Re: Incorrect value 0 reported in command execution return value variable $?, when trying with expect->send command

[Corion]

I don't know much about Expect, but what you are calling as command is really calling a shell executable and passing it that command. I venture that whatever shell you are using is not passing the exit code upwards, or, as a shell, is actually running OK and thus exits with exit code 0. Also see the documentation of Expect on ->exitstatus maybe.

[Davewhite]

The same piece of code is working fine and returning correct return when executed on the same shell manually

I was thinking that all the collective input to expect->send command also executes on the some shell, so it should contain the command execution status value rather than the shell exit value, as the "echo COMMAND_RET:$?" gets executed before the shell exit.

[Corion]

I'm sorry! On rereading your original post, I realize you are using double quotes:

 $exp->send("$command ; echo COMMAND_RET:$? | sed 's/^/COMMAND_OUT: /g
+'; echo -n END_; echo EXPECT\n");

So your command is not actually what you send over the wire. Use

my $cmd = "$command ; echo COMMAND_RET:$? | sed 's/^/COMMAND_OUT: /g';
+ echo -n END_; echo EXPECT\n";
warn "Sending command [$cmd]";
$exp->send($cmd);

for debugging such issues. Personally, when dealing with interpolating data into strings, I prefer sprintf over plain interpolation:

my $cmd = sprintf q{%s; echo COMMAND_RET:$? | sed 's/^/COMMAND_OUT: /g
+'; echo -n END_; echo EXPECT\n}, $command;
warn "Sending command [$cmd]";
$exp->send($cmd);