UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I've got a disorganized list of items and quantities for each. I've been using a combination of grep and sort to find out how much to buy of each item. I'm tired of having to constantly using these commands so I've been trying to write a shell script to make it easier, but I can't figure out how to start.

For example, if my list is like this:

Code:

1. Cups 50
2. Forks 25
3. Spoons 25
.
.
.
15. Plates 50

I want to be able to make some command like "find_item 50" so I know which items require at least 50. I've been trying to learn UNIX on my own, but this scripting stuff is really difficult. Thanks everyone for your help.

Have you tried something like:

Code:

awk '$NF>=n' n=50 file

I'm not too familiar with awk, but it still seems like I have to type this command and change the "n=" part every time. I'm really trying to learn how to make a shell script for my files so all I have to do is run the command plus a number. For example, after writing the shell script, I want to type "Items 25" to find items that I need 25 of, "Items 40" to find items that I need 40 of, etc.

Inside a shell script "$1" refers to the first command line parameter, so it would contain the number if the scriipt was executed correctly. So after checking whether the number was used correctly by whoever calls the script, you could either use something like my awk suggestion, or use a while read loop.

Code:

while read variables(s) 
do
  process variables
done < file

There are many examples on these forums..