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Linux Systems Administration Shell Scripting Basics Mike Jager Network Startup Resource Center Mike - Jager@synack - Co.nz

This document provides an introduction to shell scripting basics in Linux systems administration. It covers why shell scripting is useful, especially for scheduled tasks and repetitive sequences. It also discusses when not to use shell scripting, such as for resource-intensive or proprietary tasks. The document then demonstrates shell scripting concepts like variables, conditionals, loops, and includes sample scripts. It also briefly introduces writing "Hello World" programs in C for comparison to shell scripts.

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Ricky Lynson
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76 views15 pages

Linux Systems Administration Shell Scripting Basics Mike Jager Network Startup Resource Center Mike - Jager@synack - Co.nz

This document provides an introduction to shell scripting basics in Linux systems administration. It covers why shell scripting is useful, especially for scheduled tasks and repetitive sequences. It also discusses when not to use shell scripting, such as for resource-intensive or proprietary tasks. The document then demonstrates shell scripting concepts like variables, conditionals, loops, and includes sample scripts. It also briefly introduces writing "Hello World" programs in C for comparison to shell scripts.

Uploaded by

Ricky Lynson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Linux Systems Administration

Shell Scripting Basics


Mike Jager
Network Startup Resource Center
mike.jager@synack.co.nz

These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)

Why Shell Scripting?


Scheduled Tasks
Repetitive sequences
Boot scripts

When Not To Use Shell Scripting

Resource-intensive tasks, especially where spee


is a factor
Complex applications, where structured
programming is a necessity
Need direct access to system hardware
Proprietary, closed-source applications

Sample Repetitive Tasks

Cleanup
Run as root, of course
.
Do not run these: demo only!
#
#
#
#

cd /var/log
cat /dev/null > messages
cat /dev/null > wtmp
echo "Logs cleaned up.

You can put these commands in a file


and runbash filename

Hash Bang
#! and the shell (first line only)
chmod a+x (remember the permissions)
Example: put the following text in hello.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo Hello World

$ chmod a+x hello.sh


$ ./hello.sh (remember $PATH)

Variables

Variable is acontainer of data. Some variables


already exist in your environment like $PATH
and $PROMPT

Shell substitutes any token that starts with $ with


the contents of the variable of that name

Variable can be created using VAR=something


some shells require the keyword
set to make it
persist, others need export

Sample Special Variables


$ echo $PATH

shell searches PATH for programs if you do not type them with an absolute path
$ echo pwd
$ echo $( pwd )

shell runs command in between


$( and ) and prints to the command line
$ echo $?

When a process ends, it can leave an integer


exit code. If the exit code is zero then
usually it exited successfully. Non zero usually indicates an error.

Sample Repetitive Tasks


#!/bin/bash # Proper header for a Bash script.
# Cleanup, version 2
# Run as root, of course.
# Insert code here to print error message and exit if not root.
LOG_DIR=/var/log

# Variables are better than hard-coded values.

cd $LOG_DIR
cat /dev/null > messages
cat /dev/null > wtmp
echo "Logs cleaned up.
exit # The right and proper method of "exiting" from a script.

Conditionals
if expressionthen statement
if expressionthen statement1else statement2.
if expression1then statement1else ifexpression2
then statement2else statement3

Bash Conditional Syntax


#!/bin/bash
if [ "foo" = "foo" ]; then
echo expression evaluated as true
fi
#!/bin/bash
if [ "foo" = "foo" ]; then
echo expression evaluated as true
else
echo expression evaluated as false
fi

Loops

for loop lets you iterate over a series of 'words'


within a string.

while executes a piece of code if the control


expression is true, and only stops when it is fals

until loop is almost equal to the while loop, exce


that the code is executed while the control
expression evaluates to false.

Sample Syntax
#!/bin/bash
for i in $( ls ); do
echo item: $i
done
#!/bin/bash
COUNTER=0
while [ $COUNTER -lt 10 ]; do
echo The counter is $COUNTER
let COUNTER=COUNTER+1
done
#!/bin/bash
COUNTER=20
until [ $COUNTER -lt 10 ]; do
echo COUNTER $COUNTER
let COUNTER-=1
done

Practice
Write a shell script to print the disk usage every 5
seconds.

Hint: sleep N is a command which will basically


put the prompt/program to sleep for N seconds
Hint2: in any conditional, you can say
true or
false to force it to always evaluate like that.

Extras
Programming (say in C) builds on similar
concepts.
Source text is COMPILED into binary
machine code. Why?

Hello World, c style


Edit hello.c and put the following text
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
printf(Hello World\n);
return 0;
}

Type gcc -o hello hello.c


Type ./hello ; echo $?
Change the return 0 to return 42
Compile it again,
Run ./hello; echo $?

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