RUNSCRIPT(1)                General Commands Manual               RUNSCRIPT(1)

NAME
       runscript - script interpreter for minicom

SYNOPSIS
       runscript scriptname [logfile [homedir]]

DESCRIPTION
       runscript is a simple script interpreter that can be called from within
       the minicom communications program to automate tasks like logging in to
       a Unix system or your favorite BBS.

INVOCATION
       The program expects a script name and optionally a filename and the
       user's home directory as arguments, and it expects that it's input and
       output are connected to the "remote end", the system you are connecting
       to. All messages from runscript meant for the local screen are directed
       to the stderr output. All this is automatically taken care of if you
       run it from minicom.  The logfile and home directory parameters are
       only used to tell the log command the name of the logfile and where to
       write it. If the homedir is omitted, runscript uses the directory found
       in the $HOME environment variable. If also the logfile name is omitted,
       the log commands are ignored.

KEYWORDS
       Runscript recognizes the following commands:

            expect   send     goto     gosub    return   !<   !
            exit     print    set      inc      dec      if   timeout
            verbose  sleep    break    call     log


OVERVIEW OF KEYWORDS
       send <string>
            <string> is sent to the modem. It is followed by a '\r'.  <string>
            can be:
              - regular text, e.g. 'send hello'
              - text enclosed in quotes, e.g. 'send "hello world"'

            Within <string> the following sequences are recognized:
                \n - newline
                \r - carriage return
                \a - bell
                \b - backspace
                \c - don't send the default '\r'.
                \f - formfeed
                \^ - the ^ character
                \o - send character o (o is an octal number)

            Control characters can be used in the string with the ^ prefix (^A
            to ^Z, ^[, ^ ^], ^^ and ^_). If you need to send the ^ character,
            you must prefix it with the \ escape character.
            Octal characters are either four-digit or delimited by a non-digit
            character, e.g. the null character may be sent with \0000 and
            'send 1234' is equivalent to 'send \0061234'.
            Also $(environment_variable) can be used, for example $(TERM).
            Minicom passes three special environment variables: $(LOGIN),
            which is the username, $(PASS), which is the password, as defined
            in the proper entry of the dialing directory, and $(TERMLIN) which
            is the number of actual terminal lines on your screen (that is,
            the statusline excluded).

       print <string>
            Prints <string> to the local screen. Default followed by '\r\n'.
            See the description of 'send' above.

       label:
            Declares a label (with the name 'label') to use with goto or
            gosub.

       goto <label>
            Jump to another place in the program.

       gosub <label>
            Jumps to another place in the program. When the statement 'return'
            is encountered, control returns to the statement after the gosub.
            Gosub's can be nested.

       return
            Return from a gosub.

       ! <command>
            Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. On return,
            the variable '$?' is set to the exit status of this command, so
            you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

       !< <command>
            Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. The stdout
            output of the command execution will be sent to the modem. On
            return, the variable '$?' is set to the exit status of this
            command, so you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

       exit [value]
            Exit from "runscript" with an optional exit status. (default 1)

       set <variable> <value>
            Sets the value of <variable> (which is a single letter a-z) to the
            value <value>. If <variable> does not exist, it will be created.
            <value> can be a integer value or another variable.

       inc <variable>
            Increments the value of <variable> by one.

       dec <variable>
            Decrements the value of <variable> by one.

       if <value> <operator> <value> <statement>
            Conditional execution of <statement>. <operator> can be <, >, !=
            or =.  Eg, 'if a > 3 goto exitlabel'.

       timeout <value>
            Sets the global timeout. By default, 'runscript' will exit after
            120 seconds. This can be changed with this command. Warning: this
            command acts differently within an 'expect' statement, but more
            about that later.

       verbose <on|off>
            By default, this is 'on'. That means that anything that is being
            read from the modem by 'runscript', gets echoed to the screen.
            This is so that you can see what 'runscript' is doing.

       sleep <value>
            Suspend execution for <value> seconds.

       expect
              expect {
                pattern  [statement]
                pattern  [statement]
                [timeout <value> [statement] ]
                ....
              }
            The most important command of all. Expect keeps reading from the
            input until it reads a pattern that matches one of the specified
            ones.  If expect encounters an optional statement after that
            pattern, it will execute it. Otherwise the default is to just
            break out of the expect. 'pattern' is a string, just as in 'send'
            (see above).  Normally, expect will timeout in 60 seconds and just
            exit, but this can be changed with the timeout command.

       break
            Break out of an 'expect' statement. This is normally only useful
            as argument to 'timeout' within an expect, because the default
            action of timeout is to exit immediately.

       call <scriptname>
            Transfers control to another script file. When that script file
            finishes without errors, the original script will continue.

       log <text>
            Write text to the logfile.

NOTES
       If you want to make your script to exit minicom (for example when you
       use minicom to dial up your ISP, and then start a PPP or SLIP session
       from a script), try the command "! killall -9 minicom" as the last
       script command. The -9 option should prevent minicom from hanging up
       the line and resetting the modem before exiting.
       Well, I don't think this is enough information to make you an
       experienced 'programmer' in 'runscript', but together with the examples
       it shouldn't be too hard to write some useful script files. Things will
       be easier if you have experience with BASIC.  The minicom source code
       comes together with two example scripts, scriptdemo and unixlogin.
       Especially the last one is a good base to build on for your own
       scripts.

SEE ALSO
       minicom(1)

BUGS
       Runscript should be built in to minicom.

AUTHOR
       Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.ow.org> Jukka Lahtinen,
       <walker@netsonic.fi>

User's Manual            $Date: 2007-10-07 18:13:51 $             RUNSCRIPT(1)