runscript - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

runscript - script interpreter for minicom

SYNOPSIS

runscript scriptname [logfile [homedir]]

DESCRIPTION

runscript is a simple script interpreter that can be called from within the minicom
communications program to automate tasks like logging in to a Unix system or your favorite
BBS.

INVOCATION

The program expects a script name and optionally a filename and the user's home directory
as arguments, and it expects that it's input and output are connected to the "remote end",
the system you are connecting to. All messages from runscript meant for the local screen
are directed to the stderr output. All this is automatically taken care of if you run it
from minicom. The logfile and home directory parameters are only used to tell the log
command the name of the logfile and where to write it. If the homedir is omitted,
runscript uses the directory found in the $HOME environment variable. If also the logfile
name is omitted, the log commands are ignored.

KEYWORDS

Runscript recognizes the following commands:

expect send goto gosub return !< !
exit print set inc dec if timeout
verbose sleep break call log

OVERVIEW OF KEYWORDS

send <string>
<string> is sent to the modem. It is followed by a '\r'. <string> can be:
- regular text, e.g. 'send hello'
- text enclosed in quotes, e.g. 'send "hello world"'

Within <string> the following sequences are recognized:
\n - newline
\r - carriage return
\a - bell
\b - backspace
\c - don't send the default '\r'.
\f - formfeed
\^ - the ^ character
\o - send character o (o is an octal number)

Control characters can be used in the string with the ^ prefix (^A to ^Z, ^[, ^ ^],
^^ and ^_). If you need to send the ^ character, you must prefix it with the \ escape
character.
Octal characters are either four-digit or delemited by a non-digit character, e.g.
the null character may be sent with \0000 and 'send 1234' is equivalent to 'send
\0061234'.
Also $(environment_variable) can be used, for example $(TERM). Minicom passes three
special environment variables: $(LOGIN), which is the username, $(PASS), which is the
password, as defined in the proper entry of the dialing directory, and $(TERMLIN)
which is the number of actual terminal lines on your screen (that is, the statusline
excluded).

print <string>
Prints <string> to the local screen. Default followed by '\r\n'. See the description
of 'send' above.

label:
Declares a label (with the name 'label') to use with goto or gosub.

goto <label>
Jump to another place in the program.

gosub <label>
Jumps to another place in the program. When the statement 'return' is encountered,
control returns to the statement after the gosub. Gosub's can be nested.

return
Return from a gosub.

! <command>
Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. On return, the variable '$?' is
set to the exit status of this command, so you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

!< <command>
Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. The stdout output of the command
execution will be sent to the modem. On return, the variable '$?' is set to the exit
status of this command, so you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

exit [value]
Exit from "runscript" with an optional exit status. (default 1)

set <variable> <value>
Sets the value of <variable> (which is a single letter a-z) to the value <value>. If
<variable> does not exist, it will be created. <value> can be a integer value or
another variable.

inc <variable>
Increments the value of <variable> by one.

dec <variable>
Decrements the value of <variable> by one.

if <value> <operator> <value> <statement>
Conditional execution of <statement>. <operator> can be <, >, != or =. Eg, 'if a > 3
goto exitlabel'.

timeout <value>
Sets the global timeout. By default, 'runscript' will exit after 120 seconds. This
can be changed with this command. Warning: this command acts differently within an
'expect' statement, but more about that later.

verbose <on|off>
By default, this is 'on'. That means that anything that is being read from the modem
by 'runscript', gets echoed to the screen. This is so that you can see what
'runscript' is doing.

sleep <value>
Suspend execution for <value> seconds.

expect
expect {
pattern [statement]
pattern [statement]
[timeout <value> [statement] ]
....
}
The most important command of all. Expect keeps reading from the input until it reads
a pattern that matches one of the specified ones. If expect encounters an optional
statement after that pattern, it will execute it. Otherwise the default is to just
break out of the expect. 'pattern' is a string, just as in 'send' (see above).
Normally, expect will timeout in 60 seconds and just exit, but this can be changed
with the timeout command.

break
Break out of an 'expect' statement. This is normally only useful as argument to
'timeout' within an expect, because the default action of timeout is to exit
immediately.

call <scriptname>
Transfers control to another scriptfile. When that scriptfile finishes without
errors, the original script will continue.

log <text>
Write text to the logfile.

NOTES

If you want to make your script to exit minicom (for example when you use minicom to dial
up your ISP, and then start a PPP or SLIP session from a script), try the command "!
killall -9 minicom" as the last script command. The -9 option should prevent minicom from
hanging up the line and resetting the modem before exiting.
Well, I don't think this is enough information to make you an experienced 'programmer' in
'runscript', but together with the examples it shouldn't be too hard to write some useful
script files. Things will be easier if you have experience with BASIC. The minicom source
code comes together with two example scripts, scriptdemo and unixlogin. Especially the
last one is a good base to build on for your own scripts.

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