Hands-free onunload

We currently backup our databases by using onunload, to unload to a file, then I just tar the file onto tape. I want to run this by a shell script but unload requires user interaction. Is there any way to write the script to bypass this interaction? We are using Informix 7.1 BTW Thanks, Daivd Fagan

Why not to use dbexport ? mkdir /usr/basa in script ------------- rm /usr/basa dbexprot -c basa -o /usr/basa tar ...... -------- David Fagan <DaveF@CathedralRiver.com> wrote in message news:cIAF3.100$Y72.4136@news.rdc2.mi.home.com... >We currently backup our databases by using onunload, to unload to a file, >then I just tar the file onto tape. I want to run this by a shell script >but unload requires user interaction. Is there any way to write the script >to bypass this interaction? We are using Informix 7.1 BTW > >Thanks, > >Daivd Fagan > >

David, If you want to cheat you can embed "CTRL-J" or "CTRL-M" in your script, which works in many cases, but often this is error-prone, and not as reliable in some situations as others. Check out "expect", a software package that allows you to set up send-expect-send-expect keyboard interaction for you. It is available for most platforms, and is a great way to automate scripts where a keyboard prompt is required. I've used it to automate installation scripts and other situations where I don't want to have to be around for a keyboard response. I know IBM has it preinstalled on many of their AIX systems for a variety of uses. See also http://expect.nist.gov/ Tim David Fagan wrote: > > We currently backup our databases by using onunload, to unload to a file, > then I just tar the file onto tape. I want to run this by a shell script > but unload requires user interaction. Is there any way to write the script > to bypass this interaction? We are using Informix 7.1 BTW > > Thanks, > > Daivd Fagan -- . .- .-- .--- .---- Tim Schaefer .----- tschaefe@bellsouth.net .---- http://www.inxutil.com .--- http://www.datad.com .-- .- .