Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ames!pacbell!ptsfa!dmt
From: dmt@PacBell.COM (Dave Turner)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Why doesn't this work ?
Message-ID: <4900@ptsfa.PacBell.COM>
Date: 2 Aug 89 16:04:22 GMT
References: <443@fdmetd.uucp> <579@lakart.UUCP>
Reply-To: dmt@PacBell.COM (Dave Turner)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Lines: 21

In article <579@lakart.UUCP> dg@lakart.UUCP (David Goodenough) writes:
.jon@fdmetd.uucp (Jon Ivar Tr|stheim) sez:
.> Why does not the following command work in a Bourne shell script ?
.> 
.> 	USERID=`expr "`id`" : 'uid=\([0-9]*\)(.*'`
.Possibly because `` constructs don't nest, at least not any way I've tried.
.
.Try this:
.
.STUG=`id`
.USERID=`expr "$STUG" : 'uid=\([0-9]*\)(.*'`

Or escape the inner backquotes:

	USERID=`expr "\`id\`" : 'uid=\([0-9]*\)(.*'`

This works on the Bourne and Korn shells using System V R2.1 on a 3B20.


-- 
Dave Turner	415/542-1299	{att,bellcore,sun,ames,decwrl}!pacbell!dmt