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Storing the output of perl command in a file

zak100
Novice

Nov 9, 2013, 11:54 PM

Post #1 of 11 (1047 views)

Storing the output of perl command in a file	Can't Post

Hi,
I am trying to store the output of a perl command in a file but its creating a file with zero size. I am using the command in a script:

Code

system ("perl","$fileName > output");

Instead of perl script when i executed command on dos prompt i got following the :

Code

D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>perl filetest1.pl > output 
Can't locate object method "aaaaaaaaa" via package "bbbbbbbbbb" (perhaps you for 
got to load "bbbbbbbbbb"?) at filetest1.pl line 2. 
 
D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>dir o* 
 Volume in drive D has no label. 
 Volume Serial Number is 8E4F-05BE 
 
 Directory of D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER 
 
11/10/2013  12:45 PM                 0 output 
               1 File(s)              0 bytes 
               0 Dir(s)  524,334,653,440 bytes free 
 
D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>type filetest1.pl 
 
aaaaaaaaa 
bbbbbbbbbb 
cccccccccccc 
D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>

Somebody plz guide me.

Zulfi.

Laurent_R
Veteran / Moderator

Nov 10, 2013, 2:13 AM

Post #2 of 11 (1044 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

I really don't understand what you are trying to do, but the bottom line is certainly that your filetest1.pl is not a valid Perl program and has no chance whatsoever of compiling correctly.

If you want to print your strings of characters to the output file, you should at least do something like this:

Code

print "aaaaaaaaa \n"; 
print "bbbbbbbbbb \n"; 
print "cccccccccccc \n";

zak100
Novice

Nov 10, 2013, 6:54 AM

Post #3 of 11 (1041 views)

Re: [Laurent_R] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks for your reply. When i would compile this file, i would get an error. I want to store this error in a file.

Zulfi.

zak100
Novice

Nov 10, 2013, 10:18 AM

Post #4 of 11 (1034 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi,
I am showing my complete code. I want to store output of perl command in a file (testfile). My code is:

Code

 
#!C:/Perl64/bin/perl.exe 
my $dirstr = 'D:/Zulfi/dir1'; 
print $dirstr; 
 
$fileName = $dirstr . "/data1.txt"; 
 
mkdir $dirstr unless -d $existingdir; # Check if dir exists. If not create it. 
 
 
open (MYFILE, ">$fileName"); 
print MYFILE "Bob\n"; 
 close (MYFILE);  
 
open (MYFILE, ">TestFile") || die "\n   Could not create write file.\n\n"; 
print MYFILE `perl $fileName $_`;

The code is compiling but its not storing any error message in TestFile. TestFile is of zero bytes. Kindly guide me.
I want to do some thing like :
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2870887/how-can-i-write-output-to-a-new-external-file-with-perl
Zulfi.

wickedxter
User

Nov 10, 2013, 11:40 AM

Post #5 of 11 (1032 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

read this: http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=51097

Laurent_R
Veteran / Moderator

Nov 10, 2013, 2:19 PM

Post #6 of 11 (1026 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

The first thing you should do is to add the following lines near the top of your file:

Code

use warnings; 
use strict:

This will force you to declare all the variables that you use (with the my operator), but you will save tremendous gains because the compiler will tell you about many of the errors that you are doing.

For example, it will tell you that the $existingdir has not been declared anywhere, so that your test:

Code

... unless -d $existingdir

is just useless.

Then, you write "Bob\n" into the file $filename. Fine.

But the final line of your script

Code

print MYFILE `perl $fileName $_`;

just does not make any sense: you are calling a system command to execute the Perl script $filename, which does not contain a valid Perl script and passing a parameter ($_) which is not defined. This is doomed to fail: Perl will not be able to compile a file containing simply "Bob". I suspect you are trying to do something else, but can't figure out what exactly.

Please explain what you are trying to do with this last command of your script.

zak100
Novice

Nov 11, 2013, 7:46 AM

Post #7 of 11 (1014 views)

Re: [Laurent_R] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi,
I feel sorry for not making myself clear related to my problem. However i thank you people for your continued interest in my problem. I compile my code and i got some error. I want to store the error message in a file. For example right now i am getting following error:

Code

D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>perl filecompileoutput.pl 
D:/Zulfi/dir1Can't locate object method "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" via package "Bobaaaa 
aaaaaaaaaa" (perhaps you forgot to load "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"?) at D:/Zulfi/dir1/d 
ata1.pl line 1.

I want to store the error message:

Quote

D:/Zulfi/dir1Can't locate object method "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" via package "Bobaaaa
aaaaaaaaaa" (perhaps you forgot to load "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"?) at D:/Zulfi/dir1/d
ata1.pl line 1.

in a file.

My code is and other information is listed below:

Code

D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>type filecompileoutput.pl 
#!C:/Perl64/bin/perl.exe 
my $dirstr = 'D:/Zulfi/dir1'; 
print $dirstr; 
 
$fileName = $dirstr . "/data1.pl"; 
 
mkdir $dirstr unless -d $existingdir; # Check if dir exists. If not create it. 
 
 
open (MYFILE, ">$fileName"); 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
 close (MYFILE); 
 
open (MYFILE, ">TestFile") || die "\n   Could not create write file.\n\n"; 
print MYFILE `perl $fileName`; 
 
 
close (MYFILE); 
 
 
D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>dir TestFile 
 Volume in drive D has no label. 
 Volume Serial Number is 8E4F-05BE 
 
 Directory of D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER 
 
11/11/2013  08:35 PM                 0 TestFile 
               1 File(s)              0 bytes 
               0 Dir(s)  524,333,301,760 bytes free 
 
D:\Zulfi\PERL MAIN FOLDER>cd .. 
 
D:\Zulfi>cd dir1 
 
D:\Zulfi\dir1>type data1.pl 
Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 
Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 
Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 
 
D:\Zulfi\dir1>

It shows that it has created the TestFile but its size is zero. This is my problem "How to store data in TestFile which is to store error messages generated during comiling a program using perl?"

Kindly guide me.

Zulfi.

FishMonger
Veteran / Moderator

Nov 11, 2013, 8:47 AM

Post #8 of 11 (1009 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

Repeating yourself multiple times without following the advise you've been given won't help to finding the answer.

1) Normal/standard output of a command go out to STDOUT.

2) Error messages go out to STDERR.

3) When you execute a command via backticks, you receive the STDOUT stream, but not the STDERR.

4) To receive both STDOUT and STDERR, you need to do I/O redirection i.e., redirect STDERR to STDOUT.

Code

print MYFILE `perl $fileName 2>&1`;

(This post was edited by FishMonger on Nov 11, 2013, 8:48 AM)

FishMonger
Veteran / Moderator

Nov 11, 2013, 9:03 AM

Post #9 of 11 (1006 views)

Re: [zak100] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

A better option for separate handing of the STDOUT and STDERR data streams is to use IPC::Open3 to run your command instead of using backticks.

IPC::Open3 - open a process for reading, writing, and error handling using open3()
http://search.cpan.org/~rjbs/perl-5.18.1/ext/IPC-Open3/lib/IPC/Open3.pm

Laurent_R
Veteran / Moderator

Nov 11, 2013, 9:36 AM

Post #10 of 11 (1001 views)

Re: [FishMonger] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Code

print MYFILE `perl $fileName 2>&1`;

It seems the OP is working under Windows. I am not sure whether this type of redirection can work under Windows.

zak100
Novice

Nov 11, 2013, 9:40 AM

Post #11 of 11 (999 views)

Re: [FishMonger] Storing the output of perl command in a file [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi,
I tried the first option b/c i was not able to follow the details of 2nd one.

My code after imrovement is now:

Code

#!C:/Perl64/bin/perl.exe 
my $dirstr = 'D:/Zulfi/dir1'; 
print $dirstr; 
 
$fileName = $dirstr . "/data1.pl"; 
 
mkdir $dirstr unless -d $existingdir; # Check if dir exists. If not create it. 
 
 
open (MYFILE, ">$fileName"); 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
print MYFILE "Bobaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\n"; 
 close (MYFILE);  
 
open (MYFILE, ">TestFile") || die "\n   Could not create write file.\n\n"; 
print MYFILE `perl $fileName 2>&1`; 
 
 
close (MYFILE);

Thanks for solving my problem.

Zulfi.

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