1

INDEX

S.No Contents Page No.

2
1 Lab Objective

3
2 Introduction About Lab

5
3 Guidelines to Students

7
4 List of Syllabus Programs (JNTU)

10
5 Description about UNIX commands

20
6 Discription about shells

22
6 Solutions for Programs

35
7 Viva Questions and Answers

55
8 References
 2

LAB OBJECTIVE

Upon successful completion of this Lab the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate how to use the following Bourne Shell commands: cat, grep, ls, more,
ps, chmod, finger, ftp, etc.

2. Use the following Bourne Shell constructs: test, if then, if then else, if then elif, for,
while, until, and case.
3. Learn tracing mechanisms (for debugging), user variables, BourneShell variables,
read-only variables, positional parameters, reading input to a BourneShell script,
command substitution, comments, and exporting variables. In addition, test on
numeric values, test on file type, and test on character strings are covered.
4. Copy, move, and delete files and directories
5. Write moderately complex Shell scripts.

6. Make a Shell script executable.

7. Create a ".profile" script to customize the user environment.

8. Use advanced features of File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

9. Compile source code into object and executable modules.

10. Execute programs written in c under UNIX environment

 3

INTRODUCTION ABOUT LAB

There are 66 systems ( Compaq Presario ) installed in this Lab.

Their configurations are as follows :

Processor : AMD Athelon ™ 1.67 GHz

RAM : 256 MB

Hard Disk : 40 GB

Mouse : Optical Mouse

Network Interface card : Present

Software

 All systems are configured in DUAL BOOT mode i.e, Students can boot from
Windows XP or Linux as per their lab requirement.

This is very useful for students because they are familiar with different
Operating Systems so that they can execute their programs in different
programming environments.

 Each student has a separate login for database access

Oracle 9i client version is installed in all systems. On the server, account for each
student has been created.

This is very useful because students can save their work ( scenarios’,
pl/sql programs, data related projects ,etc) in their own accounts. Each student
work is safe and secure from other students.

 Latest Technologies like DOT NET and J2EE are installed in some
systems. Before submitting their final project, they can start doing mini
project from 2nd year onwards.
 4

 MASM ( Macro Assembler ) is installed in all the systems

Students can execute their assembly language programs using MASM.

MASM is very useful students because when they execute their programs
they can see contents of Processor Registers and how each instruction is
being executed in the CPU.

 Rational Rose Software is installed in some systems

Using this software, students can depict UML diagrams of their

projects.

 Softwares installed : C, C++, JDK1.5, MASM, OFFICE-XP, J2EE and

DOT NET, Rational Rose.

 Systems are provided for students in the 1:1 ratio.

 Systems are assigned numbers and same system is allotted for students when they
do the lab.
 5

Guidelines to Students

How to Run Shell Scripts

There are two ways you can execute your shell scripts. Once you have created a script
file:

Method 1
Pass the file as an argument to the shell that you want to interpret your script.

Step 1 : create the script using vi, ex or ed

For example, the script file show has the following lines

echo Here is the date and time

date

Step 2 : To run the script, pass the filename as an argument to the sh (shell )

$ sh show
Here is the date and time
Sat jun 03 13:40:15 PST 2006

Method 2:
Make your script executable using the chmod command.

When we create a file, by default it is created with read and write permission turned on
and execute permission turned off. A file can be made executable using chmod.

Step 1 : create the script using vi, ex or ed

For example, the script file show has the following lines

echo Here is the date and time

date

Step 2 : Make the file executable

 6

$ chmod u+x script_file

$ chmod u+x show

Step 3 : To run the script, just type the filename

$ show
Here is the date and time
Sat jun 03 13:40:15 PST 2006

How to run C programs

Step 1 : Use an editor, such as vi, ex, or ed to write the program. The name of the file
containing the program should end in .c.

For example, the file show.c contains the following lines :

main()
{
printf(“ welcome to GNEC “);
}

Step 2 : Submit the file to CC ( the C Compiler )

$ cc show.c

If the program is okay, the compiled version is placed in a file called a.out

Step 3 : To run the program, type a.out

$ a.out

Welcome to GNEC
 7

List of Lab Exercises

Syllabus Programs ( JNTU )

WEEK1
Session 1

1. Log in to the system

2. Use Vi editor to create a file called myfile.txt which contain some text.
3. Correct typing errors during creation
4. Save the file
5. Logout of the file

Session 2

a) Log into the system

b) Open the file created in session 1
c) Add some text
d) Change some text
e) delete some text
f) Save the changes
g) Logout of the system

WEEK2

a) log into the system

b) Use the cat command to create a file containing the following data. Call it
mutable use tabs to separate the fields
1425 ravi 15.65
4320 ramu 26.27
6830 sita 36.15
1450 raju 21.86
c) use the cat command to display the file, my table
d) use the vi command to correct any errors in the file, my table
e) use the sort command to sort the file my table according to the first field. Call the
sorted file my table(same name)
f) print the file my table
g) use the cut & paste commands to swap fields 2 and 3 my table. Call it
mytable(same name)
h) print the new file, my table
i) logout of the system
 8

WEEK3

a) log in the system

b) use the appropriate commands to determine ur login shell
c) use the /etc/passwd file to verify the result of step b.
d) use the who command redirect the result to a file called myfile1.Use the more
command to see the contents of myfile1.
e) Use the date and who commands in sequence ?(in one line) such that the output of
date will display on the screen and the output of who will be redirected to a file
called my file2.Use the more command to check the contents of myfile2.
a) write a sed command that deletes the first character in each line in a file
b) write a sed command that deletes the character before the last character in each
line in a file.
c) Write a sed command that swaps the files and second words in each line in a file

WEEK4

a) pipe ur /etc/passwd file to awk and print out the home directory of each user.
b) Develop an interactive grep script that asks for a word and a file name and then
tells how many lines contain that word
c) Repeat
d) Part using awk

WEEK5

a) Write A shell script that takes a command –line argument and reports on whether it is
directry ,a file,or something else
b) Write a shell script that accepts one or more file name as a arguments and converts all
of thenm to uppercase,provided they exits in the current directory
c) Write a shell script that determines the period for which a specified user is working on
the system

WEEK6

a) write a shell script that accepts a file name starting and ending line numbers as
arguments and displays all the lines between the given line numbers
b) write a shell script that deletes all lines containing a specified word I one or more
files supplied as arguments to it.

WEEK7

a) Write a shell script that computes the gross salary of a employee according to the
following

1) if basic salary is <1500 then HRA 10% of the basic and DA =90% of the basic
 9

2) if basic salary is >1500 then HRA 500 and DA =98% of the basic
The basic salary is entered interactively through the key board

b) Write a shell script that accepts two integers as its arguments and computes the
value of first number raised to the power of the second number

WEEK 8

a) Write an interactive file handling shell program. Let it offer the user the choice of
copying ,removing ,renaming or linking files. Once the use has made a choice,
have the program ask the user for necessary information, such as the file name
,new name and so on.
b) Write a shell script that takes a login name as command –line argument and
reports when that person logs in
c) Write a shell script which receives two files names as arguments. It should check
whether the two file contents are same or not. If they are same then second file
should be deleted.

WEEK 9

a) Write a shell script that displays a list of all files in the current directory to which
the user has read write and execute permissions
b) Develop an interactive script that asks for a word and file name and then tells how
many times that word occurred in the file.
c) Write a shell script to perform the following string operations.

1) To extract a sub string from a given string

2) To find the length of a given string

WEEK 10

Write a C program that takes one or more file or directory names as command line input
and reports the following information on the file.
1) file type
2) number of links
3) read, write and execute permissions
4) time of last access

(Note: use /fstat system calls)

WEEK 11

Write C program that simulate the following unix commands

a) mv
b) cp
 10

WEEK 12

Write a c program that simulates ls command

(Use system calls /directory API)

Basic Unix commands

Command CAT
Syntax cat [argument] [specific file]

Description “cat" is short for concatenate. This command is used to

create, view and concatenate files.
Examples cat /etc/passwd

This command displays the "/etc/passwd" file on your screen.

cat /etc/profile

This command displays the "/etc/profile" file on your screen.

Notice that some of the contents of this file may scroll off of
your screen.

cat file1 file2 file3 > file4

This command combines the contents of the first three files

into the fourth file.

Command pwd

Syntax pwd

Description "pwd" stands for print working directory. It displays

your current position in the UNIX filesystem.
Examples pwd

There are no options (or arguments) with the "pwd"

command. It is simply used to report your current working
 11

directory.
Command ls
Syntax ls [options] [names]

Description "ls" stands for list. It is used to list information about

files and directories.
Examples ls

This is the basic "ls" command, with no options. It provides a

very basic listing of the files in your current working
directory. Filenames beginning with a decimal are considered
hidden files, and they are not shown.

ls -a

The -a option tells the ls command to report information about

all files, including hidden files.

ls -l

The -l option tells the "ls" command to provide a long listing

of information about the files and directories it reports. The
long listing will provide important information about file
permissions, user and group ownership, file size, and creation
date.

ls -al

This command provides a long listing of information about all

files in the current directory. It combines the functionality of
the -a and -l options. This is probably the most used version of
the ls command.

ls -al /usr

This command lists long information about all files in the

"/usr" directory.

ls -alR /usr | more

This command lists long information about all files in the

"/usr" directory, and all sub-directories of /usr. The -R option
 12

tells the ls command to provide a recursive listing of all files

and sub-directories.

ls -ld /usr

Rather than list the files contained in the /usr directory, this
command lists information about the /usr directory itself
(without generating a listing of the contents of /usr). This is
very useful when you want to check the permissions of the
directory, and not the files the directory contains.

Command mv
Syntax mv [options] sources target

Options -b backup files that are about to be overwritten or removed

-i interactive mode; if dest exists, you'll be asked whether to
overwrite the file

Description The "mv" command is used to move and rename files.

Examples mv Chapter1 Chapter1.bad

This command renames the file "Chapter1" to the new name

"Chapter1.bad".

mv Chapter1 garbage

This command renames the file "Chapter1" to the new name

"garbage". (Notice that if "garbage" is a directory, "Chapter1"
would be moved into that directory).

mv Chapter1 /tmp

This command moves the file "Chapter1" into the directory

named "/tmp".

mv tmp tmp.old

Assuming in this case that tmp is a directory, this example

renames the directory tmp to the new name tmp.old.
Command rm
 13

Syntax rm [options] files

Options -d, --directory

unlink FILE, even if it is a non-empty directory
(super-user only)

-f, --force
ignore nonexistent files, never prompt

-i, --interactive
prompt before any removal

-r, -R, --recursive

remove the contents of directories recursively

-v, --verbose
explain what is being done

Description The "rm" command is used to remove files and

directories. (Warning - be very careful when removing
files and directories!)
Examples rm Chapter1.bad

This command deletes the file named "Chapter1.bad"

(assuming you have permission to delete this file).

rm Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3

This command deletes the files named "Chapter1",

"Chapter2", and "Chapter3".

rm -i Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3

This command prompts you before deleting any of the three

files specified. The -i option stands for inquire. You must
answer y (for yes) for each file you really want to delete. This
can be a safer way to delete files.

rm *.html

This command deletes all files in the current directory whose

filename ends with the characters ".html".
 14

rm index*

This command deletes all files in the current directory whose

filename begins with the characters "index".

rm -r new-novel

This command deletes the directory named "new-novel". This

directory, and all of its' contents, are erased from the disk,
including any sub-directories and files.

Command cp
Syntax cp [options] file1 file2

cp [options] files directory

Options -b backup files that are about to be overwritten or removed

-i interactive mode; if dest exists, you'll be asked whether to
overwrite the file
-p preserves the original file's ownership, group,
permissions, and timestamp

Description The "cp" command is used to copy files and directories.

Note that when using the cp command, you must always

specify both the source and destination of the file(s) to be
copied.

Examples cp .profile .profile.bak

This command copies your ".profile" to a file named

".profile.bak".

cp /usr/fred/Chapter1 .

This command copies the file named "Chapter1" in the

"/usr/fred" directory to the current directory. This example
assumes that you have write permission in the current
 15

directory.

cp /usr/fred/Chapter1 /usr/mary

This command copies the "Chapter1" file in "/usr/fred" to the

directory named "/usr/mary". This example assumes that you
have write permission in the "/usr/mary" directory.

Command grep
Syntax grep [options] regular expression [files]

Options -i case-insensitive search

-n show the line# along with the matched line
-v invert match, e.g. find all lines that do NOT
match
-w match entire words, rather than substrings

Description Think of the "grep" command as a "search" command

(most people wish it was named "search"). It is used to
search for text strings within one or more files.
Examples grep 'fred' /etc/passwd

This command searches for all occurrences of the text string

'fred' within the "/etc/passwd" file. It will find and print (on
the screen) all of the lines in this file that contain the text
string 'fred', including lines that contain usernames like "fred"
- and also "alfred".

grep '^fred' /etc/passwd

This command searches for all occurrences of the text string

'fred' within the "/etc/passwd" file, but also requires that the
"f" in the name "fred" be in the first column of each record
(that's what the caret character tells grep). Using this more-
advanced search, a user named "alfred" would not be
matched, because the letter "a" will be in the first column.

grep 'joe' *

This command searches for all occurrences of the text string

 16

'joe' within all files of the current directory.

Command mkdir
Syntax mkdir [options] directory name

Description The "mkdir" command is used to create new directories

(sub-directories).
Examples mkdir tmp

This command creates a new directory named "tmp" in your

current directory. (This example assumes that you have the
proper permissions to create a new sub-directory in your
current working directory.)

mkdir memos letters e-mail

This command creates three new sub-directories (memos,

letters, and e-mail) in the current directory.

mkdir /usr/fred/tmp

This command creates a new directory named "tmp" in the

directory "/usr/fred". "tmp" is now a sub-directory of
"/usr/fred". (This example assumes that you have the proper
permissions to create a new directory in /usr/fred.)

mkdir -p /home/joe/customer/acme

This command creates a new directory named

/home/joe/customer/acme, and creates any intermediate
directories that are needed. If only /home/joe existed to begin
with, then the directory "customer" is created, and the
directory "acme" is created inside of customer.

Command rmdir
Syntax rmdir [options] directories
Description The "rm" command is used to remove files and
directories. (Warning - be very careful when removing
 17

files and directories!)

Examples rm Chapter1.bad

This command deletes the file named "Chapter1.bad"

(assuming you have permission to delete this file).

rm Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3

This command deletes the files named "Chapter1",

"Chapter2", and "Chapter3".

rm -i Chapter1 Chapter2 Chapter3

This command prompts you before deleting any of the three

files specified. The -i option stands for inquire. You must
answer y (for yes) for each file you really want to delete. This
can be a safer way to delete files.

rm *.html

This command deletes all files in the current directory whose

filename ends with the characters ".html".

rm index*

This command deletes all files in the current directory whose

filename begins with the characters "index".

rm -r new-novel

This command deletes the directory named "new-novel". This

directory, and all of its' contents, are erased from the disk,
including any sub-directories and files.

Command cd, chdir

Syntax cd [name of directory you want to move to]

Description "cd" stands for change directory. It is the primary

command for moving around the filesystem.
Examples cd /usr
 18

This command moves you to the "/usr" directory. "/usr"

becomes your current working directory.

cd /usr/fred

Moves you to the "/usr/fred" directory.

cd /u*/f*

Moves you to the "/usr/fred" directory - if this is the only

directory matching this wildcard pattern.

cd

Issuing the "cd" command without any arguments moves you

to your home directory.

cd -

Using the Korn shell, this command moves you back to your
previous working directory. This is very useful when you're in
the middle of a project, and keep moving back-and-forth
between two directories.

Command kill
Syntax kill [options] IDs

Description kill ends one or more process IDs. In order to do this you
must own the process or be designated a privileged user. To
find the process ID of a certain job use ps.

Examples

Command ps
Syntax ps [options]

Description The "ps" command (process statistics) lets you check

the status of processes that are running on your Unix
 19

system.
Examples ps

The ps command by itself shows minimal information about

the processes you are running. Without any arguments, this
command will not show information about other processes
running on the system.

ps -f

The -f argument tells ps to supply full information about the

processes it displays. In this example, ps displays full
information about the processes you are running.

ps -e

The -e argument tells the ps command to show every process

running on the system.

ps -ef

The -e and -f arguments are normally combined like this to

show full information about every process running on the
system. This is probably the most often-used form of the ps
command.

ps -ef | more

Because the output normally scrolls off the screen, the output
of the ps -ef command is often piped into the more command.
The more command lets you view one screenful of
information at a time.

ps -fu fred

This command shows full information about the processes

currently being run by the user named fred (the -u option lets
you specify a username).
 20

Why Use Shells?

Well, most likely because the are a simple way to string together a bunch of UNIX
commands for execution at any time without the need for prior compilation. Also because
its generally fast to get a script going. Not forgetting the ease with which other scripters
can read the code and understand what is happening. Lastly, they are generally
completely portable across the whole UNIX world, as long as they have been written to a
common standard.

The Shell History:

The basic shells come in three main language forms. These are (in order of creation) sh,
csh and ksh. Be aware that there are several dialects of these script languages which tend
to make them all slightly platform specific. Where these differences are known to cause
difficulties I have made special notes within the text to highlight this fact. The different
dialects are due, in the main, to the different UNIX flavours in use on some platforms. All
script languages though have at their heart a common core which if used correctly will
guarantee portability.

Bourne Shell:

Historically the sh language was the first to be created and goes under the name of The
Bourne Shell. It has a very compact syntax which makes it obtuse for novice users but
very efficient when used by experts. It also contains some powerful constructs built in.
On UNIX systems, most of the scripts used to start and configure the operating system
are written in the Bourne shell. It has been around for so long that is it virtually bug free.
I have adopted the Bourne shell syntax as the defacto standard within this book.

C Shell:

Next up was The C Shell (csh), so called because of the similar syntactical structures to
the C language. The UNIX man pages contain almost twice as much information for the
C Shell as the pages for the Bourne shell, leading most users to believe that it is twice as
good. This is a shame because there are several compromises within the C Shell which
 21

makes using the language for serious work difficult (check the list of bugs at the end of
the man pages!). True, there are so many functions available within the C Shell that if one
should fail another could be found. The point is do you really want to spend your time
finding all the alternative ways of doing the same thing just to keep yourself out of
trouble. The real reason why the C Shell is so popular is that it is usually selected as the
default login shell for most users. The features that guarantee its continued use in this
arena are aliases, and history lists. There are rumours however, that C Shell is destined to
be phased out, with future UNIX releases only supporting sh and ksh. Differences
between csh and sh syntax will be highlighted where appropriate.
 22

Korne Shell:
Lastly we come to The Korne Shell (ksh) made famous by IBM's AIX flavour of UNIX.
The Korne shell can be thought of as a superset of the Bourne shell as it contains the
whole of the Bourne shell world within its own syntax rules. The extensions over and
above the Bourne shell exceed even the level of functionality available within the C Shell
(but without any of the compromises!), making it the obvious language of choice for real
scripters. However, because not all platforms are yet supporting the Korne shell it is not
fully portable as a scripting language at the time of writing. This may change however by
the time this book is published. Korne Shell does contain aliases and history lists aplenty
but C Shell users are often put off by its dissimilar syntax. Persevere, it will pay off
eventually. Any sh syntax element will work in the ksh without change.
 23

SOLUTIONS:

WEEK1
Session 1

1. Log in to the system

2. Use Vi editor to create a file called myfile.txt which contain some
text.
3. Correct typing errors during creation
4. Save the file
5. Logout of the file

Sol:

$ login: <user name>

$ password: ******

$ vi
~ Unix is Case Sensitive
~ Never leave the Computer without logging out when you are working in a
time sharing or network environments.

Type <Esc>
: wq myfile

$
Session 2
1. Log into the system
2. Open the file created in session 1
3. Add some text
4. Change some text
5. delete some text
6. Save the changes
7. Logout of the system
Sol:
$ login: <user name>
$ password: ******

$ vi myfile

~ Unix is Case Sensitive

~ Never leave the Computer without logging out when you are working in a
time sharing or network environments.
~ Shell Programming

: wq
 24

WEEK2
Log into the system
Use the cat command to create a file containing the following data. Call it
mutable use tabs to separate the fields

1425 ravi 15.65

4320 ramu 26.27
6830 sita 36.15
1450 raju 21.86

a. use the cat command to display the file, my table

b. use the vi command to correct any errors in the file, my table
c. use the sort command to sort the file my table according to the first
field. Call the sorted file my table(same name)
d. print the file my table
e. use the cut & paste commands to swap fields 2 and 3 my table. Call
it mytable(same name)
f. print the new file, my table
g. logout of the system

Sol:

$ login: <user name>

$ password:******

$ cat –c1-14

1425 <tab> ravi <tab> 15.65 <tab>

4320 <tab> ramu <tab> 26.27 <tab>
6830 <tab> sita <tab> 36.15 <tab>
1450 <tab> raju <tab> 21.86 <tab>
$ cat myfile
$who|more
$ sort +0 -1 mytable
 25

WEEK3

a. log in the system

b. use the appropriate commands to determine ur login shell
c. use the /etc/passwd file to verify the result of step b.
d. use the who command redirect the result to a file called myfile1.Use
the more command to see the contents of myfile1.
e. Use the date and who commands in sequence ?(in one line) such that
the output of date will display on the screen and the output of who
will be redirected to a file called my file2.Use the more command to
check the contents of myfile2.
f. write a sed command that deletes the first character in each line in a
file
g. write a sed command that deletes the character before the last
character in each line in a file.
h. Write a sed command that swaps the files and second words in each
line in a file

Sol:

$ login: <user name>

$ password:******

$ echo $SHELL
csh
$ who >| myfile1
$ more myfile1

$ date|who >myfile2
$ more myfile2
 26

WEEK4

pipe ur /etc/passwd file to awk and print out the home directory of each user.
Develop an interactive grep script that asks for a word and a file name and then
tells how many lines contain that word
Repeat
Part using awk

(d) Sol:
$ awk ‘$2 ==”Computers” && $3 >10000 {print}’Sales.dat

I/P:
1 Clothing 3141
1 Computers 9161
1 Textbooks 21312
2 Clothing 3252
2 Computers 1232
2 Supplies 2242
2 Text books 15462

O/P:

2 Computers 1232
 27

WEEK5

a) Write A shell script that takes a command –line argument and reports on whether
it is directry ,a file,or something else
b) Write a shell script that accepts one or more file name as a arguments and
converts all of thenm to uppercase,provided they exits in the current directory
c) Write a shell script that determines the period for which a specified user is
working on the system

(a) Sol:

echo "Enter a file name:"

read f
if [ -f $f ]
then
echo "File"
elif [ -d $f ]
then
echo "Directory"
else
echo "Not"
fi

Output:

Directory
 28

WEEK6

(a) Write a shell script that accepts a file name starting and ending line numbers
as arguments and displays all the lines between the given line numbers
(b) Write a shell script that deletes all lines containing a specified word I one or
more files supplied as arguments to it.

(a) Sol:

$ awk ‘NR<2 || NR> 4 {print $0}’ 5 lines.dat

I/P: line1
line2
line3
line4
line5

O/P: line1
line5

(b) Sol:

i=1
while [ $i -le $# ]
do

grep -v Unix $i > $i

done
 29

WEEK7

a) Write a shell script that computes the gross salary of a employee according to the
following

1) if basic salary is <1500 then HRA 10% of the basic and DA =90% of the basic
2) if basic salary is >1500 then HRA 500 and DA =98% of the basic
The basic salary is entered interactively through the key board

(b)Write a shell script that accepts two integers as its arguments and computes
the value of first number raised to the power of the second number

echo " Enter the Salary "

read sal
if [ $sal<1500] then
da=`expr $sal*90/100`
hra=`expr $sal*10/100`
gsal=’expr $sal +$hra+$da
echo “$gsal”
elif [$sal>1500]
hra=500
da=’expr $sal*98/100’
gsal=’expr $sal+$hra+$da
gross=`expr $sa + $da + $hra`
fi
fi

(b)
a=$1
b=$2
c=pow($a,$b)
echo”$c”
 30

WEEK 8

(a) Write an interactive file handling shell program. Let it offer the user the
choice of copying ,removing ,renaming or linking files. Once the use has made a
choice, have the program ask the user for necessary information, such as the file
name ,new name and so on.
(b) Write a shell script that takes a login name as command –line argument and
reports when that person logs in
(c) Write a shell script which receives two files names as arguments. It should
check whether the two file contents are same or not. If they are same then second
file should be deleted.

PROGRAM

echo "Enter I File Name:"

read f1
echo "Enter II File Name:"
read f2
d=`cmp $f1 $f2`
d1=""
if [ $d -eq $d2 ]
then
echo "Two Files are similar and $f2 is deleted"
rm $f2
else
echo "Two Files differ each other"
fi
 31

WEEK 9
(a) Write a shell script that displays a list of all files in the current directory to
which the user has read write and execute permissions
(b) Develop an interactive script that asks for a word and file name and then
tells how many times that word occurred in the file.
(c) Write a shell script to perform the following string operations.
1) To extract a sub string from a given string
2) To find the length of a given string

(a) PROGRAM

# File Name : list.sh

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter a directory name : " dn
if [ -d $dn ]; then
printf "\nFiles in the directory $dn are :\n"
for fn in `ls $dn`
do
if [ -d $dn/$fn ]; then
printf "<$fn> Directory "
elif [ -f $dn/$fn ]
then
printf "$fn File "
fi
if [ -r $dn/$fn ]; then
printf " Read"
fi

if [ -w $dn/$fn ];then
printf " Write"
fi

if [ -x $dn/$fn ];then
printf " Execute"
fi
printf "\n"
done
else
printf "\n$dn not exists or not a directory"
fi
 32

(b) PROGRAM

# File Name : wcount.sh

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter a file name : " fn
if test -f $fn
then
echo "The contents of the file $fn is :"
cat $fn
echo "No. of Line : `wc -l $fn`"
echo "No. of Words : `wc -w $fn`"
echo "No. of Characters: `wc -c $fn`"
else
echo "$fn is not exists or not a file"
fi

(c) PROGRAM

Print “Enter the String:\c”

read strIn
strlen=${# strIn}
print the string length is : $strlen
$ strlen.scr

O/P:
Enter the String: Now is the time
The String length : 15
 33

WEEK 10

Write a C program that takes one or more file or directory names as command line
input and reports the following information on the file.

1. file type
2. number of links
3. read, write and execute permissions
4. time of last access

(Note: use /fstat system calls)

PROGRAM

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
FILE *stream;
int buffer_character;
stream=fopen(“test”,”r”);
if(stream==(FILE*)0)
{
fprintf(stderr,”Error opening file(printed to standard error)\n”);
fclose(stream);
exit(1);
}
}
if(fclose(stream))==EOF)
{
fprintf(stderr,”Error closing stream.(printed to standard error)\n);
exit(1);
}
return();
}
 34

WEEK 11

Write C program that simulate the following unix commands

(a) mv
(b) cp

/* File Name : bspace1.c */

#include<fcntl.h>
#include<unistd.h>
#include<stdio.h>
main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
FILE *fp;
char ch;
int sc=0;

fp=fopen(argv[1],"r");
if(fp==NULL)
printf("unable to open a file",argv[1]);
else
{
while(!feof(fp))
{
ch=fgetc(fp);
if(ch==' ')
sc++;
}
printf("no of spaces %d",sc);
printf("\n");
fclose(fp);
}
}
 35

WEEK 12

Write a c program that simulates ls command

(Use system calls /directory API)

PROGRAM:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<fcntl.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
main(int argc,char *argv[])
{
int fd,i;
char ch[1];

if (argc<2)
{ printf("Usage: mycat filename\n");
exit(0);
}

fd=open(argv[1],O_RDONLY);
if(fd==-1)
printf("%s is not exist",argv[1]);
else
{
printf("Contents of the file %s is : \n",argv[1]);
while(read(fd,ch,1)>0)
printf("%c",ch[0]);
close(fd);
}
 36

Viva Questions & Answers

What is a Make file?

Make file is a utility in Unix to help compile large programs. It helps by only compiling
the portion of the program that has been changed

Could you tell something about the Unix System Kernel?

The kernel is the heart of the UNIX operating system, it’s

responsible for controlling the computer’s resources and
scheduling user jobs so that each one gets its fair share of
resources.

How can you tell what shell you are running on UNIX
system?

You can do the Echo $RANDOM. It will return a undefined

variable if you are from the C-Shell, just a return prompt if you
are from the Bourne shell, and a 5 digit random numbers if you
are from the Korn shell. You could also do a ps -l and look for
the shell with […]

What do you mean by u-area (user area) or u-block?

This contains the private data that is manipulated only by the

Kernel. This is local to the Process, i.e. each process is
allocated a u-area.

What scheme does the Kernel in Unix System V follow while

choosing a swap device among the multiple swap devices?

Kernel follows Round Robin scheme choosing a swap device

among the multiple swap devices in Unix System V.

List the system calls used for process management:

System calls Description

fork() To create a new process
exec() To execute a new program in a process
wait() […]
 37

How do you change File Access Permissions?

Every file has following attributes:

owner’s user ID ( 16 bit integer )
owner’s group ID ( 16 bit integer )
File access mode word
‘r w x -r w x- r w x’
(user permission-group permission-others permission)
r-read, w-write, x-execute
To change the access mode, we use chmod(filename,mode).
Example:
To change mode of myfile to ‘rw-rw-r–’ (ie. read, write
permission for user - […]

Explain the layered aspect of a UNIX system. What are the

layers? What does it mean to say they are layers?

A UNIX system has essentially three main layers:

. The hardware
. The operating system kernel
. The user-level programs
The kernel hides the system’s hardware underneath an
abstract, high-level programming interface. It is responsible for
implementing many of the facilities that users and user-level
programs take for granted.
The kernel assembles all of the following UNIX concepts from
lower-level […]

What is the use of ‘grep’ command?

‘grep’ is a pattern search command. It searches for the pattern,

specified in the command line with appropriate option, in a
file(s).
Syntax : grep Example : grep 99mx mcafile

What difference between cmp and diff commands?

cmp - Compares two files byte by byte and displays the first
mismatch
diff - tells the changes to be made to make the files identical

What is the significance of the “tee” command?

 38

It reads the standard input and sends it to the standard output

while redirecting a copy of what it has read to the file specified
by the user.

Is ‘du’ a command? If so, what is its use?

Yes, it stands for ‘disk usage’. With the help of this command
you can find the disk capacity and free space of the disk.

How to terminate a process which is running and the

specialty on command kill 0?

With the help of kill command we can terminate the process.

Syntax: kill pid Kill 0 - kills all processes in your system except
the login shell.
 39

Explain kill() and its possible return values.

There are four possible results from this call:

‘kill()’ returns 0. This implies that a process exists with the given
PID, and the system would allow you to send signals to it. It is
system-dependent whether the process could be a zombie.
‘kill()’ returns -1, ‘errno == ESRCH’ either no process exists with
the given PID, or […]

What does the command “ $who | sort –logfile > newfile”

do?

The input from a pipe can be combined with the input from a file
. The trick is to use the special symbol “-“ (a hyphen) for those
commands that recognize the hyphen as std input.
In the above command the output from who becomes the std
input to sort , meanwhile sort opens the file […]

What are shell variables?

Shell variables are special variables, a name-value pair created

and maintained by the shell.
Example: PATH, HOME, MAIL and TERM

How many prompts are available in a UNIX system?

Two prompts, PS1 (Primary Prompt), PS2 (Secondary Prompt).

Is it possible to create new a file system in UNIX?

Use ‘su’ command. The system asks for password and when
valid entry is made the user gains super user (admin) privileges.

How the Kernel handles the copy on write bit of a page,

when the bit is set?

In situations like, where the copy on write bit of a page is set

and that page is shared by more than one process, the Kernel
allocates new page and copies the content to the new page and
the other processes retain their references to the old page. After
copying the Kernel updates the page […]

Difference between the fork() and vfork() system call?

 40

During the fork() system call the Kernel makes a copy of the parent process’s address
space and attaches it to the child process.But the vfork() system call do not makes any
copy of the parent’s address space, so it is faster than the fork() system call. The child
process as a result of the vfork() […]

How the Kernel handles the fork() system call in traditional

Unix and in the System V Unix, while swapping?

Kernel in traditional Unix, makes the duplicate copy of the

parent’s address space and attaches it to the child’s process,
while swapping. Kernel in System V Unix, manipulates the
region tables, page table, and pfdata table entries, by
incrementing the reference count of the region table of shared
regions.

What are the requirements for a swapper to work?

The swapper works on the highest scheduling priority. Firstly it

will look for any sleeping process, if not found then it will look for
the ready-to-run process for swapping. But the major
requirement for the swapper to work the ready-to-run process
must be core-resident for at least 2 seconds before swapping
out. And for swapping […]

What is Expansion swap?

At the time when any process requires more memory than it is

currently allocated, the Kernel performs Expansion swap. To do
this Kernel reserves enough space in the swap device. Then the
address translation mapping is adjusted for the new virtual
address space but the physical memory is not allocated. At last
Kernel swaps the […]

What is Fork swap?

fork() is a system call to create a child process. When the parent

process calls fork() system call, the child process is created and
if there is short of memory then the child process is sent to the
read-to-run state in the swap device, and return to the user state
without swapping the parent process. […]

What are the entities that are swapped out of the main
memory while swapping the process out of the main
memory?
 41

All memory space occupied by the process, process’s u-area,

and Kernel stack are swapped out, theoretically.
Practically, if the process’s u-area contains the Address
Translation Tables for the process then Kernel implementations
do not swap the u-area.

Is the Process before and after the swap are the same? Give
reason.

Process before swapping is residing in the primary memory in

its original form. The regions (text, data and stack) may not be
occupied fully by the process, there may be few empty slots in
any of the regions and while swapping Kernel do not bother
about the empty slots while swapping the process outAfter
swapping […]

What are the events done by the Kernel after a process is

being swapped out from the main memory?

When Kernel swaps the process out of the primary memory, it

performs the following:
Kernel decrements the Reference Count of each region of the
process. If the reference count becomes zero, swaps the region
out of the main memory.
Kernel allocates the space for the swapping process in the swap
device.
Kernel locks the other swapping process while […]

What is major difference between the Historic Unix and the

new BSD release of Unix System V in terms of Memory
Management?

Historic Unix uses Swapping – entire process is transferred to

the main memory from the swap device, whereas the Unix
System V uses Demand Paging – only the part of the process is
moved to the main memory. Historic Unix uses one Swap
Device and Unix System V allow multiple Swap Devices

What is an advantage of executing a process in

background?

The most common reason to put a process in the background is

to allow you to do something else interactively without waiting
for the process to complete. At the end of the command you add
the special background symbol, &. This symbol tells your shell
 42

to execute the given command in the background.

Example: cp *.* […]

What Happens when you execute a program?

When you execute a program on your UNIX system, the system

creates a special environment for that program. This
environment contains everything needed for the system to run
the program as if no other program were running on the system.
Each process has process context, which is everything that is
unique about the state of […]

What are the process states in Unix?

As a process executes it changes state according to its

circumstances. Unix processes have the following states:
Running : The process is either running or it is ready to run .
Waiting : The process is waiting for an event or for a resource.
Stopped : The process has been stopped, usually by receiving a
signal.
Zombie : The […]
 43

What is a zombie?

When a program forks and the child finishes before the parent,
the kernel still keeps some of its information about the child in
case the parent might need it - for example, the parent may
need to check the child’s exit status. To be able to get this
information, the parent calls `wait()‘; In the […]

How can a parent and child process communicate?

A parent and child can communicate through any of the normal

inter-process communication schemes (pipes, sockets,
message queues, shared memory), but also have some special
ways to communicate that take advantage of their relationship
as a parent and child. One of the most obvious is that the parent
can get the exit status of the […]

How can you get/set an environment variable from a

program?

Getting the value of an environment variable is done by using

`getenv()’.
Setting the value of an environment variable is done by using
`putenv()’.

Explain fork() system call.

The `fork()’ used to create a new process from an existing

process. The new process is called the child process, and the
existing process is called the parent. We can tell which is which
by checking the return value from `fork()’. The parent gets the
child’s pid returned to him, but […]

What are various IDs associated with a process?

Unix identifies each process with a unique integer called

ProcessID. The process that executes the request for creation
of a process is called the ‘parent process’ whose PID is ‘Parent
Process ID’. Every process is associated with a particular user
called the ‘owner’ who has privileges over the process. The
identification for the user is […]

Brief about the initial process sequence while the system

boots up.
 44

While booting, special process called the ’swapper’ or

’scheduler’ is created with Process-ID 0. The swapper manages
memory allocation for processes and influences CPU allocation.
The swapper inturn creates 3 children:
the process dispatcher,vhand and dbflush with IDs 1,2 and 3
respectively.
This is done by executing the file /etc/init. Process dispatcher
gives birth to the shell. […]
 45

What is a shell?

A shell is an interactive user interface to an operating system

services that allows an user to enter commands as character
strings or through a graphical user interface.
The shell converts them to system calls to the OS or forks off a
process to execute the command. System call results and other
information from the OS […]

How does the inode map to data block of a file?

Inode has 13 block addresses. The first 10 are direct block

addresses of the first 10 data blocks in the file. The 11th
address points to a one-level index block. The 12th address
points to a two-level (double in-direction) index block. The 13th
address points to a three-level(triple in-direction)index block.
This provides a very large maximum […]

Discuss the mount and unmount system calls

The privileged mount system call is used to attach a file system

to a directory of another file system; the unmount system call
detaches a file system. When you mount another file system on
to your directory, you are essentially splicing one directory tree
onto a branch in another directory tree. The first argument to
[…]

How do you create special files like named pipes and device
files?

The system call mknod creates special files in the following

sequence.
1. kernel assigns new inode,
2. sets the file type to indicate that the file is a pipe, directory or
special file,
3. If it is a device file, it makes the other entries like major, minor
device numbers.
For example: If the device is a disk, major […]

What are links and symbolic links in UNIX file system?

A link is a second name (not a file) for a file. Links can be used
to assign more than one name to a file, but cannot be used to
assign a directory more than one name or link filenames on
different computers.
 46

Symbolic link ‘is’ a file that only contains the name of another
file.Operation […]

What are the Unix system calls for I/O?

open(pathname,flag,mode) - open file

creat(pathname,mode) - create file
close(filedes) - close an open file
read(filedes,buffer,bytes) - read data from an open file
write(filedes,buffer,bytes) - write data to an open file
lseek(filedes,offset,from) - position an open file
dup(filedes) - duplicate an existing file descriptor
dup2(oldfd,newfd) - duplicate to a desired file descriptor
fcntl(filedes,cmd,arg) - change properties of an open file
ioctl(filedes,request,arg) - change the behaviour […]

What Happens when you execute a program?

When you execute a program on your UNIX system, the

system creates a special environment for that program. This
environment contains everything needed for the system to run
the program as if no other program were running on the system.
Each process has process context, which is everything that is
unique about the state of […]

What are the process states in Unix?

As a process executes it changes state according to its

circumstances. Unix processes have the following states:
Running : The process is either running or it is ready to run .
Waiting : The process is waiting for an event or for a resource.
Stopped : The process has been stopped, usually by receiving a
signal.
Zombie : The […]

What is a zombie?

When a program forks and the child finishes before the parent,
the kernel still keeps some of its information about the child in
case the parent might need it - for example, the parent may
need to check the child’s exit status. To be able to get this
information, the parent calls `wait()‘; In the […]

How can a parent and child process communicate?

 47

A parent and child can communicate through any of the normal

inter-process communication schemes (pipes, sockets,
message queues, shared memory), but also have some special
ways to communicate that take advantage of their relationship
as a parent and child. One of the most obvious is that the parent
can get the exit status of the […]

How can you get/set an environment variable from a

program?

Getting the value of an environment variable is done by

using `getenv()’.
Setting the value of an environment variable is done by using
`putenv()’.

Explain fork() system call.

The `fork()’ used to create a new process from an existing

process. The new process is called the child process, and the
existing process is called the parent. We can tell which is which
by checking the return value from `fork()’. The parent gets the
child’s pid returned to him, but […]

What are various IDs associated with a process?

Unix identifies each process with a unique integer called

ProcessID. The process that executes the request for creation
of a process is called the ‘parent process’ whose PID is ‘Parent
Process ID’. Every process is associated with a particular user
called the ‘owner’ who has privileges over the process. The
identification for the user is […]

Brief about the initial process sequence while the system

boots up.

While booting, special process called the ’swapper’ or

’scheduler’ is created with Process-ID 0. The swapper manages
memory allocation for processes and influences CPU allocation.
The swapper inturn creates 3 children:
the process dispatcher,vhand and dbflush with IDs 1,2 and 3
respectively.
This is done by executing the file /etc/init. Process dispatcher
gives birth to the shell. […]

What is a shell?
 48

A shell is an interactive user interface to an operating

system services that allows an user to enter commands as
character strings or through a graphical user interface.
The shell converts them to system calls to the OS or forks off a
process to execute the command. System call results and other
information from the OS […]

How does the inode map to data block of a file?

Inode has 13 block addresses. The first 10 are direct block

addresses of the first 10 data blocks in the file. The 11th
address points to a one-level index block. The 12th address
points to a two-level (double in-direction) index block. The 13th
address points to a three-level(triple in-direction)index block.
This provides a very large maximum […]

Discuss the mount and unmount system calls

The privileged mount system call is used to attach a file

system to a directory of another file system; the unmount
system call detaches a file system. When you mount another file
system on to your directory, you are essentially splicing one
directory tree onto a branch in another directory tree. The first
argument to […]

How do you create special files like named pipes and device
files?

The system call mknod creates special files in the following

sequence.
1. kernel assigns new inode,
2. sets the file type to indicate that the file is a pipe, directory
or special file,
3. If it is a device file, it makes the other entries like major, minor
device numbers.
For example: If the device is a disk, major […]

What is a FIFO?

FIFO are otherwise called as ‘named pipes’. FIFO (first-in-first-

out) is a special file which is said to be data transient. Once data
is read from named pipe, it cannot be read again.
Also, data can be read only in the order written. It is used in
interprocess communication where a process writes to one end
of […]
 49

What are links and symbolic links in UNIX file system?

A link is a second name (not a file) for a file. Links can be used
to assign more than one name to a file, but cannot be used to
assign a directory more than one name or link filenames on
different computers.
Symbolic link ‘is’ a file that only contains the name of another
file.Operation […]

What are the Unix system calls for I/O?

open(pathname,flag,mode) - open file

creat(pathname,mode) - create file
close(filedes) - close an open file
read(filedes,buffer,bytes) - read data from an open file
write(filedes,buffer,bytes) - write data to an open file
lseek(filedes,offset,from) - position an open file
dup(filedes) - duplicate an existing file descriptor
dup2(oldfd,newfd) - duplicate to a desired file descriptor
fcntl(filedes,cmd,arg) - change properties of an open file
ioctl(filedes,request,arg) - change the behaviour […]

Brief about the directory representation in UNIX

s a file containing a correspondence between filenames and

inodes. A directory is a special file that the kernel maintains.
Only kernel modifies directories, but processes can read
directories. The contents of a directory are a list of filename and
inode number pairs. When new directories are created, kernel
makes two entries […]

What is ‘inode’?

All UNIX files have its description stored in a structure called

‘inode’. The inode contains info about the file-size, its location,
time of last access, time of last modification, permission and so
on. Directories are also represented as files and have an
associated inode. In addition to descriptions about the file, the
inode contains pointers […]
 50

How are devices represented in UNIX?

All devices are represented by files called special files that are
located in/dev directory. Thus, device files and other files are
named and accessed in the same way. A ‘regular file’ is just an
ordinary data file in the disk. A ‘block special file’ represents a
device with characteristics similar to a disk (data transfer […]

Brief about the directory representation in UNIX

A Unix directory is a file containing a correspondence between

filenames and inodes. A directory is a special file that the kernel
maintains. Only kernel modifies directories, but processes can
read directories. The contents of a directory are a list of
filename and inode number pairs. When new directories are
created, kernel makes two entries […]

What is ‘inode’?

All UNIX files have its description stored in a structure called

‘inode’. The inode contains info about the file-size, its location,
time of last access, time of last modification, permission and so
on. Directories are also represented as files and have an
associated inode. In addition to descriptions about the file, the
inode contains pointers […]

How are devices represented in UNIX?

All devices are represented by files called special files that are
located in/dev directory. Thus, device files and other files are
named and accessed in the same way. A ‘regular file’ is just an
ordinary data file in the disk. A ‘block special file’ represents a
device with characteristics similar to a disk (data transfer […]

How is the command

“$cat file2 “ different
from “$cat >file2

Answer The Commond $cat file in unix is used to display the content
of the file and where as commond $cat >> file is to append
the text to the end of the file without overwritting the
information of the file. Incase if the file does not exist in the
directory the commond will create a newfile in file system.
 51

$cat >file means to create a new file $cat file means to open
an existing file.

Answered By: selva,ravi Date: 7/13/2007

cat > file it means creating file for file cat file it means used to
display the file content

Explain the steps that

a shell follows while
processing a command.

When processing a command the searchs for the utility for

the command in the directories specified in the PATH varible
Answer and it in invokes that utility. That utility will execute the
command with help of kernel and the output is given to shell.
And then the displays out put to the user.

Explain the steps that

a shell follows while
processing a command.

When processing a command the searchs for the utility for

the command in the directories specified in the PATH varible
Answer and it in invokes that utility. That utility will execute the
command with help of kernel and the output is given to shell.
And then the displays out put to the user.

Which command is
used to delete all files
in the current directory
and all its sub-
directories?

#rm -fr <Directory name>

# rm -rf *
Answer
Answered By: Amit Shiknis Date: 12/25/2007

rm -r *
 52

What is the use of the

command "ls -x
chapter[1-5]"

Yes you are correct. It stands for listing the files Chapter with
Answer suffix 1 to 5 but it will display the files in columns as with-x
option.

How does the kernel

differentiate device
files and ordinary
files?

Device filles are of 2 types --- charcater device file and block
device file

type field in the file's inode structure

Answer
b--- block device file

c--- character device file

How to switch to a
super user status to
gain privileges?

Use ‘su’ command. The system asks for password and when
Answer valid entry is made the user gains super user (admin)
privileges.

What are shell

variables?

Answer Shell variables are system environment variables.They

include

TERM,SHELL, MAIL

the output of the shell variable we can see by typing the

command
 53

$>echo $TERM

ansi

at the prompt.

What is redirection?

Redirection is a feature in Unix where the data from the

standard out put or a file,so on.can be redirected i.e divert to
a file or a program and vice versa.

Answer > -- out put redirection

>> -- out put redirectin(appending at the last)

< -- input redirection

How to terminate a
process which is
running and the
specialty on command
kill 0?

With the help of kill command we can terminate the process.

Syntax: kill pid
Answer Kill 0 - kills all processes in your system except the login
shell.

How to terminate a
process which is
running and the
specialty on command
kill 0?

With the help of kill command we can terminate the process.

Syntax: kill pid
Answer Kill 0 - kills all processes in your system except the login
shell.

How to sfind free

space in unix/linux
 54

Df and du commands are used for checking free space on disk

.
Answer df -h or df -Humanreadable gives human readable format of
free space.

What is the difference

between soft link and
hard link in unix
operating system ?

Hard Links :

1. All Links have same inode number.

2.ls -l command shows all the links with the link

column(Second) shows No. of links.

3. Links have actual file contents

4.Removing any link ,just reduces the link count , but doesn't
affect other links.

Answer Soft Links(Symbolic Links) :

1.Links have different inode numbers.

2. ls -l command shows all links with second column value 1

and the link points to original file.

3. Link has the path for original file and not the contents.

4.Removing soft link doesn't affect anything but removing

original file ,the link becomes "dangling" link which points to
nonexistant file.

to concatenate
(attach) two strings?

For concatenating two string we use cat command.

Answer Ex:- cat str1 str2

Explain the UNIX

Kernel.
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UNIX Kernel is heart of the operating system. UNIX kernal is

loaded first when UNIX system is booted. It handles allocation
Answer of devices, cpu, memory from that ponint on.

How many prompts are

available in a UNIX
system?

Unix/ Linux Supports four Prompts PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4

Answer
#,@,$,% are 4 prompts

REFERENCES:

Books:

1)Introduction to UNIX & SHELL programming, M.G. Venkatesh Murthy, Pearson Education.

2)Unix concepts and applications, Fourth Edition, Sumitabha Das, TMH.

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3)Unix for programmers and users, 3rd edition, Gaham Glass & K. Ables, pearson education.

4)Unix and shell Programming –A text book, B.A. Forouzan & R.F. Giberg, Thomson.

5)Beginning shell scripting, E. Foster – Johnson & other, Wile Y- India.