executing a bash script in perl - perl

Question

I want to run this command in perl
for dir in *; do
test -d "$dir" && ( find "$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "$dir" );
done
I have tried :
system ("for dir in *; do
test -d "\$dir" && ( find "\$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "\$dir" );
done");
but does not work .

Answer 1

A pure Perl implementation using File::Find module's find function:
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;
find \&find_directories, '.';
sub find_directories {
if ( -d && $File::Find::name =~ /test$/ ) {
print "$File::Find::name\n";
}
}

Answer 2

Your quoting is off.
"for dir in *; do
test -d "\$dir" && ( find "\$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "\$dir" );
done"
You have decided to delimit your string with double quotes ", but they are included in your string.
Either escape the other quotes:
"for dir in *; do
test -d \"\$dir\" && ( find \"\$dir\" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo \"\$dir\" );
done"
(error prone, ugly)
… or use another delimiter: Perl offers you a wide range of possibilities. These quoting syntaxes interpolate variables inside: "…" and qq{…} where you can use any character in [^\s\w] as delimiter, and non-interpolating syntaxes are: '…' and q{…} with the same delimiter flexibility as before:
qq{for dir in *; do
test -d "\$dir" && ( find "\$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "\$dir" );
done}
The q and qq constructs can include the delimiter inside the string, if the occurrence is balanced: q( a ( b ) c ) works.
The third quoting mechanism is a here-doc:
system( <<END_OF_BASH_SCRIPT );
for dir in *; do
test -d "\$dir" && ( find "\$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "\$dir" );
done
END_OF_BASH_SCRIPT
This is usefull for including longer fragments without worrying about a delimitor. The String is ended by a predefined token that has to appear on a line of its own. If the delimitor declaration is placed in single quotes (<<'END_OF_SCRIPT'), no variables will be interpolated:
system( <<'END_OF_BASH_SCRIPT' );
for dir in *; do
test -d "$dir" && ( find "$dir" -name '*test' | grep -q . || echo "$dir" );
done
END_OF_BASH_SCRIPT
Note on the q{} and qq{} syntax: This is a feature never to be used outside of obfuscation, but it is possible to use a character in \w as the delimiter. You have to include a space between the quoting operator q or qq and the delimiter. This works: q xabcx and is equal to 'abc'.

Answer 3

Instead of starting the script, try starting a bash instance that runs the script. E.g.
system("bash -c 'for dir bla bla bla'");

Answer 4

system() uses your default system shell, which is probably not Bash. The solution is to call Bash explicitly with the system() command.