Appendix A. Contributed Scripts

These scripts, while not fitting into the text of this document, do illustrate some interesting shell programming techniques. They are useful, too. Have fun analyzing and running them.


Example A-1. manview: Viewing formatted manpages

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # manview.sh: Formats the source of a man page for viewing.
   3 
   4 #  This script is useful when writing man page source.
   5 #  It lets you look at the intermediate results on the fly
   6 #+ while working on it.
   7 
   8 E_WRONGARGS=65
   9 
  10 if [ -z "$1" ]
  11 then
  12   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename"
  13   exit $E_WRONGARGS
  14 fi
  15 
  16 # ---------------------------
  17 groff -Tascii -man $1 | less
  18 # From the man page for groff.
  19 # ---------------------------
  20 
  21 #  If the man page includes tables and/or equations,
  22 #+ then the above code will barf.
  23 #  The following line can handle such cases.
  24 #
  25 #   gtbl < "$1" | geqn -Tlatin1 | groff -Tlatin1 -mtty-char -man
  26 #
  27 #   Thanks, S.C.
  28 
  29 exit 0


Example A-2. mailformat: Formatting an e-mail message

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # mail-format.sh: Format e-mail messages.
   3 
   4 # Gets rid of carets, tabs, also fold excessively long lines.
   5 
   6 # =================================================================
   7 #                 Standard Check for Script Argument(s)
   8 ARGS=1
   9 E_BADARGS=65
  10 E_NOFILE=66
  11 
  12 if [ $# -ne $ARGS ]  # Correct number of arguments passed to script?
  13 then
  14   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename"
  15   exit $E_BADARGS
  16 fi
  17 
  18 if [ -f "$1" ]       # Check if file exists.
  19 then
  20     file_name=$1
  21 else
  22     echo "File \"$1\" does not exist."
  23     exit $E_NOFILE
  24 fi
  25 # =================================================================
  26 
  27 MAXWIDTH=70          # Width to fold long lines to.
  28 
  29 #  Delete carets and tabs at beginning of lines,
  30 #+ then fold lines to $MAXWIDTH characters.
  31 sed '
  32 s/^>//
  33 s/^  *>//
  34 s/^  *//
  35 s/		*//
  36 ' $1 | fold -s --width=$MAXWIDTH
  37           # -s option to "fold" breaks lines at whitespace, if possible.
  38 
  39 #  This script was inspired by an article in a well-known trade journal
  40 #+ extolling a 164K Windows utility with similar functionality.
  41 #
  42 #  An nice set of text processing utilities and an efficient
  43 #+ scripting language provide an alternative to bloated executables.
  44 
  45 exit 0


Example A-3. rn: A simple-minded file rename utility

This script is a modification of Example 12-15.

   1 #! /bin/bash
   2 #
   3 # Very simpleminded filename "rename" utility (based on "lowercase.sh").
   4 #
   5 #  The "ren" utility, by Vladimir Lanin (lanin@csd2.nyu.edu),
   6 #+ does a much better job of this.
   7 
   8 
   9 ARGS=2
  10 E_BADARGS=65
  11 ONE=1                     # For getting singular/plural right (see below).
  12 
  13 if [ $# -ne "$ARGS" ]
  14 then
  15   echo "Usage: `basename $0` old-pattern new-pattern"
  16   # As in "rn gif jpg", which renames all gif files in working directory to jpg.
  17   exit $E_BADARGS
  18 fi
  19 
  20 number=0                  # Keeps track of how many files actually renamed.
  21 
  22 
  23 for filename in *$1*      #Traverse all matching files in directory.
  24 do
  25    if [ -f "$filename" ]  # If finds match...
  26    then
  27      fname=`basename $filename`            # Strip off path.
  28      n=`echo $fname | sed -e "s/$1/$2/"`   # Substitute new for old in filename.
  29      mv $fname $n                          # Rename.
  30      let "number += 1"
  31    fi
  32 done   
  33 
  34 if [ "$number" -eq "$ONE" ]                # For correct grammar.
  35 then
  36  echo "$number file renamed."
  37 else 
  38  echo "$number files renamed."
  39 fi 
  40 
  41 exit 0
  42 
  43 
  44 # Exercises:
  45 # ---------
  46 # What type of files will this not work on?
  47 # How can this be fixed?
  48 #
  49 #  Rewrite this script to process all the files in a directory
  50 #+ containing spaces in their names, and to rename them,
  51 #+ substituting an underscore for each space.


Example A-4. blank-rename: renames filenames containing blanks

This is an even simpler-minded version of previous script.

   1 #! /bin/bash
   2 # blank-rename.sh
   3 #
   4 # Substitutes underscores for blanks in all the filenames in a directory.
   5 
   6 ONE=1                     # For getting singular/plural right (see below).
   7 number=0                  # Keeps track of how many files actually renamed.
   8 FOUND=0                   # Successful return value.
   9 
  10 for filename in *         #Traverse all files in directory.
  11 do
  12      echo "$filename" | grep -q " "         #  Check whether filename
  13      if [ $? -eq $FOUND ]                   #+ contains space(s).
  14      then
  15        fname=$filename                      # Strip off path.
  16        n=`echo $fname | sed -e "s/ /_/g"`   # Substitute underscore for blank.
  17        mv "$fname" "$n"                     # Do the actual renaming.
  18        let "number += 1"
  19      fi
  20 done   
  21 
  22 if [ "$number" -eq "$ONE" ]                 # For correct grammar.
  23 then
  24  echo "$number file renamed."
  25 else 
  26  echo "$number files renamed."
  27 fi 
  28 
  29 exit 0


Example A-5. encryptedpw: Uploading to an ftp site, using a locally encrypted password

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 
   3 # Example "ex72.sh" modified to use encrypted password.
   4 
   5 #  Note that this is still rather insecure,
   6 #+ since the decrypted password is sent in the clear.
   7 #  Use something like "ssh" if this is a concern.
   8 
   9 E_BADARGS=65
  10 
  11 if [ -z "$1" ]
  12 then
  13   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename"
  14   exit $E_BADARGS
  15 fi  
  16 
  17 Username=bozo           # Change to suit.
  18 pword=/home/bozo/secret/password_encrypted.file
  19 # File containing encrypted password.
  20 
  21 Filename=`basename $1`  # Strips pathname out of file name
  22 
  23 Server="XXX"
  24 Directory="YYY"         # Change above to actual server name & directory.
  25 
  26 
  27 Password=`cruft <$pword`          # Decrypt password.
  28 #  Uses the author's own "cruft" file encryption package,
  29 #+ based on the classic "onetime pad" algorithm,
  30 #+ and obtainable from:
  31 #+ Primary-site:   ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/utils/file
  32 #+                 cruft-0.2.tar.gz [16k]
  33 
  34 
  35 ftp -n $Server <<End-Of-Session
  36 user $Username $Password
  37 binary
  38 bell
  39 cd $Directory
  40 put $Filename
  41 bye
  42 End-Of-Session
  43 # -n option to "ftp" disables auto-logon.
  44 # "bell" rings 'bell' after each file transfer.
  45 
  46 exit 0


Example A-6. copy-cd: Copying a data CD

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # copy-cd.sh: copying a data CD
   3 
   4 CDROM=/dev/cdrom                           # CD ROM device
   5 OF=/home/bozo/projects/cdimage.iso         # output file
   6 #       /xxxx/xxxxxxx/                     Change to suit your system.
   7 BLOCKSIZE=2048
   8 SPEED=2                                    # May use higher speed if supported.
   9 
  10 echo; echo "Insert source CD, but do *not* mount it."
  11 echo "Press ENTER when ready. "
  12 read ready                                 # Wait for input, $ready not used.
  13 
  14 echo; echo "Copying the source CD to $OF."
  15 echo "This may take a while. Please be patient."
  16 
  17 dd if=$CDROM of=$OF bs=$BLOCKSIZE          # Raw device copy.
  18 
  19 
  20 echo; echo "Remove data CD."
  21 echo "Insert blank CDR."
  22 echo "Press ENTER when ready. "
  23 read ready                                 # Wait for input, $ready not used.
  24 
  25 echo "Copying $OF to CDR."
  26 
  27 cdrecord -v -isosize speed=$SPEED dev=0,0 $OF
  28 # Uses Joerg Schilling's "cdrecord" package (see its docs).
  29 # http://www.fokus.gmd.de/nthp/employees/schilling/cdrecord.html
  30 
  31 
  32 echo; echo "Done copying $OF to CDR on device $CDROM."
  33 
  34 echo "Do you want to erase the image file (y/n)? "  # Probably a huge file.
  35 read answer
  36 
  37 case "$answer" in
  38 [yY]) rm -f $OF
  39       echo "$OF erased."
  40       ;;
  41 *)    echo "$OF not erased.";;
  42 esac
  43 
  44 echo
  45 
  46 # Exercise:
  47 # Change the above "case" statement to also accept "yes" and "Yes" as input.
  48 
  49 exit 0


Example A-7. Collatz series

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # collatz.sh
   3 
   4 #  The notorious "hailstone" or Collatz series.
   5 #  -------------------------------------------
   6 #  1) Get the integer "seed" from the command line.
   7 #  2) NUMBER <--- seed
   8 #  3) Print NUMBER.
   9 #  4)  If NUMBER is even, divide by 2, or
  10 #  5)+ if odd, multiply by 3 and add 1.
  11 #  6) NUMBER <--- result 
  12 #  7) Loop back to step 3 (for specified number of iterations).
  13 #
  14 #  The theory is that every sequence,
  15 #+ no matter how large the initial value,
  16 #+ eventually settles down to repeating "4,2,1..." cycles,
  17 #+ even after fluctuating through a wide range of values.
  18 #
  19 #  This is an instance of an "iterate",
  20 #+ an operation that feeds its output back into the input.
  21 #  Sometimes the result is a "chaotic" series.
  22 
  23 
  24 MAX_ITERATIONS=200
  25 # For large seed numbers (>32000), increase MAX_ITERATIONS.
  26 
  27 h=${1:-$$}                      #  Seed
  28                                 #  Use $PID as seed,
  29                                 #+ if not specified as command-line arg.
  30 
  31 echo
  32 echo "C($h) --- $MAX_ITERATIONS Iterations"
  33 echo
  34 
  35 for ((i=1; i<=MAX_ITERATIONS; i++))
  36 do
  37 
  38 echo -n "$h	"
  39 #          ^^^^^
  40 #           tab
  41 
  42   let "remainder = h % 2"
  43   if [ "$remainder" -eq 0 ]   # Even?
  44   then
  45     let "h /= 2"              # Divide by 2.
  46   else
  47     let "h = h*3 + 1"         # Multiply by 3 and add 1.
  48   fi
  49 
  50 
  51 COLUMNS=10                    # Output 10 values per line.
  52 let "line_break = i % $COLUMNS"
  53 if [ "$line_break" -eq 0 ]
  54 then
  55   echo
  56 fi  
  57 
  58 done
  59 
  60 echo
  61 
  62 #  For more information on this mathematical function,
  63 #+ see "Computers, Pattern, Chaos, and Beauty", by Pickover, p. 185 ff.,
  64 #+ as listed in the bibliography.
  65 
  66 exit 0


Example A-8. days-between: Calculate number of days between two dates

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # days-between.sh:    Number of days between two dates.
   3 # Usage: ./days-between.sh [M]M/[D]D/YYYY [M]M/[D]D/YYYY
   4 
   5 ARGS=2                # Two command line parameters expected.
   6 E_PARAM_ERR=65        # Param error.
   7 
   8 REFYR=1600            # Reference year.
   9 CENTURY=100
  10 DIY=365
  11 ADJ_DIY=367           # Adjusted for leap year + fraction.
  12 MIY=12
  13 DIM=31
  14 LEAPCYCLE=4
  15 
  16 MAXRETVAL=256         # Largest permissable
  17                       # positive return value from a function.
  18 
  19 diff=		      # Declare global variable for date difference.
  20 value=                # Declare global variable for absolute value.
  21 day=                  # Declare globals for day, month, year.
  22 month=
  23 year=
  24 
  25 
  26 Param_Error ()        # Command line parameters wrong.
  27 {
  28   echo "Usage: `basename $0` [M]M/[D]D/YYYY [M]M/[D]D/YYYY"
  29   echo "       (date must be after 1/3/1600)"
  30   exit $E_PARAM_ERR
  31 }  
  32 
  33 
  34 Parse_Date ()                 # Parse date from command line params.
  35 {
  36   month=${1%%/**}
  37   dm=${1%/**}                 # Day and month.
  38   day=${dm#*/}
  39   let "year = `basename $1`"  # Not a filename, but works just the same.
  40 }  
  41 
  42 
  43 check_date ()                 # Checks for invalid date(s) passed.
  44 {
  45   [ "$day" -gt "$DIM" ] || [ "$month" -gt "$MIY" ] || [ "$year" -lt "$REFYR" ] && Param_Error
  46   # Exit script on bad value(s).
  47   # Uses "or-list / and-list".
  48   #
  49   # Exercise: Implement more rigorous date checking.
  50 }
  51 
  52 
  53 strip_leading_zero () # Better to strip possible leading zero(s)
  54 {                     # from day and/or month
  55   val=${1#0}          # since otherwise Bash will interpret them
  56   return $val         # as octal values (POSIX.2, sect 2.9.2.1).
  57 }
  58 
  59 
  60 day_index ()          # Gauss' Formula:
  61 {                     # Days from Jan. 3, 1600 to date passed as param.
  62 
  63   day=$1
  64   month=$2
  65   year=$3
  66 
  67   let "month = $month - 2"
  68   if [ "$month" -le 0 ]
  69   then
  70     let "month += 12"
  71     let "year -= 1"
  72   fi  
  73 
  74   let "year -= $REFYR"
  75   let "indexyr = $year / $CENTURY"
  76 
  77 
  78   let "Days = $DIY*$year + $year/$LEAPCYCLE - $indexyr + $indexyr/$LEAPCYCLE + $ADJ_DIY*$month/$MIY + $day - $DIM"
  79   # For an in-depth explanation of this algorithm, see
  80   # http://home.t-online.de/home/berndt.schwerdtfeger/cal.htm
  81 
  82 
  83   if [ "$Days" -gt "$MAXRETVAL" ]  # If greater than 256,
  84   then                             # then change to negative value
  85     let "dindex = 0 - $Days"       # which can be returned from function.
  86   else let "dindex = $Days"
  87   fi
  88 
  89   return $dindex
  90 
  91 }  
  92 
  93 
  94 calculate_difference ()            # Difference between to day indices.
  95 {
  96   let "diff = $1 - $2"             # Global variable.
  97 }  
  98 
  99 
 100 abs ()                             # Absolute value
 101 {                                  # Uses global "value" variable.
 102   if [ "$1" -lt 0 ]                # If negative
 103   then                             # then
 104     let "value = 0 - $1"           # change sign,
 105   else                             # else
 106     let "value = $1"               # leave it alone.
 107   fi
 108 }
 109 
 110 
 111 
 112 if [ $# -ne "$ARGS" ]              # Require two command line params.
 113 then
 114   Param_Error
 115 fi  
 116 
 117 Parse_Date $1
 118 check_date $day $month $year      # See if valid date.
 119 
 120 strip_leading_zero $day           # Remove any leading zeroes
 121 day=$?                            # on day and/or month.
 122 strip_leading_zero $month
 123 month=$?
 124 
 125 day_index $day $month $year
 126 date1=$?
 127 
 128 abs $date1                         # Make sure it's positive
 129 date1=$value                       # by getting absolute value.
 130 
 131 Parse_Date $2
 132 check_date $day $month $year
 133 
 134 strip_leading_zero $day
 135 day=$?
 136 strip_leading_zero $month
 137 month=$?
 138 
 139 day_index $day $month $year
 140 date2=$?
 141 
 142 abs $date2                         # Make sure it's positive.
 143 date2=$value
 144 
 145 calculate_difference $date1 $date2
 146 
 147 abs $diff                          # Make sure it's positive.
 148 diff=$value
 149 
 150 echo $diff
 151 
 152 exit 0
 153 # Compare this script with the implementation of Gauss' Formula in C at
 154 # http://buschencrew.hypermart.net/software/datedif


Example A-9. Make a "dictionary"

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # makedict.sh  [make dictionary]
   3 
   4 # Modification of /usr/sbin/mkdict script.
   5 # Original script copyright 1993, by Alec Muffett.
   6 #
   7 #  This modified script included in this document in a manner
   8 #+ consistent with the "LICENSE" document of the "Crack" package
   9 #+ that the original script is a part of.
  10 
  11 #  This script processes text files to produce a sorted list
  12 #+ of words found in the files.
  13 #  This may be useful for compiling dictionaries
  14 #+ and for lexicographic research.
  15 
  16 
  17 E_BADARGS=65
  18 
  19 if [ ! -r "$1" ]                     #  Need at least one
  20 then                                 #+ valid file argument.
  21   echo "Usage: $0 files-to-process"
  22   exit $E_BADARGS
  23 fi  
  24 
  25 
  26 # SORT="sort"                        #  No longer necessary to define options
  27                                      #+ to sort. Changed from original script.
  28 
  29 cat $* |                             # Contents of specified files to stdout.
  30         tr A-Z a-z |                 # Convert to lowercase.
  31         tr ' ' '\012' |              # New: change spaces to newlines.
  32 #       tr -cd '\012[a-z][0-9]' |    #  Get rid of everything non-alphanumeric
  33                                      #+ (original script).
  34         tr -c '\012a-z'  '\012' |    #  Rather than deleting
  35                                      #+ now change non-alpha to newlines.
  36         sort |                       # $SORT options unnecessary now.
  37         uniq |                       # Remove duplicates.
  38         grep -v '^#' |               # Delete lines beginning with a hashmark.
  39         grep -v '^$'                 # Delete blank lines.
  40 
  41 exit 0	


Example A-10. Soundex conversion

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # soundex.sh: Calculate "soundex" code for names
   3 
   4 # =======================================================
   5 #        Soundex script
   6 #              by
   7 #         Mendel Cooper
   8 #     thegrendel@theriver.com
   9 #       23 January, 2002
  10 #
  11 #   Placed in the Public Domain.
  12 #
  13 # A slightly different version of this script appeared in
  14 #+ Ed Schaefer's July, 2002 "Shell Corner" column
  15 #+ in "Unix Review" on-line,
  16 #+ http://www.unixreview.com/documents/uni1026336632258/
  17 # =======================================================
  18 
  19 
  20 ARGCOUNT=1                     # Need name as argument.
  21 E_WRONGARGS=70
  22 
  23 if [ $# -ne "$ARGCOUNT" ]
  24 then
  25   echo "Usage: `basename $0` name"
  26   exit $E_WRONGARGS
  27 fi  
  28 
  29 
  30 assign_value ()                #  Assigns numerical value
  31 {                              #+ to letters of name.
  32 
  33   val1=bfpv                    # 'b,f,p,v' = 1
  34   val2=cgjkqsxz                # 'c,g,j,k,q,s,x,z' = 2
  35   val3=dt                      #  etc.
  36   val4=l
  37   val5=mn
  38   val6=r
  39 
  40 # Exceptionally clever use of 'tr' follows.
  41 # Try to figure out what is going on here.
  42 
  43 value=$( echo "$1" \
  44 | tr -d wh \
  45 | tr $val1 1 | tr $val2 2 | tr $val3 3 \
  46 | tr $val4 4 | tr $val5 5 | tr $val6 6 \
  47 | tr -s 123456 \
  48 | tr -d aeiouy )
  49 
  50 # Assign letter values.
  51 # Remove duplicate numbers, except when separated by vowels.
  52 # Ignore vowels, except as separators, so delete them last.
  53 # Ignore 'w' and 'h', even as separators, so delete them first.
  54 #
  55 # The above command substitution lays more pipe than a plumber <g>.
  56 
  57 }  
  58 
  59 
  60 input_name="$1"
  61 echo
  62 echo "Name = $input_name"
  63 
  64 
  65 # Change all characters of name input to lowercase.
  66 # ------------------------------------------------
  67 name=$( echo $input_name | tr A-Z a-z )
  68 # ------------------------------------------------
  69 # Just in case argument to script is mixed case.
  70 
  71 
  72 # Prefix of soundex code: first letter of name.
  73 # --------------------------------------------
  74 
  75 
  76 char_pos=0                     # Initialize character position. 
  77 prefix0=${name:$char_pos:1}
  78 prefix=`echo $prefix0 | tr a-z A-Z`
  79                                # Uppercase 1st letter of soundex.
  80 
  81 let "char_pos += 1"            # Bump character position to 2nd letter of name.
  82 name1=${name:$char_pos}
  83 
  84 
  85 # ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exception Patch +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  86 #  Now, we run both the input name and the name shifted one char to the right
  87 #+ through the value-assigning function.
  88 #  If we get the same value out, that means that the first two characters
  89 #+ of the name have the same value assigned, and that one should cancel.
  90 #  However, we also need to test whether the first letter of the name
  91 #+ is a vowel or 'w' or 'h', because otherwise this would bollix things up.
  92 
  93 char1=`echo $prefix | tr A-Z a-z`    # First letter of name, lowercased.
  94 
  95 assign_value $name
  96 s1=$value
  97 assign_value $name1
  98 s2=$value
  99 assign_value $char1
 100 s3=$value
 101 s3=9$s3                              #  If first letter of name is a vowel
 102                                      #+ or 'w' or 'h',
 103                                      #+ then its "value" will be null (unset).
 104 				     #+ Therefore, set it to 9, an otherwise
 105 				     #+ unused value, which can be tested for.
 106 
 107 
 108 if [[ "$s1" -ne "$s2" || "$s3" -eq 9 ]]
 109 then
 110   suffix=$s2
 111 else  
 112   suffix=${s2:$char_pos}
 113 fi  
 114 # ++++++++++++++++++++++ end Exception Patch +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 115 
 116 
 117 padding=000                    # Use at most 3 zeroes to pad.
 118 
 119 
 120 soun=$prefix$suffix$padding    # Pad with zeroes.
 121 
 122 MAXLEN=4                       # Truncate to maximum of 4 chars.
 123 soundex=${soun:0:$MAXLEN}
 124 
 125 echo "Soundex = $soundex"
 126 
 127 echo
 128 
 129 #  The soundex code is a method of indexing and classifying names
 130 #+ by grouping together the ones that sound alike.
 131 #  The soundex code for a given name is the first letter of the name,
 132 #+ followed by a calculated three-number code.
 133 #  Similar sounding names should have almost the same soundex codes.
 134 
 135 #   Examples:
 136 #   Smith and Smythe both have a "S-530" soundex.
 137 #   Harrison = H-625
 138 #   Hargison = H-622
 139 #   Harriman = H-655
 140 
 141 #  This works out fairly well in practice, but there are numerous anomalies.
 142 #
 143 #
 144 #  The U.S. Census and certain other governmental agencies use soundex,
 145 #  as do genealogical researchers.
 146 #
 147 #  For more information,
 148 #+ see the "National Archives and Records Administration home page",
 149 #+ http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/soundex/soundex.html
 150 
 151 
 152 
 153 # Exercise:
 154 # --------
 155 # Simplify the "Exception Patch" section of this script.
 156 
 157 exit 0


Example A-11. "Game of Life"

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # life.sh: "Life in the Slow Lane"
   3 
   4 # ##################################################################### #
   5 # This is the Bash script version of John Conway's "Game of Life".      #
   6 # "Life" is a simple implementation of cellular automata.               #
   7 # --------------------------------------------------------------------- #
   8 # On a rectangular grid, let each "cell" be either "living" or "dead".  #
   9 # Designate a living cell with a dot, and a dead one with a blank space.#
  10 #  Begin with an arbitrarily drawn dot-and-blank grid,                  #
  11 #+ and let this be the starting generation, "generation 0".             #
  12 # Determine each successive generation by the following rules:          #
  13 # 1) Each cell has 8 neighbors, the adjoining cells                     #
  14 #+   left, right, top, bottom, and the 4 diagonals.                     #
  15 #                       123                                             #
  16 #                       4*5                                             #
  17 #                       678                                             #
  18 #                                                                       #
  19 # 2) A living cell with either 2 or 3 living neighbors remains alive.   #
  20 # 3) A dead cell with 3 living neighbors becomes alive (a "birth").     #
  21 SURVIVE=2                                                               #
  22 BIRTH=3                                                                 #
  23 # 4) All other cases result in dead cells.                              #
  24 # ##################################################################### #
  25 
  26 
  27 startfile=gen0   # Read the starting generation from the file "gen0".
  28                  # Default, if no other file specified when invoking script.
  29                  #
  30 if [ -n "$1" ]   # Specify another "generation 0" file.
  31 then
  32   if [ -e "$1" ] # Check for existence.
  33   then
  34     startfile="$1"
  35   fi  
  36 fi  
  37 
  38 
  39 ALIVE1=.
  40 DEAD1=_
  41                  # Represent living and "dead" cells in the start-up file.
  42 
  43 #  This script uses a 10 x 10 grid (may be increased,
  44 #+ but a large grid will will cause very slow execution).
  45 ROWS=10
  46 COLS=10
  47 
  48 GENERATIONS=10          #  How many generations to cycle through.
  49                         #  Adjust this upwards,
  50                         #+ if you have time on your hands.
  51 
  52 NONE_ALIVE=80           #  Exit status on premature bailout,
  53                         #+ if no cells left alive.
  54 TRUE=0
  55 FALSE=1
  56 ALIVE=0
  57 DEAD=1
  58 
  59 avar=                   #  Global; holds current generation.
  60 generation=0            # Initialize generation count.
  61 
  62 # =================================================================
  63 
  64 
  65 let "cells = $ROWS * $COLS"
  66                         # How many cells.
  67 
  68 declare -a initial      # Arrays containing "cells".
  69 declare -a current
  70 
  71 display ()
  72 {
  73 
  74 alive=0                 # How many cells "alive".
  75                         # Initially zero.
  76 
  77 declare -a arr
  78 arr=( `echo "$1"` )     # Convert passed arg to array.
  79 
  80 element_count=${#arr[*]}
  81 
  82 local i
  83 local rowcheck
  84 
  85 for ((i=0; i<$element_count; i++))
  86 do
  87 
  88   # Insert newline at end of each row.
  89   let "rowcheck = $i % ROWS"
  90   if [ "$rowcheck" -eq 0 ]
  91   then
  92     echo                # Newline.
  93     echo -n "      "    # Indent.
  94   fi  
  95 
  96   cell=${arr[i]}
  97 
  98   if [ "$cell" = . ]
  99   then
 100     let "alive += 1"
 101   fi  
 102 
 103   echo -n "$cell" | sed -e 's/_/ /g'
 104   # Print out array and change underscores to spaces.
 105 done  
 106 
 107 return
 108 
 109 }
 110 
 111 IsValid ()                            # Test whether cell coordinate valid.
 112 {
 113 
 114   if [ -z "$1"  -o -z "$2" ]          # Mandatory arguments missing?
 115   then
 116     return $FALSE
 117   fi
 118 
 119 local row
 120 local lower_limit=0                   # Disallow negative coordinate.
 121 local upper_limit
 122 local left
 123 local right
 124 
 125 let "upper_limit = $ROWS * $COLS - 1" # Total number of cells.
 126 
 127 
 128 if [ "$1" -lt "$lower_limit" -o "$1" -gt "$upper_limit" ]
 129 then
 130   return $FALSE                       # Out of array bounds.
 131 fi  
 132 
 133 row=$2
 134 let "left = $row * $ROWS"             # Left limit.
 135 let "right = $left + $COLS - 1"       # Right limit.
 136 
 137 if [ "$1" -lt "$left" -o "$1" -gt "$right" ]
 138 then
 139   return $FALSE                       # Beyond row boundary.
 140 fi  
 141 
 142 return $TRUE                          # Valid coordinate.
 143 
 144 }  
 145 
 146 
 147 IsAlive ()              # Test whether cell is alive.
 148                         # Takes array, cell number, state of cell as arguments.
 149 {
 150   GetCount "$1" $2      # Get alive cell count in neighborhood.
 151   local nhbd=$?
 152 
 153 
 154   if [ "$nhbd" -eq "$BIRTH" ]  # Alive in any case.
 155   then
 156     return $ALIVE
 157   fi
 158 
 159   if [ "$3" = "." -a "$nhbd" -eq "$SURVIVE" ]
 160   then                  # Alive only if previously alive.
 161     return $ALIVE
 162   fi  
 163 
 164   return $DEAD          # Default.
 165 
 166 }  
 167 
 168 
 169 GetCount ()             # Count live cells in passed cell's neighborhood.
 170                         # Two arguments needed:
 171 			# $1) variable holding array
 172 			# $2) cell number
 173 {
 174   local cell_number=$2
 175   local array
 176   local top
 177   local center
 178   local bottom
 179   local r
 180   local row
 181   local i
 182   local t_top
 183   local t_cen
 184   local t_bot
 185   local count=0
 186   local ROW_NHBD=3
 187 
 188   array=( `echo "$1"` )
 189 
 190   let "top = $cell_number - $COLS - 1"    # Set up cell neighborhood.
 191   let "center = $cell_number - 1"
 192   let "bottom = $cell_number + $COLS - 1"
 193   let "r = $cell_number / $ROWS"
 194 
 195   for ((i=0; i<$ROW_NHBD; i++))           # Traverse from left to right. 
 196   do
 197     let "t_top = $top + $i"
 198     let "t_cen = $center + $i"
 199     let "t_bot = $bottom + $i"
 200 
 201 
 202     let "row = $r"                        # Count center row of neighborhood.
 203     IsValid $t_cen $row                   # Valid cell position?
 204     if [ $? -eq "$TRUE" ]
 205     then
 206       if [ ${array[$t_cen]} = "$ALIVE1" ] # Is it alive?
 207       then                                # Yes?
 208         let "count += 1"                  # Increment count.
 209       fi	
 210     fi  
 211 
 212     let "row = $r - 1"                    # Count top row.          
 213     IsValid $t_top $row
 214     if [ $? -eq "$TRUE" ]
 215     then
 216       if [ ${array[$t_top]} = "$ALIVE1" ] 
 217       then
 218         let "count += 1"
 219       fi	
 220     fi  
 221 
 222     let "row = $r + 1"                    # Count bottom row.
 223     IsValid $t_bot $row
 224     if [ $? -eq "$TRUE" ]
 225     then
 226       if [ ${array[$t_bot]} = "$ALIVE1" ] 
 227       then
 228         let "count += 1"
 229       fi	
 230     fi  
 231 
 232   done  
 233 
 234 
 235   if [ ${array[$cell_number]} = "$ALIVE1" ]
 236   then
 237     let "count -= 1"        #  Make sure value of tested cell itself
 238   fi                        #+ is not counted.
 239 
 240 
 241   return $count
 242   
 243 }
 244 
 245 next_gen ()               # Update generation array.
 246 {
 247 
 248 local array
 249 local i=0
 250 
 251 array=( `echo "$1"` )     # Convert passed arg to array.
 252 
 253 while [ "$i" -lt "$cells" ]
 254 do
 255   IsAlive "$1" $i ${array[$i]}   # Is cell alive?
 256   if [ $? -eq "$ALIVE" ]
 257   then                           #  If alive, then
 258     array[$i]=.                  #+ represent the cell as a period.
 259   else  
 260     array[$i]="_"                #  Otherwise underscore
 261    fi                            #+ (which will later be converted to space).  
 262   let "i += 1" 
 263 done   
 264 
 265 
 266 # let "generation += 1"   # Increment generation count.
 267 
 268 # Set variable to pass as parameter to "display" function.
 269 avar=`echo ${array[@]}`   # Convert array back to string variable.
 270 display "$avar"           # Display it.
 271 echo; echo
 272 echo "Generation $generation -- $alive alive"
 273 
 274 if [ "$alive" -eq 0 ]
 275 then
 276   echo
 277   echo "Premature exit: no more cells alive!"
 278   exit $NONE_ALIVE        #  No point in continuing
 279 fi                        #+ if no live cells.
 280 
 281 }
 282 
 283 
 284 # =========================================================
 285 
 286 # main ()
 287 
 288 # Load initial array with contents of startup file.
 289 initial=( `cat "$startfile" | sed -e '/#/d' | tr -d '\n' |\
 290 sed -e 's/\./\. /g' -e 's/_/_ /g'` )
 291 # Delete lines containing '#' comment character.
 292 # Remove linefeeds and insert space between elements.
 293 
 294 clear          # Clear screen.
 295 
 296 echo #         Title
 297 echo "======================="
 298 echo "    $GENERATIONS generations"
 299 echo "           of"
 300 echo "\"Life in the Slow Lane\""
 301 echo "======================="
 302 
 303 
 304 # -------- Display first generation. --------
 305 Gen0=`echo ${initial[@]}`
 306 display "$Gen0"           # Display only.
 307 echo; echo
 308 echo "Generation $generation -- $alive alive"
 309 # -------------------------------------------
 310 
 311 
 312 let "generation += 1"     # Increment generation count.
 313 echo
 314 
 315 # ------- Display second generation. -------
 316 Cur=`echo ${initial[@]}`
 317 next_gen "$Cur"          # Update & display.
 318 # ------------------------------------------
 319 
 320 let "generation += 1"     # Increment generation count.
 321 
 322 # ------ Main loop for displaying subsequent generations ------
 323 while [ "$generation" -le "$GENERATIONS" ]
 324 do
 325   Cur="$avar"
 326   next_gen "$Cur"
 327   let "generation += 1"
 328 done
 329 # ==============================================================
 330 
 331 echo
 332 
 333 exit 0
 334 
 335 # --------------------------------------------------------------
 336 # The grid in this script has a "boundary problem".
 337 # The the top, bottom, and sides border on a void of dead cells.
 338 # Exercise: Change the script to have the grid wrap around,
 339 # +         so that the left and right sides will "touch",      
 340 # +         as will the top and bottom.


Example A-12. Data file for "Game of Life"

   1 # This is an example "generation 0" start-up file for "life.sh".
   2 # --------------------------------------------------------------
   3 #  The "gen0" file is a 10 x 10 grid using a period (.) for live cells,
   4 #+ and an underscore (_) for dead ones. We cannot simply use spaces
   5 #+ for dead cells in this file because of a peculiarity in Bash arrays.
   6 #  [Exercise for the reader: explain this.]
   7 #
   8 # Lines beginning with a '#' are comments, and the script ignores them.
   9 __.__..___
  10 ___._.____
  11 ____.___..
  12 _._______.
  13 ____._____
  14 ..__...___
  15 ____._____
  16 ___...____
  17 __.._..___
  18 _..___..__

+++

The following two scripts are by Mark Moraes of the University of Toronto. See the enclosed file "Moraes-COPYRIGHT" for permissions and restrictions.


Example A-13. behead: Removing mail and news message headers

   1 #! /bin/sh
   2 # Strips off the header from a mail/News message i.e. till the first
   3 # empty line
   4 # Mark Moraes, University of Toronto
   5 
   6 # ==> These comments added by author of this document.
   7 
   8 if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
   9 # ==> If no command line args present, then works on file redirected to stdin.
  10 	sed -e '1,/^$/d' -e '/^[ 	]*$/d'
  11 	# --> Delete empty lines and all lines until 
  12 	# --> first one beginning with white space.
  13 else
  14 # ==> If command line args present, then work on files named.
  15 	for i do
  16 		sed -e '1,/^$/d' -e '/^[ 	]*$/d' $i
  17 		# --> Ditto, as above.
  18 	done
  19 fi
  20 
  21 # ==> Exercise: Add error checking and other options.
  22 # ==>
  23 # ==> Note that the small sed script repeats, except for the arg passed.
  24 # ==> Does it make sense to embed it in a function? Why or why not?


Example A-14. ftpget: Downloading files via ftp

   1 #! /bin/sh 
   2 # $Id: ftpget,v 1.2 91/05/07 21:15:43 moraes Exp $ 
   3 # Script to perform batch anonymous ftp. Essentially converts a list of
   4 # of command line arguments into input to ftp.
   5 # Simple, and quick - written as a companion to ftplist 
   6 # -h specifies the remote host (default prep.ai.mit.edu) 
   7 # -d specifies the remote directory to cd to - you can provide a sequence 
   8 # of -d options - they will be cd'ed to in turn. If the paths are relative, 
   9 # make sure you get the sequence right. Be careful with relative paths - 
  10 # there are far too many symlinks nowadays.  
  11 # (default is the ftp login directory)
  12 # -v turns on the verbose option of ftp, and shows all responses from the 
  13 # ftp server.  
  14 # -f remotefile[:localfile] gets the remote file into localfile 
  15 # -m pattern does an mget with the specified pattern. Remember to quote 
  16 # shell characters.  
  17 # -c does a local cd to the specified directory
  18 # For example, 
  19 # 	ftpget -h expo.lcs.mit.edu -d contrib -f xplaces.shar:xplaces.sh \
  20 #		-d ../pub/R3/fixes -c ~/fixes -m 'fix*' 
  21 # will get xplaces.shar from ~ftp/contrib on expo.lcs.mit.edu, and put it in
  22 # xplaces.sh in the current working directory, and get all fixes from
  23 # ~ftp/pub/R3/fixes and put them in the ~/fixes directory. 
  24 # Obviously, the sequence of the options is important, since the equivalent
  25 # commands are executed by ftp in corresponding order
  26 #
  27 # Mark Moraes (moraes@csri.toronto.edu), Feb 1, 1989 
  28 # ==> Angle brackets changed to parens, so Docbook won't get indigestion.
  29 #
  30 
  31 
  32 # ==> These comments added by author of this document.
  33 
  34 # PATH=/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin:/bin
  35 # export PATH
  36 # ==> Above 2 lines from original script probably superfluous.
  37 
  38 TMPFILE=/tmp/ftp.$$
  39 # ==> Creates temp file, using process id of script ($$)
  40 # ==> to construct filename.
  41 
  42 SITE=`domainname`.toronto.edu
  43 # ==> 'domainname' similar to 'hostname'
  44 # ==> May rewrite this to parameterize this for general use.
  45 
  46 usage="Usage: $0 [-h remotehost] [-d remotedirectory]... [-f remfile:localfile]... \
  47 		[-c localdirectory] [-m filepattern] [-v]"
  48 ftpflags="-i -n"
  49 verbflag=
  50 set -f 		# So we can use globbing in -m
  51 set x `getopt vh:d:c:m:f: $*`
  52 if [ $? != 0 ]; then
  53 	echo $usage
  54 	exit 65
  55 fi
  56 shift
  57 trap 'rm -f ${TMPFILE} ; exit' 0 1 2 3 15
  58 echo "user anonymous ${USER-gnu}@${SITE} > ${TMPFILE}"
  59 # ==> Added quotes (recommended in complex echoes).
  60 echo binary >> ${TMPFILE}
  61 for i in $*   # ==> Parse command line args.
  62 do
  63 	case $i in
  64 	-v) verbflag=-v; echo hash >> ${TMPFILE}; shift;;
  65 	-h) remhost=$2; shift 2;;
  66 	-d) echo cd $2 >> ${TMPFILE}; 
  67 	    if [ x${verbflag} != x ]; then
  68 	        echo pwd >> ${TMPFILE};
  69 	    fi;
  70 	    shift 2;;
  71 	-c) echo lcd $2 >> ${TMPFILE}; shift 2;;
  72 	-m) echo mget "$2" >> ${TMPFILE}; shift 2;;
  73 	-f) f1=`expr "$2" : "\([^:]*\).*"`; f2=`expr "$2" : "[^:]*:\(.*\)"`;
  74 	    echo get ${f1} ${f2} >> ${TMPFILE}; shift 2;;
  75 	--) shift; break;;
  76 	esac
  77 done
  78 if [ $# -ne 0 ]; then
  79 	echo $usage
  80 	exit 65   # ==> Changed from "exit 2" to conform with standard.
  81 fi
  82 if [ x${verbflag} != x ]; then
  83 	ftpflags="${ftpflags} -v"
  84 fi
  85 if [ x${remhost} = x ]; then
  86 	remhost=prep.ai.mit.edu
  87 	# ==> Rewrite to match your favorite ftp site.
  88 fi
  89 echo quit >> ${TMPFILE}
  90 # ==> All commands saved in tempfile.
  91 
  92 ftp ${ftpflags} ${remhost} < ${TMPFILE}
  93 # ==> Now, tempfile batch processed by ftp.
  94 
  95 rm -f ${TMPFILE}
  96 # ==> Finally, tempfile deleted (you may wish to copy it to a logfile).
  97 
  98 
  99 # ==> Exercises:
 100 # ==> ---------
 101 # ==> 1) Add error checking.
 102 # ==> 2) Add bells & whistles.

+

Antek Sawicki contributed the following script, which makes very clever use of the parameter substitution operators discussed in Section 9.3.


Example A-15. password: Generating random 8-character passwords

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # May need to be invoked with  #!/bin/bash2  on older machines.
   3 #
   4 # Random password generator for bash 2.x by Antek Sawicki <tenox@tenox.tc>,
   5 # who generously gave permission to the document author to use it here.
   6 #
   7 # ==> Comments added by document author ==>
   8 
   9 
  10 MATRIX="0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
  11 LENGTH="8"
  12 # ==> May change 'LENGTH' for longer password, of course.
  13 
  14 
  15 while [ "${n:=1}" -le "$LENGTH" ]
  16 # ==> Recall that := is "default substitution" operator.
  17 # ==> So, if 'n' has not been initialized, set it to 1.
  18 do
  19 	PASS="$PASS${MATRIX:$(($RANDOM%${#MATRIX})):1}"
  20 	# ==> Very clever, but tricky.
  21 
  22 	# ==> Starting from the innermost nesting...
  23 	# ==> ${#MATRIX} returns length of array MATRIX.
  24 
  25 	# ==> $RANDOM%${#MATRIX} returns random number between 1
  26 	# ==> and length of MATRIX - 1.
  27 
  28 	# ==> ${MATRIX:$(($RANDOM%${#MATRIX})):1}
  29 	# ==> returns expansion of MATRIX at random position, by length 1. 
  30 	# ==> See {var:pos:len} parameter substitution in Section 3.3.1
  31 	# ==> and following examples.
  32 
  33 	# ==> PASS=... simply pastes this result onto previous PASS (concatenation).
  34 
  35 	# ==> To visualize this more clearly, uncomment the following line
  36 	# ==>             echo "$PASS"
  37 	# ==> to see PASS being built up,
  38 	# ==> one character at a time, each iteration of the loop.
  39 
  40 	let n+=1
  41 	# ==> Increment 'n' for next pass.
  42 done
  43 
  44 echo "$PASS"      # ==> Or, redirect to file, as desired.
  45 
  46 exit 0

+

James R. Van Zandt contributed this script, which uses named pipes and, in his words, "really exercises quoting and escaping".


Example A-16. fifo: Making daily backups, using named pipes

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # ==> Script by James R. Van Zandt, and used here with his permission.
   3 
   4 # ==> Comments added by author of this document.
   5 
   6   
   7   HERE=`uname -n`    # ==> hostname
   8   THERE=bilbo
   9   echo "starting remote backup to $THERE at `date +%r`"
  10   # ==> `date +%r` returns time in 12-hour format, i.e. "08:08:34 PM".
  11   
  12   # make sure /pipe really is a pipe and not a plain file
  13   rm -rf /pipe
  14   mkfifo /pipe       # ==> Create a "named pipe", named "/pipe".
  15   
  16   # ==> 'su xyz' runs commands as user "xyz".
  17   # ==> 'ssh' invokes secure shell (remote login client).
  18   su xyz -c "ssh $THERE \"cat >/home/xyz/backup/${HERE}-daily.tar.gz\" < /pipe"&
  19   cd /
  20   tar -czf - bin boot dev etc home info lib man root sbin share usr var >/pipe
  21   # ==> Uses named pipe, /pipe, to communicate between processes:
  22   # ==> 'tar/gzip' writes to /pipe and 'ssh' reads from /pipe.
  23 
  24   # ==> The end result is this backs up the main directories, from / on down.
  25 
  26   # ==> What are the advantages of a "named pipe" in this situation,
  27   # ==> as opposed to an "anonymous pipe", with |?
  28   # ==> Will an anonymous pipe even work here?
  29 
  30 
  31   exit 0

+

Stephane Chazelas contributed the following script to demonstrate that generating prime numbers does not require arrays.


Example A-17. Generating prime numbers using the modulo operator

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # primes.sh: Generate prime numbers, without using arrays.
   3 # Script contributed by Stephane Chazelas.
   4 
   5 #  This does *not* use the classic "Sieve of Eratosthenes" algorithm,
   6 #+ but instead uses the more intuitive method of testing each candidate number
   7 #+ for factors (divisors), using the "%" modulo operator.
   8 
   9 
  10 LIMIT=1000                    # Primes 2 - 1000
  11 
  12 Primes()
  13 {
  14  (( n = $1 + 1 ))             # Bump to next integer.
  15  shift                        # Next parameter in list.
  16 #  echo "_n=$n i=$i_"
  17  
  18  if (( n == LIMIT ))
  19  then echo $*
  20  return
  21  fi
  22 
  23  for i; do                    # "i" gets set to "@", previous values of $n.
  24 #   echo "-n=$n i=$i-"
  25    (( i * i > n )) && break   # Optimization.
  26    (( n % i )) && continue    # Sift out non-primes using modulo operator.
  27    Primes $n $@               # Recursion inside loop.
  28    return
  29    done
  30 
  31    Primes $n $@ $n            # Recursion outside loop.
  32                               # Successively accumulate positional parameters.
  33                               # "$@" is the accumulating list of primes.
  34 }
  35 
  36 Primes 1
  37 
  38 exit 0
  39 
  40 #  Uncomment lines 16 and 24 to help figure out what is going on.
  41 
  42 #  Compare the speed of this algorithm for generating primes
  43 #+ with the Sieve of Eratosthenes (ex68.sh).
  44 
  45 #  Exercise: Rewrite this script without recursion, for faster execution.

+

Jordi Sanfeliu gave permission to use his elegant tree script.


Example A-18. tree: Displaying a directory tree

   1 #!/bin/sh
   2 #         @(#) tree      1.1  30/11/95       by Jordi Sanfeliu
   3 #                                         email: mikaku@fiwix.org
   4 #
   5 #         Initial version:  1.0  30/11/95
   6 #         Next version   :  1.1  24/02/97   Now, with symbolic links
   7 #         Patch by       :  Ian Kjos, to support unsearchable dirs
   8 #                           email: beth13@mail.utexas.edu
   9 #
  10 #         Tree is a tool for view the directory tree (obvious :-) )
  11 #
  12 
  13 # ==> 'Tree' script used here with the permission of its author, Jordi Sanfeliu.
  14 # ==> Comments added by the author of this document.
  15 # ==> Argument quoting added.
  16 
  17 
  18 search () {
  19    for dir in `echo *`
  20    # ==> `echo *` lists all the files in current working directory, without line breaks.
  21    # ==> Similar effect to     for dir in *
  22    # ==> but "dir in `echo *`" will not handle filenames with blanks.
  23    do
  24       if [ -d "$dir" ] ; then   # ==> If it is a directory (-d)...
  25          zz=0   # ==> Temp variable, keeping track of directory level.
  26          while [ $zz != $deep ]    # Keep track of inner nested loop.
  27          do
  28             echo -n "|   "    # ==> Display vertical connector symbol,
  29 	                      # ==> with 2 spaces & no line feed in order to indent.
  30             zz=`expr $zz + 1` # ==> Increment zz.
  31          done
  32          if [ -L "$dir" ] ; then   # ==> If directory is a symbolic link...
  33             echo "+---$dir" `ls -l $dir | sed 's/^.*'$dir' //'`
  34 	    # ==> Display horiz. connector and list directory name, but...
  35 	    # ==> delete date/time part of long listing.
  36          else
  37             echo "+---$dir"      # ==> Display horizontal connector symbol...
  38                                  # ==> and print directory name.
  39             if cd "$dir" ; then  # ==> If can move to subdirectory...
  40                deep=`expr $deep + 1`   # ==> Increment depth.
  41                search     # with recursivity ;-)
  42 	                  # ==> Function calls itself.
  43                numdirs=`expr $numdirs + 1`   # ==> Increment directory count.
  44             fi
  45          fi
  46       fi
  47    done
  48    cd ..   # ==> Up one directory level.
  49    if [ "$deep" ] ; then  # ==> If depth = 0 (returns TRUE)...
  50       swfi=1              # ==> set flag showing that search is done.
  51    fi
  52    deep=`expr $deep - 1`  # ==> Decrement depth.
  53 }
  54 
  55 # - Main -
  56 if [ $# = 0 ] ; then
  57    cd `pwd`    # ==> No args to script, then use current working directory.
  58 else
  59    cd $1       # ==> Otherwise, move to indicated directory.
  60 fi
  61 echo "Initial directory = `pwd`"
  62 swfi=0      # ==> Search finished flag.
  63 deep=0      # ==> Depth of listing.
  64 numdirs=0
  65 zz=0
  66 
  67 while [ "$swfi" != 1 ]   # While flag not set...
  68 do
  69    search   # ==> Call function after initializing variables.
  70 done
  71 echo "Total directories = $numdirs"
  72 
  73 exit 0
  74 # ==> Challenge: try to figure out exactly how this script works.

Noah Friedman gave permission to use his string function script, which essentially reproduces some of the C-library string manipulation functions.


Example A-19. string functions: C-like string functions

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 
   3 # string.bash --- bash emulation of string(3) library routines
   4 # Author: Noah Friedman <friedman@prep.ai.mit.edu>
   5 # ==>     Used with his kind permission in this document.
   6 # Created: 1992-07-01
   7 # Last modified: 1993-09-29
   8 # Public domain
   9 
  10 # Conversion to bash v2 syntax done by Chet Ramey
  11 
  12 # Commentary:
  13 # Code:
  14 
  15 #:docstring strcat:
  16 # Usage: strcat s1 s2
  17 #
  18 # Strcat appends the value of variable s2 to variable s1. 
  19 #
  20 # Example:
  21 #    a="foo"
  22 #    b="bar"
  23 #    strcat a b
  24 #    echo $a
  25 #    => foobar
  26 #
  27 #:end docstring:
  28 
  29 ###;;;autoload   ==> Autoloading of function commented out.
  30 function strcat ()
  31 {
  32     local s1_val s2_val
  33 
  34     s1_val=${!1}                        # indirect variable expansion
  35     s2_val=${!2}
  36     eval "$1"=\'"${s1_val}${s2_val}"\'
  37     # ==> eval $1='${s1_val}${s2_val}' avoids problems,
  38     # ==> if one of the variables contains a single quote.
  39 }
  40 
  41 #:docstring strncat:
  42 # Usage: strncat s1 s2 $n
  43 # 
  44 # Line strcat, but strncat appends a maximum of n characters from the value
  45 # of variable s2.  It copies fewer if the value of variabl s2 is shorter
  46 # than n characters.  Echoes result on stdout.
  47 #
  48 # Example:
  49 #    a=foo
  50 #    b=barbaz
  51 #    strncat a b 3
  52 #    echo $a
  53 #    => foobar
  54 #
  55 #:end docstring:
  56 
  57 ###;;;autoload
  58 function strncat ()
  59 {
  60     local s1="$1"
  61     local s2="$2"
  62     local -i n="$3"
  63     local s1_val s2_val
  64 
  65     s1_val=${!s1}                       # ==> indirect variable expansion
  66     s2_val=${!s2}
  67 
  68     if [ ${#s2_val} -gt ${n} ]; then
  69        s2_val=${s2_val:0:$n}            # ==> substring extraction
  70     fi
  71 
  72     eval "$s1"=\'"${s1_val}${s2_val}"\'
  73     # ==> eval $1='${s1_val}${s2_val}' avoids problems,
  74     # ==> if one of the variables contains a single quote.
  75 }
  76 
  77 #:docstring strcmp:
  78 # Usage: strcmp $s1 $s2
  79 #
  80 # Strcmp compares its arguments and returns an integer less than, equal to,
  81 # or greater than zero, depending on whether string s1 is lexicographically
  82 # less than, equal to, or greater than string s2.
  83 #:end docstring:
  84 
  85 ###;;;autoload
  86 function strcmp ()
  87 {
  88     [ "$1" = "$2" ] && return 0
  89 
  90     [ "${1}" '<' "${2}" ] > /dev/null && return -1
  91 
  92     return 1
  93 }
  94 
  95 #:docstring strncmp:
  96 # Usage: strncmp $s1 $s2 $n
  97 # 
  98 # Like strcmp, but makes the comparison by examining a maximum of n
  99 # characters (n less than or equal to zero yields equality).
 100 #:end docstring:
 101 
 102 ###;;;autoload
 103 function strncmp ()
 104 {
 105     if [ -z "${3}" -o "${3}" -le "0" ]; then
 106        return 0
 107     fi
 108    
 109     if [ ${3} -ge ${#1} -a ${3} -ge ${#2} ]; then
 110        strcmp "$1" "$2"
 111        return $?
 112     else
 113        s1=${1:0:$3}
 114        s2=${2:0:$3}
 115        strcmp $s1 $s2
 116        return $?
 117     fi
 118 }
 119 
 120 #:docstring strlen:
 121 # Usage: strlen s
 122 #
 123 # Strlen returns the number of characters in string literal s.
 124 #:end docstring:
 125 
 126 ###;;;autoload
 127 function strlen ()
 128 {
 129     eval echo "\${#${1}}"
 130     # ==> Returns the length of the value of the variable
 131     # ==> whose name is passed as an argument.
 132 }
 133 
 134 #:docstring strspn:
 135 # Usage: strspn $s1 $s2
 136 # 
 137 # Strspn returns the length of the maximum initial segment of string s1,
 138 # which consists entirely of characters from string s2.
 139 #:end docstring:
 140 
 141 ###;;;autoload
 142 function strspn ()
 143 {
 144     # Unsetting IFS allows whitespace to be handled as normal chars. 
 145     local IFS=
 146     local result="${1%%[!${2}]*}"
 147  
 148     echo ${#result}
 149 }
 150 
 151 #:docstring strcspn:
 152 # Usage: strcspn $s1 $s2
 153 #
 154 # Strcspn returns the length of the maximum initial segment of string s1,
 155 # which consists entirely of characters not from string s2.
 156 #:end docstring:
 157 
 158 ###;;;autoload
 159 function strcspn ()
 160 {
 161     # Unsetting IFS allows whitspace to be handled as normal chars. 
 162     local IFS=
 163     local result="${1%%[${2}]*}"
 164  
 165     echo ${#result}
 166 }
 167 
 168 #:docstring strstr:
 169 # Usage: strstr s1 s2
 170 # 
 171 # Strstr echoes a substring starting at the first occurrence of string s2 in
 172 # string s1, or nothing if s2 does not occur in the string.  If s2 points to
 173 # a string of zero length, strstr echoes s1.
 174 #:end docstring:
 175 
 176 ###;;;autoload
 177 function strstr ()
 178 {
 179     # if s2 points to a string of zero length, strstr echoes s1
 180     [ ${#2} -eq 0 ] && { echo "$1" ; return 0; }
 181 
 182     # strstr echoes nothing if s2 does not occur in s1
 183     case "$1" in
 184     *$2*) ;;
 185     *) return 1;;
 186     esac
 187 
 188     # use the pattern matching code to strip off the match and everything
 189     # following it
 190     first=${1/$2*/}
 191 
 192     # then strip off the first unmatched portion of the string
 193     echo "${1##$first}"
 194 }
 195 
 196 #:docstring strtok:
 197 # Usage: strtok s1 s2
 198 #
 199 # Strtok considers the string s1 to consist of a sequence of zero or more
 200 # text tokens separated by spans of one or more characters from the
 201 # separator string s2.  The first call (with a non-empty string s1
 202 # specified) echoes a string consisting of the first token on stdout. The
 203 # function keeps track of its position in the string s1 between separate
 204 # calls, so that subsequent calls made with the first argument an empty
 205 # string will work through the string immediately following that token.  In
 206 # this way subsequent calls will work through the string s1 until no tokens
 207 # remain.  The separator string s2 may be different from call to call.
 208 # When no token remains in s1, an empty value is echoed on stdout.
 209 #:end docstring:
 210 
 211 ###;;;autoload
 212 function strtok ()
 213 {
 214  :
 215 }
 216 
 217 #:docstring strtrunc:
 218 # Usage: strtrunc $n $s1 {$s2} {$...}
 219 #
 220 # Used by many functions like strncmp to truncate arguments for comparison.
 221 # Echoes the first n characters of each string s1 s2 ... on stdout. 
 222 #:end docstring:
 223 
 224 ###;;;autoload
 225 function strtrunc ()
 226 {
 227     n=$1 ; shift
 228     for z; do
 229         echo "${z:0:$n}"
 230     done
 231 }
 232 
 233 # provide string
 234 
 235 # string.bash ends here
 236 
 237 
 238 # ========================================================================== #
 239 # ==> Everything below here added by the document author.
 240 
 241 # ==> Suggested use of this script is to delete everything below here,
 242 # ==> and "source" this file into your own scripts.
 243 
 244 # strcat
 245 string0=one
 246 string1=two
 247 echo
 248 echo "Testing \"strcat\" function:"
 249 echo "Original \"string0\" = $string0"
 250 echo "\"string1\" = $string1"
 251 strcat string0 string1
 252 echo "New \"string0\" = $string0"
 253 echo
 254 
 255 # strlen
 256 echo
 257 echo "Testing \"strlen\" function:"
 258 str=123456789
 259 echo "\"str\" = $str"
 260 echo -n "Length of \"str\" = "
 261 strlen str
 262 echo
 263 
 264 
 265 
 266 # Exercise:
 267 # --------
 268 # Add code to test all the other string functions above.
 269 
 270 
 271 exit 0

Michael Zick's complex array example uses the md5sum check sum command to encode directory information.


Example A-20. Directory information

   1 #! /bin/bash
   2 # directory-info.sh
   3 # Parses and lists directory information.
   4 
   5 # NOTE: Change lines 273 and 353 per "README" file.
   6 
   7 # Michael Zick is the author of this script.
   8 # Used here with his permission.
   9 
  10 # Controls
  11 # If overridden by command arguments, they must be in the order:
  12 #   Arg1: "Descriptor Directory"
  13 #   Arg2: "Exclude Paths"
  14 #   Arg3: "Exclude Directories"
  15 #
  16 # Environment Settings override Defaults.
  17 # Command arguments override Environment Settings.
  18 
  19 # Default location for content addressed file descriptors.
  20 MD5UCFS=${1:-${MD5UCFS:-'/tmpfs/ucfs'}}
  21 
  22 # Directory paths never to list or enter
  23 declare -a \
  24   EXCLUDE_PATHS=${2:-${EXCLUDE_PATHS:-'(/proc /dev /devfs /tmpfs)'}}
  25 
  26 # Directories never to list or enter
  27 declare -a \
  28   EXCLUDE_DIRS=${3:-${EXCLUDE_DIRS:-'(ucfs lost+found tmp wtmp)'}}
  29 
  30 # Files never to list or enter
  31 declare -a \
  32   EXCLUDE_FILES=${3:-${EXCLUDE_FILES:-'(core "Name with Spaces")'}}
  33 
  34 
  35 # Here document used as a comment block.
  36 : << LSfieldsDoc
  37 # # # # # List Filesystem Directory Information # # # # #
  38 #
  39 #	ListDirectory "FileGlob" "Field-Array-Name"
  40 # or
  41 #	ListDirectory -of "FileGlob" "Field-Array-Filename"
  42 #	'-of' meaning 'output to filename'
  43 # # # # #
  44 
  45 String format description based on: ls (GNU fileutils) version 4.0.36
  46 
  47 Produces a line (or more) formatted:
  48 inode permissions hard-links owner group ...
  49 32736 -rw-------    1 mszick   mszick
  50 
  51 size    day month date hh:mm:ss year path
  52 2756608 Sun Apr 20 08:53:06 2003 /home/mszick/core
  53 
  54 Unless it is formatted:
  55 inode permissions hard-links owner group ...
  56 266705 crw-rw----    1    root  uucp
  57 
  58 major minor day month date hh:mm:ss year path
  59 4,  68 Sun Apr 20 09:27:33 2003 /dev/ttyS4
  60 NOTE: that pesky comma after the major number
  61 
  62 NOTE: the 'path' may be multiple fields:
  63 /home/mszick/core
  64 /proc/982/fd/0 -> /dev/null
  65 /proc/982/fd/1 -> /home/mszick/.xsession-errors
  66 /proc/982/fd/13 -> /tmp/tmpfZVVOCs (deleted)
  67 /proc/982/fd/7 -> /tmp/kde-mszick/ksycoca
  68 /proc/982/fd/8 -> socket:[11586]
  69 /proc/982/fd/9 -> pipe:[11588]
  70 
  71 If that isn't enough to keep your parser guessing,
  72 either or both of the path components may be relative:
  73 ../Built-Shared -> Built-Static
  74 ../linux-2.4.20.tar.bz2 -> ../../../SRCS/linux-2.4.20.tar.bz2
  75 
  76 The first character of the 11 (10?) character permissions field:
  77 's' Socket
  78 'd' Directory
  79 'b' Block device
  80 'c' Character device
  81 'l' Symbolic link
  82 NOTE: Hard links not marked - test for identical inode numbers
  83 on identical filesystems.
  84 All information about hard linked files are shared, except
  85 for the names and the name's location in the directory system.
  86 NOTE: A "Hard link" is known as a "File Alias" on some systems.
  87 '-' An undistingushed file
  88 
  89 Followed by three groups of letters for: User, Group, Others
  90 Character 1: '-' Not readable; 'r' Readable
  91 Character 2: '-' Not writable; 'w' Writable
  92 Character 3, User and Group: Combined execute and special
  93 '-' Not Executable, Not Special
  94 'x' Executable, Not Special
  95 's' Executable, Special
  96 'S' Not Executable, Special
  97 Character 3, Others: Combined execute and sticky (tacky?)
  98 '-' Not Executable, Not Tacky
  99 'x' Executable, Not Tacky
 100 't' Executable, Tacky
 101 'T' Not Executable, Tacky
 102 
 103 Followed by an access indicator
 104 Haven't tested this one, it may be the eleventh character
 105 or it may generate another field
 106 ' ' No alternate access
 107 '+' Alternate access
 108 LSfieldsDoc
 109 
 110 
 111 ListDirectory()
 112 {
 113 	local -a T
 114 	local -i of=0		# Default return in variable
 115 #	OLD_IFS=$IFS		# Using BASH default ' \t\n'
 116 
 117 	case "$#" in
 118 	3)	case "$1" in
 119 		-of)	of=1 ; shift ;;
 120 		 * )	return 1 ;;
 121 		esac ;;
 122 	2)	: ;;		# Poor man's "continue"
 123 	*)	return 1 ;;
 124 	esac
 125 
 126 	# NOTE: the (ls) command is NOT quoted (")
 127 	T=( $(ls --inode --ignore-backups --almost-all --directory \
 128 	--full-time --color=none --time=status --sort=none \
 129 	--format=long $1) )
 130 
 131 	case $of in
 132 	# Assign T back to the array whose name was passed as $2
 133 		0) eval $2=\( \"\$\{T\[@\]\}\" \) ;;
 134 	# Write T into filename passed as $2
 135 		1) echo "${T[@]}" > "$2" ;;
 136 	esac
 137 	return 0
 138    }
 139 
 140 # # # # # Is that string a legal number? # # # # #
 141 #
 142 #	IsNumber "Var"
 143 # # # # # There has to be a better way, sigh...
 144 
 145 IsNumber()
 146 {
 147 	local -i int
 148 	if [ $# -eq 0 ]
 149 	then
 150 		return 1
 151 	else
 152 		(let int=$1)  2>/dev/null
 153 		return $?	# Exit status of the let thread
 154 	fi
 155 }
 156 
 157 # # # # # Index Filesystem Directory Information # # # # #
 158 #
 159 #	IndexList "Field-Array-Name" "Index-Array-Name"
 160 # or
 161 #	IndexList -if Field-Array-Filename Index-Array-Name
 162 #	IndexList -of Field-Array-Name Index-Array-Filename
 163 #	IndexList -if -of Field-Array-Filename Index-Array-Filename
 164 # # # # #
 165 
 166 : << IndexListDoc
 167 Walk an array of directory fields produced by ListDirectory
 168 
 169 Having suppressed the line breaks in an otherwise line oriented
 170 report, build an index to the array element which starts each line.
 171 
 172 Each line gets two index entries, the first element of each line
 173 (inode) and the element that holds the pathname of the file.
 174 
 175 The first index entry pair (Line-Number==0) are informational:
 176 Index-Array-Name[0] : Number of "Lines" indexed
 177 Index-Array-Name[1] : "Current Line" pointer into Index-Array-Name
 178 
 179 The following index pairs (if any) hold element indexes into
 180 the Field-Array-Name per:
 181 Index-Array-Name[Line-Number * 2] : The "inode" field element.
 182 NOTE: This distance may be either +11 or +12 elements.
 183 Index-Array-Name[(Line-Number * 2) + 1] : The "pathname" element.
 184 NOTE: This distance may be a variable number of elements.
 185 Next line index pair for Line-Number+1.
 186 IndexListDoc
 187 
 188 
 189 
 190 IndexList()
 191 {
 192 	local -a LIST			# Local of listname passed
 193 	local -a -i INDEX=( 0 0 )	# Local of index to return
 194 	local -i Lidx Lcnt
 195 	local -i if=0 of=0		# Default to variable names
 196 
 197 	case "$#" in			# Simplistic option testing
 198 		0) return 1 ;;
 199 		1) return 1 ;;
 200 		2) : ;;			# Poor man's continue
 201 		3) case "$1" in
 202 			-if) if=1 ;;
 203 			-of) of=1 ;;
 204 			 * ) return 1 ;;
 205 		   esac ; shift ;;
 206 		4) if=1 ; of=1 ; shift ; shift ;;
 207 		*) return 1
 208 	esac
 209 
 210 	# Make local copy of list
 211 	case "$if" in
 212 		0) eval LIST=\( \"\$\{$1\[@\]\}\" \) ;;
 213 		1) LIST=( $(cat $1) ) ;;
 214 	esac
 215 
 216 	# Grok (grope?) the array
 217 	Lcnt=${#LIST[@]}
 218 	Lidx=0
 219 	until (( Lidx >= Lcnt ))
 220 	do
 221 	if IsNumber ${LIST[$Lidx]}
 222 	then
 223 		local -i inode name
 224 		local ft
 225 		inode=Lidx
 226 		local m=${LIST[$Lidx+2]}	# Hard Links field
 227 		ft=${LIST[$Lidx+1]:0:1} 	# Fast-Stat
 228 		case $ft in
 229 		b)	((Lidx+=12)) ;;		# Block device
 230 		c)	((Lidx+=12)) ;;		# Character device
 231 		*)	((Lidx+=11)) ;;		# Anything else
 232 		esac
 233 		name=Lidx
 234 		case $ft in
 235 		-)	((Lidx+=1)) ;;		# The easy one
 236 		b)	((Lidx+=1)) ;;		# Block device
 237 		c)	((Lidx+=1)) ;;		# Character device
 238 		d)	((Lidx+=1)) ;;		# The other easy one
 239 		l)	((Lidx+=3)) ;;		# At LEAST two more fields
 240 #  A little more elegance here would handle pipes,
 241 #+ sockets, deleted files - later.
 242 		*)	until IsNumber ${LIST[$Lidx]} || ((Lidx >= Lcnt))
 243 			do
 244 				((Lidx+=1))
 245 			done
 246 			;;			# Not required
 247 		esac
 248 		INDEX[${#INDEX[*]}]=$inode
 249 		INDEX[${#INDEX[*]}]=$name
 250 		INDEX[0]=${INDEX[0]}+1		# One more "line" found
 251 # echo "Line: ${INDEX[0]} Type: $ft Links: $m Inode: \
 252 # ${LIST[$inode]} Name: ${LIST[$name]}"
 253 
 254 	else
 255 		((Lidx+=1))
 256 	fi
 257 	done
 258 	case "$of" in
 259 		0) eval $2=\( \"\$\{INDEX\[@\]\}\" \) ;;
 260 		1) echo "${INDEX[@]}" > "$2" ;;
 261 	esac
 262 	return 0				# What could go wrong?
 263 }
 264 
 265 # # # # # Content Identify File # # # # #
 266 #
 267 #	DigestFile Input-Array-Name Digest-Array-Name
 268 # or
 269 #	DigestFile -if Input-FileName Digest-Array-Name
 270 # # # # #
 271 
 272 # Here document used as a comment block.
 273 : <<DigestFilesDoc
 274 
 275 The key (no pun intended) to a Unified Content File System (UCFS)
 276 is to distinguish the files in the system based on their content.
 277 Distinguishing files by their name is just, so, 20th Century.
 278 
 279 The content is distinguished by computing a checksum of that content.
 280 This version uses the md5sum program to generate a 128 bit checksum
 281 representative of the file's contents.
 282 There is a chance that two files having different content might
 283 generate the same checksum using md5sum (or any checksum).  Should
 284 that become a problem, then the use of md5sum can be replace by a
 285 cyrptographic signature.  But until then...
 286 
 287 The md5sum program is documented as outputting three fields (and it
 288 does), but when read it appears as two fields (array elements).  This
 289 is caused by the lack of whitespace between the second and third field.
 290 So this function gropes the md5sum output and returns:
 291 	[0]	32 character checksum in hexidecimal (UCFS filename)
 292 	[1]	Single character: ' ' text file, '*' binary file
 293 	[2]	Filesystem (20th Century Style) name
 294 	Note: That name may be the character '-' indicating STDIN read.
 295 
 296 DigestFilesDoc
 297 
 298 
 299 
 300 DigestFile()
 301 {
 302 	local if=0		# Default, variable name
 303 	local -a T1 T2
 304 
 305 	case "$#" in
 306 	3)	case "$1" in
 307 		-if)	if=1 ; shift ;;
 308 		 * )	return 1 ;;
 309 		esac ;;
 310 	2)	: ;;		# Poor man's "continue"
 311 	*)	return 1 ;;
 312 	esac
 313 
 314 	case $if in
 315 	0) eval T1=\( \"\$\{$1\[@\]\}\" \)
 316 	   T2=( $(echo ${T1[@]} | md5sum -) )
 317 	   ;;
 318 	1) T2=( $(md5sum $1) )
 319 	   ;;
 320 	esac
 321 
 322 	case ${#T2[@]} in
 323 	0) return 1 ;;
 324 	1) return 1 ;;
 325 	2) case ${T2[1]:0:1} in		# SanScrit-2.0.5
 326 	   \*) T2[${#T2[@]}]=${T2[1]:1}
 327 	       T2[1]=\*
 328 	       ;;
 329 	    *) T2[${#T2[@]}]=${T2[1]}
 330 	       T2[1]=" "
 331 	       ;;
 332 	   esac
 333 	   ;;
 334 	3) : ;; # Assume it worked
 335 	*) return 1 ;;
 336 	esac
 337 
 338 	local -i len=${#T2[0]}
 339 	if [ $len -ne 32 ] ; then return 1 ; fi
 340 	eval $2=\( \"\$\{T2\[@\]\}\" \)
 341 }
 342 
 343 # # # # # Locate File # # # # #
 344 #
 345 #	LocateFile [-l] FileName Location-Array-Name
 346 # or
 347 #	LocateFile [-l] -of FileName Location-Array-FileName
 348 # # # # #
 349 
 350 # A file location is Filesystem-id and inode-number
 351 
 352 # Here document used as a comment block.
 353 : <<StatFieldsDoc
 354 	Based on stat, version 2.2
 355 	stat -t and stat -lt fields
 356 	[0]	name
 357 	[1]	Total size
 358 		File - number of bytes
 359 		Symbolic link - string length of pathname
 360 	[2]	Number of (512 byte) blocks allocated
 361 	[3]	File type and Access rights (hex)
 362 	[4]	User ID of owner
 363 	[5]	Group ID of owner
 364 	[6]	Device number
 365 	[7]	Inode number
 366 	[8]	Number of hard links
 367 	[9]	Device type (if inode device) Major
 368 	[10]	Device type (if inode device) Minor
 369 	[11]	Time of last access
 370 		May be disabled in 'mount' with noatime
 371 		atime of files changed by exec, read, pipe, utime, mknod (mmap?)
 372 		atime of directories changed by addition/deletion of files
 373 	[12]	Time of last modification
 374 		mtime of files changed by write, truncate, utime, mknod
 375 		mtime of directories changed by addtition/deletion of files
 376 	[13]	Time of last change
 377 		ctime reflects time of changed inode information (owner, group
 378 		permissions, link count
 379 -*-*- Per:
 380 	Return code: 0
 381 	Size of array: 14
 382 	Contents of array
 383 	Element 0: /home/mszick
 384 	Element 1: 4096
 385 	Element 2: 8
 386 	Element 3: 41e8
 387 	Element 4: 500
 388 	Element 5: 500
 389 	Element 6: 303
 390 	Element 7: 32385
 391 	Element 8: 22
 392 	Element 9: 0
 393 	Element 10: 0
 394 	Element 11: 1051221030
 395 	Element 12: 1051214068
 396 	Element 13: 1051214068
 397 
 398 	For a link in the form of linkname -> realname
 399 	stat -t  linkname returns the linkname (link) information
 400 	stat -lt linkname returns the realname information
 401 
 402 	stat -tf and stat -ltf fields
 403 	[0]	name
 404 	[1]	ID-0?		# Maybe someday, but Linux stat structure
 405 	[2]	ID-0?		# does not have either LABEL nor UUID
 406 				# fields, currently information must come
 407 				# from file-system specific utilities
 408 	These will be munged into:
 409 	[1]	UUID if possible
 410 	[2]	Volume Label if possible
 411 	Note: 'mount -l' does return the label and could return the UUID
 412 
 413 	[3]	Maximum length of filenames
 414 	[4]	Filesystem type
 415 	[5]	Total blocks in the filesystem
 416 	[6]	Free blocks
 417 	[7]	Free blocks for non-root user(s)
 418 	[8]	Block size of the filesystem
 419 	[9]	Total inodes
 420 	[10]	Free inodes
 421 
 422 -*-*- Per:
 423 	Return code: 0
 424 	Size of array: 11
 425 	Contents of array
 426 	Element 0: /home/mszick
 427 	Element 1: 0
 428 	Element 2: 0
 429 	Element 3: 255
 430 	Element 4: ef53
 431 	Element 5: 2581445
 432 	Element 6: 2277180
 433 	Element 7: 2146050
 434 	Element 8: 4096
 435 	Element 9: 1311552
 436 	Element 10: 1276425
 437 
 438 StatFieldsDoc
 439 
 440 
 441 #	LocateFile [-l] FileName Location-Array-Name
 442 #	LocateFile [-l] -of FileName Location-Array-FileName
 443 
 444 LocateFile()
 445 {
 446 	local -a LOC LOC1 LOC2
 447 	local lk="" of=0
 448 
 449 	case "$#" in
 450 	0) return 1 ;;
 451 	1) return 1 ;;
 452 	2) : ;;
 453 	*) while (( "$#" > 2 ))
 454 	   do
 455 	      case "$1" in
 456 	       -l) lk=-1 ;;
 457 	      -of) of=1 ;;
 458 	        *) return 1 ;;
 459 	      esac
 460 	   shift
 461            done ;;
 462 	esac
 463 
 464 # More Sanscrit-2.0.5
 465       # LOC1=( $(stat -t $lk $1) )
 466       # LOC2=( $(stat -tf $lk $1) )
 467       # Uncomment above two lines if system has "stat" command installed.
 468 	LOC=( ${LOC1[@]:0:1} ${LOC1[@]:3:11}
 469 	      ${LOC2[@]:1:2} ${LOC2[@]:4:1} )
 470 
 471 	case "$of" in
 472 		0) eval $2=\( \"\$\{LOC\[@\]\}\" \) ;;
 473 		1) echo "${LOC[@]}" > "$2" ;;
 474 	esac
 475 	return 0
 476 # Which yields (if you are lucky, and have "stat" installed)
 477 # -*-*- Location Discriptor -*-*-
 478 #	Return code: 0
 479 #	Size of array: 15
 480 #	Contents of array
 481 #	Element 0: /home/mszick		20th Century name
 482 #	Element 1: 41e8			Type and Permissions
 483 #	Element 2: 500			User
 484 #	Element 3: 500			Group
 485 #	Element 4: 303			Device
 486 #	Element 5: 32385		inode
 487 #	Element 6: 22			Link count
 488 #	Element 7: 0			Device Major
 489 #	Element 8: 0			Device Minor
 490 #	Element 9: 1051224608		Last Access
 491 #	Element 10: 1051214068		Last Modify
 492 #	Element 11: 1051214068		Last Status
 493 #	Element 12: 0			UUID (to be)
 494 #	Element 13: 0			Volume Label (to be)
 495 #	Element 14: ef53		Filesystem type
 496 }
 497 
 498 
 499 
 500 # And then there was some test code
 501 
 502 ListArray() # ListArray Name
 503 {
 504 	local -a Ta
 505 
 506 	eval Ta=\( \"\$\{$1\[@\]\}\" \)
 507 	echo
 508 	echo "-*-*- List of Array -*-*-"
 509 	echo "Size of array $1: ${#Ta[*]}"
 510 	echo "Contents of array $1:"
 511 	for (( i=0 ; i<${#Ta[*]} ; i++ ))
 512 	do
 513 	    echo -e "\tElement $i: ${Ta[$i]}"
 514 	done
 515 	return 0
 516 }
 517 
 518 declare -a CUR_DIR
 519 # For small arrays
 520 ListDirectory "${PWD}" CUR_DIR
 521 ListArray CUR_DIR
 522 
 523 declare -a DIR_DIG
 524 DigestFile CUR_DIR DIR_DIG
 525 echo "The new \"name\" (checksum) for ${CUR_DIR[9]} is ${DIR_DIG[0]}"
 526 
 527 declare -a DIR_ENT
 528 # BIG_DIR # For really big arrays - use a temporary file in ramdisk
 529 # BIG-DIR # ListDirectory -of "${CUR_DIR[11]}/*" "/tmpfs/junk2"
 530 ListDirectory "${CUR_DIR[11]}/*" DIR_ENT
 531 
 532 declare -a DIR_IDX
 533 # BIG-DIR # IndexList -if "/tmpfs/junk2" DIR_IDX
 534 IndexList DIR_ENT DIR_IDX
 535 
 536 declare -a IDX_DIG
 537 # BIG-DIR # DIR_ENT=( $(cat /tmpfs/junk2) )
 538 # BIG-DIR # DigestFile -if /tmpfs/junk2 IDX_DIG
 539 DigestFile DIR_ENT IDX_DIG
 540 # Small (should) be able to parallize IndexList & DigestFile
 541 # Large (should) be able to parallize IndexList & DigestFile & the assignment
 542 echo "The \"name\" (checksum) for the contents of ${PWD} is ${IDX_DIG[0]}"
 543 
 544 declare -a FILE_LOC
 545 LocateFile ${PWD} FILE_LOC
 546 ListArray FILE_LOC
 547 
 548 exit 0

Stephane Chazelas demonstrates object-oriented programming in a Bash script.


Example A-21. Object-oriented database

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # obj-oriented.sh: Object-oriented programming in a shell script.
   3 # Script by Stephane Chazelas.
   4 
   5 
   6 person.new()        # Looks almost like a class declaration in C++.
   7 {
   8   local obj_name=$1 name=$2 firstname=$3 birthdate=$4
   9 
  10   eval "$obj_name.set_name() {
  11           eval \"$obj_name.get_name() {
  12                    echo \$1
  13                  }\"
  14         }"
  15 
  16   eval "$obj_name.set_firstname() {
  17           eval \"$obj_name.get_firstname() {
  18                    echo \$1
  19                  }\"
  20         }"
  21 
  22   eval "$obj_name.set_birthdate() {
  23           eval \"$obj_name.get_birthdate() {
  24             echo \$1
  25           }\"
  26           eval \"$obj_name.show_birthdate() {
  27             echo \$(date -d \"1/1/1970 0:0:\$1 GMT\")
  28           }\"
  29           eval \"$obj_name.get_age() {
  30             echo \$(( (\$(date +%s) - \$1) / 3600 / 24 / 365 ))
  31           }\"
  32         }"
  33 
  34   $obj_name.set_name $name
  35   $obj_name.set_firstname $firstname
  36   $obj_name.set_birthdate $birthdate
  37 }
  38 
  39 echo
  40 
  41 person.new self Bozeman Bozo 101272413
  42 # Create an instance of "person.new" (actually passing args to the function).
  43 
  44 self.get_firstname       #   Bozo
  45 self.get_name            #   Bozeman
  46 self.get_age             #   28
  47 self.get_birthdate       #   101272413
  48 self.show_birthdate      #   Sat Mar 17 20:13:33 MST 1973
  49 
  50 echo
  51 
  52 # typeset -f
  53 # to see the created functions (careful, it scrolls off the page).
  54 
  55 exit 0

How do you keep the shell from expanding and reinterpreting strings?


Example A-22. Protecting literal strings

   1 #! /bin/bash
   2 # protect_literal.sh
   3 
   4 # set -vx
   5 
   6 :<<-'_Protect_Literal_String_Doc'
   7 
   8     Copyright (c) Michael S. Zick, 2003; All Rights Reserved
   9     License: Unrestricted reuse in any form, for any purpose.
  10     Warranty: None
  11     Revision: $ID$
  12 
  13     Documentation redirected to the Bash no-operation.
  14     Bash will '/dev/null' this block when the script is first read.
  15     (Uncomment the above set command to see this action.)
  16 
  17     Remove the first (Sha-Bang) line when sourcing this as a library
  18     procedure.  Also comment out the example use code in the two
  19     places where shown.
  20 
  21 
  22     Usage:
  23         _protect_literal_str 'Whatever string meets your ${fancy}'
  24         Just echos the argument to standard out, hard quotes
  25         restored.
  26 
  27         $(_protect_literal_str 'Whatever string meets your ${fancy}')
  28         as the right-hand-side of an assignment statement.
  29 
  30     Does:
  31         As the right-hand-side of an assignment, preserves the
  32         hard quotes protecting the contents of the literal during
  33         assignment.
  34 
  35     Notes:
  36         The strange names (_*) are used to avoid trampling on
  37         the user's chosen names when this is sourced as a
  38         library.
  39 
  40 _Protect_Literal_String_Doc
  41 
  42 # The 'for illustration' function form
  43 
  44 _protect_literal_str() {
  45 
  46 # Pick an un-used, non-printing character as local IFS.
  47 # Not required, but shows that we are ignoring it.
  48     local IFS=$'\x1B'               # \ESC character
  49 
  50 # Enclose the All-Elements-Of in hard quotes during assignment.
  51     local tmp=$'\x27'$@$'\x27'
  52 #    local tmp=$'\''$@$'\''         # Even uglier.
  53 
  54     local len=${#tmp}               # Info only.
  55     echo $tmp is $len long.         # Output AND information.
  56 }
  57 
  58 # This is the short-named version.
  59 _pls() {
  60     local IFS=$'x1B'                # \ESC character (not required)
  61     echo $'\x27'$@$'\x27'           # Hard quoted parameter glob
  62 }
  63 
  64 # :<<-'_Protect_Literal_String_Test'
  65 # # # Remove the above "# " to disable this code. # # #
  66 
  67 # See how that looks when printed.
  68 echo
  69 echo "- - Test One - -"
  70 _protect_literal_str 'Hello $user'
  71 _protect_literal_str 'Hello "${username}"'
  72 echo
  73 
  74 # Which yields:
  75 # - - Test One - -
  76 # 'Hello $user' is 13 long.
  77 # 'Hello "${username}"' is 21 long.
  78 
  79 #  Looks as expected, but why all of the trouble?
  80 #  The difference is hidden inside the Bash internal order
  81 #+ of operations.
  82 #  Which shows when you use it on the RHS of an assignment.
  83 
  84 # Declare an array for test values.
  85 declare -a arrayZ
  86 
  87 # Assign elements with various types of quotes and escapes.
  88 arrayZ=( zero "$(_pls 'Hello ${Me}')" 'Hello ${You}' "\'Pass: ${pw}\'" )
  89 
  90 # Now list that array and see what is there.
  91 echo "- - Test Two - -"
  92 for (( i=0 ; i<${#arrayZ[*]} ; i++ ))
  93 do
  94     echo  Element $i: ${arrayZ[$i]} is: ${#arrayZ[$i]} long.
  95 done
  96 echo
  97 
  98 # Which yields:
  99 # - - Test Two - -
 100 # Element 0: zero is: 4 long.           # Our marker element
 101 # Element 1: 'Hello ${Me}' is: 13 long. # Our "$(_pls '...' )"
 102 # Element 2: Hello ${You} is: 12 long.  # Quotes are missing
 103 # Element 3: \'Pass: \' is: 10 long.    # ${pw} expanded to nothing
 104 
 105 # Now make an assignment with that result.
 106 declare -a array2=( ${arrayZ[@]} )
 107 
 108 # And print what happened.
 109 echo "- - Test Three - -"
 110 for (( i=0 ; i<${#array2[*]} ; i++ ))
 111 do
 112     echo  Element $i: ${array2[$i]} is: ${#array2[$i]} long.
 113 done
 114 echo
 115 
 116 # Which yields:
 117 # - - Test Three - -
 118 # Element 0: zero is: 4 long.           # Our marker element.
 119 # Element 1: Hello ${Me} is: 11 long.   # Intended result.
 120 # Element 2: Hello is: 5 long.          # ${You} expanded to nothing.
 121 # Element 3: 'Pass: is: 6 long.         # Split on the whitespace.
 122 # Element 4: ' is: 1 long.              # The end quote is here now.
 123 
 124 #  Our Element 1 has had its leading and trailing hard quotes stripped.
 125 #  Although not shown, leading and trailing whitespace is also stripped.
 126 #  Now that the string contents are set, Bash will always, internally,
 127 #+ hard quote the contents as required during its operations.
 128 
 129 #  Why?
 130 #  Considering our "$(_pls 'Hello ${Me}')" construction:
 131 #  " ... " -> Expansion required, strip the quotes.
 132 #  $( ... ) -> Replace with the result of..., strip this.
 133 #  _pls ' ... ' -> called with literal arguments, strip the quotes.
 134 #  The result returned includes hard quotes; BUT the above processing
 135 #+ has already been done, so they become part of the value assigned.
 136 #
 137 #  Similarly, during further usage of the string variable, the ${Me}
 138 #+ is part of the contents (result) and survives any operations
 139 #  (Until explicitly told to evaluate the string).
 140 
 141 #  Hint: See what happens when the hard quotes ($'\x27') are replaced
 142 #+ with soft quotes ($'\x22') in the above procedures.
 143 #  Interesting also is to remove the addition of any quoting.
 144 
 145 # _Protect_Literal_String_Test
 146 # # # Remove the above "# " to disable this code. # # #
 147 
 148 exit 0

What if you want the shell to expand and reinterpret strings?


Example A-23. Unprotecting literal strings

   1 #! /bin/bash
   2 # unprotect_literal.sh
   3 
   4 # set -vx
   5 
   6 :<<-'_UnProtect_Literal_String_Doc'
   7 
   8     Copyright (c) Michael S. Zick, 2003; All Rights Reserved
   9     License: Unrestricted reuse in any form, for any purpose.
  10     Warranty: None
  11     Revision: $ID$
  12 
  13     Documentation redirected to the Bash no-operation. Bash will
  14     '/dev/null' this block when the script is first read.
  15     (Uncomment the above set command to see this action.)
  16 
  17     Remove the first (Sha-Bang) line when sourcing this as a library
  18     procedure.  Also comment out the example use code in the two
  19     places where shown.
  20 
  21 
  22     Usage:
  23         Complement of the "$(_pls 'Literal String')" function.
  24         (See the protect_literal.sh example.)
  25 
  26         StringVar=$(_upls ProtectedSringVariable)
  27 
  28     Does:
  29         When used on the right-hand-side of an assignment statement;
  30         makes the substitions embedded in the protected string.
  31 
  32     Notes:
  33         The strange names (_*) are used to avoid trampling on
  34         the user's chosen names when this is sourced as a
  35         library.
  36 
  37 
  38 _UnProtect_Literal_String_Doc
  39 
  40 _upls() {
  41     local IFS=$'x1B'                # \ESC character (not required)
  42     eval echo $@                    # Substitution on the glob.
  43 }
  44 
  45 # :<<-'_UnProtect_Literal_String_Test'
  46 # # # Remove the above "# " to disable this code. # # #
  47 
  48 
  49 _pls() {
  50     local IFS=$'x1B'                # \ESC character (not required)
  51     echo $'\x27'$@$'\x27'           # Hard quoted parameter glob
  52 }
  53 
  54 # Declare an array for test values.
  55 declare -a arrayZ
  56 
  57 # Assign elements with various types of quotes and escapes.
  58 arrayZ=( zero "$(_pls 'Hello ${Me}')" 'Hello ${You}' "\'Pass: ${pw}\'" )
  59 
  60 # Now make an assignment with that result.
  61 declare -a array2=( ${arrayZ[@]} )
  62 
  63 # Which yielded:
  64 # - - Test Three - -
  65 # Element 0: zero is: 4 long            # Our marker element.
  66 # Element 1: Hello ${Me} is: 11 long    # Intended result.
  67 # Element 2: Hello is: 5 long           # ${You} expanded to nothing.
  68 # Element 3: 'Pass: is: 6 long          # Split on the whitespace.
  69 # Element 4: ' is: 1 long               # The end quote is here now.
  70 
  71 # set -vx
  72 
  73 #  Initialize 'Me' to something for the embedded ${Me} substitution.
  74 #  This needs to be done ONLY just prior to evaluating the
  75 #+ protected string.
  76 #  (This is why it was protected to begin with.)
  77 
  78 Me="to the array guy."
  79 
  80 # Set a string variable destination to the result.
  81 newVar=$(_upls ${array2[1]})
  82 
  83 # Show what the contents are.
  84 echo $newVar
  85 
  86 # Do we really need a function to do this?
  87 newerVar=$(eval echo ${array2[1]})
  88 echo $newerVar
  89 
  90 #  I guess not, but the _upls function gives us a place to hang
  91 #+ the documentation on.
  92 #  This helps when we forget what a # construction like:
  93 #+ $(eval echo ... ) means.
  94 
  95 # What if Me isn't set when the protected string is evaluated?
  96 unset Me
  97 newestVar=$(_upls ${array2[1]})
  98 echo $newestVar
  99 
 100 # Just gone, no hints, no runs, no errors.
 101 
 102 #  Why in the world?
 103 #  Setting the contents of a string variable containing character
 104 #+ sequences that have a meaning to Bash is a general problem in
 105 #+ script programming.
 106 #
 107 #  This problem is now solved in eight lines of code
 108 #+ (and four pages of description).
 109 
 110 #  Where is all this going?
 111 #  Dynamic content Web pages as an array of Bash strings.
 112 #  Content set per request by a Bash 'eval' command
 113 #+ on the stored page template.
 114 #  Not intended to replace PHP, just an interesting thing to do.
 115 ###
 116 #  Don't have a webserver application?
 117 #  No problem, check the example directory of the Bash source;
 118 #+ there is a Bash script for that also.
 119 
 120 # _UnProtect_Literal_String_Test
 121 # # # Remove the above "# " to disable this code. # # #
 122 
 123 exit 0

To end this section, a review of the basics . . . and more.


Example A-24. Basics Reviewed

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # basics-reviewed.bash
   3 
   4 # File extension == *.bash == specific to Bash
   5 
   6 #   Copyright (c) Michael S. Zick, 2003; All rights reserved.
   7 #   License: Use in any form, for any purpose.
   8 #   Revision: $ID$
   9 #
  10 #              Edited for layout by M.C.
  11 #   (author of the "Advanced Bash Scripting Guide")
  12 
  13 
  14 #  This script tested under Bash versions 2.04, 2.05a and 2.05b.
  15 #  It may not work with earlier versions.
  16 #  This demonstration script generates one --intentional--
  17 #+ "command not found" error message. See line 394.
  18 
  19 #  The current Bash maintainer, Chet Ramey, has fixed the items noted
  20 #+ for an upcoming version of Bash.
  21 
  22 
  23 
  24         ###-------------------------------------------###
  25         ###  Pipe the output of this script to 'more' ###
  26         ###+ else it will scroll off the page.        ###
  27         ###                                           ###
  28         ###  You may also redirect its output         ###
  29         ###+ to a file for examination.               ###  
  30         ###-------------------------------------------###
  31 
  32 
  33 
  34 #  Most of the following points are described at length in
  35 #+ the text of the foregoing "Advanced Bash Scripting Guide."
  36 #  This demonstration script is mostly just a reorganized presentation.
  37 #      -- msz
  38 
  39 # Variables are not typed unless otherwise specified.
  40 
  41 #  Variables are named. Names must contain a non-digit.
  42 #  File descriptor names (as in, for example: 2>&1)
  43 #+ contain ONLY digits.
  44 
  45 # Parameters and Bash array elements are numbered.
  46 # (Parameters are very similar to Bash arrays.)
  47 
  48 # A variable name may be undefined (null reference).
  49 unset VarNull
  50 
  51 # A variable name may be defined but empty (null contents).
  52 VarEmpty=''                         # Two, adjacent, single quotes.
  53 
  54 # A variable name my be defined and non-empty
  55 VarSomething='Literal'
  56 
  57 # A variable may contain:
  58 #   * A whole number as a signed 32-bit (or larger) integer
  59 #   * A string
  60 # A variable may also be an array.
  61 
  62 #  A string may contain embedded blanks and may be treated
  63 #+ as if it where a function name with optional arguments.
  64 
  65 #  The names of variables and the names of functions
  66 #+ are in different namespaces.
  67 
  68 
  69 #  A variable may be defined as a Bash array either explicitly or
  70 #+ implicitly by the syntax of the assignment statement.
  71 #  Explicit:
  72 declare -a ArrayVar
  73 
  74 
  75 
  76 # The echo command is a built-in.
  77 echo $VarSomething
  78 
  79 # The printf command is a built-in.
  80 # Translate %s as: String-Format
  81 printf %s $VarSomething         # No linebreak specified, none output.
  82 echo                            # Default, only linebreak output.
  83 
  84 
  85 
  86 
  87 # The Bash parser word breaks on whitespace.
  88 # Whitespace, or the lack of it is significant.
  89 # (This holds true in general; there are, of course, exceptions.)
  90 
  91 
  92 
  93 
  94 # Translate the DOLLAR_SIGN character as: Content-Of.
  95 
  96 # Extended-Syntax way of writing Content-Of:
  97 echo ${VarSomething}
  98 
  99 #  The ${ ... } Extended-Syntax allows more than just the variable
 100 #+ name to be specified.
 101 #  In general, $VarSomething can always be written as: ${VarSomething}.
 102 
 103 # Call this script with arguments to see the following in action.
 104 
 105 
 106 
 107 #  Outside of double-quotes, the special characters @ and *
 108 #+ specify identical behavior.
 109 #  May be pronounced as: All-Elements-Of.
 110 
 111 #  Without specification of a name, they refer to the
 112 #+ pre-defined parameter Bash-Array.
 113 
 114 
 115 
 116 # Glob-Pattern references
 117 echo $*                         # All parameters to script or function
 118 echo ${*}                       # Same
 119 
 120 # Bash disables filename expansion for Glob-Patterns.
 121 # Only character matching is active.
 122 
 123 
 124 # All-Elements-Of references
 125 echo $@                         # Same as above
 126 echo ${@}                       # Same as above
 127 
 128 
 129 
 130 
 131 #  Within double-quotes, the behavior of Glob-Pattern references
 132 #+ depends on the setting of IFS (Input Field Separator).
 133 #  Within double-quotes, All-Elements-Of references behave the same.
 134 
 135 
 136 #  Specifying only the name of a variable holding a string refers
 137 #+ to all elements (characters) of a string.
 138 
 139 
 140 #  To specify an element (character) of a string,
 141 #+ the Extended-Syntax reference notation (see below) MAY be used.
 142 
 143 
 144 
 145 
 146 #  Specifying only the name of a Bash array references
 147 #+ the subscript zero element,
 148 #+ NOT the FIRST DEFINED nor the FIRST WITH CONTENTS element.
 149 
 150 #  Additional qualification is needed to reference other elements,
 151 #+ which means that the reference MUST be written in Extended-Syntax.
 152 #  The general form is: ${name[subscript]}.
 153 
 154 #  The string forms may also be used: ${name:subscript}
 155 #+ for Bash-Arrays when referencing the subscript zero element.
 156 
 157 
 158 # Bash-Arrays are implemented internally as linked lists,
 159 #+ not as a fixed area of storage as in some programming languages.
 160 
 161 
 162 #   Characteristics of Bash arrays (Bash-Arrays):
 163 #   --------------------------------------------
 164 
 165 #   If not otherwise specified, Bash-Array subscripts begin with
 166 #+  subscript number zero. Literally: [0]
 167 #   This is called zero-based indexing.
 168 ###
 169 #   If not otherwise specified, Bash-Arrays are subscript packed
 170 #+  (sequential subscripts without subscript gaps).
 171 ###
 172 #   Negative subscripts are not allowed.
 173 ###
 174 #   Elements of a Bash-Array need not all be of the same type.
 175 ###
 176 #   Elements of a Bash-Array may be undefined (null reference).
 177 #       That is, a Bash-Array my be "subscript sparse."
 178 ###
 179 #   Elements of a Bash-Array may be defined and empty (null contents).
 180 ###
 181 #   Elements of a Bash-Array may contain:
 182 #     * A whole number as a signed 32-bit (or larger) integer
 183 #     * A string
 184 #     * A string formated so that it appears to be a function name
 185 #     + with optional arguments
 186 ###
 187 #   Defined elements of a Bash-Array may be undefined (unset).
 188 #       That is, a subscript packed Bash-Array may be changed
 189 #   +   into a subscript sparse Bash-Array.
 190 ###
 191 #   Elements may be added to a Bash-Array by defining an element
 192 #+  not previously defined.
 193 ###
 194 # For these reasons, I have been calling them "Bash-Arrays".
 195 # I'll return to the generic term "array" from now on.
 196 #     -- msz
 197 
 198 
 199 
 200 
 201 #  Demo time -- initialize the previously declared ArrayVar as a
 202 #+ sparse array.
 203 #  (The 'unset ... ' is just documentation here.)
 204 
 205 unset ArrayVar[0]                   # Just for the record
 206 ArrayVar[1]=one                     # Unquoted literal
 207 ArrayVar[2]=''                      # Defined, and empty
 208 unset ArrayVar[3]                   # Just for the record
 209 ArrayVar[4]='four'                  # Quoted literal
 210 
 211 
 212 
 213 # Translate the %q format as: Quoted-Respecting-IFS-Rules.
 214 echo
 215 echo '- - Outside of double-quotes - -'
 216 ###
 217 printf %q ${ArrayVar[*]}            # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 218 echo
 219 echo 'echo command:'${ArrayVar[*]}
 220 ###
 221 printf %q ${ArrayVar[@]}            # All-Elements-Of
 222 echo
 223 echo 'echo command:'${ArrayVar[@]}
 224 
 225 # The use of double-quotes may be translated as: Enable-Substitution.
 226 
 227 # There are five cases recognized for the IFS setting.
 228 
 229 echo
 230 echo '- - Within double-quotes - Default IFS of space-tab-newline - -'
 231 IFS=$'\x20'$'\x09'$'\x0A'           #  These three bytes,
 232                                     #+ in exactly this order.
 233 
 234 
 235 printf %q "${ArrayVar[*]}"          # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 236 echo
 237 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[*]}"
 238 ###
 239 printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]}"          # All-Elements-Of
 240 echo
 241 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[@]}"
 242 
 243 
 244 echo
 245 echo '- - Within double-quotes - First character of IFS is ^ - -'
 246 # Any printing, non-whitespace character should do the same.
 247 IFS='^'$IFS                         # ^ + space tab newline
 248 ###
 249 printf %q "${ArrayVar[*]}"          # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 250 echo
 251 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[*]}"
 252 ###
 253 printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]}"          # All-Elements-Of
 254 echo
 255 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[@]}"
 256 
 257 
 258 echo
 259 echo '- - Within double-quotes - Without whitespace in IFS - -'
 260 IFS='^:%!'
 261 ###
 262 printf %q "${ArrayVar[*]}"          # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 263 echo
 264 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[*]}"
 265 ###
 266 printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]}"          # All-Elements-Of
 267 echo
 268 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[@]}"
 269 
 270 
 271 echo
 272 echo '- - Within double-quotes - IFS set and empty - -'
 273 IFS=''
 274 ###
 275 printf %q "${ArrayVar[*]}"          # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 276 echo
 277 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[*]}"
 278 ###
 279 printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]}"          # All-Elements-Of
 280 echo
 281 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[@]}"
 282 
 283 
 284 echo
 285 echo '- - Within double-quotes - IFS undefined - -'
 286 unset IFS
 287 ###
 288 printf %q "${ArrayVar[*]}"          # Glob-Pattern All-Elements-Of
 289 echo
 290 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[*]}"
 291 ###
 292 printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]}"          # All-Elements-Of
 293 echo
 294 echo 'echo command:'"${ArrayVar[@]}"
 295 
 296 
 297 # Put IFS back to the default.
 298 # Default is exactly these three bytes.
 299 IFS=$'\x20'$'\x09'$'\x0A'           # In exactly this order.
 300 
 301 # Interpretation of the above outputs:
 302 #   A Glob-Pattern is I/O; the setting of IFS matters.
 303 ###
 304 #   An All-Elements-Of does not consider IFS settings.
 305 ###
 306 #   Note the different output using the echo command and the
 307 #+  quoted format operator of the printf command.
 308 
 309 
 310 #  Recall:
 311 #   Parameters are similar to arrays and have the similar behaviors.
 312 ###
 313 #  The above examples demonstrate the possible variations.
 314 #  To retain the shape of a sparse array, additional script
 315 #+ programming is required.
 316 ###
 317 #  The source code of Bash has a routine to output the
 318 #+ [subscript]=value   array assignment format.
 319 #  As of version 2.05b, that routine is not used,
 320 #+ but that might change in future releases.
 321 
 322 
 323 
 324 # The length of a string, measured in non-null elements (characters):
 325 echo
 326 echo '- - Non-quoted references - -'
 327 echo 'Non-Null character count: '${#VarSomething}' characters.'
 328 
 329 # test='Lit'$'\x00''eral'           # $'\x00' is a null character.
 330 # echo ${#test}                     # See that?
 331 
 332 
 333 
 334 #  The length of an array, measured in defined elements,
 335 #+ including null content elements.
 336 echo
 337 echo 'Defined content count: '${#ArrayVar[@]}' elements.'
 338 # That is NOT the maximum subscript (4).
 339 # That is NOT the range of the subscripts (1 . . 4 inclusive).
 340 # It IS the length of the linked list.
 341 ###
 342 #  Both the maximum subscript and the range of the subscripts may
 343 #+ be found with additional script programming.
 344 
 345 # The length of a string, measured in non-null elements (characters):
 346 echo
 347 echo '- - Quoted, Glob-Pattern references - -'
 348 echo 'Non-Null character count: '"${#VarSomething}"' characters.'
 349 
 350 #  The length of an array, measured in defined elements,
 351 #+ including null-content elements.
 352 echo
 353 echo 'Defined element count: '"${#ArrayVar[*]}"' elements.'
 354 
 355 #  Interpretation: Substitution does not effect the ${# ... } operation.
 356 #  Suggestion:
 357 #  Always use the All-Elements-Of character
 358 #+ if that is what is intended (independence from IFS).
 359 
 360 
 361 
 362 #  Define a simple function.
 363 #  I include an underscore in the name
 364 #+ to make it distinctive in the examples below.
 365 ###
 366 #  Bash separates variable names and function names
 367 #+ in different namespaces.
 368 #  The Mark-One eyeball isn't that advanced.
 369 ###
 370 _simple() {
 371     echo -n 'SimpleFunc'$@          #  Newlines are swallowed in
 372 }                                   #+ result returned in any case.
 373 
 374 
 375 # The ( ... ) notation invokes a command or function.
 376 # The $( ... ) notation is pronounced: Result-Of.
 377 
 378 
 379 # Invoke the function _simple
 380 echo
 381 echo '- - Output of function _simple - -'
 382 _simple                             # Try passing arguments.
 383 echo
 384 # or
 385 (_simple)                           # Try passing arguments.
 386 echo
 387 
 388 echo '- Is there a variable of that name? -'
 389 echo $_simple not defined           # No variable by that name.
 390 
 391 # Invoke the result of function _simple (Error msg intended)
 392 
 393 ###
 394 $(_simple)                          # Gives an error message:
 395 #                          line 394: SimpleFunc: command not found
 396 #                          ---------------------------------------
 397 
 398 echo
 399 ###
 400 
 401 #  The first word of the result of function _simple
 402 #+ is neither a valid Bash command nor the name of a defined function.
 403 ###
 404 # This demonstrates that the output of _simple is subject to evaluation.
 405 ###
 406 # Interpretation:
 407 #   A function can be used to generate in-line Bash commands.
 408 
 409 
 410 # A simple function where the first word of result IS a bash command:
 411 ###
 412 _print() {
 413     echo -n 'printf %q '$@
 414 }
 415 
 416 echo '- - Outputs of function _print - -'
 417 _print parm1 parm2                  # An Output NOT A Command.
 418 echo
 419 
 420 $(_print parm1 parm2)               #  Executes: printf %q parm1 parm2
 421                                     #  See above IFS examples for the
 422                                     #+ various possibilities.
 423 echo
 424 
 425 $(_print $VarSomething)             # The predictable result.
 426 echo
 427 
 428 
 429 
 430 # Function variables
 431 # ------------------
 432 
 433 echo
 434 echo '- - Function variables - -'
 435 # A variable may represent a signed integer, a string or an array.
 436 # A string may be used like a function name with optional arguments.
 437 
 438 # set -vx                           #  Enable if desired
 439 declare -f funcVar                  #+ in namespace of functions
 440 
 441 funcVar=_print                      # Contains name of function.
 442 $funcVar parm1                      # Same as _print at this point.
 443 echo
 444 
 445 funcVar=$(_print )                  # Contains result of function.
 446 $funcVar                            # No input, No output.
 447 $funcVar $VarSomething              # The predictable result.
 448 echo
 449 
 450 funcVar=$(_print $VarSomething)     #  $VarSomething replaced HERE.
 451 $funcVar                            #  The expansion is part of the
 452 echo                                #+ variable contents.
 453 
 454 funcVar="$(_print $VarSomething)"   #  $VarSomething replaced HERE.
 455 $funcVar                            #  The expansion is part of the
 456 echo                                #+ variable contents.
 457 
 458 #  The difference between the unquoted and the double-quoted versions
 459 #+ above can be seen in the "protect_literal.sh" example.
 460 #  The first case above is processed as two, unquoted, Bash-Words.
 461 #  The second case above is processed as one, quoted, Bash-Word.
 462 
 463 
 464 
 465 
 466 # Delayed replacement
 467 # -------------------
 468 
 469 echo
 470 echo '- - Delayed replacement - -'
 471 funcVar="$(_print '$VarSomething')" # No replacement, single Bash-Word.
 472 eval $funcVar                       # $VarSomething replaced HERE.
 473 echo
 474 
 475 VarSomething='NewThing'
 476 eval $funcVar                       # $VarSomething replaced HERE.
 477 echo
 478 
 479 # Restore the original setting trashed above.
 480 VarSomething=Literal
 481 
 482 #  There are a pair of functions demonstrated in the
 483 #+ "protect_literal.sh" and "unprotect_literal.sh" examples.
 484 #  These are general purpose functions for delayed replacement literals
 485 #+ containing variables.
 486 
 487 
 488 
 489 
 490 
 491 # REVIEW:
 492 # ------
 493 
 494 #  A string can be considered a Classic-Array of elements (characters).
 495 #  A string operation applies to all elements (characters) of the string
 496 #+ (in concept, anyway).
 497 ###
 498 #  The notation: ${array_name[@]} represents all elements of the
 499 #+ Bash-Array: array_name.
 500 ###
 501 #  The Extended-Syntax string operations can be applied to all
 502 #+ elements of an array.
 503 ###
 504 #  This may be thought of as a For-Each operation on a vector of strings.
 505 ###
 506 #  Parameters are similar to an array.
 507 #  The initialization of a parameter array for a script
 508 #+ and a parameter array for a function only differ
 509 #+ in the initialization of ${0}, which never changes its setting.
 510 ###
 511 #  Subscript zero of the script's parameter array contains
 512 #+ the name of the script.
 513 ###
 514 #  Subscript zero of a function's parameter array DOES NOT contain
 515 #+ the name of the function.
 516 #  The name of the current function is accessed by the $FUNCNAME variable.
 517 ###
 518 #  A quick, review list follows (quick, not short).
 519 
 520 echo
 521 echo '- - Test (but not change) - -'
 522 echo '- null reference -'
 523 echo -n ${VarNull-'NotSet'}' '          # NotSet
 524 echo ${VarNull}                         # NewLine only
 525 echo -n ${VarNull:-'NotSet'}' '         # NotSet
 526 echo ${VarNull}                         # Newline only
 527 
 528 echo '- null contents -'
 529 echo -n ${VarEmpty-'Empty'}' '          # Only the space
 530 echo ${VarEmpty}                        # Newline only
 531 echo -n ${VarEmpty:-'Empty'}' '         # Empty
 532 echo ${VarEmpty}                        # Newline only
 533 
 534 echo '- contents -'
 535 echo ${VarSomething-'Content'}          # Literal
 536 echo ${VarSomething:-'Content'}         # Literal
 537 
 538 echo '- Sparse Array -'
 539 echo ${ArrayVar[@]-'not set'}
 540 
 541 # ASCII-Art time
 542 # State     Y==yes, N==no
 543 #           -       :-
 544 # Unset     Y       Y       ${# ... } == 0
 545 # Empty     N       Y       ${# ... } == 0
 546 # Contents  N       N       ${# ... } > 0
 547 
 548 #  Either the first and/or the second part of the tests
 549 #+ may be a command or a function invocation string.
 550 echo
 551 echo '- - Test 1 for undefined - -'
 552 declare -i t
 553 _decT() {
 554     t=$t-1
 555 }
 556 
 557 # Null reference, set: t == -1
 558 t=${#VarNull}                           # Results in zero.
 559 ${VarNull- _decT }                      # Function executes, t now -1.
 560 echo $t
 561 
 562 # Null contents, set: t == 0
 563 t=${#VarEmpty}                          # Results in zero.
 564 ${VarEmpty- _decT }                     # _decT function NOT executed.
 565 echo $t
 566 
 567 # Contents, set: t == number of non-null characters
 568 VarSomething='_simple'                  # Set to valid function name.
 569 t=${#VarSomething}                      # non-zero length
 570 ${VarSomething- _decT }                 # Function _simple executed.
 571 echo $t                                 # Note the Append-To action.
 572 
 573 # Exercise: clean up that example.
 574 unset t
 575 unset _decT
 576 VarSomething=Literal
 577 
 578 echo
 579 echo '- - Test and Change - -'
 580 echo '- Assignment if null reference -'
 581 echo -n ${VarNull='NotSet'}' '          # NotSet NotSet
 582 echo ${VarNull}
 583 unset VarNull
 584 
 585 echo '- Assignment if null reference -'
 586 echo -n ${VarNull:='NotSet'}' '         # NotSet NotSet
 587 echo ${VarNull}
 588 unset VarNull
 589 
 590 echo '- No assignment if null contents -'
 591 echo -n ${VarEmpty='Empty'}' '          # Space only
 592 echo ${VarEmpty}
 593 VarEmpty=''
 594 
 595 echo '- Assignment if null contents -'
 596 echo -n ${VarEmpty:='Empty'}' '         # Empty Empty
 597 echo ${VarEmpty}
 598 VarEmpty=''
 599 
 600 echo '- No change if already has contents -'
 601 echo ${VarSomething='Content'}          # Literal
 602 echo ${VarSomething:='Content'}         # Literal
 603 
 604 
 605 # "Subscript sparse" Bash-Arrays
 606 ###
 607 #  Bash-Arrays are subscript packed, beginning with
 608 #+ subscript zero unless otherwise specified.
 609 ###
 610 #  The initialization of ArrayVar was one way
 611 #+ to "otherwise specify".  Here is the other way:
 612 ###
 613 echo
 614 declare -a ArraySparse
 615 ArraySparse=( [1]=one [2]='' [4]='four' )
 616 # [0]=null reference, [2]=null content, [3]=null reference
 617 
 618 echo '- - Array-Sparse List - -'
 619 # Within double-quotes, default IFS, Glob-Pattern
 620 
 621 IFS=$'\x20'$'\x09'$'\x0A'
 622 printf %q "${ArraySparse[*]}"
 623 echo
 624 
 625 #  Note that the output does not distinguish between "null content"
 626 #+ and "null reference".
 627 #  Both print as escaped whitespace.
 628 ###
 629 #  Note also that the output does NOT contain escaped whitespace
 630 #+ for the "null reference(s)" prior to the first defined element.
 631 ###
 632 # This behavior of 2.04, 2.05a and 2.05b has been reported
 633 #+ and may change in a future version of Bash.
 634 
 635 #  To output a sparse array and maintain the [subscript]=value
 636 #+ relationship without change requires a bit of programming.
 637 #  One possible code fragment:
 638 ###
 639 # local l=${#ArraySparse[@]}        # Count of defined elements
 640 # local f=0                         # Count of found subscripts
 641 # local i=0                         # Subscript to test
 642 (                                   # Anonymous in-line function
 643     for (( l=${#ArraySparse[@]}, f = 0, i = 0 ; f < l ; i++ ))
 644     do
 645         # 'if defined then...'
 646         ${ArraySparse[$i]+ eval echo '\ ['$i']='${ArraySparse[$i]} ; (( f++ )) }
 647     done
 648 )
 649 
 650 # The reader coming upon the above code fragment cold
 651 #+ might want to review "command lists" and "multiple commands on a line"
 652 #+ in the text of the foregoing "Advanced Bash Scripting Guide."
 653 ###
 654 #  Note:
 655 #  The "read -a array_name" version of the "read" command
 656 #+ begins filling array_name at subscript zero.
 657 #  ArraySparse does not define a value at subscript zero.
 658 ###
 659 #  The user needing to read/write a sparse array to either
 660 #+ external storage or a communications socket must invent
 661 #+ a read/write code pair suitable for their purpose.
 662 ###
 663 # Exercise: clean it up.
 664 
 665 unset ArraySparse
 666 
 667 echo
 668 echo '- - Conditional alternate (But not change)- -'
 669 echo '- No alternate if null reference -'
 670 echo -n ${VarNull+'NotSet'}' '
 671 echo ${VarNull}
 672 unset VarNull
 673 
 674 echo '- No alternate if null reference -'
 675 echo -n ${VarNull:+'NotSet'}' '
 676 echo ${VarNull}
 677 unset VarNull
 678 
 679 echo '- Alternate if null contents -'
 680 echo -n ${VarEmpty+'Empty'}' '              # Empty
 681 echo ${VarEmpty}
 682 VarEmpty=''
 683 
 684 echo '- No alternate if null contents -'
 685 echo -n ${VarEmpty:+'Empty'}' '             # Space only
 686 echo ${VarEmpty}
 687 VarEmpty=''
 688 
 689 echo '- Alternate if already has contents -'
 690 
 691 # Alternate literal
 692 echo -n ${VarSomething+'Content'}' '        # Content Literal
 693 echo ${VarSomething}
 694 
 695 # Invoke function
 696 echo -n ${VarSomething:+ $(_simple) }' '    # SimpleFunc Literal
 697 echo ${VarSomething}
 698 echo
 699 
 700 echo '- - Sparse Array - -'
 701 echo ${ArrayVar[@]+'Empty'}                 # An array of 'Empty'(ies)
 702 echo
 703 
 704 echo '- - Test 2 for undefined - -'
 705 
 706 declare -i t
 707 _incT() {
 708     t=$t+1
 709 }
 710 
 711 #  Note:
 712 #  This is the same test used in the sparse array
 713 #+ listing code fragment.
 714 
 715 # Null reference, set: t == -1
 716 t=${#VarNull}-1                     # Results in minus-one.
 717 ${VarNull+ _incT }                  # Does not execute.
 718 echo $t' Null reference'
 719 
 720 # Null contents, set: t == 0
 721 t=${#VarEmpty}-1                    # Results in minus-one.
 722 ${VarEmpty+ _incT }                 # Executes.
 723 echo $t'  Null content'
 724 
 725 # Contents, set: t == (number of non-null characters)
 726 t=${#VarSomething}-1                # non-null length minus-one
 727 ${VarSomething+ _incT }             # Executes.
 728 echo $t'  Contents'
 729 
 730 # Exercise: clean up that example.
 731 unset t
 732 unset _incT
 733 
 734 # ${name?err_msg} ${name:?err_msg}
 735 #  These follow the same rules but always exit afterwards
 736 #+ if an action is specified following the question mark.
 737 #  The action following the question mark may be a literal
 738 #+ or a function result.
 739 ###
 740 #  ${name?} ${name:?} are test-only, the return can be tested.
 741 
 742 
 743 
 744 
 745 # Element operations
 746 # ------------------
 747 
 748 echo
 749 echo '- - Trailing sub-element selection - -'
 750 
 751 #  Strings, Arrays and Positional parameters
 752 
 753 #  Call this script with multiple arguments
 754 #+ to see the parameter selections.
 755 
 756 echo '- All -'
 757 echo ${VarSomething:0}              # all non-null characters
 758 echo ${ArrayVar[@]:0}               # all elements with content
 759 echo ${@:0}                         # all parameters with content;
 760                                     # ignoring parameter[0]
 761 
 762 echo
 763 echo '- All after -'
 764 echo ${VarSomething:1}              # all non-null after character[0]
 765 echo ${ArrayVar[@]:1}               # all after element[0] with content
 766 echo ${@:2}                         # all after param[1] with content
 767 
 768 echo
 769 echo '- Range after -'
 770 echo ${VarSomething:4:3}            # ral
 771                                     # Three characters after
 772                                     # character[3]
 773 
 774 echo '- Sparse array gotch -'
 775 echo ${ArrayVar[@]:1:2}     #  four - The only element with content.
 776                             #  Two elements after (if that many exist).
 777                             #  the FIRST WITH CONTENTS
 778                             #+ (the FIRST WITH  CONTENTS is being
 779                             #+ considered as if it
 780                             #+ were subscript zero).
 781 #  Executed as if Bash considers ONLY array elements with CONTENT
 782 #  printf %q "${ArrayVar[@]:0:3}"    # Try this one
 783 
 784 #  In versions 2.04, 2.05a and 2.05b,
 785 #+ Bash does not handle sparse arrays as expected using this notation.
 786 #
 787 #  The current Bash maintainer, Chet Ramey, has corrected this
 788 #+ for an upcoming version of Bash.
 789 
 790 
 791 echo '- Non-sparse array -'
 792 echo ${@:2:2}               # Two parameters following parameter[1]
 793 
 794 # New victims for string vector examples:
 795 stringZ=abcABC123ABCabc
 796 arrayZ=( abcabc ABCABC 123123 ABCABC abcabc )
 797 sparseZ=( [1]='abcabc' [3]='ABCABC' [4]='' [5]='123123' )
 798 
 799 echo
 800 echo ' - - Victim string - -'$stringZ'- - '
 801 echo ' - - Victim array - -'${arrayZ[@]}'- - '
 802 echo ' - - Sparse array - -'${sparseZ[@]}'- - '
 803 echo ' - [0]==null ref, [2]==null ref, [4]==null content - '
 804 echo ' - [1]=abcabc [3]=ABCABC [5]=123123 - '
 805 echo ' - non-null-reference count: '${#sparseZ[@]}' elements'
 806 
 807 echo
 808 echo '- - Prefix sub-element removal - -'
 809 echo '- - Glob-Pattern match must include the first character. - -'
 810 echo '- - Glob-Pattern may be a literal or a function result. - -'
 811 echo
 812 
 813 
 814 # Function returning a simple, Literal, Glob-Pattern
 815 _abc() {
 816     echo -n 'abc'
 817 }
 818 
 819 echo '- Shortest prefix -'
 820 echo ${stringZ#123}                 # Unchanged (not a prefix).
 821 echo ${stringZ#$(_abc)}             # ABC123ABCabc
 822 echo ${arrayZ[@]#abc}               # Applied to each element.
 823 
 824 # Fixed by Chet Ramey for an upcoming version of Bash.
 825 # echo ${sparseZ[@]#abc}            # Version-2.05b core dumps.
 826 
 827 # The -it would be nice- First-Subscript-Of
 828 # echo ${#sparseZ[@]#*}             # This is NOT valid Bash.
 829 
 830 echo
 831 echo '- Longest prefix -'
 832 echo ${stringZ##1*3}                # Unchanged (not a prefix)
 833 echo ${stringZ##a*C}                # abc
 834 echo ${arrayZ[@]##a*c}              # ABCABC 123123 ABCABC
 835 
 836 # Fixed by Chet Ramey for an upcoming version of Bash
 837 # echo ${sparseZ[@]##a*c}           # Version-2.05b core dumps.
 838 
 839 echo
 840 echo '- - Suffix sub-element removal - -'
 841 echo '- - Glob-Pattern match must include the last character. - -'
 842 echo '- - Glob-Pattern may be a literal or a function result. - -'
 843 echo
 844 echo '- Shortest suffix -'
 845 echo ${stringZ%1*3}                 # Unchanged (not a suffix).
 846 echo ${stringZ%$(_abc)}             # abcABC123ABC
 847 echo ${arrayZ[@]%abc}               # Applied to each element.
 848 
 849 # Fixed by Chet Ramey for an upcoming version of Bash.
 850 # echo ${sparseZ[@]%abc}            # Version-2.05b core dumps.
 851 
 852 # The -it would be nice- Last-Subscript-Of
 853 # echo ${#sparseZ[@]%*}             # This is NOT valid Bash.
 854 
 855 echo
 856 echo '- Longest suffix -'
 857 echo ${stringZ%%1*3}                # Unchanged (not a suffix)
 858 echo ${stringZ%%b*c}                # a
 859 echo ${arrayZ[@]%%b*c}              # a ABCABC 123123 ABCABC a
 860 
 861 # Fixed by Chet Ramey for an upcoming version of Bash.
 862 # echo ${sparseZ[@]%%b*c}           # Version-2.05b core dumps.
 863 
 864 echo
 865 echo '- - Sub-element replacement - -'
 866 echo '- - Sub-element at any location in string. - -'
 867 echo '- - First specification is a Glob-Pattern - -'
 868 echo '- - Glob-Pattern may be a literal or Glob-Pattern function result. - -'
 869 echo '- - Second specification may be a literal or function result. - -'
 870 echo '- - Second specification may be unspecified. Pronounce that'
 871 echo '    as: Replace-With-Nothing (Delete) - -'
 872 echo
 873 
 874 
 875 
 876 # Function returning a simple, Literal, Glob-Pattern
 877 _123() {
 878     echo -n '123'
 879 }
 880 
 881 echo '- Replace first occurrence -'
 882 echo ${stringZ/$(_123)/999}         # Changed (123 is a component).
 883 echo ${stringZ/ABC/xyz}             # xyzABC123ABCabc
 884 echo ${arrayZ[@]/ABC/xyz}           # Applied to each element.
 885 echo ${sparseZ[@]/ABC/xyz}          # Works as expected.
 886 
 887 echo
 888 echo '- Delete first occurrence -'
 889 echo ${stringZ/$(_123)/}
 890 echo ${stringZ/ABC/}
 891 echo ${arrayZ[@]/ABC/}
 892 echo ${sparseZ[@]/ABC/}
 893 
 894 #  The replacement need not be a literal,
 895 #+ since the result of a function invocation is allowed.
 896 #  This is general to all forms of replacement.
 897 echo
 898 echo '- Replace first occurrence with Result-Of -'
 899 echo ${stringZ/$(_123)/$(_simple)}  # Works as expected.
 900 echo ${arrayZ[@]/ca/$(_simple)}     # Applied to each element.
 901 echo ${sparseZ[@]/ca/$(_simple)}    # Works as expected.
 902 
 903 echo
 904 echo '- Replace all occurrences -'
 905 echo ${stringZ//[b2]/X}             # X-out b's and 2's
 906 echo ${stringZ//abc/xyz}            # xyzABC123ABCxyz
 907 echo ${arrayZ[@]//abc/xyz}          # Applied to each element.
 908 echo ${sparseZ[@]//abc/xyz}         # Works as expected.
 909 
 910 echo
 911 echo '- Delete all occurrences -'
 912 echo ${stringZ//[b2]/}
 913 echo ${stringZ//abc/}
 914 echo ${arrayZ[@]//abc/}
 915 echo ${sparseZ[@]//abc/}
 916 
 917 echo
 918 echo '- - Prefix sub-element replacement - -'
 919 echo '- - Match must include the first character. - -'
 920 echo
 921 
 922 echo '- Replace prefix occurrences -'
 923 echo ${stringZ/#[b2]/X}             # Unchanged (neither is a prefix).
 924 echo ${stringZ/#$(_abc)/XYZ}        # XYZABC123ABCabc
 925 echo ${arrayZ[@]/#abc/XYZ}          # Applied to each element.
 926 echo ${sparseZ[@]/#abc/XYZ}         # Works as expected.
 927 
 928 echo
 929 echo '- Delete prefix occurrences -'
 930 echo ${stringZ/#[b2]/}
 931 echo ${stringZ/#$(_abc)/}
 932 echo ${arrayZ[@]/#abc/}
 933 echo ${sparseZ[@]/#abc/}
 934 
 935 echo
 936 echo '- - Suffix sub-element replacement - -'
 937 echo '- - Match must include the last character. - -'
 938 echo
 939 
 940 echo '- Replace suffix occurrences -'
 941 echo ${stringZ/%[b2]/X}             # Unchanged (neither is a suffix).
 942 echo ${stringZ/%$(_abc)/XYZ}        # abcABC123ABCXYZ
 943 echo ${arrayZ[@]/%abc/XYZ}          # Applied to each element.
 944 echo ${sparseZ[@]/%abc/XYZ}         # Works as expected.
 945 
 946 echo
 947 echo '- Delete suffix occurrences -'
 948 echo ${stringZ/%[b2]/}
 949 echo ${stringZ/%$(_abc)/}
 950 echo ${arrayZ[@]/%abc/}
 951 echo ${sparseZ[@]/%abc/}
 952 
 953 echo
 954 echo '- - Special cases of null Glob-Pattern - -'
 955 echo
 956 
 957 echo '- Prefix all -'
 958 # null substring pattern means 'prefix'
 959 echo ${stringZ/#/NEW}               # NEWabcABC123ABCabc
 960 echo ${arrayZ[@]/#/NEW}             # Applied to each element.
 961 echo ${sparseZ[@]/#/NEW}            # Applied to null-content also.
 962                                     # That seems reasonable.
 963 
 964 echo
 965 echo '- Suffix all -'
 966 # null substring pattern means 'suffix'
 967 echo ${stringZ/%/NEW}               # abcABC123ABCabcNEW
 968 echo ${arrayZ[@]/%/NEW}             # Applied to each element.
 969 echo ${sparseZ[@]/%/NEW}            # Applied to null-content also.
 970                                     # That seems reasonable.
 971 
 972 echo
 973 echo '- - Special case For-Each Glob-Pattern - -'
 974 echo '- - - - This is a nice-to-have dream - - - -'
 975 echo
 976 
 977 _GenFunc() {
 978     echo -n ${0}                    # Illustration only.
 979     # Actually, that would be an arbitrary computation.
 980 }
 981 
 982 # All occurrences, matching the AnyThing pattern.
 983 # Currently //*/ does not match null-content nor null-reference.
 984 # /#/ and /%/ does match null-content but not null-reference.
 985 echo ${sparseZ[@]//*/$(_GenFunc)}
 986 
 987 
 988 #  A possible syntax would be to make
 989 #+ the parameter notation used within this construct mean:
 990 #   ${1} - The full element
 991 #   ${2} - The prefix, if any, to the matched sub-element
 992 #   ${3} - The matched sub-element
 993 #   ${4} - The suffix, if any, to the matched sub-element
 994 #
 995 # echo ${sparseZ[@]//*/$(_GenFunc ${3})}   # Same as ${1} here.
 996 # Perhaps it will be implemented in a future version of Bash.
 997 
 998 
 999 exit 0