Bash Infinite Loop Examples

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An infinite loop in a shell script is a loop that runs continuously until it is explicitly broken or the script is terminated. Here are a few examples of how to create an infinite loop in a bash script:

  1. while true loop:
#!/bin/bash

while true
do
# commands to be executed
echo "This is an infinite loop."
sleep 1
done

In this example, the while true loop will keep running indefinitely. The true command always returns a success exit status, so the loop will never end unless it is explicitly broken.

  1. for loop:
#!/bin/bash

for (( ; ; ))
do
# commands to be executed
echo "This is an infinite loop."
sleep 1
done

In this example, the for loop is set to run indefinitely with no end condition.

  1. until loop:
#!/bin/bash

until false
do
# commands to be executed
echo "This is an infinite loop."
sleep 1
done

In this example, the until loop will keep running until the false command returns a success exit status, which will never happen, making the loop run indefinitely.

It’s important to be careful when using infinite loops in shell scripts, as they can cause your script to run indefinitely, potentially leading to system resource exhaustion. Make sure you have a proper exit condition in place, or be prepared to manually terminate the script if necessary.

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