creating a file dynamically

Question

I want to save a few lines as a file etl.xml I tried the following but it is not working for obvious reasons.

cat etl.xml << myscript
<etl>
    <connection id="in" driver="xpath" url="/home/test.xml"/>
        <query connection-id="in">
               /TXNEXP/AUTHADV
         <script connection-id="db">
    </script>
    </query>
 </etl>
myscript

@Nerian: Shouldn't that be an answer (with a bit of explanation)? — user395760
– user395760, Commented Jan 7, 2011 at 11:05
I would recommend using a here doc marker that stands out visually from the rest of the text. EOF is often used. If you want it to be a little more descriptive, perhaps EOF-myscript. — Dennis Williamson
– Dennis Williamson, Commented Jan 7, 2011 at 17:43

Keith · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-07 11:23:13Z

3

Just need one more character:

508 $ cat xmlhere.sh 
#!/bin/bash

cat > etl.xml << myscript
<etl>
    <connection id="in" driver="xpath" url="/home/XXX/WAVtxnexp20101125.xml"/>
        <query connection-id="in">
               /TXNEXP/AUTHADV
         <script connection-id="db">
    </script>
    </query>
 </etl>
myscript

This is a "here document".

edited Jan 7, 2011 at 11:23

answered Jan 7, 2011 at 11:14

Keith

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2 Comments

shantanuo Over a year ago

Thanks. Can you please remove the username after /home/ for security reasons.

viraptor Over a year ago

@shantanuo It's still visible in edits history (both question & answer)... If your security depends on obfuscation... bad things will happen ;)

Antti · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-07 11:09:02Z

1

I assume you want to use some end marker. In that case, the syntax is "cat > outputfile << end_marker":

$ cat > etl.xml << EOF
here I write the file contents
EOF

If, instead, you want to append the line "myscript" to etl.xml, then:

$ echo myscript >> etl.xml

answered Jan 7, 2011 at 11:09

Antti

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Comments

Nerian · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-07 11:21:59Z

0

You can do it like this:

cat myscript > etl.xml

or

echo myscript > etl.xml

The flow is:

origin > destiny

Overwrite the contents >

Append >>

edited Jan 7, 2011 at 11:21

answered Jan 7, 2011 at 11:06

Nerian

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