Understanding on

This is a special type ofblockof text or code. It is also a <indexentry content=”<special form of I/O redirection. It can be used to feed the command list to an interactive program.

The syntax of the usage of theheredocument or the<<operator is as follows:

command << HEREtext1 .....text 2....HERE

This tells the shell that the command should receive the data from a current source, such as the here document, until the pattern is received. In this case, the pattern is HERE. We have used the delimiter, HERE. We can use any other word as the delimiter, such as quit or finish. All the text reads up to the pattern, or the HERE text is used as an input for a command. The text or file received by the command is called the Here document:

$ cat << QUIT> first input line> ...> last input line> QUIT

The block of text inserted after and beforeQUITwill be treated as a file. This content will be given as input to thecatcommand. We will also see more examples with various other commands, such assort,wc, and similar.

Let’s write the scripthere_01.sh:

here_01.sh

#!/bin/bash 
cat << quit 
  Command is $0 
  First Argument is $1 
  Second Argument is $2 
quit 

Save the file, give execute permissions, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod here_01.sh
$ ./here_01.sh Monday Tuesday

Output:

Command is here_01.sh  First Argument is Monday  Second Argument is Tuesday

The text block created in the preceding script between thequitwords is called theheredocument. We can treat thisheredocument as aseparatedocument. It can also be treated as multiple line input redirected to a Shell script.

Let’s learn a few more sample programs.

The here operator with the sort command

Let’s write a script for using the sort command along with the here document:

• Write the scripthere_02.shas follows:

here_02.sh

#!/bin/bash 
sort << EOF 
cherry 
mango 
apple 
banana 
EOF 

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_02.sh
$ ./here_02.sh

• The output ishere:

Output:

applebananacherrymango

In this script, the here document is enclosed between the EOF pattern. We have used the here document to supply text to the sort command.

The here operator with the wc command

Let’s write a script for using the wc command along with the here document:

• Create a Shell script, here_03.sh:

here_03.sh

#!/bin/bash 
wc -w << EOF 
There was major earthquake 
On April 25, 2015 
in Nepal. 
There was huge loss of human life in this tragic event. 
EOF

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_03.sh
$ ./here_03.sh

• The output is here:

Output:

21

In this script, we have used the here document as an input for the wc command to calculate the number of words:

Tape backup using << here operator

Let’s write a script for taking the tape backup by using the tar command and the here document:

• Let’s write the scripthere_04.sh:

here_04.sh

#!/bin/bash 
# We have used tar utility for archiving home folder on tape 
tar -cvf /dev/st0 /home/student 2>/dev/null 
 
# store status of tar operation in variable status 
[ $? -eq 0 ] & status="Success" || status="Failed" 
 
# Send email to administrator 
mail -s 'Backup status' ganesh@levanatech.com << End_Of_Message 
The backup job finished. 
End date: $(date) 
Status : $status 
End_Of_Message

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_04.sh
$ ./here_04.sh

This script uses the tar command to archive the home folder in the tape device, and then it sends mail to an administrator using the mail command. We have used the here document to feed data into the mail command.

The utility ed and here operator

The ed utility is a basic type of editor. We can edit text files using this editor:

• Write the scripthere_05.sh:

here_05.sh

#!/bin/bash 
# flowers.txt contains the name of flowers 
cat flowers.txt 
ed flowers.txt << quit 
,s/Rose/Lily/g 
w 
q 
quit 
cat flowers.txt 

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_05.sh
$ ./here_05.sh

• The output is here:

Output:

Aster, Daffodil, Daisy, Jasmin, Lavender, Rose, Sunflower
 59
 59
 Aster, Daffodil, Daisy, Jasmin, Lavender, Lily, Sunflower

In this script, we have passed the here document to a utility for editing the flowers.txt file. We replaced the word Rose with Lily

A script for sending messages to all logged-in users

All users who are logged in will receive the message using the wall command:

• Write the scripthere_06.sh:

here_06.sh

#!/bin/bash 
# wall utility is used for sending message to all logged in users 
wall << End_Of_Message 
Tomorrow, on Friday evening, we will be celebrating 
Birthday of few of our colleagues. 
All are requested to be present in cafeteria by 3.30 PM. 
    John 
End_Of_Message 
echo "Message sent"

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_06.sh
$ ./here_06.sh

The wall command is used to send messages to the logged-in users. All users that are logged in will receive the message.

Using the << here operator for FTP usage and data transfer

FTP is a commonly used <indexentry content=”here document:<protocol to transfer data on websites. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. The following steps show the <indexentry content=”here document:<usage of FTP and data transfer:

• Write thehere_07.shscript:

here_07.sh

#!/bin/bash 
# Checking number of arguments passed along with command 
if [ $# -lt 2 ] 
then 
  echo "Error, usage is:" 
  echo "ftpget hostname filename [directory]." 
  exit -1 
fi 
hostname=$1 
filename=$2 
directory="."        # Default value 
if [ $# -ge 3 ] 
then 
  directory=$3 
fi 
ftp << End_Of_Session 
open $hostname 
cd $directory 
get $filename 
quit 
End_Of_Session 
echo "FTP session ended."

• Save the file, give the permission to execute, and run the script as follows:

$ chmod u+x here_07.sh
$ ./here_07.sh ftp.somehost.com index.html WWW

For a successful execution of the script, we need to set up an autologin for the ftp command. The here operator does not work well when the ftp command asks for a username and password.

Turning offvariable substitution

Enter the following script to see how to avoid a variable substitution in these files:

• Save the script under the namehere_no.sh, shown as follows:

here_no.sh

filename="test1" 
cat <<'Quoted_End_Marker' 
When we add quotes before and after here 
Document marker, we can include variables 
Such as $USER, $PATH, $name and similar 
Quoted_End_Marker

• When you run this script, you will see output like the following:

$ bash here_no.sh

• Here is the output:

Output:

When we add quotes before and after here 
Document marker, we can include variables 
Such as $USER, $PATH, $name and similar

This script uses an ordinary here file, but it turns off the variable substitution. Otherwise, you would see the values of $HOME, $filename, and $USER in the output instead of the literal text. All of this is done by magically enclosing the end marker, Quoted_End_Marker, in quotes at the original reference. Do not enclose the marker in quotes at the end of the here file.