I need to have access to the current date (or time) within the Expect script so that I can add it to the directories that are created within the Expect script, e.g. something similar to these needs to get done:
mkdir file<date>
I can get the date via the shell as:
date | tr " " "-" | cut -f 2,4 -d "-"
However, I cannot get access to it in Expect, e.g. I cannot do something like:
set var = `date | tr " " "-" | cut -f 2,4 -d "-"`
I put this in a shell script, echo it and get the output in $expect_out(buffer) as detailed here. However, the buffer also gets the prompt which needs to be removed as mentioned Also, note that $expect_out(buffer) doesn't really hold what people want; it typically needs to be filtered down at least to eliminate the prompt.
Answer
In Expect, you would use the builtin clock command:
set now [clock seconds]
set date [clock format $now -format {%b-%d}]
set file file.$date
Or in one go:
set file file.[clock format [clock seconds] -format {%b-%d}]
I would strongly encourage you to use a date format that sorts sensibly
set file file.[clock format [clock seconds] -format {%Y-%m-%d}]