Hi all - The short version of my problem is I need help with a recursive bash script, and I have never written a bash script before. If you want to skip this lengthy intro, you may be able to tell what I am trying to do from looking at my script attempt (labeled below).
* * * * * * Lengthy intro I had noticed that logrotate was running what seemed to be an excessive amount of time for (many) weeks. I didn't have time to look at why, so I would kill it and return to other work. Recently, I just let it run and top showed logrotate was still running after 467 minutes (using over 99% CPU). After some looking around, I found that I had 100MB in empty error messages in /var/log/mailman. total 0 [actually, over 100MB] -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 23 21:54 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 -rw-rw-r-- 1 mailman mailman 0 Apr 19 04:45 error.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 As I tried to delete them I got the following errors: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.1* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.1.1* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.1.1.1.1* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.1.1.1.1.1* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.1.1.1.1.1.1* bash: /bin/rm: Argument list too long I finally found some that I could delete. [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.4.4.3* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.4.4.2* [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# rm -f error.4.4* After an hour of this I decided there must be a way to write a bash script to go through adding a digit each time rm failed. * * * * * * Bash script attempt I have no prior experience with bash scripting, so I am hoping there are simple syntax errors someone can point out. The script is "bigerase" and the first arg is "error". [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailman]# bigerase error The idea is that if it can't erase all files "error.1*" because there are too many, it calls itself again and tries "error.1.1*", and so forth. declare -i $i; echo $i $1 for (($i=1; $i<5; $i++)); Do until rm -f $1.$i* || exec -a bigerase $1.$i; done; echo -n = done; I read through the bash man page 3 times, but couldn't get enough out of it to understand the error message: unexpected Do on line 4. The man page said the syntax of the for loop was "for ((exp; exp; exp)); do exp; done", which is what I thought I had. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. - Larry _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
