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up vote 1 down vote favorite

I am writing a script where I am using the combination of logical 'OR' and logical 'AND' statement. This is the script:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Enter the value of a"
read $a
echo "Enter the value of b"
read $b
if

[[ $a != STARTED && $b == STARTED ] || [ $b != STARTED && $a == STARTED ]]; then

echo "Either of the JVMs is not yet up, so lets wait for some more time"

i=$(($i+1))
sleep 1s

fi

and getting the following error while executing it:

line 13: syntax error in conditional expression
line 13: syntax error near `]'
line 13: `[[ $a != STARTED && $b == STARTED ] || [ $b != STARTED && $a == STARTED ]]; then'

I am using bash shell. Any help on this is really appreciated.

share|improve this question
    
single brace is old style of shell programming and you have to use -o and -a for OR and AND. –  PersianGulf Nov 18 '14 at 2:37

2 Answers 2

up vote 3 down vote accepted

You have mismatched [[ with ]. [[ should always be closed with ]] and [ with ]. Use:

if [[ $a != STARTED && $b == STARTED ]] || [[ $b != STARTED && $a == STARTED ]]; then

Better yet, since you are using [[ anyway:

if [[ ($a != STARTED && $b == STARTED) || ($b != STARTED && $a == STARTED) ]]; then

The other mistake, which I didn't notice until formatting was applied, is that you're doing:

read $a
read $b

You should be doing:

read a
read b

With the first form, $a and $b are replaced by the shell with their contents, so if you hadn't set them before this line, the final command would be:

read

(in which case the value read would be stored in the REPLY variable.) And if you had set a to something (like a="blah blah"), it would look like:

read blah blah
share|improve this answer
    
i have used both the statements mentioned but after providing the values of a and b respectively, it is not taking me to the if condition even if the condition satisfies. –  Sudev Jash Nov 17 '14 at 20:00
    
@SudevJash see update. –  muru Nov 17 '14 at 20:03
    
Thanks a lot Muru... Making the required changes worked as expected... –  Sudev Jash Nov 17 '14 at 20:12
up vote 0 down vote

Instead of:

[[ $a != STARTED && $b == STARTED ] || [ $b != STARTED && $a == STARTED ]]; then

I would use:

if [ $a != STARTED && $b == STARTED ] || [ $b != STARTED && $a == STARTED ]; then
share|improve this answer
    
I m getting the error as : blserver1.sh: line 11: [: missing ]' blserver1.sh: line 11: [: missing ]' –  Sudev Jash Nov 17 '14 at 19:57
    
Recommending [ over [[ in a bash script is a retrograde step; and if you are, you must quote your variables... –  jasonwryan Nov 17 '14 at 20:02
    
And is && supported in [? –  muru Nov 17 '14 at 20:04
    
Thanks jasonwryan and Michael... i used quotes and it is working fine now... if [[ "$a" != "STARTED" && "$b" == "STARTED" ]] || [[ "$b" != "STARTED" && "$a" == "STARTED" ]]; then –  Sudev Jash Nov 17 '14 at 20:14
    
@SudevJash You don't need the quotes in [[ (although they are not harmful): see the link I posted above... –  jasonwryan Nov 17 '14 at 20:15

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