CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)

Scripting
CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)
Scripting
Introduction
Introduction
Scripting

Shell Scripts

Strings

Search

Piping

Welcome to the Scripting Practice Lab. In this module, you will be provided
with the instructions and devices needed to develop your hands-on skills.
Learning Outcomes
In this module, you will complete the following exercises:
 Exercise 1 - Perform Search
 Exercise 2 - Scripting
 Exercise 3 - Piping
After completing this module, you will be able to:
 Use the Find Command
 Find Files and Commands on a Linux System
 Search for a Specific Text in a File
 Search for Specific Criteria Through a File Content or a Filesystem
 Write a Simple Bash Script
 Use Commenting
 Use Parameters
 Capture User Inputs in Scripts
 Pipe the Output of one Command to the Input of Another Command
 Use the Output of one Command as Argument to Another Command
 Send Output to Both Stdout and a File
Exam Objectives
The following exam objectives are covered in this lab:
 3.1 Given a scenario, analyze data as part of security monitoring
activities.

Note: Our main focus is to cover the practical, hands-on aspects of the

exam objectives. We recommend referring to course material or a search

engine to research theoretical topics in more detail.

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)

Scripting
Exercise 1 - Perform Search
Exercise 1 - Perform Search
Normally a system has a large number of text files. Searching for a specific
text file can be a tedious task. You can search text files based on criteria
specified using regular expressions.
In this exercise, you will learn to perform various types of search operations.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this exercise, you will be able to:
 Use the Find Command
 Find Files and Commands on a Linux System
 Search for a Specific Text in a File
 Search for Specific Criteria Through a File Content or a Filesystem

Your Devices
You will be using the following devices in this lab. Please power this on now.
 PLABALMA - (Alma Linux 8.6 - Stand-alone Linux Workstation)
Task 1 - Use the Find Command
Linux provides a find command that you can use to locate and manipulate
multiple files supporting common values for criteria such as name, type, size,
or timestamp. In this task, you will use the find command to locate files
based on specified criteria for the name, type, size, and time.
In this task, you will use the find command.
Step 1
Ensure that you have powered on the required devices.
Connect to PLABALMA.
On the upper left corner, click Activities.

Figure 1.1 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Clicking on the Activities menu on the desktop.

Step 2
Click the Terminal icon in the application bar.

Figure 1.2 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Clicking the Terminal icon in the application bar.
Step 3
You can use the find command to find files based on specific criteria. Some
of these criteria are listed below:
 -type: specify the type of file
 -name: name of the file (can include wildcards)
 -user: user owner
 -atime, ctime, mtime: access, creation and modified times (multiples of 24
hrs)
 -amin, cmin, mmin: access, creation and modified times (multiples of 1
min)
 -newer FILE: files newer than FILE
In the command below, you will find files starting with gnome for a user
named root. To find these files, type the following command:

sudo find / -user root -name “gnome*”

Press Enter.
Figure 1.3 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the command to find files starting with
gnome for a user named root.

Step 4
When prompted for a password, type the following for plabadmin:
Passw0rd
Press Enter.

Note: When you are entering commands with sudo, frequently, you will be

prompted to provide the password, not necessarily that it would appear in the

same places as the lab steps.

Figure 1.4 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the user credentials for sudo.

Step 5
A series of files with gnome in their names will be listed.
Figure 1.5 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 6
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To find files for a user, type the following command:

sudo find / -user root -type f

Press Enter.

Note: The clear command is used before every step to enable learners to

get a clear view of the output of each command. Otherwise, it is not mandatory

to use the clear command before every command.

Figure 1.6 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files for a user.

Step 7
All files for the user named root are listed as the output of the command.
Figure 1.7 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 8
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To find files that were modified several days ago, type the following
command:

sudo find /var/spool -mtime +60

Press Enter.
Figure 1.8 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files that were
modified several days ago.
Step 9
The output of the command lists the files that were modified more
than 60 days back.

Figure 1.9 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.
Step 10
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

To find files that were modified in last hour and then get the detailed listing,
type the following command:

sudo find -mmin -60 -exec ls -l {} \;

Press Enter.
Figure 1.10 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files that were
modified in the last one hour and then get the detailed listing.

Step 11
The output of this command is displayed.
Figure 1.11 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 12
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To list all the files with size more than 1MB, type the following command:

sudo find -size 1M -exec ls -l {} \;

Press Enter.
If prompted for the password, type the following for plabadmin:
Passw0rd
Figure 1.12 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to list all the files with
size more than 1MB.
Step 13
The output of the command is displayed. All files with more than 1 MB of
size are listed.

Figure 1.13 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.
Step 14
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

You can find a specific type of files for a particular user. Let’s find
the *.txt files for the root user. Type the following command:

sudo find / -user root -iname “*.txt”

Press Enter.
Figure 1.14 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find the *.txt files for
the root user.

Step 15
Notice that all txt files that belong to the user root are now listed.
Figure 1.15 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 16
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Let’s find empty sub-directories in a specific directory. To do this, type the

following command:

sudo find /tmp -type d -empty

Press Enter.
Figure 1.16 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find empty sub-
directories in a specific directory.

Step 17
A list of empty sub-directories under the /tmp directory is shown.
Figure 1.17 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 18
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Similarly, you can also find the executable files. To do this, type the following
command:

sudo find / -perm /a=x

Press Enter.
Figure 1.18 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find the executable
files.

Step 19
The list of executable files is shown.
Figure 1.19 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.
Task 2 - Find Files and Commands on a Linux System
A small Linux distribution can contain thousands of files. For example, only
the /usr directory of distribution can contain over 50,000 files. The complete
installation may contain over 200,000 files.
Locating a file can be difficult in a large number of files. Similarly, you can
search for the path for a specific command and find out which command will
be executed when you enter a specific command. In this task, you will locate
files and commands in various directories.
In this task, you will find files and commands on a Linux system.
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

To find a specific command and its location, type the following command:

which yum

Press Enter.
Figure 1.20 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find a command and
its specific location.

Step 2
Note that the first occurrence where this command appears is displayed.
Figure 1.21 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the which command.

Step 3
If you want to find out all the locations where a specific command occurs,
type the following command:
 which -a yum

Press Enter.
Figure 1.22 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the command to find the location of
a specific command.

Step 4
In this case, there is only one instance of the command.
Figure 1.23 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the which command.

Step 5
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

The whereis command allows you to locate more information than just the
location of the command. To find more details of a command, such as yum,
type the following command:

whereis yum

Press Enter.
Figure 1.24 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the whereis command to find
information about the yum command.
Step 6
The output displays the location, the name of the configuration file, and the
location of the man pages for the command.

Figure 1.25 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the whereis command.
Step 7
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

There will be instances when you need to find files on your Linux system
using their names or path. To find files, type the following command:

sudo find / -name "yum*"

Press Enter.
Figure 1.26 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files on a Linux
system.

Step 8
The output displays the names of the files and their locations.
Figure 1.27 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 9
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Using the find command, you can also find all the directories. To find all the
directories, type the following command:

sudo find / -type d

Press Enter.

Note: The d parameter signifies directories. d is an argument for the -

type parameter. Therefore, the -type parameter allows you to specify that

you are searching for the type “directories.”

Figure 1.28 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find all directories.

Step 10
The output displays all directories.
Figure 1.29 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 11
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Using the find command, you can also find files by user and group. For
example, to find all the files by the user root, type the following command:

sudo find /etc -user root

Press Enter.

Note: /etc is the name of the directory, which is where you will search for the

files. The -user parameter specifies the name of the user, which is

the root in this case.

Figure 1.30 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files for a user
and group.
Step 12
The output displays all files in the /etc directory that belong to the
user root.

Note: There are a lot more combinations that you can use to find files. The

above-shown examples are just a few of them.

Figure 1.31 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 13
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

When you use the find command, it searches for the files and directories
based on a given condition of the filesystem. You can speed up the search
using the locate command, which searches the location of files from a
specific database.
For example, to find all the files in the /etc directory, type the following
command:

sudo locate /etc

Press Enter.

Note: /etc is the name of the directory where you want to search for the files.

If you get an error, please run the updatedb command and retype the
above:

sudo updatedb
Figure 1.32 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to find files in the /etc
directory.

Step 14
Notice that all the files in the /etc directory are now listed.
Figure 1.33 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the find command.

Step 15
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

You can find the database that the locate command uses to find files and
directories. To find the location of the database, type the following
command:

sudo locate -S

Press Enter.
Figure 1.34 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the locate command to find files and
directories.
Step 16
The database name is mlocate.db, and it is stored in
the /var/lib/mlocate directory.

Note: The database may differ in different Linux distributions. For example, in

some of the Linux distributions, you may find the database name to

be slocate or mlocate.
Figure 1.35 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the locate command.
Task 3 - Search for a Specific Text in a File
To search for a specific text in a file, you create simple regular expressions
containing several notational elements. In this task, you will determine the
parameters related to a particular text in the yum.conf file.
To search for a specific text in a file, perform the following steps:
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Using the grep command, you can find specific words in one or more files. If
you specify more than one file, the file name is displayed in front of the line
that contains the searched word.
For example, to find the word proxy in the /etc/yum.conf file, type the
following command:

grep -n “proxy” /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.

Note: Various parameters can be used with the grep command. The -n

parameter displays the line-number of the line that contains the searched text.
Figure 1.36 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to find specific
words in one or more files.
Step 2
Notice the number 7 at the beginning of the display. This is the line number
of the line that contains the specified text.

Figure 1.37 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.
Step 3
Instead of displaying the lines with the searched text, you can simply count
the number of lines in which the searched text appears. You can count the
number of lines by using the -c switch.
To use the -c switch, type the following command:

grep -c “proxy” /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.38 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to count the
number of lines on which a word appears.

Step 4
The total number of lines is displayed.
Figure 1.39 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.

Step 5
Let’s try to find the number of words that start with p in the yum.conf file.
Type the following command:
grep -c “p*” /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.40 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to find the
number of words that start with p in the yum.conf file.

Step 6
The count of words starting with the letter p is displayed.
Figure 1.41 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.

Step 7
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To list all the blank lines with their line numbers, type the following
command:

grep -n “^$” /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.42 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to list all the
blank lines with their line numbers.
Step 8
Notice that this does not return an output. This means that there are no
blank lines in the yum.conf file.

Figure 1.43 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.
Step 9
You can also simply list the lines that contain a specific word. Type the
following command:

grep proxy /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.

Note: In the above-given command, the word proxy is being searched without

quotes.
Figure 1.44 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to list the lines
that contain a specific word.
Step 10
The line containing the word proxy is now shown as the output of the
command.

Figure 1.45 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.
 Leave the devices you have powered on in their current state and proceed to the

next exercise.

Task 4 - Search for Specific Criteria Through a File

Content or a Filesystem
In the previous task, you used grep.
In this task, you will use egrep. There is a distinct difference between these.
When you use grep, special characters such as ?, +, {, |, (, and ), lose their
meaning.
To use special characters as meta-characters, you need to use \?, \+, \{, \|, \
(, and \). With egrep, you do not have to use the \?, \+, \{, \|, \(, and \). To
search for specific criteria through a file content or filesystem, perform the
following steps:
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

You can list a specific set of files using the pipe. Type the following
command:

ls | egrep "proxy” /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.46 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering a command to list a specific set of
files using the pipe.
Step 2
In this command, the pipe | acts as an OR command. This means
that egrep will simply search a specific file, in this case, yum.conf, and list
the occurrences that have a proxy in the name.

Figure 1.47 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the egrep command.
Step 3
Now, attempt the same command with grep. Type the following command:

ls | grep "init|conf"

Press Enter.
Figure 1.48 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the grep command to find two words.

Step 4
Note that no result is returned. The grep command cannot interpret the
pipe|
Figure 1.49 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing no output of the grep command with
the pipe.

Step 5
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To count the number of lines in /etc/yum.conf that either start with 1 or

end with 01, type the following command:

egrep -c ‘^1|01$’ /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.

Note: the use of single inverted commas (‘) in the command as compared to

the use of double inverted commas (“) in the earlier commands.

Figure 1.50 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the egrep command to count the
number of lines in /etc/yum.conf that either start with 1 or end with 01.
Step 6
Notice that the output returns 0, which means that the specified criteria
were not met.

Figure 1.51 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the egrep command as
0.
Step 7
To find two words simultaneously in a file, type the following command:

egrep ‘proxy|installonly' /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.52 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the egrep command to find two
words simultaneously in a file.

Step 8
The number of occurrences for both words are found.
Figure 1.53 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the egrep command.

Step 9
Egrep and fgrep are equivalent to grep with -E and -F.
The fgrep command is similar to grep, but it does not process any regular
expression meta-characters as being special characters. To fgrep, type the
following command:

fgrep -c ‘proxy’ /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.54 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the fgrep command.

Step 10
The output of the fgrep -c command is displayed. It shows the total number
of lines where the proxy word is displayed.
Figure 1.55 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the fgrep command.

Step 11
To use the fgrep tool to find two words, type the following command:
fgrep -c ‘proxy|installonly’ /etc/yum.conf

Press Enter.
Figure 1.56 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the fgrep command to find two words
in a file.
Step 12
This command is trying to find both words - proxy as well as installonly - in
the /etc/yum.conf file. However, it cannot determine two words and,
therefore, returns 0 as the search result.

Figure 1.57 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the grep command.
CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)
Scripting
Exercise 2 - Scripting
Exercise 2 - Scripting
Bash is a shell, which acts as a command language interpreter. When a user
executes a command, the output is generated as the output of the
command. Bash can execute individual commands as well as commands
from a file, which is known as a script.
In this exercise, you will work with the Bash profiles and Bash scripts.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this exercise, you will be able to:
 Write a Simple Bash Script
 Use Commenting
 Use Parameters
 Capture User Inputs in Scripts

Your Devices
You will be using the following devices in this lab. Please power this on now.
 PLABALMA - (Alma Linux 8.6 - Stand-alone Linux Workstation)
Task 1 - Write a Simple Bash Script
Assume that a user has to execute a series of commands multiple times. One
method that the user can use is to keep typing in the commands over and
over again.
This method works well, but it is time-consuming. Another method that the
user can use is to create a file that contains the series of commands, which
shell can execute without any manual intervention.
The file that the user will execute to automate the execution of multiple
commands is known as a shell script. The user can create the shell script,
store it, and execute it as many times as required. Using this method, the
user does not have to re-type the same commands.
To write a simple bash script, perform the following steps:
Step 1
Ensure the terminal window is opened on PLABALMA.
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear
To create a shell script, type the following command:

vi script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.1 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Creating a new script using the vi editor.

Step 2
Press i to start insert mode.
#!/bin/sh will always be the first line that tells the operating system that the
script needs to be executed by the Bourne shell. In this case, it is mentioned
as #!/bin/sh, which is the default location of the Bourne shell.
Type the following statement:

#!/bin/sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.2 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the first statement in the shell script.

Step 3
Type the following statement:
echo “Good Morning!”

Press Enter.

Note: After typing Good, press the tab key.

Figure 2.3 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the echo statement in the shell script.

Step 4
To save the file, you need to exit the insert mode. Press ESC. Type the
following statement:
:wq

Press Enter.
Figure 2.4 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Saving and closing the shell script.

Step 5
You are now in the terminal window.
Figure 2.5 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Displaying the terminal window after shell
script closure.
Step 6
Next, you need to change the permissions on this shell script. Before a shell
script can be executed, the user must make the script executable. To do this,
type the following command:

chmod 755 script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.6 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Assigning execute permissions to the script.
Step 7
After the script is made executable, it can be executed in two different ways.
The first method is to use the bash command. To execute the script, type
the following command:

bash script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.7 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script with the bash command.

Step 8
The script will run and print the output on the console.
Note: With the use of echo command, you need to put the string of

characters in the quote. It will be printed in the verbatim manner as you have

entered. Remember that you had pressed the tab after Good.
Figure 2.8 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.

Step 9
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

The second method to execute a script is to prefix it with ./. Type the
following command:

./script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.9 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script with the prefixed ./.

Step 10
Notice that the method is the same.
Figure 2.10 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.

Step 11
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

You can also use a third method that is recommended by various Linux
flavors. You should create a subdirectory named bin in your home directory.
Then, move the script to the subdirectory.
To create the subdirectory, type the following command:

mkdir bin

Press Enter.
Figure 2.11 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Creating a new directory named bin.

Step 12
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

To list the files in the home directory, type the following command:

ls

Press Enter.
Figure 2.12 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the ls command to list the files in the
current directory.

Step 13
The output of the ls command is displayed.
Figure 2.13 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the ls command.

Step 14
Move the file to the bin directory. Type the following command:
mv script.sh bin

Press Enter.
Figure 2.14 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Moving the file into the bin directory using the
mv command.
Step 15
The mv command does not provide any output. Let’s verify if the file has
moved to the bin directory. To list the files in the home directory, type the
following command:

ls

Press Enter.
Figure 2.15 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Verifying if the script file has moved to the bin
directory.
Step 16
Notice that the script.sh file does not exist in the root directory anymore.
With the use of the mv command, it has been moved to the bin directory.

Figure 2.16 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the ls command to list the files in the
current directory.
Step 17
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

To navigate to the bin directory, type the following command:

cd bin

Press Enter.
Figure 2.17 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Changing to the bin directory.

Step 18
To execute the script, type the following command:
script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.18 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script from the bin directory.

Step 19
Notice that the script ran without the bash command or ./. In
the bin directory, the script can run on its own by simply executing it.
Figure 2.19 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.

Task 2 - Use Commenting

Scripts can also have comments, which are statements that do not get
executed.
In this task, you will add comments in the script.sh file.
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Open the script.sh file once again. Type the following command:

vi script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.20 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Opening the script in the vi editor.

Step 2
Press i to start the insert mode. Scroll down to the next blank line.
Type the following statement:
#This is just a test script.

Figure 2.21 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Adding a comment statement in the script.

Step 3
To save the file, you need to exit the insert mode. Press ESC. Type the
following statement:

:wq

Press Enter.
Figure 2.22 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Saving and closing the script.

Step 4
You are now in the terminal window.
Figure 2.23 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Navigating back to the terminal window.

Step 5
Execute the script. Type the following command:
script.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.24 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script from the bin directory.

Step 6
Notice that the output does not show any comment.
Figure 2.25 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.
Task 3 - Use Parameters
Shell scripts, as stated earlier, can be written once and then re-used as many
times as possible. The advantage of a shell script is also that you can pass
different parameters to get different results.
To use parameters, perform the following steps:
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Create the param.sh file. Type the following command:

vi param.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.26 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Creating a new script using the vi editor.

Step 2
Start the insert mode by press i. Type the following in the script:
#!/bin/bash
echo "$# parameters"
echo "$@";
Figure 2.27 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the commands in the script in the vi
editor.

Step 3
Press ESC and then type the following command:
:wq

Press Enter.
Figure 2.28 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Saving and closing the script.

Step 4
You are now back on the command prompt.
Figure 2.29 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Navigating back to the terminal window.
Step 5
Next, you need to change the permissions on this shell script. Before a shell
script can be executed, the user must make the shell script executable. To
do this, type the following command:

chmod 755 param.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.30 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Assigning the execute permission.

Step 6
You will now see how the script provides different results when parameters
are passed on.
Type the following command:

param.sh 1 2 3

Press Enter.
Figure 2.31 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the shell script with the
parameters.
Step 7
Notice that the output is displayed. The output counts the number of
parameters and then displays them.

Figure 2.32 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.
Step 8
Type the following command:

param.sh “1 2 3”

Press Enter.
Figure 2.33 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the shell script with the
parameters.
Step 9
Notice that the output counts the parameters in the quotes as one
parameter. It also displays the parameters within the quotes.

Figure 2.34 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.
Step 10
Type the following command:

param.sh 1 “2 3”

Press Enter.
Figure 2.35 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script with the parameters.

Step 11
Notice that in all three cases, the output was different. In this case, there are
two parameters, and then the value of the parameters.
Figure 2.36 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the executed script.

Task 4 - Capture User Inputs in Scripts

You can also capture user inputs in scripts. For example, you can prompt a
user to enter the name and then display the name.
In this task, you will capture user inputs in scripts.
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Create another script named test.sh. Type the following command:

Type the following in the script using the insert mode:

#!/bin/bash
echo Hello, Please enter your name.
read varname
echo Hello $varname

Note: The value entered by the user is stored in the variable named varname.
Figure 2.37 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Creating a new script using the vi editor.

Step 2
Press ESC and then type the following command:
:wq

Press Enter.
Figure 2.38 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Saving and closing the script.

Step 3
Back on the terminal window, type the following command:
chmod 755 test.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.39 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Assigning the execute permission.

Step 4
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Type the following command to execute the script:

test.sh

Press Enter. You are prompted for your name.

Figure 2.40 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the shell script.

Step 5
Type your name and press Enter.
Figure 2.41 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the script and
prompting to enter the name.

Step 6
You are prompted with a welcome message.
Figure 2.42 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the script after
receiving the user input.

Step 7
Clear the screen by entering the following command:
clear

Create another script named fruits.sh. Enter Insert mode, and type the
following code:

#!/bin/bash
echo Name three fruits that you love to eat:
read fruit1 fruit2 fruit3
echo First fruit you like is: $fruit1
echo Second fruit you like is: $fruit2
echo Third fruit you like is: $fruit3
Figure 2.43 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Creating a new script using the vi editor.

Step 8
Save the file. In this script, you are accepting multiple values using the read
command. The read will split the values on whitespace.
Figure 2.44 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the commands in the script in the vi
editor.
Step 9
After creating the file, assign the execute permissions using the following
command:

chmod 755 fruits.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.45 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Assigning the execute permissions.

Step 10
Then, execute the script. Type the following command:
fruits.sh

Press Enter.
Figure 2.46 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the script from the bin directory.

Step 11
Notice you are prompted to provide an input.
Figure 2.47 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Prompting the user input after executing the
script.

Step 12
Type the following values:
Apple Orange Watermelon

Press Enter.

Note: You can use any values of your choice. They must be entered in the

same sequence.
Figure 2.48 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the user inputs as prompted by the
script.

Step 13
Notice that the entered values are assigned to the appropriate variables.
Figure 2.49 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the script.

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)

Scripting
Exercise 3 - Piping
Exercise 3 - Piping
Linux shells use pipes (|) as an operator between two commands, where the
output of one command is the input of the second command.
Redirects are meant to direct the output to a specific file or take the input
from a specific file.
In this exercise, you will understand to use pipes.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this exercise, you will be able to:
 Pipe the Output of one Command to the Input of another Command
 Use the Output of One Command as Argument to another Command
 Send Output to Both Stdout and a File

Your Devices
You will be using the following devices in this lab. Please power this on now.
 PLABALMA - (Alma Linux 8.6 - Stand-alone Linux Workstation)
Task 1 - Pipe the Output of one Command to the Input of
another Command
Pipes provide a method to apply multiple commands concurrently. In this
task, you will pipe the output of one command to the input of the other.
In this task, you will pipe the output of one command to the input of another
command.
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

To redirect the standard output of the first command to the standard input of
the second command, type the following command:

ls -l /dev | more

Press Enter.
Figure 3.1 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Executing the command to redirect the
standard output of the first command to the standard input of the second
command.
Step 2
The more parameter is used for pagination. You will need to press Enter to
continue reading further.

Figure 3.2 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the user of more command.

Step 3
You can continue to press Enter to view the complete output or
terminate CTRL + c to terminate the output.
You are back at the command prompt.
Figure 3.3 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Terminating the command.
Task 2 - Use the Output of One Command as Argument
to another Command
You can use the output of one command as an argument to the other
command. In this task, you will use the output of one command as an
argument to the other command. To do this, perform the following steps:
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Type the following command:

ls -l /etc/*.conf | grep user

Press Enter.
Figure 3.4 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Entering the command to accept the output of
the first command as input to the second command using piping.
Step 2
This command uses piping with the grep command. The command will find
any file that has the word user in the name.

Figure 3.5 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the output of the command using
piping with the grep command.
Step 3
The xargs command generates an argument list using standard input for a
command. The xargs command is typically used with a pipe | operator.
To use the xargs command, type the following command:

ls | xargs cat

Press Enter.
Figure 3.6 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Using the xargs command.

Step 4
The cat parameter reads the contents of the files displayed in
the ls parameter.
Figure 3.7 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the argument of the xargs command.

Task 3 - Send Output to Both Stdout and a File

Linux offers commands that enable you to send an output to both - the
standard output file (stdout) and any other file.
In this task you will send the output to both - stdout and a file.
Step 1
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

You can redirect the standard output to a file and the screen at the same
time. The tee command reads the input and then writes to standard output
and also to the file that is specified. Type the following command:

ls -l /dev | tee output.txt

Press Enter.
Figure 3.8 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Redirecting the standard output to a file and on
the screen at the same time.
Step 2
The standard output is generated. Along with this, a file named output.txt is
also generated.

Figure 3.9 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Showing the redirected standard output to a

file and on the screen at the same time.
Step 3
Clear the screen by entering the following command:

clear

Type the following command to verify that the output.txt file exists:

ls

Press Enter.
Figure 3.10 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Listing the files using the ls command.

Step 4
Notice that the output.txt file is now created with the input from
the tee command.
Figure 3.11 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Verifying that the output.txt file exists.

Step 5
To view the contents of the output.txt file, type the following command:
cat output.txt

Press Enter.
Figure 3.12 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Viewing the contents of the output.txt file
using the cat command.
Step 6
The output.txt file contains the same output that was displayed on the
console.

Figure 3.13 Screenshot of PLABALMA: Viewing the contents of the output.txt file.
Lab Assessment
Did you complete all the lab steps? Don't forget to complete the review
questions on the next page.

Keep all devices that you have powered on in their current state and proceed to

the review section.

CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)

Scripting
Review
Review
Well done, you have completed the Scripting Practice Lab.
Lab Assessment
Test your knowledge on the topics covered in this lab by completing the review
questions below.

1
Question
True or false: Microsoft provides a find command that you can use to locate
and manipulate multiple files supporting common values for criteria such as
name, type, size, or timestamp.
True

False
Incorrect
Linux provides a find command that you can use to locate and manipulate multiple
files supporting common values for criteria such as name, type, size, or timestamp.
1 of 6

2
Question
Which of the following command is used to search a particular type of file?
-stype

-tfile
 -tpe

-type
Incorrect
-type specifies the type of file
2 of 6

3
Question
True or false: The d parameter signifies the directory.
True

False
Submit

3 of 6

4
Question
True or false: The locate command is used to searches the location of files
from a specific database.
True

False
Incorrect
When the find command is used, it searches for files and directories based on a
given condition of the filesystem. You can speed up the search using the locate
command, which searches the location of files from a specific database.
4 of 6

5
Question
True or false: Bash is a shell, which acts as a command language interpreter.
True

False
Incorrect
Bash acts as a command language interpreter. Bash can execute individual
commands as well as commands from a file, which is known as a script.
5 of 6

Action item
Please ensure you have completed all items before submitting your report

1. Question

2. Question

3. Question

4. Question

5. Question

Submit report

Summary
You completed the following exercises:
 Exercise 1 - Perform Search
 Exercise 2 - Scripting
 Exercise 3 - Piping
You should now be able to:
 Use the Find Command
 Find Files and Commands on a Linux System
 Search for a Specific Text in a File
 Search for Specific Criteria Through a File Content or a Filesystem
 Write a Simple Bash Script
 Use Commenting
 Use Parameters
 Capture User Inputs in Scripts
 Pipe the Output of one Command to the Input of Another Command
 Use the Output of one Command as Argument to Another Command
 Send Output to Both Stdout and a File