Shell script to generate random files using RANDOM variable

by Vivek Gite on April 10, 2008

#!/bin/bash
# Shell script to generate random file method # 1
#
# This is a free shell script under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above
#
# Copyright (C) 2005 nixCraft
#
# Feedback/comment/suggestions : http://cyberciti.biz/fb/
echo "List of temporary files : "
for i  in 1 2 3 4 5
do
   FILE="/tmp/$(basename $0).$RANDOM.txt"
   echo $FILE # show file name
   > $FILE # create files
done

#!/bin/bash

# Shell script to generate random file method # 1

# This is a free shell script under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above

# Feedback/comment/suggestions : http://cyberciti.biz/fb/

echo "List of temporary files : "

for i in 1 2 3 4 5

FILE="/tmp/$(basename $0).$RANDOM.txt"

echo $FILE # show file name

> $FILE # create files

done

Tagged as: bash shell script, for loop, free shell, gnu gpl version, loop method, random file, random files, shell loops, temporary files

{ 3 comments… add one }

doukremt January 19, 2013, 10:11 pm
Not testing if the file to be created already exists is a rather bad idea
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guy May 19, 2009, 8:17 am
or both… /tmp/$(basename $0).$RANDOM.$$.txt
say hello to the safe side
:D
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Nerf June 18, 2008, 1:40 pm
This is bad practice. A much better way would be to use $$, which is the process ID. In the loop above I would create a filename of “/tmp/$(basename $0).$$.txt”
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