OT: Need some shell scripting hints ;)

[Atro Tossavainen]

> I did experience the "whitespace problem" with Nathan's solution, which 
> was my first attempt too, but did not come up with Jason's and Atro's 
> solution ;) I fumbled around with:
> 
> while [ read <TextFile.txt LINE ]

You would have won the Useless Use of Test award (remotely related to
the Useless Use of Cat award).  "[" is "test", which is unnecessary
here (as "read", just like any other command, returns a result code
which is immediately usable to while).

Your version would have been fine if the "<textfile.txt" was else-
where.  Having it there in the loop means that the "<" is evaluated
every time and as a result, you start reading the file from line 1
every round in the loop.  That's why it has to be after "done", or
outside the text of the script altogether as I suggested.

-- 
Atro Tossavainen (Mr.)               / The Institute of Biotechnology at
Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish &     / the University of Helsinki, Finland,
+358-9-19158939  UNIX Dinosaur     / employs me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / >

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