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EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE Expect - programmed dialogue with interactive programs, Version 5 SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSS eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt [ ----ddddDDDDiiiinnnnNNNN ] [ ----cccc _c_m_d_s ] [ ----ffffbbbb ] _c_m_d_f_i_l_e ] [ _a_r_g_s ] IIIINNNNTTTTRRRROOOODDDDUUUUCCCCTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is a program that "talks" to other interactive programs according to a script. Following the script, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt knows what can be expected from a program and what the correct response should be. An interpreted language provides branching and high-level control structures to direct the dialogue. In addition, the user can take control and interact directly when desired, afterward returning control to the script. EEEExxxxppppeeeeccccttttkkkk is a mixture of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt and TTTTkkkk. It behaves just like EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt and TTTTkkkk's wwwwiiiisssshhhh. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt can also be used directly in C or C++ (that is, without Tcl). See libexpect(3). The name "Expect" comes from the idea of _s_e_n_d/_e_x_p_e_c_t sequences popularized by uucp, kermit and other modem control programs. However unlike uucp, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is generalized so that it can be run as a user-level command with any program and task in mind. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt can actually talk to several programs at the same time. For example, here are some things EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt can do: o+ Cause your computer to dial you back, so that you can login without paying for the call. o+ Start a game (e.g., rogue) and if the optimal configuration doesn't appear, restart it (again and again) until it does, then hand over control to you. o+ Run fsck, and in response to its questions, answer "yes", "no" or give control back to you, based on predetermined criteria. o+ Connect to another network or BBS (e.g., MCI Mail, CompuServe) and automatically retrieve your mail so that it appears as if it was originally sent to your local system. o+ Carry environment variables, current directory, or any kind of information across rlogin, telnet, tip, su, chgrp, etc. There are a variety of reasons why the shell cannot perform Page 1 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) these tasks. (Try, you'll see.) All are possible with EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt. In general, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is useful for running any program which requires interaction between the program and the user. All that is necessary is that the interaction can be characterized programmatically. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt can also give the user back control (without halting the program being controlled) if desired. Similarly, the user can return control to the script at any time. UUUUSSSSAAAAGGGGEEEE EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt reads _c_m_d_f_i_l_e for a list of commands to execute. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt may also be invoked implicitly on systems which support the #! notation by marking the script executable, and making the first line in your script: #!/usr/local/bin/expect -f Of course, the path must accurately describe where EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt lives. /usr/local/bin is just an example. The ----cccc flag prefaces a command to be executed before any in the script. The command should be quoted to prevent being broken up by the shell. This option may be used multiple times. Multiple commands may be executed with a single ----cccc by separating them with semicolons. Commands are executed in the order they appear. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaannnndddd.) The ----dddd flag enables some diagnostic output, which primarily reports internal activity of commands such as eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt and iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt. This flag has the same effect as "exp_internal 1" at the beginning of an Expect script, plus the version of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is printed. (The ssssttttrrrraaaacccceeee command is useful for tracing statements, and the ttttrrrraaaacccceeee command is useful for tracing variable assignments.) (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----ddddiiiiaaaagggg.) The ----DDDD flag enables an interactive debugger. An integer value should follow. The debugger will take control before the next Tcl procedure if the value is non-zero or if a ^C is pressed (or a breakpoint is hit, or other appropriate debugger command appears in the script). See the README file or SEE ALSO (below) for more information on the debugger. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----DDDDeeeebbbbuuuugggg.) The ----ffff flag prefaces a file from which to read commands from. The flag itself is optional as it is only useful when using the #! notation (see above), so that other arguments Page 2 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) may be supplied on the command line. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----ffffiiiilllleeee.) By default, the command file is read into memory and executed in its entirety. It is occasionally desirable to read files one line at a time. For example, stdin is read this way. In order to force arbitrary files to be handled this way, use the ----bbbb flag. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----bbbbuuuuffffffffeeeerrrr.) If the string "-" is supplied as a filename, standard input is read instead. (Use "./-" to read from a file actually named "-".) The ----iiii flag causes EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt to interactively prompt for commands instead of reading them from a file. Prompting is terminated via the eeeexxxxiiiitttt command or upon EOF. See iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr (below) for more information. ----iiii is assumed if neither a command file nor ----cccc is used. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaaccccttttiiiivvvveeee.) -------- may be used to delimit the end of the options. This is useful if you want to pass an option-like argument to your script without it being interpreted by EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt. This can usefully be placed in the #! line to prevent any flag-like interpretation by Expect. For example, the following will leave the original arguments (including the script name) in the variable _a_r_g_v. #!/usr/local/bin/expect -- Note that the usual getopt(3) and execve(2) conventions must be observed when adding arguments to the #! line. The file $exp_library/expect.rc is sourced automatically if present, unless the ----NNNN flag is used. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----NNNNOOOORRRRCCCC.) Immediately after this, the file ~/.expect.rc is sourced automatically, unless the ----nnnn flag is used. If the environment variable DOTDIR is defined, it is treated as a directory and .expect.rc is read from there. (When using Expectk, this option is specified as ----nnnnoooorrrrcccc.) This sourcing occurs only after executing any ----cccc flags. Optional _a_r_g_s are constructed into a list and stored in the variable named _a_r_g_v. _a_r_g_c is initialized to the length of argv. _a_r_g_v_0 is defined to be the name of the script (or binary if no script is used). For example, the following prints out the name of the script and the first three arguments: Page 3 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) send_user "$argv0 [lrange $argv 0 2]\n" CCCCOOOOMMMMMMMMAAAANNNNDDDDSSSS EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt uses _T_c_l (Tool Command Language). Tcl provides control flow (e.g., if, for, break), expression evaluation and several other features such as recursion, procedure definition, etc. Commands used here but not defined (e.g., sssseeeetttt, iiiiffff, eeeexxxxeeeecccc) are Tcl commands (see tcl(3)). EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt supports additional commands, described below. Unless otherwise specified, commands return the empty string. Commands are listed alphabetically so that they can be quickly located. However, new users may find it easier to start by reading the descriptions of ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn, sssseeeennnndddd, eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt, and iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt, in that order. Note that the best introduction to the language (both Expect and Tcl) is provided in the book "Exploring Expect" (see SEE ALSO below). Examples are included in this man page but they are very limited since this man page is meant primarily as reference material. Note that in the text of this man page, "Expect" with an uppercase "E" refers to the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt program while "expect" with a lower-case "e" refers to the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command within the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt program.) cccclllloooosssseeee [-_s_l_a_v_e] [-_o_n_e_x_e_c _0|_1] [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] closes the connection to the current process. Most interactive programs will detect EOF on their stdin and exit; thus cccclllloooosssseeee usually suffices to kill the process as well. The ----iiii flag declares the process to close corresponding to the named spawn_id. Both eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt and iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt will detect when the current process exits and implicitly do a cccclllloooosssseeee. But if you kill the process by, say, "exec kill $pid", you will need to explicitly call cccclllloooosssseeee. The ----oooonnnneeeexxxxeeeecccc flag determines whether the spawn id will be closed in any new spawned processes or if the process is overlayed. To leave a spawn id open, use the value 0. A non-zero integer value will force the spawn closed (the default) in any new processes. The ----ssssllllaaaavvvveeee flag closes the slave associated with the spawn id. (See "spawn -pty".) When the connection is closed, the slave is automatically closed as well if still open. Page 4 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) No matter whether the connection is closed implicitly or explicitly, you should call wwwwaaaaiiiitttt to clear up the corresponding kernel process slot. cccclllloooosssseeee does not call wwwwaaaaiiiitttt since there is no guarantee that closing a process connection will cause it to exit. See wwwwaaaaiiiitttt below for more info. ddddeeeebbbbuuuugggg [[-_n_o_w] _0|_1] controls a Tcl debugger allowing you to step through statements, set breakpoints, etc. With no arguments, a 1 is returned if the debugger is not running, otherwise a 0 is returned. With a 1 argument, the debugger is started. With a 0 argument, the debugger is stopped. If a 1 argument is preceded by the ----nnnnoooowwww flag, the debugger is started immediately (i.e., in the middle of the ddddeeeebbbbuuuugggg command itself). Otherwise, the debugger is started with the next Tcl statement. The ddddeeeebbbbuuuugggg command does not change any traps. Compare this to starting Expect with the ----DDDD flag (see above). See the README file or SEE ALSO (below) for more information on the debugger. ddddiiiissssccccoooonnnnnnnneeeecccctttt disconnects a forked process from the terminal. It continues running in the background. The process is given its own process group (if possible). Standard I/O is redirected to /dev/null. The following fragment uses ddddiiiissssccccoooonnnnnnnneeeecccctttt to continue running the script in the background. if [fork]!=0 exit disconnect . . . The following script reads a password, and then runs a program every hour that demands a password each time it is run. The script supplies the password so that you only have to type it once. (See the ssssttttttttyyyy command which demonstrates how to turn off password echoing.) send_user "password?\ " expect_user -re "(.*)\n" Page 5 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) for {} 1 {} { if [fork]!=0 {sleep 3600;continue} disconnect spawn priv_prog expect Password: send "$expect_out(1,string)\r" . . . exit } An advantage to using ddddiiiissssccccoooonnnnnnnneeeecccctttt over the shell asynchronous process feature (&) is that EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt can save the terminal parameters prior to disconnection, and then later apply them to new ptys. With &, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt does not have a chance to read the terminal's parameters since the terminal is already disconnected by the time EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt receives control. eeeexxxxiiiitttt [-_o_p_t_s] [_s_t_a_t_u_s] causes EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt to exit or otherwise prepare to do so. The ----oooonnnneeeexxxxiiiitttt flag causes the next argument to be used as an exit handler. Without an argument, the current exit handler is returned. The ----nnnnooooeeeexxxxiiiitttt flag causes EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt to prepare to exit but stop short of actually returning control to the operating system. The user-defined exit handler is run as well as Expect's own internal handlers. No further Expect commands should be executed. This is useful if you are running Expect with other Tcl extensions. The current interpreter (and main window if in the Tk environment) remain so that other Tcl extensions can clean up. If Expect's eeeexxxxiiiitttt is called again (however this might occur), the handlers are not rerun. Upon exiting, all connections to spawned processes are closed. Closure will be detected as an EOF by spawned processes. eeeexxxxiiiitttt takes no other actions beyond what the normal _exit(2) procedure does. Thus, spawned processes that do not check for EOF may continue to run. (A variety of conditions are important to determining, for example, what signals a spawned process will be sent, but these are system-dependent, typically documented under exit(3).) Spawned processes that continue to run will be inherited by init. Page 6 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) _s_t_a_t_u_s (or 0 if not specified) is returned as the exit status of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt. eeeexxxxiiiitttt is implicitly executed if the end of the script is reached. eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee The command eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee allows eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt itself to continue executing rather than returning as it normally would. (See eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt for more information.) eeeexxxxpppp____ooooppppeeeennnn [_a_r_g_s] [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] returns a Tcl file identifier that corresponds to the original spawn id. The file identifier can then be used as if it were opened by Tcl's ooooppppeeeennnn command. (The spawn id should no longer be used. A wwwwaaaaiiiitttt should not be executed. The ----lllleeeeaaaavvvveeeeooooppppeeeennnn flag leaves the spawn id open for access through Expect commands. A wwwwaaaaiiiitttt must be executed on the spawn id. eeeexxxxpppp____ppppiiiidddd [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] returns the process id corresponding to the currently spawned process. If the ----iiii flag is used, the pid returned corresponds to that of the given spawn id. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt [[-_o_p_t_s] _p_a_t_1 _b_o_d_y_1] ... [-_o_p_t_s] _p_a_t_n [_b_o_d_y_n] waits until one of the patterns matches the output of a spawned process, a specified time period has passed, or an end-of-file is seen. If the final body is empty, it may be omitted. Patterns from the most recent eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee command are implicitly used before any other patterns. Patterns from the most recent eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____aaaafffftttteeeerrrr command are implicitly used after any other patterns. If the arguments to the entire eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt statement require more than one line, all the arguments may be "braced" into one so as to avoid terminating each line with a backslash. In this one case, the usual Tcl substitutions will occur despite the braces. If a pattern is the keyword eeeeooooffff, the corresponding body is executed upon end-of-file. If a pattern is the keyword ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt, the corresponding body is Page 7 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) executed upon timeout. If no timeout keyword is used, an implicit null action is executed upon timeout. The default timeout period is 10 seconds but may be set, for example to 30, by the command "set timeout 30". An infinite timeout may be designated by the value -1. If a pattern is the keyword ddddeeeeffffaaaauuuulllltttt, the corresponding body is executed upon either timeout or end-of-file. If a pattern matches, then the corresponding body is executed. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt returns the result of the body (or the empty string if no pattern matched). In the event that multiple patterns match, the one appearing first is used to select a body. Each time new output arrives, it is compared to each pattern in the order they are listed. Thus, you may test for absence of a match by making the last pattern something guaranteed to appear, such as a prompt. In situations where there is no prompt, you must use ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt (just like you would if you were interacting manually). Patterns are specified in three ways. By default, patterns are specified as with Tcl's ssssttttrrrriiiinnnngggg mmmmaaaattttcccchhhh command. (Such patterns are also similar to C- shell regular expressions usually referred to as "glob" patterns). The ----ggggllll flag may may be used to protect patterns that might otherwise match eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt flags from doing so. Any pattern beginning with a "-" should be protected this way. (All strings starting with "-" are reserved for future options.) For example, the following fragment looks for a successful login. (Note that aaaabbbboooorrrrtttt is presumed to be a procedure defined elsewhere in the script.) expect { busy {print busy\n ; exp_continue} failed abort "invalid password" abort timeout abort connected } Quotes are necessary on the fourth pattern since it contains a space, which would otherwise separate the pattern from the action. Patterns with the same action (such as the 3rd and 4th) require listing the actions again. This can be Page 8 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) avoid by using regexp-style patterns (see below). More information on forming glob-style patterns can be found in the Tcl manual. Regexp-style patterns follow the syntax defined by Tcl's rrrreeeeggggeeeexxxxpppp (short for "regular expression") command. regexp patterns are introduced with the flag ----rrrreeee. The previous example can be rewritten using a regexp as: expect { busy {print busy\n ; exp_continue} -re "failed|invalid password" abort timeout abort connected } Both types of patterns are "unanchored". This means that patterns do not have to match the entire string, but can begin and end the match anywhere in the string (as long as everything else matches). Use ^ to match the beginning of a string, and $ to match the end. Note that if you do not wait for the end of a string, your responses can easily end up in the middle of the string as they are echoed from the spawned process. While still producing correct results, the output can look unnatural. Thus, use of $ is encouraged if you can exactly describe the characters at the end of a string. Note that in many editors, the ^ and $ match the beginning and end of lines respectively. However, because expect is not line oriented, these characters match the beginning and end of the data (as opposed to lines) currently in the expect matching buffer. (Also, see the note below on "system indigestion.") The ----eeeexxxx flag causes the pattern to be matched as an "exact" string. No interpretation of *, ^, etc is made (although the usual Tcl conventions must still be observed). Exact patterns are always unanchored. The ----nnnnooooccccaaaasssseeee flag causes uppercase characters of the output to compare as if they were lowercase characters. The pattern is not affected. While reading output, more than 2000 bytes can force earlier bytes to be "forgotten". This may Page 9 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) be changed with the function mmmmaaaattttcccchhhh____mmmmaaaaxxxx. (Note that excessively large values can slow down the pattern matcher.) If _p_a_t_l_i_s_t is ffffuuuullllllll____bbbbuuuuffffffffeeeerrrr, the corresponding body is executed if _m_a_t_c_h__m_a_x bytes have been received and no other patterns have matched. Whether or not the ffffuuuullllllll____bbbbuuuuffffffffeeeerrrr keyword is used, the forgotten characters are written to expect_out(buffer). If _p_a_t_l_i_s_t is the keyword nnnnuuuullllllll, and nulls are allowed (via the rrrreeeemmmmoooovvvveeee____nnnnuuuullllllllssss command), the corresponding body is executed if a single ASCII 0 is matched. It is not possible to match 0 bytes via glob or regexp patterns. Upon matching a pattern (or eof or full_buffer), any matching and previously unmatched output is saved in the variable _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_b_u_f_f_e_r). Up to 9 regexp substring matches are saved in the variables _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_1,_s_t_r_i_n_g) through _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_9,_s_t_r_i_n_g). If the ----iiiinnnnddddiiiicccceeeessss flag is used before a pattern, the starting and ending indices (in a form suitable for llllrrrraaaannnnggggeeee) of the 10 strings are stored in the variables _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_X,_s_t_a_r_t) and _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_X,_e_n_d) where X is a digit, corresponds to the substring position in the buffer. 0 refers to strings which matched the entired pattern and is generated for glob patterns as well as regexp patterns. For example, if a process has produced output of "abcdefgh\n", the result of: expect "cd" is as if the following statements had executed: set expect_out(0,string) cd set expect_out(buffer) abcd and "efgh\n" is left in the output buffer. If a process produced the output "abbbcabkkkka\n", the result of: expect -indices -re "b(b*).*(k+)" is as if the following statements had executed: set expect_out(0,start) 1 set expect_out(0,end) 10 set expect_out(0,string) bbbcabkkkk set expect_out(1,start) 2 set expect_out(1,end) 3 Page 10 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) set expect_out(1,string) bb set expect_out(2,start) 10 set expect_out(2,end) 10 set expect_out(2,string) k set expect_out(buffer) abbbcabkkkk and "a\n" is left in the output buffer. The pattern "*" (and -re ".*") will flush the output buffer without reading any more output from the process. Normally, the matched output is discarded from Expect's internal buffers. This may be prevented by prefixing a pattern with the ----nnnnoooottttrrrraaaannnnssssffffeeeerrrr flag. This flag is especially useful in experimenting (and can be abbreviated to "-n" for convenience while experimenting). The spawn id associated with the matching output (or eof or full_buffer) is stored in _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t(_s_p_a_w_n__i_d). By default, patterns are matched against output from the current process, however the ----iiii flag declares the output from the named spawn_id list be matched against any following patterns (up to the next ----iiii). The spawn_id list should either be a whitespace separated list of spawn_ids or a variable referring to such a list of spawn_ids. For example, the following example waits for "connected" from the current process, or "busy", "failed" or "invalid password" from the spawn_id named by $proc2. expect { -i $proc2 busy{print busy\n ; exp_continue} -re "failed|invalid password" abort timeout abort connected } The value of the global variable _a_n_y__s_p_a_w_n__i_d may be used to match patterns to any spawn_ids that are named with all other ----iiii flags in the current eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command. The spawn_id from a ----iiii flag with no associated pattern (i.e., followed immediately by another ----iiii) is made available to any other patterns in the same eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command associated with _a_n_y__s_p_a_w_n__i_d. The ----iiii flag may also name a global variable in Page 11 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) which case the variable is read for a list of spawn ids. The variable is reread whenever it changes. This provides a way of changing the I/O source while the command is in execution. Spawn ids provided this way are called "indirect" spawn ids. Actions such as bbbbrrrreeeeaaaakkkk and ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee cause control structures (i.e., ffffoooorrrr, pppprrrroooocccc) to behave in the usual way. The command eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee allows eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt itself to continue executing rather than returning as it normally would. This is useful for avoiding explicit loops or repeated expect statements. The following example is part of a fragment to automate rlogin. The eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee avoids having to write a second eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt statement (to look for the prompt again) if the rlogin prompts for a password. expect { Password: { stty -echo send_user "password (for $user) on $host: " expect_user -re "(.*)\n" send_user "\n" send "$expect_out(1,string)\r" stty echo exp_continue } incorrect { send_user "invalid password or account\n" exit } timeout { send_user "connection to $host timed out\n" exit } eof { send_user "connection to host failed: $expect_out(buffer)" exit } -re $prompt } For example, the following fragment might help a user guide an interaction that is already totally automated. In this case, the terminal is put into raw mode. If the user presses "+", a variable is incremented. If "p" is pressed, several returns are sent to the process, perhaps to poke it in some way, and "i" lets the user interact with the process, effectively stealing away control from the script. In each case, the eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee allows the current eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt to continue pattern matching after executing the current action. Page 12 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) stty raw -echo expect_after { -i $user_spawn_id "p" {send "\r\r\r"; exp_continue} "+" {incr foo; exp_continue} "i" {interact; exp_continue} "quit" exit } By default, eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee resets the timeout timer. The timer is not restarted, if eeeexxxxpppp____ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee is called with the ----ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee____ttttiiiimmmmeeeerrrr flag. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____aaaafffftttteeeerrrr [_e_x_p_e_c_t _a_r_g_s] works identically to the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee except that if patterns from both eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt and eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____aaaafffftttteeeerrrr can match, the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt pattern is used. See the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee ccccoooommmmmmmmaaaannnndddd ffffoooorrrr mmmmoooorrrreeee iiiinnnnffffoooorrrrmmmmaaaattttiiiioooonnnn.... eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd [_e_x_p_e_c_t _a_r_g_s] takes the same arguments as eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt, however it returns immediately. Patterns are tested whenever new input arrives. Note: this only works in the Tk environment. The pattern ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt and ddddeeeeffffaaaauuuulllltttt are meaningless to eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd and are silently discarded. Otherwise, the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd command uses eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee and eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____aaaafffftttteeeerrrr patterns just like eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt does. When eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd actions are being evaluated, background processing for the same spawn id is blocked. Background processing is unblocked when the action completes. While background processing is blocked, it is possible to do a (foreground) eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt on the same spawn id. It is not possible to execute an eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt while an eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd is unblocked. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd for a particular spawn id is deleted by declaring a new expect_background with the same spawn id. Declaring eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnndddd with no pattern removes the given spawn id from the ability to match patterns in the background. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee [_e_x_p_e_c_t _a_r_g_s] takes the same arguments as eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt, however it returns immediately. Pattern-action pairs from the most recent eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee with the same spawn id are implicitly added to any following eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt commands. If a pattern matches, it is treated as if it had been specified in the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command Page 13 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) itself, and the associated body is executed in the context of the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command. If patterns from both eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee and eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt can match, the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee pattern is used. If not pattern is specified, the spawn id is not checked for any patterns. Unless overridden by a ----iiii flag, eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee patterns match against the spawn id defined at the time that the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee command was executed (not when its pattern is matched). The -info flag causes eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____bbbbeeeeffffoooorrrreeee to return the current specifications of what patterns it will match. By default, it reports on the current spawn id. An optional spawn id specification may be given for information on that spawn id. For example expect_before -info -i $proc At most one spawn id specification may be given. The flag -indirect suppresses direct spawn ids that come only from indirect specifications. Instead of a spawn id specification, the flag "- all" will cause "-info" to report on all spawn ids. The output of the -info flag can be reused as the argument to expect_before. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____ttttttttyyyy [_e_x_p_e_c_t _a_r_g_s] is like eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt but it reads characters from /dev/tty (i.e. keystrokes from the user). By default, reading is performed in cooked mode. Thus, lines must end with a return in order for eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt to see them. This may be changed via ssssttttttttyyyy (see the ssssttttttttyyyy command below). eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____uuuusssseeeerrrr [_e_x_p_e_c_t _a_r_g_s] is like eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt but it reads characters from stdin (i.e. keystrokes from the user). By default, reading is performed in cooked mode. Thus, lines must end with a return in order for eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt to see them. This may be changed via ssssttttttttyyyy (see the ssssttttttttyyyy command below). eeeexxxxpppp____vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn [[-_e_x_i_t] _v_e_r_s_i_o_n] is useful for assuring that the script is compatible with the current version of Expect. Page 14 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) With no arguments, the current version of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is returned. This version may then be encoded in your script. If you actually know that you are not using features of recent versions, you can specify an earlier version. Versions consist of three numbers separated by dots. First is the major number. Scripts written for versions of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt with a different major number will almost certainly not work. eeeexxxxpppp____vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn returns an error if the major numbers do not match. Second is the minor number. Scripts written for a version with a greater minor number than the current version may depend upon some new feature and might not run. eeeexxxxpppp____vvvveeeerrrrssssiiiioooonnnn returns an error if the major numbers match, but the script minor number is greater than that of the running EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt. Third is a number that plays no part in the version comparison. However, it is incremented when the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt software distribution is changed in any way, such as by additional documentation or optimization. It is reset to 0 upon each new minor version. With the ----eeeexxxxiiiitttt flag, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt prints an error and exits if the version is out of date. ffffoooorrrrkkkk creates a new process. The new process is an exact copy of the current EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt process. On success, ffffoooorrrrkkkk returns 0 to the new (child) process and returns the process ID of the child process to the parent process. On failure (invariably due to lack of resources, e.g., swap space, memory), ffffoooorrrrkkkk returns -1 to the parent process, and no child process is created. Forked processes exit via the eeeexxxxiiiitttt command, just like the original process. Forked processes are allowed to write to the log files. If you do not disable debugging or logging in most of the processes, the result can be confusing. Some pty implementations may be confused by multiple readers and writers, even momentarily. Thus, it is safest to ffffoooorrrrkkkk before spawning processes. iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt [_s_t_r_i_n_g_1 _b_o_d_y_1] ... [_s_t_r_i_n_g_n [_b_o_d_y_n]] gives control of the current process to the user, Page 15 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) so that keystrokes are sent to the current process, and the stdout and stderr of the current process are returned. String-body pairs may be specified as arguments, in which case the body is executed when the corresponding string is entered. (By default, the string is not sent to the current process.) The iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr command is assumed, if the final body is missing. If the arguments to the entire iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt statement require more than one line, all the arguments may be "braced" into one so as to avoid terminating each line with a backslash. In this one case, the usual Tcl substitutions will occur despite the braces. For example, the following command runs interact with the following string-body pairs defined: When ^Z is pressed, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is suspended. (The ----rrrreeeesssseeeetttt flag restores the terminal modes.) When ^A is pressed, the user sees "you typed a control-A" and the process is sent a ^A. When $ is pressed, the user sees the date. When ^C is pressed, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt exits. If "foo" is entered, the user sees "bar". When ~~ is pressed, the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt interpreter runs interactively. set CTRLZ \032 interact { -reset $CTRLZ {exec kill -STOP [pid]} \001 {send_user "you typed a control-A\n"; send "\001" } $ {send_user "The date is [exec date]."} \003 exit foo {send_user "bar"} ~~ } In string-body pairs, strings are matched in the order they are listed as arguments. Strings that partially match are not sent to the current process in anticipation of the remainder coming. If characters are then entered such that there can no longer possibly be a match, only the part of the string will be sent to the process that cannot possibly begin another match. Thus, strings that are substrings of partial matches can match later, if the original strings that was attempting to be Page 16 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) match ultimately fails. By default, string matching is exact with no wild cards. (In contrast, the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command uses glob-style patterns by default.) The ----eeeexxxx flag may be used to protect patterns that might otherwise match iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt flags from doing so. Any pattern beginning with a "-" should be protected this way. (All strings starting with "-" are reserved for future options.) The ----rrrreeee flag forces the string to be interpreted as a regexp-style pattern. In this case, matching substrings are stored in the variable _i_n_t_e_r_a_c_t__o_u_t similarly to the way eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt stores its output in the variable eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____oooouuuutttt. The ----iiiinnnnddddiiiicccceeeessss flag is similarly supported. The pattern eeeeooooffff introduces an action that is executed upon end-of-file. A separate eeeeooooffff pattern may also follow the ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt flag in which case it is matched if an eof is detected while writing output. The default eeeeooooffff action is "return", so that iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt simply returns upon any EOF. The pattern ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt introduces a timeout (in seconds) and action that is executed after no characters have been read for a given time. The ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt pattern applies to the most recently specified process. There is no default timeout. The special variable "timeout" (used by the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command) has no affect on this timeout. For example, the following statement could be used to autologout users who have not typed anything for an hour but who still get frequent system messages: interact -input $user_spawn_id timeout 3600 return -output $spawn_id If the pattern is the keyword nnnnuuuullllllll, and nulls are allowed (via the rrrreeeemmmmoooovvvveeee____nnnnuuuullllllllssss command), the corresponding body is executed if a single ASCII 0 is matched. It is not possible to match 0 bytes via glob or regexp patterns. Prefacing a pattern with the flag ----iiiiwwwwrrrriiiitttteeee causes the variable _i_n_t_e_r_a_c_t__o_u_t(_s_p_a_w_n__i_d) to be set to the spawn_id which matched the pattern (or eof). Actions such as bbbbrrrreeeeaaaakkkk and ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee cause control Page 17 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) structures (i.e., ffffoooorrrr, pppprrrroooocccc) to behave in the usual way. However rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn causes interact to return to its caller, while iiiinnnntttteeeerrrr____rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn causes iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt to cause a return in its caller. For example, if "proc foo" called iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt which then executed the action iiiinnnntttteeeerrrr____rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn, pppprrrroooocccc ffffoooooooo would return. (This means that if iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt calls iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr interactively typing rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn will cause the interact to continue, while iiiinnnntttteeeerrrr____rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn will cause the interact to return to its caller.) During iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt, raw mode is used so that all characters may be passed to the current process. If the current process does not catch job control signals, it will stop if sent a stop signal (by default ^Z). To restart it, send a continue signal (such as by "kill -CONT <pid>"). If you really want to send a SIGSTOP to such a process (by ^Z), consider spawning csh first and then running your program. On the other hand, if you want to send a SIGSTOP to EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt itself, first press the escape character, and then press ^Z. String-body pairs can be used as a shorthand for avoiding having to enter the interpreter and execute commands interactively. The previous terminal mode is used while the body of a string- body pair is being executed. For speed, actions execute in raw mode by default. The ----rrrreeeesssseeeetttt flag resets the terminal to the mode it had before iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt was executed (invariably, cooked mode). Note that characters entered when the mode is being switched may be lost (an unfortunate feature of the terminal driver on some systems). The only reason to use ----rrrreeeesssseeeetttt is if your action depends on running in cooked mode. The ----eeeecccchhhhoooo flag sends characters that match the following pattern back to the process that generated them as each character is read. This may be useful when the user needs to see feedback from partially typed patterns. If a pattern is being echoed but eventually fails to match, the characters are sent to the spawned process. If the spawned process then echoes them, the user will see the characters twice. ----eeeecccchhhhoooo is probably only appropriate in situations where the user is unlikely to not complete the pattern. For example, the following excerpt is from rftp, the recursive-ftp script, where the user is prompted Page 18 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) to enter ~g, ~p, or ~l, to get, put, or list the current directory recursively. These are so far away from the normal ftp commands, that the user is unlikely to type ~ followed by anything else, except mistakenly, in which case, they'll probably just ignore the result anyway. interact { -echo ~g {getcurdirectory 1} -echo ~l {getcurdirectory 0} -echo ~p {putcurdirectory} } The ----nnnnoooobbbbuuuuffffffffeeeerrrr flag sends characters that match the following pattern on to the output process as characters are read. This is useful when you wish to let a program echo back the pattern. For example, the following might be used to monitor where a person is dialing (a Hayes-style modem). Each time "atd" is seen the script logs the rest of the line. proc lognumber {} { interact -nobuffer -re "(.*)" return puts $log "[exec date]: dialed $interact_out(1,string)" } interact -nobuffer "atd" lognumber During iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt, previous use of lllloooogggg____uuuusssseeeerrrr is ignored. In particular, iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt will force its output to be logged (sent to the standard output) since it is presumed the user doesn't wish to interact blindly. The ----oooo flag causes any following key-body pairs to be applied to the output of the current process. This can be useful, for example, when dealing with hosts that send unwanted characters during a telnet session. By default, iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt expects the user to be writing stdin and reading stdout of the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt process itself. The ----uuuu flag (for "user") makes iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt look for the user as the process named by its argument (which must be a spawned id). This allows two unrelated processes to be joined together without using an explicit loop. To aid in debugging, Expect diagnostics always go to Page 19 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) stderr (or stdout for certain logging and debugging information). For the same reason, the iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr command will read interactively from stdin. For example, the following fragment creates a login process. Then it dials the user (not shown), and finally connects the two together. Of course, any process may be substituted for login. A shell, for example, would allow the user to work without supplying an account and password. spawn login set login $spawn_id spawn tip modem # dial back out to user # connect user to login interact -u $login To send output to multiple processes, list each spawn id list prefaced by a ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt flag. Input for a group of output spawn ids may be determined by a spawn id list prefaced by a ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt flag. (Both ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt and ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt may take lists in the same form as the ----iiii flag in the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command, except that any_spawn_id is not meaningful in iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt.) All following flags and strings (or patterns) apply to this input until another -input flag appears. If no ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt appears, ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt implies "-input $user_spawn_id -output". (Similarly, with patterns that do not have ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt.) If one ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt is specified, it overrides $user_spawn_id. If a second ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt is specified, it overrides $spawn_id. Additional ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt flags may be specified. The two implied input processes default to having their outputs specified as $spawn_id and $user_spawn_id (in reverse). If a ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt flag appears with no ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt flag, characters from that process are discarded. The ----iiii flag introduces a replacement for the current spawn_id when no other ----iiiinnnnppppuuuutttt or ----oooouuuuttttppppuuuutttt flags are used. It is possible to change the processes that are being interacted with by using indirect spawn ids. (Indirect spawn ids are described in the section on the expect command.) Indirect spawn ids may be specified with the -i, -u, -input, or -output flags. Page 20 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) eeeexxxxpppp____iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrnnnnaaaallll [-_f _f_i_l_e] _v_a_l_u_e causes further commands to send diagnostic information internal to EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt to stderr if _v_a_l_u_e is non-zero. This output is disabled if _v_a_l_u_e is 0. The diagnostic information includes every character received, and every attempt made to match the current output against the patterns. If the optional _f_i_l_e is supplied, all normal and debugging output is written to that file (regardless of the value of _v_a_l_u_e). Any previous diagnostic output file is closed. The ----iiiinnnnffffoooo flag causes exp_internal to return a description of the most recent non-info arguments given. iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr causes the user to be interactively prompted for EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt and Tcl commands. The result of each command is printed. Actions such as bbbbrrrreeeeaaaakkkk and ccccoooonnnnttttiiiinnnnuuuueeee cause control structures (i.e., ffffoooorrrr, pppprrrroooocccc) to behave in the usual way. However rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn causes interpreter to return to its caller, while iiiinnnntttteeeerrrr____rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn causes iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr to cause a return in its caller. For example, if "proc foo" called iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr which then executed the action iiiinnnntttteeeerrrr____rrrreeeettttuuuurrrrnnnn, pppprrrroooocccc ffffoooooooo would return. Any other command causes iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr to continue prompting for new commands. By default, the prompt contains two integers. The first integer describes the depth of the evaluation stack (i.e., how many times Tcl_Eval has been called). The second integer is the Tcl history identifier. The prompt can be set by defining a procedure called "prompt1" whose return value becomes the next prompt. If a statement has open quotes, parens, braces, or brackets, a secondary prompt (by default "+> ") is issued upon newline. The secondary prompt may be set by defining a procedure called "prompt2". During iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppprrrreeeetttteeeerrrr, cooked mode is used, even if the its caller was using raw mode. lllloooogggg____ffffiiiilllleeee [_a_r_g_s] [[-_a] _f_i_l_e] If a filename is provided, lllloooogggg____ffffiiiilllleeee will record a transcript of the session (beginning at that point) in the file. lllloooogggg____ffffiiiilllleeee will stop recording Page 21 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) if no argument is given. Any previous log file is closed. Instead of a filename, a Tcl file identifier may be provided by using the ----ooooppppeeeennnn or ----lllleeeeaaaavvvveeeeooooppppeeeennnn flags. This is similar to the ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn command. (See ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn for more info.) The ----aaaa flag forces output to be logged that was suppressed by the lllloooogggg____uuuusssseeeerrrr command. By default, the lllloooogggg____ffffiiiilllleeee command _a_p_p_e_n_d_s to old files rather than truncating them, for the convenience of being able to turn logging off and on multiple times in one session. To truncate files, use the ----nnnnooooaaaappppppppeeeennnndddd ffffllllaaaagggg.... The ----iiiinnnnffffoooo flag causes log_file to return a description of the most recent non-info arguments given. lllloooogggg____uuuusssseeeerrrr _0|_1 By default, the send/expect dialogue is logged to stdout (and a logfile if open). The logging to stdout is disabled by the command "log_user 0" and reenabled by "log_user 1". Logging to the logfile is unchanged. The ----iiiinnnnffffoooo flag causes log_user to return a description of the most recent non-info arguments given. mmmmaaaattttcccchhhh____mmmmaaaaxxxx [-_d] [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] [_s_i_z_e] defines the size of the buffer (in bytes) used internally by eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt. With no _s_i_z_e argument, the current size is returned. With the ----dddd flag, the default size is set. (The initial default is 2000.) With the ----iiii flag, the size is set for the named spawn id, otherwise it is set for the current process. oooovvvveeeerrrrllllaaaayyyy [-# _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] [-# _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] [...] _p_r_o_g_r_a_m [_a_r_g_s] executes _p_r_o_g_r_a_m _a_r_g_s in place of the current EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt program, which terminates. A bare hyphen argument forces a hyphen in front of the command name as if it was a login shell. All spawn_ids are closed except for those named as arguments. These are mapped onto the named file identifiers. Spawn_ids are mapped to file identifiers for the Page 22 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) new program to inherit. For example, the following line runs chess and allows it to be controlled by the current process - say, a chess master. overlay -0 $spawn_id -1 $spawn_id -2 $spawn_id chess This is more efficient than "interact -u", however, it sacrifices the ability to do programmed interaction since the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt process is no longer in control. Note that no controlling terminal is provided. Thus, if you disconnect or remap standard input, programs that do job control (shells, login, etc) will not function properly. ppppaaaarrrriiiittttyyyy [-_d] [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] [_v_a_l_u_e] defines whether parity should be retained or stripped from the output of spawned processes. If _v_a_l_u_e is zero, parity is stripped, otherwise it is not stripped. With no _v_a_l_u_e argument, the current value is returned. With the ----dddd flag, the default parity value is set. (The initial default is 1, i.e., parity is not stripped.) With the ----iiii flag, the parity value is set for the named spawn id, otherwise it is set for the current process. eeeexxxxpppp____ppppiiiidddd [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] returns the process id corresponding to the current spawn id or the named spawn id. rrrreeeemmmmoooovvvveeee____nnnnuuuullllllllssss [-_d] [-_i _s_p_a_w_n__i_d] [_v_a_l_u_e] defines whether nulls are retained or removed from the output of spawned processes before pattern matching or storing in the variable _e_x_p_e_c_t__o_u_t or _i_n_t_e_r_a_c_t__o_u_t. If _v_a_l_u_e is 1, nulls are removed. If _v_a_l_u_e is 0, nulls are not removed. With no _v_a_l_u_e argument, the current value is returned. With the ----dddd flag, the default value is set. (The initial default is 1, i.e., nulls are removed.) With the ----iiii flag, the value is set for the named spawn id, otherwise it is set for the current process. Whether or not nulls are removed, EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt will record null bytes to the log and stdout. sssseeeennnndddd [-_f_l_a_g_s] _s_t_r_i_n_g Page 23 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) Sends _s_t_r_i_n_g to the current process. For example, the command send "hello world\r" sends the characters, h e l l o <blank> w o r l d <return> to the current process. (Tcl includes a printf-like command (called ffffoooorrrrmmmmaaaatttt) which can build arbitrarily complex strings.) Characters are sent immediately although programs with line-buffered input will not read the characters until a return character is sent. A return character is denoted "\r". The -------- flag forces the next argument to be interpreted as a string rather than a flag. Any string can be preceded by "--" whether or not it actually looks like a flag. This provides a reliable mechanism to specify variable strings without being tripped up by those that accidentally look like flags. (All strings starting with "-" are reserved for future options.) The ----iiii flag declares that the string be sent to the named spawn_id. If the spawn_id is _u_s_e_r__s_p_a_w_n__i_d, and the terminal is in raw mode, newlines in the string are translated to return- newline sequences so that they appear as it the terminal was in cooked mode. The ----rrrraaaawwww flag disables this translation. The ----nnnnuuuullllllll flag sends null characters (0 bytes). By default, one null is sent. An integer may follow the ----0000 to indicate how many nulls to send. The ----bbbbrrrreeeeaaaakkkk flag generates a break condition. This only makes sense if the spawn id refers to a tty device opened via "spawn -open". If you have spawned a process such as tip, you should use tip's convention for generating a break. The ----ssss flag forces output to be sent "slowly", thus avoid the common situation where a computer outtypes an input buffer that was designed for a human who would never outtype the same buffer. This output is controlled by the value of the variable "send_slow" which takes a two element list. The first element is an integer that describes the number of bytes to send atomically. The second element is a real number that describes Page 24 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) the number of seconds by which the atomic sends must be separated. For example, "set send_slow {10 .001}" would force "send -s" to send strings with 1 millisecond in between each 10 characters sent. The ----hhhh flag forces output to be sent (somewhat) like a human actually typing. Human-like delays appear between the characters. (The algorithm is based upon a Weibull distribution, with modifications to suit this particular application.) This output is controlled by the value of the variable "send_human" which takes a five element list. The first two elements are average interarrival time of characters in seconds. The first is used by default. The second is used at word endings, to simulate the subtle pauses that occasionally occur at such transitions. The third parameter is a measure of varibility where .1 is quite variable, 1 is reasonably variable, and 10 is quite invariable. The extremes are 0 to infinity. The last two parameters are, respectively, a minimum and maximum interarrival time. The minimum and maximum are used last and "clip" the final time. The ultimate average can be quite different from the given average if the minimum and miximum clip enough values. As an example, the following command emulates a fast and consistent typist: set send_human {.1 .3 1 .05 2} send -h "I'm hungry. Let's do lunch." while the following might be more suitable after a hangover: set send_human {.4 .4 .2 .5 100} send -h "Goodd party lash night!" Note that errors are not simulated, although you can set up error correction situations yourself by embedding mistakes and corrections in a send argument. It is a good idea to precede the first sssseeeennnndddd to a process by an eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt will wait for the process to start, while sssseeeennnndddd cannot. In particular, if the first sssseeeennnndddd completes before the process starts running, you run the risk of having your data ignored. In situations where Page 25 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) interactive programs offer no initial prompt, you can precede sssseeeennnndddd by a delay as in: # To avoid giving hackers hints on how to break in, # this system does not prompt for an external password. # Wait for 5 seconds for exec to complete spawn telnet very.secure.gov sleep 5 send password\r eeeexxxxpppp____sssseeeennnndddd is an alias for sssseeeennnndddd. If you are using Expectk or some other variant of Expect in the Tk environment, sssseeeennnndddd is defined by Tk for an entirely different purpose. eeeexxxxpppp____sssseeeennnndddd is provided for compatibility between environments. Similar aliases are provided for other Expect's other send commands. sssseeeennnndddd____eeeerrrrrrrroooorrrr _s_t_r_i_n_g is like sssseeeennnndddd, except that the string is sent to stderr rather than the current process. sssseeeennnndddd____lllloooogggg _s_t_r_i_n_g is like sssseeeennnndddd, except that the string is only sent to the log file (see lllloooogggg____ffffiiiilllleeee.) The arguments are ignored if no log file is open. sssseeeennnndddd____ttttttttyyyy _s_t_r_i_n_g is like sssseeeennnndddd, except that the string is sent to /dev/tty rather than the current process. sssseeeennnndddd____uuuusssseeeerrrr [_a_r_g_s] _s_t_r_i_n_g is like sssseeeennnndddd, except that the arguments are sent to stdout rather than the current process. sssslllleeeeeeeepppp_s_e_c_o_n_d_s causes the script to sleep for the given number of seconds. Seconds may be a decimal number. Interrupts (and Tk events if you are using Expectk) are processed while Expect sleeps. ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn [_a_r_g_s] _p_r_o_g_r_a_m [_a_r_g_s] creates a new process running _p_r_o_g_r_a_m _a_r_g_s. Its stdin, stdout and stderr are connected to Expect, so that they may be read and written by other EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt commands. The connection is broken by cccclllloooosssseeee or if the process itself closes any of the file identifiers. When a process is started by ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn, the variable _s_p_a_w_n__i_d is set to a descriptor referring to that process. The process described by _s_p_a_w_n__i_d is Page 26 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) considered the _c_u_r_r_e_n_t _p_r_o_c_e_s_s. _s_p_a_w_n__i_d may be read or written, in effect providing job control. _u_s_e_r__s_p_a_w_n__i_d is a global variable containing a descriptor which refers to the user. For example, when _s_p_a_w_n__i_d is set to this value, eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt behaves like eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____uuuusssseeeerrrr. _e_r_r_o_r__s_p_a_w_n__i_d is a global variable containing a descriptor which refers to the standard error. For example, when _s_p_a_w_n__i_d is set to this value, sssseeeennnndddd behaves like sssseeeennnndddd____eeeerrrrrrrroooorrrr. _t_t_y__s_p_a_w_n__i_d is a global variable containing a descriptor which refers to /dev/tty. If /dev/tty does not exist (such as in a cron, at, or batch script), then _t_t_y__s_p_a_w_n__i_d is not defined. This may be tested as: if [info vars tty_spawn_id] { # /dev/tty exists } else { # /dev/tty doesn't exist # probably in cron, batch, or at script } ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn returns the UNIX process id. If no process is spawned, 0 is returned. The variable _s_p_a_w_n__o_u_t(_s_l_a_v_e,_n_a_m_e) is set to the name of the pty slave device. By default, ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn echoes the command name and arguments. The ----nnnnooooeeeecccchhhhoooo flag stops ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn from doing this. The ----ccccoooonnnnssssoooolllleeee flag causes console output to be redirected to the spawned process. This is not supported on all systems. Internally, ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn uses a pty, initialized the same way as the user's tty. This is further initialized so that all settings are "sane" (according to stty(1)). If the variable _s_t_t_y__i_n_i_t is defined, it is interpreted in the style of stty arguments as further configuration. For example, "set stty_init raw" will cause further spawned processes's terminals to start in raw mode. ----nnnnoooottttttttyyyyccccooooppppyyyy skips the initialization based on the user's tty. ----nnnnoooottttttttyyyyiiiinnnniiiitttt skips the "sane" Page 27 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) initialization. Normally, ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn takes little time to execute. If you notice spawn taking a significant amount of time, it is probably encountering ptys that are wedged. A number of tests are run on ptys to avoid entanglements with errant processes. (These take 10 seconds per wedged pty.) Running Expect with the ----dddd option will show if EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt is encountering many ptys in odd states. If you cannot kill the processes to which these ptys are attached, your only recourse may be to reboot. If _p_r_o_g_r_a_m cannot be spawned successfully because exec(2) fails (e.g. when _p_r_o_g_r_a_m doesn't exist), an error message will be returned by the next iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt or eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt command as if _p_r_o_g_r_a_m had run and produced the error message as output. This behavior is a natural consequence of the implementation of ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn. Internally, spawn forks, after which the spawned process has no way to communicate with the original EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt process except by communication via the spawn_id. The ----ooooppppeeeennnn flag causes the next argument to be interpreted as a Tcl file identifier (i.e., returned by ooooppppeeeennnn.) The spawn id can then be used as if it were a spawned process. (The file identifier should no longer be used.) This lets you treat raw devices, files, and pipelines as spawned processes without using a pty. 0 is returned to indicate there is no associated process. When the connection to the spawned process is closed, so is the Tcl file identifier. The ----lllleeeeaaaavvvveeeeooooppppeeeennnn flag is similar to ----ooooppppeeeennnn except that ----lllleeeeaaaavvvveeeeooooppppeeeennnn causes the file identifier to be left open even after the spawn id is closed. The ----ppppttttyyyy flag causes a pty to be opened but no process spawned. 0 is returned to indicate there is no associated process. Spawn_id is set as usual. The variable _s_p_a_w_n__o_u_t(_s_l_a_v_e,_f_d) is set to a file identifier corresponding to the pty slave. It can be closed using "close -slave". The ----iiiiggggnnnnoooorrrreeee flag names a signal to be ignored in the spawned process. Otherwise, signals get the default behavior. Signals are named as in the ttttrrrraaaapppp command, except that each signal requires a separate flag. Page 28 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) ssssttttrrrraaaacccceeee _l_e_v_e_l causes following statements to be printed before being executed. (Tcl's trace command traces variables.) _l_e_v_e_l indicates how far down in the call stack to trace. For example, the following command runs EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt while tracing the first 4 levels of calls, but none below that. expect -c "strace 4" script.exp The ----iiiinnnnffffoooo flag causes strace to return a description of the most recent non-info arguments given. ssssttttttttyyyy _a_r_g_s changes terminal modes similarly to the external stty command. By default, the controlling terminal is accessed. Other terminals can be accessed by appending "< /dev/tty..." to the command. (Note that the arguments should not be grouped into a single argument.) Requests for status return it as the result of the command. If no status is requested and the controlling terminal is accessed, the previous status of the raw and echo attributes are returned in a form which can later be used by the command. For example, the arguments rrrraaaawwww or ----ccccooooooookkkkeeeedddd put the terminal into raw mode. The arguments ----rrrraaaawwww or ccccooooooookkkkeeeedddd put the terminal into cooked mode. The arguments eeeecccchhhhoooo and ----eeeecccchhhhoooo put the terminal into echo and noecho mode respectively. The following example illustrates how to temporarily disable echoing. This could be used in otherwise-automatic scripts to avoid embedding passwords in them. (See more discussion on this under EXPECT HINTS below.) stty -echo send_user "Password: " expect_user -re "(.*)\n" set password $expect_out(1,string) stty echo ssssyyyysssstttteeeemmmm _a_r_g_s gives _a_r_g_s to sh(1) as input, just as if it had been typed as a command from a terminal. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt Page 29 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) waits until the shell terminates. The return status from sh is handled the same way that eeeexxxxeeeecccc handles its return status. In contrast to eeeexxxxeeeecccc which redirects stdin and stdout to the script, ssssyyyysssstttteeeemmmm performs no redirection (other than that indicated by the string itself). Thus, it is possible to use programs which must talk directly to /dev/tty. For the same reason, the results of ssssyyyysssstttteeeemmmm are not recorded in the log. ttttiiiimmmmeeeessssttttaaaammmmpppp [_a_r_g_s] returns a timestamp. With no arguments, the number of seconds since the epoch is returned. The ----ffffoooorrrrmmmmaaaatttt flag introduces a string which is returned but with substitutions made according to the POSIX rules for strftime. For example %a is replaced by an abbreviated weekday name (i.e., Sat). Others are: %a abbreviated weekday name %A full weekday name %b abbreviated month name %B full month name %c date-time as in: Wed Oct 6 11:45:56 1993 %d day of the month (01-31) %H hour (00-23) %I hour (01-12) %j day (001-366) %m month (01-12) %M minute (00-59) %p am or pm %S second (00-61) %u day (1-7, Monday is first day of week) %U week (00-53, first Sunday is first day of week one) %V week (01-53, ISO 8601 style) %w day (0-6) %W week (00-53, first Monday is first day of week one) %x date-time as in: Wed Oct 6 1993 %X time as in: 23:59:59 %y year (00-99) %Y year as in: 1993 %Z timezone (or nothing if not determinable) %% a bare percent sign Other % specifications are undefined. Other characters will be passed through untouched. Only the C locale is supported. The ----sssseeeeccccoooonnnnddddssss flag introduces a number of seconds since the epoch to be used as a source from which Page 30 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) to format. Otherwise, the current time is used. The ----ggggmmmmtttt flag forces timestamp output to use the GMT timezone. With no flag, the local timezone is used. ttttrrrraaaapppp [[_c_o_m_m_a_n_d] _s_i_g_n_a_l_s] causes the given _c_o_m_m_a_n_d to be executed upon future receipt of any of the given signals. The command is executed in the global scope. If _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is absent, the signal action is returned. If _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is the string SIG_IGN, the signals are ignored. If _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is the string SIG_DFL, the signals are result to the system default. _s_i_g_n_a_l_s is either a single signal or a list of signals. Signals may be specified numerically or symbolically as per signal(3). The "SIG" prefix may be omitted. With no arguments (or the argument -number), ttttrrrraaaapppp returns the signal number of the trap command currently being executed. The ----ccccooooddddeeee flag uses the return code of the command in place of whatever code Tcl was about to return when the command originally started running. The ----iiiinnnntttteeeerrrrpppp flag causes the command to be evaluated using the interpreter active at the time the command started running rather than when the trap was declared. The ----nnnnaaaammmmeeee flag causes the ttttrrrraaaapppp command to return the signal name of the trap command currently being executed. The ----mmmmaaaaxxxx flag causes the ttttrrrraaaapppp command to return the largest signal number that can be set. For example, the command "trap {send_user "Ouch!"} SIGINT" will print "Ouch!" each time the user presses ^C. By default, SIGINT (which can usually be generated by pressing ^C) and SIGTERM cause Expect to exit. This is due to the following trap, created by default when Expect starts. trap exit {SIGINT SIGTERM} If you use the -D flag to start the debugger, Page 31 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) SIGINT is redefined to start the interactive debugger. This is due to the following trap: trap {exp_debug 1} SIGINT The debugger trap can be changed by setting the environment variable EXPECT_DEBUG_INIT to a new trap command. You can, of course, override both of these just by adding trap commands to your script. In particular, if you have your own "trap exit SIGINT", this will override the debugger trap. This is useful if you want to prevent users from getting to the debugger at all. If you want to define your own trap on SIGINT but still trap to the debugger when it is running, use: if ![exp_debug] {trap mystuff SIGINT} Alternatively, you can trap to the debugger using some other signal. ttttrrrraaaapppp will not let you override the action for SIGALRM as this is used internally to EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt. The disconnect command sets SIGALRM to SIG_IGN (ignore). You can reenable this as long as you disable it during subsequent spawn commands. See signal(3) for more info. wwwwaaaaiiiitttt [_a_r_g_s] delays until a spawned process (or the current process if none is named) terminates. wwwwaaaaiiiitttt normally returns a list of four integers. The first integer is the pid of the process that was waited upon. The second integer is the corresponding spawn id. The third integer is -1 if an operating system error occurred, or 0 otherwise. If the third integer was 0, the fourth integer is the status returned by the spawned process. If the third integer was -1, the fourth integer is the value of errno set by the operating system. The global variable errorCode is also set. Additional elements may appear at the end of the return value from wwwwaaaaiiiitttt. An optional fifth element identifies a class of information. Currently, the Page 32 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) only possible value for this element is CHILDKILLED in which case the next two values are the C-style signal name and a short textual description. The ----iiii flag declares the process to wait corresponding to the named spawn_id (NOT the process id). It is possible to wait for any spawned process by using the spawn id -1. The ----nnnnoooowwwwaaaaiiiitttt flag causes the wait to return immediately with the indication of a successful wait. When the process exits (later), it will automatically disappear without the need for an explicit wait. LLLLIIIIBBBBRRRRAAAARRRRIIIIEEEESSSS Expect automatically knows about two built-in libraries for Expect scripts. These are defined by the directories named in the variables exp_library and exp_exec_library. Both are meant to contain utility files that can be used by other scripts. exp_library contains architecture-independent files. exp_exec_library contains architecture-dependent files. Depending on your system, both directories may be totally empty. The existence of the file $exp_exec_library/cat- buffers describes whether your /bin/cat buffers by default. PPPPRRRREEEETTTTTTTTYYYY----PPPPRRRRIIIINNNNTTTTIIIINNNNGGGG A vgrind definition is available for pretty-printing EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt scripts. Assuming the vgrind definition supplied with the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt distribution is correctly installed, you can use it as: vgrind -lexpect file EEEEXXXXAAAAMMMMPPPPLLLLEEEESSSS It many not be apparent how to put everything together that the man page describes. I encourage you to read and try out the examples in the example directory of the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt distribution. Some of them are real programs. Others are simply illustrative of certain techniques, and of course, a couple are just quick hacks. The INSTALL file has a quick overview of these programs. The EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt papers (see SEE ALSO) are also useful. While some papers use syntax corresponding to earlier versions of Expect, the accompanying rationales are still valid and go into a lot more detail than this man page. Page 33 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) CCCCAAAAVVVVEEEEAAAATTTTSSSS Extensions may collide with Expect's command names. For example, sssseeeennnndddd is defined by Tk for an entirely different purpose. For this reason, most of the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt commands are also available as "exp_XXXX". Commands and variables beginning with "exp", "inter", "spawn", and "timeout" do not have aliases. Use the extended command names if you need this compatibility between environments. EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt takes a rather liberal view of scoping. In particular, variables read by commands specific to the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt program will be sought first from the local scope, and if not found, in the global scope. For example, this obviates the need to place "global timeout" in every procedure you write that uses eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt. On the other hand, variables written are always in the local scope (unless a "global" command has been issued). The most common problem this causes is when spawn is executed in a procedure. Outside the procedure, _s_p_a_w_n__i_d no longer exists, so the spawned process is no longer accessible simply because of scoping. Add a "global spawn_id" to such a procedure. If you cannot enable the multispawning capability (i.e., your system supports neither select (BSD *.*), poll (SVR>2), nor something equivalent), EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt will only be able to control a single process at a time. In this case, do not attempt to set _s_p_a_w_n__i_d, nor should you execute processes via exec while a spawned process is running. Furthermore, you will not be able to eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt from multiple processes (including the user as one) at the same time. Terminal parameters can have a big effect on scripts. For example, if a script is written to look for echoing, it will misbehave if echoing is turned off. For this reason, Expect forces sane terminal parameters by default. Unfortunately, this can make things unpleasant for other programs. As an example, the emacs shell wants to change the "usual" mappings: newlines get mapped to newlines instead of carriage-return newlines, and echoing is disabled. This allows one to use emacs to edit the input line. Unfortunately, Expect cannot possibly guess this. You can request that Expect not override its default setting of terminal parameters, but you must then be very careful when writing scripts for such environments. In the case of emacs, avoid depending upon things like echoing and end-of- line mappings. The commands that accepted arguments braced into a single list (the eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt variants and iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt) use a heuristic to decide if the list is actually one argument or many. The heuristic can fail only in the case when the list actually Page 34 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) does represent a single argument which has multiple embedded \n's with non-whitespace characters between them. This seems sufficiently improbable, however the argument "-brace" can be used to force a single argument to be handled as a single argument. This could conceivably be used with machine-generated Expect code. BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS It was really tempting to name the program "sex" (for either "Smart EXec" or "Send-EXpect"), but good sense (or perhaps just Puritanism) prevailed. On some systems, when a shell is spawned, it complains about not being able to access the tty but runs anyway. This means your system has a mechanism for gaining the controlling tty that EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt doesn't know about. Please find out what it is, and send this information back to me. Ultrix 4.1 (at least the latest versions around here) considers timeouts of above 1000000 to be equivalent to 0. Telnet (verified only under SunOS 4.1.2) hangs if TERM is not set. This is a problem under cron and at, which do not define TERM. Thus, you must set it explicitly - to what type is usually irrelevant. It just has to be set to something! The following probably suffices for most cases. set env(TERM) vt100 Some implementations of ptys are designed so that the kernel throws away any unread output after 10 to 15 seconds (actual number is implementation-dependent) after the process has closed the file descriptor. Thus EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt programs such as spawn date sleep 20 expect will fail. To avoid this, invoke non-interactive programs with eeeexxxxeeeecccc rather than ssssppppaaaawwwwnnnn. While such situations are conceivable, in practice I have never encountered a situation in which the final output of a truly interactive program would be lost due to this behavior. On the other hand, Cray UNICOS ptys throw away any unread output immediately after the process has closed the file descriptor. I have reported this to Cray and they are working on a fix. Sometimes a delay is required between a prompt and a response, such as when a tty interface is changing UART settings or matching baud rates by looking for start/stop Page 35 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) bits. Usually, all this is require is to sleep for a second or two. A more robust technique is to retry until the hardware is ready to receive input. The following example uses both strategies: send "speed 9600\r"; sleep 1 expect { timeout {send "\r"; exp_continue} $prompt } EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT HHHHIIIINNNNTTTTSSSS There are a couple of things about EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt that may be non- intuitive. This section attempts to address some of these things with a couple of suggestions. A common expect problem is how to recognize shell prompts. Since these are customized differently by differently people and different shells, portably automating rlogin can be difficult without knowing the prompt. A reasonable convention is to have users store a regular expression describing their prompt (in particular, the end of it) in the environment variable EXPECT_PROMPT. Code like the following can be used. If EXPECT_PROMPT doesn't exist, the code still has a good chance of functioning correctly. set prompt "(%|#|\\$) $" ;# default prompt catch {set prompt $env(EXPECT_PROMPT)} expect -re $prompt I encourage you to write eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt patterns that include the end of whatever you expect to see. This avoids the possibility of answering a question before seeing the entire thing. In addition, while you may well be able to answer questions before seeing them entirely, if you answer early, your answer may appear echoed back in the middle of the question. In other words, the resulting dialogue will be correct but look scrambled. Most prompts include a space character at the end. For example, the prompt from ftp is 'f', 't', 'p', '>' and <blank>. To match this prompt, you must account for each of these characters. It is a common mistake not to include the blank. Put the blank in explicitly. If you use a pattern of the form X*, the * will match all the output received from the end of X to the last thing received. This sounds intuitive but can be somewhat Page 36 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) confusing because the phrase "last thing received" can vary depending upon the speed of the computer and the processing of I/O both by the kernel and the device driver. In particular, humans tend to see program output arriving in huge chunks (atomically) when in reality most programs produce output one line at a time. Assuming this is the case, the * in the pattern of the previous paragraph may only match the end of the current line even though there seems to be more, because at the time of the match that was all the output that had been received. eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt has no way of knowing that further output is coming unless your pattern specifically accounts for it. Even depending on line-oriented buffering is unwise. Not only do programs rarely make promises about the type of buffering they do, but system indigestion can break output lines up so that lines break at seemingly random places. Thus, if you can express the last few characters of a prompt when writing patterns, it is wise to do so. If you are waiting for a pattern in the last output of a program and the program emits something else instead, you will not be able to detect that with the ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt keyword. The reason is that eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt will not timeout - instead it will get an eeeeooooffff indication. Use that instead. Even better, use both. That way if that line is ever moved around, you won't have to edit the line itself. Newlines are usually converted to carriage return, linefeed sequences when output by the terminal driver. Thus, if you want a pattern that explicitly matches the two lines, from, say, printf("foo\nbar"), you should use the pattern "foo\r\nbar". A similar translation occurs when reading from the user, via eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt____uuuusssseeeerrrr. In this case, when you press return, it will be translated to a newline. If EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt then passes that to a program which sets its terminal to raw mode (like telnet), there is going to be a problem, as the program expects a true return. (Some programs are actually forgiving in that they will automatically translate newlines to returns, but most don't.) Unfortunately, there is no way to find out that a program put its terminal into raw mode. Rather than manually replacing newlines with returns, the solution is to use the command "stty raw", which will stop the translation. Note, however, that this means that you will no longer get the cooked line-editing features. iiiinnnntttteeeerrrraaaacccctttt implicitly sets your terminal to raw mode so this Page 37 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) problem will not arise then. It is often useful to store passwords (or other private information) in EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt scripts. This is not recommended since anything that is stored on a computer is susceptible to being accessed by anyone. Thus, interactively prompting for passwords from a script is a smarter idea than embedding them literally. Nonetheless, sometimes such embedding is the only possibility. Unfortunately, the UNIX file system has no direct way of creating scripts which are executable but unreadable. Systems which support setgid shell scripts may indirectly simulate this as follows: Create the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt script (that contains the secret data) as usual. Make its permissions be 750 (-rwxr-x---) and owned by a trusted group, i.e., a group which is allowed to read it. If necessary, create a new group for this purpose. Next, create a /bin/sh script with permissions 2751 (-rwxr-s--x) owned by the same group as before. The result is a script which may be executed (and read) by anyone. When invoked, it runs the EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt script. SSSSEEEEEEEE AAAALLLLSSSSOOOO TTTTccccllll(3), lllliiiibbbbeeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt(3) "_E_x_p_l_o_r_i_n_g _E_x_p_e_c_t: _A _T_c_l-_B_a_s_e_d _T_o_o_l_k_i_t _f_o_r _A_u_t_o_m_a_t_i_n_g _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_v_e _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_s" by Don Libes, pp. 602, ISBN 1-56592- 090-2, O'Reilly and Associates, 1995. "_e_x_p_e_c_t: _C_u_r_i_n_g _T_h_o_s_e _U_n_c_o_n_t_r_o_l_l_a_b_l_e _F_i_t_s _o_f _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_v_i_t_y" by Don Libes, Proceedings of the Summer 1990 USENIX Conference, Anaheim, California, June 11-15, 1990. "_U_s_i_n_g eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt to Automate System Administration Tasks" by Don Libes, Proceedings of the 1990 USENIX Large Installation Systems Administration Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado, October 17-19, 1990. "_T_c_l: _A_n _E_m_b_e_d_d_a_b_l_e _C_o_m_m_a_n_d _L_a_n_g_u_a_g_e" by John Ousterhout, Proceedings of the Winter 1990 USENIX Conference, Washington, D.C., January 22-26, 1990. "_e_x_p_e_c_t: _S_c_r_i_p_t_s _f_o_r _C_o_n_t_r_o_l_l_i_n_g _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_v_e _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_s" by Don Libes, Computing Systems, Vol. 4, No. 2, University of California Press Journals, November 1991. "_R_e_g_r_e_s_s_i_o_n _T_e_s_t_i_n_g _a_n_d _C_o_n_f_o_r_m_a_n_c_e _T_e_s_t_i_n_g _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_v_e _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_s", by Don Libes, Proceedings of the Summer 1992 USENIX Conference, pp. 135-144, San Antonio, TX, June 12-15, 1992. "_K_i_b_i_t_z - _C_o_n_n_e_c_t_i_n_g _M_u_l_t_i_p_l_e _I_n_t_e_r_a_c_t_i_v_e _P_r_o_g_r_a_m_s _T_o_g_e_t_h_e_r", by Don Libes, Software - Practice & Experience, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, England, Vol. 23, No. 5, May, 1993. "_A _D_e_b_u_g_g_e_r _f_o_r _T_c_l _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n_s", by Don Libes, Proceedings Page 38 (printed 7/23/95) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) UUUUNNNNIIIIXXXX SSSSyyyysssstttteeeemmmm VVVV ((((22229999 DDDDeeeecccceeeemmmmbbbbeeeerrrr 1111999999994444)))) EEEEXXXXPPPPEEEECCCCTTTT((((1111)))) of the 1993 Tcl/Tk Workshop, Berkeley, CA, June 10-11, 1993. AAAAUUUUTTTTHHHHOOOORRRR Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology AAAACCCCKKKKNNNNOOOOWWWWLLLLEEEEDDDDGGGGEEEEMMMMEEEENNNNTTTTSSSS Thanks to John Ousterhout for Tcl, and Scott Paisley for inspiration. Thanks to Rob Savoye for Expect's autoconfiguration code. The HISTORY file documents much of the evolution of eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttt. It makes interesting reading and might give you further insight to this software. Thanks to the people mentioned in it who sent me bug fixes and gave other assistance. Design and implementation of EEEExxxxppppeeeecccctttt was paid for in part by the U.S. government and is therefore in the public domain. However the author and NIST would like credit if this program and documentation or portions of them are used. Page 39 (printed 7/23/95)