Repeat terminal command until specified output
Set a condition for the while loop
If you replace
while true
by:
while [ "$(dropbox status)" != "Up to date" ]
it works as you describe.
The command
To stop/start Dropbox
and finish after synchronizing is done becomes then:
dropbox stop && dropbox start && while [ "$(dropbox status)" != "Up to date" ]; do dropbox status; sleep 1; done
Or better (to prevent doubling dropbox status
):
dropbox stop && dropbox start && while [ "$(dropbox status)" != "Up to date" ]; do echo "Updating"; sleep 1 ; done && echo "Finished"
Explanation
while true
is waiting for a break condition inside the loop (which never comes), but while [ "$(dropbox status)" != "Up to date"
makes the loop break if dropbox status
returns Up to date
As Jacob says, use the condition on the loop. I suggest an until
loop:
dropbox stop && dropbox start &&
until dropbox status | grep -q "Up to date";
do
sleep 1;
done
until
runs until the command returns true, that's when dropbox status
output contains Up to date
.