Korn Shell Script Writing

Science & Technology Support Group

High Performance Computing
OSC (Ohio Supercomputer Center)
1224 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43212

1
 Basic Shell Programming
• Creating a Shell Script • Null Variables

• Executing a Shell Script • Special Shell Variables

• Functions • Parameter Substitution

• Precedence of Commands • Special Pattern Matching

Features
• eval
• Command Substitution
• Shell Variables
• Exercises
• Assigning Variable Names
•

2
Creating a Shell Script

• A shell script is an executable file which is executed by the

shell line-by-line. It can contain the following:
– UNIX commands
– shell programming statements
– comments

• Create using editor of choice

• Can include a #! construct in first line of script to override

login shell
– #!/bin/sh uses Bourne shell to execute script
– #!/bin/csh uses C shell to execute script
– etc...

3
Executing a Shell Script

There are 3 ways to execute a shell script:

1."dot" method
$ . scriptname

2."just the name" method

$ scriptname

3.in the background

$ scriptname &

4
Executing a Shell Script (cont.)

• Method 1 runs the command as if you typed them in on the

command line

• Note that methods 2 and 3 require:

– execute permission for scriptname
chmod +x scriptname
– current directory (.) must be in PATH or else must use
./scriptname

5
Executing a Shell Script (cont.)

cat list
# a simple little shell script
print "A listing of $PWD \n" > list.out
ls -l >> list.out

• For methods 2 and 3 the shell runs another copy of itself as

a subprocess. Pictorially, the difference between Methods
1, 2, and 3 is:

6
Functions

• Improves shell's programmability

– already in memory (unless autoloaded)
– modular programing

• Syntax:
function functname {
shell commands
}

or,

functname () {
shell commands
}

7
Functions (cont.)

• Delete a function definition with

$ unset -f functname

• Display all defined functions:

$ functions

8
Functions (cont.)
• Two important differences between functions and shell
scripts run by name (Method 2):
– functions do not run in a subprocess; behave more like a script run
by Method 1
– functions have precedence over scripts

• Where to put them?

– enter on command line (no longer available if you log out and log
back in)
– .profile (only available in login shell)
– $ENV file (available to all child shells)
– in $FPATH directory (Korn shell will use autoload feature)

• Function names should begin with a letter or underscore

• The closing brace (}) must appear on a line by itself

9
Functions (cont.)

Example: Run a program and view the output

$ myrun ()
> {
>cd $WORKDIR
> a.out < data.in
> more data.out
> /bin/rm data.in
> mv data.out data.in
> }

10
Precedence of Commands
Now that we have discussed the various sources of
commands, let us show their order of precedence:
1.Keywords such as function, if and for (see later)

2.Aliases

3.Shell built-ins

4.Functions

5.Scripts and executable programs, for which the shell

searches in the directories listed in the PATH environment
variable.

11
eval

• You can think of quoting as a way of getting the shell to

skip some of the steps of command-line processing.

• Consider:
$ listpage="ls | more"
$ $listpage
ls: |: No such file or directory
ls: more: No such file or directory

The shell evaluates variables after it has looked for

metacharacters like |

12
eval

• The command

$ eval $listpage

works because the line is "rescanned" by the shell.

• eval is an advanced command that requires some

cleverness to be used effectively

13
Shell Variables
• The Korn shell includes the following types of variables:
– User-defined variables
– Special shell variables

• User-defined variables can be declared, read and changed

from the command line or from within a shell script.

• A variable name can consist of the following:

– letters
– digits
– underscore character
– first character of a variable name must be a letter or an underscore
character
A variable can be made read-only using the readonly
command: $ readonly variable_name

14
Assigning Variable Names

= Operator:

Enter the name that you have chosen for the variable
followed by an equal sign and then
the value that you want to store in the variable.

$ my_card=ace
$ print $my_card
ace
$ my_name="Garth of Izar"
$ print $my_name
Garth of Izar

15
Assigning Variable Names
read command:

Reads a line from standard input and stores the value(s)

entered in the variable name(s) following the read
command.

$ read fname lname

Bela Okmyx
$ print $fname
Bela
$ print $fname $lname
Bela Okmyx

16
Null Variables
A variable can be set to a null value, even if previously
assigned, using any of the following methods. There
should be no spaces preceding or following the equal sign.

$ name=

$ name=''

$ name=""

$ unset varname

17
Null Variables (cont.)

All variables that don't exist are assumed null unless set -o
nounset is used. Then the shell will indicate an error when
an undefined variable is encountered

$ unset name
$ set -o nounset
$ print $name
ksh: name: parameter not set
$ set +o nounset

18
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters
• Other variables defined by the shell for the user are special
shell variables and "positional parameters."

• These variables are set automatically by the shell. Their

values cannot be changed, but they may be referenced.

• The special shell variables are as follows:

$#
$-
$?
$$
$!
$0
$*
$@

19
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $# contains the number of arguments typed on

the command line.

$ cat numargs
print The number of arguments is $#

$ numargs
The number of arguments is 0
$ numargs 1 2 3 4 5
The number of arguments is 5
$ numargs "Hello World"
The number of arguments is 1

20
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $- contains the shell flags (options) of the

current shell.

$ print $-
isxumh
$ set +u
isxmh

21
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $? contains the exit status of the last

command.

$ ls
file1 data account.txt
$ rm file1
$ print $?
0
$ rm dataa
dataa: No such file or directory
$ print $?
2

22
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $$ contains the process ID of the current shell

process.

$ cat pid.test
print $$
$ print $$
454
$ pid.test
846
$ pid.test &
847

23
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters
• The variable $! contains the process ID number of the last
command sent to the background.
$ compress hugefile.tar &
[1] 8834
$ kill -9 $!

• The variable $0 contains the name of the command

(process) currently being executed.
$ cat cmd_name
print The name of this script is $0
$ cmd_name
The name of this script is cmd_name
$ mv cmd_name new_name
$ new_name
The name of this script is new_name

24
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $* contains the string of all arguments

(positional parameters) on the command line.

$ cat args
print The arguments are: $*

$ args bob dave

The arguments are: bob dave

25
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variable $@ is the same as $* except when enclosed

in double quotes. Then, each argument contained in $@ is
double quoted.

$ cat args
print The arguments are: "$@"

$ args bob dave

The arguments are: bob dave

$ args "bob dave"

The arguments are: bob dave

26
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• Positional parameters refer to the individual arguments on

the command line. The positional parameters available are
referenced as follows:
$1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9

• The parameter $1 contains the first argument, $2 the

second argument, and so on.
$ cat parms
print Arg 1 is: $1
print Arg 2 is: $2
print Arg 3 is: $3
print Arg 4 is: $4
print Arg 5 is: $5

27
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

$ parms Space, the final frontier

Arg 1 is: Space,
Arg 2 is: the
Arg 3 is: final
Arg 4 is: frontier
Arg 5 is:
$ parms "Space, the final frontier"
Arg 1 is: Space, the final frontier

28
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters
Use the set command to change positional parameters. It
replaces existing positional parameters with new values.
$ cat newpos
print starting args are $*
print number of args is $#
print arg 1 is $1
print arg 2 is $2
set 3 4
print new args are $*
print number of args is $#
print arg 1 is $1
print arg 2 is $2

$ newpos 1 2
starting args are 1 2
number of args is 2
arg 1 is 1
arg 2 is 2
new args are 3 4
number of args is 2
arg 1 is 3
arg 2 is 4

29
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• What if there are more than 9 arguments?

$ cat ten_args
print arg 10 is $10

print arg 10 is ${10}

$ ten_args a b c d e f g h i j
arg 10 is a0
arg 10 is j

• Use the shift command to perform a shift of the positional

parameters n positions to the left.
(Default n=1).

30
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters

• The variables $#,$* and $@ also change with the shift

command.

• Once a shift is performed, the first parameter is discarded.

The $# variable is decremented, and the $* and $@
variables are updated.

31
Special Shell Variables and Positional Parameters
Example of shift:
$ cat shift_it
print $#: $0 $*
shift
print $#: $0 $*
shift
print $#: $0 $*
shift
print $#: $0 $*

$ shift_it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b
12: shift_it 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b
11: shift_it 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b
10: shift_it 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b
9: shift_it 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b

$ cat ten_args
arg1=$1
shift
print $arg1 $*

$ ten_args 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

32
Parameter Substitution
• Notes on Variable Syntax
– Syntax $name is not quite accurate
– ${name} is more general
$ file=new;cp $file ${file}copy
– Curly braces can be omitted as long as name is followed by a
character that isn't a letter, digit, or underscore
– This syntax allows for parameter substitution: replacement of the
value of a variable with that of another based on specific
conditions and events.

• Parameter substitution formats:

${parameter:-value}
${parameter:=value}
${parameter:+value}
${parameter:?value}

33
Parameter Substitution (cont.)
${parameter:-value}

• If parameter exists and isn't null, return its value; otherwise

return value
• Purpose: returning a default value if the variable is
undefined.
• Examples:
$ count=""
$ print You have ${count:-5} cards
You have 5 cards
$ print $count

$ FOO=/usr/local/bin/xx
$ print edit file ${FOO:-$HOME/xx}
edit file /usr/local/bin/xx
$ print $FOO
/usr/local/bin/xx

34
Parameter Substitution (cont.)
${parameter:=value}

• If parameter exists and isn't null, return its value; otherwise

set it to value and then return its value
• Purpose: Setting a variable to a default value if it is
undefined.
• Examples:
$ count=""
$ print You have ${count:=5} cards
You have 5 cards
$ print $count
5
$ FOO=/usr/local/bin/xx
$ print edit file ${FOO:=$HOME/xx}
edit file /usr/local/bin/xx
$ print $FOO
/usr/local/bin/xx

35
Parameter Substitution (cont.)
${parameter:+value}

• If parameter exists and isn't null, return value; otherwise

return null.

• Purpose: Testing for the existence of a variable

• Examples:

$ trace=y
$ print ${trace:+"Trace mode on"}
Trace mode on
$ trace=""
$ print ${trace:+"Trace mode on"}

36
Parameter Substitution (cont.)
${parameter:?message}
• If parameter exists and isn't null, return its value; otherwise
print parameter: followed by message and abort the current
command or script. Omitting message produces the
default message parameter null or not set.
• Purpose: Catching errors that result from variables being
undefined.
• Examples:
$ count=""
$ print card '#'${count:?"deal!"}
ksh: count: deal!
$ count=5
$ print card '#'${count:?"deal!"}
card #5

NOTE: In all forms, the colon (:) is optional. If omitted, the operator tests for existence only, i.e., change
"exists and isn't null" to "exists" in each definition.

37
Special Pattern Matching Features
• We have seen the use of the wildcards *,? and []

• Korn shell adds to their capabilities with special pattern

matching operators:

Pattern Matches
x x
*(x) Null string, x, xx, xxx, ...
+(x) x, xx, xxx, ...
?(x) Null string, x
!(x) Any string except x
@(x|y|z|...) x or y or z or ...

38
Special Pattern Matching Features

• Example: list all files ending in .ps or .eps

$ ls *.?(e)ps

• Example: list all files not ending in .c, .h or not named

README or Makefile

$ ls !(*.c|*.h|README|Makefile)

39
Command Substitution
• Two ways seen thus far for getting values into variables:
– assignment statements
– command-line arguments (positional parameters)

• Command substitution is a third way:

$(UNIX command) or `UNIX command` (archaic)

• Examples:
$ DAY=$(date +%A)
$ FILE_LIST=$(ls)
$ LOGGED_ON=$(who|cut -f1 -d' ')
$ FILE=$(< filename)

Also useful interactively,

$ print $(who|wc -l) users logged in

40
Exercises
1. Write a script called lsc which executes the command ls -C. To
execute this command you must give the full path name to your lsc
script. Make the lsc shell script executable and run it.

2.Write a script called b which changes your current directory to /bin,

displays the current directory, and then executes the lsc script
created above. Make the b script executable and run it. What is your
current directory when the b script is finished executing? Why?

3.Write a script called ex_on, which turn on execute permission on the

first argument on the command line.

4.Modify ex_on to turn on execute permission on all arguments on the

command line.

5.Write a script called 12 that prints the twelfth argument on the

command line.

41
 Korn Shell Flow Control
• Flow Control • Examples

• Exit Status • for

• Logical Command Grouping • case

• if / else • select

• Condition Tests • while & until

• String Comparison Operators • Command-line Options

• File Attribute Checking • Integer Variables & Arithmetic

• Integer Conditionals • Exercises

42
Flow Control
• Flow control gives a programmer the power to specify that
only certain portions of a program run, or that certain portions
run repeatedly.

• Korn shell supports the following flow control constructs:

if/else Execute a list of statements if a certain condition is/is
not true
for Execute a list of statements a fixed number of times
while Execute a list of statements repeatedly while a certain
condition holds true
until Execute a list of statements repeatedly until a certain
condition holds true
case Execute one of several lists of statements depending
on the value of a variable
select Allow the user to select one of a list of possibilities
from a menu

43
Exit Status
• At the end of its execution, every UNIX command returns a
status number to the process that invoked it.

• Indicates whether or not the command ran successfully.

• An exit status of zero is used to indicate successful

completion. A nonzero exit status indicates that the program
failed. Some exceptions exist (diff).

• The shell sets the $? variable to the exit status of the last
foreground command that was executed.

44
Exit Status

• The constructs if, while, until and the logical AND (&&)
and OR (||) operators use exit status to make logical
decisions:

0 is a logical "true" (success)

1 is a logical "false" (failure)

• There are built-in true and false commands which you can
use.

45
Exit Status (cont.)
A shell, like any other process, sets an exit status when it finishes
executing. Shell scripts will finish in one of the following ways:

Abort - If the script aborts due to an internal error, the exit status is
that of the last command (the one that aborted the script).

End - If the script runs to completion, the exit status is that of the last
command in the script

Exit - If the script encounters and exit or return command, the exit
status is that set by those commands.

46
Logical Command Grouping
• Two special symbols enable you to execute a command based
on whether or not the preceeding command was successful:
&& is a logical AND || is a logical OR

• Usage:
statement1 && statement2
statement2 will execute only if statement1 was successful
(returned an exit status of 0)

statement1 || statement2
statement2 will execute only if statement1 was not
successful (returned a nonzero exit status).

47
Logical Command Grouping (cont.)

Example:
$ cat on
# a simple shell script to check
# if certain users are logged on
who | grep $1 > /dev/null \
&& print $1 logged on \
|| print $1 not logged on
$ on jason
jason logged on
$ on phantom
phantom not logged on

The logical constructs &&/|| are commonly used with

if/else constructs

48
if / else
• Simplest type of flow control construct is the conditional
embodied in Korn shell's if statement.

• Syntax:
if condition
then
statements
[elif condition <-- can use multiple elif clauses
then statements . . .]
[else
statements]
fi <-- must be by itself on the final
line of the construct

49
if / else (cont.)

• The if statement uses an exit status to determine whether or

not to execute the commands.

• Statements are executed only if the given condition is true.

• If one or more elifs are used, the last else clause is an "if all
else fails" part.

50
Condition Tests
• The if construct can only test exit status but that doesn't limit
you to checking only whether commands ran properly or not.

• Using the [[ ]] construct, many different attributes can be

tested:
– pattern matching on strings
– file attributes
– arithmetic conditionals

• [[ condition ]] just returns an exit status that tells whether

condition is true or not (fits within if construct's syntax of if
statements).

• [[ ]] surround expressions that include various types of

operators.

51
Condition Tests (cont.)
• Conditional expressions inside [[ ]] can be combined
using the logical && and || operators.

• Can also combine shell commands with conditional

expressions using && and ||.

52
Condition Tests (cont.)
String comparison operators:

Operator True if ...

str = pat str matches pat.
str != pat str does not match pat.
str1 < str2 str1 is less than str2.*
str1 > str2 str1 is greater than str2.*
-n str str is not null (has length greater than 0).
-z str str is null (has length 0).
*based on the ASCII value of their characters

str refers to an expression with a string value, and pat

refers to a pattern that can contain wildcards.

53
Condition Tests (cont.)
File attribute checking:
Operator True if ...
-a file file exists
-d file file is a directory
-f file file is a regular file
-m file file is migrated (UNICOS extension)
-r file there is read permission on file
-s file file is not empty
-w file you have write permission on file
-x file you have execute permission on file, or
directory search permission if it is a directory
-O file you own file
-G file your group id is same as file's
file1 -nt file2 file1 is newer than file2
file1 -ot file2 file1 is older than file2

There are 21 such operators in total.

54
Condition Tests (cont.)
Integer Conditionals

• Necessary if you want to combine integer tests with other

types of tests within the same conditional expression

• There is a separate, more efficient syntax for conditional

expressions involving integers only

Test Comparison
-lt less than
-le less than or equal
-eq equal
-ge greater than or equal
-gt greater than
-ne not equal

55
Condition Tests (cont.)

Examples
$ [[ -z "" ]]
$ print $?
0
$ [[ -z foo ]]
$ print $?
1

$ who | grep joe && write joe || \

print joe not logged in

$ if [[ 6 > 57 ]] ; then print huh?;fi

huh?

56
Condition Tests (cont.)

The following script sets user execute permission on an ordinary,

non-migrated file:

if [[ -f $1 && ! -m $1 ]]; then

chmod u+x $1
fi

57
Condition Tests (cont.)
Examples

• The following script removes the first file if it's older than the
second file and the variable KEY is non-null:
if [[ $1 -ot $2 && -n $KEY ]]
then
/bin/rm $1
fi

58
Condition Tests (cont.)
The following script compares two files and if no differences are
found, removes the second file:
USAGE="Usage:\t$(basename $0) file1 file2"
if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
print -u2 ${USAGE}\\n
exit 1
fi

diff $1 $2 > /dev/null

if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
/bin/rm $2
print $2 removed, $1 kept
else
print $1 and $2 differ
fi

59
for
• Previous tests only allow reporting on single files since tests
like -f and -x only take single arguments

• The for loop allows you to call a section of code a fixed

number of times, e.g., once for each file given on the
command line.

• During each time through the iteration, the loop variable is set
to a different value.

60
for

• Previous tests only allow reporting on single files since tests

like -f and -x only take single arguments

• The for loop allows you to call a section of code a fixed

number of times, e.g., once for each file given on the
command line.

• During each time through the iteration, the loop variable is set
to a different value.

61
for (cont.)
Syntax:
for name [in list]
do
statements that can use $name
done

• name is a variable which can be called anything (commonly

called i)

• list is a list of names (defaults to "$@")

• name is set to each name in list, in order, for each iteration;

the number of iterations equals the number of names in list.

62
for (cont.)

Examples
$ cat simple
for i in This is a test
do
print $i
done
$ simple
This
is
a
test <-- Omitting the in This is a test clause
and instead running the script as:
$ simple This is a test
would yield the same output.

63
for (cont.)

Examples

Check to see who is logged on the machines listed in the variable

SYSTEMS="myrtle gull sandy newport daytona":

for sys in $SYSTEMS x

do
finger @$sys
print
done

64
for (cont.)
list can contain shell wildcards and command substitution
as well:
$ cat file1
for i in *
do
print $i
done

$ file1
file1
file2

$ cat file2
for i in $(ls)
do
print $i
done

$ file2
file1
file2

65
case

• Provides a multiple choice decision structure.

• Lets you test strings against patterns that can contain

wildcard characters.

• Syntax:
case expression in
pattern1)
statements ;;
pattern2)
statements ;;
...
esac

66
Case (cont.)
• If expression matches one of the patterns, its
corresponding statements are executed

• If there are several patterns separated by pipes, the

expression can match any of them in order for the
associated statements to be run

• Patterns are checked in order for a match; if none is found,

nothing happens

67
Case (cont.)
Here's a simple script which moves C and fortran source files to
one directory and object code files to another:

for file in $*; do

case $file in
*.c|*.f)
/bin/mv $file ${HOME}/src ;;
*.o )
/bin/mv $file ${HOME}/obj;;
* )
print $file not moved ;;
esac
done

(Could have also used *.[cf] wildcard construct above)

68
Case (cont.)

• The case statement is often used to specify options for a

shell script.
• Here is a shell script called dt_fmat that allows the user to
enter options that affect the way the date is displayed:
case $1 in
-d) print -n Date:
date +"%a %h %d" ;;
-t) print -n Time:
date +"%T" ;;
-w) print -n Weekday:
date +"%a" ;;
-n) print -n Date:
date +"%D" ;;
-y) print -n Year: 19
date +"%y" ;;
-m) print -n Month:
date +"%h" ;;

69
Case (cont.)
*) print -n Date:
date +"%a %h %d" ;;
print -n Time:
date +"%T" ;;
esac

$ dt_fmat -y
Year: 1996
$ dt_fmat *
Date:Thu Oct 17
Time:14:33:36

70
select
• select allows you to generate simple menus easily.

• Syntax:
select name [in list]
do
statements that can use $name
done

• This is the same syntax as the for loop except for the keyword
select. As with for, in list defaults to "$@" if omitted.

• A menu is generated for each item in list, formatted with

number for each choice.

71
Select (cont.)
• The selected choice is stored in name and the selected
number in REPLY

• Executes the statements in the body

• Repeats the process forever; exit loop with break statement

(or user can issue ctrl-d)

72
Select (cont.)
The following script termselect allows you to select a terminal
setting:

PS3='terminal? '
select term in vt100 vt220 xterm
do
if [[ -n $term ]]; then
TERM=$term
print TERM is $term
break
else
print invalid choice
fi
done
vt100 vt220 xterm <--- the list can be expanded for clarity
using continuation lines and quotes

73
Select (cont.)

$ termselect
1) vt100
2) vt220
3) xterm
terminal? 4
invalid choice
terminal? 3
TERM is xterm

74
while & until
• Allows a section of code to be run repetitively while a certain
condition holds true.
• Syntax:
while condition
do
statements ...
done

• As with if, the condition is really a list of statements that are

run; the exit status of the last one is used as the value of the
condition.

• [[ ]] can be used here as with if.

• Beware of creating an infinite loop (condition must become

false at some point).

75
while & until (cont.)
Example: print out arguments
$ cat args
while [[ $# -ne 0 ]]; do
print $1
shift
done

$ args "a dog" '$x' "$x" a 1

a dog
$x

a
1

• Until allows a section of code to be run repetitively as long as

a certain condition is false.

• Just about any until can be converted to a while by simply

negating the condition.

76
Command-line Arguments
• We want to expand on our ability to use command-line options
to shell scripts

• Typical UNIX commands have the form

command [-options] arguments
meaning that there can be 0 or more options.

• A piece of code that handles a single option called -o and

arbitrarily many arguments would be:

if [[ $1 = -o ]]; then
process the -o option
shift
fi
normal processing of arguments ...

77
Command-line Arguments (cont.)
Example:
• Suppose you keep a list of your home coin collection that keeps track
of how many coins you have in a given category. Lines in the list look
like:
62 U.S. proofs
11 U.S. pennies (1850-1908)
36 U.S. pennies (1909-1950)
9 U.S. nickels (1861-1938)
• You want to write a program that prints the N types of coins of which
you have the most. The default for N is 10. The program should take
one argument for the name of the input file and an optional argument
for how many lines to print.

• A simple implementation would be:

filename=$1
howmany=${2:-10}
sort -nr $filename | head -$howmany

78
Command-line Arguments (cont.)
• This script is usable but if no arguments are given to the script
it will appear to hang
• No useful error messages
• Doesn't conform to typical UNIX command syntax

• An improvement (script is named highest):

if [[ $1 = -+([0-9]) ]]; then
howmany=$1
shift
elif [[ $1 = -* ]]; then
print usage: highest [-N] filename
return 1
else
howmany=-10
fi

filename=$1
sort -nr $filename | head $howmany

79
Command-line Arguments (cont.)
For multiple options, a general technique would be (assume
script named exo):

while [[ $1 = -* ]]; do
case $1 in
-a) process option -a ;;
-b) process option -b ;;
-c) process option -c ;;
* ) print usage: exo [-a] [-b] [-c] args; return 1 ;;
esac
shift
done

normal processing of arguments ...

80
Command-line Arguments (cont.)
Suppose option b takes an argument itself:

while [[ $1 = -* ]]; do
case $1 in
-a) process option -a ;;
-b) process option -b
$2 is the option's argument
shift ;;
-c) process option -c ;;
* ) print usage: exo [-a] [-b option] [-c] args; return
1 ;;
esac
shift
done

normal processing of arguments ...

81
Integer Variables & Arithmetic
• The shell interprets words surrounded by $ (( and )) as arithmetic
expressions.
• Variables in arithmetic expressions do not need to be preceded by
dollar signs.
Operator Meaning
+ addition
- subtraction
* multiplication
/ division with truncation
< less than
> greater than
<= less than or equal
>= greater than or equal
== equal
!= not equal
&&(||) logical and (or)

82
Integer Variables & Arithmetic (cont.)
• No need to backslash escape special characters within
$((...)) syntax.

• Parentheses can be used to group subexpressions.

• Relational operators have true values of 1 and false values of

0.

• Examples:
$ print $ ((3 > 2 ))
1
$ print $ (( (3 > 2 ) || (4 <= 1) ))
1
$ print $ (( 2#1001 ))
9 <--using base 2

83
Integer Variables & Arithmetic (cont.)

• Can also construct arithmetic condition tests; these set an exit

status of 0 if true and 1 if false

$ ((3 > 2 )) ;print $?

0
$ ((3 < 2 )) ;print $?
1 <-- note no leading $ sign!

84
Integer Variables & Arithmetic (cont.)
• "Truth" values:
$ (( 14 )) ;print $?
0
$ (( 0 )) ;print $?
1
• Assigning expressions to integer variables with the let
command:
let x= $x
1+4 5
'1 + 4’ 5
'(2+3) * 5’ 25
17/3 5

$ let x=5; let y=6

$ let z=x+y
$ print $z
11

85
Exercises
1.Write a script called lis that uses a for loop to display all files and
directories in the current directory.

2.Write a script called char that checks a single character on the

command line, c. If the character is a digit, digit is displayed. If the
character is an upper or lowercase alphabetic character, letter is
displayed. Otherwise, other is displayed. Have the script print an
error message if the argument c is more than one character in length.

3.Write a script called mycopy that copies a source file to multiple

destinations. Add a check to see if the source file exists. If the source
file does not exist, print an error message.

4.Write a script called mydir that prints the message File is a directory if
the file is a directory.

86
Exercises (cont.)
5.Write a script called ver that accepts one argument on the command
line indicating the name of a file. The file is copied to another file with
the same name with the addition of the extension .v2. Also, the line
#Version 2 is added to the top of the file.

6.Execute the ver script on itself, creating a new version of the file
called ver.v2.

7.Rewrite ver.v2 to accept a possible second argument. If two

arguments are entered, the file specified by the first argument is
copied to a file with the name of the second argument. If no second
argument is entered, the file is copied to another file with the
same name, adding the extension .v2. In either case, the line
#Version2 is added to the top of the file.

87