> ROOTDEV=$(ssh $HOST awk < /boot/grub/grub.conf '/^#.*root=/ {print $5}')
>
> You had embedded single quotes. Also, you didn't need cat or grep. Also,
> the = sign and the # don't need to be backquoted. Also, the output of awk
> being assigned to ROOTDEV was simply being dropped.
also i'm rubbish at scripting!
thanks to all those who helped it now works fine
cheers