This page shows various steps to write and execute a shell script in Linux using the Terminal window or app.
Steps to execute a shell script in Linux
The procedure is as follows:
- Create a new file called demo.sh using a text editor such as nano or vi in Linux: nano demo.sh
- Add the following code:
#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World" - Set the script executable permission by running chmod command in Linux: chmod +x demo.sh
- Execute a shell script in Linux: ./demo.sh
Let us see all steps in details.
Step 1 – Open the terminal
To write a shell script, open the terminal app. Hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt+T:
Step 2 – Write the shell script using an editor
Type the following command to write a shell script:
nano demo.sh
OR
vi demo.sh
Creating your first shell script named demo.sh
#!/bin/bash # My first shell script echo "Hello $USER" echo "Today is $(date)" echo "Bye for now"
To Save and close the file in nano press CTRL+X and when prompted choose Y (Yes) to save the file and followed by the Enter key:
Writing your first shell script
Step 3 – Make the shell script executable
Let us verify newly created file, run [nicmd name=”ls”] and cat command:
ls -l demo.sh
cat demo.sh
To set executable permission, run the following chmod command:
chmod +x demo.sh
Verify permissions:
ls -l demo.sh
Give execute permission to your script on Linux
Step 4 – Execute the shell script in Linux
Now we have shell script named demo.sh. But, how do you run it? Try:
./demo.sh
The . refers to the current directory. Another option is to specify the full path:
/path/to/demo.sh
/home/vivek/demo.sh
~/demo.sh
Executing a shell script in Linux
Conclusion
For more info see Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial and bash command man page:
man bash
help read
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How do you execute .sh in Linux?
Give execute permission to the script:
chmod +x /path/to/script.sh
To run your script:
/path/to/script.sh
./script.sh