Conditional

Statements
and Loops
in Bash
G. Anushiya Rachel
Shiv Nadar University,
Chennai
Conditional Statements

2
if-then
• Syntax1: • Syntax 3:
if command if command
then then
commands
commands
fi
elif
• Syntax 2:
then
if command
then commands
commands fi
else
commands
fi

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Example

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Examples

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Testing a condition
• Syntax:
if [ condition ] Note: space after [
then
commands
fi

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Example
Note: Floating-point
numbers cannot be used

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String Comparison

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Examples

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Checking Files

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Double Parenthesis for Math Expression
• if (( expression )); then statements; fi
• The expression can be any mathematical assignment or comparison.
• Additional operators available with double parenthesis:

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Example
val1=10
if (( $val1 ** 2 > 90 ))
then
(( val2 = $val1 ** 2 ))
echo "The square of $val1 is $val2"
fi

• Note [ [ expression ] ] can be used for advanced string comparisons using regular
expressions.

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$# and exit commands
• $# returns the number of command-line arguments
• To check and exit a program in the event of incorrect number of arguments:
if [ $# -ne 3 ]
then
echo “Enter 3 arguments”
exit
fi

• exit is used to abort a shell script/exit the shell

• Can be used provide a desired exit status code
• Example: exit 5

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Examples

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What if exit code exceeds 255?

If the assigned exit status code

exceeds 255, then the code is
made to fit between 0 and 255
by performing modulo with 256.

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case command
• Instead of using if-else to check the contents of same variable, use case.
• Syntax:
case variable in
pattern1 | pattern2) commands;*
pattern3) commands;*
** default commands;*
esac

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Example
case $USER in
rich | barbara)
echo "Welcome, $USER"
echo "Please enjoy your visit";*
testing)
echo "Special testing account";*
jessica)
echo "Do not forget to log off when you're done";*
**
echo "Sorry, you are not allowed here";*
esac

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Loops

19
for loop
• Syntax:
Try to use this list of words instead:
for var in list I don’t know if this’ll work
do
Use \ to escape the single quotes.
commands
done
• Example:
for test in Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California
Colorado
do
echo The next word is $test
done

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Example

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Reading list from variable, command
list="Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Colorado"
list=$list" Connecticut“ # Appends Connecticut to the string/list
for state in $list
do
echo "Have you ever visited $state?"
done

for state in $(cat file)

do
echo "Visit beautiful $state"
done

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Changing the Field Separator
• By default, the bash shell uses spaces, newlines, and tab spaces as field separators.
• This can be changed by temporarily changing the environment variable IFS in the script.
• IFS = $’\n’ # to recognize only new line as field separator
• IFS = : # set field separator to :
• IFS = $’\n’:;” # set a list of field separators

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Iterate through files in a directory
for file in /home/rich/test/*
do
if [ -d "$file" ]
then
echo $file is a directory“
elif [ -f "$file" ]
then
echo "$file is a file"
fi
done

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Combining lists
for file in /home/rich/.b* /home/rich/testfile
do
if [ -d "$file" ]
then
echo "$file is a directory"
elif [ -f "$file" ]
then
echo "$file is a file"
else
echo "$file doesn't exist"
fi
done

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C-Style for loop
• Syntax:
for (( variable assignment ; condition ; iteration process ))
• Example: for (( a = 1; a < 10; a++ ))
• Notice these changes from standard bash
• The assignment of the variable value can contain spaces.
• The variable in the condition isn’t preceded with a dollar sign.
• The equation for the iteration process doesn’t use the expr command format.

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Examples

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while
• Syntax:
while command
do
commands
done
• Format for command is the same as that in if-then statements.
• Example:
var1=10
while [ $var1 -gt 0 ]
do
echo $var1
var1=$[ $var1 - 1 ]
done
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Multi-command while
• You can also use multiple test commands in a while command. However, the loop ends
only based on the last test command.
• Each test command must be on a separate line or separated by ;
• Example:
var1=10
while echo $var1
[ $var1 -ge 0 ]
do
echo "This is inside the loop"
var1=$[ $var1 - 1 ]
done

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until
• Syntax:
until commands
do
commands
done
• Example:
var1=100
until [ $var1 -eq 0 ]
do
echo $var1
var1=$[ $var1 - 25 ]
done

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break and continue
• break – to escape a loop
• continue - stop processing commands inside of a loop but not terminate the loop
completely
• Example:
for var1 in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do
if [ $var1 -eq 5 ]
then
break
fi
echo "Iteration number: $var1"
done
echo "The for loop is completed"
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Breaking out of an inner loop
for (( a = 1; a < 4; a+* ))
do
echo "Outer loop: $a"
for (( b = 1; b < 100; b+* ))
do
if [ $b -eq 5 ]
then
break
fi
echo " Inner loop: $b"
done
done

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Breaking out of an outer loop (break n)
for (( a = 1; a < 4; a+* ))
do
echo "Outer loop: $a"
for (( b = 1; b < 100; b+* ))
do
if [ $b -gt 4 ]
then
break 2
fi
echo " Inner loop: $b"
done
done

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continue – Example
for (( var1 = 1; var1 < 15; var1+* ))
do
if [ $var1 -gt 5 ] &* [ $var1 -lt 10 ]
then
continue
fi
echo "Iteration number: $var1"
done

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continue n
for (( a = 1; a <* 5; a+* ))
do
echo "Iteration $a:"
for (( b = 1; b < 3; b+* ))
do
if [ $a -gt 2 ] &* [ $a -lt 4 ]
then
continue 2
fi
var3=$[ $a * $b ]
echo " The result of $a * $b is $var3"
done
done

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Practice Questions
• Check if a number is even or odd using case.
• Check if filetype is .txt, or .sh, or .py
• Print squares of the numbers 5, 10, 12, 2, 4 using a for loop.
• Print the first line of each txt file in a directory using a for loop.
• Read numbers from a user until the sum exceeds 100. (Use while)
• Print prime numbers less than N. (Get N from the user. Use until)

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