How to write a shell script

Introduction
A shell is a command line interpretor. It takes commands and executes them. As such, it
implements a programming language. The Bourne shell is used to create shell scripts -ie. programs that are interpreted/executed by the shell. You can write shell scripts with
the C-shell; however, this is not covered here.

Creating a Script
Suppose you often type the command
find . -name file -print

and you'd rather type a simple command, say

sfind file

Create a shell script

% cd ~/bin
% emacs sfind
% page sfind
find . -name $1 -print
% chmod a+x sfind
% rehash
% cd /usr/local/bin
% sfind tcsh
./shells/tcsh

Observations
This quick example is far from adequate but some observations:
1. Shell scripts are simple text files created with an editor.
2. Shell scripts are marked as executeable
3.

%chmod a+x sfind

4. Should be located in your search path and ~/bin should be in your search path.
5. You likely need to rehash if you're a Csh (tcsh) user (but not again when you
login).
6. Arguments are passed from the command line and referenced. For example, as $1.

#!/bin/sh
All Bourne Shell scripts should begin with the sequence
#!/bin/sh

From the man page for exec(2):

"On the first line of an interpreter script, following the "#!", is the name of a program
which should be used to interpret the contents of the file. For instance, if the first line
contains "#! /bin/sh", then the con- tents of the file are executed as a shell script."

You can get away without this, but you shouldn't. All good scripts state the interpretor
explicitly. Long ago there was just one (the Bourne Shell) but these days there are many
interpretors -- Csh, Ksh, Bash, and others.

Comments
Comments are any text beginning with the pound (#) sign. A comment can start anywhere
on a line and continue until the end of the line.

Search Path
All shell scripts should include a search path specifica- tion:
PATH=/usr/ucb:/usr/bin:/bin; export PATH

A PATH specification is recommended -- often times a script will fail for some people
because they have a different or incomplete search path.
The Bourne Shell does not export environment variables to children unless explicitly
instructed to do so by using the export command.

Argument Checking
A good shell script should verify that the arguments sup- plied (if any) are correct.
if [ $# -ne 3 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Usage: $0 19 Oct 91
exit 127
fi

This script requires three arguments and gripes accordingly.

Exit status
All Unix utilities should return an exit status.
# is the year out of range for me?
if [ $year -lt 1901 -o $year -gt 2099 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Year \"$year\" out of range
exit 127
fi
etc...
# All done, exit ok
exit 0

A non-zero exit status indicates an error condition of some sort while a zero exit status
indicates things worked as expected.

On BSD systems there's been an attempt to categorize some of the more common exit
status codes. See /usr/include/sysexits.h.

Using exit status

Exit codes are important for those who use your code. Many constructs test on the exit
status of a command.
The conditional construct is:
if command; then
command
fi

For example,

if tty -s; then

echo Enter text end with \^D
fi

Your code should be written with the expectation that others will use it. Making sure you
return a meaningful exit status will help.

Stdin, Stdout, Stderr

Standard input, output, and error are file descriptors 0, 1, and 2. Each has a particular role
and should be used accordingly:
# is the year out of range for me?
if [ $year -lt 1901 -o $year -gt 2099 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Year \"$year\" out of my range
exit 127
fi
etc...
# ok, you have the number of days since Jan 1, ...
case `expr $days % 7` in
0)
echo Mon;;
1)
echo Tue;;
etc...

Error messages should appear on stderr not on stdout! Output should appear on stdout. As
for input/output dialogue:
# give the fellow a chance to quit
if tty -s
echo
echo
case

; then
This will remove all files in $* since ...
$n Ok to procede? $c;
read ans
"$ans" in
n*|N*)

echo File purge abandoned;

exit 0
;;
esac
RM="rm -rfi"
else
RM="rm -rf"
fi

Note: this code behaves differently if there's a user to communicate with (ie. if the
standard input is a tty rather than a pipe, or file, or etc. See tty(1)).

Language Constructs
For loop iteration
Substitute values for variable and perform task:
for variable in word ...
do
command
done

For example:

for i in `cat $LOGS`

do
mv $i $i.$TODAY
cp /dev/null $i
chmod 664 $i
done

Alternatively you may see:

for variable in word ...; do command; done

Case
Switch to statements depending on pattern match
case word in
[ pattern [ | pattern ... ] )
command ;; ] ...
esac

For example:
case "$year" in
[0-9][0-9])
year=19${year}
years=`expr $year - 1901`
;;
[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])
years=`expr $year - 1901`
;;
*)
echo 1>&2 Year \"$year\" out of range ...

exit 127
;;
esac

Conditional Execution
Test exit status of command and branch
if command
then
command
[ else
command ]
fi

For example:
if [ $# -ne 3 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Usage: $0 19 Oct 91
exit 127
fi

Alternatively you may see:

if command; then command; [ else command; ] fi

While/Until Iteration
Repeat task while command returns good exit status.
{while | until} command
do
command
done

For example:
# for each argument mentioned, purge that directory
while [ $# -ge 1 ]; do
_purge $1
shift
done

Alternatively you may see:

while command; do command; done

Variables
Variables are sequences of letters, digits, or underscores beginning with a letter or
underscore. To get the contents of a variable you must prepend the name with a $.

Numeric variables (eg. like $1, etc.) are positional vari- ables for argument
communication.
o

Variable Assignment
Assign a value to a variable by variable=value. For example:
PATH=/usr/ucb:/usr/bin:/bin; export PATH

or
TODAY=`(set \`date\`; echo $1)`
o

Exporting Variables
Variables are not exported to children unless explicitly marked.
# We MUST have a DISPLAY environment variable
if [ "$DISPLAY" = "" ]; then
if tty -s ; then
echo "DISPLAY (`hostname`:0.0)? \c";
read DISPLAY
fi
if [ "$DISPLAY" = "" ]; then
DISPLAY=`hostname`:0.0
fi
export DISPLAY
fi

Likewise, for variables like the PRINTER which you want hon- ored by
lpr(1). From a user's .profile:
PRINTER=PostScript; export PRINTER

Note: that the Cshell exports all environment variables.

o

Referencing Variables
Use $variable (or, if necessary, ${variable}) to reference the value.
# Most user's have a /bin of their own
if [ "$USER" != "root" ]; then
PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
else
PATH=/etc:/usr/etc:$PATH
fi

The braces are required for concatenation constructs.

$p_01

The value of the variable "p_01".

${p}_01

The value of the variable "p" with "_01" pasted onto the end.
o
o

Conditional Reference
${variable-word}

If the variable has been set, use it's value, else use word.
POSTSCRIPT=${POSTSCRIPT-PostScript};
export POSTSCRIPT
${variable:-word}

If the variable has been set and is not null, use it's value, else use word.
These are useful constructions for honoring the user envi- ronment. Ie. the
user of the script can override variable assignments. Cf. programs like
lpr(1) honor the PRINTER environment variable, you can do the same
trick with your shell scripts.
${variable:?word}

If variable is set use it's value, else print out word and exit. Useful for
bailing out.
o

Arguments
Command line arguments to shell scripts are positional vari- ables:
$0, $1, ...

The command and arguments. With $0 the command and the rest the
arguments.
$#

The number of arguments.

$*, $@

All the arguments as a blank separated string. Watch out for "$*" vs.
"$@".
And, some commands:

shift

Shift the postional variables down one and decrement number of

arguments.
set arg arg ...

Set the positional variables to the argument list.

Command line parsing uses shift:
# parse argument list
while [ $# -ge 1 ]; do
case $1 in
process arguments...
esac
shift
done

A use of the set command:

# figure out what day it is
TODAY=`(set \`date\`; echo $1)`
cd $SPOOL
for i in `cat $LOGS`
do
mv $i $i.$TODAY
cp /dev/null $i
chmod 664 $i
done
o
o

Special Variables
$$

Current process id. This is very useful for constructing temporary files.
tmp=/tmp/cal0$$
trap "rm -f $tmp /tmp/cal1$$ /tmp/cal2$$"
trap exit 1 2 13 15
/usr/lib/calprog >$tmp
$?

The exit status of the last command.

$command
# Run target file if no errors and ...
if [ $? -eq 0 ]

etc...

then
fi

Quotes/Special Characters
Special characters to terminate words:
; & ( ) | ^ < > new-line space tab

These are for command sequences, background jobs, etc. To quote any of these
use a backslash (\) or bracket with quote marks ("" or '').
Single Quotes
Within single quotes all characters are quoted -- including the backslash. The
result is one word.
grep :${gid}: /etc/group | awk -F: '{print $1}'

Double Quotes
Within double quotes you have variable subsitution (ie. the dollar sign is
interpreted) but no file name generation (ie. * and ? are quoted). The result is one
word.
if [ ! "${parent}" ]; then
parent=${people}/${group}/${user}
fi

Back Quotes
Back quotes mean run the command and substitute the output.
if [ "`echo -n`" = "-n" ]; then
n=""
c="\c"
else
n="-n"
c=""
fi

and
TODAY=`(set \`date\`; echo $1)`

Functions
Functions are a powerful feature that aren't used often enough. Syntax is

name ()
{
commands
}

For example:
# Purge a directory
_purge()
{

# there had better be a directory

if [ ! -d $1 ]; then
echo $1: No such directory 1>&2
return
fi
}

etc...

Within a function the positional parmeters $0, $1, etc. are the arguments to the
function (not the arguments to the script).
Within a function use return instead of exit.
Functions are good for encapsulations. You can pipe, redi- rect input, etc. to
functions. For example:
# deal with a file, add people one at a time
do_file()
{
while parse_one
}

etc...

etc...
# take standard input (or a specified file) and do it.
if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
cat $1 | do_file
else
do_file
fi

Sourcing commands
You can execute shell scripts from within shell scripts. A couple of choices:
sh

command

This runs the shell script as a separate shell. For example, on Sun machines in
/etc/rc:
sh /etc/rc.local

. command
This runs the shell script from within the current shell script. For example:
# Read in configuration information
. /etc/hostconfig

What are the virtues of each? What's the difference? The second form is useful for
configuration files where environment variable are set for the script. For example:
for HOST in $HOSTS; do
# is there a config file for this host?
.

if [ -r ${BACKUPHOME}/${HOST} ]; then
${BACKUPHOME}/${HOST}
fi
etc...

Using configuration files in this manner makes it possible to write scripts that are
automatically tailored for differ- ent situations.

Some Tricks

Test
The most powerful command is test(1).
if test expression; then
etc...

and (note the matching bracket argument)

if [ expression ]; then
etc...

On System V machines this is a builtin (check out the com- mand /bin/test).
On BSD systems (like the Suns) compare the command /usr/bin/test with /usr/bin/
[.
Useful expressions are:

test { -w, -r, -x, -s, ... } filename

is file writeable, readable, executeable, empty, etc?

test n1 { -eq, -ne, -gt, ... } n2

are numbers equal, not equal, greater than, etc.?

test s1 { =, != } s2

Are strings the same or different?

test cond1 { -o, -a } cond2

Binary or; binary and; use ! for unary negation.

For example
if [ $year -lt 1901 -o $year -gt 2099 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Year \"$year\" out of range
exit 127
fi

Learn this command inside out! It does a lot for you.

String matching
The test command provides limited string matching tests. A more powerful trick is
to match strings with the case switch.
# parse argument list
while [ $# -ge 1 ]; do
case $1 in
-c*)
rate=`echo $1 | cut -c3-`;;
-c)
shift; rate=$1 ;;
-p*)
prefix=`echo $1 | cut -c3-`;;
-p)
shift; prefix=$1 ;;
-*)
echo $Usage; exit 1 ;;
*)
disks=$*;
break
;;
esac
shift
done

Of course getopt would work much better.

SysV vs BSD echo

On BSD systems to get a prompt you'd say:

echo -n Ok to procede?;

read ans

On SysV systems you'd say:

echo Ok to procede? \c; read ans

In an effort to produce portable code we've been using:

# figure out what kind of echo to use
if [ "`echo -n`" = "-n" ]; then
n=""; c="\c"
else
n="-n";
c=""
fi
etc...
echo $n Ok to procede? $c; read ans

Is there a person?
The Unix tradition is that programs should execute as qui- etly as possible.
Especially for pipelines, cron jobs, etc.
User prompts aren't required if there's no user.
# If there's a person out there, prod him a bit.
if tty -s; then
echo Enter text end with \^D
fi

The tradition also extends to output.

# If the output is to a terminal, be verbose
if tty -s <&1; then
verbose=true
else
verbose=false
fi

Beware: just because stdin is a tty that doesn't mean that stdout is too. User
prompts should be directed to the user terminal.
# If there's a person out there, prod him a bit.
if tty -s; then
echo Enter text end with \^D >&0
fi

Have you ever had a program stop waiting for keyboard input when the output is
directed elsewhere?

Creating Input
We're familiar with redirecting input. For example:
# take standard input (or a specified file) and do it.
if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
cat $1 | do_file
else
do_file
fi

alternatively, redirection from a file:

# take standard input (or a specified file) and do it.
if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
do_file < $1
else
do_file
fi

You can also construct files on the fly.

rmail bsmtp <<[email protected]>
rcpt to:
data
from: <[email protected]>
to:
Subject: Signon $2
subscribe $2 Usenet Feeder at UWO
.
quit
EOF

Note: that variables are expanded in the input.

String Manipulations
One of the more common things you'll need to do is parse strings. Some tricks
TIME=`date | cut -c12-19`
TIME=`date | sed 's/.* .* .* \(.*\) .* .*/\1/'`
TIME=`date | awk '{print $4}'`

TIME=`set \`date\`; echo $4`

TIME=`date | (read u v w x y z; echo $x)`

With some care, redefining the input field separators can help.
#!/bin/sh
# convert IP number to in-addr.arpa name
name()
{
set `IFS=".";echo $1`
echo $4.$3.$2.$1.in-addr.arpa
}
if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
echo 1>&2 Usage: bynum IP-address
exit 127
fi
add=`name $1`
nslookup < < EOF | grep "$add" | sed 's/.*= //'
set type=any
$add
EOF

Debugging
The shell has a number of flags that make debugging easier:
sh -n

command

Read the shell script but don't execute the commands. IE. check syntax.
sh -x

command

Display commands and arguments as they're executed. In a lot of my shell scripts

you'll see
# Uncomment the next line for testing
# set -x

Based on An Introduction to Shell Programing by:

Reg Quinton
Computing and Communications Services
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario N6A 5B7
Canada
Press here to return to the General Unix Software Menu.

UNIX Bourne Shell Scripting

Ken Steube
Earth Systems Science Computational Centre
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
These notes teach you how to write and run Bourne shell scripts on any UNIX computer.
What do you need to know to follow along? This was originally written as a second class
in UNIX. The first class taught how to use the basic UNIX commands (like sed, grep and
find) and this class teaches how to combine these tools to accomplish bigger tasks.
In addition to the material in this course you might be interested in the Korn shell (ksh)
and the Bourne again shell (bash), both of which are excellent shells that enchance the
original Bourne shell. These alternate shells are upwardly-compatible with the Bourne
shell, meaning that a script written for sh can run in ksh or bash. However, there are
additional features in bash and ksh that are not available in the Bourne shell.
The focus of this guide is to get you to understand and run some Bourne shell scripts. On
several pages there are example scripts for you to run. On most of these pages there is a
link you can click on (with the right mouse button) and download the script to your
computer and run it.
You will learn several things:

Ability to automate tasks, such as

o Software install procedures
o Backups
o Administration tasks
o Periodic operations on a database via cron
o Any repetetive operations on files
Increase your general knowledge of UNIX
o Use of environment
o Use of UNIX utilities
o Use of features such as pipes and I/O redirection

For example, I recently wrote a script to make a backup of one of the subdirectories
where I was developing a project. I quickly wrote a shell script that uses /bin/tar to create

an archive of the entire subdirectory and then copy it to one of our backup systems at my
computer center and store it under a subdirectory named according to today's date.
As another example, I have some software that runs on UNIX that I distribute and people
were having trouble unpacking the software and getting it running. I designed and wrote
a shell script that automated the process of unpacking the software and configuring it.
Now people can get and install the software without having to contact me for help, which
is good for them and good for me, too!
For shell script experts one of the things to consider is whether to use the Bourne shell (or
ksh or bash), the C shell, or a richer scripting language like perl or python. I like all these
tools and am not especially biased toward any one of them. The best thing is to use the
right tool for each job. If all you need to do is run some UNIX commands over and over
again, use a Bourne or C shell script. If you need a script that does a lot of arithmetic or
string manipulation, then you will be better off with perl or python. If you have a Bourne
shell script that runs too slowly then you might want to rewrite it in perl or python
because they can be much faster.
Historically, people have been biased toward the Bourne shell over the C shell because in
the early days the C shell was buggy. These problems are fixed in many C shell
implementations these days, especially the excellent 'T' C shell (tcsh), but many still
prefer the Bourne shell.
There are other good shells available. I don't mean to neglect them but rather to talk about
the tools I am familiar with.
If you are interested also in learning about programming in the C shell I also have a
comparison between features of the C shell and Bourne shell.

Table of Contents:
1. Review of a few Basic UNIX Topics (Page 1)
2. Storing Frequently Used Commands in Files: Shell Scripts
(Page 6)
3. More on Using UNIX Utilities (Page 9)
4. Performing Search and Replace in Several Files (Page 11)
5. Using Command-line Arguments for Flexibility (Page 14)
6. Using Functions (Page 30)
7. Miscellaneous (Page 38)
8. Trapping Signals (Page 43)
9. Understanding Command Translation (Page 50)
10. Writing Advanced Loops (Page 59)
11. Creating Remote Shells (Page 67)
12. More Miscellaneous (Page 73)
13. Using Quotes (Page 75)

Section 1: Review of a few Basic UNIX Topics

Shell scripting involves chaining several UNIX commands together to accomplish a task.
For example, you might run the 'date' command and then use today's date as part of a file
name. I'll show you how to do this below.
Some of the tools of the trade are variables, backquotes and pipes. First we'll study these
topics and also quickly review a few other UNIX topics.

Variables

Topics covered: storing strings in variables

Utilities covered: echo, expr
To try the commands below start up a Bourne shell:
/bin/sh

A variable stores a string (try running these commands in a Bourne shell)

name="John Doe"
echo $name

The quotes are required in the example above because the string contains a special
character (the space)
A variable may store a number
num=137

The shell stores this as a string even though it appears to be a number

A few UNIX utilities will convert this string into a number to perform arithmetic
expr $num + 3

Try defining num as '7m8' and try the expr command again
What happens when num is not a valid number?
Now you may exit the Bourne shell with
exit

Page 1

I/O Redirection

Topics covered: specifying the input or capturing the output of a command in a

file

Utilities covered: wc, sort

The wc command counts the number of lines, words, and characters in a file

sort /etc/passwd
sort < /etc/passwd

wc /etc/passwd
wc -l /etc/passwd

You can save the output of wc (or any other command) with output redirection
wc /etc/passwd > wc.file

You can specify the input with input redirection

wc < /etc/passwd

Many UNIX commands allow you to specify the input file by name or by input
redirection
You can also append lines to the end of an existing file with output redirection
wc -l /etc/passwd >> wc.file

Page 2

Backquotes

Topics covered: capturing output of a command in a variable

Utilities covered: date
The backquote character looks like the single quote or apostrophe, but slants the
other way
It is used to capture the output of a UNIX utility
A command in backquotes is executed and then replaced by the output of the
command
Execute these commands
date
save_date=`date`
echo The date is $save_date

Notice how echo prints the output of 'date', and gives the time when you defined
the save_date variable
Store the following in a file named backquotes.sh and execute it (right click and
save in a file)
#!/bin/sh
# Illustrates using backquotes
# Output of 'date' stored in a variable
Today="`date`"
echo Today is $Today

Execute the script with

sh backquotes.sh

The example above shows you how you can write commands into a file and
execute the file with a Bourne shell

Backquotes are very useful, but be aware that they slow down a script if you use
them hundreds of times
You can save the output of any command with backquotes, but be aware that the
results will be reformated into one line. Try this:
LS=`ls -l`
echo $LS

Page 3

Pipes

Topics covered: using UNIX pipes

Utilities covered: sort, cat, head
Pipes are used for post-processing data
One UNIX command prints results to the standard output (usually the screen), and
another command reads that data and processes it

sort /etc/passwd | head -5

head -5 /etc/passwd
head -5 < /etc/passwd

ls -al | sort -n -r +4

Notice that this pipe can be simplified

cat /etc/passwd | head -5

You could accomplish the same thing more efficiently with either of the two
commands:
For example, this command displays all the files in the current directory sorted by
file size
The command ls -al writes the file size in the fifth column, which is why we skip
the first four columns using +4.
The options -n and -r request a numeric sort (which is different than the normal
alphabetic sort) in reverse order
Page 4

awk

Topics covered: processing columnar data

Utilities covered: awk
The awk utility is used for processing columns of data
A simple example shows how to extract column 5 (the file size) from the output
of ls -l

ls -l | awk '{print $5}'

Cut and paste this line into a Bourne shell and you should see a column of file
sizes, one per file in your current directory.
A more complicated example shows how to sum the file sizes and print the result
at the end of the awk run
ls -al | awk '{sum = sum + $5} END {print sum}'

In this example you should see printed just one number, which is the sum of the
file sizes in the current directory.
Page 5

Section 2: Storing Frequently Used Commands in Files:

Shell Scripts

Shell Scripts

Topics covered: storing commands in a file and executing the file

Utilities covered: date, cal, last (shows who has logged in recently)
Store the following in a file named simple.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Show some useful info at the start of the day
date
echo Good morning $USER
cal
last | head -6

Shows current date, calendar, and a six of previous logins

Notice that the commands themselves are not displayed, only the results
To display the commands verbatim as they run, execute with
sh -v simple.sh

Another way to display the commands as they run is with -x

sh -x simple.sh

What is the difference between -v and -x? Notice that with -v you see '$USER' but
with -x you see your login name
Run the command 'echo $USER' at your terminal prompt and see that the variable
$USER stores your login name

With -v or -x (or both) you can easily relate any error message that may appear to
the command that generated it
When an error occurs in a script, the script continues executing at the next
command
Verify this by changing 'cal' to 'caal' to cause an error, and then run the script
again
Run the 'caal' script with 'sh -v simple.sh' and with 'sh -x simple.sh' and verify the
error message comes from cal
Other standard variable names include: $HOME, $PATH, $PRINTER. Use echo
to examine the values of these variables
Page 6

Storing File Names in Variables

Topics covered: variables store strings such as file names, more on creating and
using variables
Utilities covered: echo, ls, wc
A variable is a name that stores a string
It's often convenient to store a filename in a variable
Store the following in a file named variables.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# An example with variables
filename="/etc/passwd"
echo "Check the permissions on $filename"
ls -l $filename
echo "Find out how many accounts there are on this system"
wc -l $filename

Now if we change the value of $filename, the change is automatically propagated

throughout the entire script
Page 7

Scripting With sed

Topics covered: global search and replace, input and output redirection
Utilities covered: sed
Here's how you can use sed to modify the contents of a variable:
echo "Hello Jim" | sed -e 's/Hello/Bye/'

Copy the file nlanr.txt to your home directory and notice how the word 'vBNS'
appears in it several times
Change 'vBNS' to 'NETWORK' with
sed -e 's/vBNS/NETWORK/g' < nlanr.txt

You can save the modified text in a file with output redirection
sed -e 's/vBNS/NETWORK/g' < nlanr.txt > nlanr.new

Sed can be used for many complex editing tasks, we have only scratched the
surface here
Page 8

Section 3: More on Using UNIX Utilities

Performing Arithmetic

Topics covered: integer arithmetic, preceding '*' with backslash to avoid file
name wildcard expansion
Utilities covered: expr
Arithmetic is done with expr
expr 5 + 7
expr 5 \* 7

Backslash required in front of '*' since it is a filename wildcard and would be

translated by the shell into a list of file names
You can save arithmetic result in a variable
Store the following in a file named arith.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Perform some arithmetic
x=24
y=4
Result=`expr $x \* $y`
echo "$x times $y is $Result"

Page 9

Translating Characters

Topics covered: converting one character to another, translating and saving string
stored in a variable
Utilities covered: tr
Copy the file sdsc.txt to your home directory
The utility tr translates characters
tr 'a' 'Z' < sdsc.txt

This example shows how to translate the contents of a variable and display the
result on the screen with tr
Store the following in a file named tr1.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Translate the contents of a variable
Cat_name="Piewacket"
echo $Cat_name | tr 'a' 'i'

This example shows how to change the contents of a variable

Store the following in a file named tr2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Illustrates how to change the contents of a variable with tr
Cat_name="Piewacket"
echo "Cat_name is $Cat_name"
Cat_name=`echo $Cat_name | tr 'a' 'i'`
echo "Cat_name has changed to $Cat_name"

You can also specify ranges of characters.

This example converts upper case to lower case
tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' < file

Now you can change the value of the variable and your script has access to the
new value
Page 10

Section 4: Performing Search and Replace in Several

Files

Processing Multiple Files

Topics covered: executing a sequence of commands on each of several files with

for loops
Utilities covered: no new utilities
Store the following in a file named loop1.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Execute ls and wc on each of several files
# File names listed explicitly
for filename in simple.sh variables.sh loop1.sh
do
echo "Variable filename is set to $filename..."
ls -l $filename
wc -l $filename
done

This executes the three commands echo, ls and wc for each of the three file names
You should see three lines of output for each file name
filename is a variable, set by "for" statement and referenced as $filename
Now we know how to execute a series of commands on each of several files
Page 11

Using File Name Wildcards in For Loops

Topics covered: looping over files specified with wildcards

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Store the following in a file named loop2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Execute ls and wc on each of several files
# File names listed using file name wildcards
for filename in *.sh
do
echo "Variable filename is set to $filename..."
ls -l $filename
wc -l $filename
done

You should see three lines of output for each file name ending in '.sh'
The file name wildcard pattern *.sh gets replaced by the list of filenames that
exist in the current directory
For another example with filename wildcards try this command
echo *.sh

Page 12

Search and Replace in Multiple Files

Topics covered: combining for loops with utilities for global search and replace
in several files
Utilities covered: mv
Sed performs global search and replace on a single file
sed -e 's/application/APPLICATION/g' sdsc.txt > sdsc.txt.new

The original file sdsc.txt is unchanged

How can we arrange to have the original file over-written by the new version?
Store the following in a file named s-and-r.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Perform a global search and replace on each of several files
# File names listed explicitly
for text_file in sdsc.txt nlanr.txt
do
echo "Editing file $text_file"
sed -e 's/application/APPLICATION/g' $text_file > temp
mv -f temp $text_file
done

First, sed saves new version in file 'temp'

Then, use mv to overwrite original file with new version
Page 13

Section 5: Using Command-line Arguments for

Flexibility

What's Lacking in the Scripts Above?

Topics covered: looping over files specified with wildcards

Utilities covered: no new utilities
File names are hard-coded inside the script

What if you want to run the script but with different file names?
To execute for loops on different files, the user has to know how to edit the script
Not simple enough for general use by the masses
Wouldn't it be useful if we could easily specify different file names for each
execution of a script?
Page 14

What are Command-line Arguments?

Topics covered: specifying command-line arguments

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Command-line arguments follow the name of a command
ls -l .cshrc /etc

The command above has three command-line arguments

-l
.cshrc
/etc

(an option that requests long directory listing)

(a file name)
(a directory name)

An example with file name wildcards:

wc *.sh

How many command-line arguments were given to wc? It depends on how many
files in the current directory match the pattern *.sh
Use 'echo *.sh' to see them
Most UNIX commands take command-line arguments. Your scripts may also have
arguments
Page 15

Accessing Command-line Arguments

Topics covered: accessing command-line arguments

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Store the following in a file named args1.sh
#!/bin/sh
# Illustrates using command-line arguments
# Execute with
# sh args1.sh On the Waterfront
echo "First command-line argument is: $1"
echo "Third argument is: $3"

echo "Number of arguments is: $#"

echo "The entire list of arguments is: $*"

Execute the script with

sh args1.sh -x On the Waterfront

Words after the script name are command-line arguments

Arguments are usually options like -l or file names
Page 16

Looping Over the Command-line Arguments

Topics covered: using command-line arguments in a for loop

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Store the following in a file named args2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Loop over the command-line arguments
# Execute with
# sh args2.sh simple.sh variables.sh
for filename in "$@"
do
echo "Examining file $filename"
wc -l $filename
done

This script runs properly with any number of arguments, including zero
The shorter form of the for statement shown below does exactly the same thing
for filename
do
...

Don't use
for filename in $*

Fails if any arguments include spaces

Also, don't forget the double quotes around $@
Page 17

If Blocks

Topics covered: testing conditions, executing commands conditionally

Utilities covered: test (used by if to evaluate conditions)

This will be covered on the whiteboard

See Chapter 8 of the book
Page 18

The read Command

Topics covered: reading a line from the standard input

Utilities covered: no new utilities
stdin is the keyboard unless input redirection used
Read one line from stdin, store line in a variable
read variable_name

Ask the user if he wants to exit the script

Store the following in a file named read.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Shows how to read a line from stdin
echo "Would you like to exit this script now?"
read answer
if [ "$answer" = y ]
then
echo "Exiting..."
exit 0
fi

Page 19

Command Exit Status

Topics covered: checking whether a command succeeds or not

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Every command in UNIX should return an exit status
Status is in range 0-255
Only 0 means success
Other statuses indicate various types of failures
Status does not print on screen, but is available thru variable $?
Example shows how to examine exit status of a command
Store the following in a file named exit-status.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Experiment with command exit status

echo "The next command should fail and return a status greater
than zero"
ls /nosuchdirectory
echo "Status is $? from command: ls /nosuchdirectory"
echo "The next command should succeed and return a status equal to
zero"
ls /tmp
echo "Status is $? from command: ls /tmp"

Example shows if block using exit status to force exit on failure

Store the following in a file named exit-status-test.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Use an if block to determine if a command succeeded
echo "This mkdir command fails unless you are root:"
mkdir /no_way
if [ "$?" -ne 0 ]
then
# Complain and quit
echo "Could not create directory /no_way...quitting"
exit 1 # Set script's exit status to 1
fi
echo "Created directory /no_way"

Exit status is $status in C shell

Page 20

Regular Expressions

Topics covered: search patterns for editors, grep, sed

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Zero or more characters: .*
grep 'provided.*access' sdsc.txt
sed -e 's/provided.*access/provided access/' sdsc.txt

Search for text at beginning of line

grep '^the' sdsc.txt

Search for text at the end of line

grep 'of$' sdsc.txt

Asterisk means zero or more the the preceeding character

a*
aa*
aaa*

zero or more a's

one or more a's
two or more a's

Delete all spaces at the ends of lines

sed -e 's/ *$//' sdsc.txt > sdsc.txt.new

Turn each line into a shell comment

sed -e 's/^/# /' sdsc.txt

Page 21

Greed and Eagerness

Attributes of pattern matching

Greed: a regular expression will match the largest possible string
Execute this command and see how big a string gets replaced by an underscore
echo 'Big robot' | sed -e 's/i.*o/_/'

Eagerness: a regular expression will find the first match if several are present in
the line
Execute this command and see whether 'big' or 'bag' is matched by the regular
expression
echo 'big bag' | sed -e 's/b.g/___/'

Contrast with this command (notice the extra 'g')

echo 'big bag' | sed -e 's/b.g/___/g'

Explain what happens in the next example

echo 'black dog' | sed -e 's/a*/_/'

Hint: a* matches zero or more a's, and there are many places where zero a's
appear
Try the example above with the extra 'g'
echo 'black dog' | sed -e 's/a*/_/g'

Page 22

Regular Expressions Versus Wildcards

Topics covered: clarify double meaning of asterisk in patterns

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Asterisk used in regular expressions for editors, grep, sed
Different meaning in file name wildcards on command line and in find command
and case statement (see below)

regexp

wildcard

meaning

.*
.
[aCg]

*
?
[aCg]

zero or more characters, any type

exactly one character, any type
exactly one character, from list: aCg

Regexps can be anchored to beginning/ending of line with ^ and $

Wildcards automatically anchored to both extremes
Can use wildcards un-anchored with asterisks
ls *bub*

Page 23

Getting Clever With Regular Expressions

Topics covered: manipulating text matched by a pattern

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Copy the file animals.txt to your home directory
Try this sed command, which changes the first line of animals.txt
sed -e "s/big \(.*\) dog/small \1 cat/" animals.txt

Bracketing part of a pattern with \( and \) labels that part as \1

Bracketing additional parts of a pattern creates labels \2, \3, ...
This sed command reverses the order of two words describing the rabbit
sed -e "s/Flopsy is a big \(.*\) \(.*\) rabbit/A big \2 \1
rabbit/" < animals.txt

Page 24

The case Statement

Topics covered: choosing which block of commands to execute based on value of

a string
Utilities covered: no new utilities
The next example shows how to use a case statement to handle several
contingencies
The user is expected to type one of three words
A different action is taken for each choice
Store the following in a file named case1.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# An example with the case statement
# Reads a command from the user and processes it
echo "Enter your command (who, list, or cal)"
read command
case "$command" in
who)
echo "Running who..."
who
;;
list)
echo "Running ls..."
ls

;;
cal)
echo "Running cal..."
cal
;;
*)
echo "Bad command, your choices are: who, list, or cal"
;;
esac
exit 0

The last case above is the default, which corresponds to an unrecognized entry
The next example uses the first command-line arg instead of asking the user to
type a command
Store the following in a file named case2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# An example with the case statement
# Reads a command from the user and processes it
# Execute with one of
# sh case2.sh who
# sh case2.sh ls
# sh case2.sh cal
echo "Took command from the argument list: '$1'"
case "$1" in
who)
echo "Running who..."
who
;;
list)
echo "Running ls..."
ls
;;
cal)
echo "Running cal..."
cal
;;
*)
echo "Bad command, your choices are: who, list, or cal"
;;
esac

The patterns in the case statement may use file name wildcards
Page 25

The while Statement

Topics covered: executing a series of commands as long as some condition is true

Utilities covered: no new utilities
The example below loops over two statements as long as the variable i is less than
or equal to ten
Store the following in a file named while1.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Illustrates implementing a counter with a while loop
# Notice how we increment the counter with expr in backquotes
i="1"
while [ $i -le 10 ]
do
echo "i is $i"
i=`expr $i + 1`
done

Page 26

Example With a while Loop

Topics covered: Using a while loop to read and process a file

Utilities covered: no new utilities
Copy the file while2.data to your home directory
The example below uses a while loop to read an entire file
The while loop exits when the read command returns false exit status (end of file)
Store the following in a file named while2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Illustrates use of a while loop to read a file
cat while2.data |
\
while read line
do
echo "Found line: $line"
done

The entire while loop reads its stdin from the pipe
Each read command reads another line from the file coming from cat
The entire while loop runs in a subshell because of the pipe
Variable values set inside while loop not available after while loop
Page 27

Interpreting Options With getopts Command

Topics covered: Understand how getopts command works

Utilities covered: getopts
getopts is a standard UNIX utility used for our class in scripts getopts1.sh and
getopts2.sh
Its purpose is to help process command-line options (such as -h) inside a script
It handles stacked options (such as -la) and options with arguments (such as -P
used as -Pprinter-name in lpr command)
This example will help you understand how getopts interprets options
Store the following in a file named getopts1.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
# Execute with
#
# sh getopts1.sh -h -Pxerox file1 file2
#
# and notice how the information on all the options is displayed
#
# The string 'P:h' says that the option -P is a complex option
# requiring an argument, and that h is a simple option not
requiring
# an argument.
#
# Experiment with getopts command
while getopts 'P:h' OPT_LETTER
do
echo "getopts has set variable OPT_LETTER to '$OPT_LETTER'"
echo " OPTARG is '$OPTARG'"
done
used_up=`expr $OPTIND - 1`
echo "Shifting away the first \$OPTIND-1 = $used_up command-line
arguments"
shift $used_up
echo "Remaining command-line arguments are '$*'"

Look over the script

getopts looks for command-line options
For each option found, it sets three variables: OPT_LETTER, OPTARG, OPTIND
OPT_LETTER is the letter, such as 'h' for option -h
OPTARG is the argument to the option, such as -Pjunky has argument 'junky'

OPTIND is a counter that determines how many of the command-line arguments

were used up by getopts (see the shift command in the script)
Execute it several times with
sh getopts1.sh -h -Pjunky
sh getopts1.sh -hPjunky
sh getopts1.sh -h -Pjunky /etc /tmp

Notice how it interprets -h and gives you 'h' in variable OPT_LETTER

Now you can easily implement some operation when -h is used
Notice how the second execution uses stacked options
Notice how the third execution examines the rest of the command-line after the
options (these are usually file or directory names)
Page 28

Example With getopts

Topics covered: interpreting options in a script

Utilities covered: getopts
The second example shows how to use if blocks to take action for each option
Store the following in a file named getopts2.sh and execute it
#!/bin/sh
#
# Usage:
#
# getopts2.sh [-P string] [-h] [file1 file2 ...]
#
# Example runs:
#
# getopts2.sh -h -Pxerox file1 file2
# getopts2.sh -hPxerox file1 file2
#
# Will print out the options and file names given
#
# Initialize our variables so we don't inherit values
# from the environment
opt_P=''
opt_h=''
# Parse the command-line options
while getopts 'P:h' option
do
case "$option" in
"P")
opt_P="$OPTARG"

"h")
?)

;;
opt_h="1"
;;
echo "getopts2.sh: Bad option specified...quitting"
exit 1
;;

esac
done
shift `expr $OPTIND - 1`
if [ "$opt_P" != "" ]
then
echo "Option P used with argument '$opt_P'"
fi
if [ "$opt_h" != "" ]
then
echo "Option h used"
fi
if [ "$*" != "" ]
then
echo "Remaining command-line:"
for arg in "$@"
do
echo " $arg"
done
fi

Execute it several times with

sh getopts2.sh -h -Pjunky
sh getopts2.sh -hPjunky
sh getopts2.sh -h -Pjunky /etc /tmp

Can also implement actions inside case statement if desired

Page 29

Section 6: Using Functions

Functions

Sequence of statements that can be called anywhere in script

Used for
o Good organization
o Create re-usable sequences of commands
Page 30

Define a Function

Define a function
echo_it () {
echo "In function echo_it"
}

Use it like any other command

echo_it

Put these four lines in a script and execute it

Page 31

Function Arguments

Functions can have command-line arguments

echo_it () {
echo "Argument 1 is $1"
echo "Argument 2 is $2"
}
echo_it arg1 arg2

When you execute the script above, you should see

Argument 1 is arg1
Argument 2 is arg2

Create a script 'difference.sh' with the following lines:

#!/bin/sh
echo_it () {
echo Function argument 1 is $1
}
echo Script argument 1 is $1

echo_it Barney

Execute this script using

sh difference.sh Fred

Notice that '$1' is echoed twice with different values

The function has separate command-line arguments from the script's
Page 32

Example With Functions

Use functions to organize script

read_inputs () { ... }
compute_results () { ... }
print_results () { ... }

Main program very readable

read_inputs
compute_results
print_results

Page 33

Functions in Pipes

Can use a function in a pipe

ls_sorter () {
sort -n +4
}
ls -al | ls_sorter

Function in pipe executed in new shell

New variables forgotten when function exits
Page 34

Inherited Variables

Variables defined before calling script available to script

func_y () {
echo "A is $A"
return 7
}
A='bub'
func_y
if [ $? -eq 7 ] ; then ...

Try it: is a variable defined inside a function available to the main program?
Page 35

Functions -vs- Scripts

Functions are like separate scripts

Both functions and scripts can:
Use command-line arguments
echo First arg is $1

Operate in pipes
echo "test string" | ls_sorter

Return exit status

func_y arg1 arg2
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ...

Page 36

Libraries of Functions

Common to store definitions of favorite functions in a file

Then execute file with
. file

Period command executes file in current shell

Compare to C shell's source command
Page 37

Section 7: Miscellaneous

Here Files

Data contained within script

cat << END
This script backs up the directory
named as the first command-line argument,
which in your case in $1.
END

Terminator string must begin in column one

Variables and backquotes translated in data
Turn off translation with \END
Page 38

Example With Here File

Send e-mail to each of several users

for name in login1 login2 login3
do
mailx -s 'hi there' $name << EOF
Hi $name, meet me at the water
fountain
EOF
done

Use <<- to remove initial tabs automatically

Page 39

Set: Shell Options

Can change Bourne shell's options at runtime

Use set command inside script
set -v

set +v
set -xv

Toggle verbose mode on and off to reduce amount of debugging output

Page 40

Set: Split a Line

Can change Bourne shell's options

set -- word1 word2
echo $1, $2
word1, word2

Double dash important!

Word1 may begin with a dash, what if word1 is '-x'?
Double dash says "even if first word begins with '-', do not treat it as an option to
the shell
Page 41

Example With Set

Read a line from keyboard

Echo words 3 and 5
read var
set -- $var
echo $3 $5

Best way to split a line into words

Page 42

Section 8: Trapping Signals

What are Signals?

Signals are small messages sent to a process

Process interrupted to handle signal
Possibilities for managing signal:
o Terminate
o Ignore
o Perform a programmer-defined action
Page 43

Common Signals

Common signals are

o SIGINTR sent to foreground process by ^C
o SIGHUP sent when modem line gets hung up
o SIGTERM sent by kill -9
Signals have numeric equivalents
2 SIGINTR
9 SIGTERM

Page 44

Send a Signal

Send a signal to a process

kill -2 PID
kill -INTR PID

Page 45

Trap Signals

Handling Signals
trap "echo Interrupted; exit 2" 2

Ignoring Signals
trap "" 2 3

Restoring Default Handler

trap 2

Page 46

Where to Find List of Signals

See file
/usr/include/sys/signal.h

Page 47

User Signals

SIGUSR1, SIGUSR2 are for your use

Send to a process with
kill -USR1 PID

Default action is to terminate process

Page 48

Experiment With Signals

Script that catches USR1

Echo message upon each signal
trap 'echo USR1' 16
while : ; do
date
sleep 3
done

Try it: does signal interrupt sleep?

Page 49

Section 9: Understanding Command Translation

Command Translation

Common translations include

o Splitting at spaces, obey quotes
o $HOME -> /users/us/freddy
o `command` -> output of command
o I/O redirection
o File name wildcard expansion
Combinations of quotes and metacharacters confusing
Resolve problems by understanding order of translations
Page 50

Experiment With Translation

Try wildcards in echo command

echo b*
b budget bzzzzz

b* translated by sh before echo runs

When echo runs it sees
echo b budget bzzzzz

Echo command need not understand wildcards!

Page 51

Order of Translations

Splits into words at spaces and tabs

Divides commands at
; & | && || (...) {...}

Echos command if -v
Interprets quotes
Performs variable substitution
Page 52

Order of Translations (continued)

Performs command substitution

Implements I/O redirection and removes redirection characters
Divides command again according to IFS
Expands file name wildcards
Echos translated command if -x
Executes command
Page 53

Exceptional Case

Delayed expansion for variable assignments

VAR=b*
echo $VAR
b b_file

Wildcard re-expanded for each echo

Page 54

Examples With Translation

Variables translated before execution

Can store command name in variable
command="ls"
$command
file1 file2 dir1 dir2...

Variables translated before I/O redirection

tempfile="/tmp/scriptname_$$"
ls -al > $tempfile

Page 55

Examples (continued)

Delayed expansion of wildcards in variable assignment

Output of this echo command changes when directory contents change (* is reevaluated each time the command is run)

x=*
echo $x

Can view values stored in variables with

set

Try it: verify that the wildcard is stored in x without expansion

Page 56

Examples (continued)

Wildcards expanded after redirection (assuming file* matches exactly one file):
cat < file*
file*: No such file or directory

Command in backquotes expanded fully (and before I/O redirection)

cat < `echo file*`
(contents of file sent to screen)

Page 57

Eval Command

Forces an extra evaluation of command

eval cat \< file*
(contents of matching file)

Backslash delays translation of < until second translation

Page 58

Section 10: Writing Advanced Loops

While loops

Execute statements while a condition is true

i=0
while [ $i -lt 10 ]
do
echo I is $i
i=`expr $i + 1`
done

Page 59

Until loops

Execute statements as long as a condition is false

until grep "sort" dbase_log > /dev/null
do
sleep 10
done
echo "Database has been sorted"

Example executes until grep is unsuccessful

Page 60

Redirection of Loops

Can redirect output of a loop

for f in *.c
do
wc -l $f
done > loop.out

Loop runs in separate shell

New variables forgotten after loop
Backgrounding OK, too
Page 61

Continue Command

Used in for, while, and until loops

Skip remaining statements
Return to top of loop
for name in *
do
if [ ! -f $name ] ; then
continue
fi
echo "Found file $name"
done

Example loops over files, skips directories

Page 62

Break Command

Used in for, while, and until loops

Skip remaining statements
Exit loop
for name in *

do
if [ ! -r $name ] ; then
echo "Cannot read $name, quitting loop"
break
fi
echo "Found file or directory $name"
done

Example loops over files and directories, quits if one is not readable
Page 63

Case Command

Execute one of several blocks of commands

case "string" in
pattern1)
commands ;;
pattern2)
commands ;;
*) # Default case
commands ;;
esac

Patterns specified with file name wildcards

quit) ...
qu*)
...

Page 64

Example With Case

Read commands from keyboard and interpret

Enter this script 'case.sh'
echo Enter a command
while read cmd
do
case "$cmd" in
list) ls -al ;;
freespace) df . ;;
quit|Quit) break ;;
*) echo "$cmd: No such command" ;;
esac

done
echo "All done"

When you run it, the script waits for you to type one of:
list
freespace
quit
Quit

Try it: modify the example so any command beginning with characters "free" runs
df
Page 65

Infinite Loops

Infinite loop with while

while :
do
...
done

: is no-op, always returns success status

Must use break or exit inside loop for it to terminate
Page 66

Section 11: Forking Remote Shells

Remote Shells

Rsh command
rsh hostname "commands"

Runs commands on remote system

Must have .rhosts set up
Can specify different login name

rsh -l name hostname "commands"

Page 67

Examples With rsh

Check who's logged on

rsh spooky "finger"

Run several remote commands

rsh spooky "uname -a; time"

Executes .cshrc on remote system

Be sure to set path in .cshrc instead of .login
Page 68

Access Control with .Rhosts

May get "permission denied" error from rsh

Fix this with ~/.rhosts on remote system
Example: provide for remote shell from spunky to spooky
spunky % rlogin spooky
spooky % vi ~/.rhosts
(insert "spunky login-name")
spooky % chmod 600 ~/.rhosts
spooky % logout
spunky % rsh spooky uname -a
spooky 5.5 sparc SUNW,Ultra-1

May also rlogin without password: security problem!

Page 69

Remote Shell I/O

Standard output sent to local host

rsh spooky finger > finger.spooky

Standard input sent to remote host

cat local-file | rsh spooky lpr -

Page 70

Return Status

Get return status of rsh

rsh mayer "uname -a"
echo $?

Returns 0 if rsh managed to connect to remote host

Returns 1 otherwise
o Invalid hostname
o Permission denied
Page 71

Remote Return Status

What about exit status of remote command?

Have to determine success or failure from stdout or stderr
Page 72

Section 12: More Miscellaneous

Temporary Files

Use unique names to avoid clashes

tempfile=$HOME/Weq_$$
command > $tempfile

$$ is PID of current shell

Avoids conflict with concurrent executions of script
Do not use /tmp!
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Wait Command

Wait for termination of background job

command &
pid=$!
(other processing)
wait $pid

Allows overlap of two or more operations

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Section 13: Using Quotes

Quotes

Provide control of collapsing of spaces and translation of variables

Try it: run three examples
No quotes (variables translated, spaces collapsed)
echo Home:
$HOME
Home: /users/us/freddy

Double quotes (no collapsing)

echo "Home:
$HOME"
Home:
/users/us/freddy

Single quotes (no translation or collapsing)

echo 'Home:
$HOME'
Home:
$HOME

Try it: single quotes within double quotes

echo "Home directory '$HOME' is full..."

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Metacharacters

Characters with special meaning to shell

" ' ` $ * [ ] ?
; > < & ( ) \

Avoid special meaning with quoting

echo 'You have $20'

Backslash like single quotes

Applies only to next character
echo You have \$20

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Examples With Quotes

Bad command line:

grep dog.*cat file

Shell tries to expand dot.*cat as file name wildcard

Use quotes to avoid translation
grep 'dog.*cat' file

Single quotes OK in this case because we don't need variable translation

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More Examples With Quotes

Read name and search file for name

read name
grep "$name" dbase

Single quotes not OK because we need variable translation

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Searching for Metacharacters

Bad command line: search for dollar sign

grep "Gimme.*$20" file

Problem: shell translates variable $20

Solution: use single quotes
grep 'Gimme.*$20' file

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Last modified: Thursday, May 11, 2006 06:11:35