How do I make this shell script

clum · 2003-10-24T14:52:16

I am making a web site. Every page is going to have the same logo on top, navigation bar on the side, background colour, etc. Only the main table cell will be different. Obviously, the solution is to make a template. The only thing is, what if I change the template? I''d have to manually change every single page on the site. So this is the solution I thought of. I''d have a directory (let''s say called fillins) with all the htmls of the web site, just without a navigation bar and all that. Then I''d have a directory, let''s say combined, which should have the pages found in fillins, combined with the template. And these two directories would be together in a directory which also has the template and a shell script which combines the template and any given html file and puts it in combined. The problem is, I''ve never made anything more than a really simple shell script before and I tried, but couldn''t get this to work. I pose this shell script as a challenge (that''s the best way to get someone to write it for me). I use bash, but any standard shell (i.e. sh, csh, ksh, bash, tsh, etc.) is fine with me. Of course, take into account that I want the title of the fillin html page to remain. Therefore, I would want the combined file to be: 1) The first line of the fillin file 2) The contents of the file called first.html 3) The fillin file from the third line until the second last line 4) The contents of the file called last.html The second line of the fillin file would be ignored (it would say something like , while first.html might add something to the head, add an attribute to body, and but in a navbar). The last line would also be ignored (it would say </body></html>, but last.html would close any open tags from first.html like tables first). Here''s a sort of pseudo-code version to show exactly what I mean: For each command line argument: head -1 fillin/$curarg > combined/$curarg cat first.html >> combine/$curarg tail fillin/$curarg -remove first 3 lines | head -remove last line >>combine/$curarg cat last.html >> combine/$curarg Then I would run it with something like ./combine fillin/*.html or even a Makefile. Can anyone write such a script for me or at least point me to a really good tutorial on how to write scripts. While we''re talking about this anyway, the server where this webpage will be held also supports php and cgi. I have written cgi scripts in C++. I would be doing anything too complicated on my website, but is it worth it to learn php or perl anyway?

Everything Unix Technical

Started by clum October 20, 2003 07:51 AM

10 comments, last by clum 20 years, 10 months ago

CWizard

127

October 24, 2003 10:38 AM

quote: Original post by Cyberdrek
Then again, Python and Ruby are just as good as perl, just a powerfull if not more( in the case of Ruby that is ).

Ugh... maybe, but I still like Perl better for admin and automation scripts. A matter of taste I guess.

quote: And there are times when writing a small shell script can be usefull. Especially on old version of Unix where you didn''t have perl installed.

Of course, true. I hope I never have to see such a box

Flarelocke

410

October 24, 2003 02:52 PM

quote: Ugh... maybe, but I still like Perl better for admin and automation scripts. A matter of taste I guess.

Even I agree with that, and I''m a pretty big Python zealot. This sort of thing is exactly the purpose for which Perl was written. The unix shell stuff is just barely too weak for this task. Now, I don''t remember enough Perl to give you a Perl script that does this, but I''m sure someone could.

quote: Especially on old version of Unix where you didn''t have perl installed. Say like the SunOS box at my old work. The admin didn''t install perl on it as it was only supposed to be a mail server. When I had to code for it, the closest thing to a scripting language I had was shell. Nothing else. So it is still useful.

The solution to that is to install perl. Make it clear to the boss why: "I can write this in 20 minutes in Perl, or 5 hours in shell. Installing perl will take 10 minutes. The Perl script will run faster than the shell. Every Unix admin in the western hemisphere knows Perl. Perl is free. Can I install Perl?"

---New infokeeps brain running;must gas up!

How do I make this shell script

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