Syntax error: "(" unexpected (expecting "fi")

linux, shell

Solution

Here is your script, rewritten to work.

#!/bin/bash

if [ x$1 = x-l ] ; then

    BASE=/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/

    if [ x$2 = x ] ; then
        find $BASE -name '*.ko' | sed -e "s#$BASE##g"
    else
        find $BASE -name '*.ko' | sed -e "s#$BASE##g" | grep $2
    fi

else
    /sbin/modprobe $@
fi

Your main problem was a ton of backslashes that broke the script. If you are using `$(command)` to get the output of a command, you need that dollar sign to be left alone; `\$(command)` will turn into a literal string `"$(command)"` which isn't what you wanted. Likewise, your `sed` command lines are using the `#` character to delimit the search and replace strings, so you don't need to put a backslash before the slashes in the paths. Likewise, you need to just have `$2` for the second argument; `\$2` is the literal string `"$2"`.

I used a common convention for testing the `$1` and `$2` arguments: I put an `x` before them in the test. This works even in old wacky UNIX shells. I guess with a GNU Bash on Linux you can count on the `[` operator being built-in, but doing it this way still works.

Also note how I indented the `if`/`else` statements. This is purely a style thing and you don't have to do things the way I do, but I find this to be the most readable.

Finally, this script is approaching the level of complexity where I would consider rewriting it in a more powerful language than Bash. I personally prefer Python but you could use Ruby or whatever you prefer.

Problem

Original source