#!/usr/bin/expect not working

Question

This is probably an easy question, however have a simple expect script that I've add the executable bit to that seems to be ignoring the #!/usr/bin/expect interpreter line. Further more, it also seems like variables are not being set since when I echo them they are blank...

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set device "1.1.1.1"
set user   "testuser"

spawn ssh $user@$device
echo $device
echo $user

ls -lh
-rwxr-xr-x  root  root    testexpect.exp

Thanks for your help community!!

P.S. I'm running Debian Wheezy, installed expect via apt-get install expect...thanks

How are you running the script? Does it work as expected if you explicitly run it using expect (`expect -f textexpect.exp`)? Is the #! line the very first line of the file (that includes blank lines - the first two characters of file should be #!). — Paul Haldane, Jun 16 '15 at 21:16
Also (not related to your immediate issue) `echo` isn't an `expect` command. You probably want `send_user`. — Paul Haldane, Jun 16 '15 at 21:17
@Paul - actually, `echo` is valid in `expect`. It simply echoes the value passed to it to STDOUT. — John, Jun 17 '15 at 11:13
@John - that's a `tcl` feature rather than `expect` and only applies to interactive shells not within scripts (at least by default). See http://wiki.tcl.tk/2541 — Paul Haldane, Jun 17 '15 at 15:33

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 19 '15 at 07:44

Expect is based on Tcl language, so you shouldn't use bash 'echo' - you should use 'puts' to print something on the screen:

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set device "1.1.1.1"
set user   "testuser"
spawn ssh $user@$device
puts $device
puts $user

And you will got result like this:

$ ./test.exp
spawn ssh testuser@1.1.1.1
1.1.1.1
testuser

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 19 '15 at 06:14

The error messages suggests you are running the command with an explicit interpreter, eg:

bash ./testexpect.exp

This will ignore the "#!" line. Whatever is launching the script needs to just name the file (or explicitly say expect ./testexpect.exp). If your #! line was bad you would have got /usr/bin/expect: bad interpreter: ...

#!/usr/bin/expect not working

2 Answers2