📦 Shell Scripting for Beginners – Part 6: Arrays & Arguments

Arrays and arguments give your scripts flexibility — perfect for automating Middleware & DevOps tasks like restarting Tomcat across servers, cleaning WebSphere logs, or passing dynamic inputs to Jenkins jobs.

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📑 Table of Contents

• Arrays
• Command-line Arguments
• Combining Arrays & Arguments
• Error Handling & Debugging
• Summary

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1️⃣ Arrays in Shell

🎯 Example 1 – Basic Array

#!/bin/bash
servers=("dev" "stage" "prod")
echo "First server: ${servers[0]}"
echo "All servers: ${servers[@]}"

💬 Output:

First server: dev
All servers: dev stage prod

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🔁 Example 2 – Loop through Array

#!/bin/bash
apps=("Tomcat" "WebSphere" "JBoss")
for app in "${apps[@]}"; do
  echo "Managing $app service..."
done

💬 Output:

Managing Tomcat service...
Managing WebSphere service...
Managing JBoss service...

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🧰 Example 3 – Restart Tomcat on Multiple Servers

#!/bin/bash
servers=("app1" "app2" "app3")
for s in "${servers[@]}"; do
  echo "Restarting Tomcat on $s..."
  ssh $s "systemctl restart tomcat" || echo "⚠️ Restart failed on $s"
done
echo "✅ Restart loop completed."

💬 Output:

Restarting Tomcat on app1...
Restarting Tomcat on app2...
⚠️ Restart failed on app3
✅ Restart loop completed.

🧹 Example 4 – Cleanup WebSphere Logs

#!/bin/bash
logs=(SystemOut.log SystemErr.log activity.log)
for file in "${logs[@]}"; do
  echo "Deleting $file..."
  rm -f /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/logs/$file || echo "⚠️ Could not remove $file"
done
echo "🧹 Old WebSphere logs removed."

💬 Output:

Deleting SystemOut.log...
Deleting SystemErr.log...
Deleting activity.log...
🧹 Old WebSphere logs removed.

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2️⃣ Command-line Arguments

📦 Example 5 – Access Arguments

#!/bin/bash
echo "Environment: $1"
echo "Version: $2"

💬 Output:

$ ./deploy.sh prod v2.0
Environment: prod
Version: v2.0

🚀 Example 6 – Trigger Jenkins Job

#!/bin/bash
job_name=$1
if [ -z "$job_name" ]; then
  echo "❌ Usage: $0 "
  exit 1
fi
curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:8080/job/$job_name/build?token=deploy123" || echo "⚠️ Failed to trigger job."

💬 Output:

$ ./jenkins_trigger.sh BuildApp
✅ Triggered Jenkins job BuildApp

🧠 Example 7 – Argument Validation

#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
  echo "Usage: $0  "
  exit 1
fi
echo "Deploying $1 version $2..."

💬 Output:

$ ./deploy.sh myapp v1.5
Deploying myapp version v1.5...

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3️⃣ Combining Arrays & Arguments

🌍 Example 8 – Check NGINX on Multiple Hosts

#!/bin/bash
hosts=("$@")
for h in "${hosts[@]}"; do
  echo "Checking NGINX on $h..."
  ssh $h "systemctl is-active nginx" >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ $h OK" || echo "❌ $h DOWN"
done

💬 Output:

$ ./check_nginx.sh host1 host2 host3
✅ host1 OK
✅ host2 OK
❌ host3 DOWN

💾 Example 9 – Query Multiple Databases

#!/bin/bash
dbs=("salesdb" "hrdb" "logdb")
for db in "${dbs[@]}"; do
  echo "Checking $db connection..."
  mysql -h dbserver -u admin -psecret -e "use $db;" >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ $db reachable" || echo "⚠️ $db not reachable"
done

💬 Output:

Checking salesdb connection... ✅ salesdb reachable
Checking hrdb connection... ⚠️ hrdb not reachable
Checking logdb connection... ✅ logdb reachable

🧩 Example 10 – CI/CD Pipeline Trigger

#!/bin/bash
branches=("main" "dev" "hotfix")
for b in "${branches[@]}"; do
  echo "Triggering pipeline for $b..."
  curl -s -X POST "https://ci.middlewarebox.com/job/build-$b/build" || echo "⚠️ Failed for $b"
done

💬 Output:

Triggering pipeline for main... ✅ Done
Triggering pipeline for dev... ✅ Done
Triggering pipeline for hotfix... ⚠️ Failed for hotfix

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4️⃣ Error Handling & Debugging

• Use set -x to trace executed commands.
• Check argument count with $#.
• Use "$@" to safely pass all args to loops.
• Handle SSH/curl/mysql failures with || and echo messages.
• Log outputs → script.sh >> /var/log/script.log 2>&1

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🏁 Summary

• Arrays – store lists of servers, apps, or files.
• Arguments – pass values into scripts for dynamic execution.
• Combine both for multi-server automation.
• Always include error handling to avoid silent failures.

← Previous: Part 5 – Functions in Shell Next: Part 7 – File Handling in Shell →