Special Characters

>

wait for a prompt, then send string to the remote host

>>

send string to remote host, without waiting for prompt

<

string/regex MUST be received from the remote host in the allotted timeout or the script will FAIL!

<<

literal string MUST be received (similar to '<' without regex evaluation)

-<

NOT expect, if string/regex IS received from the remote host the script will FAIL!

~<

fuzzy expect, expect an approximate number (decimal or hex)

#

used to indicate comment lines, and have no effect

;

are also used to indicate comment lines, but are printed to stdout (for logging)

;<colour> comment

add custom colour comment lines, colour may be blue, ltblue, gray, ltgray, cyan, black, pink, purple, red, green, yellow

;;

similar to above, but no extra newlines are printed (useful for printing script help)

;;;

marks beginning and ending of a block of help text. Help Text is user defined help for a script and is printed when -h or --help is on the command line

@num

changes the expect timeout to num of seconds

:num

sleeps for num seconds. Mili-seconds also supported e.g. :1.005 is 1005 mili-seconds

$var=

static variable assignment at script invocation. Variable names limited to letters, numbers, and underscore

+$var=

dynamic variable assignment

+$var

increment value of $var by 1 decimal

-$var

decrement value of $var by 1 decimal

=$var

math functions, perform bitwise and arithmetic operations: << >> & | ^ * / % + - (see math functions)

=$str

string math functions, if $str is a string, perform string operations: //search/replace/ + - (see string math functions in documentation)

!

indicates an embedded expect line

?

c-style if/then/else in the format ?cond?action::else_action. code block are also supported in the action and else_action statements. e.g.

[

While Loop, using code blocks e.g.

Foreach Loop, using code blocks, each iteration $item is assigned the next item in the list. List must be space delimited e.g.

%

label - used for jumping to labels

~filename [constant=value] [constant=value with spaces]

includes a expect-lite script file, useful for creation of common variable files, or 'subprograms/subroutines'. Can pass optional parameters which will override (as constants) the variables in the include file. Constant values passed may have spaces, no quotes are required

Directives

*~filename

Include a fail script, which expect-lite runs only if the main script fails

*/prompt/

Set a user defined prompt (defined in regex)

*TERM <N>

Immediately terminates script, and returns the value of N, if N is not specified returns 0

*PASS

Immediately terminates script, and returns 0 (pass)

*FAIL

Immediately fails script, and returns 1 (fail), unless *NOFAIL is set, then script will run to completion, and return 1

*NOFAIL

Script will run to completion, and returns 1, if failure occurred during execution, or 0, if pass (it is a sticky flag, and can not be unset)

**SHELL=<shell>

Configuration directive which sets the shell immediately after automatic login to remote host (see setting the shell)

*INTERACT

A breakpoint which places user in interact mode, and pauses the script and turns control of the keyboard over to the user

*NOINTERACT

Once set, will ignore all succeeding breakpoints (*INTERACT). This permits running a script or scripts in an unattended regression. This can not be unset (it is a sticky flag)

*FORK <session>

Multiple session support. Directs expect-lite to open a new session and spawns a new shell

*SHOW VARS

Debug information, displays all expect-lite variables. Can be used in interact mode.

*SHOW ENV

Debug information, displays expect-lite environment, including state of directives, infinite loop counter, log file name (if used), and environment variables. Can be used in interact mode.

*INFINITE_LOOP N

Infinite loop protection value, sets N as new value

*EOLS LF|*EOLS CRLF

Controls end of line sequence sent to remote host, either line feed, or carriage return + line feed.

*DVPROMPT|*NODVPROMPT

Enable/disable the Dynamic Variable capture method to require a trailing prompt (default=*DVPROMPT).

*NOINCLUDE

Once set, will ignore all succeeding include files (lines starting with ~). This was the default behaviour in Library mode (introduced in v4.1). This behaviour is no longer default, and this directive provides a method to previous behavior.

Logging

Logging encompasses two operations: 1) writing script output to a file, 2) controlling additional messages, such as info, exp_info and warnings. All logging commands when used on the CLI will override those inside the script

*LOG|*NOLOG

Enable/disable logging of standard out and messages to a file. The log file name will be <script_name>.log saved in the script directory.(see Environment Variable EL_LOG_EXT below)

*LOG <file_name>|*LOGAPPEND <file_name>

Enable logging to a user specified path/file_name. When invoked on the CLI, the specified file_name must end in ".log" (or as defined by EL_LOG_EXT) to avoid ambiguity

*INFO|*NOINFO

Enable/disable informational messages

*EXP_INFO|*NOEXP_INFO

Enable/disable "expected" messages (additionally use -V flag to enable)

*WARN|*NOWARN

Enable/disable warning messages

*DEBUG|*NODEBUG

Enable/disable debug messages

*NOCOLOR

Disables color on stdout

*TIMESTAMP <ISO|YMD|DMY|MDY>

Prints Date and Timestamp with milisecond accuracy, for each command sent, ISO is default. Timestamps will be written to log file when *LOG is used.

*NOTIMESTAMP

Disables timestamp printing

Environment Variables

It is no longer necessary to hand edit the expect-lite script itself. All parameters such as connect_method, login name and password are controlled via shell environment variables. This permits individual customization in a multi user environment. It is recommended to save these values in .expect-literc and source it from .bashrc or .cshrc. If set, the following environment variables will be used:

EL_CONNECT_METHOD

The method expect-lite uses to connect to remote host. Valid options are: none|telnet|ssh|ssh_key Default is none

EL_CONNECT_USER

User name to use for login on remote host (telnet|ssh)

EL_CONNECT_PASS

Password to use for login on remote host (telnet|ssh)

EL_INFINITE_LOOP=N

Infinite loop protection value, sets N to user's default value

EL_DELAY_WAIT_FOR_HOST

Delay (in ms) to wait for host in Not Expect, and Dynamic Var Capture. 100 ms is a good value for a local LAN, 200 ms if running across high speed internet

EL_REMOTE_HOST

Name or IP of remote host

EL_CMD_FILE

Name of expect-lite script to run

EL_USER_DIR

Change to this directory upon login before executing script

EL_SHELL

Start this shell (default bash) when using EL_CONNECT_METHOD=none

EL_DYN_VAR_PROMPT

Set the Dynamic Variable capture method to require a prompt (default=1). Disable by setting to 0.

EL_LOG_EXT

Set the log file name extension string (default=".log") which is appended to the script name when using *LOG without file name argument or used to detect a log file name on the command line.

EL_*

Any other shell environment variables starting with EL_ will become constants

Debugger (IDE)

The debugger performs three primary functions: 1) connecting the user to the remote host or device under test, 2) monitoring special commands prefaced with the escape key for stepping, and other functions, and 3) the debugger will allow expect-lite script lines to be executed by either typing directly or pasting them into the IDE.

The debugger is invoked at a breakpoint by placing the *INTERACT command in the script, or using by instant-interact at anytime during the script execution by pressing ctrl+backslash ^\

<esc>s

Step, execute next step in script

<esc>k

sKip next step in script

<esc>c

Continue execution of the script

<esc>v

show Vars, display expect-lite variables and values

<esc>e

show Environment, display expect-lite environment

<esc>0to9

display next N lines of script

<esc>-1to-9

display last N lines of script

ctrl+d

Quit & Exit expect-lite

<esc>h

display Help

[pasted line(s)]

execute any pasted line(s) from a script into the IDE

[type any expect-lite line]

execute any typed expect-lite script line