Shell script problem with using the operators

scriptingshell-script

I am comparing two strings using the levenshtein distance algorithm. I got the PHP implementation of the algorithm from here. I am calling this php implementation from my shell script as below. 

levenshtein_return=$(php levensh.php "String1" "String2")

The levenshtein_return variable contains the value as 1 now as there is a single character difference.

Now, before inserting the value as such in database tables, I need to perform some arithmetic operations using this variable. I am trying to implement as,

table_value=$( expr( 1/ ( 1 + $levenshtein_return ) ) )

However, if I use the above syntax I am getting an error as,

line 52: syntax error near unexpected token `1'

How can I change the expr statement so that I can get the actual value for the table_value variable?

Best Answer

You shouldn't use expr in this case, try this:

table_value=$(( 1 / (1+$levenshtein_return) ))
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