[SOLVED] Why the multiple read commands giving me errors

Issue

#!/bin/bash
# your code goes here
echo "1.Addition 2.Subtraction 3.Multiplication 4.Division"
read n
echo "Enter the operends"
read a
read b
case $n in
"1") echo "$a+$b =`expr $a \ + $b`";;
"2") echo "$a-$b=`expr $a \ - $b`";;
"3") echo "$a*$b=`expr $a \ * $b`";;
"4") echo "$a/$b=`expr $a \ / $b`";;
esac

Ther errors are

expr: syntax error: unexpected argument ‘ +’

Whent the input is

1 1 1 1.Addition 2.Subtraction 3.Multiplication 4.Division Enter the operends 1+1 = this is the output

Solution

The first problem you had were Windows line endings, dos2unix fixed that.

The second problem is that you don't need to escape operators in expr except for *, it should be:

"1") echo "$a+$b =`expr $a + $b`";;
"2") echo "$a-$b=`expr $a - $b`";;
"3") echo "$a*$b=`expr $a \* $b`";;
"4") echo "$a/$b=`expr $a / $b`";;

Now your script will run ok:

$ ./main.sh
1.Addition 2.Subtraction 3.Multiplication 4.Division
1
Enter the operends
2
3
2+3 =5
$ ./main.sh
1.Addition 2.Subtraction 3.Multiplication 4.Division
2
Enter the operends
5
2
5-2=3

BTW, there are plenty of things wrong with the script, you should always check your scripts with shellcheck and fix all errors it reports.

Answered By - Arkadiusz Drabczyk

Answer Checked By - Cary Denson (WPSolving Admin)