linux shell脚本eof,Linux shell脚本里面的EOF

I saw this script and I'm not sure why or how it works:

cat >> test << STOP

line 1

line 2

line 3

STOP

or equally

cat >> test << EOF

line 1

line 2

line 3

EOF

That is known as a "Here Tag". Basically it tells the shell that

you are going to enter a multi-line string until "Here". You could

call it anything you want, not just EOF or STOP.

Code:

[mb@ironmaiden mb]$ cat > test

<

> Hello

> world

> HERE

The <

multi-lines until the HERE tag. Thus the shell waits until it sees

HERE to consider the rest of the stuff above it as input for

cat.

Some rules about the Here tags:

1. The tag can be any string, uppercase or lowercase, though most

people use uppercase by convention.

2. The tag will not be considered as a Here tag if there are other

words in that line. In this case, it will merely be considered part

of the string. The tag should be by itself on a separate line, to

be considered a tag.

3. The tag should have no leading or trailing spaces in that line

to be considered a tag. Otherwise it will be considered as part of

the string.

Here's another chunk to consider:

Code:

[mb@ironmaiden mb]$ cat >> test

<

> Hello world HERE

string

> This is a test

> HERE

string

> and a new line

> HERE

Note that in the above, we have the word HERE showing up 3 times.

The first two times, it occurs with other words or leading spaces

and hence it is considered as part of the string.