The case Statement
The case statement is good alternative to Multilevel if-then-else-fi statement. It enable you to match several values against one variable. Its easier to read and write.
Syntax:
case $variable-name in pattern1) command ... .. command;; pattern2) command ... .. command;; patternN) command ... .. command;; *) command ... .. command;; esacThe $variable-name is compared against the patterns until a match is found. The shell then executes all the statements up to the two semicolons that are next to each other. The default is *) and its executed if no match is found. For e.g. write script as follows:
# if no vehicle name is given
# i.e. -z $1 is defined and it is NULL
#
# if no command line arg
if [ -z $1 ]
then
rental="*** Unknown vehicle ***"
elif [ -n $1 ]
then
# otherwise make first arg as rental
rental=$1
fi
case $rental in
"car") echo "For $rental Rs.20 per k/m";;
"van") echo "For $rental Rs.10 per k/m";;
"jeep") echo "For $rental Rs.5 per k/m";;
"bicycle") echo "For $rental 20 paisa per k/m";;
*) echo "Sorry, I can not gat a $rental for you";;
esac
For first test run its match with van and it will show output " For van Rs.10 per k/m. "
For second test run it print, " For car Rs.20 per k/m ".
And for last run, there is no match for Maruti-800, hence default i.e. *) is executed and it prints, " Sorry, I can not gat a Maruti-800 for you ".
Note that esac is always required to indicate end of case statement.