Content

• Shells and Shell Scripts

• tcsh, enhanced C-Shell
• bash, Bourne-Again Shell

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 Shell Commands
• Shell commands are interpreted directly by the
shell you specify.
• The commands are similar to the statement in
some programming languages, such as C.
• Popular shells include:
– Enhanced C-shell tchs (csh+)
– Bourne-Again Shell, bash (sh+)
– Korn Shell (ksh)
• These notes will focus on the first two shells.

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 Shells’ Features
• The bash an tcsh shells are similar in the
features the offer. In particular:
– Pass arguments to your script
– Set and reference variables
– Use of control flow
– Interact with the user (read user input)
– Comments…
• Info on commands a given shell offers can be
found in the man pages for that shell.
• There are many Linux/UNIX references that give
detailed information and tips.
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 Shell Scripts
• What are they for?
– To automate certain common activities an user
performs routinely.
– They serve the same purpose as batch files in
DOS/Windows.
– Example:
• rename 1000 files from upper case to lowercase

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 What are Shell Scripts
• Just text/ASCII files with:
– a set of standard UNIX/Linux commands (ls, mv, cp,
less, cat, etc.) along with
• flow of control
– some conditional logic and branching (if-then),
– loop structures (foreach, for, while), and
• I/O facilities (echo, print, set, ...).
– They allow use of variables.
– They are interpreted by a shell directly.
– Some of them (csh, tcsh) share some of C syntax.
– DOS/Win equivalent - batch files (.bat)
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 Why not use C/C++ for that?
• C/C++ programming requires compilation
and linkage, maybe libraries, which may not
be available (production servers).
• For the typical tasks much faster in
development, debugging, and maintenance
(because they are interpreted and do not
require compilation).

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 Shell Script Invocation
• Specify the shell directly:
– % tcsh myshellscript
– % tcsh -v myshellscript
(-v = verbose, useful for debugging)
• Make the shell an executable first and then run is a
command (set up an execution permission):
– % chmod u+x myshellscript
• Then either this:
– % myshellscript
(if the path variable has ‘.’ in it; security issue!)
• Or:
– % ./myshellscript
(should always work)
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 Shell Script Invocation (2)
• If you get an error:
“myshellscrip: command not found”
– The probably “.” is not in your path or there’s no
execution bit set.
• When writing scripts, choose unique names, that
preferably do not match system commands.
– Bad name would be test for example, since there are
many shells with this internal command.
• To disambiguate, always precede the shell with
“./” or absolute path in case you have to name
your thing not very creatively.
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 Start Writing a Shell Script
• The very first line, often called 'shebang' (#!) should
precede any other line, to assure that the right shell is
invoked.
#!/bin/tcsh #!/bin/bash
# This is for tcsh # For Bourne-Again Shell

#!/bin/sh
# This is for Bourne Shell

• Comments start with '#', with the exception of #!, $#,

which are a special character sequences.
• Everything on a line after # is ignored if # is not a part
of a quoted string or a special character sequence.
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 tchs
Quick Ref

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 Variables
• Variables start with a $ sign when they are used.
– $x, $val
• There's no $ when a variable is declared.
– set x = 3
– @ y = 1
– set input = "$<"
• There are some system, predefined variables:
– $0, $1, $3 .... - argument references (arguments themselves)
– $* - all the arguments
– $< - user's input from STDIN
– $# - # of arguments passed to the script

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 if
if ( <expression> ) then
<statements>
else if ( <another-expression> ) then
<statements>
else
<statements>
endif

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 foreach
foreach var ( <list-of-values> )
<statements>
end

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 switch
switch ( string )
case str1:
<statements>
breaksw
...
default:
<statements>
breaksw
endsw

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 while
while ( <expression> )
<statements>
end

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 File Inquiry Operators:
-op file
r Read access f Plain file
w Write access d Directory
x Execute access l Symbolic link
e Existence b Block special file
o Ownership c Character special file
z Zero size p Named pipe (FIFO)
s Non-zero size S Socket special file

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 Example
• See creator and uptolow.
• NOTE: run them in a some temporary
directory to do not mess with your own
valuable files.
• The uptolow script:
– will convert any uppercase letters in an
ordinary file name to lowercase.
– will leave directories untouched.
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 Bourne Shell
Quick Ref

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 Quick Note
• In no way this going to be a duplication for
the zillions of resources on Bourne Shell,
but more a quick reference/syntax for most
often used constructs and pointers to
resources where else to find that kind of
stuff. Some of it is a lame reap off the man
page and so on.

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 Quick Resource Summary
• Manual Pages:
man bash

• An Intro to UNIX Shell:

<http://steve-parker.org/sh/bourne.html>

• How To Write a Shell Script:

<http://www.tinker.ncsu.edu/LEGO/shell_help.html>

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 Bourne Shell Script Constructs
Reference
• System/Internal Variables
• Control Flow (if, for, case)

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 Internal Variables
$# Will tell you # of command line arguments supplied

$0 Ourselves (i.e. name of the shell script executed

with path)
$1 First argument to the script
$2 Second argument, and so on…
$? Exit status of the last command
$$ Our PID
$! PID of the last background process
$- Current shell status
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 Internal Variables (2)
• Use shift command to shift the arguments one
left:
– Assume intput:
• ./shift.sh 1 2 foo bar
– $0 = <directory-of>/shift.sh
– $1 = 1
– $3 = 2
– $4 = foo
– $5 = bar
• shift:
– $1 = 2
– $2 = foo
– $3 = bar
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 Environment
• These (and very many others) are available to your
shell:
– $PATH - set of directories to look for commands
– $HOME - home directory
– $MAIL
– $PWD – personal working directory
– $PS1 – primary prompt
– $PS2 – input prompt
– $IFS - what to treat as blanks
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 Control Flow: if
• General Syntax: if [ <expression> ]; then
<statements>
elif
<statements>
else
<statements>
fi
• <expression> can either be a logical
expression or a command and usually a
combo of both.
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 if (2)
• Some Logical “Operators”:
-eq --- Equal
-ne --- Not equal
-lt --- Less Than
-gt --- Greater Than
-o --- OR
-a --- AND
• File or directory?
-f --- file
-d --- directory
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 case
• Syntax:
case <expression> in
<patter1>|<value1>)
command1
;;

<patter2>|<value2>)
command2
;;
esac
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 case (2)
case $# in
1) cat >> $1
;;
2) cat >>$2 <$1
;;
3) case $3 in
-[abc]) echo "-a -b or -c"
;;
-foo|-bar) echo "-foo or -bar"
;;
esac
;;
*) echo "we accept up to 3 args only."; exit 127
;;
esac
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 for
• Syntax:
for variable in <list of values/words>[;]
do
command1
command2
…
done

• List can also be a result of a command.

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 for (3)
for file in *.txt
do
echo File $file:
echo "======"
cat $file
echo "======"
done
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 while
• Syntax
while <expression>
do
command1
command2
…
done

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 until
• Syntax
until <expression>
do
command1
command2
…
done

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