Linux Programming

Shell Programming

Variables

food=Banana
echo $food
food="Apple"
echo $food
$HOME
$PATH
$0 -- name of the shell script
$# -- number of parameters passed
$$ process ID of the shell script, often used inside a script for generating unique temp filenames
$1, $2, .... -- parameters given to the script
$* -- list of all the parameters, in a single variable
$@ -- subtle variation on $*

Conditions

We can use the test command to check if a file exists. The command is test -f <filename>.

[] is just the same as writing test, and would always leave a space after the test word.

if test -f fred.c; then ...; fi

if [ -f fred.c ]
then
...
fi

if [ -f fred.c ]; then
...
fi

Arithmetic comparison

expr1 -eq expr2
expr1 -ne expr2
expr1 -gt expr2
expr1 -ge expr2
expr1 -lt expr2
expr1 -le expr2
! expr

File conditionals

-d file  ==> True if the file is a directory
-e file  ==> True if the file exists
-f file  ==> True if the file is a regular file
-r file  ==> True if the file is readable
-s file  ==> True if the file has non-zero size
-w file  ==> True if the file is writable
-x file  ==> True if the file is executable

Control Structures

if

if condition
then
  statements
elif [ condition ]; then
  statements
else 
  statements
fi

for

for variable in values
do 
  statements
done

while

while condition do
  statements
done

until

until condition
do 
  statements
done

AND list

statement1 && statement2 && statement3 && ...

OR list

statement1 || statement2 || statement3 || ...

Curses

A technique between command line and full GUI.

Example: vi.