#!/usr/bin/env bash # First line of the script is the shebang which tells the system how to execute # the script: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebang_(Unix) # As you already figured, comments start with #. Shebang is also a comment. # Simple hello world example: echo "Hello world!" # => Hello world! # Each command starts on a new line, or after a semicolon: echo "This is the first command"; echo "This is the second command" # => This is the first command # => This is the second command # Declaring a variable looks like this: variable="Some string" # But not like this: variable = "Some string" # => returns error "variable: command not found" # Bash will decide that `variable` is a command it must execute and give an error # because it can't be found. # Nor like this: variable= "Some string" # => returns error: "Some string: command not found" # Bash will decide that "Some string" is a command it must execute and give an # error because it can't be found. In this case the "variable=" part is seen # as a variable assignment valid only for the scope of the "Some string" # command. # Using the variable: echo "$variable" # => Some string echo '$variable' # => $variable # When you use a variable itself — assign it, export it, or else — you write # its name without $. If you want to use the variable's value, you should use $. # Note that ' (single quote) won't expand variables! # You can write variables without surrounding double quotes but it's not # recommended due to how Bash handles variables with spaces in them. # Parameter expansion ${...}: echo "${variable}" # => Some string # This is a simple usage of parameter expansion such as two examples above. # Parameter expansion gets a value from a variable. # It "expands" or prints the value. # During the expansion time the value or parameter can be modified. # Below are other modifications that add onto this expansion. # String substitution in variables: echo "${variable/Some/A}" # => A string # This will substitute the first occurrence of "Some" with "A". # Prepend a / before the search string to substitute every instance of it. variable="Some string. Some character" echo "${variable//Some/A}" # => A string. A character # This will substitute every occurrence of "Some" with "A". # Substring from a variable: length=7 echo "${variable:0:length}" # => Some st # This will return only the first 7 characters of the value echo "${variable: -5}" # => tring # This will return the last 5 characters (note the space before -5). # The space before minus is mandatory here. # String length: echo "${#variable}" # => 11 # Indirect expansion: other_variable="variable" echo ${!other_variable} # => Some string # This will expand the value of `other_variable`. # The default value for variable: echo "${foo:-"DefaultValueIfFooIsMissingOrEmpty"}" # => DefaultValueIfFooIsMissingOrEmpty # This works for null (foo=) and empty string (foo=""); zero (foo=0) returns 0. # Note that it only returns default value and doesn't change variable value. # Declare an array with 6 elements: array=(one two three four five six) # Print the first element: echo "${array[0]}" # => "one" # Print all elements: echo "${array[@]}" # => "one two three four five six" # Print the number of elements: echo "${#array[@]}" # => "6" # Print the number of characters in third element echo "${#array[2]}" # => "5" # Print 2 elements starting from fourth: echo "${array[@]:3:2}" # => "four five" # Print all elements each of them on new line. for item in "${array[@]}"; do echo "$item" done # Built-in variables: # There are some useful built-in variables, like: echo "Last program's return value: $?" echo "Script's PID: $$" echo "Number of arguments passed to script: $#" echo "All arguments passed to script: $@" echo "Script's arguments separated into different variables: $1 $2..." # Brace Expansion {...} # used to generate arbitrary strings: echo {1..10} # => 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 echo {a..z} # => a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z # This will output the range from the start value to the end value. # Note that you can't use variables here: from=1 to=10 echo {$from..$to} # => {$from..$to} # Now that we know how to echo and use variables, # let's learn some of the other basics of Bash! # Our current directory is available through the command `pwd`. # `pwd` stands for "print working directory". # We can also use the built-in variable `$PWD`. # Observe that the following are equivalent: echo "I'm in $(pwd)" # execs `pwd` and interpolates output echo "I'm in $PWD" # interpolates the variable # If you get too much output in your terminal, or from a script, the command # `clear` clears your screen: clear # Ctrl-L also works for clearing output. # Reading a value from input: echo "What's your name?" read name # Note that we didn't need to declare a new variable. echo "Hello, $name!" # We have the usual if structure. # Condition is true if the value of $name is not equal to the current user's login username: if [[ "$name" != "$USER" ]]; then echo "Your name isn't your username" else echo "Your name is your username" fi # To use && and || with if statements, you need multiple pairs of square brackets: read age if [[ "$name" == "Steve" ]] && [[ "$age" -eq 15 ]]; then echo "This will run if $name is Steve AND $age is 15." fi if [[ "$name" == "Daniya" ]] || [[ "$name" == "Zach" ]]; then echo "This will run if $name is Daniya OR Zach." fi # To check if a string is empty or not set use -z and -n to check if it is NOT empty if [[ -z "$name" ]]; then echo "Name is unset" fi # There are other comparison operators for numbers listed below: # -ne - not equal # -lt - less than # -gt - greater than # -le - less than or equal to # -ge - greater than or equal to # There is also the `=~` operator, which tests a string against the Regex pattern: email=me@example.com if [[ "$email" =~ [a-z]+@[a-z]{2,}\.(com|net|org) ]] then echo "Valid email!" fi # There is also conditional execution echo "Always executed" || echo "Only executed if first command fails" # => Always executed echo "Always executed" && echo "Only executed if first command does NOT fail" # => Always executed # => Only executed if first command does NOT fail # A single ampersand & after a command runs it in the background. A background command's # output is printed to the terminal, but it cannot read from the input. sleep 30 & # List background jobs jobs # => [1]+ Running sleep 30 & # Bring the background job to the foreground fg # Ctrl-C to kill the process, or Ctrl-Z to pause it # Resume a background process after it has been paused with Ctrl-Z bg # Kill job number 2 kill %2 # %1, %2, etc. can be used for fg and bg as well # Redefine command `ping` as alias to send only 5 packets alias ping='ping -c 5' # Escape the alias and use command with this name instead \ping 192.168.1.1 # Print all aliases alias -p # Expressions are denoted with the following format: echo $(( 10 + 5 )) # => 15 # Unlike other programming languages, bash is a shell so it works in the context # of a current directory. You can list files and directories in the current # directory with the ls command: ls # Lists the files and subdirectories contained in the current directory # This command has options that control its execution: ls -l # Lists every file and directory on a separate line ls -t # Sorts the directory contents by last-modified date (descending) ls -R # Recursively `ls` this directory and all of its subdirectories # Results (stdout) of the previous command can be passed as input (stdin) to the next command # using a pipe |. Commands chained in this way are called a "pipeline", and are run concurrently. # The `grep` command filters the input with provided patterns. # That's how we can list .txt files in the current directory: ls -l | grep "\.txt" # Use `cat` to print files to stdout: cat file.txt # We can also read the file using `cat`: Contents=$(cat file.txt) # "\n" prints a new line character # "-e" to interpret the newline escape characters as escape characters echo -e "START OF FILE\n$Contents\nEND OF FILE" # => START OF FILE # => [contents of file.txt] # => END OF FILE # Use `cp` to copy files or directories from one place to another. # `cp` creates NEW versions of the sources, # so editing the copy won't affect the original (and vice versa). # Note that it will overwrite the destination if it already exists. cp srcFile.txt clone.txt cp -r srcDirectory/ dst/ # recursively copy # Look into `scp` or `sftp` if you plan on exchanging files between computers. # `scp` behaves very similarly to `cp`. # `sftp` is more interactive. # Use `mv` to move files or directories from one place to another. # `mv` is similar to `cp`, but it deletes the source. # `mv` is also useful for renaming files! mv s0urc3.txt dst.txt # sorry, l33t hackers... # Since bash works in the context of a current directory, you might want to # run your command in some other directory. We have cd for changing location: cd ~ # change to home directory cd # also goes to home directory cd .. # go up one directory # (^^say, from /home/username/Downloads to /home/username) cd /home/username/Documents # change to specified directory cd ~/Documents/.. # now in home directory (if ~/Documents exists) cd - # change to last directory # => /home/username/Documents # Use subshells to work across directories (echo "First, I'm here: $PWD") && (cd someDir; echo "Then, I'm here: $PWD") pwd # still in first directory # Use `mkdir` to create new directories. mkdir myNewDir # The `-p` flag causes new intermediate directories to be created as necessary. mkdir -p myNewDir/with/intermediate/directories # if the intermediate directories didn't already exist, running the above # command without the `-p` flag would return an error # You can redirect command input and output (stdin, stdout, and stderr) # using "redirection operators". Unlike a pipe, which passes output to a command, # a redirection operator has a command's input come from a file or stream, or # sends its output to a file or stream. # Read from stdin until ^EOF$ and overwrite hello.py with the lines # between "EOF" (which are called a "here document"): cat > hello.py << EOF #!/usr/bin/env python from __future__ import print_function import sys print("#stdout", file=sys.stdout) print("#stderr", file=sys.stderr) for line in sys.stdin: print(line, file=sys.stdout) EOF # Variables will be expanded if the first "EOF" is not quoted # Run the hello.py Python script with various stdin, stdout, and # stderr redirections: python hello.py < "input.in" # pass input.in as input to the script python hello.py > "output.out" # redirect output from the script to output.out python hello.py 2> "error.err" # redirect error output to error.err python hello.py > "output-and-error.log" 2>&1 # redirect both output and errors to output-and-error.log # &1 means file descriptor 1 (stdout), so 2>&1 redirects stderr (2) to the current # destination of stdout (1), which has been redirected to output-and-error.log. python hello.py > /dev/null 2>&1 # redirect all output and errors to the black hole, /dev/null, i.e., no output # The output error will overwrite the file if it exists, # if you want to append instead, use ">>": python hello.py >> "output.out" 2>> "error.err" # Overwrite output.out, append to error.err, and count lines: info bash 'Basic Shell Features' 'Redirections' > output.out 2>> error.err wc -l output.out error.err # Run a command and print its file descriptor (e.g. /dev/fd/123) # see: man fd echo <(echo "#helloworld") # Overwrite output.out with "#helloworld": cat > output.out <(echo "#helloworld") echo "#helloworld" > output.out echo "#helloworld" | cat > output.out echo "#helloworld" | tee output.out >/dev/null # Cleanup temporary files verbosely (add '-i' for interactive) # WARNING: `rm` commands cannot be undone rm -v output.out error.err output-and-error.log rm -r tempDir/ # recursively delete # You can install the `trash-cli` Python package to have `trash` # which puts files in the system trash and doesn't delete them directly # see https://pypi.org/project/trash-cli/ if you want to be careful # Commands can be substituted within other commands using $( ): # The following command displays the number of files and directories in the # current directory. echo "There are $(ls | wc -l) items here." # The same can be done using backticks `` but they can't be nested - # the preferred way is to use $( ). echo "There are `ls | wc -l` items here." # Bash uses a `case` statement that works similarly to switch in Java and C++: case "$Variable" in # List patterns for the conditions you want to meet 0) echo "There is a zero.";; 1) echo "There is a one.";; *) echo "It is not null.";; # match everything esac # `for` loops iterate for as many arguments given: # The contents of $Variable is printed three times. for Variable in {1..3} do echo "$Variable" done # => 1 # => 2 # => 3 # Or write it the "traditional for loop" way: for ((a=1; a <= 3; a++)) do echo $a done # => 1 # => 2 # => 3 # They can also be used to act on files.. # This will run the command `cat` on file1 and file2 for Variable in file1 file2 do cat "$Variable" done # ..or the output from a command # This will `cat` the output from `ls`. for Output in $(ls) do cat "$Output" done # Bash can also accept patterns, like this to `cat` # all the Markdown files in current directory for Output in ./*.markdown do cat "$Output" done # while loop: while [ true ] do echo "loop body here..." break done # => loop body here... # You can also define functions # Definition: function foo () { echo "Arguments work just like script arguments: $@" echo "And: $1 $2..." echo "This is a function" returnValue=0 # Variable values can be returned return $returnValue } # Call the function `foo` with two arguments, arg1 and arg2: foo arg1 arg2 # => Arguments work just like script arguments: arg1 arg2 # => And: arg1 arg2... # => This is a function # Return values can be obtained with $? resultValue=$? # More than 9 arguments are also possible by using braces, e.g. ${10}, ${11}, ... # or simply bar () { echo "Another way to declare functions!" return 0 } # Call the function `bar` with no arguments: bar # => Another way to declare functions! # Calling your function foo "My name is" $Name # There are a lot of useful commands you should learn: # prints last 10 lines of file.txt tail -n 10 file.txt # prints first 10 lines of file.txt head -n 10 file.txt # print file.txt's lines in sorted order sort file.txt # report or omit repeated lines, with -d it reports them uniq -d file.txt # prints only the first column before the ',' character cut -d ',' -f 1 file.txt # replaces every occurrence of 'okay' with 'great' in file.txt # (regex compatible) sed -i 's/okay/great/g' file.txt # be aware that this -i flag means that file.txt will be changed # -i or --in-place erase the input file (use --in-place=.backup to keep a back-up) # print to stdout all lines of file.txt which match some regex # The example prints lines which begin with "foo" and end in "bar" grep "^foo.*bar$" file.txt # pass the option "-c" to instead print the number of lines matching the regex grep -c "^foo.*bar$" file.txt # Other useful options are: grep -r "^foo.*bar$" someDir/ # recursively `grep` grep -n "^foo.*bar$" file.txt # give line numbers grep -rI "^foo.*bar$" someDir/ # recursively `grep`, but ignore binary files # perform the same initial search, but filter out the lines containing "baz" grep "^foo.*bar$" file.txt | grep -v "baz" # if you literally want to search for the string, # and not the regex, use `fgrep` (or `grep -F`) fgrep "foobar" file.txt # The `trap` command allows you to execute a command whenever your script # receives a signal. Here, `trap` will execute `rm` if it receives any of the # three listed signals. trap "rm $TEMP_FILE; exit" SIGHUP SIGINT SIGTERM # `sudo` is used to perform commands as the superuser # usually it will ask interactively the password of superuser NAME1=$(whoami) NAME2=$(sudo whoami) echo "Was $NAME1, then became more powerful $NAME2" # Read Bash shell built-ins documentation with the bash `help` built-in: help help help help for help return help source help . # Read Bash manpage documentation with `man` apropos bash man 1 bash man bash # Read info documentation with `info` (`?` for help) apropos info | grep '^info.*(' man info info info info 5 info # Read bash info documentation: info bash info bash 'Bash Features' info bash 6 info --apropos bash