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UNIX Operating Systems II

Part 2: Shell Scripting
Instructor: Stan Isaacs
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Shell Scripts
Parameters/arguments - whats on the input line
Control structures
for - repetition
if then else - conditional execution
while/until - conditional repetition
case - do one of several alternatives
test command - useful for conditions
read command - set local variables from file
sleep - pause for a while
echo,shift, tee, exit and other utilities
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Shell Scripts
Positional Parameters (arguments to shell program)
$0 - name of program
$1, $2, $3
$# - how many
$@ - all of them at once
$$ - PID of process (Process Identification)
$? - Return value from a command
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variables.ex
echo \$0 is \"$0\"
echo \$1 is \"$1\"
echo \$\@ is \"$@\"
echo \$* is \"$*\"
echo number of args is $#
echo Process ID is $$
echo Exit value of the previous echo command is -$?-
ls abcxyz
echo A bad exit value might be \"$?\"
echo Done
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More on variables
${var:-default}
If var not set, use default
${var :=default}
If var not set, set it to default and use it
${var :?error message}
If var not set, print error message (to STDERR)
${var#start}, ${var##longstart}
If left end matches start, delete it
# for shortest match, ## for longest match
${path##*/} will remove all but file name (everything up to last slash)
${var%end}, ${var%%longend}
If right end matches end, delete it
% for shortest match, %% for longest match
${filename%.*} will get rid of last file extension (last dot and everying after it)
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Arithmetic
(( )), $(( )), let , $[ ]
All of these do arithmetic
$[ ] (in textbook) is denigrated
i=1
i=$(($i+1)) $i is now 2
((i = i + 1 )) $i is now 3
let i = i + 1 $i is now 4
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Command substitution
$( )
Can contain any pipeline
The result of the commands will replace it
echo $( wc myfile ) would be the same as just executing wc myfile
dt=$( date ) would save the date in $dt
list=$( cat filename | tail -10 ) $list would contain the last 10 lines of
the file
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Shell Script example
cat > reverse
file name or name of program or name of shell script or command
name
echo $3, $2, $1
thats the program!
^D (to end the program)
reverse one two three
prints: three, two, one
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read command
reads a line at a time from standard input, filling in variables
with words (tokens separated by spaces)
read num1 num2 num3
echo :$num1:$num2:$num3:
echo prompt string
read var1 var2
will print prompt string before reading variables
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read example
echo Please type in 3 numbers.
read num1 num2 num3
echo :$num1:$num2:$num3:
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echo
Just prints to standard output
echo hello
echo hello
echo \hello\
echo $hello
blank
hello=Hi, there
echo $hello
echo -n This line doesnt have a newline
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Summary: script input
parameters
script parm1 parm2 parm2
interactive stdin
using echo/read combination
file stdin
expects file input; uses read
Flags? (script -a -fname)
just parameters, you need to check for them
try getopts command
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Script layout and form
#! path to shell or program
# Description of what the script does, and
any other information for users/maintainers
# usage information
usage=name [-f]
#Definitions, defaults
INFILE=~isaacs/class/unix.part2/phone.txt
# Read input parameters and flags, or get input
(case statement? getopts? read statement?)

rest of script
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test! test! test!
Test with no input and with bad input (the script should end nicely, with
good messages)
if stdin: try pipe, try <, try terminal
if numbers, what happens with letters?
(Dos to UNIX: ^M problem at ends of lines)
debuging
echo statements (delete or comment when OK)
bash -x
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for loop
for name in word
do
command list
done
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simple for example
for num in one two three
do
echo -$num-
done
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Some test examples
while test $# -gt 0
while test -n $1
if test $count -lt 10
if test $answer != y
(but what if it is Y or yes?)
if test ! -r $1 -o -f $1
Can use [ ] instead of test!
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test, [ ], [[ ]]
test and [ ] are exactly the same.
You need spaces around the [ and ]
test doesnt allow any wildcards, but [[ ]] does
Things like [ $abc = xyz ] or [ 5 gt 3 ]
need spaces around the operators
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if conditional
if expression
then
command list
else
command list
fi
* else is optional; can have elif.
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simple if example
if true
then
echo yes
fi
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case construct
case word in
pattern1) command list ;;
pattern2) command list;;
pattern3) command list ;;

esac
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case example
case "$1"
in
0) echo zero ;;
1) echo one ;;
2) echo two ;;
3) echo three ;;
4) echo four ;;
5) echo five ;;
6) echo six ;;
7) echo seven ;;
8) echo eight ;;
9) echo nine ;;
*) echo This is not an integer.;;
esac
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while (or until) loop
while command list 1
do
command list 2
done

* can use until instead of while
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While example
echo "Type a line to process: "
read input
while test $input != "q"
do
echo processing input line: $input
Echo "Type another line:"
read input
done
echo Finished process
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while true example
while true
do
myprogram
sleep 300
done
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until example
until who | grep "$1" > /dev/null
do
sleep 30
done
echo "\t\t$1 is on the system."
exit 0
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Some other shell commands
shift - moves parameter $2->$1, etc
exit [n] - leave a script, with an exit value
break - exit the current for, while, or until
continue - begin next iteration of loop
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getopts
getopts string name
string is option letters, with : if args
name is any variable name
returns OPTIND next option to process
returns OPTARG the argument, if any
Will report if bad option, or missing arg
Leading : silences error report
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getopts example
while getopts dclw option
do
case $option in
d) date ;;
c) cal ;;
l) ls ;;
w) who | wc -l ;;
esac
done
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Another getopts example
while getopts :ab:cd: name
do
case $name in
a) aset=TRUE ;;
b) bval=$OPTARG ;;
c) cflag=1 ;;
d) dvalue=list $OPTARG ;;
\?) echo $usage; exit 1 ;;
esac
done
shift $(( $OPTIND - 1 ))
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