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help with scripting a simple menu

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Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting help with scripting a simple menu
# 1  
Old 06-06-2009
help with scripting a simple menu
Hi there. I'm trying to teach myself UNIX but the book I bought is a bit confusing. I'm trying out this exercise and I think I'm on the right track, but I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to improve what I have so far. Also, I'm not clear on how to use the read command to utilize the user's input (#'s 4-7). I appreciate your help!

Code:
 
#!/bin/bash
while:
do
clear
# Display menu
echo
echo  "*************************************************************"    
echo  "Please choose from the following options; type the" 
echo  "option number and hit the <Enter> key."
echo
echo  "   1) To list names of the files in the current DIR"
echo  "   2) Display today's date and time"
echo  "   3) Display a sorted list of people currently logged on"
echo  "   4) Display whether a file is a file or a DIR"
echo  "   5) Create a backup for a file"
echo  "   6) Find a user by First of Last name in /etc/passwd file"
echo  "   7) Find the manual pages for a specific command"
echo  "   8) Exit"
echo
echo  "*************************************************************"  
 
read option
 
case "$option" in 
    1)    echo "The files in the current DIR are: " 
          ls -l 
          echo "Hit <Enter> to continue." 
          read ignore 
          ;; 
 
    2)    echo "The current date is: " 
          date 
          unset date 
          echo "Hit <Enter> to continue." 
          read ignore 
          ;; 
 
    3)    echo "The following is a list of the academic scholars" 
          echo "currently logged in:" 
          who | cut -d " " -f1 | sort     
          echo "Hit <Enter> to continue." 
          read ignore 
          ;; 
 
    4)    echo "Enter file to determine whether a "simple" file or a" 
          echo "directory:" 
 
    5)    echo "Enter the file you would like to create a backup for:" 
 
 
    6)    echo "Enter user's first or last name:" 
 
 
    7)    echo "Enter command for which you would like the manual:" 
 
 
    8)    echo "Thank You for using Skynet" 
          echo "Remember: Skynet is the Future" 
          sleep 1.5 
          clear 
          exit 0 
          ;; 
 
    *)   echo "Invalid option; try running the program again." 
         exit 1 
         ;;    
 
esac
 
done.
 
exit 0

# 2  
Old 06-06-2009
Are you sure its not homework??SmilieSmilie
hmmm anyways
read <varname>
the <varname> will store whatever entered from Standard I/O
you can use $<varname> where ever you want
# 3  
Old 06-06-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by vidyadhar85
Are you sure its not homework??SmilieSmilie
hmmm anyways
read <varname>
the <varname> will store whatever entered from Standard I/O
you can use $<varname> where ever you want
Not homework I swear! I'm 32 years old and only got my first computer ever last year. Before that the most I had ever done with one is clock in and out of my old warehouse job.
# 4  
Old 06-06-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jsmith
... Also, I'm not clear on how to use the read command to utilize the user's input (#'s 4-7).
...
You show a prompt to the user if they choose 4 through 7 from the menu. You will need to capture the response of that prompt again, and run the relevant command - "cp" for backup, "grep" for /etc/passwd lookup, "man" for display of manual page etc. Also, you can perform a couple of file tests to determine if the input value in #4 is a regular file or a directory or something else.
In the command pipeline of #3, you may want to use "sort -u" to display unique users, since the same user can be displayed more than once in the output of "who" command.

I've tweaked your script a bit, incorporating these suggestions -

Code:
$                                                            
$ cat menu.sh                                                
#!/bin/bash                                                  
#set -vx                                                     

while :
do     
  clear
  # Display menu
  echo          
  echo  "*************************************************************"
  echo  "Please choose from the following options; type the"           
  echo  "option number and hit the <Enter> key."                       
  echo                                                                 
  echo  "   1) To list names of the files in the current DIR"          
  echo  "   2) Display today's date and time"                          
  echo  "   3) Display a sorted list of people currently logged on"    
  echo  "   4) Display whether a file is a file or a DIR"              
  echo  "   5) Create a backup for a file"                             
  echo  "   6) Find a user by First of Last name in /etc/passwd file"  
  echo  "   7) Find the manual pages for a specific command"           
  echo  "   8) Exit"                                                   
  echo                                                                 
  echo  "*************************************************************"
  read option                                                          
  case "$option" in                                                    
      1)    echo "The files in the current DIR are: "                  
            ls -l                                                      
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."                            
            read ignore                                                
            ;;                                                         
      2)    echo "The current date is: "                               
            date                                                       
            unset date                                                 
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."                            
            read ignore                                                
            ;;                                                         
      3)    echo "The following is a list of the academic scholars"    
            echo "currently logged in:"                                
            who | cut -d " " -f1 | sort -u                             
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."                            
            read ignore                                                
            ;;                                                         
      4)    echo "Enter file to determine whether a simple file or a directory:"
            read fdname                                                         
            if [ ! -e $fdname ]; then                                           
              echo "$fdname does not exist."                                    
            elif [ -d $fdname ]; then                                           
              echo "$fdname is a directory."                                    
            elif [ -f $fdname ]; then                                           
              echo "$fdname is a regular file."                                 
            else                                                                
              echo "$fdname is something else."                                 
            fi                                                                  
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."                                     
            read ignore                                                         
            ;;                                                                  
      5)    echo "Enter the file you would like to create a backup for:"        
            read fname                                                          
            if [ ! -e $fname ]; then                                            
              echo "$fname does not exist."                                     
            elif [ ! -f $fname ]; then                                          
              echo "$fname is not a regular file."                              
            else                                                                
              cp "$fname" "$fname.bkp"                                          
              echo "Created backup $fname.bkp for $fname"
            fi
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."
            read ignore
            ;;
      6)    echo "Enter user's first or last name:"
            read flname
            grep $flname /etc/passwd
            if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
              echo "Sorry, $flname was not found in /etc/passwd"
            fi
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."
            read ignore
            ;;
      7)    echo "Enter command for which you would like the manual:"
            read cmd
            man $cmd
            echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."
            read ignore
            ;;
      8)    echo "Thank You for using Skynet"
            echo "Remember: Skynet is the Future"
            sleep 1.5
            break
            ;;
      *)   echo "Invalid option; valid ones are from 1 to 8"
           echo "Hit <Enter> to continue."
           read ignore
           ;;
  esac
done

$
$

Hope that helps,
tyler_durden
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