Provided by: minicom_2.8-2_amd64 bug

NAME

       runscript - script interpreter for minicom

SYNOPSIS

       runscript scriptname [logfile [homedir]]

DESCRIPTION

       runscript  is  a  simple  script  interpreter  that  can be called from within the minicom
       communications program to automate tasks like logging in to a Unix system or your favorite
       BBS.

INVOCATION

       The  program expects a script name and optionally a filename and the user's home directory
       as arguments, and it expects that it's input and output are connected to the "remote end",
       the  system  you are connecting to. All messages from runscript meant for the local screen
       are directed to the stderr output. All this is automatically taken care of if you  run  it
       from  minicom.   The  logfile  and home directory parameters are only used to tell the log
       command the name of the logfile and  where  to  write  it.  If  the  homedir  is  omitted,
       runscript  uses the directory found in the $HOME environment variable. If also the logfile
       name is omitted, the log commands are ignored.

KEYWORDS

       Runscript recognizes the following commands:

            expect   send     goto     gosub    return   !<   !
            exit     print    set      inc      dec      if   timeout
            verbose  sleep    break    call     log

OVERVIEW OF KEYWORDS

       send <string>
            <string> is sent to the modem. It is followed by a '\r'.  <string> can be:
              - regular text, e.g. 'send hello'
              - text enclosed in quotes, e.g. 'send "hello world"'

            Within <string> the following sequences are recognized:
                \n - newline
                \r - carriage return
                \a - bell
                \b - backspace
                \c - don't send the default '\r'.
                \f - formfeed
                \^ - the ^ character
                \o - send character o (o is an octal number)

            Control characters can be used in the string with the ^ prefix (^A to ^Z, ^[,  ^  ^],
            ^^ and ^_). If you need to send the ^ character, you must prefix it with the \ escape
            character.
            Octal characters are either four-digit or delimited by a  non-digit  character,  e.g.
            the  null  character  may  be  sent with \0000 and 'send 1234' is equivalent to 'send
            \0061234'.
            Also $(environment_variable) can be used, for example $(TERM).  Minicom passes  three
            special environment variables: $(LOGIN), which is the username, $(PASS), which is the
            password, as defined in the proper entry of the  dialing  directory,  and  $(TERMLIN)
            which  is the number of actual terminal lines on your screen (that is, the statusline
            excluded).

       print <string>
            Prints <string> to the local screen. Default followed by '\r\n'.  See the description
            of 'send' above.

       label:
            Declares a label (with the name 'label') to use with goto or gosub.

       goto <label>
            Jump to another place in the program.

       gosub <label>
            Jumps  to  another  place in the program. When the statement 'return' is encountered,
            control returns to the statement after the gosub.  Gosub's can be nested.

       return
            Return from a gosub.

       ! <command>
            Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. On return, the variable '$?'  is
            set to the exit status of this command, so you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

       !< <command>
            Runs a shell for you in which 'command' is executed. The stdout output of the command
            execution will be sent to the modem. On return, the variable '$?' is set to the  exit
            status of this command, so you can subsequently test it using 'if'.

       exit [value]
            Exit from "runscript" with an optional exit status. (default 1)

       set <variable> <value>
            Sets  the value of <variable> (which is a single letter a-z) to the value <value>. If
            <variable> does not exist, it will be created.  <value> can be  a  integer  value  or
            another variable.

       inc <variable>
            Increments the value of <variable> by one.

       dec <variable>
            Decrements the value of <variable> by one.

       if <value> <operator> <value> <statement>
            Conditional execution of <statement>. <operator> can be <, >, != or =.  Eg, 'if a > 3
            goto exitlabel'.

       timeout <value>
            Sets the global timeout. By default, 'runscript' will exit after  120  seconds.  This
            can  be  changed  with this command. Warning: this command acts differently within an
            'expect' statement, but more about that later.

       verbose <on|off>
            By default, this is 'on'. That means that anything that is being read from the  modem
            by  'runscript',  gets  echoed  to  the  screen.   This  is  so that you can see what
            'runscript' is doing.

       sleep <value>
            Suspend execution for <value> seconds.

       expect
              expect {
                pattern  [statement]
                pattern  [statement]
                [timeout <value> [statement] ]
                ....
              }
            The most important command of all. Expect keeps reading from the input until it reads
            a  pattern  that matches one of the specified ones.  If expect encounters an optional
            statement after that pattern, it will execute it. Otherwise the default  is  to  just
            break  out  of  the  expect.  'pattern'  is  a string, just as in 'send' (see above).
            Normally, expect will timeout in 60 seconds and just exit, but this  can  be  changed
            with the timeout command.

       break
            Break  out  of  an  'expect'  statement.  This is normally only useful as argument to
            'timeout' within an expect,  because  the  default  action  of  timeout  is  to  exit
            immediately.

       call <scriptname>
            Transfers  control  to  another  script  file. When that script file finishes without
            errors, the original script will continue.

       log <text>
            Write text to the logfile.

NOTES

       If you want to make your script to exit minicom (for example when you use minicom to  dial
       up  your  ISP,  and  then  start  a PPP or SLIP session from a script), try the command "!
       killall -9 minicom" as the last script command. The -9 option should prevent minicom  from
       hanging up the line and resetting the modem before exiting.
       Well,  I don't think this is enough information to make you an experienced 'programmer' in
       'runscript', but together with the examples it shouldn't be too hard to write some  useful
       script files. Things will be easier if you have experience with BASIC.  The minicom source
       code comes together with two example scripts, scriptdemo  and  unixlogin.  Especially  the
       last one is a good base to build on for your own scripts.

SEE ALSO

       minicom(1)

BUGS

       Runscript should be built in to minicom.

AUTHOR

       Miquel van Smoorenburg, <miquels@drinkel.ow.org> Jukka Lahtinen, <walker@netsonic.fi>