Expect script - sending filename with a variable

Question

I want to create a script so that I copy the newest file from an SFTP server, for that I have created a script that gets the name and put the name in a file.

Now I want to create another script to download the newest file which I have the name, but I am struggling with passing the content of my file to a variable and then downloading that file.

#!/bin/bash

set name "testnamefromfile"

expect << 'EOS'
 spawn sftp -P 2222 [email protected]:/var/log/datarecord
 expect "[email protected]'s password:"
 send "admin\n"
 expect "sftp>"
 send "get $name\r"
 expect "sftp>"
 send "bye\n"
EOS

This is my script. How can I assign the content of the file to the $name variable? And how to download that file?

When I run this script it throws out below error:

sftp> can't read "name": no such variable
    while executing
"send "get $name\r""

icarus · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-28 10:09:00Z

2

In your script you have

   set name "testnamefromfile"

but this sets the variable $1 to name and the variable $2 to testnamefromfile.

Then you have

expect << 'EOS'

As 'EOS' is quoted no variable substitution will take place in the "heredoc".

The following may work better (untested, also changed \n to \r when sending password).

#!/bin/sh

name="testnamefromfile"

expect << EOS
 spawn sftp -P 2222 [email protected]:/var/log/datarecord
 expect "[email protected]'s password:"
 send "admin\r"
 expect "sftp>"
 send "get $name\r"
 expect "sftp>"
 send "bye\n"
EOS

answered May 28, 2020 at 10:09

icarus

19.1k1 gold badge42 silver badges57 bronze badges

thank you so much dear icarus, it worked. Kind Regards,

Hedi Hadwan
– Hedi Hadwan

2020-05-28 10:42:19 +00:00
Commented May 28, 2020 at 10:42
\n and \r both accomplish "hitting enter", but \r is more idiomatic. After sending bye, one should expect eof to allow the connection to close gracefully.

glenn jackman
– glenn jackman

2020-05-28 11:59:18 +00:00
Commented May 28, 2020 at 11:59
@HediHadwan if you found the answer useful, please consider accepting it so that others facing a similar problem may find it more easily.

AdminBee
– AdminBee

2020-05-28 12:00:34 +00:00
Commented May 28, 2020 at 12:00

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