Perl Expect not matching

rayvn11 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm admittedly a perl novice, and I am trying figure out how to use the expect.pm module. I've never used expect in any form previously. I can see that expect is trying to match my pattern, but it doesn't appear to work, not sure what I am missing. Any help would be great!

Code snippet

my $match = 'Do you want to unpack these archive files for processing?
+ [Y/N]: ';

#my $exp = Expect->spawn($command, $params) or die "Cannot spawn \n";
my $exp = Expect->spawn("/usr/bin/python /opt/vtools/Scripts/reportcon
+solidator.py /opt/vtools/Healthcheck/$dDate > /opt/vtools/HealthRepor
+t.out") or die "Cannot spawn \n";
    
    unless ($exp->expect(3,'-re',$match)) {};
    print $exp "$response1\r";
    #unless ($exp->expect(3,"Do you want to unpack these archive files
+ for processing? [Y/N]:")) {};
    #print $exp "$response1\r";
    #unless ($exp->expect(700,"Do you want to process these CDR files?
+ [Y/N]: ")) {};
    #print $exp "$response2\r";
    #unless ($exp->expect(5,"Do you want to process these health summa
+ry files? [Y/N]: ")) {};
    #print $exp "$response1\r";
    $exp->soft_close();
[download]

OUTPUT Snippet

vtools@txslws1d03:/opt/vtools/Scripts$ ./Fullhealthprep.pl 
Spawned '/usr/bin/python /opt/vtools/Scripts/reportconsolidator.py /op
+t/vtools/Healthcheck/01_02_2014 > /opt/vtools/HealthReport.out'
        spawn id(3)
        Pid: 11561
        Tty: /dev/pts/0
 at /usr/local/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 181
        Expect::spawn('Expect', '/usr/bin/python /opt/vtools/Scripts/r
+eportconsolidator.py /op...') called at ./Fullhealthprep.pl line 27
expect(Expect=GLOB(0x9f695bc) 3 -re Do you want to unpack these archiv
+e files for processing? [Y/N]: ) called...
expect(): handling param '-re'...
expect(): handling option '-re'...
Starting EXPECT pattern matching...
 at /usr/local/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 561
        Expect::expect('Expect=GLOB(0x9f695bc)', 3, '-re', 'Do you wan
+t to unpack these archive files for processing? [Y/...') called at ./
+Fullhealthprep.pl line 29
spawn id(3): beginning expect.
        Timeout: 3 seconds.
        Current time: Thu Jan  2 17:10:51 2014
spawn id(3): list of patterns:
  #1: -re `Do you want to unpack these archive files for processing? [
+Y/N]: '


spawn id(3): Does `'
match:
  pattern #1: -re `Do you want to unpack these archive files for proce
+ssing? [Y/N]: '? No.

Waiting for new data (3 seconds)...
TIMEOUT
Returning from expect with TIMEOUT or EOF
Closing spawn id(3).
 at /usr/local/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 1354
        Expect::soft_close('Expect=GLOB(0x9f695bc)') called at ./Fullh
+ealthprep.pl line 37
Y
Got EOF from spawn id(3).
spawn id(3) closed.
Pid 11561 of spawn id(3) exited, Status: 0x00
Closing spawn id(3).
 at /usr/local/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 1431
        Expect::hard_close('Expect=GLOB(0x9f695bc)') called at /usr/lo
+cal/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 1621
        Expect::DESTROY('Expect=GLOB(0x9f695bc)') called at ./Fullheal
+thprep.pl line 0
        eval {...} called at ./Fullhealthprep.pl line 0
[download]

Comment on Perl Expect not matching Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl Expect not matching by Paladin (Vicar) on Jan 02, 2014 at 20:09 UTC
I don't have much experience with Expect.pm, but given what I've read above, your command is redirecting output to a file, and it seems that Expect is never seeing the prompt it's expecting because that's been redirected to the file. `my $exp = Expect->spawn("/usr/bin/python /opt/vtools/Scripts/reportcon +solidator.py /opt/vtools/Healthcheck/$dDate > /opt/vtools/HealthRepor +t.out") or die "Cannot spawn \n";` [download] and spawn id(3): Does `' match: pattern #1: -re `Do you want to unpack these archive files for proce +ssing? [Y/N]: '? No. [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Perl Expect not matching by rayvn11 (Initiate) on Jan 02, 2014 at 20:53 UTC
That was it! I was sending output to a file and expect wasn't seeing anything. Thanks!!	[reply]
Re: Perl Expect not matching by Crackers2 (Parson) on Jan 02, 2014 at 19:10 UTC
The `$exp->expect(3,'-re',$match)` makes it treat `$match` as a regexp instead of a string. That causes the ? and [Y/N] to be not properly recognized.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Perl Expect not matching by rayvn11 (Initiate) on Jan 02, 2014 at 19:59 UTC
I've also tried doing it this way, but I get a similar issue. `unless ($exp->expect(3,"Do you want to unpack these archive files +for processing? [Y/N]:")) {}; print $exp "$response1\r";` [download] Output is similar, I've tried escaping the ? and brackets as well. spawn id(3): list of patterns: #1: -ex `Do you want to unpack these archive files for processing? [ +Y/N]:' spawn id(3): Does `' match: pattern #1: -ex `Do you want to unpack these archive files for proce +ssing? [Y/N]:'? No. Waiting for new data (3 seconds)... TIMEOUT Returning from expect with TIMEOUT or EOF Closing spawn id(3). at /usr/local/share/perl/5.14.2/Expect.pm line 1354 Expect::soft_close('Expect=GLOB(0x96965bc)') called at ./Fullh +ealthprep.pl line 37 [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]


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