Hi People,
In a bash script how would I append information to the start of
the file instead of the end?
Background:
I've written a couple of scripts to time how long I am on the
internet (I'm one of these unfortunates who have to pay by hour :( ) and a
further script to test the total time for the month that I run before I
log on (to stop me from spending too much $$$).
The problem I'm having is with the script to test the total time
for the month. An excerpt follows...
------------Begin Script Excerpt-------------------
TIMES_UP=$(bc -q /etc/ppp/logs/prog-tot < /etc/ppp/logs/q)
if [ $TIMES_UP -ge 180000 ]; then
echo "You have already used up at least 50 hours this month"
echo -n "Are You Sure That You Want To Continue? (Y/N): "
read ANSWER
if [ $ANSWER = "N" -o $ANSWER = "n" ]; then
echo "Probably a good move - time is money"
exit 0
else echo "Well it's your money!"
fi
fi
------------End Script Excerpt-----------------------
The file /etc/ppp/logs/q just contains the word "quit" to exit
from bc.
The file /etc/ppp/logs/prog-tot is created from the script I use
to turn the timer off, with the line...
echo -n "+"$TIME_ELAPSED >> /etc/ppp/logs/prog-tot
This file starts life with "0" in it.
The problem is with "-n" in the echo line, bc doesn't like it at
all (gives a parse error because there is no end of line character). So
if I initialized prog-tot with echo "0" > prog-tot (no -n) and then
_inserted_ $TIME_ELAPSED"+" before the "0" instead of _appending_
"+"$TIME_ELAPSED after it everything would be honky-dory. But how???
Regards, Steve Youngs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ICQ: 34307457
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Data to Picard: No I do NOT run Windows!