Cdtjkyj

I have a function (notify_dba) that with two string args, a header and a body. (correction) Works well from shell prompt, but not in cron Err, doesn't work in either shell or cron (but should...?):

 53 notify_dba "${FRIENDLY_SERVER_NAME}: New ORA errors in AlertLog" echo ${

 54 "Please check full log in ${ALERT_LOG_LOCATION}.

 55 =====================================================

 56 `grep -A900000 "${LAST_LINE_FROM_ARCHIVE}:" ${TEMPORARY_LOG_WITH_ORA_ERRORS} | grep -v "${LAST_LINE_FROM_ARCHIVE}:"`

 57 =====================================================

 58 "}

Getting the error:

Wed Jan 16 06:00:01 PST 2019

LAST_LINE_FROM_ARCHIVE=449843

LAST_LINE_FROM_TEMP= 452866

/u01/app/oracle/admin/chk_alertlog.sh: line 53: ${

"Please check full log in ${ALERT_LOG_LOCATION}.

=====================================================

`grep -A900000 "${LAST_LINE_FROM_ARCHIVE}:" ${TEMPORARY_LOG_WITH_ORA_ERRORS} | grep -v "${LAST_LINE_FROM_ARCHIVE}:"`

=====================================================

"}: bad substitution

As pointed out in a comment to your question, the error you see is due to the unquoted ${, which triggers parameter expansion (see "Parameter Expansion" in section "EXPANSION" of man bash).

That said, you can of course pass around a multi-line text block. You have just to quote it properly:

If it is static, single quotes are ok:

$ mlblock='line 1

> line 2'

$ printf '%sn' "$mlblock"

line 1

line 2

If you want it to be built at execution time, you have to use double quotes, which preserve the special meaning of $, ` and , allowing, among other things, parameter expansion and command substitution:

$ text="Sample    text"

$ mlblock="$text

> date: $(date)

> end"

$ printf '%sn' "$mlblock"

Sample    text

date: Wed Jan 16 22:18:33 CET 2019

end

Note that expansions appearing anywhere in a string enclosed in double quotes are themselves quoted. Thus, their spacing is preserved (e.g. Sample text).

The most readable way to pass a complex string to a function is probably to use a variable:

$ function notify_dba () {

    printf '%sn' "$1"    # Print header

    printf '%sn' "$2"    # Print body

}

$ notify_dba 'Header' "$mlblock" 

Header

Sample    text

date: Wed Jan 16 22:21:14 CET 2019

end

Note that the second argument has to appear in double quotes because: 1) if unquoted, it would be expanded by the shell and, when resulting in more than one word, be translated into more than one arguments to the function; 2) if surrounded by single quotes, it would be interpreted literally as the string $mlblock.

Alternatively you can, of course, build the argument string as you call your function:

$ notify_dba 'Header' "Multi

> line body

> date: $(date)

> end"

Header

Multi

line body

date: Wed Jan 16 22:29:13 CET 2019

end