Scripting versus Programming Scripting

bash supports a scripting language.

Programming languages are generally a lot more powerful and a lot faster than scripting
languages.
Programming languages generally start from source code and are compiled into an
executable. This executable is not easily ported into different operating systems.

A scripting language also starts from source code, but is not compiled into an executable.
Rather, an interpreter reads the instructions in the source file and executes each
instruction.
Interpreted programs are generally slower than compiled programs.
The main advantage is that you can easily port the source file to any operating system.
bash is a scripting language. Some other examples of scripting languages are Perl, Lisp,
and Tcl.

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First Example Scripting

bash scripts are just text files (with a special header line) that contain commands.

We recommend using the extension "sh" when naming script files.

You can create a script using any text editor:

myinfo.sh

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Running the Script Scripting

To execute the script you must first set execute permissions (see below).
Then, just invoke the script as a command, by name:

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Analysis Scripting

The first line specifies:

that the file is a shell script
the shell needed to execute the script

#! /bin/bash

echo writes a line of text to standard output.

echo "User name: $USER"
echo "Home directory: $HOME"
echo "Host name: $HOSTNAME"
echo "Path: $PATH"
echo "Working directory: $PWD"
echo "Shell: $SHELL"

USER is a global variable maintained by the bash shell; it stores the user name of
whoever's running the shell.

$ causes the variable USER to be expanded (replaced with its value).

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Variables Scripting

You may create variables local to your shell by simply using them:

VARNAME="value"

#! /bin/bash

message="Hello, world!"
echo $message

Variable names are case-sensitive, alphanumeric, and may not begin with a digit.

bash reserves a number of global variable names for its own use, including:

PATH HOME CDPATH

PS1 PS2 LANG

See the references for a complete list and descriptions.

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Variables Scripting

By default, script variables can store any value assigned to them.

Typically variables are used to hold strings or integers.

#! /bin/bash

one=1
two=2
three=$((one + two)) # syntax forces arith. expansion

echo $one
echo $two
echo $three

Spaces are not allowed around the assignment operator.

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A Script for Backups Scripting
#!/bin/bash backup.sh
# This script makes a backup of my ~/2505 directory. adapted
# Change the variables to make the script work for you: from
[2]
BACKUPDIR=$HOME/2505 # directory to be backed up
TARFILE=/var/tmp/2505.tar # tar file created during backup
SERVER=ap1.cs.vt.edu # server to copy backup to
REMOTEID=wmcquain # your ID on that server
REMOTEDIR=/home/staff/wmcquain # dir to hold backup on server
LOGFILE=~/logs/2505_backup.log # local log file recording backups

# Move into the directory to be backed up

cd $BACKUPDIR

# Run tar to create the archive.

tar cf $TARFILE *

# Copy the file to another host.

scp $TARFILE $REMOTEID@$SERVER:$REMOTEDIR

# Create a timestamp in the logfile to record the backup operation.

date >> $LOGFILE
echo backup succeeded >> $LOGFILE

exit 0 # return 0 on success

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A Script for Backups Scripting

bash > ./backup.sh

[email protected]'s password:
2505.tar 100% 30KB 30.0KB/s 00:00

The script is missing some desirable features:

- the ability to specify the directory to be backed up on the command-line
- error-checking to be sure that directory exists
- checking the exit codes for the various commands called by the script

We may add some of those features later...

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Special Variables Scripting

There are some special variables that can be referenced but not assigned to.

The following is incomplete and somewhat oversimplified:

$* used to access the positional command-line parameters

$@ used to access the positional command-line parameters
$# expands to the number of positional parameters
$? expands to the exit status of the most recently executed command
$k (k an integer) the k-th positional command-line parameter

#! /bin/bash

echo "There were $# parameters!"

echo "$@"

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Special Variables Scripting

The ability to catch the exit code from a command is useful in detecting errors:

#! /bin/bash

ls –e *
exitcode="$?"

echo "ls exited with: $exitcode"

The UNIX convention is that 0 is returned on success and nonzero on failure.

From the man page for ls:

Exit status:
0 if OK,
1 if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory),
2 if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument).

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Escape Characters Scripting

The backslash character (outside of quotes) preserves the literal value of the next
character that follows it:

bash > today=20140201

bash > echo $today
20140201
bash > echo \$today
$today

BTW, note that this also shows we can apply variables from the command prompt.

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Single Quotes and Double Quotes Scripting

Single quotes preserve the literal value of every character within them:

bash > echo '$today'

$today

Double quotes preserve the literal value of every character within them except the dollar
sign $, backticks ``, and the backslash \:

bash > echo "$today"

20140201

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Shell Expansion: Braces Scripting

An expression of the form

preamble{comma-separated-list}postfix

expands to a sequence of values obtained by concatenating the preamble and postscript

with each element in the comma-separated list within the braces:

bash > echo eleg{ant,aic,ible}

elegant elegaic elegible

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Command Expansion Scripting

We can replace a command with its output by using either:

`command` or $(command)

bash > echo date

date
bash > echo `date`
Sat Feb 1 19:52:08 EST 2014
bash > echo $(date)
Sat Feb 1 19:53:17 EST 2014

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Arithmetic Expansion Scripting

Arithmetic computations can be carried out directly, using the syntax for arithmetic
expansion:
$((expression))

Arithmetic computations can be carried out directly, using the syntax for arithmetic
expansion.

The available operators are shown on the next slide.

The usual C-like precedence rules apply, but when in doubt, parenthesize.

Leading 0 denotes an octal value; leading 0X a hexadecimal value.

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Arithmetic Operators Scripting
Operator Meaning
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VAR++ and VAR–- post-increment and post-decrement
++VAR and --VAR pre-increment and pre-decrement
- and + unary minus and plus
! and ~ logical and bitwise negation
** exponentiation
*, / and % multiplication, division, remainder
+ and - addition, subtraction
<< and >> left and right bitwise shifts
<=, >=, < and > comparison operators
== and != equality and inequality
& bitwise AND
^ bitwise exclusive OR
| bitwise OR
&& logical AND
|| logical OR
expr ? expr : expr conditional evaluation
=, *=, /=, %=, +=, -=,
<<=, >>=, &=, ^= and |= assignments
, separator between expressions
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Example Scripting

#! /bin/bash add.sh

left=$1 # left gets parameter 1

right=$2 # right gets parameter 2

sum=$((left + right)) # sum gets result of addition

echo "$0 says the sum of $left and $right is $sum."

exit 0

bash > ./add.sh 83231 70124

./add.sh says the sum of 83231 and 70124 is 153355.

The example lacks a conditional check for the number of parameters; we will fix that a
bit later...
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Control Structures: if/then Scripting

bash supports several different mechanisms for selection; the most basic is:

. . .
if [[ condition ]]; then

commands # executed iff condition eval to true

fi
. . .

Be careful about the syntax here.

The spaces after "[[" and before "]]" are required, as is the semicolon!

NB: there is an older notation using single square brackets; for a discussion see:
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/031
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Example Scripting

We can fix one problem with the adder script we saw earlier by adding a check on the
number of command-line parameters:

#! /bin/bash add2.sh

if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then

echo "Invocation: ./add.sh integer integer"
exit 1
fi NB: integers are compared using
-gt, -lt, -ge, -le, -eq, -ne
left=$1
right=$2

sum=$((left + right))

echo "$0 says the sum of $left and $right is $sum."

But we could make it better if we could process a variable number of command-line

parameters... that will come a bit later...

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Control Structures: if variations Scripting

. . .
if [[ condition ]]; then

commands executed if condition evaluates true

else
commands executed if condition evaluates false
fi
. . .

. . .
if [[ condition1 ]]; then

commands // condition1
elif [[ condition2 ]]; then
commands // !condition1 && condition2
. . .
else
commands // !condition1 && !condition2 &&...
fi
. . .

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Example Scripting

#! /bin/bash add3.sh
if [[ $# -lt 2 || $# -gt 4 ]]; then
echo "Invocation: ./add.sh integer integer [integer [integer]] "
exit 1
fi

if [[ $# -eq 2 ]]; then

echo "$0 says the sum of $1 and $2 is $(($1 + $2))."
elif [[ $# -eq 3 ]]; then
echo "$0 says the sum of $1, $2 and $3 is $(($1 + $2 + $3))."
else
echo "$0 says the sum of $1, $2, $3 and $4 is $(($1 + $2 + $3 + $4))."
fi

exit 0

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Aside: File-related Tests Scripting

There are a number of expressions that can be used within the braces for the conditional,
for testing files, including:
-e FILE true iff FILE exists
-d FILE true iff FILE exists and is a directory
-r FILE true iff FILE exists and is readable
-w FILE true iff FILE exists and is writeable
-x FILE true iff FILE exists and is executable
-s FILE true iff FILE exists and has size > 0

The logical operator ! (not) can be prefixed to these tests.

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Aside: String-related Tests Scripting

There are a number of expressions that can be used within the braces for the conditional,
for testing strings, including:
-z STRING true iff STRING has length zero
-n STRING true iff STRING has length greater than zero

Strings may be compared via the following tests:

STR1 == STR2 true iff STR1 equals STR2
STR1 != STR2 true iff STR1 does not equal STR2
STR1 < STR2 true iff STR1 precedes STR2
STR1 > STR2 true iff STR1 succceeds STR2

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Aside: Integer-related Tests Scripting

There are a number of expressions that can be used within the braces for the conditional,
for testing integers, including:

I1 -eq I2 true iff I1 == I2

I1 –ne I2 true iff I1 != I2
I1 -lt I2 true iff I1 < I2
I1 –le I2 true iff I1 <= I2
I1 –gt I2 true iff I1 > I2
I1 –ge I2 true iff I1 >= I2

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Revised Script for Backups Scripting
#!/bin/bash backup2.sh
# This script makes a backup of a directory to another server. adapted
# Invocation: ./backup2.sh DIRNAME from [2]
if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then
echo "Invocation: ./backup2.sh DIRNAME"
exit 1 verify there is a command-line
fi parameter
and
if [[ ! -d $1 ]]; then
echo "$1 is not a directory"
that it names a directory
exit 2
fi

BACKUPDIR=$1 # directory to be backed up

# Change the values of the variables to make the script work for you:
TARFILE=/var/tmp/mybackup.tar # tar file created during backup
SERVER=ap1.cs.vt.edu # server to copy backup to
REMOTEID=wmcquain # your ID on that server
REMOTEDIR=/home/staff/wmcquain # dir to hold backup on server
LOGFILE=~/logs/backup.log # local log file recording backups
. . .

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Revised Script for Backups Scripting
. . . backup.sh
# Move into the directory to be backed up adapted
cd $BACKUPDIR from
[2]
# Run tar to create the archive.
tar cf $TARFILE *
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Aborting: tar returned error code $?" check exit code from tar
exit 3
fi

# Copy the file to another host.

scp $TARFILE $REMOTEID@$SERVER:$REMOTEDIR
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Error: scp returned error code $?" check exit code from scp
exit 4
fi

# Create a timestamp in the logfile to record the backup operation.

echo "$BACKUPDIR: `date`" >> $LOGFILE

exit 0 # return 0 on success

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Control Structures: while/do Scripting

bash supports several different mechanisms for iteration, including:

. . .
while [[ condition ]]; do

commands # executed iff condition eval to true

done
. . .

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Example Scripting
#! /bin/bash gcd.sh
if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
echo "Invocation: ./gcd.sh integer integer"
exit 1
fi

# Apply Euclid's Algorithm to find GCD:

x=$1
y=$2
# Operands need to be non-negative:
if [[ x -lt 0 ]]; then x=$((-x))
fi
if [[ y -lt 0 ]]; then y=$((-y))
fi

while [[ y -gt 0 ]]; do

rem=$(($x % $y))
x=$y
y=$rem
done

# Report GCD:
echo "GCD($1, $2) = $x"

exit 0

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Control Structures: for/do Scripting

. . .
for VALUE in LIST; do

commands # executed on VALUE

done
. . .

for x in one two three four; do

str+=" $x"
echo "$str"
done

list="one two three four"

for x in $list; do
str+=" $x"
echo "$str"
done for1.sh

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Parameter List and for/do Scripting

#! /bin/bash add4.sh NB: if you omit "in LIST", it defaults

to "in $@", which is the
sum=0 positional parameter list
if [[ $# -eq 0 ]]; then
echo "Nothing to add"
exit 1
fi

for x; do
echo " $x"
sum=$(($sum + $x));
done bash > ./add4.sh 17 13 5 8 10 73
echo "sum: $sum" 17
13
exit 0 5
8
10
73
sum: 126

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Functions Scripting

bash supports defining functions that scripts can call.

A function simply groups a collection of instructions and gives the collection a name.

Parameters may be passed, but in the manner they're passed to a script by the command
shell – the syntax is not what you are used to.

The implementation of a function must occur before any calls to the function.

Variables defined within a function are (by default) accessible outside (after) the function
definition – that’s not what you are used to.

Two syntaxes:
function funcname { funcname() {
commands commands
} }

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Defining a Function Scripting

In the backup script, we have the following block of code to create the archive file:
. . .
# Move into the directory to be backed up
cd $BACKUPDIR

# Run tar to create the archive.

tar cf $TARFILE *
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Aborting: tar returned error code $?"
exit 3
fi
. . .

We can wrap this into a function interface, and take the name of the directory to be backed
up and the name to give the tar file parameters to the function…

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Defining and Calling a Function Scripting

We can wrap this into a function interface, and take the name of the directory to be backed
up and the name to give the tar file parameters to the function…

. . .

create_archive() { # param1: fully-qualified name of dir to backup

# param2: name for tar file
# Move into the directory to be backed up
cd $1

# Run tar to create the archive.

echo "Creating archive file $2"
tar cf $2 *
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Error: tar returned error code $?"
exit 3 # terminates script
fi
}
. . .
# create the archive file
create_archive $BACKUPDIR $TARFILE
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

#!/bin/bash
# This script makes a backup of a directory to another server.
# Invocation: ./backup3.sh DIRNAME

#################################################### fn definitions
show_usage() {
echo "Invocation: ./backup2.sh DIRNAME"
}

get_directory_name() { # param1: fully-qualified name of dir to

backup
P1=$1
DIRNAME=${P1##*/} # HERE BE DRAGONS!
}

set_variables() {
# Change the values of the variables to make the script work for you:
TARFILE=/var/tmp/$DIRNAME.tar # tar file created during backup
SERVER=ap1.cs.vt.edu # server to copy backup to
REMOTEID=wmcquain # your ID on that server
REMOTEDIR=/home/staff/wmcquain # dir to hold backup on server
LOGFILE=~/logs/backup.log # local log file recording backups
}
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

. . .
create_archive() { # param1: fully-qualified name of dir to
backup
# param2: name for tar file
# Move into the directory to be backed up
cd $1

# Run tar to create the archive.

echo "Creating archive file $2"
tar cf $2 *
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Error: tar returned error code $?"
exit 3 # terminates script
fi
}
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

. . .
copy_to_server() { # param1: fully-qualified name of tar file
# param2: user name on server
# param3: network name of server
# param4: destination dir on server
# Copy the file to another host.
echo "Copying $1 to $3:$4"
scp $1 $2@$3:$4
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Error: scp returned error code $?"
exit 4 # terminates script
fi
}
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

. . .
rm_archive() { # param1: full-qualified name of tar file

echo "Removing archive file $1"

rm -f $1
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
echo "Error: rm returned error code $?"
exit 4 # terminates script
fi
}

log_backup() {
echo "$1: `date`" >> $2
}
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

. . .
#################################################### body of script

if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then # check for a parameter

show_usage
exit 1
fi

if [[ ! -d $1 ]]; then # see if it's a directory

echo "$1 is not a directory"
exit 2
fi

BACKUPDIR=$1 # directory to be backed up

# Get actual directory name (strip leading path info, if any)

get_directory_name $BACKUPDIR

# set environment for backup

set_variables
. . .

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Backup Script with Functions Scripting

. . .
# create the archive file
create_archive $BACKUPDIR $TARFILE

# copy the archive file to the server

copy_to_server $TARFILE $REMOTEID $SERVER $REMOTEDIR

# clean up archive file

rm_archive $TARFILE

# Create a timestamp in the logfile to record the backup operation.

log_backup $BACKUPDIR $LOGFILE

exit 0 # return 0 on success

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Backup Script Execution Scripting

bash > ./backup3.sh ~/2505

Creating archive file /var/tmp/2505.tar
Copying /var/tmp/2505.tar to
ap1.cs.vt.edu:/home/staff/wmcquain
[email protected]'s password:
2505.tar 100% 90KB 90.0KB/s 00:00
Removing archive file /var/tmp/2505.tar
bash >

IMO, a good script provides the user with feedback about progress and success or
failure.

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Here Be Dragons Scripting

In the backup script we need to strip any path information from the front of the fully-
qualified name for the directory to be backed up.

For example, we need to carry out the following transformation:

/home/wdm/2505  2505

Here's how we do it: . . .

DIRNAME=${P1##*/}
. . .

Here's how it works:

- "*/" stands for an arbitrary number of characters followed by a forward slash.
- "*/" is expanded to match the longest part of P1 that matches that pattern.
- In this case, it works out to be "/home/wdm/".
- This longest match is removed from P1, leaving "2505" in this case.

Since the path prefix must end with a forward slash, this gives us exactly what we want.

See page 128 in [2] if you want more discussion.

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Special Characters Scripting

There are many characters that have special meaning to the bash shell, including:

# begins comment (to end of line)

$ causes expansion of the following character
\ causes following character to NOT be special
/ path separator AND division operator
` command substitution
* wildcard for file name expansion

A full discussion is available in Chapter 3 of [3].

These special characters may also occur in contexts, like input strings, in which we need
them to retain their normal meanings...

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Quoting: Double vs Single Scripting

Enclosing an expression in double quotes causes most, but not all, special characters to be
treated literally:
bash > echo #702

bash > echo "#702"

#702
bash > echo 7$12
72
bash > echo "7$12"
72

Enclosing an expression in single quotes causes all special characters to be treated

literally:
bash > echo '7$12'
7$12

It's usually good practice to enclose a variable evaluation in double quotes, since the
variable may be a string that may contain special characters that are not supposed to be
interpreted by the shell.

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Transforming Strings Scripting

${VAR:OFFSET:LENGTH}
Take LENGTH characters from $VAR, starting at OFFSET.

bash > str=mairzydoatsanddozydoats

bash > echo $str
mairzydoatsanddozydoats
bash > echo ${str:6:5}
doats
bash > echo $str
mairzydoatsanddozydoats

${VAR#WORD}
${VAR##WORD}
If WORD matches a prefix of $VAR, remove the shortest (longest) matching part of
$VAR and return what's left. '%' specifies a match at the tail of $VAR.
bash > echo ${str#mairzy}
doatsanddozydoats
bash > echo ${str%doats}
mairzydoatsanddozy

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Transforming Strings Scripting

bash > var=/home/user/johokie/2505

bash > echo ${var%/*}

/home/user/johokie %/* matched "/2505" at end

bash > echo ${var%%/*} %%/* matched everything from the end

bash > echo ${var#*/} #*/ matched nothing at the front

home/user/johokie/2505

bash > echo ${var##*/} ##*/ matched "/home/user/johokie/"

2505

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Transforming Strings Scripting

bash > echo $var

/home/user/johokie/2505

bash > var2=$var/

bash > echo $var2
/home/user/johokie/2505/

bash > echo ${var2%/}

/home/user/johokie/2505 %/ matched "/" at end

NB: sometimes you get a path string from the command-line, and the user may or may
not have put a '/' on the end...

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Transforming Strings Scripting

${VAR/TOREPLACE/REPLACEMENT}
${VAR//TOREPLACE/REPLACEMENT}
Replace the first (all) occurrence(s) of TOREPLACE in $VAR with REPLACEMENT.

bash > echo $str

mairzydoatsanddozydoats

bash > echo ${str/doats/doates}

mairzydoatesanddozydoats replaced 1st occurrence of "doats"

bash > echo ${str//doats/doates}

mairzydoatesanddozydoates replaced both occurrences of "doats"

bash > echo $str

mairzydoatsanddozydoats original is unchanged

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Example: unpacktars Scripting

One problem I needed to solve was that I had a directory of tar files submitted by
students, where each tar file contained the implementation of a program, perhaps
consisting of many files:
bash > ls
aakallam.C3.11.tar dnguy06.C3.6.tar laura10.C3.1.tar samm.C3.5.tar
adahan.C3.5.tar domnap.C3.5.tar lucase93.C3.12 sammugg.C3.4.tar
aemoore.C3.5.tar dustinst.C3.7.tar magiks.C3.8.tar samp93.C3.13.tar
afritsch.C3.11.tar elena.C3.5.tar marcato.C3.5.tar sarahn93.C3.1.tar

What I needed was to extract the contents of each student's submission to a separate
directory, named using the PID field from the name of the student's submission.

I also had to be concerned about the possibilities (at least):

- A submission might not be a tar file.

- There might be an error when extracting a tar file.
- Neither I nor my TAs wanted to do this manually.

Of course, the solution was to write a shell script...

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Design: unpacktars Scripting

The desired functionality led to some design decisions:

- Do not hard-wire any directory names.

- Optionally, let the target directory (holding the subdirectories for student
submissions) in a different, user-specified directory than the one that holds the tar
files.
- Do not require the target directory to exist already; if it does, do not clear it.
- Name the subdirectories using the student PIDs since those are unique and
already part of the tar file names.
- Provide the user with sensible feedback if anything goes wrong.

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unpacktars.sh: Verifying a File Type Scripting

#! /bin/bash
#
# Invocation: unpacktars.sh tarFileDir extractionRoot
#
# tarFileDir must name a directory containing tar files
# tar file names are in the form fname.*.tar
# extractionRoot is where the subdirs will go
#
# For each file in the specified tar file directory:
# If the file is a tar file
# - a directory named dirname/fname is created
# - the contents of the tar file are extracted into dirname/fname
#

############################################# fn to check for tar file

# param1: name of file to be checked
isTar() {
-b: omit filename from output
mimeType=`file -b --mime-type $1`
--mime-type: compact output
[[ $mimeType == "application/x-tar" ]]
}
. . .

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

unpacktars.sh: Extracting the PID Scripting

. . .
##################################### fn to extract PID from file name
# param1: (possibly fully-qualified) name of file
getPID() {

fname=$1

# strip off any leading path info

fname=${fname##*/} "##*/"
remove longest leading
string ending with '/'

# extract first token of file name "%%.*"

spid=${fname%%.*} remove longest trailing string
} starting with '.'
. . .

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

unpacktars.sh: Processing the tar File Scripting

. . .
##################################### fn to extract tar file to subdir
# param1: root dir for subdirs
# param2: full name of file
processTar() {

# set PID from file name

getPID $2

# create subdirectory for extracted files

mkdir "$1/$spid"

# extract tar contents to that directory

tar -xf "$2" -C "$1/$spid" "-C"
specify destination dir

if [[ $? –ne 0 ]]; then check exit code from tar

echo " Error extracting files from $2"
fi
}
. . .

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

unpacktars.sh: Validating the Command Line Scripting

. . .
############################################################## body
if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
echo "Usage: unpacktars.sh tarFileDir extractRoot"
exit 1
fi

############################################# parameter check

# get 1st parameter; trim trailing '/'
srcdir=$1 "%/"
srcdir=${srcdir%/} remove trailing '/', if any

# verify it's a directory name

if [[ ! -d "$srcdir" ]]; then Directory holding tar files to be
echo "First argument must be a directory" processed MUST already exist.
exit 1
fi
. . .

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

unpacktars.sh: Validating the Command Line Scripting

. . .
# get 2nd parameter; trim trailing '/'
trgdir=$2 Target directory may or may not
trgdir=${trgdir%/} already exist...
if [[ ! -e "$trgdir" ]]; then
echo "Creating $trgdir" If it does not, create it.
mkdir "$trgdir" This also detects a regular file
with the specified name.
elif [[ ! -d "$trgdir" ]]; then
echo "Error: $trgdir exists but is not a directory"
exit 2
If a regular file exists with that
fi name, we can't (safely) create a
. . . the directory.

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

unpacktars.sh: Processing the Directory Scripting

. . .
############################################# begin processing
echo "Processing files in $srcdir to $trgdir"

# iterate through files in the directory

for tfile in $srcdir/* "tfile in $srcdir/*"
do This will iterate over the files that
# verify we have a regular file
if [[ -f "$tfile" ]]; then
exist in the source directory.

# see if we have a tar file

isTar $tfile
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
# process the tar file
processTar $trgdir $tfile

else
# notify user of stray file
echo " Found non-tar file $tfile"
fi
fi
done

exit 0

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain

`Bibliography Scripting

[1] A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, 2 nd Ed,
Mark G. Sobell, Pearson, 2010

[2] Bash Guide for Beginners, Machtelt Garrels, Version 1.11

(http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/index.html)

[3] Advanced Bash Scripting Guide, Mendel Cooper, Version 6.6

(http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/index.html)

CS@VT Computer Organization I ©2005-2016 McQuain