Command Substitution
Command substitution is the mechanism by which the shell performs a given set of
commands and then substitutes their output in the place of the commands.
Syntax:
The command substitution is performed when a command is given as:
`command`
When performing command substitution make sure that you are using the backquote,
not the single quote character.
Example:
Command substitution is generally used to assign the output of a command to a
variable. Each of the following examples demonstrate command substitution:
#!/bin/bash
DATE=`date`
echo "Date is $DATE"
USERS=`who | wc -l`
echo "Logged in user are $USERS"
UP=`date ; uptime`
echo "Uptime is $UP"
This will produce following result:
Date is Thu Jul 2 03:59:57 MST 2009
Logged in user are 1
Uptime is Thu Jul 2 03:59:57 MST 2009
03:59:57 up 20 days, 14:03, 1 user, load avg: 0.13, 0.07, 0.15
Shell Functions
Functions enable you to break down the overall functionality of a script into smaller,
logical subsections, which can then be called upon to perform their individual task when
it is needed.
Using functions to perform repetitive tasks is an excellent way to create code reuse.
Code reuse is an important part of modern object-oriented programming principles.
Shell functions are similar to subroutines, procedures, and functions in other
programming languages.
Creating Functions:
To declare a function, simply use the following syntax:
function_name () {
list of commands
}
The name of your function is function_name, and that's what you will use to call it from
elsewhere in your scripts. The function name must be followed by parentheses, which
are followed by a list of commands enclosed within braces.
Example:
Following is the simple example of using function:
#!/bin/bash
# Define your function here
Hello () {
echo "Hello World"
}
# Invoke your function
Hello
When you would execute above script it would produce following result:
$./test
Hello World
Pass Parameters to a Function:
You can define a function which would accept parameters while calling those function.
These parameters would be represented by $1, $2 and so on.
Following is an example where we pass two parameters Zara and Ali and then we
capture and print these parameters in the function.
#!/bin/sh
# Define your function here
Hello () {
echo "Hello World $1 $2"
}
# Invoke your function
Hello Zara Ali
This would produce following result:
$./[Link]
Hello World Zara Ali
Returning Values from Functions:
If you execute an exit command from inside a function, its effect is not only to terminate
execution of the function but also of the shell program that called the function.
If you instead want to just terminate execution of the function, then there is way to come
out of a defined function.
Based on the situation you can return any value from your function using
the return command whose syntax is as follows:
return code
Here code can be anything you choose here, but obviously you should choose
something that is meaningful or useful in the context of your script as a whole.
Example:
Following function returns a value 1:
#!/bin/sh
# Define your function here
Hello () {
echo "Hello World $1 $2"
return 10
}
# Invoke your function
Hello Zara Ali
# Capture value returnd by last command
ret=$?
echo "Return value is $ret"
This would produce following result:
$./[Link]
Hello World Zara Ali
Return value is 10
Nested Functions:
One of the more interesting features of functions is that they can call themselves as
well as call other functions. A function that calls itself is known as a recursive function.
Following simple example demonstrates a nesting of two functions:
#!/bin/sh
# Calling one function from another
number_one () {
echo "This is the first function speaking..."
number_two
}
number_two () {
echo "This is now the second function speaking..."
}
# Calling function one.
number_one
This would produce following result:
This is the first function speaking...
This is now the second function speaking...
Function Call from Prompt:
You can put definitions for commonly used functions inside your .profile so that they'll
be available whenever you log in and you can use them at command prompt.
Alternatively, you can group the definitions in a file, say [Link], and then execute the
file in the current shell by typing:
$. [Link]
This has the effect of causing any functions defined inside [Link] to be read in and
defined to the current shell as follows:
$ number_one
This is the first function speaking...
This is now the second function speaking...
To remove the definition of a function from the shell, you use the unset command with
the .f option. This is the same command you use to remove the definition of a variable
to the shell.
$unset -f function_name
User Interface
Good program/shell script must interact with users. Even you can create menus to
interact with user, first show menu option, then ask user to choose menu item, and take
appropriate action according to selected menu item, this technique is show in following
script:
#
# Script to create simple menus and take action according to that selected
# menu item
#
while :
do
clear
echo "-------------------------------------"
echo " Main Menu "
echo "-------------------------------------"
echo "[1] Show Todays date/time"
echo "[2] Show files in current directory"
echo "[3] Show calendar"
echo "[4] Start editor to write letters"
echo "[5] Exit/Stop"
echo "======================="
echo -n "Enter your menu choice [1-5]: "
read yourch
case $yourch in
1) echo "Today is `date` , press a key. . ." ; read ;;
2) echo "Files in `pwd`" ; ls -l ; echo "Press a key. . ." ; read ;;
3) cal ; echo "Press a key. . ." ; read ;;
4) nano ;;
5) exit 0 ;;
*) echo "Opps!!! Please select choice 1,2,3,4, or 5";
echo "Press a key. . ." ; read ;;
esac
done
Above all statement explained in following table:
Statement Explanation
Start infinite loop, this loop will only
while : break if you select 5 ( i.e. Exit/Stop
menu item) as your menu choice
do Start loop
clear Clear the screen, each and every time
echo "-------------------------------------"
echo " Main Menu "
echo "-------------------------------------"
echo "[1] Show Todays date/time"
echo "[2] Show files in current directory" Show menu on screen with menu items
echo "[3] Show calendar"
echo "[4] Start editor to write letters"
echo "[5] Exit/Stop"
echo "======================="
echo -n "Enter your menu choice [1-5]: " Ask user to enter menu item number
read yourch Read menu item number from user
case $yourch in
1) echo "Today is `date` , press a key. . ." ; read ;;
2) echo "Files in `pwd`" ;
ls -l ;
echo "Press a key. . ." ; Take appropriate action according to
read ;;
selected menu item, If menu item is not
3) cal ;
echo "Press a key. . ." ;
between 1 - 5, then show error and ask
read ;; user to input number between 1-5
4) nano ;; again
5) exit 0 ;;
*) echo "Opps!!! Please select choice 1,2,3,4, or 5";
echo "Press a key. . ." ; read ;;
esac
Stop loop , if menu item number is 5 (
done
i.e. Exit/Stop)
User interface usually includes, menus, different type of boxes like info box, message box,
Input box etc.