simeon

     echo "**********************"     echo "Adding a new inhabitant..."     echo "**********************"     echo -n "Give me the first name of the inhabitant: "     read fname     echo -n "Give me the last name: "     read lname     echo -n "Give me the room number: "     read room     exists="true"     while [ $exists == "true" ]; do     echo -n "Please give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: "     read code     gawk '{print $NF}' apartment |         if ( grep -q $code ); then                                  echo "The code exists"                          else                                 echo "Code successfully added"                                 exists="false"                                 echo "Now \"exists\" is $exists "                                          fi     done     echo "Inhabitant:  $fname   $lname with room number $room live on $code" >> inhabitant_file     echo Here is the apartment file:Name of the apartment:  "house1" with code :: 90 Name of the apartment:  "house2!" with code :: 80 Name of the apartment: "rush hour" with code :: 100 Name of the apartment: "fly away" :: 10 Name of the apartment: "flying high" :: 20 Name of the apartment: "into the summer sky" with code :: 50 Here is some strange output:Give me the first name of the inhabitant: test1Give me the last name: checkGive me the room number: A50Please give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 90The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 80The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 100The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 10The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 20The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 50The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 1The code exists   Please give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 2The code existsPlease give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: 3Code successfully addedNow "exists" is false Please give me the code of the apartment you want to be added: **********QUSETION 1: Code 1 exists?something wrong from grep? I see that it doesn't..QUESTION 2:What can be done for the loop to break so the script writes the variables into the file?***********