How to read file using bash for loop ?

Here we will check a quick tip how to read a file using bash for loop.

We know this is easily possible with “do while” loop and other ways.

Lets have a look at this:

[root@nglinux ~]# ls > file
[root@nglinux ~]# for i in $( < file); do echo "***"$i"---"; done
***anaconda-ks.cfg---
***Desktop---
***Documents---
***Downloads---
***edit_host.sh---
***file---
***install.log.syslog---
***Music---
***Pictures---
***Public---
***Templates---
***test---
***Videos---
[root@nglinux ~]# 

We can also replace the character < with cat command.

[root@nglinux ~]# for i in $(cat file); do echo "***"$i"---"; done
***anaconda-ks.cfg---
***Desktop---
***Documents---
***Downloads---
***edit_host.sh---
***file---
***install.log.syslog---
***Music---
***Pictures---
***Public---
***Templates---
***test---
***Videos---
[root@nglinux ~]# 

We use the above trick multiple times to perform some tasks easily in bash.

I hope you liked the trick.

Please do post your comments.