Run Linux Command from Perl Script

ant has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi,

I have a perl script running on Linux environment.

I have a list of Oracle form files. These files need to be translated into text files, which I can open and look for various patterns etc.

I loop though the perl script and create a shell script which looks like this
/oracle/IAS/bin/frmcmp_batch.sh module=/home/forms/src/ealib450.pll module_type=library userid=XXXX/XXXX@XXXX compile_all=yes batch=yes script=yes Output_File=ealib450.txt debug=yes

I then try to execute this command via, system command as I want the script to continue running afterwards (so exec is out).

Code for running the command is system("sh $temp_shell2")|| print "2 failed to execute $!\n";

I read this here http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=78523, but still no luck!

This fails with a 'Inappropriate ioctl for device' message, which I read could be a red herring!

However if I open the Linux window, go to the directory and type the filename in, the script executes!

Just to make matters more confusing, I can create a shell script in my windows environment with exactly the same command, putty the file over to the Linux box and Plink the file, and the file executes!

Why can I not execute the Linux script Via the Perlscipt that created it in the Linux environment?

Thanks in Advance

Ant

Comment on Run Linux Command from Perl Script Select or Download Code

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Re: Run Linux Command from Perl Script by kyle (Abbot) on Mar 23, 2007 at 14:08 UTC
Have a look at the documentation for system. Unlike virtually everything else, it returns non-zero for failure, so where you say "`system \|\| print "error"`", you need to have something more like: `system( "sh $temp_shell2" ) == 0 or die "2 failed to execute: $!";` [download] I think right now it's telling you that it fails when it's not.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Run Linux Command from Perl Script by jettero (Monsignor) on Mar 23, 2007 at 14:11 UTC
... if it's a regular old perl program then the problem probably has to do with some kind of interpolation ambiguity. See the multi-arg usage of system and it might just solve the problem (eg, `system "sh", $script_name, @other_arguments`). You shouldn't need to call "sh," but it certainly doesn't hurt anything either. UPDATE: I deleted some of this post because kyle is correct and I missed that return value reversal completely. -Paul	[reply] [d/l]


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