I am writing a KSH script with an SQL query in the middle, and then finished with some clean up processes. The problem I am running into is that sometimes the SQL server becomes a bit lagged so the whole query doesnt finish. As an example, I have the script below. #!/usr/bin/ksh print a sqlplus TNAME/example@ABCD @test.sql print b What I would like to happen is have the script print a, then complete the whole sqlplus query, THEN print b. The problem I have now is that it will print a, start the query, then immediately print b. I have tried the wait command with a 5 minute (300 seconds) wait, but that doesnt always work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

One way is to use a named pipe. Rather than write an example of a named pipe script, I googled the Internet and came across the following example: http://www.ixora.com.au/q+a/0111/08...