If I want a series of commands to be run by terminal, instead of writing it in a text file and copying and pasting it in there, could I have terminal run it? If so, what does the extension have to be?
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3 Answers
What you are trying to do is create a shell script with a .sh extension (Windows equivalent is a batch file with a .bat extension). Here is a simple tutorial to get you started, here is a more complex one that contains a "hello world" style introduction to shell scripting.
answered Apr 7, 2011 at 2:26
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1@typoking It won't let me use .sh. I can either use .txt or both. How do I isolate .sh?– JShoeCommented Apr 7, 2011 at 2:31
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Why can't you use .sh? You said you can use ".txt or both" but .txt is only one thing... what does "both" signify? Have you already read through and tried the link to the tutorial I posted a link to? Commented Apr 7, 2011 at 2:35
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Ok sorry, I fixed that by getting BBEditor. I did the chmod +x filename.sh thing, but the file didn't change. I used the actual name btw. It didn't become executable.– JShoeCommented Apr 7, 2011 at 2:37
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@JShoe don't be afraid to mess around try out some tutorials, you will learn a lot through the pain and suffering of figuring these things out. Commented Apr 7, 2011 at 2:43
The accepted answer is misleading. On OS X (and U*x generally), the name of the file doesn't matter at all. What matters is that it needs to have executable permission (chmod +x file) and a correct shebang line.
bash$ cat > randomness #!/bin/sh echo Hello, world Ctrl+D bash$ chmod +x randomness bash$ ./randomness Hello, world bash$
The first line looks like a comment, but it's a comment in a special format, called a shebang (short for sharp-bang, common names for the characters # and !). The two characters need to be immediately followed by the absolute path name to the interpreter which this script should be interpreted by (optionally followed by whitespace and options for the interpreter; for portability reasons, only a single option string is allowed).
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Tangentially, this uses
/bin/shinstead of/bin/bash; for this simpe script, it doesn't matter, but you shoud understand the difference. See also stackoverflow.com/questions/5725296/…– tripleeeCommented Aug 15, 2016 at 3:29
Just write/paste your commands in TextEdit app then save it to desktop .rtf, and once its on the desktop press on the title and rename to your preferred extension. A window will pop up asking you if you are sure you want to save as... select your option. Done. The icon should change to represent the app that can open the extension. Good luck.
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He doesn't have a prefered extension, he was asking how to essentially create a batch file. Commented Mar 4, 2015 at 2:43
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