Bash – Timeout a script with stdin

bashtimeout

I need something like this:

timeout -k 4 cat file | myscript.sh

but i get this error:

timeout: invalid time interval ‘cat’
Try 'timeout --help' for more information.

I want to pass stdin to myscript.sh, and kill it after 4s of execution.

Best Answer

Upon reading the output of timeout --help (as suggested by the output in your question), I found that you are not using the proper arguments for the timeout command.

The format of the command is: timeout [OPTION] DURATION COMMAND [ARG]...

And the -k option also takes a DURATION argument. So when using -k,there must be two DURATION arguments.

So a proper format could be: timeout -k 6 4 cat file | myscript.sh

It is not going to change much though. cat doesn't block the TERM signal, so sending a KILL signal isn't necessary. And even if you do kill cat, that is no guarantee that the script terminates. It just means the script will get EOF, in case it tries to read any more from stdin.

You are probably better off putting a timeout on the script instead of the cat command.

Related Solutions

Bash – An SQLite/STDIN Conundrum, Specific to AIX

If you're actually using Bash and AIX supports process substitution (which I believe is platform dependent), this might work for you:

Demo:

cat <(echo 'test')

Your command:

sqlite3 test.db '.import '<(echo test)' test'

Bash – Testing for a script that is waiting on stdin

It would really help if you were a lot more specific about your script and/or command. But in case what you want to do is test where stdin is coming from, this example script will demonstrate that for you:

#!/bin/bash
if [[ -p /dev/stdin ]]
then
    echo "stdin is coming from a pipe"
fi
if [[ -t 0 ]]
then
    echo "stdin is coming from the terminal"
fi
if [[ ! -t 0 && ! -p /dev/stdin ]]
then
    echo "stdin is redirected"
fi
read
echo "$REPLY"

Example runs:

$ echo "hi" | ./demo
stdin is coming from a pipe
$ ./demo
[press ctrl-d]
stdin is coming from the terminal
$ ./demo < inputfile
stdin is redirected
$ ./demo <<< hello
stdin is redirected
$ ./demo <<EOF
goodbye
EOF
stdin is redirected

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Bash – An SQLite/STDIN Conundrum, Specific to AIX

Bash – Testing for a script that is waiting on stdin

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