Conditional Statements | Shell Script

Conditional Statements: There are total 5 conditional statements which can be used in bash programming

1. if statement
2. if-else statement
3. if..elif..else..fi statement (Else If ladder)
4. if..then..else..if..then..fi..fi..(Nested if)
5. switch statement

Their description with syntax is as follows:

if statement
This block will process if specified condition is true.
Syntax:

if [ expression ]
then
   statement
fi

if-else statement
If specified condition is not true in if part then else part will be execute.
Syntax

if [ expression ]
then
   statement1
else
   statement2
fi

if..elif..else..fi statement (Else If ladder)
To use multiple conditions in one if-else block, then elif keyword is used in shell. If expression1 is true then it executes statement 1 and 2, and this process continues. If none of the condition is true then it processes else part.
Syntax

if [ expression1 ]
then
   statement1
   statement2
   .
   .
elif [ expression2 ]
then
   statement3
   statement4
   .
   .
else
   statement5
fi

if..then..else..if..then..fi..fi..(Nested if)
Nested if-else block can be used when, one condition is satisfies then it again checks another condition. In the syntax, if expression1 is false then it processes else part, and again expression2 will be check.
Syntax:

if [ expression1 ]
then
   statement1
   statement2
   .
else
   if [ expression2 ]
   then
      statement3
      .
   fi
fi

switch statement
case statement works as a switch statement if specified value match with the pattern then it will execute a block of that particular pattern
When a match is found all of the associated statements until the double semicolon (;;) is executed.
A case will be terminated when the last command is executed.
If there is no match, the exit status of the case is zero.

Syntax:

case  in
   Pattern 1) Statement 1;;
   Pattern n) Statement n;;
esac

Example Programs

Example 1:
Implementing if statement

Output

$bash -f main.sh
a is not equal to b

Example 2:
Implementing if.else statement

Output

$bash -f main.sh
a is equal to b

Example 3:
Implementing switch statement

Output

$bash -f main.sh
Headquarters - Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Note: Shell scripting is a case-sensitive language, which means proper syntax has to be followed while writing the scripts.

bilal-hungund

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