How do I run .sh scripts?

Give execute permission to your script:

chmod +x /path/to/yourscript.sh

And to run your script:

/path/to/yourscript.sh

Since . refers to the current directory: if yourscript.sh is in the current directory, you can simplify this to:

./yourscript.sh

You need to mark shell scripts as executable to run them from the file manager:

1. Right click on your .sh file and select Properties:

   

2. In the Permissions tab, check Allow executing file as program:

   

3. Close the Properties window and double-click the file. A dialog will pop up giving you the option to run the script in a terminal:

   

Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where the .sh file is located. Then type:

sh <name of file>.sh

Prerequisite

Before you can run the .sh file, you need to make it executable:

1. Right-click on the file
2. Select Properties
3. Select Permissions
4. Select Allow executing file as a program

Warning

Make sure you trust the source where you got the file from. It could be a virus.

The very simple way

1. Double-click on the file
2. Click run in terminal

This has problem. The terminal will close immediately and you will not be able to see the output.

The simple way

1. Open Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
2. Drag and drop the .sh file into the terminal and press Enter

The way professionals do it

1. Open Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal

2. Find where the .sh file

   • Use the ls and cd commands
   • ls will list the files and folders in the current folder. Give it a try: type "ls" and press Enter.
   • Once you see the folder that you want to go in to, run cd, followed by a space, followed by a folder name
   • If you when into a folder that you did not want, run cd .. to go one level up

3. Run the .sh file

   • Once you can see for example script1.sh with ls run this:

     ./script.sh
     

Why do it the complicated way?

The terminal has a rich set of powerful tools that are accessible by typing the commands. Professionals locate the .sh file by typing ls and cd. Once you are in the correct current folder you can run the script like this:

./script1.sh

or you can run and redirect the output to a file:

./script1.sh > out.txt

or you can filter the output for keywords (e.g. "apples") an then redirect to a file:

./script1.sh | grep apples > ./only-apples

There are thousands of things you can to to that file just by typing a few commands.

Another one, you can download a file from the Internet with one simple command:

wget www.google.com/images/logos/ps_logo2.png

And then open the file like this:

shotwell ps_logo2.png

On Ubuntu 13.04 executable files opened in Nautilus are now opened in gedit by default rather than prompting the user to execute them. To enable the classic behavior you need to adjust the preferences:

Nautilus → Edit menu → Preferences → Behaviour tab → Click the radio button near Ask each time.

Go to the directory where the .sh file is by using cd. In this example I have stored my sh file as ~/Desktop/shell_practice/test.sh

first do pwd to figure out where you are, and if it returns /home/username (where username is your real username), you can run

cd Desktop/shell/practice

If you seem to be somewhere else, you can use the absolute path

cd ~/Desktop/shell/practice

or

cd $HOME/Desktop/shell/practice

or even

cd /home/$USER/Desktop/shell/practice

these are all ways of describing the same place. Once you've made it to the location of your script, type

ls

If you can see the sh file in the output, you can use chmod to make it executable. In my case, remember, the filename is test.sh, so I would run

chmod u+x test.sh

Now that we are in the same directory as the script, we have to specify to the shell that we want to execute the file by giving its location ./ (the current directory followed by a path separator, to distinguish it from the filename). To run my file I would type:

./test.sh

If your script has been written correctly it will run without errors...

Here's a live example:

For Ubuntu 18.04, There is a little modification, as you don't get a pop-up dialog.

So what you need to do is:

Right click on Files, Select Preferences > Select Behavior Tab > Mark 'Ask what to do' option under Executable text file.

Now, When you double-click on any .sh file, you will get a popup, there you can select "run in terminal" option to run your .sh file.

There are a few ways to do this.

Option 1

1. In the terminal, access the directory the Bash file is in using cd (change directory).

   Ex. cd Downloads

2. Run bash <filename>.sh

   This also works with .run files. There is an example of this usage at this webpage on updating Rhythmbox.

Option 2

1. In the terminal, navigate to the directory the bash file is in.

2. Run chmod +x <filename>.sh

3. In Nautilus, open the file.

2 main steps.

1. in terminal, use gedit to write and save script with ".sh" extension to desktop. (but any text editor can be used)

2. open Nautilus and right click the script.sh file.

   • under properties, check box "allow executing file.."

   • in Nautilus menu, click file,then preferences,then behaviour

   • check the "run executable text files when they are opened".

Now, when you double click the file on the desktop, it should execute. no need for . or ./

1. Right-click the .sh file and make it executable.

2. Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).

3. Drag the .sh file into the terminal window and watch in awe.