Script error: –le: binary operator expected

I'm just starting shell scripting and I got errors trying to execute the follow script:

I have the following script in a script.sh file

echo “enter a value”
read n
s=0
i=0
while [ $i –le $n ]
do if [ `expr $i%2` -eq 0 ] then s= `expr $s + $i ` fi i= `expr $i + 1`
done
echo “sum of n even numbers”
echo $s

Script output:

akhil@akhil-Inspiron-5559:~/Desktop/temp$ chmod 755 script.sh
akhil@akhil-Inspiron-5559:~/Desktop/temp$ ./script.sh
“enter a value”
3
./script.sh: line 5: [: –le: binary operator expected
“sum of n even numbers”
0

What is the source of the error I got?

2 Answers

The source of the error: [: –le: binary operator expected is the fact you are using the unicode version of – instead of the regular -

Note: The same apply for the unicode ” you are using instead of regular "

I've reformat your code to be as follows:

#!/bin/bash
echo "enter a value"
read -r n
s=0
i=0
while [ $i -le "$n" ] do if [ "$(expr $i%2)" -eq 0 ] then s=$(expr $s + $i) fi i=$(expr $i + 1)
done
echo "sum of n even numbers"
echo "$s"

I made the following changes:

• Replaced the unicode version of chars you used
• Added #!/bin/bash
• Deleted space after the = sign
• Some extra improvements.

2

Yaron's answer helps you understand and remove the syntax errors.

My answer uses some 'nicer' syntax to do the same thing and something else, that might be what you want.

#!/bin/bash
read -p "enter a number: " n
s=0
i=1
j=0
while [ $i -le $n ]
do if [ $(( i % 2 )) -eq 0 ] then s=$(( s + i )) j=$(( j + 1 )) fi i=$(( i + 1 ))
# uncomment: remove the '#' from the beginning of the line
# echo "i=$i" # uncomment to get debug output
done
#echo "n=$n" # uncomment to get debug output
#echo "j=$j" # uncomment to get debug output
#echo "s=$s" # uncomment to get debug output
echo "Is this what you want?"
echo "sum of $j even numbers ( <= $n ) = $s"
echo "or is this what you want?"
s=0
for ((i=1;i<=n;i++))
do echo -n "$(( 2*i )) " s=$(( s + 2*i ))
done
echo ""
echo "sum of $n even numbers = $s"

Running test examples,

$ ./sum-of-even-numbers
enter a number: 3
Is this what you want?
sum of 1 even numbers ( <= 3 ) = 2
or is this what you want?
2 4 6
sum of 3 even numbers = 12
$ ./sum-of-even-numbers
enter a number: 4
Is this what you want?
sum of 2 even numbers ( <= 4 ) = 6
or is this what you want?
2 4 6 8
sum of 4 even numbers = 20
$ ./sum-of-even-numbers
enter a number: 6
Is this what you want?
sum of 3 even numbers ( <= 6 ) = 12
or is this what you want?
2 4 6 8 10 12
sum of 6 even numbers = 42

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