Skip to Content
The Linux Command Line, 2nd Edition
book

The Linux Command Line, 2nd Edition

by William E. Shotts
February 2019
Beginner
504 pages
10h 47m
English
No Starch Press
Content preview from The Linux Command Line, 2nd Edition

31FLOW CONTROL: BRANCHING WITH CASE

image

In this chapter, we will continue our look at flow control. In Chapter 28, we constructed some simple menus and built the logic used to act on a user’s selection. To do this, we used a series of if commands to identify which of the possible choices had been selected. This type of logical construct appears frequently in programs—so much so that many programming languages (including the shell) provide a special flow control mechanism for multiple-choice decisions.

The case Command

In bash, the multiple-choice compound command is called case. It has the following syntax.

case word in        [pattern [| pattern ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Linux Fundamentals, 2nd Edition

Linux Fundamentals, 2nd Edition

Sander van Vugt
Understanding the Linux Kernel, 3rd Edition

Understanding the Linux Kernel, 3rd Edition

Daniel P. Bovet, Marco Cesati
Learning Modern Linux

Learning Modern Linux

Michael Hausenblas

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781492071235