Simple Bash Shell Program

frankblack · 02-14-2003, 10:01 PM

Help- I am up the proverbial creek without a paddle!

I need to write a "simple" bash shell program that will add a Last name, First name, and phone number to a file (named phone_dir) from the command line...(all three values should be added at once with a space between them) I should be able to add new entries by appending to this file. (I guess it would be a nice feature if the program also checked for duplicate phone numbers)

I haven't got a clue where to start since I am Linux-challenged.

Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

2damncommon · 02-14-2003, 10:16 PM

I only do basic shell scripting myself.
You start any bash shell script with:
#!/bin/bash

You enter commands just like you would on the command line one by one.
You save the file by whatever name you want to execute it by, and do a:
chmod +x
(as root to make it seem like a system wide application.)

Instead of using ">" to redirect to a file, use ">>" to apend to a file.

Good Luck

crichards · 02-14-2003, 11:59 PM

This is a pretty simple program. You could easily add features, but the only command you need is echo.

Yes, echo.

Make a shell script with the following:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# $1 = first name
# $2 = last name
# $3 = phone number

echo "$1 $2 $3"

On the command line, type...

filename firstname lastname phonenumber >> phone_dir

You shouldn't use a shell script for this. Its not needed.

If you want to check for repeated phone numbers, read the man pages on uniq and sort.

Also, there is a great guide (The Advanced Bash Scripting Guide) on www.tldp.org

There Is More Than One Way To Do It.