apart from giving you the chance of a better structure, you'll be able to use globbing expressions as options to match against.

That said, let's rewrite your code:

#! /bin/bash

clear
echo "orderBeds"

read -p "Please Enter your choice (Quit/Order)" order

case "$order" in
    [Oo]rder)
        read -p "Please enter your name: " name
        echo "$name placed an order."
        break
    ;;
    [Qq]uit)
        exit
    ;;
esac

edited Apr 17, 2020 at 21:32

answered Apr 17, 2020 at 17:56

user8747928

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1 Comment

SethGoodluck Over a year ago

That's a nice one :)

SethGoodluck · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-17 17:41:12Z

1

the -e flag is for numerical equivalency.

Here is a corrected bash script to get you started:

#!/bin/bash
clear

echo "orderBeds"

read -p "Please enter your choice (Quit/Order) " order

if [ $order == "order" ] || [ $order == "Order" ]
 then
  read -p  "Please enter your name " name
  echo "$name placed an order"

elif [ $order == "quit"] || [ $order == "Quit" ]
 then
  exit
fi

Note the use of == instead of -e and the separation of the or clauses.

answered Apr 17, 2020 at 17:41

SethGoodluck

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3 Comments

Kevin Medjiako Over a year ago

Thanks for the advice, I've tested this out and the first function to order seems to work but the function to quit does not, I will do some additional testing to see what changes need to be made. The error is ( line 13: [: missing `]' )

Walter A Over a year ago

@KevinMedjiako You also need a space before the ].

SethGoodluck Over a year ago

@KevinMedjiak Walter is correct. I updated the script (I had a typo). Bash cares about things like that.

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