Expect: How to get the exit code from spawned process - expect

I am not quite sure if it a good idea to create a new Thread or "reopen" this 3-year old Thread, if you think it's better to reopened it, please excuse my spam in this Forum but I have the same Problem and don't get a solution out of the information of the thread. At the Moment I had a script that looks like this:
#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set pass [lindex $argv 0]
spawn <CMD>
expect {
-re "Password: " {
send "$pass\r"
}
expect eof
catch wait result
}
exit [lindex $result 3]
but wenn I execute this Script I get the error
can't read "result": no such variable
while executing
"lindex $result 3"
invoked from within
"exit [lindex $result 3]"
(file "./call_tests.exp" line 13)
I already found out that probably the problem is that the SSH-Session is already closed when I try to read the exit code. But I started yesterday to understand the expect-command so I am a complete newbie and I would very thanks full if someone can help me out.
best regards
Dan

You should write like this:
expect {
-re "Password: " {
send "$pass\r"
}
}
expect eof
catch wait result
exit [lindex $result 3]
or this:
expect {
-re "Password: " {
send "$pass\r"
exp_continue
}
eof {
catch wait result
}
}
exit [lindex $result 3]
According to expect's man page:
expect [[-opts] pat1 body1] ... [-opts] patn [bodyn]
waits until one of the patterns matches the output of a spawned
process, a specified time period has passed, or an end-of-file
is seen. If the final body is empty, it may be omitted.
Patterns from the most recent expect_before command are implicitly used before any other patterns. Patterns from the most
recent expect_after command are implicitly used after any other
patterns.
If the arguments to the entire expect statement require more
than one line, all the arguments may be braced into one so as
to avoid terminating each line with a backslash. In this one
case, the usual Tcl substitutions will occur despite the braces.

Related

howto get exit code of script running within expect

for some time I am struggling to get the exit code of a script which I am running from within expect.
It is a BASH script and the questionable part looks like this:
expect -c "
log_file $LOG
spawn su - $ora_user
expect ""
send \"source $oraenv_binary\r\"
expect \"ORACLE_SID = \[$ora_user\] \?\"
send \"$SID\r\"
expect \"The Oracle base has been set to /oracle/$SID\"
send \"$execPATHroot/$subscript $args_subscript\r\"
expect ""
send \"echo \$?\r\"
expect -re \"(\\d+)\" {
set result \$expect_out(1,string)
}
send_user \"subscript exit code: \$result\"
log_file
send \"exit\r\"
expect ""
exit [lindex \$result 3]"
sub_rc=$?
Needed to say that this is one of many tries to get the code, however, unsuccessfully. I guess that my problem lies in incorrectly escaped characters or wrong use of brackets.....
When debugging, I am getting the following:
[336] oraenv_binary=/usr/local/bin/oraenv
[338] expect -c '
log_file /var/opt/osit/oracle/log/ora_sbp_patching_root.bash.log
spawn su - oracle
expect
send "source /usr/local/bin/oraenv\r"
expect "ORACLE_SID = \[oracle\] \?"
send "H95\r"
expect "The Oracle base has been set to /oracle/H95"
send "/opt/osit/oracle/bin/ora_sbp_patching_orausr.bash -s H95 -a CHECK -p /imports/e2r2s48ifde0002/CDSAP/DB/oracle/ORA19/SBP/SBP_1915_220419_202205 -h /imports/e2r2s48ifde0002/CDSAP/DB/oracle/ORA19/SBP/SBP_1915_220419_202205/README19P_2205-70004508.HTM -u oracle\r"
expect
send "echo $?\r"
expect -re "(\d+)" {
set result $expect_out(1,string)
}
send_user "subscript exit code: $result"
log_file
send "exit\r"
expect
exit [lindex $result 3]'
.....subscript runs here OK with exit code 0 in this case
-sh-4.2$ subscript exit code: decho $?
0
-sh-4.2$ exit
logout
expected integer but got ""
while executing
"exit [lindex $result 3]"
[357] sub_rc=0
It seems to me that the regex part "(\d+)" is not OK, but perhaps, it is completely a mess... :-)
Please help.
I have read and tried these recommendations:
Is there a way to expect output without removing it from the buffer in Tcl expect?
https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/How+Expect+can+capture+the+exit+code+from+a+remote+command
https://www.unix.com/shell-programming-and-scripting/144812-expect-script-obtain-exit-code-remote-command.html
You have this
expect -re "(\d+)" {
set result $expect_out(1,string)
}
send_user "subscript exit code: $result"
and we can see the output is
-sh-4.2$ subscript exit code: decho $?
0
Because the regular expression "(\d+)" is in double quotes, backslash substitutions will occur, and the pattern becomes (d+) which may not match (do you get a 10 second delay at that point?) -- I suspect this is why $result is empty.
Backslashes are prevalent in regular expressions. Using braces to quote them is the way to go:
expect -re {\d+} {set result $expect_out(0,string)}
Running your expect code with expect -d (or set exp_internal 1 in the code) emits very verbose expect debug output that is extremely useful to see how your patterns are matching (or not).
Using quoted shell heredocs is (IMO) preferable to using quoted strings to encapsulate code.
Consider
expect -c "
send_user \"my home is \$env(HOME)\\n\"
"
versus
expect << 'END_CODE'
send_user "my home is $env(HOME)\n"
END_CODE
With this technique, you pass shell variable to expect through the environment:
export ora_user=oracle
expect << 'END_EXPECT'
#...
spawn su - $env(ora_user)
END_EXPECT
thanks a lot for your answer Glenn, interesting points mentioned.
Regarding the braces versus double quotes - I have changed it like that, but no effect. I have those double quotes escaped by backslash within my code - I think the effect is the same, however, definitely it looks nicer to me and evidently it is safer.
I have played with the debug mode of expect - thanks for that, I can see much more info.
I have noticed that expect holds much more stuff than I "expected" :-)
==> this is just a snippet:
.\r\n-sh-4.2$ " (spawn_id exp7) match regular expression "\d+"? (No Gate, RE only) gate=yes re=yes
expect: set expect_out(0,string) "4"
expect: set expect_out(spawn_id) "exp7"
expect: set expect_out(buffer) "\r\n-sh-4"
can't read "expect_out(1,string)": no such element in array
while executing
"set result $expect_out(1,string)"
invoked from within
"expect -re {\d+} {set result $expect_out(1,string)}"
As you can see, when I am sending the subscript to be executed I am expecting "" i.e. nothing, just the new prompt line.
However, at that point expect is full of stuff, not at all blank - I think, I need to define the prompt exactly:
-sh-4.2$
and then I need to expect it, together with echoed exit code $? and somehow separate exit code integer to get what I want...... I will keep trying.
The final code which works is as follows (much of the credit goes to Glenn for his numerous advices) :
expect -c "
log_file $LOG
spawn su - $ora_user
expect -re {\$ $}
send \"PS1='>'\r\"
expect -re {>$}
send \"source $oraenv_binary\r\"
expect {ORACLE_SID = \[$ora_user\] ? }
send \"$SID\r\"
expect \"The Oracle base has been set to /oracle/$SID\"
send \"$execPATHroot/$subscript $args_subscript\r\"
expect { (subscript) ; exp_continue }
expect -re {>$}
send \"echo \$?\r\"
expect -re {(\d+)\r\n>$} {set result \$expect_out(1,string)}
send_user \"subscript exit code:\$result\n\"
log_file
send \"exit\r\"
expect \"logout\"
exit [lindex \$result 0]"
sub_rc=$?
echo sub_rc:$sub_rc
The first thing after spawn su - $ora_user is to set the prompt by send \"PS1='>'\r\" in order to make new lines with prompt less intrusive to expect.
Then after send \"$execPATHroot/$subscript $args_subscript\r\" I have used the fact, that I have written the subscript to have every line of output populated by (subscript) keyword. So while the subscript produces the output, the expect keeps going by exp_continue.
When the $subscript ends, the prompt > appears into which the expect sends echo $? to get exit code of the $subscript.
This appears on the screen as:
>echo $?
0
>
so the code should expect the integer, return and the new line with prompt - i.e. {(\d+)\r\n>$}. At that time the expect matches the output and expect_out(1,string) is correctly populated:
send: sending "echo $?\r" to { exp7 }
Gate keeper glob pattern for '(\d+)\r\n>$' is '*
>'. Activating booster.
expect: does "" (spawn_id exp7) match regular expression "(\d+)\r\n>$"? Gate "*\r\n>"? gate=no
echo $?
0
>
expect: does "echo $?\r\n0\r\n>" (spawn_id exp7) match regular expression "(\d+)\r\n>$"? Gate "*\r\n>"? gate=yes re=yes
expect: set expect_out(0,string) "0\r\n>"
expect: set expect_out(1,string) "0"
expect: set expect_out(spawn_id) "exp7"
expect: set expect_out(buffer) "echo $?\r\n0\r\n>"
Another thing to mention is \n within send_user \"subscript exit code:\$result\n\" so to have new line next..
The last change to the code in question is:
exit [lindex \$result 0]"
I have changed the index to 0 as variable result has just one item and index 0 stands for 1st item in the list.

Sending commands to "application's shell" using "bash script" [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Is it possible to make a bash shell script interact with another command line program?
(6 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I have a program JLinkExe which opens it's own prompt uponn execution. So I normally run it like this:
JLinkExe
and then type the commands at it's prompt that appears:
J-Link>
There are many applications with it's own prompt and I am interested in a general method that would enable me to send commands to any kind of application that has it's own prompt.
I already tried two methods. They both try to send commands in this order:
connect
Enter
Enter
Enter
Enter
erase
loadbin program.bin , 0x0
r
q
but both fail. Here is the first method:
{ echo 'connect';
echo '';
echo '';
echo '';
echo '';
echo 'erase';
echo 'loadbin program.bin , 0x0';
echo 'r';
echo 'q'; } | JLinkExe
And the second method (source):
JLinkExe <<EOF
connect
erase
loadbin program.bin , 0x0
r
q
EOF
I found these method on the internet but I don't understand why they fail. Especially the first one that worked in the past...
Can anyone propose any better / working / universally applicable method?
I think it might be because here-docs do not wait for output. Unfortunately for you I switched company, thus can't test my code below.
#! /bin/bash
expect <<-EOF
set timeout -1
spawn JLinkExe
expect "J-Link> " { send "connect\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "erase\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "loadbin program.bin , 0x0\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "r\r" }
expect "J-Link> " { send "q\r" }
expect eof
catch wait result
exit [lindex \$result 3]
EOF
exit $?
Except waits until J-Link> turns up and then sends the command through the connection.
If it doesn't work please notify me. I'll try to help you after the weekend :-)
EDIT:
A: Why did you wrap everything in expect 2>&1 <<-EOF and EOF?
You can add expect in the shebang, but I often use it as part of my Bash scripts. My knowledge of Bash is better.
B: Why a -EOF instead of EOF?
That's because <<-EOF allows leading tabs when you want to end the here-doc. You can indent it in functions for instance.
C: Why did you redirect stderr to stdout (2>&1)?
In your case I should've removed this. I took the code from one of my other answer about expect and tailored it to your needs.
D: What does catch wait result and exit [lindex \$result 3] do after we catch the eof?
Nice question, I had to look this one up a little myself:
lindex takes 4rd argument in \$result and exits the here-doc (0 is arg 1).
\$result is set by catch wait result.
Catch takes the output of wait and puts that into result.
Wait returns four integers:
First: pid of process that's being waited on.
Second: spawn ID.
Third: -1 for errors, 0 otherwise.
Forth: Exit status of the program as set by the OS.
Sources:
https://linux.die.net/man/1/expect
https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TclCmd/catch.html
https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/TclCmd/lindex.html
Note that you have to escape the $ in the here-doc, otherwise Bash tries to process it. Hence \$result.
E: Why you exit with exit $?
Bash exits a script with the last known error code. Although you can leave it implicitly, I like to add it anyhow. It keeps the script more readable for beginners.

Expect script is not exiting with code I set it to

I tried posting this in the codereview community, but there is no expect tag and I don't have enough karma to create tags.
I have written an expect script to either login to a server or run a simple (usually single) command and return the output.
I have two problems and a wish.
Commands that return nothing--i.e., ssh2server user host false--time out with an error (because I'm not capturing a timeout, though I suppose I should) instead of just returning nothing.
I can capture the return code of the program but I can't get it to exit with the appropriate code.
Is there a way I can take the output of the called program and return it the same way (remote stdout goes to local stdout and remote stderr goes to local stderr)?
Also, any comments or (constructive) criticisms would be appreciated.
#!/usr/bin/expect -f
if {[info exists ::env(SSH2SERVER_PASSWORD)]} {
set password "$env(SSH2SERVER_PASSWORD)"
} else {
puts "SSH2SERVER_PASSWORD not set"
exit 1
}
if {[llength $argv] < 2} {
puts "usage: ssh2server user server"
exit 1
}
set user [lindex $argv 0]
set server [lindex $argv 1]
set command [lrange $argv 2 end]
set pwd_prompt "*assword:"
set prompt "\$ "
set rc 0
expect_before {
#timeout { send_user 'timeout' ; exit 2 }
timeout { send_user 'timeout' ; set rc 2}
}
log_user 0
spawn ssh $user#$server
expect "$pwd_prompt" { send -- "$password\r" }
if { $command == "" } {
interact
} else {
expect {
"$prompt" {
send -- "PROMPT_COMMAND=\rPS1='_MYPROMPT_'\r$command\r"
#expect -re "$command\r\n(.*)\r\n\[^\r]*\[#\$%]"
expect -re "$command\r\n(.*)\r\n\[^\r]*_MYPROMPT_"
set results $expect_out(1,string)
puts $results
send -- "^D"
expect eof
#catch wait ec
#set rc [lindex $ec 3]
#puts [lindex $ec 3]
#exit [lindex $ec 3]
}
#eof { send_user $expect_out(buffer); exit 3}
eof { send_user $expect_out(buffer); set rc 3}
}
}
log_user 1
lassign [wait] pid spawnid os_flag rc
#puts $rc # outputs correct value
exit $rc
I suspect this is the problem:
send -- "^D"
You are not sending a Ctrl-D, you are sending the characters ^ and D.
To send a Ctrl-D
send -- "\04"
To solve the "no output, timeout" problem, you need to alter your expected regex: you have too many newlines for that case. Using expect -d would have revealed this to you. Like this:
send -- "unset PROMPT_COMMAND; PS1='_MYPROMPT_'\r"
expect -re "_MYPROMPT_$"
send -- "$command\r"
expect -re "$command(.*)\r\n_MYPROMPT_$"
The content of the capturing parentheses may now be empty.
I split off setting the prompt for clarity.
To capture the exit status of the command, you may have to do this:
send -- "$command; echo $?\r"
expect -re "$command(.*)\r\n(\d+)\r\n_MYPROMPT_$"
set results [regsub {^\r\n} $expect_out(1,string) ""]
set status $expect_out(2,string)
I don't think you can separate stdout and stderr with the expect command. I think both streams are captured as "output". (I don't have my Exploring Expect book nearby to confirm)
If that's important, you might want to invoke the command redirecting stdout and/or stderr to file(s), and then cat and capture the file contents.

How to make expect's expect command fail if the output isn't matched?

Given the very simple script script.expect
#!/usr/bin/expect
spawn bash
expect "#"
send "/bin/false; echo \"process returned with $?\"\r"
expect -exact "process returned with 0"
send -- "exit\r"
expect eof
I don't seem to be able how the script can not fail since /bin/false will cause the echo command to print process returned with 1, thus process returned with 0 can never be matched on the expect command. I expect expect script.expect to fail with return code 1 after expect -exact "process returned with 0".
#!/usr/bin/expect
spawn bash
expect "#"
send "/bin/true; echo \"process returned with $?\"\r"
expect -exact "process returned with 0" {
send -- "exit\r"
expect eof
exit 0
}
exit 1
Even if I change the logic of my "application" in order to be able to test it with a positive/logically negated flow the outcome is still unexplainable.
I worked through
How to make expect command in expect program script to wait for exact string matching
https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/10/expect-examples
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/66520/error-handling-in-expect
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/79310/expect-script-within-bash-exit-codes?rq=1
and have no clue why expect is behaving this way.
In your first script, the expect -exact... command is "succeeding" with a timeout. The default timeout is 10 seconds, and the default action on timeout is to do nothing. So the commands waits 10 seconds, matches timeout, and returns, so we continue with the next command.
You can explicitly match for timeout:
expect {
-exact "process returned with 0" {}
timeout { puts "timeout!"; exit 1 }
}
To avoid the wait to timeout, you can use a regexp that will match whether $? is 0 or 1 (or other numbers). If you put part of the regexp in a capture group (), you can then find it in built-in variable $expect_out(1,string):
expect -re {process returned with ([0-9]+)}
set returncode $expect_out(1,string)
puts "we got $returncode"
exit $returncode
Note, the regexp uses {} style quotes, because "" quotes dont allow you to use [] inside them.

while loops within expect

I am using expect within bash. I want my script to telnet into a box, expect a prompt, send a command. If there is a different prompt now, it has to proceed or else it has to send that command again.
My script goes like this:
\#!bin/bash
//I am filling up IP and PORT1 here
expect -c "
set timeout -1
spawn telnet $IP $PORT1
sleep 1
send \"\r\"
send \"\r\"
set temp 1
while( $temp == 1){
expect {
Prompt1 { send \"command\" }
Prompt2 {send \"Yes\"; set done 0}
}
}
"
Output:
invalid command name "while("
while executing
"while( == 1){"
Kindly help me.
I tried to change it to while [ $temp == 1] {
I am still facing the error below:
Output:
invalid command name "=="
while executing
"== 1"
invoked from within
"while [ == 1] {
expect {
This is how I'd implement this:
expect -c '
set timeout -1
spawn telnet [lindex $argv 0] [lindex $argv 1]
send "\r"
send "\r"
expect {
Prompt1 {
send "command"
exp_continue
}
Prompt2 {
send "Yes\r"
}
}
}
' $IP $PORT1
use single quotes around the expect script to protect expect variables
pass the shell variables as arguments to the script.
use "exp_continue" to loop instead of an explicit while loop (you had the wrong terminating variable name anyway)
The syntax for while is "while test body". There must be a spce between each of those parts which is why you get the error "no such command while)"
Also, because of tcl quoting rules, 99.99% of the time the test needs to be in curly braces. So, the syntax is:
while {$temp == 1} {
For more information see http://tcl.tk/man/tcl8.5/TclCmd/while.htm
(you probably have other problems related to your choice of shell quotes; this answer addresses your specific question about the while statement)

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