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Article:
  AppleScript Primer for Mac OS X
Subject:   CLI & Applescript
Date:   2002-02-12 17:44:55
From:   bwperry
Response to: CLI & Applescript

You can do a lot with AppleScript (AS) and "do shell script", which uses /bin/sh as the shell (as far as I know). Take the commands that you want to integrate into an AS and test them first with a "do shell script" command used in a simple script; experiment a bit. This is a new technology. I've found that certain types of shell commands passed to "do shell script" as arguments, such as the "history" command, will return errors.


As I suggested in my article, this has a lot of potential for combining advanced desktop automation with the wealth of Unix shell commands (particularly when given a user interface in Studio). I'd imagine that Apple would continue to refine and enhance what the scripter can accomplish with "do shell script."


I'd like this to become a recurring column. Email the O'Reily editors and make a request :)