Expect is known primarily as an indispensable application for system administrators.  Amazingly enough, it is, at its heart, Just Another [Tcl] Extension (JATE).

People use Expect to automate interaction with non-[GUI] (and typically non-cursor-controlled, even though a persevering Expect programmer can tackle them, too) applications that prompt the user for input.

Examples of commands that often appear in Expect scripts are the [Unix] passwd, [ftp], [telnet], and command-line shells.  Expect is the natural answer for those who want to automate password changes, or periodically update FTP sites, or check the statuses of a collection of remote systems by logging in.

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'''External Resources''':

http://expect.nist.gov/ is the home Web site for Expect.  It supplies sources and considerable history, background, and instruction.  It does fail to mention, though, recognition
[http://nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/sp958-lide/cntsp958.htm]
of Expect as one of the 100 most important publications of NIST's [http://www.nist.gov] first century.

This package is part of the [ActiveTcl] Batteries Included distribution on unix and an up-to-date Windows version is available commercially [http://www.activestate.com/Products/Expect/].

[ActiveState] maintains online copies of documentation at [http://www.tcl.tk/man/expect5.31/index.html].

There's an expect FAQ here: http://expect.nist.gov/FAQ.html

There's a book called [BOOK Exploring Expect]

[CL] keeps a bit of supplementary information on Expect at [http://phaseit.net/claird/comp.lang.tcl/expect.html].

[Expect External Resources] gives pointers some more wiki-external Expect material.

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'''Wiki-Local Expect Resources''':

[Expect FAQ]

[Expect Hints and Tips]

[Expect Examples]

[Expect Tutorials]

[Debugging Expect programs]

[Remote input-output with Expect]

[Secure expect]

[Expect for languages other than Tcl]

[Most programmers don't know what Expect can do for them]

[I am new to Expect]

[Event-oriented Expect]

[Expect vs. Tcl]

[Network programming with Expect]

[Expect and Tclkit]

"[Expect and choice]"

[overlay]

Simplify the [handling of ANSI terminals using Expect] or [send special characters]

[Stubsification of Expect]
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'''Expect Articles'''

Don explains how far from trivial pty management is, and other lessons,
in his memoir [http://expect.nist.gov/doc/seven-years.html] on Expect's first seven years.

"Expect--the only language you need" [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-sc1/?n-l-4112]

"Expect:  The Firefighter's Friend" [http://www.samag.com/documents/s=7237/sam0207a/0207a.htm]

"Unknown Expect"
[http://www.samag.com/documents/s=9035/sam0402web1/]

"Test-driven development, Expect, and Systems Administration"
[http://www.samag.com/documents/s=7824/sam0312web2/sam0312web2.htm]
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[LV] Note that expect is also a command that is a part of the expect extension; see http://www.tcl.tk/man/expect5.31/expect.1.html for the doc.


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[Category Expect]
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[Category Command]
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