How to assign a multiple line string value to a variable with indentation in a shell script?

Question

I want to assign the following multiple line string value to a variable in a shell script with the the exact indentations and lines.

Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile
Where:
      ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested.
      LogFile            - Name of the log file

I have been trying to do this following all the suggestions in: How to assign a string value to a variable over multiple lines while indented? But with no result. Please suggest.

REASON="$(cat <<-EOF
    Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile
    Where:
      ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested.
      LogFile            - Name of the log file
EOF
)"
echo "$REASON"

Here is my script:

GetBatchCredentials.sh

if [ $# -ne 2 ]
then
   # RETURN INVALID USAGE
   GetBatchCredentials_Result="Error"
   GetBatchCredentials_Reason="$(cat <<-EOF
        Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile
        Where:
          ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested.
          LogFile            - Name of the log file
    EOF
    )"
else
   //coding...
fi

This scripts is called from the following script:

. /www/..../scripts/GetBatchCredentials.sh arg1 arg2
if [ "$GetBatchCredentials_Result" != "Success" ]
then
   echo "Error obtaining FTP Credentials"
   echo "$GetBatchCredentials_Reason"
   ret=1
else
   echo "Obtained Credentials"
fi

What output are you getting from the echo? What you have there works for me. — Andy Dalton, Jan 21 '16 at 19:48
I am getting n error: "unexpected EOF while looking for matching `)'" and "syntax error: unexpected end of file" — devlperMoose, Jan 21 '16 at 20:33

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 21 '16 at 20:59

2

Instead of a here-document with a useless cat, what about either

REASON="\
Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile
Where:
      ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested.
      LogFile            - Name of the log file"

or

REASON="$(printf '%s\n' \
    "Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile" \
    "Where:" \
    "      ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested." \
    "      LogFile            - Name of the log file")"

answered Jan 21 '16 at 20:59

Jens

1,752
4
18
36

ya this is more simpler than having to use extra commands, and it works. Thank you. – devlperMoose Jan 21 '16 at 21:40

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 21 '16 at 21:03

0

Your script works for me. All I did differently is add #!/bin/sh at top. Then made it executable and ran it. You could also use sh and the name of your original script.

#!/bin/sh
REASON="$(cat <<-EOF
Usage: ServiceAccountName LogFile
Where:
      ServiceAccountName - credentials being requested.
      LogFile            - Name of the log file
EOF
)"
echo "$REASON"

edited Jan 21 '16 at 21:03

Jens

1,752
4
18
36

answered Jan 21 '16 at 20:41

Will M

14

I copy pasted the above code from your post to my shell script and it started working. Not sure what made it working though. Thank you. – devlperMoose Jan 21 '16 at 20:52
3

@pavanbairu The reason is that the EOF end-marker is now not indented and is found. In your original, it is indented and not parsed as the end-marker. – Jens Jan 21 '16 at 20:55

How to assign a multiple line string value to a variable with indentation in a shell script?

2 Answers2