I have a perl script shared in a repository with several users across Mac and Windows machines. It performs its work on files located in the folder with it. Because I run it frequently and because some users don't even know what a command line is, I created a batch file in the directory to make it easy to launch. Because some paths will differ, I made it portable:
::figure out your directory path
pushd %~dp0
:: launch the script
perl my_perl_script.pl
popd
The batch works perfectly on Windows and I put it in each project folder with each perl script and tell my users to just "double-click that thingy."
How can I do the same on Mac? I don't know much about bash, and I can't figure out how to
1) Have a bash file figure out its directory path, and
2) Make the bash a simple "double-click that thingy" executable for my Mac users.
Would a simple Applescript be better (I don't really know Applescript either...)
Thanks for any help.
EDIT: Thanks, dj bazzie wazzie. I didn't want to run both a bash and applescript to get my perl to run, but I did use your first line to get an applescript that works perfectly for me.
set currentWorkingDirectory to do shell script "dirname " & quoted form of POSIX path of (path to me)
tell application "Terminal"
set currentTab to do script "cd " & currentWorkingDirectory
do script "perl xml2epub_3689_7KeysSpWellness.pl" in currentTab
end tell
With AppleScript you have the ability run a shell command. Let's say your bash file is located next to the script and is named maintenance.sh your script would look something like this
set currentWorkingDirectory to do shell script "dirname " & quoted form of POSIX path of (path to me)
do shell script quoted form of (currentWorkingDirectory & "/maintenance.sh")
EDIT: (I can't comment your post so I change my post)
For such a simple command as yours you don't need the terminal application. I can understand that a working application is enough but for a much smoother script I would put that command into a do shell script. So the code for your per command would be something like this
set currentWorkingDirectory to do shell script "dirname " & quoted form of POSIX path of (path to me)
do shell script "perl " & quoted form of (currentWorkingDirectory & "/xml2epub_3689_7KeysSpWellness.pl")
Related
Everytime when I work with Perl (only through cmd) I put in C:\Perl520\Perl64\bin\perl.exe before my script Test.pl.
Now I want to run my script by only typing Test.pl. I have already looked through similiar questions like:
https://docs.sdl.com/791187/706364/sdl-contenta-5-7/associating--pl-files-with-strawberry-perl--windows-only-
How Do I Run a Perl Script from Cmd without typing "perl" in front of the script path?
I want to change this WITHOUT needing Admin Rights, as these are restricted on my computer.
I have even tried writing this in cmd:
assoc .pl=PerlScript
ftype PerlScript=C:\Perl520\Perl64\bin\perl.exe "%1" %*
Also here I keep getting the error message "Access is denied".
Is it possible to change the settings in another way?
EDIT: I managed to make it work through the first link. Yet I couldn't make it further after step 6 as once again I would need admin rights.
At least I am now able to run a script by just typing Test.pl.
But when using an input file :Test.pl C:\input.txt
I once again get an error message "Could not locate file!"
When writing it like this, it works as usual:
C:\Perl520\Perl64\bin\perl.exe Test.pl C:\input.txt
AFAIK, the file type association mechanism does require local admin rights. You can right-click on the script file and then pick perl.exe from the "Open With" menu, but that won't let you pass command line arguments to the string.
You might just want to run pl2bat on scripts you use often.
Running Lubuntu -
Beginner Perl programmer
Script is XXX.pl located at ~/projects/XXX/XXX.pl
First line is the shebang
#!/usr/bin/perl
Permission to run is set to Anyone.
In directory ~/projects/XXX, the command
~/projects/XXX$ perl XXX.pl
works as desired, but the command
~/projects/XXX$ XXX.pl
Fails with XXX.pl: command not found
What am I missing ?
The two usual options to execute your Perl script are:
perl XXX.pl
or
./XXX.pl
Both ways assume that your current working directory contains the script XXX.pl, otherwise it won't work.
As already pointed out by jm666 in the comments, you can usually not execute a program or script from your current working directory without prepending ./, primarily because of security reasons. Now, you may wonder why it's necessary.
Explanation:
Your shell uses the contents of an environment variable called $PATH to find out about where external commands (non-builtin programs) are located in your filesystem. If you want to see what's in $PATH, just type the following in your shell:
echo $PATH
Now you can see that the $PATH variable does NOT contain your current working directory. The consequence is that your shell is not able to find the program XXX.pl. By prepending ./ you instruct the shell to execute the program which comes after.
But there are two requirements if you want to execute your Perl script with ./script.pl:
The script has to be executable (check with ls -l)
The first line (shebang line) has to be #!/path/to/your/perl because your shell needs that information to find the perl interpreter in order to run your script
However, #1 and #2 are NOT required when you execute your script with
perl XXX.pl
because it invokes the perl interpreter directly with your script.
See how to make Perl scripts executable on Linux and make the script itself directly executable with chmod for some more details.
Can the script be found?
Is . in your path? If it's not, add it to your path, or use ./XXX.pl instead of XXX.pl.
Can the script be executed?
Do you have execute permission to the file? Fix using chmod u+x XXX.pl.
Is the interpreter correct?
which perl will tell you which interpreter is used when you use perl XXX.pl. That's the path that should be on your shebang (#!) line.
I have been messing around with voice commands, but ran into a snag. I am trying to get a terminal command to run but it is not working. The command makes asterisks "snow" fall.
This is what I have so far.
tell application "Terminal"
activate
run script "ruby -e 'C=`stty size`.scan(/\d+/)[1].to_i;S=["2743".to_i(16)].pack("U*");a={};puts "\033[2J";loop{a[rand(C)]=0;a.each{|x,o|;a[x]+=1;print "\033[#{o};#{x}H \033[#{a[x]};#{x}H#{S} \033[0;0H"};$stdout.flush;sleep 0.1}'"
end tell
All I get are errors
Command line scripts executed with the do shell script command. The string escaping can get a bit gnarly, so be careful with that too. Here's a simple example:
do shell script "say \"Today is `php -r \"echo date('l');\"`\""
EDIT:
OK, I just realised your script actually depends on having a Terminal window to run in, so the usual approach of do shell script won't work here.
There are still a lot of unescaped quotation marks in your Applescript, but rather than fixing those, I think it would be easier to put the whole ruby script into a stand-alone file and pass that to Terminal instead.
stars.rb
#!/usr/bin/ruby
C=`stty size`.scan(/\d+/)[1].to_i;
S=["2743".to_i(16)].pack("U*");
a={};
puts "\033[2J";
loop {
a[rand(C)]=0;
a.each {
|x,o|;
a[x]+=1;
print "\033[#{o};#{x}H \033[#{a[x]};#{x}H#{S} \033[0;0H"
};
$stdout.flush;
sleep 0.1
}
AppleScript
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "~/stars.rb"
end tell
An easy way to escape a shell command for AppleScript is to save the command in a text file. Run the script below and copy the Result.
set myText to read (choose file) as «class utf8»
I want my Perl scripts to behave just like any other executable (*.exe file).
When I double-click on myscript.pl I want it to execute instead of opening in a text editor.
I want to run myscript.pl instead of perl myscript.pl.
I really want to run myscript instead of myscript.pl.
I want to run program | myscript instead of program | perl myscript.pl.
I want to be able to run my script via drag & drop.
There are a number of changes you have to make on Windows to make all of
these things work. Users typically stumble upon things that don't work one at
a time; leaving them confused whether they've made an error, there's a bug in
Perl, there's a bug in Windows, or the behavior they want just isn't possible.
This question is intended to provide a single point of reference for making
everything work up front; ideally before these problems even occur.
Related questions:
How do I make Perl scripts recognize parameters in the Win32 cmd console?
Running a perl script on windows without extension
Perl execution from command line question
How can I read piped input in Perl on Windows?
Perl on Windows, file associations and I/O redirection
How do I create drag-and-drop Strawberry Perl programs?
Note: The actions below require administrative privileges. For
steps utilizing the command prompt it must be launched via "Run as
administrator" on Windows Vista / Windows 7.
Associate *.pl files with perl
Run the following commands at a shell prompt:
assoc .pl=PerlScript
ftype PerlScript=C:\bin\perl.exe "%1" %*
Replace C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe with the path to your Perl installation. This
enables you to run myscript.pl instead of perl myscript.pl.
Default install locations are:
ActivePerl: C:\Perl
Strawberry Perl: C:\Strawberry
Add .PL to your PATHEXT environment variable.
This makes Windows consider *.pl files to be executable when searching your
PATH. It enables you to run myscript instead of myscript.pl.
You can set it for the current cmd session
set PATHEXT=%PATHEXT%;.PL
To set it permanently (under Windows Vista or Windows 7)
setx PATHEXT %PATHEXT%;.PL
Under Windows XP you have to use the GUI:
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
Click the Advanced tab.
Click Environment variables.
Select PATHEXT, then click Edit.
Append ;.PL to the current value.
Make I/O redirection work
I/O redirection (e.g. program | myscript) doesn't work for programs started
via a file association. There is a registry patch to correct the problem.
Start Registry Editor.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: InheritConsoleHandles
Data type: REG_DWORD
Radix: Decimal
Value data: 1
Quit Registry Editor.
Warning: In principle, this should only be necessary on Windows XP. In my experience it's also necessary in Windows 7. In Windows 10 this is actively harmful—programs execute but produce nothing on stdout/stderr. The registry key needs to be set to 0 instead of 1.
See also:
STDIN/STDOUT Redirection May Not Work If Started from a File Association
Perl Scripts on Windows 10 run from Explorer but not Command Prompt
If patching the registry isn't an option running program | perl -S myscript.pl
is a less annoying work-around for scripts in your PATH.
Add a drop handler
Adding a drop handler for Perl allows you to run a Perl script via drag & drop;
e.g. dragging a file over the file icon in Windows Explorer and dropping it
there. Run the following script to add the necessary entries to the registry:
use Win32::TieRegistry;
$Registry->Delimiter("/");
$perlKey = $Registry-> {"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Perl/"};
$perlKey-> {"shellex/"} = {
"DropHandler/" => {
"/" => "{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"
}};
Convert your perl scripts into batch files using pl2bat once they are ready to be run by users.
The trick works through the perl -x switch which, according to perldoc perlrun, makes Perl search for the first line looking like #!.*perl.
After following the instructions in the accepted answer, a double click still led to .pl files opening with Notepad in Windows 10 — even when perl.exe was set as the default file handler.
After finding Jack Wu's comment at ActivePerl. .pl files no longer execute but open in Notepad instead I was able to run perl scripts on double-click as such:
Select and right-click a .pl file
Use the "Open With" submenu to "Choose another app"
Select "Always use this app to open .pl files" (do this now – you won't get the chance after you have selected a program)
Scroll to the bottom of the "Other options" to find "More apps", and select "Look for another app on this PC"
Navigate to C:/path/to/perl/bin/ and select Perl5.16.3.exe (or the equivalent, depending on which version of Perl you have installed: but not Perl.exe)
Then the Perl icon appears next to .pl files and a double-click leads to them opening in Perl every time, as desired.
I tried the assoc and ftype methods and they didn't work for me.
What worked was editing this registry key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command
It was set to:
"C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1"
When it should be:
"C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*
It is the same content as the ftype, but for arcane windows reasons, I had to set it there too.
Like some others, I had set 'assoc' and 'ftype', but also had set Notepad text editor via the GUI, and when I tried to execute a script via the command line, Windows invoked Notepad to edit the script instead of running my script.
Using the GUI to instead point the .pl file association to the script-running executable was not much of an improvement, since it would invoke the executable on my script, but would pass no command-line arguments (even when I invoked my script from the command line).
I finally found salvation here which advised me to delete some registry keys.
Key quote:
"The problem is that if you have already associated the program with the extension via the Open With dialog then you will have created an application association, instead of a file extension association, between the two. And application associations take precedence."
In my case, following the instructions to use RegEdit to delete
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Applications \ perl.exe
where perl.exe is the name of my Perl executable, and then also deleting:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .pl
seemed to solve my problem, and then (after re-executing 'assoc' and 'ftype' commands as shown in other answers) I could then execute scripts from cmd.exe and have them run with access to their command-line parameters.
Some other related information here.
We have a lot of existing batch files that help with the running of different perl and ruby scripts.
A batch file (e.g. test.bat) would normally be invoked like:
$ test
and within the batch file, it will set some settings and finally try to run the corresponding script file (e.g. test.pl) like this:
perl -S "%0.pl" %*
All works with cmd.exe, but today, I decided to switch to PowerShell and found out that it expands the commands. So trying to run "test" will actually run "Full\path\test.bat" and my script would complain that there is no file test.bat.pl.
Is there a way to prevent this command expansion? Rewriting all batch files is not an option.
One way is to call cmd explicitly:
cmd /c test