macOS Automator run Expect Script

Question

How do I run a expect script in macOS Automator?

As it is possible to see in the picture, there is no such option

its a script of type:

!/usr/bin/expect

Welcome to AskDifferent, thank you for your post but it is more than a little unclear exactly what is going on. What is an "Expect Script?" If you can clarify and tell us (at least) what version of macOS you are running. Any more details on what is happening, what is expected and what troubleshooting steps you have already taken would also be helpful. — Steve Chambers, Oct 1, 2018 at 17:44
If expect script is some kind of shell, just select sh and invoke the expect script binary before running your command. — Wowfunhappy, Oct 1, 2018 at 18:03
The picture is the headers Automator give me to load with "execute shell script option". so, i would just select /bin/sh and then how can i run my expect script? i tryed select sh in dropdown window and then use "expect /absolute/path/to/my/script.sh" which is an expect script and did not work — Leonardo Benicio, Oct 2, 2018 at 12:24
You need to tell expect that it will read from a file. Either the shebang should be #! /usr/bin/expect -f and called directly or called as /usr/bin/expect -f /path/to/script. — fd0, Oct 2, 2018 at 16:38

Graham Miln · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-04 10:36:14Z

1

expect can be called from an Automator action but it must be indirect.

Within your Automator Run Shell Script action, call out to expect with something like:

#!/bin/sh
expect -f /absolute/path/to/expect/script

answered Oct 2, 2018 at 8:25

Graham Miln

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I tried that but it just does not execute the expect script
– Leonardo Benicio
Oct 2, 2018 at 12:25
Have you tested expect's exit status? Are you sure the path is correct? Does the command work when issued via Terminal.app? See stackoverflow.com/questions/951336/how-to-debug-a-bash-script for help doing this.
– Graham Miln
Oct 2, 2018 at 12:46
1

yes, it works fine in terminal, unfortunately, didn't try printing debug messages on Automator, I will try to debug some msg in Automator and reply back
– Leonardo Benicio
Oct 3, 2018 at 20:42

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