I need help with following ksh script - it is only partially working - any comments appreciated! Code below: #!/bin/ksh # # Name: Cheryl.ksh # # Menu driven korn shell that checks for the existence of a backup directory # - creates it if it doesn't exist - and copies files with extentions # from home directory to backup directory. # # Option 2 displays date/time # # Option 3 displays current month calendar # # Option 4 display a long listing of current directory # # Date March 18, 2009 # # Written by: Cheryl Simpson # ####################################################################### print "" print "" print " Select a Menu Option" cat << ENDINPUT #This reads in input 1. Make a backup directory of your home directory 2. Print Current Date and Time 3. Print Current Month Calendar 4. Do a long listing of current directory ENDINPUT read option # this kind of code will let you display a menu and get input. # and then use a case statmet to do each menu item selected. case $option in 1) cd ~ #changes dir to current user's home dir backup='ls | grep backup' #assigns backup variable if [ "$backup" != "" ] then echo "Backup directory already exists - would you like to delete?" echo "Please type yes or no" read answer case $answer in yes) rm -R backup ;; no) echo "Backup directory not removed" exit 0 ;; esac else [ "$backup" = "" ] mkdir backup echo "Making backup directory..." echo "" echo "" DIR_LIST=`ls *.*` COPY_LIST="$DIR_LIST" for i in $COPY_LIST do for j in $i do echo "Copying $j to backup..." cp -f ~/$j ~/backup/$j done done fi ;; 2) date ;; 3) cal ;; 4) ls -la ;; *) print "Invalid option, Please try again. Use 1-4" ;; esac exit 0

>> ls | grep backup' no need to use grep if you are listing files. Use shell expansion like this ls *backup* >> DIR_LIST=`ls *.*` >>COPY_LIST="$DIR_LIST" >> for i in $COPY_LIST the above 3 lines just says for i in *.* also, no need to use `ls *.*` with a for loop.