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Linux Shell Scripting Bootcamp

You're reading from   Linux Shell Scripting Bootcamp The fastest way to learn Linux shell scripting

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Product type Paperback
Published in Jul 2017
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781787281103
Length 208 pages
Edition 1st Edition
Tools
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Author (1):
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James K Lewis James K Lewis
Author Profile Icon James K Lewis
James K Lewis
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Toc

Table of Contents (12) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Getting Started with Shell Scripting FREE CHAPTER 2. Working with Variables 3. Using Loops and the sleep Command 4. Creating and Calling Subroutines 5. Creating Interactive Scripts 6. Automating Tasks with Scripts 7. Working with Files 8. Working with wget and curl 9. Debugging Scripts 10. Scripting Best Practices Index

More syntax errors


A fundamental problem with shell scripts is syntax errors don't usually show up until the line with the problem is parsed by the interpreter. Here's a common error that I still find myself doing more than I should. See if you can locate the problem by just reading the script:

Chapter 9 - Script 3

#!/bin/sh
#
# 6/7/2017
#
echo "Chapter 9 - Script 3"

if [ $# -ne 1 ] ; then
 echo "Usage: script3 parameter"
 exit 255
fi

parm=$1
echo "parm: $parm"

if [ "$parm" = "home" ] ; then
 echo "parm is home."
elif if [ "$parm" = "cls" ] ; then
 echo "parm is cls."
elif [ "$parm" = "end" ] ; then
 echo "parm is end."
else
 echo "Unknown parameter: $parm"
fi

echo "End of script3"
exit 0

Here's the output:

Did you find my mistake? When I code an if...elif...else statement, I tend to copy and paste the first if statement. I then prepend elif to the next statement but forget to remove the if. This gets me almost every time.

Look at how I ran this script. I started first with just the name...

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