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Bash
Bash scripting Tutorial
2010年04月22日
This bash script tutorial assumes no previous knowledge of bash scripting.As you will soon discover in this quick comprehensive bash scripting guide, learning the bash shell scripting is very easy task. Lets begin this bash scripting tutorial with a simple "Hello World" script. Let’s start with Learning the bash Shell: Unix Shell Programming
1. Hello World Bash Shell Script
First you need to find out where is your bash interpreter located. Enter the following into your command line:
View Code BASH
1 | $ which bash |
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Open up you favorite text editor and a create file called hello_world.sh. Insert the following lines to a file:
NOTE:Every bash shell script in this tutorial starts with shebang:"#!" which is not read as a comment. First line is also a place where you put your interpreter which is in this case: /bin/bash.
Here is our first bash shell script example:
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 | #!/bin/bash # declare STRING variable STRING="Hello World" #print variable on a screen echo $STRING |
Navigate to a directory where your hello_world.sh is located and make the file executable:
View Code BASH
1 | $ chmod +x hello_world.sh |
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Now you are ready to execute your first bash script:
View Code BASH
1 | ./hello_world.sh |
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2. Simple Backup bash shell script
View Code BASH
1 2 | #!/bin/bash tar -czf myhome_directory.tar.gz /home/linuxconfig |

3. Variables
In this example we declare simple bash variable and print it on the screen ( stdout ) with echo command.
View Code BASH
1 2 3 | #!/bin/bash STRING="HELLO WORLD!!!" echo $STRING |
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Your backup script and variables:
View Code BASH
1 2 3 | #!/bin/bash OF=myhome_directory_$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz tar -czf $OF /home/linuxconfig |

3.1. Global vs. Local variables
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | #!/bin/bash #Define bash global variable #This variable is global and can be used anywhere in this bash script VAR="global variable" function bash { #Define bash local variable #This variable is local to bash function only local VAR="local variable" echo $VAR } echo $VAR bash # Note the bash global variable did not change # "local" is bash reserved word echo $VAR |

4. Passing arguments to the bash script
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | #!/bin/bash #Define bash global variable #This variable is global and can be used anywhere in this bash script VAR="global variable" function bash { #Define bash local variable #This variable is local to bash function only local VAR="local variable" echo $VAR } echo $VAR bash # Note the bash global variable did not change # "local" is bash reserved word echo $VAR |
View Code BASH
1 | /arguments.sh Bash Scripting Tutorial |

5. Executing shell commands with bash
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 | #!/bin/bash # use backticks " ` ` " to execute shell command echo `uname -o` # executing bash command without backticks echo uname -o |

6. Reading User Input
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | #!/bin/bash echo -e "Hi, please type the word: \c " read word echo "The word you entered is: $word" echo -e "Can you please enter two words? " read word1 word2 echo "Here is your input: \"$word1\" \"$word2\"" echo -e "How do you feel about bash scripting? " # read command now stores a reply into the default build-in variable $REPLY read echo "You said $REPLY, I'm glad to hear that! " echo -e "What are your favorite colours ? " # -a makes read command to read into an array read -a colours echo "My favorite colours are also ${colours[0]}, ${colours[1]} and ${colours[2]}:-)" |

7. Bash Trap Command
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | #!/bin/bash # bash trap command trap bashtrap INT # bash clear screen command clear; # bash trap function is executed when CTRL-C is pressed: # bash prints message => Executing bash trap subrutine ! bashtrap() { echo "CTRL+C Detected !...executing bash trap !" } # for loop from 1/10 to 10/10 for a in `seq 1 10`; do echo "$a/10 to Exit." sleep 1; done echo "Exit Bash Trap Example!!!" |
8. Arrays
8.1. Declare simple bash array
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | #!/bin/bash #Declare array with 4 elements ARRAY=( 'Debian Linux' 'Redhat Linux' Ubuntu Linux ) # get number of elements in the array ELEMENTS=${#ARRAY[@]} # echo each element in array # for loop for (( i=0;i<$ELEMENTS;i++)); do echo ${ARRAY[${i}]} done |

8.2. Read file into bash array
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | #!/bin/bash #Declare array declare -a ARRAY #Open file for reading to array exec 10 let count=0 while read LINE <&10; do ARRAY[$count]=$LINE ((count++)) done echo Number of elements: ${#ARRAY[@]} # echo array's content echo ${ARRAY[@]} # close file exec 10>&- |

9. Bash if / else / fi statements
9.1. Simple Bash if/else statement
Please note the spacing inside the [ and ] brackets! Without the spaces, it won’t work!
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | #!/bin/bash directory="./BashScripting" # bash check if directory exists if [ -d $directory ]; then echo "Directory exists" else echo "Directory does not exists" fi |

9.2. Nested if/else
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 | #!/bin/bash # Declare variable choice and assign value 4 choice=4 # Print to stdout echo "1. Bash" echo "2. Scripting" echo "3. Tutorial" echo -n "Please choose a word [1,2 or 3]? " # Loop while the variable choice is equal 4 # bash while loop while [ $choice -eq 4 ]; do # read user input read choice # bash nested if/else if [ $choice -eq 1 ] ; then echo "You have chosen word: Bash" else if [ $choice -eq 2 ] ; then echo "You have chosen word: Scripting" else if [ $choice -eq 3 ] ; then echo "You have chosen word: Tutorial" else echo "Please make a choice between 1-3 !" echo "1. Bash" echo "2. Scripting" echo "3. Tutorial" echo -n "Please choose a word [1,2 or 3]? " choice=4 fi fi fi done |

10. Bash Comparisons
10.1. Arithmetic Comparisons
| -lt | < |
| -gt | > |
| -le | <= |
| -ge | >= |
| -eq | == |
| -ne | != |
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | #!/bin/bash # declare integers NUM1=2 NUM2=2 if [ $NUM1 -eq $NUM2 ]; then echo "Both Values are equal" else echo "Values are NOT equal" fi |
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View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | # #!/bin/bash # declare integers NUM1=2 NUM2=1 if [ $NUM1 -eq $NUM2 ]; then echo "Both Values are equal" else echo "Values are NOT equal" fi |
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View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | #!/bin/bash # declare integers NUM1=2 NUM2=1 if [ $NUM1 -eq $NUM2 ]; then echo "Both Values are equal" elif [ $NUM1 -gt $NUM2 ]; then echo "NUM1 is greater then NUM2" else echo "NUM2 is greater then NUM1" fi |
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10.2. String Comparisons
| = | equal |
| != | not equal |
| < | less then |
| > | greater then |
| -n s1 | string s1 is not empty |
| -z s1 | string s1 is empty |
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | #!/bin/bash #Declare string S1 S1="Bash" #Declare string S2 S2="Scripting" if [ $S1 = $S2 ]; then echo "Both Strings are equal" else echo "Strings are NOT equal" fi |
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View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | #!/bin/bash #Declare string S1 S1="Bash" #Declare string S2 S2="Bash" if [ $S1 = $S2 ]; then echo "Both Strings are equal" else echo "Strings are NOT equal" fi |
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11. Bash File Testing
| -b filename | Block special file |
| -c filename | Special character file |
| -d directoryname | Check for directory existence |
| -e filename | Check for file existence |
| -f filename | Check for regular file existence not a directory |
| -G filename | Check if file exists and is owned by effective group ID. |
| -g filename | true if file exists and is set-group-id. |
| -k filename | Sticky bit |
| -L filename | Symbolic link |
| -O filename | True if file exists and is owned by the effective user id. |
| -r filename | Check if file is a readable |
| -S filename | Check if file is socket |
| -s filename | Check if file is nonzero size |
| -u filename | Check if file set-ser-id bit is set |
| -w filename | Check if file is writable |
| -x filename | Check if file is executable |
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | #!/bin/bash file="./file" if [ -e $file ]; then echo "File exists" else echo "File does not exists" fi |

Similarly for example we can use while loop to check if file does not exists. This script will sleep until file does exists. Note bash negator "!" which negates the -e option.
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 | #!/bin/bash while [ ! -e myfile ]; do # Sleep until file does exists/is created sleep 1 done |
12. Loops
12.1. Bash for loop
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 | #!/bin/bash # bash for loop for f in $( ls /var/ ); do echo $f done |
Running for loop from bash shell command line:
View Code BASH
1 | $ for f in $( ls /var/ ); do echo $f; done |

12.2. Bash while loop
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | #!/bin/bash COUNT=6 # bash while loop while [ $COUNT -gt 0 ]; do echo Value of count is: $COUNT let COUNT=COUNT-1 done |

12.3. Bash until loop
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | #!/bin/bash COUNT=0 # bash until loop until [ $COUNT -gt 5 ]; do echo Value of count is: $COUNT let COUNT=COUNT+1 done |

12.4. Control bash loop with
Here is a example of while loop controlled by standard input. Until the redirection chain from STDOUT to STDIN to the read command exists the while loop continues.
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | #!/bin/bash # This bash script will locate and replace spaces # in the filenames DIR="." # Controlling a loop with bash read command by redirecting STDOUT as # a STDIN to while loop # find will not truncate filenames containing spaces find $DIR -type f | while read file; do # using POSIX class [:space:] to find space in the filename if [[ "$file" = *[[:space:]]* ]]; then # substitute space with "_" character and consequently rename the file mv "$file" `echo $file | tr ' ' '_'` fi; # end of while loop done |

13. Bash Functions
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | !/bin/bash # BASH FUNCTIONS CAN BE DECLARED IN ANY ORDER function function_B { echo Function B. } function function_A { echo $1 } function function_D { echo Function D. } function function_C { echo $1 } # FUNCTION CALLS # Pass parameter to function A function_A "Function A." function_B # Pass parameter to function C function_C "Function C." function_D |

14. Bash Select
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | #!/bin/bash PS3='Choose one word: ' # bash select select word in "linux" "bash" "scripting" "tutorial" do echo "The word you have selected is: $word" # Break, otherwise endless loop break done exit 0 |

15. Case statement conditional
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | #!/bin/bash echo "What is your preferred programming / scripting language" echo "1) bash" echo "2) perl" echo "3) phyton" echo "4) c++" echo "5) I do not know !" read case; #simple case bash structure # note in this case $case is variable and does not have to # be named case this is just an example case $case in 1) echo "You selected bash";; 2) echo "You selected perl";; 3) echo "You selected phyton";; 4) echo "You selected c++";; 5) exit esac |

16. Bash quotes and quotations
Quotations and quotes are important part of bash and bash scripting. Here are some bash quotes and quotations basics.
16.1. Escaping Meta characters
Before we start with quotes and quotations we should know something about escaping meta characters. Escaping will suppress a special meaning of meta characters and therefore meta characters will be read by bash literally. To do this we need to use backslash "\" character. Example:
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | #!/bin/bash #Declare bash string variable BASH_VAR="Bash Script" # echo variable BASH_VAR echo $BASH_VAR #when meta character such us "$" is escaped with "\" it will be read literally echo \$BASH_VAR # backslash has also special meaning and it can be suppressed with yet another "\" echo "\\" |

16.2. Single quotes
Single quotes in bash will suppress special meaning of every meta characters. Therefore meta characters will be read literally. It is not possible to use another single quote within two single quotes not even if the single quote is escaped by backslash.
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | #!/bin/bash #Declare bash string variable BASH_VAR="Bash Script" # echo variable BASH_VAR echo $BASH_VAR # meta characters special meaning in bash is suppressed when using single quotes echo '$BASH_VAR "$BASH_VAR"' |

16.3. Double Quotes
Double quotes in bash will suppress special meaning of every meta characters except "$", "\" and "`". Any other meta characters will be read literally. It is also possible to use single quote within double quotes. If we need to use double quotes within double quotes bash can read them literally when escaping them with "\". Example:
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | #!/bin/bash #Declare bash string variable BASH_VAR="Bash Script" # echo variable BASH_VAR echo $BASH_VAR # meta characters and its special meaning in bash is # suppressed when using double quotes except "$", "\" and "`" echo "It's $BASH_VAR and \"$BASH_VAR\" using backticks: `date`" |

16.4. Bash quoting with ANSI-C style
There is also another type of quoting and that is ANSI-C. In this type of quoting characters escaped with "\" will gain special meaning according to the ANSI-C standard.
| /a | alert (bell) | /b | backspace |
| /e | an escape character | /f | form feed |
| /n | newline | /r | carriage return |
| /t | horizontal tab | /v | vertical tab |
| \\ | backslash | \` | single quote |
| \nnn | octal value of characters ( see [http://www.asciitable.com/ ASCII table] ) | \xnn | hexadecimal value of characters ( see [http://www.asciitable.com/ ASCII table] ) |
The syntax fo ansi-c bash quoting is: $” . Here is an example:
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 | #!/bin/bash # as a example we have used \n as a new line, \x40 is hex value for @ # and \56 is octal value for . echo $'web: www.linuxconfig.org\nemail: web\x40linuxconfig\56org' |

17. Arithmetic Operations
17.1. Bash Addition Calculator Example
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | #!/bin/bash let RESULT1=$1+$2 echo $1+$2=$RESULT1 ' -> # let RESULT1=$1+$2' declare -i RESULT2 RESULT2=$1+$2 echo $1+$2=$RESULT2 ' -> # declare -i RESULT2; RESULT2=$1+$2' echo $1+$2=$(($1 + $2)) ' -> # $(($1 + $2))' |

17.2. Bash Arithmetics
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 | #!/bin/bash echo '### let ###' # bash addition let ADDITION=3+5 echo "3 + 5 =" $ADDITION # bash subtraction let SUBTRACTION=7-8 echo "7 - 8 =" $SUBTRACTION # bash multiplication let MULTIPLICATION=5*8 echo "5 * 8 =" $MULTIPLICATION # bash division let DIVISION=4/2 echo "4 / 2 =" $DIVISION # bash modulus let MODULUS=9%4 echo "9 % 4 =" $MODULUS # bash power of two let POWEROFTWO=2**2 echo "2 ^ 2 =" $POWEROFTWO echo '### Bash Arithmetic Expansion ###' # There are two formats for arithmetic expansion: $[ expression ] # and $(( expression #)) its your choice which you use echo 4 + 5 = $((4 + 5)) echo 7 - 7 = $[ 7 - 7 ] echo 4 x 6 = $((3 * 2)) echo 6 / 3 = $((6 / 3)) echo 8 % 7 = $((8 % 7)) echo 2 ^ 8 = $[ 2 ** 8 ] echo '### Declare ###' echo -e "Please enter two numbers \c" # read user input read num1 num2 declare -i result result=$num1+$num2 echo "Result is:$result " # bash convert binary number 10001 result=2#10001 echo $result # bash convert octal number 16 result=8#16 echo $result # bash convert hex number 0xE6A result=16#E6A echo $result |

17.3. Round floating point number
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | #!/bin/bash # get floating point number floating_point_number=3.3446 echo $floating_point_number # round floating point number with bash for bash_rounded_number in $(printf %.0f $floating_point_number); do echo "Rounded number with bash:" $bash_rounded_number done |

17.4. Bash floating point calculations
View Code BASH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | #!/bin/bash # Simple linux bash calculator echo "Enter input:" read userinput echo "Result with 2 digits after decimal point:" echo "scale=2; ${userinput}" | bc echo "Result with 10 digits after decimal point:" echo "scale=10; ${userinput}" | bc echo "Result as rounded integer:" echo $userinput | bc |

18. Redirections
18.1. STDOUT from bash script to STDERR
View Code BASH
1 2 3 | #!/bin/bash echo "Redirect this STDOUT to STDERR" 1>&2 |
To proof that STDOUT is redirected to STDERR we can redirect script’s output to file:

18.2. STDERR from bash script to STDOUT
View Code BASH
1 2 3 | #!/bin/bash cat $1 2>&1 |
To proof that STDERR is redirected to STDOUT we can redirect script’s output to file:

18.3. stdout to screen
The simple way to redirect a standard output ( stdout ) is to simply use any command, because by default stdout is automatically redirected to screen.
View Code BASH
1 | cat /proc/partitions |

18.4. stdout to file
Here we use ">" to redirect stdout to a file "partitions.txt".
View Code BASH
1 | cat /proc/partitions > partitions.txt |

18.5. stderr to file
In this example you will redirect the standard error ( stderr ) to a file and stdout to a default screen.
View Code BASH
1 | grep -r hda6 * . 2> stderr.txt |

18.6. stdout to stderr
In this case the output of a command will be written to the same descriptor as a stderr.
View Code BASH
1 | grep -r hda6 * . 1>&2 stderr.txt |

18.7. stderr to stdout
In this case the stderr of a command will be written to the same descriptor as a stdout.
View Code BASH
1 | grep -r hda6 * . 2>&1 stderr.txt |

18.8. stderr and stdout to file
View Code BASH
1 | grep -r hda6 * . &> stderr_and_stdout.txt |



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