SHELL SCRIPTING
• Create a file with .sh extension.
• hash (#) ➔ Any line starting with a hash (#)
becomes (comment). Comment means, that line
will not take part in script execution. It will not
show up in the output
1. Variable Names:-
• The name of a variable can contain only letters (a to z or
A to Z), numbers ( 0 to 9) or the underscore character (
_).
Valid variable names :−
_ALI
TOKEN_A
VAR_1
VAR_2
Invalid variable names: −
2_VAR
-VARIABLE
VAR1-VAR2
VAR_A!
2. Defining Variables:-
VAR1="positive"
VAR2=108
o Variables of this type are called scalar variables. A scalar
variable can hold only one value at a time.
3. Accessing Values:-
o To access the value stored in a variable, prefix its name
with the dollar sign ($)
NAME="Zara Ali"
$NAME
Eg :- echo $NAME
4. Read-only Variables:-
o It mark variables as read-only by using the read-only
command. After a variable is marked read-only, its value
cannot be changed.
For example:-
NAME="Zara Ali"
readonly NAME
NAME="Qadiri"
result :−
$: NAME: This variable is read only.
5. Unsetting Variables:-
o Unsetting or deleting, remove the variable from the list
of variables. Once you unset a variable, you cannot
access the stored value in the variable.
o You cannot use the unset command to unset variables
that are marked readonly.
NAME="Zara Ali"
unset NAME
echo $NAME
6. Variable Types:-
o Local Variables − It present within the current
instance of the shell. It is not available to programs that
are started by the shell. They are set at the command
prompt.
o Environment Variables −It available to any child
process of the shell. Some programs need environment
variables in order to function correctly.
o Shell Variables − It a special variable that is set by
the shell and is required by the shell in order to function
correctly. Some of these are environment variables
others are local variables.
$0 ➔ The filename of the current script.
$n ➔ correspond to the arguments with a script was
invoked. n is a positive decimal number corresponding to an
argument (the first argument is $1, the second argument is
$2, and so on).
$# ➔ The number of arguments supplied to a script.
$* ➔All the arguments are double quoted. If a script
receives two arguments, $* is equivalent to $1 $2.
$@➔All the arguments are individually double quoted. If a
script receives two arguments, $@ is equivalent to $1 $2.
$? ➔The exit status of the last command executed.
$$ ➔The process number of the current shell. For shell
scripts, this is the process ID under which they are executing.
$! ➔The process number of the last background command.
Shift ➔ command is a built-in command. Command takes
number as argument. Arguments shift down by this number.
Eg :- if number is 5, then $5 become $1, $6 become $2
and so on.
Read ➔ command allows a user to provide the runtime
input.
Eg :- enter ur name :
read name
source ➔Use of external configuration files prevents a user
from making changes to a script. Config file is added with the
help of source command.
o If a script is shared in many users and every user need a
different configuration file, then instead of changing the
script each time simply include the config files.
getopts ➔ options are used in shell scripts to parse
arguments passed to them. arguments are passed on the
command line, getopts parse those arguments instead of
command lines.(like switch case in java)
eg without argument:-
OPTSTRING=":ab"
while getopts ${OPTSTRING} opt;
do
case ${opt} in
a)
echo "Option -a was triggered."
;;
b)
echo "Option -b was triggered."
;;
?)
echo "Invalid option: -${OPTARG}."
exit 1
;;
esac
done
eg with argument:-
OPTSTRING=":x:y:"
while getopts ${OPTSTRING} opt;
do
case ${opt} in
x)
echo "Option -x was triggered, Argument:
${OPTARG}"
;;
y)
echo "Option -y was triggered, Argument:
${OPTARG}"
;;
:)
echo "Option -${OPTARG} requires an argument."
exit 1
;;
?)
echo "Invalid option: -${OPTARG}."
exit 1
;;
esac
done
7. if then else:-
&& ➔ Logical AND
$0 ➔ Argument 0 i.e. the command that’s used to run
the script
$1 ➔ First argument (change number to access
further arguments)
-eq ➔ Equality check
-ne ➔ Inequality check
-lt ➔ Less Than
-le ➔ Less Than or Equal
-gt ➔ Greater Than
-ge ➔ Greater Than or Equal
Eg:-
m=1
n=2
if [ $n -eq $m ]
then
echo "Both variables are the same"
else
echo "Both variables are different"
fi
(fi ➔ terminate entire loop , without fi loop run every
single time)
8. if then elif:-
a=10
b=20
if [ $a == $b ]
then
echo "a is equal to b"
elif [ $a -gt $b ]
then
echo "a is greater than b"
elif [ $a -lt $b ]
then
echo "a is less than b"
else
echo "None of the condition met"
fi
9. for loop:-
o for i in 1 2 3 4 5
do
echo "Welcome $i times"
done
o for (( c=1; c<=5; c++ ))
do
echo "Welcome $c times"
done
10. while loop:-
o a=7
while [ $a -gt 4 ];
do
echo $a
((a–))
Done
11. until loop:-
The ‘until’ loop is a unique looping mechanism that runs
a block of code repeatedly until a specified condition
becomes true. It essentially works in the opposite
manner of the ‘while’ loop
o i=10
until [ $i == 1 ]
do
echo "$i is not equal to 1";
i=$((i-1))
done
12. Shell Functions:-
a function can be divided into smaller or logical parts, which
can be called to perform their task. It helps to check our
program part by part. We can reuse the function where ever
we want.
1. The functions with return:-
find_avg(){
len=$#
sum=0
for x in "$@"
do
sum=$((sum + x))
done
avg=$((sum/len))
return $avg
}
find_avg 30 40 50 60
printf "%f" "$?"
printf "\n"
2. The functions with ‘exit’ keyword:-
is_odd(){
x=$1
if [ $((x%2)) == 0 ];
then
echo "Invalid Input"
exit 1
else
echo "Number is Odd"
fi
}
is_odd 64
3. The functions with variable:-
a=1
increment(){
a=$((a+1))
return
}
increment
echo "$a"
4. The functions with echo standard output:-
hello_world(){
echo "Hello World"
return
}
hello_world
13. Shell Scripting case:-
o You can match several variables against one
variable. Each case is an expression matching a
certain pattern.
DEPARTMENT="Computer Science"
echo -n "Your DEPARTMENT is "
case $DEPARTMENT in
"Computer Science")
echo -n "Computer Science"
;;
"Electrical and Electronics Engineering" | "Electrical
Engineering")
echo -n "Electrical and Electronics Engineering or Electrical
Engineering"
;;
"Information Technology" | "Electronics and
Communication")
echo -n "Information Technology or Electronics and
Communication"
;;
*)
echo -n "Invalid"
;;
esac
14. Shell Scripting eval command:-
o eval is a built-in Linux command which is used to
execute arguments as a shell command. It
combines arguments into a single string and uses it
as an input to the shell and execute the commands.
Eg:-
command="echo \$(date)"
eval "$command"
15. Shell Scripting let command:-
o The let command is an arithmetic operator. It is
almost same as (( )). Only difference is that, let is an
arithmetic command while (( )) is a compound
command.
Eg:-
let "myvar =2" "myvar1=1" "myvar2=myvar1+myvar";
echo $myvar2
let "myvar =2" "myvar1=1" "myvar2=myvar1-myvar";
echo $myvar2
let "myvar =2" "myvar1=1" "myvar2=myvar1*myvar";
echo $myvar2
let "myvar =2" "myvar1=1" "myvar2=myvar1/myvar";
echo $myvar2
let "myvar =2" "myvar1=1" "myvar2=myvar1%myvar";
echo $myvar2