A Beginner’s Guide on using for Loop in Bash

Introduction

A for loop in Bash is used to repeat a set of commands a specific number of times. It iterates over a list of items (like strings, numbers, files) and executes the commands for each item in the list.

Basic Syntax of for Loop

The basic syntax of a for loop in Bash is:

for variable in list
do
    # commands
done

• variable: A placeholder for each item in the list.
• list: A list of values or items.
• commands: The commands that you want to execute for each item in the list.

Iterating Over a List of Values

Let’s start with a simple example where we iterate over a list of names:

#!/bin/bash

for name in Alice Bob Charlie
do
    echo "Hello, $name!"
done

Explanation:

• The for loop iterates over the list Alice Bob Charlie.
• For each name, the loop executes the echo command, greeting each person.

Output

Hello, Alice!
Hello, Bob!
Hello, Charlie!

Iterating Over Files in a Directory