Monday, April 23, 2012

Bash C Style For Loop Example and Syntax

How do I use the bash C style for loop under UNIX or Linux operating systems?

The bash C-style for loop share a common heritage with the C programming language. It is characterized by a three-parameter loop control expression; consisting of an initializer (EXP1), a loop-test or condition (EXP2), and a counting expression (EXP3). The syntax is as follows:
 
for (( EXP1; EXP2; EXP3 ))
do
shell-command-1
shell-command-2
done
 

Bash C-Style Example

#!/bin/bash
# Display message 5 times
for ((i = 0 ; i < 5 ; i++)); do
echo "Welcome $i times."
done
 
Sample outputs:
Welcome 0 times.
Welcome 1 times.
Welcome 2 times.
Welcome 3 times.
Welcome 4 times.

Read An Array Using C Style For Loop

Bash provides one-dimensional array variables. An array is created automatically using the following compound assignments syntax:
array=( item1 item2 item3 ... itemN)
You can read an array using for loop as follows:
 
#!/bin/bash
# define an array called fruits
fruits=("Apple" "Mango" "Pineapple" "Banana" "Orange" "Papaya" "Watermelon")
len=${#fruits[*]} # get total elements in an array
 
# print it
for (( i=0; i<${len}; i++ ));
do
echo "${fruits[$i]}"
done
 
Here is another practical example that generates lighttpd web server configuration file to log real IP address of the visitors:
#!/bin/bash
_frontend_proxy_lan_ips=("10.10.29.72" "10.10.29.71" "10.10.29.70" "10.10.29.69" "10.10.29.68")
t="/tmp/lighttpd.backend.conf.$$"
at=${#_frontend_proxy_lan_ips[*]} # get total elements in an array
s=""
 
echo '### Log real client ips on all backends ###' >"$t"
echo 'server.modules += ( "mod_extforward" )' >>"$t"
echo 'extforward.headers = ("X-Forwarded-For")' >>"$t"
echo 'extforward.forwarder = (' >>"$t"
 
# For loop
for (( i=0; i<${at}; i++ ));
do
[ $i -lt $(( $at - 1 )) ] && s="," || s="" # remove , for last item in an array
echo " \"${_frontend_proxy_lan_ips[$i]}\" => \"trust\"${s} " >>"$t"
done
 
echo ')' >>"$t"
 
# Copy it
cp -f "$t" /etc/lighttpd/
 
# remove temp file
[ -f "$t" ] && rm -f "$t"
 
Sample outputs (sample config file generated by above script):
 
### Log real client ips on all backends ###
server.modules += ( "mod_extforward" )
extforward.headers = ("X-Forwarded-For")
extforward.forwarder = (
"10.10.29.72" => "trust",
"10.10.29.71" => "trust",
"10.10.29.70" => "trust",
"10.10.29.69" => "trust",
"10.10.29.68" => "trust"
)
 

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