Question

Below is my code, which behaves extremely bizarre, and I am not sure I understand the reason, but I think it’s somehow connected to path expansion:

EDIT: this is the asxgrab script mentioned in the second listing:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

let "i=0"

GET "$1" | grep 'href="mms://' | while read line
do
    echo "$line"
    address=`echo $line | grep -Eow '"[^"]+"'`
    address_length=$((${#address}-2))
    address=${address:1:address_length}
    echo "Grabbing '$address', attempt $i, $address_length"
    mplayer "'$address' -dumpstream -dumpfile '$2.wmv' -vf scale\=320\:240" > /dev/null
    if [ ! $? ]; then
        break 1
    fi
    let "i++"
done

I’ve tried dozens of different ways of escaping, quoting and whatnot, and I think I’ve exhausted my creativity… please help!

Suppose the script is called with these arguments:

./asxgrab 'http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=16&ip=79.180.37.230&course=c20478/2012b&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&ar=c20478_12b_784_01_1&ticket=58353E7A69BF1B9XO655E9E683016C5255C08DD37211ECF495F72A64E5278AA434CSP3C10C028D604AAD6C39FE7D71386D230983BBAF58A2511D14222F95090AE2C4C55CB696B82919A5A8EB44EAF8954DEDB5' 'java.0'

The received response looks like this:

<asx version="3.0">
    <!-- GMX -->
    <param name="encoding" value="utf-8" />
    <title>CastUP: c20478_12b_784_01_1</title>
    <MOREINFO HREF = "" />

    <entry>
    <PARAM NAME="EntryType" VALUE="Content" />

    <param name="encoding" value="utf-8" />
    <PARAM NAME="CastUP_AssociatedURL" VALUE="" />
    <PARAM NAME="CastUP_Content_Config" VALUE="" />
    <PARAM NAME="CastUP_Content_ClipMediaID" VALUE="9067325" />
    <author>openu</author>
        <title>CastUP: c20478_12b_784_01_1</title>
<ref href="mms://s3fwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=FE81687B-33CD-4441-A8F6-1DEC9923332C&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183" />
<ref href="...." />

    </entry>

When I do this:

mplayer "mms://s3fwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=C6527A33-587F-4148-A3D2-E7EDED51316B&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183" -dumpstream -dumpfile java0.wmv -vf scale=320:240

from the terminal, it works, but it doesn’t work from the script. Instead it tries to trim the $line or something like that. I don’t even understand what happens, but the output is absolutely of no consequences…

This is my uni’s site and this is, funny as it gets, a lecture on Java 🙂

EDIT:

<ref href="mms://s0dwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=111A3770-29DC-40EC-85EC-93453E2819D7&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183" />
Grabbing 'mms://s0dwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=111A3770-29DC-40EC-85EC-93453E2819D7&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183', attempt 0, 268
Can't open joystick device /dev/input/js0: No such file or directory
Can't init input joystick
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
No stream found to handle url 'mms://s0dwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=111A3770-29DC-40EC-85EC-93453E2819D7&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183' -dumpstream -dumpfile 'java.0.wmv' -vf scale=320:240
d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183" />
Grabbing '', attempt 1, -2
Can't open joystick device /dev/input/js0: No such file or directory
Can't init input joystick
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
File not found: ''' -dumpstream -dumpfile 'java.0.wmv' -vf scale=320:240'
Failed to open '' -dumpstream -dumpfile 'java.0.wmv' -vf scale=320:240.
027b0720c295b93e4abb183" />

This is the output I’m getting from the script.

MPlayer SVN-r31918 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
Can't open joystick device /dev/input/js0: No such file or directory
Can't init input joystick
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing mms://s3fwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=C6527A33-587F-4148-A3D2-E7EDED51316B&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183.
STREAM_ASF, URL: mms://s3fwm.castup.net/server12/16/798/79837168-61.wmv?ct=IL&rg=BZ&aid=16&ts=0&cu=C6527A33-587F-4148-A3D2-E7EDED51316B&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183&cuud=user:77f6c69526b9fa05f78d3d6679630308d324d1043027b0720c295b93e4abb183
Resolving s3fwm.castup.net for AF_INET6...

Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: s3fwm.castup.net
Resolving s3fwm.castup.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server s3fwm.castup.net[212.179.13.65]: 1755...

Connected
file object, packet length = 6100 (6100)
unknown object
unknown object
unknown object
stream object, stream ID: 1
stream object, stream ID: 2
unknown object
data object
mmst packet_length = 6100
Cache size set to 64 KBytes
Stream not seekable!

And this is the expected output.

Answer 1

Have you tried this?

mplayer "$address" -dumpstream -dumpfile "$2.wmv" -vf "scale=320:240" > /dev/null

Secrets of bash:

• Variables inside double-quotes are expanded; those inside single-quotes are not.
• Words inside quotes are treated as a single token.
• Quotes of one type escape those of the other type.

The original line

mplayer "'$address' -dumpstream -dumpfile '$2.wmv' -vf scale\=320\:240" > /dev/null

called mplayer with the single argument '$address' -dumpstream -dumpfile '$2.wmv' -vf scale\=320\:240, but mplayer wants each of those tokens to be a separate word.