HTML to text conversion in shell script

Question

I wrote a shell script to convert HTML source to plain text using lynx.

Here it is:

#!/bin/sh

if [ -f = "/usr/bin/lynx" ]
  then
    if [ -f = "$1" ]
      then
        lynx -dump $1 > $2
      else
        echo "File $1 does not exist!"
    fi
  else
    echo "Lynx is not installed!"
fi

Now, although lynx exists in the right directory, and I pass correct arguments I get either "Lyns is not installed!" message or (if I comment the first test) "File $1 does not exist!". I'm not to good at sh so could someone tell me what is wrong with the script?

Answer 1

I think the first if is wrong and should be replaced with

if [ -f /usr/bin/lynx ]

Answer 2

Try removing the "-f =" and keeping it just "-f"

Answer 3

It's like that now:

#!/bin/sh

if [ -f /usr/bin/lynx ]
  then
    if [ -f $1 ]
      then
        lynx -dump $1 > $2
      else
        echo "File $1 does not exist!"
    fi
  else
    echo "Lynx is not installed!"
fi

And the problem with tests is gone, but now I get this error:

line 7: $2: ambiguous redirect

although

lynx -dump site.html > site.txt works fine if run from console

Answer 4

LINKS=`which links`
if [ -x $LINKS ]; then
   ...
else
   ...
endif

What if it's not installed in /usr/bin/? What if for some reason it's not executable?