Re: [Expectperl-discuss] trying to capture multiple matches across many lines

[Matt Z. <mzagrabe@d.umn.edu>]

On Wed, 2007-11-14 at 15:39 -0600, Noah wrote:

[...]

> is there a way to capture the output with perl-expect into an array?

Here are some snippets of what I have done in the past, though I do
things a little differently now, you will get the idea... hopefully. ;)

Subroutine to send a command to Cisco devices and capture the output in
the scalar reference $receive_buffer.

sub send_and_receive {
  my $configs =3D shift;
  my $send_string =3D shift;
  my $receive_buffer =3D shift;
  my $command =3D shift;
  my $wait_for_found =3D (@_) ? shift : undef;
  my $more_output =3D (@_) ? shift : '--More--';
  my $continue_command =3D (@_) ? shift : " ";=20
  my $wait_for =3D (@_) ? shift : '>$';
 =20
  # send whatever it is we are to send
  $command->put($send_string);

  # now wait for the "wait_for" meanwhile saving
  # all the output into receive_buffer
  my $done =3D undef;
  until ($done) {
    my ($prematch, $match) =3D (undef, undef);
    ($prematch, $match) =3D
      $command->waitfor(Match =3D> '/'.$more_output.'/i',
                        Match =3D> '/'.$wait_for.'/i',
                        Match =3D> '/\\[X\\] Exit.*:/ism',
                        Timeout =3D> $configs->{management_timeout});

    if ($receive_buffer ne undef) {
      $$receive_buffer .=3D $prematch.$match;
    }   =20

    if ($match =3D~ /$more_output/i) {
      $command->put($continue_command);
    } elsif ($match =3D~ /$wait_for/) {
      $$wait_for_found =3D 1 if ($wait_for_found);
      $done =3D 1;=20
    } elsif ($match =3D~ /\[X\] Exit.*:/ism) {
      $$wait_for_found =3D 1 if ($wait_for_found);
      $done =3D 1;=20
    }   =20
  }
}

$text_io =3D '';
&send_and_receive($configs,
                  "show interface status\n",
                  \$text_io,
                  $connection,
                  \$found_prompt);

my @lines =3D split /\n/, $text_io;
for (@lines) {
  $_ =3D &trim($_);
}

sub trim {
  my $s =3D shift;
  $s =3D~ s/^\s*//;
  $s =3D~ s/\s*$//;
  return $s;
} =20

--=20
Matt Zagrabelny - mzagrabe@d.umn.edu - (218) 726 8844
University of Minnesota Duluth
Information Technology Systems & Services
PGP key 1024D/84E22DA2 2005-11-07
Fingerprint: 78F9 18B3 EF58 56F5 FC85  C5CA 53E7 887F 84E2 2DA2

He is not a fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot
lose.
-Jim Elliot