Logical Error in Shell script.Please help (UNIX) - bash

Question

Following is a source code which takes in only 'files',lists the file permissions of a file and prints the output by replacing
r=READ,w-WRITE,x-EXECUTABLE.
It should also echo "User".But the My problem here is that I have replaced '-' by User but then if the file has a permission of r--x,it also prints "User" # that point.I know its not a correct way to go about it.Can anyone suggest me a better way of echoing "User".
I have also tried printing it before the loop but then it won't serve my purpose, as My program only works withe file permissions of a FILE and not any block/socket/pipe/directory/etc.
#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -lt 1 ];then
echo "USAGE: $0 file-name"
exit 1
fi
ls -l $1 | cut -c1-4 | tr "\012" "." > fp
i=1
while(($i <= 4))
do
p=`cat fp | cut -c$i`
case $p in
[dbsplc] | t) echo "not a file";
exit 1;;
-) echo "User";;
r) echo "READ";;
w) echo "WRITE";;
x) echo "EXECUTE";;
esac
((++i))
done
exit 0

Answer 1

Too complicated. You don't have to rely on ls at all:
#!/bin/bash
if [[ $# -lt 1 ]]; then
echo "USAGE: $(basename "$0") filename ..."
exit 1
fi
exit_status=0
for file in "$#"; do
if [[ ! -f "$file" ]]; then
echo "not a file: $file" >&2
exit_status=$(( exit_status + 1 ))
continue
fi
echo "$file:"
echo "User"
[[ -r "$file" ]] && echo "READ"
[[ -w "$file" ]] && echo "WRITE"
[[ -x "$file" ]] && echo "EXECUTE"
done
exit $exit_status

Answer 2

I'd just use stat -c %a and process that instead.

Answer 3

an exemple using awk (easily adaptable to your program)
ll |awk '{
rights=substr($1, 2, 3);
sub(/r/, "READ ", rights);
sub(/w/, "WRITE ", rights);
sub(/x/, "EXECUTE ", rights);
print rights $3
}'
Explanations :
rights=substr($1, 2, 3);
$1 contains rights of your program and we only takes the 3 first rights (user one)
sub(/r/, "READ ", rights);
Substiture "r" with READ in rights (and so on).
print rights $3
Print rights (substituated) and $3 that contains the user name.

Answer 4

This served my purpose,I separated the first condition into a different case-statement.:
#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -lt 1 ];then
echo "USAGE: $0 file-name"
exit 1
fi
ls -l $1 | cut -c1-4 | tr "\012" "." > fp
i=1
while(($i == 1))
do
p=`cat fp | cut -c$i`
case $p in
[dbsplc] | t) echo "not a file";
exit 1;;
esac
echo "User"
((++i))
done
while(($i <= 4))
do
p=`cat fp | cut -c$i`
case $p in
r) echo "READ";;
w) echo "WRITE";;
x) echo "EXECUTE";;
esac
((++i))
done
exit 0