Linux Shell Script Examples

Historically, the shell has been the native command-line interpreter for Unix-
like systems. It has proven to be one of Unix’s major features throughout the
years and grew into a whole new topic itself. Linux offers a variety of powerful
shells with robust functionality, including Bash, Zsh, Tcsh, and Ksh. One of the
most amazing features of these shells is their programmability. Creating
simple yet effective Linux shell scripts for tackling day-to-day jobs is quite
easy. Moreover, a modest knowledge of this topic will make you a Linux
power user in no time. Stay with us to for a detailed introduction to Unix shell
scripting.

Linux Shell Script Examples

The majority of shell scripting done on Linux involve the bash shell. However,
power users who have specified choices often use other shells such as Zsh
and Ksh. We’ll mostly stick with Linux bash scripts in our examples due to
their widespread popularity and immense usability. However, our editors have
also tried to outline some shell script examples that deal with shells other than
bash. As a result, you’ll find a substantial amount of familiarity between
different shell scripts.

Linux Bash Scripts

Bash, aka the Bourne Again Shell, is the default command-line interpreter in
most Linux distros nowadays. It is an upgrade of the earlier Bourne shell that
was first introduced in Version 7 Unix. Learning bash shell scripting will allow
you to understand other shell scripts much faster. So, try these simple
examples yourself to gain the first-hand experience.
1. Hello World
Programmers often learn new languages via learning the hello world program.
It’s a simple program that prints the string “Hello World” to the standard
output. Then, use an editor like vim or nano to create the file hello-world.sh
and copy the below lines into it.
#!/bin/bash

echo "Hello World"

Save and quit the file. Next, you need to make this file executable using the
below command.

$ chmod a+x hello-world.sh

You can run this using any of the below two commands.

$ bash hello-world.sh

$ ./hello-world.sh
It will print out the string passed to echo inside the script.

2. Using echo to Print

The echo command is used for printing out information in bash. It is similar to
the C function ‘printf’ and provides many common options, including escape
sequences and re-direction.

Copy the below lines into a file called echo.sh and make it executable as done
above.

#!/bin/bash

echo "Printing text"

echo -n "Printing text without newline"

echo -e "\nRemoving \t special \t characters\n"

Run the script to see what it does. The -e option is used for telling echo that
the string passed to it contains special characters and requires extended
functionality.

3. Using Comments
Comments are useful for documentation and are a requirement for high-
quality codebases. It’s a common practice to put comments inside codes that
deal with critical logic. To comment out a line, just use the #(hash) character
before it. For example, check the below bash script example.

#!/bin/bash
# Adding two values

((sum=25+35))

#Print the result

echo $sum
This script will output the number 60. First, check how comments are used
using # before some lines. The first line is an exception, though. It’s called the
shebang and lets the system know which interpreter to use when running this
script.

4. Multi-line comments
Many people use multi-line comments for documenting their shell scripts.
Check how this is done in the next script called comment.sh.

#!/bin/bash

: '

This script calculates

the square of 5.

'

((area=5*5))

echo $area
Notice how multi-line comments are placed inside :’ and ‘ characters.

5. The While Loop

The while loop construct is used for running some instruction multiple times.
Check out the following script called while.sh for a better understanding of this
concept.

#!/bin/bash
i=0

while [ $i -le 2 ]

do

echo Number: $i

((i++))

done
So, the while loop takes the below form.

while [ condition ]

do

commands 1

commands n

done
The space surrounding the square brackets is mandatory.

6. The For Loop

The for loop is another widely used bash shell construct that allows users to
iterate over codes efficiently. A simple example is demonstrated below.

#!/bin/bash

for (( counter=1; counter<=10; counter++ ))

do

echo -n "$counter "

done
printf "\n"
Save this code in a file named for.sh and run it using ./for.sh. Don’t forget to
make it executable. This program should print out the numbers 1 to 10.

7. Receive Input from User

Getting user input is crucial to implement user interaction in your scripts. The
below shell script example will demonstrate how to receive user input within a
shell program.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter Something:"

read something

echo "You Entered: $something"

So, the reading construct, followed by a variable name, is used for getting
user input. The input is stored inside this variable and can be accessed using
the $ sign.

8. The If Statement
If statements are the most common conditional construct available in Unix
shell scripting, they take the form shown below.

if CONDITION

then

STATEMENTS

fi
The statements are only executed given the CONDITION is true. The fi
keyword is used for marking the end of the if statement. A quick example is
shown below.
#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter a number: "

read num

if [[ $num -gt 10 ]]

then

echo "Number is greater than 10."

fi
The above program will only show the output if the number provided via input
is greater than ten. The -gt stands for greater than; similarly -lt for less than; -
le for less than equal; and -ge for greater than equal. In addition, the [[ ]] are
required.

9. More Control Using If Else

Combining the else construct with if allows much better control over your
script’s logic. A simple example is shown below.

#!/bin/bash

read n

if [ $n -lt 10 ];

then

echo "It is a one digit number"

else

echo "It is a two digit number"

fi
The else part needs to be placed after the action part of if and before fi.

10. Using the AND Operator

The AND operator allows our program to check if multiple conditions are
satisfied at once or not. All parts separated by an AND operator must be true.
Otherwise, the statement containing the AND will return false. Check the
following bash script example for a better understanding of how AND works.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter Number:"

read num

if [[ ( $num -lt 10 ) && ( $num%2 -eq 0 ) ]]; then

echo "Even Number"

else

echo "Odd Number"

fi
The AND operator is denoted by the && sign.
11. Using the OR Operator
The OR operator is another crucial construct that allows us to implement
complex, robust programming logic in our scripts. Contrary to AND, a
statement consisting of the OR operator returns true when either one of its
operands is true. It returns false only when each operand separated by the
OR is false.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter any number:"

read n

if [[ ( $n -eq 15 || $n -eq 45 ) ]]

then

echo "You won"

else

echo "You lost!"

fi
This simple example demonstrates how the OR operator works in Linux shell
scripts. It declares the user as the winner only when he enters the number 15
or 45. The || sign represents the OR operator.

12. Using Elif

The elif statement stands for else if and offers a convenient means for
implementing chain logic. Find out how elif works by assessing the following
example.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter a number: "

read num
if [[ $num -gt 10 ]]

then

echo "Number is greater than 10."

elif [[ $num -eq 10 ]]

then

echo "Number is equal to 10."

else

echo "Number is less than 10."

fi
The above program is self-explanatory, so we won’t dissect it line by line.
Instead, change portions of the script like variable names and values to check
how they function together.

13. The Switch Construct

The switch construct is another powerful feature offered by Linux bash scripts.
It can be used where nested conditions are required, but you don’t want to use
complex if-else-elif chains. Take a look at the next example.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter a number: "

read num

case $num in

100)
echo "Hundred!!" ;;

200)

echo "Double Hundred!!" ;;

*)

echo "Neither 100 nor 200" ;;

esac
The conditions are written between the case and esac keywords. The *) is
used for matching all inputs other than 100 and 200.

14. Command Line Arguments

Getting arguments directly from the command shell can be beneficial in a
number of cases. The below example demonstrates how to do this in bash.

#!/bin/bash

echo "Total arguments : $#"

echo "First Argument = $1"

echo "Second Argument = $2"

Run this script with two additional parameters after its name. I’ve named it
test.sh and the calling procedure is outlined below.

$ ./test.sh Hey Howdy

So, $1 is used for accessing the first argument, $2 for the second, and so on.
Then, finally, the $# is used for getting the total number of arguments.

15. Getting Arguments with Names

The below example shows how to get command-line arguments with their
names.

#!/bin/bash

for arg in "$@"

do

index=$(echo $arg | cut -f1 -d=)

val=$(echo $arg | cut -f2 -d=)

case $index in

X) x=$val;;

Y) y=$val;;

*)

esac

done

((result=x+y))

echo "X+Y=$result"
Name this script test.sh and call it as shown below.

$ ./test.sh X=44 Y=100

It should return X+Y=144. The arguments here are stored inside ‘$@‘ and the
script fetches them using the Linux cut command.

16. Concatenating Strings

String processing is of extreme importance to a wide range of modern bash
scripts. Thankfully, it is much more comfortable in bash and allows for a far
more precise, concise way to implement this. See the below example for a
glance into bash string concatenation.

#!/bin/bash

string1="Ubuntu"

string2="Pit"

string=$string1$string2
echo "$string is a great resource for Linux beginners."
The following program outputs the string “UbuntuPit is a great resource for
Linux beginners.” to the screen.

17. Slicing Strings

Unlike many programming languages, bash doesn’t provide any in-built
function for cutting portions of a string. However, the below example
demonstrates how this can be done using parameter expansion.

#!/bin/bash

Str="Learn Bash Commands from UbuntuPit"

subStr=${Str:0:20}

echo $subStr
This script should print out “Learn Bash Commands” as its output. The
parameter expansion takes the form ${VAR_NAME:S:L}. Here, S denotes
starting position, and L indicates the length.

18. Extracting Substrings Using Cut

The Linux cut command can be used inside your scripts to ‘cut’ a portion of a
string, aka the substring. The next example shows how this can be done.

#!/bin/bash

Str="Learn Bash Commands from UbuntuPit"

#subStr=${Str:0:20}

subStr=$(echo $Str| cut -d ' ' -f 1-3)

echo $subStr
Check out this guide to understand how Linux Cut command works.
19. Adding Two Values
It’s quite easy to perform arithmetic operations inside Linux shell scripts. The
below example demonstrates how to receive two numbers as input from the
user and add them.
#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter first number:"

read x

echo -n "Enter second number:"

read y

(( sum=x+y ))

echo "The result of addition=$sum"

As you can see, adding numbers in bash is reasonably straightforward.

20. Adding Multiple Values

You can use loops to get multiple user input and add them to your script. The
following examples show this in action.

#!/bin/bash

sum=0

for (( counter=1; counter<5; counter++ ))

do

echo -n "Enter Your Number:"

read n

(( sum+=n ))

#echo -n "$counter "

done

printf "\n"

echo "Result is: $sum"

However, omitting the (( )) will result in string concatenation rather than
addition. So, check for things like this in your program.

21. Functions in Bash

As with any programming dialect, functions play an essential role in Linux
shell scripts. They allow admins to create custom code blocks for frequent
usage. The below demonstration will outline how functions work in Linux bash
scripts.

#!/bin/bash

function Add()

echo -n "Enter a Number: "

read x

echo -n "Enter another Number: "

read y

echo "Adiition is: $(( x+y ))"

Add
Here we’ve added two numbers just like before. But here, we’ve done the
work using a function called Add. So whenever you need to add again, you
can just call this function instead of writing that section again.

22. Functions with Return Values

One of the most fantastic functions is allowing the passing of data from one
function to another. It is useful in a wide variety of scenarios. Check out the
next example.

#!/bin/bash
function Greet() {

str="Hello $name, what brings you to UbuntuPit.com?"

echo $str

echo "-> what's your name?"

read name

val=$(Greet)

echo -e "-> $val"

Here, the output contains data received from the Greet() function.

23. Creating Directories from Bash Scripts

The ability to run system commands using shell scripts allows developers to
be much more productive. The following simple example will show you how to
create a directory from within a shell script.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter directory name ->"

read newdir

cmd="mkdir $newdir"

eval $cmd
This script simply calls your standard shell command mkdir and passes it the
directory name if you look closely. This program should create a directory in
your filesystem. You can also pass the command to execute inside
backticks(“) as shown below.

`mkdir $newdir`

24. Create a Directory after Confirming Existence

The above program will not work if your current working directory already
contains a folder with the same name. For example, the below program will
check for the existence of any folder named $dir and only create one if it finds
none.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter directory name ->"

read dir

if [ -d "$dir" ]

then

echo "Directory exists"

else

`mkdir $dir`

echo "Directory created"

fi
Write this program using eval to increase your bash scripting skills.

25. Reading Files

Bash scripts allow users to read files very effectively. The below example will
showcase how to read a file using shell scripts. First, create a file called
editors.txt with the following contents.

1. Vim

2. Emacs
3. ed

4. nano

5. Code
This script will output each of the above 5 lines.

#!/bin/bash

file='editors.txt'

while read line; do

echo $line

done < $file

26. Deleting Files

The following program will demonstrate how to delete a file within Linux shell
scripts. The program will first ask the user to provide the filename as input and
will delete it if it exists. The Linux rm command does the deletion here.

#!/bin/bash

echo -n "Enter filename ->"

read name

rm -i $name
Let’s type in editors.txt as the filename and press y when asked for
confirmation. It should delete the file.

27. Appending to Files

The below shell script example will show you how to append data to a file on
your filesystem using bash scripts. It adds an additional line to the earlier
editors.txt file.

#!/bin/bash

echo "Before appending the file"

cat editors.txt

echo "6. NotePad++" >> editors.txt

echo "After appending the file"

cat editors.txt
You should notice by now that we’re using everyday terminal commands
directly from Linux bash scripts.

28. Test File Existence

The next shell script example shows how to check the existence of a file from
bash programs.

#!/bin/bash

filename=$1

if [ -f "$filename" ]; then

echo "File exists"

else

echo "File does not exist"

fi
We are passing the filename as the argument from the command-line directly.

29. Send Mails from Shell Scripts

It is quite straightforward to send emails from bash scripts. The following
simple example will demonstrate one way of doing this from bash applications.

#!/bin/bash

recipient=”admin@example.com”

subject=”Greetings”

message=”Welcome to UbuntuPit”
`mail -s $subject $recipient <<< $message`
It will send an email to the recipient containing the given subject and
message.

30. Parsing Date and Time

The next bash script example will show you how to handle dates and times
using scripts. Again, the Linux date command is used for getting the
necessary information, and our program does the parsing.

#!/bin/bash

year=`date +%Y`

month=`date +%m`

day=`date +%d`

hour=`date +%H`

minute=`date +%M`

second=`date +%S`

echo `date`

echo "Current Date is: $day-$month-$year"

echo "Current Time is: $hour:$minute:$second"

Run this program to see how it works. Also, try running the date command
from your terminal.
31. The Sleep Command
The sleep command allows your shell script to pause between instructions. It
is useful in a number of scenarios, such as performing system-level jobs. The
next example shows the sleep command in action from within a shell script.
#!/bin/bash

echo "How long to wait?"

read time

sleep $time

echo "Waited for $time seconds!"

This program pauses the last instruction’s execution until $time seconds,
which the user in this case provides.

32. The Wait Command

The wait command is used for pausing system processes from Linux bash
scripts. Check out the following example for a detailed understanding of how
this works in bash.

#!/bin/bash

echo "Testing wait command"

sleep 5 &

pid=$!

kill $pid

wait $pid

echo $pid was terminated.

Run this program yourself to check out how it works.

33. Displaying the Last Updated File

Sometimes you might need to find the last updated file for certain operations.
The following simple program shows us how to do this in bash using the awk
command. It will list either the last updated or created file in your current
working directory.

#!/bin/bash
ls -lrt | grep ^- | awk 'END{print $NF}'
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll avoid describing how awk functions in this
example. Instead, you can simply copy this code to get the task done.

34. Adding Batch Extensions

The below example will apply a custom extension to all of the files inside a
directory. Create a new directory and put some files in there for demonstration
purposes. My folder has a total of five files, each named test followed by (0-4).
I’ve programmed this script to add (.UP) at the end of the files. You can add
any extension you want.

#!/bin/bash

dir=$1

for file in `ls $1/*`

do

mv $file $file.UP

done
Firstly, do not try this script from any regular directory; instead, run this from a
test directory. Plus, you need to provide the directory name of your files as a
command-line argument. Use period(.) for the current working directory.

35. Print Number of Files or Directories

The below Linux bash script finds the number of files or folders present inside
a given directory. It utilizes the Linux find command to do this. First, you need
to pass the directory name to search for files from the command line.

#!/bin/bash

if [ -d "$@" ]; then

echo "Files found: $(find "$@" -type f | wc -l)"

echo "Folders found: $(find "$@" -type d | wc -l)"

else

echo "[ERROR] Please retry with another folder."

exit 1

fi
The program will ask the user to try again if the specified directory isn’t
available or have permission issues.

36. Cleaning Log Files

The next simple example demonstrates a handy way we can use shell scripts
in real life. This program will simply delete all log files present inside your
/var/log directory. You can change the variable that holds this directory for
cleaning up other logs.

#!/bin/bash

LOG_DIR=/var/log

cd $LOG_DIR

cat /dev/null > messages

cat /dev/null > wtmp

echo "Logs cleaned up."

Remember to run this Linux shell script as root.

37. Backup Script Using Bash

Shell scripts provide a robust way to back up your files and directories. The
following example will backup each file or directory that have been modified
within the last 24 hour. This program utilizes the find command to do this.

#!/bin/bash

BACKUPFILE=backup-$(date +%m-%d-%Y)
archive=${1:-$BACKUPFILE}

find . -mtime -1 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 tar rvf

"$archive.tar"

echo "Directory $PWD backed up in archive file

\"$archive.tar.gz\"."

exit 0
It will print the names of the files and directories after the backup process is
successful.

38. Check Whether You’re Root

The below example demonstrates a quick way to determine whether a user is
a root or not from Linux bash scripts.

#!/bin/bash

ROOT_UID=0

if [ "$UID" -eq "$ROOT_UID" ]

then

echo "You are root."

else

echo "You are not root"

fi

exit 0
The output of this script depends on the user running it. It will match the root
user based on the $UID.

39. Removing Duplicate Lines from Files

File processing takes considerable time and hampers the productivity of
admins in many ways. For example, searching for duplicates in your files can
become a daunting task. Luckily, you can do this with a short shell script.

#! /bin/sh

echo -n "Enter Filename-> "

read filename

if [ -f "$filename" ]; then

sort $filename | uniq | tee sorted.txt

else

echo "No $filename in $pwd...try again"

fi

exit 0
The above script goes line by line through your file and removes any
duplicative line. It then places the new content into a new file and keeps the
original file intact.
40. System Maintenance
I often use a little Linux shell script to upgrade my system instead of doing it
manually. The below simple shell script will show you how to do this.

#!/bin/bash
echo -e "\n$(date "+%d-%m-%Y --- %T") --- Starting
work\n"

apt-get update

apt-get -y upgrade

apt-get -y autoremove

apt-get autoclean

echo -e "\n$(date "+%T") \t Script Terminated"

The script also takes care of old packages that are no longer needed. You
need to run this script using sudo else it will not work properly.