i need to do "read while" from a file and redirect teh output in different file. may be these thing make it clear: cat filo |while read file cat $file | grep arch |cut -c37-68 >> test as filo contains name of some log files and i want: cat filo arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:01 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:02 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:05 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:07 cat arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:01 > test1 cat arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:02 >test2 and so on but i cant....? any help?? deepesh1081@gmail.com

(( N = 1 )) cat filo | while read LINE do cat ${LINE} > testfile{N} (( N += 1 )) done

i got what i was looking for . thanks for the workaround !/bin/bash #ls -l |grep 1013 |cut -c55-88 > filo #ls -l |grep `date "+%m%d%y"` |cut -c55-88 > filo ls -l |grep `date "+%m%d%y"` |cut -f 15 -d ' '> filo rm test export c=`wc -l filo |cut -c1` cat filo |while read file do cat $file | grep arch |cut -c37-68 >> test done #ls -l |grep 1013 |cut -c55-88 > tilo #ls -l |grep `date "+%m%d%y"` |cut -c55-88 > tilo ls -l |grep `date "+%m%d%y"` |cut -f 15 -d ' ' > tilo rm back #export c=`wc -l tilo |cut -c1` cat tilo |while read tile do export u=`cat $tile | grep arch|wc -l| cut -c8-9` for ((i=0;i<$u;i++)) do cat $tile|grep backup >>back done done paste test back > back.out sed 's, ,|,g' back.out > final.out deepesh1081@gmail.com

here is the demo this is the demo sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> ll arch_backup_prdcm* ( the dir where ur files are located) -rw-r--r-- 1 dchaudha dchaudha 318 Nov 10 23:12 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:01 -rw-r--r-- 1 dchaudha dchaudha 222 Nov 6 15:44 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:02 -rw-r--r-- 1 dchaudha dchaudha 222 Nov 6 15:44 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:05 -rw-r--r-- 1 dchaudha dchaudha 222 Nov 6 15:44 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:07 sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> cat arch* (content of all files) archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2790_1_631629058.log recid=2800 stamp=635850606 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2795_1_631629054.log recid=2800 stamp=635850608 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2796_1_631629054.log recid=2801 stamp=635850617 Finished backup at 14-OCT-07 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2767_1_631629055.log recid=2800 stamp=635850608 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2768_1_631629055.log recid=2801 stamp=635850617 Finished backup at 10-OCT-07 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2797_1_631629055.log recid=2800 stamp=635850608 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2798_1_631629055.log recid=2801 stamp=635850617 Finished backup at 13-OCT-07 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2695_1_631629054.log recid=2800 stamp=635850608 archive log filename=/prdcma/arch01/arch_prdcma_2696_1_631629054.log recid=2801 stamp=635850617 Finished backup at 19-OCT-07 sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> ./final sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> cat final.out arch_prdcma_2790_1_631629058.log|Finished backup at 14-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2795_1_631629054.log|Finished backup at 14-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2796_1_631629054.log|Finished backup at 14-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2767_1_631629055.log|Finished backup at 10-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2768_1_631629055.log|Finished backup at 10-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2797_1_631629055.log|Finished backup at 13-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2798_1_631629055.log|Finished backup at 13-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2695_1_631629054.log|Finished backup at 19-OCT-07 arch_prdcma_2696_1_631629054.log|Finished backup at 19-OCT-07 sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> and the final script sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> cat final #!/bin/bash ls -l |grep 1013 |cut -c55-88 > filo #### check the output of the command#### rm test export c=`wc -l filo |cut -c1` cat filo |while read file do cat $file | grep arch |cut -c37-68 >> test done ls -l |grep 1013 |cut -c55-88 > tilo rm back #export c=`wc -l tilo |cut -c1` cat tilo |while read tile do export u=`cat $tile | grep arch|wc -l| cut -c8-9` for ((i=0;i<$u;i++)) do cat $tile|grep backup >>back done done paste test back > back.out sed 's, ,|,g' back.out > final.out ####################end################## sysadmins-computer-2:~/oracle> ls -l |grep 1013 |cut -c55-88 ( as spacing matter so just varify) arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:01 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:02 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:05 arch_backup_prdcma.101307_00:11:07 deepesh1081@gmail.com