curl command unable to pass bash parameter

Question

so I am new to curl and am trying to write a bash script that will I can run that downloads a file. So I start off by authentication then make a POST to request a download. I am given a Foo_ID in which I parse using bash and set to a parameter. I then try to use GET the certain Foo data via a download URL. The issue I am having is that whenever I pass in the parameter I parsed from the POST response I get nothing. Here is an example of what I am doing.

#!/bin/bash
curl -b cookies -c cookies -X POST @login_info -d "https://foo.bar.com/auth"
curl -b cookies -c cookies -X POST @Foo_info -d "https://foo.bar.com/foos" > ./tmp/stuff.t
myFooID=`cat ./tmp/stuff.t |grep -Po '"foo_id:.*?",'|cut -d '"' -f 4`
curl -b cookies -c cookies "http://foo.bar.com/foo-download?id=${myFooID}" > ./myFoos/Foo1.data

I have echo'd myFooID to make sure it is correct and it is. I have also echo'd "https://foo.bar.com/foo-download?id=${myFooID}" and it is properly showing the URL I need. Could anyone help me with this like I said I am new to using curl and a little rusty on using bash commands.

the way you use the parameter seems correct, can you also echo the result of the curl command? — xvatar
– xvatar, Commented May 31, 2012 at 23:03
When I echo' the result of the last curl command It is just blank. — Andrew
– Andrew, Commented May 31, 2012 at 23:41
Make sure you quote the variable when you echo it. Do echo "$myFooID" and see if it looks OK. Then do echo -n "$myFooID" | hexdump -C and see if the hex values show any unexpected characters. If you issue the commands by hand, but substitute the ID literally instead of with a variable, does it work? You don't need cat, grep accepts filenames as arguments. You should be able to use a variable instead of a temporary file. Use $() instead of backticks. These suggestions won't solve your problem though. — Dennis Williamson
– Dennis Williamson, Commented May 31, 2012 at 23:43
Thank you Dennis! I cleaned up my code with your suggestions and now it works perfectly! You don't know how long I have been trying to solve this. — Andrew
– Andrew, Commented May 31, 2012 at 23:52

Andrew · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-01 18:10:31Z

2

So I have solved the issue. The problem was after doing my post for the Foo I didn't give enough time for my foo to be created before trying to download it. I added a sleep command between both the last two curl commands and now it works perfectly. I would like to thank Dennis Williamson for helping me clean up my code wich led me to understanding my issue. I have created a shrine for him on my desk.

answered Jun 1, 2012 at 18:10

Andrew

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1 Comment

pulkitsinghal Over a year ago

For anyone looking to do the same in the -d post data: stackoverflow.com/questions/4152388/expanding-variable-in-curl

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