whereis shows that bash is at /bin/bash

me@myPlace:~$ whereis bash
bash: /bin/bash /etc/bash.bashrc /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz


But when I run a script I get:

me@myPlace:~$ ./theScript
./theScript: line 1: !#/bin/bash: No such file or directory
--does everything correctly--
me@myPlace:~$

It all works, but why the "No such file or directory" message?

Dave

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Dave Murray wrote:
> whereis shows that bash is at /bin/bash
>
>   me@myPlace:~$ whereis bash
>   bash: /bin/bash /etc/bash.bashrc /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz
>
>
> But when I run a script I get:
>
>   me@myPlace:~$ ./theScript
>   ./theScript: line 1: !#/bin/bash: No such file or directory
>      --does everything correctly--
>   me@myPlace:~$
>
> It all works, but why the "No such file or directory" message?

Because, you got the line wrong  :-)

The line /should/ read
#!/bin/bash

That's
hash  (#)
bang  (!)
/bin/bash

The hash (#) introduces a comment, making the rest of the line 'null' as far
as bash is concerned

OTOH, what you wrote
bang (!)
hash (#)
/bin/bash

started with a bang (!), which is a unary not operator for an expression. Th
e
unary not /must/ be followed by an expression, which (in it's simplest form)
is the name of an executable.

! someprogram
would run
someprogram
and evaluate to a value of 0 if someprogram returned a non-zero value.

With your starting line, the shell tried to run the executable called
"#/bin/bash" (in order to logically NOT its resultcode) and could not find
that program. So, it reported back to you that there was no such file or
directory as "#/bin/bash"






--
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576
http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/   | GPG public key available by request
----------      Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.          ------

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Lew Pitcher wrote:
> Dave Murray wrote: 
>
> Because, you got the line wrong  :-)
>
> The line /should/ read
>   #!/bin/bash
>
> That's
>   hash  (#)
>   bang  (!)
>   /bin/bash
>
> The hash (#) introduces a comment, making the rest of the line 'null' as f
ar
> as bash is concerned
>
> OTOH, what you wrote
>   bang (!)
>   hash (#)
>   /bin/bash
>
> started with a bang (!), which is a unary not operator for an expression. 
The
> unary not /must/ be followed by an expression, which (in it's simplest for
m)
> is the name of an executable.
>
>   ! someprogram
> would run
>   someprogram
> and evaluate to a value of 0 if someprogram returned a non-zero value.
>
> With your starting line, the shell tried to run the executable called
> "#/bin/bash" (in order to logically NOT its resultcode) and could not find
> that program. So, it reported back to you that there was no such file or
> directory as "#/bin/bash"


Duh! Dyslexia strikes again. Thanks,

Dave

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]