Ubuntu – How to create a script file for terminal commands

bashcommand lineexecutablefiles

In Windows I can write a file containing commands for cmd (usually .cmd or .bat files). When I click on those files it will open cmd.exe and run them commands the file contains.

How would I do this in Ubuntu?

I'm sure this is a duplicate, but I can't find my answer.
Its similar to these questions, but they don't answer the question:

Store frequently used terminal commands in a file

CMD.exe Emulator in Ubuntu to run .cmd/.bat file

Best Answer

There are two methods.

First, the most common is to write a file, make sure the first line is 

#!/bin/bash

Then save the file. Next mark it executable using chmod +x file

Then when you click (or run the file from the terminal) the commands will be executed. By convention these files usually have no extension, however you can make them end in .sh or any other way.

A few notes:

  • Any (and I mean any) file can be executed in Linux provided the first line is a path to the program that should interpret the file. Common examples include /bin/python, /bin/sh, /bin/dash, but even odd ball things work like /bin/mysql
  • Bash is a full language. It is vastly more complex than cmd.exe in windows. It has a strong programming language that supports functions, loops, conditionals, string operations, etc.
  • These documents may help if you run into problems.
  • If you do not wish to make the file executable then you can run it by passing it as an argument to bash: bash file/to/run.sh

A Simple Bash Example

#!/bin/bash  
echo "This is a shell script"  
ls -lah  
echo "I am done running ls"  
SOMEVAR='text stuff'  
echo "$SOMEVAR"

The second method is to record commands using script. Run script then just do stuff. When you are done doing stuff type exit and script will generate a file for you with all the "stuff" you did. This is less used but works quite well for making things like macros. man script for more info.

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