two bash functions that need to be fixed - bash

Question

I need some help getting this running. just two sections.
I'm a novice at bash scripting. how do I repeat this until a single filename is entered? PS it doens't seem to work with a while loop so far that I've tried.
ifSpaces(){
#if more than one file name if statement(checks for spaces)
if [ "$#" -eq "$(echo "$#" | wc -w)" ]
then
echo -n "Please enter a filename: ";
read filename
else
echo -n "Please enter a single filename! ";
fi
}
this function is supposed to test the file if it can be written. It seems to pass through it and not test it right. but I'm not really sure. Basically, what's wrong with it, please make corrections because I don't get it when people tell me and not show me how.
#how do I get this to work?
testFiles(){
#loop through files and test each one
for filename in "$#"
do
filename="$#"
# put this in a loop that grabs all the values.
# test all the file names
while [ -f "$filename" ]
do
if [ -w $filename ]
then
echo "The file exists and is writable";
overWriteFile
saveResults
elif [ -d $filename ]
then
read filename
echo "$filename";
echo "The file you specified exists and is a directory".
saveResults
else
>$directory$filename;
fi
done
echo "$filename";
echo "The file you specified exists and is neither a regular file nor a directory.";
done
saveResults
}

Answer 1

The ifSpaces() function needs better definition - what is it to do?
Takes one argument, a possible file name.
If that argument contains no spaces, return it.
If that argument contains spaces, prompt for a new file name until a name without spaces is given.
How to test for spaces in a string (aka filename)?
spacesInName()
{
case "$1" in
(* *) return 0;;
(*) return 1;;
esac
}
Hence:
ifSpaces()
{
filename=$1
while spacesInName "$filename"
do
echo -n "Enter a filename without spaces: "
read filename
done
return $filename
}
OK - that done, now we ask "why?". Wouldn't it be better just to make sure your code works with any valid file name, because all the main operating systems (file systems) recognize file names with spaces in them as valid?
Additionally, shell scripts that go prompting are often rather uncivilized; they certainly cannot be used reliably when there isn't a user to provide the input, and they cannot be used reliably in pipelines of commands. That severely limits their usefulness.
So, general purpose scripts don't ask questions. Special purpose scripts can ask questions. And it does depend on what the script is designed to do and who is going to use it. But avoid chattiness whenever possible.
You second function is similarly very confused. It isn't very clear what it is supposed to do, but this looks more plausible than the original:
testFiles()
{
for filename in "$#"
do
if [ -w "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists and is writable";
saveResults "$filename"
elif [ -d "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists and is a directory".
elif [ -f "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists but is not writable"
else
echo "Either $filename does not exist or it is neither"
echo "a file nor a directory"
fi
done
}
Revised to prompt once per missing file for an answer - create the file...
testFiles()
{
for filename in "$#"
do
if [ -w "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists and is writable";
saveResults "$filename"
elif [ -d "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists and is a directory".
elif [ -f "$filename" ]
then
echo "The file $filename exists but is not writable"
elif [ ! -e "$filename ]
then
echo "$filename does not exist - create it? "
read yesno
case "$yesno" in
([Yy]*) cp /dev/null "$filename"
saveResults "$filename"
;;
(*) echo "OK - ignoring $filename"
;;
esac
fi
done
}