You can easily automate the process of running many Linux commands so that you can run several commands at once – by creating and “running” a Linux script.
With a Linux script, you can take a series of routinely run commands, put them in a file and then run all of them at once by simply typing in the name of the file and pressing Enter.
A Linux script is similar in concept to a “macro” that you can create with some word processing, spreadsheet, and other software program – and scripts are very commonly used to do Linux System Administration tasks.
Linux Commands Training Tips: Using Linux scripts to automate commands is being describe here to demonstrate why you shouldn’t use Linux GUI utilities (unless you absolutely have to) – and to demonstrate another one of the great benefits of learning how to use commands – and to give you a “sneak preview” of how to create and run a script.
Creating a Linux Script to Automatically Run Several Linux Commands
A Linux text file is just a file that contains text (only) and does not have any formatting codes in it, such as bold and underline codes.
And a Linux “script” is a text file that has been made “executable” (so that it can be run, or “executed”), in the same way as you run a Linux command. You run the Linux chmod command “on” a text file that contains commands to make the text file executable.
A script contains a single line of text at the top (just this: #!/bin/bash) and then one or more lines below of commands that you need to have run automatically.
A script can also contain programming logic, and so creating a script is a type of Linux programming. Linux script programming logic, such as “if .. then” statements”, is used to determine if and when the commands in the script should be run.
A Linux script can be as simple as running a single command – or a script can be very complicated and include hundreds of lines of programming logic with hundreds of commands.
Linux Commands Training Tips: One of the great benefits of learning to use commands for Linux System Administration is that you can easily put commands in a script to automate routinely performed commands.
This allows you to do routine “basic” tasks and also do very complex Linux System Administration tasks – quickly and easily by simply typing in the name of a script and pressing Enter.
Knowing how to create Linux scripts to automate routine Linux System Administration tasks is a highly sought-after skill!
