Run text files in terminal

Question

Does anyone know if there's a way to run automatically in shell a list of commands (from a text file)?

I need to run a lot of scripts (around 1000). The scripts are in python and take 2 arguments each (dir_#, and sample#)

The text file I've made looks like this...

     python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_1 sample1
     python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_2 sample2
     python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_3 sample3
     python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_4 sample4
     ...

So, I would expect that passing this text file as argument to a command in terminal, could do the job automatically...

Thanks in advance,

peixe

The command you are looking for is `source`. – Paul R Jul 01 '11 at 09:20 — Paul R, Jul 01 '11 at 09:20

Flimzy · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-01T09:27:18.593

26

That's called a "shell script."

Add this to the top of your file:

#!/bin/sh

Then execute this command:

chmod +x filename

Then execute it like a program:

./filename

Alternately, you can execute the shell directly, telling it to execute the commands in your file:

sh -e filename

edited Jul 01 '11 at 09:27

answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:20

Flimzy

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score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 29 '17 at 13:42

7

Also, you can run a shell file by:

source filename

edited Nov 29 '17 at 13:42

m00am

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answered Nov 29 '17 at 11:51

Noon

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i do not get, why this got a downvote... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13786499/what-is-the-difference-between-sh-and-source both kind of fits the need, especially if you need to define some variables for the session as well – Vairis Feb 12 '18 at 21:45

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:20

6

Either make the file executable:

chmod u+x thefile
./thefile

or run it as an argument of sh:

sh thefile

answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:20

Simply making it executable won't work, unless the first line includes #!/bin/sh – Flimzy Jul 01 '11 at 09:23
That is not true, not with bash at least. – Jul 01 '11 at 09:24
Perhaps not with bash, but I don't think we can assume everyone is using bash--your own answer doesn't assume that with "sh thefile" :) – Flimzy Jul 01 '11 at 09:25
AFAIK, scripts only need this directive to ensure a specific shell is used and is by no mean mandatory. – Jul 01 '11 at 09:32

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 01 '11 at 09:21

You can write a shell script:

#! /bin/sh

python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_1 sample1
python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_2 sample2
python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_3 sample3
python /home/name/scripts/get_info.py dir_4 sample4
...

Run text files in terminal

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