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Re: Problem when using variable assignment, backticks in shell script


On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, Silva, Russell wrote:

> I am having a problem using Cygwin, variable assignment, and backticks
> when shell scripting.  Occasionally, variables assigned using a
> backticked expression are not properly assigned; they are left empty.
> The problem appears to be non-deterministic.
>
> For instance, take this script:
> [snip <bug_reproduce.sh>]
>
> A few times out of the 1000 possible, the error code is reached:
>
> $ ./bug_reproduce.sh
> error attempt 245: "" is not the correct string "liars"

Is the error string always empty?  That would indicate to me that bash
somehow failed to launch the child process...  FWIW, bash retains the
exit code of the launched program in $? after a backtick assignment -- try
printing that out and see if there is a correlation.  Also, check the
output on stderr -- perhaps there's an error message printed?
	Igor
-- 
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