Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

Name

for

Synopsis

                  for 
                  x [in 
                  list]  
  do
                  commands
                  done
               

Assign each word in list to x in turn and execute commands. If list is omitted, $@ (positional parameters) is assumed.

Examples

Paginate all files in the current directory and save each result:

                  for file in *
                  do
                       pr $file > $file.tmp
                  done

Search chapters for a list of words (like fgrep -f):

                  for item in `cat program_list`
                  do
                       echo "Checking chapters for"
                       echo "references to program $item..."
                       grep -c "$item.[co]" chap*
                  done