Read the chat script from the chat file. The use of this option is mutually exclusive with the chat script parameters. The user must have read access to the file. Multiple lines are permitted in the file. Space or horizontal tab characters should be used to separate the strings.
-t <timeout>
Set the timeout for the expected string to be received. If the string is not received within the time limit then the reply string is not sent. An alternate reply may be sent or the script will fail if there is no alternate reply string. A failed script will cause the chat program to terminate with a non-zero error code.
-r <report file>
Set the file for output of the report strings. If you use the keyword REPORT, the resulting strings are written to this file. If this option is not used and you still use REPORT keywords, the stderr file is used for the report strings.
-e
Start with the echo option turned on. Echoing may also be turned on or off at specific points in the chat script by using the ECHO keyword. When echoing is enabled, all output from the modem is echoed to stderr.
-v
Request that the chat script be executed in a verbose mode. The chat program will then log the execution state of the chat script as well as all text received from the modem and the output strings sent to the modem. The default is to log through syslog(3); the logging method may be altered with the -S and -s flags. Logging is done to the local2 facility at level info for verbose tracing and level err for some errors.
-V
Request that the chat script be executed in a stderr verbose mode. The chat program will then log all text received from the modem and the output strings sent to the modem to the stderr device. This device is usually the local console at the station running the chat or pppd program.
-s
Use stderr. All log messages from ’-v’ and all error messages will be sent to stderr.
-S
Do not use syslog(3). By default, error messages are sent to syslog(3). The use of -S will prevent both log messages from ’-v’ and error messages from being sent to syslog(3).
-T <phone number>
Pass in an arbitrary string, usually a phone number, that will be substituted for the \T substitution metacharacter in a send string.
-U <phone number 2>
Pass in a second string, usually a phone number, that will be substituted for the \U substitution metacharacter in a send string. This is useful when dialing an ISDN terminal adapter that requires two numbers.
script
If the script is not specified in a file with the -f option then the script is included as parameters to the chat program.
This line indicates that the chat program should expect the string "ogin:". If it fails to receive a login prompt within the time interval allotted, it is to send a break sequence to the remote and then expect the string "ogin:". If the first "ogin:" is received then the break sequence is not generated.
Once it received the login prompt the chat program will send the string ppp and then expect the prompt "ssword:". When it receives the prompt for the password, it will send the password hello2u2.
A carriage return is normally sent following the reply string. It is not expected in the "expect" string unless it is specifically requested by using the \r character sequence.
The expect sequence should contain only what is needed to identify the string. Since it is normally stored on a disk file, it should not contain variable information. It is generally not acceptable to look for time strings, network identification strings, or other variable pieces of data as an expect string.
To help correct for characters which may be corrupted during the initial sequence, look for the string "ogin:" rather than "login:". It is possible that the leading "l" character may be received in error and you may never find the string even though it was sent by the system. For this reason, scripts look for "ogin:" rather than "login:" and "ssword:" rather than "password:".
A very simple script might look like this:
ogin: ppp ssword: hello2u2
In other words, expect ....ogin:, send ppp, expect ...ssword:, send hello2u2.
In actual practice, simple scripts are rare. At the vary least, you should include sub-expect sequences should the original string not be received. For example, consider the following script:
ogin:--ogin: ppp ssword: hello2u2
This would be a better script than the simple one used earlier. This would look for the same login: prompt, however, if one was not received, a single return sequence is sent and then it will look for login: again. Should line noise obscure the first login prompt then sending the empty line will usually generate a login prompt again.
ABORT BUSY ABORT ’NO CARRIER’ ’’ ATZ OK ATDT5551212 CONNECT
This sequence will expect nothing; and then send the string ATZ. The expected response to this is the string OK. When it receives OK, the string ATDT5551212 to dial the telephone. The expected string is CONNECT. If the string CONNECT is received the remainder of the script is executed. However, should the modem find a busy telephone, it will send the string BUSY. This will cause the string to match the abort character sequence. The script will then fail because it found a match to the abort string. If it received the string NO CARRIER, it will abort for the same reason. Either string may be received. Either string will terminate the chat script.
ABORT BUSY ECHO OFF SAY "Dialling your ISP...\n" ’’ ATDT5551212 TIMEOUT 120 SAY "Waiting up to 2 minutes for connection ... " CONNECT ’’ SAY "Connected, now logging in ...\n" ogin: account ssword: pass $ SAY "Logged in OK ...\n" etc ...
This sequence will only present the SAY strings to the user and all the details of the script will remain hidden. For example, if the above script works, the user will see:
Dialling your ISP... Waiting up to 2 minutes for connection ... Connected, now logging in ... Logged in OK ...
This sequence will expect nothing; and then send the string ATDT5551212 to dial the telephone. The expected string is CONNECT. If the string CONNECT is received the remainder of the script is executed. In addition the program will write to the expect-file the string "CONNECT" plus any characters which follow it such as the connection rate.
This will change the timeout to 10 seconds when it expects the login: prompt. The timeout is then changed to 5 seconds when it looks for the password prompt.
The timeout, once changed, remains in effect until it is changed again.
Expects or sends a null string. If you send a null string then it will still send the return character. This sequence may either be a pair of apostrophe or quote characters.
\\b
represents a backspace character.
\\c
Suppresses the newline at the end of the reply string. This is the only method to send a string without a trailing return character. It must be at the end of the send string. For example, the sequence hello\c will simply send the characters h, e, l, l, o. (not valid in expect.)
\\d
Delay for one second. The program uses sleep(1) which will delay to a maximum of one second. (not valid in expect.)
\\K
Insert a BREAK (not valid in expect.)
\\n
Send a newline or linefeed character.
\\N
Send a null character. The same sequence may be represented by \0. (not valid in expect.)
\\p
Pause for a fraction of a second. The delay is 1/10th of a second. (not valid in expect.)
\\q
Suppress writing the string to syslogd(8). The string ?????? is written to the log in its place. (not valid in expect.)
\\r
Send or expect a carriage return.
\\s
Represents a space character in the string. This may be used when it is not desirable to quote the strings which contains spaces. The sequence ’HI TIM’ and HI\sTIM are the same.
\\t
Send or expect a tab character.
\\\\
Send or expect a backslash character.
\\ddd
Collapse the octal digits (ddd) into a single ASCII character and send that character. (some characters are not valid in expect.)
^C
Substitute the sequence with the control character represented by C. For example, the character DC1 (17) is shown as ^Q. (some characters are not valid in expect.)
The normal termination of the program. This indicates that the script was executed without error to the normal conclusion.
1
One or more of the parameters are invalid or an expect string was too large for the internal buffers. This indicates that the program as not properly executed.
2
An error occurred during the execution of the program. This may be due to a read or write operation failing for some reason or chat receiving a signal such as SIGINT.
3
A timeout event occurred when there was an expect string without having a "-subsend" string. This may mean that you did not program the script correctly for the condition or that some unexpected event has occurred and the expected string could not be found.
4
The first string marked as an ABORT condition occurred.
5
The second string marked as an ABORT condition occurred.
6
The third string marked as an ABORT condition occurred.
7
The fourth string marked as an ABORT condition occurred.
...
The other termination codes are also strings marked as an ABORT condition.
Using the termination code, it is possible to determine which event terminated the script. It is possible to decide if the string "BUSY" was received from the modem as opposed to "NO DIAL TONE". While the first event may be retried, the second will probably have little chance of succeeding during a retry.
