Organize code in unix bash scripting

Question

I am used to object oriented programming. Now, I have just started learning unix bash scripting via linux.

I have a unix script with me. I wanted to break it down into "modules" or preferably programs similar to "more", "ls", etc., and then use pipes to link all my programs together. E.g., "some input" myProg1 | myProg2 | myProg3.

I want to organize my code and make it look neater, instead of all in one script. Also, it will be easy to do testing and development.

Is it possible to do this, especially as a newbie ?

Answer 1

There are a few things you could take a look at, for example the usage of aliases in bash and storing them in either bashrc or a seperate file called by bashrc

that will make running commands easier..

take a look here for expanding commands into aliases (simple aliases are easy)

You can also look into using functions in your code (lots of bash scripts in above link's home folder to make sense of functions browse this site :) which has much better examples...

Take a look here for some piping tails into script pipe tail output into another script

The thing with bash is its flexibility, so for example if something starts to get too messy for bash you could always write a perl/Java any lang and then call this from within your bash script, capture its output and do something else..

Unsure why all the pipes anyways here is something that may be of help:

./example.sh 20
function one starts with 20
In function 2 20 + 10 = 30
Function three returns 10 + 10 = 40
------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------
Local function variables global:
Result2: 30 - Result3: 40 - value2: 10 - value1: 20

The script:

example.sh

#!/bin/bash

input=$1;

source ./shared.sh

one

echo "------------------------------------------------"



echo "------------------------------------------------"
echo "Local function variables global:"
echo "Result2: $result2 - Result3: $result3 - value2: $value2 - value1: $value1"

shared.sh

function one() {
        value1=$input
        echo "function one starts with $value1"
        two;
}

function two() {
        value2=10;
        result2=$(expr $value1 + $value2)
        echo "In function 2 $value1 + $value2 = $result2"
        three;
}
function three()  {
        local value3=10;
        result3=$(expr $value2 + $result2;)
        echo "Function three returns $value2 + $value3 = $result3"
}

I think the pipes you mean can actually be functions and each function can call one another.. and then you give the script the value which it passes through the functions..

bash is pretty flexible about passing values around, so long as the function being called before has the variable the next function being called by it can reuse it or it can be called from main program

I also split out the functions which can be sourced by another script to carry out the same functions

E2A Thanks for the upvote, I have also decided to include this link

http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/sample-bashrc.html

There is an awesome .bashrc to be reused, it has a lot of functions which will also give some insight into how to simplify a lot of daily repetitive commands such as that require piping, an alias can be written to do all of them for you..

Answer 2

You can do one thing. Just as a C program can be divided into a header file and a source file for reducing complexity, you can divide your bash script into two scripts - a header and a main script but with some differences.

Header file - This will contain all the common variables defined and functions defined which will be used by your main script.

Your script - This will only contain function calls and other logic.You need to use "source <"header-file path">" in your script at starting to get all the functions and variables declared in the header available to your script.

Answer 3

Shell scripts have standard input and output like any other program on Unix, so you can use them in pipes. Splitting your scripts is a good solution because you can later use them in pipes with other commands.

I organize my Bash projects in the following way :

• Each command is put in its own file
• Reusable functions are kept in a library file which is just a classic script with only functions
• All files are in the same directory, so commands can find the library with $(dirname $0)/library
• Configuration is stored in another file as environment variables

To keep things clear, you should not use global variables to communicate between functions and main program.

I prepare a template for scripts with the following parts prepared :

• Header with name and copyright
• Read configuration with source
• Load library with source
• Check parameters
• Function to display help, which is called if asked for or if parameters are wrong

My best advice is : always write the help function, as the next person who will need it is ... yourself !

To install your project you simply copy all files, and explain what to configure in the configuration file.