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What is a bash script

Jean-Michel Gigault edited this page Jan 26, 2015 · 21 revisions

A bash script is a simple file that contains ASCII text intended to be interpreted by the program bash, allowing you to run a logical sequence of commands by calling a simple line command instead of typing them one at a time in the shell.

The first line of a script should always tell the shell which program should interpret it:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World, I am a 42 student!"

In this case, the script should be interpreted by /bin/bash and say Hello when it is invoked. To invoke the script, you can type sh scriptname or - in a better way - make it executable with a chmod:

[shell prompt]$ chmod 755 scriptname
[shell prompt]$ ./scriptname

Add your commands one at a line in the script file and call external programs as you do in the shell. Bash has a lot of builtin functions and enables you to write some real applications with variables, conditions, loops, functions...

Info: 42FileChecker does not support the recommended way to execute a bash script by making it executable with a chmod because any change made on a file of the project will automatically display a warning message at launch to tell the user that the local version differs with the remote one.