BASH: cool functions for your .bashrc file

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In Brief

Weather, stock, translate, and define functions for your .bashrc.file.

Vitals

Posted:	14 Feb 2007
File Size:	3KB
License:	GPL
Download:	/coolsolutions/tools/downloads/coolfuntions.txt
Publisher:	David Crouse

Disclaimer

Please read the note from our friends in legal before using this file.

Details

Many times I prefer to just work from the shell. I wrote some functions for my .bashrc file that I thought I would share.

The .bashrc file is a great place to put functions if your using them regularly. Alternatively, you could alias the programs but since they are small, I don't mind putting them in the .bashrc file just to keep it simple.

Here are a few of the functions I wrote.

weather ()
stock ()
translate ()
define ()

Probably these are self explanatory but just in case they are not......

weather
Weather by us zip code - Can be called two ways # weather 50315 # weather
"Des Moines"

[14:33:09 crouse]$ weather 50317
Weather for Pleasant Hill, IA 19F Light Snow Wind: N at 16 mph Humidity: 80%
[~]
[14:39:35 crouse]$ weather "Des Moines"
Weather for Des Moines, IA 19F Blowing Snow Wind: N at 21 mph Humidity: 74%
[~]
[14:40:03 crouse]$

-----------------------

stock
Stock prices - can be called two ways. # stock novl (this shows stock pricing) #stock "novell" (this way shows stock symbol for novell)

[14:39:25 crouse]$ stock "novell"
   NOVL   NOVELL INC NasdaqGS Security Software & Services
[~]
[14:39:32 crouse]$ stock novl
   NOVELL INC (NasdaqGS:NOVL)  - delayed quote.
Last Trade: 7.10 Change: 0.00 (0.00%) 52wk Range: 5.70 - 9.83
[~]
[14:39:35 crouse]$

-----------------------

translate
Translate a Word - USAGE: translate house spanish # See dictionary.com for available languages (there are many).

[~]
[14:40:03 crouse]$ translate house spanish
"house" in Spanish: casa
[~]
[14:40:52 crouse]$ translate house german
"house" in German: das Haus
[~]
[14:40:59 crouse]$ translate house french
"house" in French: maison
[~]
[14:41:06 crouse]$

-----------------------

define
Define a word - USAGE: define dog

[~]
[14:41:06 crouse]$ define dog
* a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common
* frump: a dull unattractive unpleasant girl or woman
* informal term for a man
[~]
[14:41:47 crouse]$ define canine
* of or relating to a pointed conical tooth
* one of the four pointed conical teeth (two in each jaw) located
* any of various fissiped mammals with nonretractile claws and
[~]
[14:41:54 crouse]$

coolfunctions.txt

# <--------- Cool Functions by Crouse-------->
# Cool Functions for your .bashrc file.

# Weather by us zip code - Can be called two ways # weather 50315 # weather "Des Moines"
weather ()
{
declare -a WEATHERARRAY
WEATHERARRAY=( `lynx -dump "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=weather+${1}&btnG=Search" | grep -A 5 -m 1 "Weather for"`)
echo ${WEATHERARRAY[@]}
}

# Stock prices - can be called two ways. # stock novl  (this shows stock pricing)  #stock "novell"  (this way shows stock symbol for novell)
stock ()
{
stockname=`lynx -dump http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=${1} | grep -i ":${1})" | sed -e 's/Delayed.*$//'`
stockadvise="${stockname} - delayed quote."
declare -a STOCKINFO
STOCKINFO=(` lynx -dump http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=${1} | egrep -i "Last Trade:|Change:|52wk Range:"`)
stockdata=`echo ${STOCKINFO[@]}`
	if [[ ${#stockname} != 0 ]] ;then
		echo "${stockadvise}"
		echo "${stockdata}"
			else
			stockname2=${1}
			lookupsymbol=`lynx -dump -nolist http://finance.yahoo.com/lookup?s="${1}" | grep -A 1 -m 1 "Portfolio" | grep -v "Portfolio" | sed 's/\(.*\)Add/\1 /'`
				if [[ ${#lookupsymbol} != 0 ]] ;then
				echo "${lookupsymbol}"
					else
					echo "Sorry $USER, I can not find ${1}."
				fi
	fi
}

#Translate a Word  - USAGE: translate house spanish  # See dictionary.com for available languages (there are many).
translate ()
{
TRANSLATED=`lynx -dump "http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/${1}" | grep -i -m 1 -w "${2}:" | sed 's/^[ \t]*//;s/[ \t]*$//'`
if [[ ${#TRANSLATED} != 0 ]] ;then
	echo "\"${1}\" in ${TRANSLATED}"
	else
	echo "Sorry, I can not translate \"${1}\" to ${2}"
fi
}

# Define a word - USAGE: define dog
define ()
{
lynx -dump "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+${1}&btnG=Google+Search" | grep -m 3 -w "*"  | sed 's/;/ -/g' | cut -d- -f1 > /tmp/templookup.txt
			if [[ -s  /tmp/templookup.txt ]] ;then	
				until ! read response
					do
					echo "${response}"
					done < /tmp/templookup.txt
				else
					echo "Sorry $USER, I can't find the term \"${1} \""				
			fi	
rm -f /tmp/templookup.txt
}

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Reader Comments

• If you don't have lynx you can substitue lynx in the script with w3m.
• I think it's better to create a file like .functions and put this stuff into that file instead of the .bashrc. After that, add the following line to your .bashrc: test -f ~/.functions && . ~/.functions || true
• Handy stuff!
• Weather does not seem to work for Canada