How to call a script in a select statement in bash script

Question

Sounds like quite a convoluted question, but it's really not. I'm busy building a menu in a bash script, and as part of the case statement I am trying to call another script that I created a while ago which edits a file, and it's breaking. Here is an example:

#!/bin/bash

PS3="Please choose an option: "
options=("Do this" "Do nothing")
select opt in "${options[@]}"
do 
   case $opt in
      "Do this")
         read -p "Please enter the file name:`echo $'\nE9> '`" FILENAME
         getscript $FILENAME
         break
         ;;
      "Do nothing")
         break
         ;;
   esac
done

The error that I get from this is as follows: getscript: command not found

To illustrate that this works, I ran getscript from the normal command prompt and it still works:

$ getscript randomfilename.txt
done

A little more detail, in case in matters... The getscript.sh script in question is located in /usr/local/bin and I have an alias created for it in .bashrc in my current user directory, which allows me to call getscript only.

Please help?

You could resolve the problem by specifying the complete path, ie, /usr/local/bin/getscript.sh $FILENAME — Matthias J. Sax
– Matthias J. Sax, Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 12:50
I have suggested an alternate approach. Aliases its self are not supported in scripts. Please accept my answer if it resolved your issue. — Umer
– Umer, Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 14:22

Ryan Cauldwell · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-03 12:55:44Z

1

Biffen was correct, aliases don't seem to work in a script. So all I needed to do was add .sh on the end, and it worked perfectly... To illustrate, in case somebody needs this in the future:

PS3="Please choose an option: "
options=("Do this" "Do nothing")
select opt in "${options[@]}"
do 
   case $opt in
      "Do this")
         read -p "Please enter the file name:`echo $'\nE9> '`" FILENAME
         getscript.sh $FILENAME
         break
         ;;
      "Do nothing")
         break
         ;;
   esac
done

Works like a charm :). Thanks guys

answered Sep 3, 2015 at 12:55

Ryan Cauldwell

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Comments

Umer · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-03 13:42:47Z

0

Add these lines into end of ~/.bashrc

function getscript() {
   /usr/local/bin/getscript.sh "$@"

}
export -f getscript

After this

$ source ~/.bashrc

This will fix the issue. If you do not have source package then you need to install it.

edited Sep 3, 2015 at 13:42

answered Sep 3, 2015 at 12:42

Umer

1041 silver badge7 bronze badges

3 Comments

Biffen Over a year ago

It's quite fine to run it from some other directory. The problem is trying to use an alias in a script.

Umer Over a year ago

Updated answer not its working with an alternate approach.

Biffen Over a year ago

Not a very portable ‘solution’.

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