Content: - Shells and Shell Scripts - TCSH, Enhanced C-Shell - Bash, Bourne-Again Shell

Content
• Shells and Shell Scripts

• tcsh, enhanced C-Shell
• bash, Bourne-Again Shell
July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 1

mokhov@cs.concordia.ca
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.

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.
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

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)
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).

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)
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.
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.
tchs
Quick Ref

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

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

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

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

while
while ( <expression> )
<statements>
end

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

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.
Bourne Shell
Quick Ref

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.

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>

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

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
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
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
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.
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
case
• Syntax:
case <expression> in
<patter1>|<value1>)
command1
;;
<patter2>|<value2>)
command2
;;
esac
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
for
• Syntax:
for variable in <list of values/words>[;]
do
command1
command2
…
done
• List can also be a result of a command.

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

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


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• Shells and Shell Scripts

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 1

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 2

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 4

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 6

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

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 10

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 11

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 12

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 13

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 14

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 15

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 16

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 18

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 19

• An Intro to UNIX Shell:

• How To Write a Shell Script:

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 20

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 21

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

• List can also be a result of a command.

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 29

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 31

July 17, 2003 Serguei A. Mokhov, 32

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