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Learning Linux Shell Scripting

You're reading from   Learning Linux Shell Scripting Leverage the power of shell scripts to solve real-world problems

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Product type Paperback
Published in May 2018
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781788993197
Length 332 pages
Edition 2nd Edition
Languages
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Author (1):
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Ganesh Sanjiv Naik Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
Author Profile Icon Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
Ganesh Sanjiv Naik
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Toc

Table of Contents (17) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Getting Started and Working with Shell Scripting FREE CHAPTER 2. Drilling Deep into Process Management, Job Control, and Automation 3. Using Text Processing and Filters in Your Scripts 4. Working with Commands 5. Exploring Expressions and Variables 6. Neat Tricks with Shell Scripting 7. Performing Arithmetic Operations in Shell Scripts 8. Automating Decision-Making in Scripts 9. Automating Repetitive Tasks 10. Working with Functions 11. Using Advanced Functionality in Scripts 12. System Startup and Customizing a Linux System 13. Pattern Matching and Regular Expressions with sed and awk 14. Taking Backup and Embedding Other Languages in Shell Scripts 15. Database Administration Using Shell Scripts 16. Other Books You May Enjoy

Declaring local variables in functions

Whenever we declare a variable in a script, it is accessible to all functions. The variable is global by default. If the variable is modified by any line of script or any function,
it will be modified in global scope. This may create problems in certain situations.
We will see this problem in the following script, function_12.sh:

#!/bin/bash 
name="John" 
hello() 
{  
   name="Maya" 
         echo $name 
} 
echo $name           # name contains John 
hello          # name contains Maya 
echo $name           # name contains Maya 

Test the script as follows:

    $ chmod +x function_12.sh
    $ ./function_12.sh
  

This should produce the following output:

    John
    Maya
    Maya
  

To make a variable local, we declare it as follows:

    local var=value
    local varName
  

Let's write the script function_13.sh as follows...

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