[SOLVED]bash: assign a command output to a variable

Question

EDIT: Sorry, got the solution - the variable was good, I just forgot a "do" in a "for" loop.... Sorry
Hi erveryone.
I'm just starting to learn the basics of bash scripting, and I got a problem assigning the output of a command to a variable, and i keep getting syntax errors...
var=$(cut -d: -f1 foo)
echo $var
A google search gives many different ways to do this, but without better results..
var=`cut -d: -f1 foo`
var="`cut -d: -f1 foo`"
Any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks!
Last edited by haiku (2012-02-01 14:19:00)

Answer 1

haiku wrote:var=$(cut -d: -f1 foo)
var=`cut -d: -f1 foo`
The first two are both 'right' (in bash) but the first is the preferred syntax (in bash).  I think sh only understands the second.  I've never used quotes in a situation like this, but it seems to work.  That said, maybe the problem is the command itself, because all variations work for me:
$ cat foo
genmon1a:genmon1b
genmon2:genmon3:genmon4
$ cut -d: -f1 foo
genmon1a
genmon2
$ D=$(cut -d: -f1 foo)
$ echo $D
genmon1a genmon2
$ D=`cut -d: -f1 foo`
$ echo $D
genmon1a genmon2
$ D="$(cut -d: -f1 foo)"
$ echo $D
genmon1a genmon2
$ D="`cut -d: -f1 foo`"
$ echo $D
genmon1a genmon2
It might help if you could give us some of the 'bigger picture' too: what you are trying to do overall, the contents of foo, what you are trying to do with the variable, etc.
Last edited by alphaniner (2012-02-01 14:31:01)