Lab 6 Exploring the Bash Shell

Sequence 1: Directory and file organization

1. Log in as user student with the password student.

2. [student@stationX ~]$ pwd

/home/student

3. [student@stationX ~]$ touch {report,memo,graph}_{sep,oct,nov,dec}_{a,b,c}_{1,2,3}

4. Use the ls command to examine the results of the last command. You should find that it

created 108 new, empty files

5. [student@stationX ~]$ mkdir a_reports

[student@stationX ~]$ mkdir september october november december

Again, use ls to examine your work.

6. [student@stationX ~]$ cd a_reports

[student@stationX a_reports]$ mkdir one two three

ls

7. [student@stationX a_reports]$ cd

[student@stationX ~]$ ls -l *dec_b_?

[student@stationX ~]$ mv graph_dec_b_1 december/

[student@stationX ~]$ mv *dec_b_? december/

[student@stationX ~]$ ls -l december/

8. [student@stationX ~]$ mv *nov_b_? november/

[student@stationX ~]$ mv *oct_b_? october/

[student@stationX ~]$ mv *sep_b_? september/

9. [student@stationX ~]$ cd a_reports

[student@stationX a_reports]$ mv ~/*_a_1 one/

[student@stationX a_reports]$ cd one

[student@stationX one]$ ls *sep*

[student@stationX one]$ rm *sep*

[student@stationX one]$ ls

10. [student@stationX one]$ pwd

/home/student/a_reports/one

[student@stationX one]$ ls /home/student/*a_2*

[student@stationX one]$ mv /home/student/*a_2* /home/student/a_reports/two/

[student@stationX one]$ ls ../../*a_3*

[student@stationX one]$ mv ../../*a_3* ../three/

11. [student@stationX one]$ cd

ls

12. [student@stationX ~]$ mkdir /tmp/archive

[student@stationX ~]$ cp report*[12] /tmp/archive/

[student@stationX ~]$ cp -i report_dec* /tmp/archive/

cp: overwrite `/tmp/archive/report_dec_c_1'? n

cp: overwrite `/tmp/archive/report_dec_c_2'? n

13. [student@stationX ~]$ ls *c*

[student@stationX ~]$ ls -Fd *c*

14. [student@stationX ~]$ ls *c_[1-3]

[student@stationX ~]$ rm *c_[1-3]

[student@stationX ~]$ ls

Sequence 2: Automating tasks with shell scripts

1. Consider the command:

cp -av /etc/sysconfig ~/backups/sysconfig-yyyymmdd

2. man date

/format

date '+%Y%m%d'

3. [root@stationX ~]# mkdir ~/bin/

4. Use nano or vi, ~/bin/backupsysconfig.sh

#!/bin/bash

# This script creates a backup of /etc/sysconfig

# into a datestamped subdirectory of ~/backups/

5. add a line

cp -av /etc/sysconfig ~/backups/sysconfig-$(date '+%Y%m%d')

6. Finally, add a line

echo "Backup of /etc/sysconfig completed at: $(date)"

7. Save the file.

#!/bin/bash

# This script creates a backup of /etc/sysconfig

# into a datestamped subdirectory of ~/backups/

cp -av /etc/sysconfig ~/backups/sysconfig-$(date '+%Y%m%d')

echo "Backup of /etc/sysconfig completed at: $(date)"

8. remove today's datestamp

[root@stationX ~]# rm -rf ~/backups/sysconfig-$(date '+%Y%m%d')

9. [root@stationX ~]# chmod u+x ~/bin/backup-sysconfig.sh

10. [root@stationX ~]# ~/bin/backup-sysconfig.sh

11. If you have problems, double-check your script and try using bash -x in your shbang for

diagnostic output.