Perl translation needed for simple bat file

[kimberly.shaffer]

I have a batch script I would like to convert to Perl, but I'm having a
really hard time understanding how command line arguments work.

For instance:

set tempfile=IDM.sql

echo set verify off>>%tempfile%
echo set feedback off>>%tempfile%
echo set termout off>>%tempfile%
echo spool %1>>%tempfile%
echo %2>>%tempfile%
echo spool off>>%tempfile%
echo quit>>%tempfile%
sqlplus -s schema/pw@instance @%tempfile%
rem if exist %tempfile% del %tempfile%

This starts a file, I echo command line arguments into it, it wraps it
up into a sql file and then I use sqlplus to execute it and return the
results.

%1=output file
%2=select statement string

I am not even sure where to begin, but thought I would put this simple
script out here, hoping someone would translate into Perl for me, and
then maybe I could try and figure out how it worked, since I know how
batch files work.

thanks so much in advance

 

[niall.macpherson]

If you are new to this group then you should read the FAQ. People here
will not write code for you .

However if you try something and it doesn't work you can post the code
and you will get plenty of useful help. If you do not show you have
already tried something then you are unlikely to get the best help
available

I would say read the docs , but I have tried

perldoc -q "command line"
and
perldoc -q "ARGV"

and a few others , and I haven't been able to turn up anything. Perhaps
someone else may able to point you at the right doc for this ?

The command line arguments will be in the @ARGV array.

You can either access these directly or use the shift operator to get
at them (see perldoc -f shift)

E.g If you wanted to run your program as follows

myprog.pl output.txt "select * from systables"

your code to extract the run time arguments would be something like
either

use strict;
use warnings;
my ($opfile, $sqlstring) = ($ARGV[0], $ARGV[1]);

or

use strict;
use warnings;
my $opfile = shift;
my $sqlstring = shift;

Presumably you will also want to check the number of command line
arguments passed
is 2 ?

To check the number of elements in an array you take the subscript of
the last element which you can get by using the notation

$#array_name

and add one since array subscripts start at 0.
So you would have (untested)

my $num_args = $#ARGV + 1
if($num_args != 2)
die "Usage $0 outputfile sqlstring"; # $0 contains the
executable name

If you are a real newbie I would suggest reading

perldoc perlintro

to give you some of the basics

Hope this helps

 

[niall.macpherson]

Woops - apologies for the accidental top posting.
I did not intended to include the OPs post but it ended up included
anyway

 

[Jürgen Exner]

I have a batch script I would like to convert to Perl, but I'm having
a really hard time understanding how command line arguments work.

Well, it's just a simple array. The only difference to a normal array is
that the values are pre-populated by the Perl interpreter at start time of
the program.

jue

 

[Ronald Matthews]

(e-mail address removed) trolled:

If you are new to this group then you should read the FAQ. People
here will not write code for you .

However if you try something and it doesn't work you can post the code
and you will get plenty of useful help. If you do not show you have
already tried something then you are unlikely to get the best help
available

This is nonsense. You most certainly do not speak for the "best
help available." Whether the "best help available" helps a poster
is in no way related to anything you might do or say.

cordially, as always,

rm

 

[Ian Wilson]

I have a batch script I would like to convert to Perl, but I'm having a
really hard time understanding how command line arguments work.

Have you tried writing it in Perl?
See http://learn.perl.org/

It is usually best to have a go at writing a Perl program yourself
before asking here for help.

For instance:

set tempfile=IDM.sql

#!perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $tempfile = 'IDM.sql';

my $outfile = $ARGV[0] || 'default.txt';
my $select = $ARGV[1] || 'select * from galaxy';

echo set verify off>>%tempfile%
echo set feedback off>>%tempfile%
echo set termout off>>%tempfile%
echo spool %1>>%tempfile%
echo %2>>%tempfile%
echo spool off>>%tempfile%
echo quit>>%tempfile%

open my $fh, '>', $tempfile
or die "cannot write to '$tempfile' because $!";

print $fh <<ENDSQL;
set verify off
set feedback off
set termout off
spool $outputfile
$select
spool off
quit
ENDSQL

close $fh or die "problem closing tempfile - $!";

sqlplus -s schema/pw@instance @%tempfile%

system ('sqlplus', '-s schema/pw@instance', "\@$tempfile") == 0
or die "failed to execute sqlplus - $?";

rem if exist %tempfile% del %tempfile%

# if (-e $tempfile) {
# unlink $tempile or die "cant unlink $tempfile because $!";
# }

This starts a file, I echo command line arguments into it, it wraps it
up into a sql file and then I use sqlplus to execute it and return the
results.

%1=output file
%2=select statement string

I am not even sure where to begin, but thought I would put this simple
script out here, hoping someone would translate into Perl for me, and
then maybe I could try and figure out how it worked, since I know how
batch files work.

comp.lang.perl.misc isn't a software writing service, so you've gotten
away with it this time.

Please read the posting guidelines at
http://mail.augustmail.com/~tadmc/clpmisc/clpmisc_guidelines.html

 

[niall.macpherson]

This is nonsense. You most certainly do not speak for the "best
help available." Whether the "best help available" helps a poster
is in no way related to anything you might do or say.

cordially, as always,

rm

I am not claiming to be 'the best help available' - far from it , I am
a very mediocre perl developer who is stiull learning.

However the experts such as Sinan, Anno, Abigail , Jue and many others
who give expert advice (which I have learnt a lot from) will tend not
to reply unless some code has been posted so I am just trying to help
the OP along.

Unlike you , who has in the last few days just started trolling this
group (along with rec.sport.baseball and other groups ) I am just
trying to be helpful.

As Sinan would say

** plonk **

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:

I am not claiming to be 'the best help available' - far from it , I am
a very mediocre perl developer who is stiull learning.

However the experts such as Sinan, Anno, Abigail , Jue and many others

Thank you for the compliment, but I think Abigail, Anno, Randal, Tad,
Uri (who am I forgetting?) are in a league of their own.

By the way, don't feed the troll (as I was guilty of doing ;-)

Sinan

 

[Paul Lalli]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:


Thank you for the compliment, but I think Abigail, Anno, Randal, Tad,
Uri (who am I forgetting?)

The other Llama/Alpaca co-authors - Tom and brian. (Though Tom may
only post in perl.beginners...)

Sure would be nice to have those Posting Statistics that we had a few
years ago, eh? ("Why don't you go code it, Paul?") Yeah, yeah...
that'll be my next I'm-bored-let's-go-use-Perl pet project.

Paul Lalli

 

[kimberly.shaffer]

Well, different newsgroups have their own various personalities, and
treat newbies some with disdain and some really welcomingly. I am not
trying to have anyone write code for me, but I wanted a rosetta stone
sort of a leaping off point where I could look at one thing I
understand and have it translated out. Thank you very much for your
explanation, and believe me, it helps me understand a basic perl script
better. I am on a lot of forums and I agree with you, people should
try to do things on their own, but at the same time, that's why we have
these forums here. If you posted to a Remedy forum asking for a simple
example (which I think this was, nothing hard to write IF you know what
to write) I have been happy to take 5 minutes and write it and explain
it. So I wasn't asking for anything I would not be willing to do from
my center of expertise, and just because I don't know Perl that well,
doesn't mean I can't also relay the information I learn in the future.
I will go to the link you suggested and I will make sure in the future
that if I ask for some explanation I will post something I have tried
to write. Does anyone have any suggestions for userfriendly perl
groups/forums besides this one?

thanks!

 

[niall.macpherson]

Well, different newsgroups have their own various personalities, and
treat newbies some with disdain and some really welcomingly. I am not
trying to have anyone write code for me, but I wanted a rosetta stone
sort of a leaping off point where I could look at one thing I
understand and have it translated out. Thank you very much for your
explanation, and believe me, it helps me understand a basic perl script
better. I am on a lot of forums and I agree with you, people should
try to do things on their own, but at the same time, that's why we have
these forums here. If you posted to a Remedy forum asking for a simple
example (which I think this was, nothing hard to write IF you know what
to write) I have been happy to take 5 minutes and write it and explain
it. So I wasn't asking for anything I would not be willing to do from
my center of expertise, and just because I don't know Perl that well,
doesn't mean I can't also relay the information I learn in the future.
I will go to the link you suggested and I will make sure in the future
that if I ask for some explanation I will post something I have tried
to write. Does anyone have any suggestions for userfriendly perl
groups/forums besides this one?

thanks!

As the first to reply to your post , my apologies if I was slightly
terse in my reply. I could have posted a full solution to your problem,
however I have learnt from this list that if I post some code (no
matter how badly written it is and how many errors it contains) I am
far far more likely to get useful help than if I just ask a general
question. I was therefore trying to encourage you as a newbie to do the
same.

There may well be other user friendly perl groups / forums out there
but I think if you stick around here, read the FAQ and follow the
posting guidelines you will probably learn more here than you would on
any other perl newsgroup. I've been using the language for about 5
years (although I only use it as a sideline, not as my main development
language) and I find comp.lang.perl.misc to be by far the most useful
resource. It is also very friendly provided you don't troll or hack
other people off by continually ignoring the posting guidelines.

The only other one I have looked at is www.perlmonks.org which you
might want to try out

 

[Ronald Matthews]

(e-mail address removed) trolled:

There is no need to apologize for top-posting.

cordially, as always,

rm

 

[Baldoni]

to write. Does anyone have any suggestions for userfriendly perl
groups/forums besides this one?

thanks!

perl.beginners, and if you plan to use cgi, perl.beginners.cgi, may be
considered user friendly. Relatively friendly, that is - but to what I
decline to say...

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:

Well, different newsgroups have their own various personalities, and
treat newbies some with disdain and some really welcomingly.

I found this article interesting:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/twocities/

Sinan

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

I would say read the docs , but I have tried

perldoc -q "command line"
and
perldoc -q "ARGV"

ARGV and @ARGV are documented in perldoc perlvar.

Sinan

 

[robic0]

I am not claiming to be 'the best help available' - far from it , I am
a very mediocre perl developer who is stiull learning.

However the experts such as Sinan, Anno, Abigail , Jue and many others
who give expert advice (which I have learnt a lot from)

^^^^^^
back to class "learnt" boy!

will tend not
to reply unless some code has been posted so I am just trying to help
the OP along.

Unlike you , who has in the last few days just started trolling this
group (along with rec.sport.baseball and other groups ) I am just
trying to be helpful.

I pity the www forums you must inhabit. Sometimes being helpfull
is not showing up! In usenet newsgroups there are two extreme's,
the first is like *YOU* an asskissing homo, the second is like
the person who wrote that last line.

I give you credit though, at least you didn't mention he should
be *banned*.

Your mind won't be released when you get on a technical ng and do hero
worship. In forums, the bad language and really upset people that go
off in a reply on your kind of post, usually sarcastically via
insinuation call you an asshole (if not directly). These are the folks
with higher IQ, then they get banned, then your back to a state of peace,
whining that your the "hepless victim. But, that is not
what I'm doing.

You *CANNOT* parrot phrases of your posting hero's on such as posting
guidelines and "best help available" if not in what(?) compliance?

The hardcore scirmishes that go on here yeild, on the whole, a positive,
net gain for everyone. There is *NO GODDAMED* room for your ettiquite
rules. The OP just made a simple no-meaning, abstract comment at the end
that you just read into and went off on this increddible bad taste hero-
worship bonanza.....

How insulting you are to intelligence!!
** plonk **

 

[Dr.Ruud]

Paul Lalli schreef:

Sure would be nice to have those Posting Statistics that we had a few
years ago, eh? ("Why don't you go code it, Paul?") Yeah, yeah...
that'll be my next I'm-bored-let's-go-use-Perl pet project.

Maybe you can use this as a start:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~rvtol/perl/ -> xover_clpm.pl

 

[robic0]

I have a batch script I would like to convert to Perl, but I'm having a
really hard time understanding how command line arguments work.

For instance:

set tempfile=IDM.sql

echo set verify off>>%tempfile%
echo set feedback off>>%tempfile%
echo set termout off>>%tempfile%
echo spool %1>>%tempfile%
echo %2>>%tempfile%
echo spool off>>%tempfile%
echo quit>>%tempfile%
sqlplus -s schema/pw@instance @%tempfile%
rem if exist %tempfile% del %tempfile%

This starts a file, I echo command line arguments into it, it wraps it
up into a sql file and then I use sqlplus to execute it and return the
results.

%1=output file
%2=select statement string

I am not even sure where to begin, but thought I would put this simple
script out here, hoping someone would translate into Perl for me, and
then maybe I could try and figure out how it worked, since I know how
batch files work.

thanks so much in advance

Well, I got here late, and it looks like the regular's are finished with
you (and proboably you don't give a shit anyway from the looks of this post)
so here goes...

Number fuckin #1, get the **** OFF of a computer and do construction work!!!
Number #2, don't ever post things like "If I don't ever lernt Perl, how
can I convert large UNIX scripts to it, huh, huh, huh????"
Get a fuckin life off of the goddamed machine. Go back to BF2 and "shut the
**** up".

Then think about finishing High School that you dropped out of..

 

[l v]

^^^^^^
back to class "learnt" boy!

From http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/learnt

What is the difference between 'learnt' and 'learned'?
These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of
the verb learn. Learnt is more common in British English, and learned
in American English. There are a number of verbs of this type (burn,
dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.). They are all
irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity.

 

[axel]

robic0 wrote:

What is the difference between 'learnt' and 'learned'?
These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of
the verb learn. Learnt is more common in British English, and learned
in American English. There are a number of verbs of this type (burn,
dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.). They are all
irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity.

And of course 'learned' pronounced as two syllables denotes someone
who has learnt a lot

Axel