[kenkanya]

OS: Windows XP SP3
Perl: Perl 5.10

Iam a newbie in perl scripting.
(I have written small perl simple string changes earlier.)
eg:
perl -pi.bak -e "
s|myword=oldworld|myword=newword|g" myfile.txt


My config.prop file contains the line

windowsdrivestocrawl=n:/fdm9_84919_c347|j:/fdm9_84919_c347|w:/fdm9_84919_c347_2

which i want to change to
windowsdrivestocrawl=w:/fdm9_84919_c347_2


My windows batch script (mybatch.bat) contains scripts for copying one folder to another folder in mapped drives. After copying those folders (including files - like config.prop), iam making changes in those files by calling perl.

mybatch.bat
xcopy d:\allfolders\*.* n:\
perl -pi.bak -e"
<followed by changes to be made in file config.prop>

But this file config.prop contains information as show in start of the thread.

Following code suggested by experts on how to use it for subsititution of string.
Can anyone let me know how to go further?

____________
you are on windows with Perl installation, therefore, use Perl. No need for batch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

while(<>){
chomp;
if ( /windowsdrivestocrawl=/){
# do the substitution
}
print $_ ."\n"; }

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


on the command line or in your batch

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

perl myperlscript.pl configfile
____________

So as far as the above script concerns, should i say it should be
while(<>){
chomp;
if ( /windowsdrivestocrawl=/){
w:/fdm9_84919_c347_2
}
print $_ ."\n"; }

and just run this
perl myperlscript.pl configfile.prop
and this will make the changes in the file? Or correct me if iam wrong.

Or this can be included in batch script (mybatch.bat - as shown below), is this correct?


mybatch.bat #start of batch file
xcopy d:\allfolders\*.* n:\
perl myperlscript.pl configfile.prop
#end of batch file

So this batch script will inturn call the perl script for subsititution?

Do also provide me the links for perl tutorials. I also found this perltutorial.org
Thanks

[Boraan]

are you trying to do the job in a batch file or a perl script? You have the right code already you just need to decide which way you want to do it?

if you're going to use it in a batch file then you will need to format the code with perl execute so the system knows it's perl code that's following, otherwise windows will try to interpret it as shell commands.

I would not use a batch however. Batch files are made for automation, usually unattended. the <> in the perl code denotes a user input

[kenkanya]

Originally Posted by Boraan

are you trying to do the job in a batch file or a perl script? You have the right code already you just need to decide which way you want to do it?

if you're going to use it in a batch file then you will need to format the code with perl execute so the system knows it's perl code that's following, otherwise windows will try to interpret it as shell commands.

I would not use a batch however. Batch files are made for automation, usually unattended. the <> in the perl code denotes a user input

Ok. Thanks Borran.
I will not be using in batch as you said. Will run it as separate perl script.
Now what is the next step
If <> is the user input, then how do i go about?
I only want to replace the windowsdrivetorecrawl with w:/fdm9_84919_c347_2
and this would be static. So no need of user input.
How do i run this script?

Sorry for the late reply (was not feelig well and then held up with other problems)

[kenkanya]

When i run the above script (put it in a file firstperl.pl) i get the following message.

D:\myfold>perl firstperl.pl configfile
Search pattern not terminated at firstperl.pl line 6.

firstperl.pl contains
while(<>){
chomp;
if ( /windowsdrivestocrawl=/){
w:/fdm9_84919_c347_2
}
print $_ ."\n";
}

can you let me know, what iam missing?