by borwick

Weird input problem with shell scripts

cat > caller.sh <<_CALLER_
#!/bin/bash

echo "weird" | ./reader.sh
_CALLER_

cat > reader.sh <<_READER_
:
#! /bin/sh

read TEST
echo "Got >$TEST<" # quote is for 'cat > reader.sh'
_READER_

chmod 755 caller.sh reader.sh
./caller.sh
# prints 'Got >weird<'
cat caller.sh | sh
# prints 'Got ><'

The main issue is, what is that ‘:’ doing on the first line of
reader.sh? When it’s gone, things work correctly.