Ubuntu Unleashed 2014 Edition: Covering 13.10 and 14.04,Ninth Edition

Using a Simple Script to Automate Tasks

You could use a simple script, for example, to examine your system log for certain keywords. If the script is run via your system’s scheduling table, /etc/crontab, it can help automate security monitoring. By combining the output capabilities of existing Linux commands with the language facilities of the shell, you can quickly build a useful script to perform a task normally requiring a number of command lines. For example, you can create a short script, named greplog, like this:

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#!/bin/sh#    name:  greplog#      use:  mail grep of designated log using keyword# version:  v.01 08aug02##  author: bb## usage: greplog [keyword] [logpathname]##  bugs: does not check for correct ...