Bash error: Nesting 'if .. elif' inside 'for .. in' construct

Question

When I run the code below:

IFS=$'\n'
for line in `more extensions.txt` do 
    if  grep '[219..223]' ${line:96:4} ; then
        ...
    else
        ...
    fi
done

I keep getting the error:

bash: syntax error near unexpected token 'if'

Help, anyone?

Answer 1

You're missing either a semicolon or a newline before do.

Both of the following scripts will work.

---

IFS=$'\n'
for line in `more extensions.txt` ; do
        if  grep '[219..223]' ${line:96:4} ; then
                echo "1"
        else
                echo "2"
        fi
done

---

IFS=$'\n'
for line in `more extensions.txt`
do
        if  grep '[219..223]' ${line:96:4} ; then
                echo "1"
        else
                echo "2"
        fi
done

---

Note: Your script is also missing a shebang. It's better practice to include one in the first line of your script.

This allows you to call your script using ./script.sh if the file's executable bit is set, in addition to sh script.sh or bash script.sh