How to return spawned process exit code in Expect script?

seas picture seas · Jul 21, 2010 · Viewed 25.6k times · Source

I use expect for running test scripts. Tests return success/failure through exit code. But expect return equivalent exit code. How to make expect return proper exit status?

My tests are sql scripts run with psql (postgresql command processor). Since psql doesn't allow to specify database password as a command line parameter, expect scripts do that.

So, my expect script looks like:

spawn $SPAWN_CMD
expect {
        -re "Enter password for new role:" {
                send "$PWPROMPT\n"
                exp_continue
        } -re "Enter it again:" {
                send "$PWPROMPT\n"
                exp_continue
        } -re "Password(.*)" {
                send "$PASSWORD\n"
                exp_continue
        } -re "Password(.*):" {
                send "$PASSWORD\n"
                exp_continue
        } eof
}

Answer

Douglas Leeder picture Douglas Leeder · Jul 21, 2010

You're already waiting for the eof at the end of your loop, you just need to use wait and catch the result:

spawn true
expect eof
catch wait result
exit [lindex $result 3]

Exits with 0.

spawn false
expect eof
catch wait result
exit [lindex $result 3]

Exits with 1.