Systems Programming

Shell Scripting
Types of Shell
• Bourne Shell – with $ as default prompt
• Bourne Shell (sh)
• Korn Shell (ksh)
• Bourne Again Shell (bash)
• POSIX Shell (sh)
• C-type Shell – with % as default prompt
• C Shell (csh)
• TENEX/TOPS C Shell (tcsh)
Shell Scripts
• All shell scripts has extension .sh (e.g. test.sh)
• Use shebang (#!) to indicate which shell you are using for shell script e.g.
test.sh will contain
#!/bin/bash
pwd
ls
• Use # for single line comments
#!/bin/bash
# Author : Amit
# Copyright (c)
# Script follows here:
Shell Variables (1)
• Local Variables
• Any variable that is defined in shell script or shell window by developer e.g.
COURSE_CODE=IT227
• Local variable are accessible only in the same shell window or shell script
where the variable is defined (not available in any of the child window or
script)
• Access variables using $ sign e.g. echo $AUTHOR will display the value stored
in environment variable AUTHOR
Shell Variables (2)
• Environment Variables
• All system environment variables can be retrieved using env shell command
e.g. SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/bin/
USER="logged in user"
HOME="path to home folder"
• Environment variables are access in the current shell window/script or any of
the child window/script
• You can create your own environment variables using export command
e.g. COURSE_CODE=IT227
EXPORT COURSE_CODE
Special Variables
• $$ - process id (PID) of current shell • echo command is used to print value of any
constant or variable
• $0 - shell script filename being ShellScripts\test.sh
executed Now run: tesh.sh abc xyz
• $1, $2, $3…$n – command line Output will be:
argument File name: test.sh
• $# - number of command line argument First command line argument is: abc
• $? – exit status of last command Second command line argument is: xyz
executed
• 0 : success Execute C program and read the return status
• 1 : error (all errors w/o specific code) ShellScripts\retstat.sh
• 130 terminated by Ctrl+C
• $! – PID of last background command
Arrays

Definition Accessing
NAME[0]=“Deepak“ • To display value from a specific index
NAME[1]=“Renuka” echo "First Index: ${NAME[0]}" echo
NAME[2]=“Joe“ "Second Index: ${NAME[1]}“
NAME[3]=“Alex“ • To display all values
NAME[4]=“Amir“ echo "All Index: ${NAME[*]}“
Or in bash OR
array_name = (value1 ... valuen) echo "All Index: ${NAME[@]}“

ShellScripts\array_test.sh
Operators
• Arithmetic Operators: + - * / % = == !=
• c=`expr $a + $b` add values from a and b and assign it to c
• a=$b would assign value of b into a
• [ $a == $b ] OR [ $a != $b ] would compare numeric values of a and b
• Relational Operators: -eq –ne –gt –lt –ge –le
• Boolean/Logical Operators: ! –o –a
• String Operators: -z –n
• -z (or -n) returns true if string length is zero (or non-zero)
Operators
• File Test Operators (assuming file Test if file exists
variable holds the filename) ShellScripts\file_test.sh
• -d file: true if file is a directory
• -f file: true if ordinary file instead
of directory or special file Test if file exist and display the
• -r file: true if file is readable content
• -w file: true if file is writable ShellScripts\file_read.sh
• -x file: true if file is executable
• -s file: true if file size > 0
• -e file: true if file exists
Decision Making Conditional Statements
• If…fi statement case word in
• If…else…fi statement pattern1)
• If…elif…else…fi statement Statement(s) to be executed if
pattern1 matches ;;
pattern2)
Statement(s) to be executed if
pattern2 matches ;;
pattern3)
Statement(s) to be executed if
pattern3 matches ;;
*)
Default condition to be
executed ;;
esac
Loops – Nested Loops are Allowed
• While Loop: • For Loop:
while command for var in word1 word2 ... wordN
do do
Statement(s) to be executed if command is Statement(s) to be executed for every word.
true done
done
• Select Loop (Used for creating Menu):
• Until Loop: select var in word1 word2 ... wordN
until command
do
do Statement(s) to be executed for every word.
Statement(s) to be executed until command is done
true
done ShellScripts\for_select_test.sh
Loop Control Statements
• break statement • continue statement
#!/bin/sh a=0 #!/bin/sh
while [ $a -lt 10 ] NUMS="1 2 3 4 5 6 7"
do for NUM in $NUMS
echo $a do
if [ $a -eq 5 ] Q=`expr $NUM % 2`
then if [ $Q -eq 0 ]
break then
fi echo "Number is an even
number!!"
a=`expr $a + 1`
continue
done
fi
echo "Found odd number"
done
Substitution
• Escape sequences with echo command • Command Substitution using `command`
• \\ (backslash) DATE=`date`
• \b (backspace)
• \c (suppress trailing newline) echo "Date is $DATE"
• \f (form feed) USERS=`who | wc -l`
• \n (new line)
• \r (carriage return)
echo "Logged in user are $USERS“
• \t (horizontal tab) • Variable Substitution
• \v (vertical tab) ${var}
• For echo command, use -e (-E) option to ${var:-defaultvalue} → defaultvalue is NOT
enable (disable) interpretation of backslash assigned to var
escapes
${var:=defaultval} → defaultvalue is assigned to
var
${var:?message} → display a message on empty
• ShellScripts\substitution.sh
Input and Output Redirection
• Command/Program > file
• Any output from command or program execution will be saved in file instead of displaying to
STDOUT
• New file will be created if does not exist or existing file will be erased first
• Command/Program >> file :
• Any output from command or program execution will be appended to an existing file instead
of displaying to STDOUT
• New file will be created if does not exist but if file already exists then it is appended
• n >> file : output from stream with descriptor n is appended to a file
• n >& m : merges output from stream n with stream m
ShellScripts\merge_stdout_stderr.sh
• Command/Program < file : Input to the command or program is fed from data in
file
• | (called pipe) : Takes output from one process and feed into another process
Functions
# Define your function here # Invoke your function
Hello () { Hello $*
if [ $# > 1 ] # Capture value returned by last
then command
for param in $* ret=$?
do ShellScripts\function.sh
echo $param
done Note: Nested functions and recursive
functions are allowed
fi Functions can be accessed in shell
return $# prompt by placing them in .sh file and
} executing that .sh file in a shell prompt
Exercises
• Print sum of all command line integer arguments

• Print the factorial of a given number using fact() function

• Print the day of the week for all the command line values provided
between 1 and 7

• Given path (e.g. /usr/local/lib or /etc/passwd), first check if that path

exists and then check if it is a file or a directory and print appropriate
message
Print sum of all command line arguments
• ShellScripts\sum_args.sh
Quiz – Write a shell script
1. Multiple logs files with filenames *.log are created while
compilation of large application such as python from source. Task is
to concatenate all the *.log files and create a new file warnings.log
with all the lines where warning has occurred (i.e. lines with
‘warning’ word)
2. User provided directory as command line argument has multiple
program files with filenames *.out. Task is to execute each program
and store exit codes in an array.