execline
Software
skarnet.org
The forbacktickx program
forbacktickx runs a program and uses its output as loop elements to
run another program.
Interface
In an execlineb script:
forbacktickx [ -p | -o okcodes | -x breakcodes ] [ -n ] [ -C | -c ] [ -0 | -d delim ] variable { gen... } loop...
- forbacktickx reads a
block,
gen..., and unquotes it.
- It runs gen... as a child process. gen's
output must not contain a null character.
- It reads gen's output as it needs,
splitting it automatically.
- For every argument x in the split output,
forbacktickx runs loop... as a child process, with
variable=x added to its environment.
- forbacktickx then exits 0.
Options
- -p : parallel mode. Do not wait for a loop...
instance to finish before spawning the next one. forbacktickx will
still wait for all instances of loop to terminate before
exiting, though.
- -0 : accept null characters from gen's output,
using them as delimiters. If this option and a -d option are
used simultaneously, the rightmost one wins.
- -o okcodes : okcodes must
be a comma-separated list of exit codes. If the -p flag
hasn't been given and loop exits with one of the codes in
okcodes,
forbacktickx will run the following instances of the loop, but if the exit code is
not listed in okcodes, forbacktickx will exit immediately with an
approximation of the same exit code.
- -x breakcodes : like the previous
option, but with inverted meaning - the listed exit codes are codes
that will make forbacktickx break the loop and exit, and the unlisted exit
codes will make it keep looping.
- Other options are used to control
the substitution mechanism for every x. Of course, you can't
split x.
Notes
- You can start loop... with "import -u variable"
to perform variable substitution.
- forbacktickx is now implemented as a wrapper around the
| and
forstdin commands, with calls to
>& to ensure that loop... is called
with the proper standard input.