i=2 for dev in `grep '^drive name' /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info|sed 's/^[^\t]*\t//'` do [ "$dev" = "$1" ] && break i=$(($i+1)) done if [ "`grep '^Can write DVD-R:' /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info|cut -f $i`" = "1" ]; then echo "$1 is a dvd-writer!" else echo "$1 is not a dvd-writer!" fi