Birla Institute of Technology & Science - Pilani,

K. K. BIRLA Goa campus

Material for Evaluation #1
(Shell Script)
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Objectives
1. Introduction
2. More Decision Making Constructs in Shell
3. Looping Constructs in Shell
4. Exercises with solution
5. Additional Exercises

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1. Introduction
In the last lab (lab 2) we learned how to write an interactive shell script, how to use system
defined variables and how to define and use user defined variables. We also learned the usage of
one of the decision making constructs. In this lab we are going to focus on more powerful
decision making constructs available in Linux shell and how to use them to write a powerful
shell scripts.

2. More Decision Making Constructs in Shell

2.1. Nested if-else-fi
You can write the entire if-else construct within either the body of if statement of the body of
else statement. This is called the nesting of ifs. Consider a file named isPos_nestedif with the
following content.
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo "You must supply one integer"
else
if test $1 -ge 0
then
echo "$1 number is positive"
else
echo "$1 number is negative"
fi
fi
Run the above shell script as follows:
chmod +x isPos_nestedif
sh isPosnestedif 20
20 number is positive

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Note that Second if-else construct is nested in the first else statement. If condition in the first ‘if’
statement is false the condition in the second ‘if’ statement is checked. If it is false as well the
final else statement is executed.
You can use the nested ifs as follows also:
Syntax:
if condition
then
if condition
then
do this
else
do this
fi
else

do this
fi
2.2. Multilevel if-then-else
Syntax:
if condition
then
condition is zero (true - 0)
execute all commands up to elif statement
elif condition1
then
condition1 is zero (true - 0)
execute all commands up to elif statement
else
None of the above condition, condtion1, condtion2 are
true (i.e. all of the above nonzero or false) execute
all commands up to fi
fi

For multilevel if-then-else statement try the following script in a file named isPos_Multilevelif:
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo "You must supply one integer"
elif test $1 -gt 0
then
echo "$1 number is positive"
elif test $1 –lt 0
then
echo "$1 number is negative"
elif test $1 –eq 0
then
echo "$1 number is zero"
else

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 echo “Opps! $1 is Not a Number, supply a Number”
fi
Try above script as follows:
chmod +x isPos_Multilevelif
sh isPos_Multilevelif 20
sh isPos_Multilevelif 0
sh isPos_Multilevelif -20
sh isPos_Multilevelif CP

2.3. The case Statement

The case statement is a good alternative to multilevel if-then-else-fi statement. It enables you to
match several values against one variable. It’s easier to read and write.

Syntax:
case $variable-name in
pattern1) command
command;;
pattern2) command
command;;
patternN) command
command;;
*) command
command;;
esac

The $variable-name is compared against the patterns until a match is found. The shell then
executes all the statements up to the two semicolons that are next to each other. The default is *)
and it’s executed if no match is found. For example write script named vehicle as follows:

rental=$1
case $rental in
"car") echo "For $rental Rs.400 per day";;
"van") echo "For $rental Rs.500 per day";;
"jeep") echo "For $rental Rs.300 per day";;
"bicycle") echo "For $rental Rs.20 per day";;
*) echo "Sorry, I cannot get a $rental for you";;
esac

Save it and run it as follows:

chmod +x vehicle
sh vehicle van
sh vehicle car
sh vehicle Maruti-800
Note that esac is always required to indicate end of case statement.

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3. Looping Constructs in Shell
Loop is defined as:
"A Program can repeat particular set of instructions again and again, until particular condition
satisfies. A group of instructions that is executed repeatedly is called a loop."

Bash supports:
• for loop
• while loop

Note that in each and every loop,

(a) First, the variable used in loop condition must be initialized, then execution of the loop
begins.
(b) A test (condition) is made at the beginning of each iteration.
(c) The body of loop ends with a statement that modifies the value of the test (condition)
variable.

3.1. for Loop

Syntax:
for { variable name } in { list }
do
execute one for each item in the list until
the list is finished (And repeat all
statement between do and done)
done

For example write script named display_num as follows:

for i in 1 2 3 4 5
do
echo "Welcome $i times"
done

Run the above script as follows:

chmod +x display_num
sh display_num

The for loop first creates i variable and assignes a number to i from the list of numbers [from 1 to
5]. The shell executes echo statement for each assignment of i. (This is usually know as
iteration). This process will continue until all the items in the list are done. So it will repeat 5
echo statements.
You can use following syntax as well:
Syntax:
for (( expr1; expr2; expr3 ))
do
repeat all statements between do and
done until expr2 is TRUE
done

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In the above syntax, before the first iteration, expr1 is evaluated. This is usually used to initialize
variables for the loop.
All the statements between do and done is executed repeatedly UNTIL the value of expr2 is
TRUE.
After each iteration of the loop, expr3 is evaluated. This is usually used to increment a loop
counter.

For example write script named display_num1 as follows:

for (( i=0 ; i<=5; i++ ))
do
echo "Welcome $i times"
done

Run the above script as follows:

chmod +x display_num1
bash display_num1

In the above example, first expression (i=0) is used to set the variable i’s value to zero.
Second expression is a condition i.e. all statements between do and done executed as long as
expression 2 is TRUE. (i.e. continue the execution as long as the value of variable i is less than
or equal to 5). The last expression, i++ increments the value of i by 1 i.e. it's equivalent to i=i+1
statement.

3.2 Nesting of for Loop

Loop statement can also be nested similar to the if statements. You can nest the for loop. To
understand the nesting of for loop, see the following shell script named display_num_nested.

for (( i=1; i<=5; i++ )) # Outer for loop

do
for (( j=1; j<=5; j++ )) # Inner for loop
do
echo "$i,$j "
done
echo "" #print the new line
done

Run the above script as follows:

chmod +x display_num_nested
bash display_num_nested
Here, for each value of i, the inner loop is cycled through 5 times, with the variable j taking
values from 1 to 5. The inner for loop terminates when the value of j exceeds 5, and the outer
loop terminates when the value of i exceeds 5.

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Infinite loop
Infinite for loop can be created with empty expressions, such as
for (( ; ; ))
do
echo "infinite loops [ hit CTRL+C to stop]"
done

Conditional exit with break

You can do early exit from a loop with break statement inside the for loop. You can exit from
within a FOR or WHILE loop using break. General break statement inside the for loop:
for I in 1 2 3 4 5
do
statements1 #Executed for all values of ''I'', up
#to distater condition
if (disaster-condition)
then
break #Abandon the loop.
fi
statements3 #While good and, no disaster-condition.
done

Early continuation with continue statement

To resume the next iteration of the enclosing FOR, WHILE or UNTIL loop, use continue
statement.
for I in 1 2 3 4 5
do
statements1 #Executed for all values of ''I'', up
#to a disaster-condition
statements2
if (condition)
then
continue #Go to next iteration of I in the
#loop and skip statements3
fi
statements3
done

3.3. while loop

Syntax:
while [ condition ]
do
command1
command2
command3
done

The loop is executed as long as given condition is true.

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For example write script named mul_Table as follows:
if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo "Error - Number missing form command line argument"
exit 1
fi
n=$1
i=1
while [ $i -le 10 ]
do
echo "$n * $i = `expr $i \* $n`"
i=`expr $i + 1`
done
Run the above script as follows:
chmod +x mul_Table
sh mul_Table 7
Above loop can be explained as follows:

n=$1 Set the value of command line argument to variable n.

(Here it's set to 7)

i=1 Set variable i to 1

while [ $i -le 10 ] This is our loop condition, here if value of i is less than 10
then, shell execute all statements between do and done

do Start loop

echo "$n * $i = `expr $i \* $n`" Print multiplication table as

7*1=7
7 * 2 = 14
....
7 * 10 = 70, Here each time value of variable n is multiply
by i.

i=`expr $i + 1` Increment i by 1 and store result to i. ( i.e. i=i+1)

Caution: If you ignore (remove) this statement than our
loop become infinite loop because value of variable i
always remain less than 10 and program will only output
7*1=7
...
...
E (infinite times)

done Loop stops here if i is not less than 10 i.e. condition of loop
is not true. Hence loop is terminated

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Infinite loops
Infinite for while can be created with empty expressions, such as
while :
do
echo "infinite loops [ hit CTRL+C to stop]"
done

Conditional while loop exit with break statement

You can do early exit with the break statement inside the whil loop. You can exit from within a
WHILE using break.
In this example, the break statement will skip the while loop when user enters -1, otherwise it
will keep adding two numbers:
while :
do
read -p "Enter two numnbers ( - 1 to quit ) : " a b
if [ $a -eq -1 ]
then
break
fi
ans=$(( a + b ))
echo $ans
done

Early continuation with the continue statement

To resume the next iteration of the enclosing WHILE loop use the continue statement as follows:
while [ condition ]
do
statements1 #Executed as long as condition is true
#and/or, up to a disaster condition if any
statements2
if (condition)
then
continue #Go to next iteration of the loop and
#skip statements3
fi
statements3
done

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4. Exercises with Solution
1. Script to reverse a given positive integer

if [ $# -ne 1 ]
then
echo "Usage: $0 number"
echo "I will find reverse of given positive integer"
echo "For eg. $0 123, I will print 321"
exit 1
fi

n=$1
rev=0; sd=0

while [ $n -gt 0 ]
do
sd=`expr $n % 10`
rev=`expr $rev \* 10 + $sd`
n=`expr $n / 10`
done
echo "Reverse number is $rev"

2. Write a shell script to find the GCD for the 2 given numbers.

echo Enter two numbers with space in between

read a b
m=$a
if [ $b -lt $m ]
then
m=$b
fi
while [ $m -ne 0 ]
do
x=`expr $a % $m`
y=`expr $b % $m`
if [ $x -eq 0 -a $y -eq 0 ]
then
echo gcd of $a and $b is $m
break
fi
m=`expr $m - 1`
done

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3. Script to find the sum of first N numbers.

echo "Enter a number: "

read num
i=1
sum=0

while [ $i -le $num ]

do
sum=`expr $sum + $i`
i=`expr $i + 1`
done
echo "The sum of first $num numbers is: $sum"

4. Write a shell script to take the input number from the user.(Numbers are between 10
and 99) If the number is even find all divisors of the number else find sum of digits.

while read n
do
rem=$(( $n % 2 ))
if [ $rem -eq 0 ]
then
i=2
sd=0
echo "Factors are:"
while [ $i -lt $n ]
do
sd=`expr $n % $i`
if [ $sd -eq 0 ]
then echo $i
fi
i=`expr $i + 1`
done
else
sum=0
sd=0
while [ $n -gt 0 ]
do
sd=`expr $n % 10`
sum=`expr $sum + $sd`
n=`expr $n / 10`
done
echo "Sum of digit is: $sum"
fi

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5. Write a shell program to find the perfect number between 1 and 99.

Perfect numbers, a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its proper divisors. The
smallest perfect number is 6, which is the sum of 1, 2, and 3.

echo Enter a number

read no
i=1
ans=0
while [ $i -le 'expr $no / 2' ]
do
if [ 'expr $no % $i' -eq 0 ]
then
ans='expr $ans + $i'
fi
i='expr $i + 1'
done
if [ $no -eq $ans ]
then
echo $no is perfect
else
echo $no is NOT perfect
fi

6. Write a shell script program to display the following pattern up to N lines (take N from
the user). Figure below shows the output when N = 5.
0
10
210
3210
43210
a=0
while [ "$a" -lt 10 ] # this is loop1
do
b="$a"
while [ "$b" -ge 0 ] # this is loop2
do
echo -n "$b "
b=`expr $b - 1`
done
echo
a=`expr $a + 1`
done

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7. Write a Shell Script to make a menu driven calculator using case statements.
sum=0
i="y"
echo " Enter one no."
read n1
echo "Enter second no."
read n2
while [ $i = "y" ]
do
echo "[Link]"
echo "[Link]"
echo "[Link]"
echo "[Link]"
echo "Enter your choice"
read ch
case $ch in
1)sum=`expr $n1 + $n2`
echo "Sum ="$sum;;
2)sum=`expr $n1 - $n2`
echo "Sub = "$sum;;
3)sum=`expr $n1 \* $n2`
echo "Mul = "$sum;;
4)sum=`expr $n1 / $n2`
echo "Div = "$sum;;
*)echo "Invalid choice";;
esac
echo "Do u want to continue ?"
read i
if [ $i != "y" ]
then
exit
fi
done

5. Additional Exercises
1. Write a script to find the given number is Armstrong number [also known as
narcissistic numbers] of 3 digits. Armstrong numbers are the numbers whose sum of digits
to the power of the number of digits is equal to the number itself.
Example: 153 = 1³ + 5³ + 3³

2. Write a shell script program to display the following pattern up to N lines (take N from
the user. Make sure N is always an odd number). Fig. below shows the output when N = 5.
*
* * *
* * * * *
* * *
*

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3. Write a shell script program to read a number from the user and check whether the
number is Abundant / Deficient / Perfect number. Make sure the number is between 1 and
10000. Print the number as Abundant / Deficient / Perfect.
Definition of Abundant Number: The number n is abundant if the sum of all its
positive divisors except itself is greater than n.
Definition of Perfect Number: The number n is perfect if the sum of all its positive
divisors except itself is equal to n.
Definition of Deficient Number: The number n is deficient if the sum of all its
positive divisors except itself is less than n.

[Link] a shell script program to read a number N from the user [the program should
make sure that the number is in between 1 and 1000] and find all the EVIL numbers
between 1 and N.
Definition of EVIL Number:
The Number is an evil number if it has even number of 1's in its binary expansion.
Examples:
Example 1: 40
Binary expansion=101000
Number of 1's=2
40 is an Evil Number

Example 2: 666
Binary expansion=1010011010
Number of 1's= 5
666 is not an Evil Number

5. Write a shell script program to read a number and find the number is magic number or
not.
Definition of Magic Number:
The Number is Magic number if the sum of the digits of a number MULTIPLIED
BY reverse of the sum is same as the number
Example: Is 1729 a Magic Number?
sum of digits: 19
Reverse of 19 : 91
91*19=1729
1729 is a Magic Number

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