Monthly Archives: October 2016


Get execution time in seconds

The following methods demonstrate different methods on how to compute the time a potion of code or script take to complete their execution.

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Method 1 – Using date

The following example will calculate the execution time in seconds by subtracting the system date and time in seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC once right before the script goes to the computation part and once right after.

In order to get the system date and time in seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC we use the command date +%s.

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#!/bin/bash

#Print the system date and time in seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
startTime=$(date +%s);

#We pick a random number between 1 and 10.
#Then we delay the execution for that amount of seconds.
sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 ));

endTime=$(date +%s);

#Subtract endTime from startTime to get the total execution time
totalTime=$(($endTime-$startTime));

echo "Process finished after $totalTime seconds";

exit 0;

Method 2 – Using bash internal SECONDS variable

The following example will calculate the execution time in seconds by reseting the bash internal variable SECONDS to 0, forcing the shell to continue counting from there.

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#!/bin/bash

#This variable expands to the number of seconds since the shell was started.
#We set it to 0, forcing the shell to continue counting from there.
SECONDS=0;

#We pick a random number between 1 and 10.
#Then we delay the execution for that amount of seconds.
sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 ));

echo "Process finished after $SECONDS seconds";

exit 0;

Method 3 – Using bash time

The following example uses the bash time command, which reports the time consumed by a pipeline’s execution.
When time command is executed without its complete path, then the bash built-in time command is executed, instead of the GNU time command. We will use the bash time command in this example and we will use it to run a whole block of commands.
Please note that time command will return the time in seconds as a float (i.e. there will be decimal places. e.g. 1 will be printed as 1.00).

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#!/bin/bash

#The bash time command reports the time consumed by pipeline's execution
#When time command is executed without its complete path, then the bash built-in time command is executed, instead of the GNU time command.
#We will use the bash time command in this example and we will use it to run a whole block of commands.

#We change the output format of time to print elapsed real time in seconds.
TIMEFORMAT="%E";
#We pick a random number between 1 and 10.
#Then we delay the execution for that amount of seconds.
totalTime=`time ( sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 )) ) 2>&1`;

#Please note that time command will return the time in seconds as a float (i.e. there will be decimal places. e.g. 1 will be printed as 1.00).
#This will happen as time has build-in more precision than the first two methods presented here.
echo "Process finished after $totalTime seconds";

totalTimeBlock=`time (
	sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 ));
	sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 ));
) 2>&1`;
echo "Block finished after $totalTimeBlock seconds";

exit 0;

Method 4 – Using GNU time

The GNU time command runs the specified program command with the given arguments.
When time command is executed without its complete path (in our case it was /usr/bin/time), then the bash built-in time command is executed, instead of the GNU time command. To make sure we use the GNU time command, we use which to get the full path of the time command.
Please note that time command will return the time in seconds as a float (i.e. there will be decimal places. e.g. 1 will be printed as 1.00).

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#!/bin/bash
#The time command runs the specified program command with the given arguments.
#When time command is executed without its complete path (in our case it was /usr/bin/time), then the bash built-in time command is executed, instead of the GNU time command.
#To make sure we use the GNU time command, we use which to get the full path of the time command.
time=`which time`;

#We pick a random number between 1 and 10.
#Then we delay the execution for that amount of seconds.
#We change the output format of time to print elapsed real time in seconds.
totalTime="$( $time -f '%e' sleep $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 )) 2>&1 1>/dev/null )";

#Please note that time command will return the time in seconds as a float (i.e. there will be decimal places. e.g. 1 will be printed as 1.00).
#This will happen as time has build-in more precision than the first two methods presented here.
echo "Process finished after $totalTime seconds";

exit 0;

Notes

RANDOM internal variable

Each time RANDOM internal variable is referenced, a random integer between 0 and 32767 is generated.

By using the RANDOM variable in this command $(( (RANDOM % 10) + 1 )); we perform a modulo on the random value with the static value 10. This way we force the range of valid values to be between 0 and 9.
Later, we add 1 to that value to shift the range to be between 1 and 10.


convertAndPrintSeconds – Convert seconds to minutes, hours and days in bash 1

The following code can be used to convert some time in seconds to minutes, hours and days in bash.
It will print on screen the converted values only if they are not 0. i.e If the resulting days is 0, it will not print the text for days at all.
You can use it in any script without copy pasting everything in it by executing the following command source ./convertAndPrintSeconds.sh.
Doing so, it will load to your script the function that is defined in convertAndPrintSeconds.sh, making it available for you to use (something like including code in C, with some caveats).

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#!/bin/bash

convertAndPrintSeconds() {

    local totalSeconds=$1;
    local seconds=$((totalSeconds%60));
    local minutes=$((totalSeconds/60%60));
    local hours=$((totalSeconds/60/60%24));
    local days=$((totalSeconds/60/60/24));
    (( $days > 0 )) && printf '%d days ' $days;
    (( $hours > 0 )) && printf '%d hours ' $hours;
    (( $minutes > 0 )) && printf '%d minutes ' $minutes;
    (( $days > 0 || $hours > 0 || $minutes > 0 )) && printf 'and ';
    printf '%d seconds\n' $seconds;
}

Usage

Function convertAndPrintSeconds accepts one parameter, the positive integer number that represents the seconds count we want to convert.

Example


$ source ./time.sh 
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 10
10 seconds
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 100
1 minutes and 40 seconds
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 1000
16 minutes and 40 seconds
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 10000
2 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 100000
1 days 3 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds
$ convertAndPrintSeconds 1000000
11 days 13 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds

cecho – a function to print using different colors in bash

The following script can be used to print colored text in bash.
You can use it in any script without copy pasting everything in it by executing the following command source cecho.sh.
Doing so, it will load to your script the functions that are defined in cecho.sh, making them available for you to use (something like including code in C, with some caveats).

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#!/bin/bash

# The following function prints a text using custom color
# -c or --color define the color for the print. See the array colors for the available options.
# -n or --noline directs the system not to print a new line after the content.
# Last argument is the message to be printed.
cecho () {

    declare -A colors;
    colors=(\
        ['black']='\E[0;47m'\
        ['red']='\E[0;31m'\
        ['green']='\E[0;32m'\
        ['yellow']='\E[0;33m'\
        ['blue']='\E[0;34m'\
        ['magenta']='\E[0;35m'\
        ['cyan']='\E[0;36m'\
        ['white']='\E[0;37m'\
    );

    local defaultMSG="No message passed.";
    local defaultColor="black";
    local defaultNewLine=true;

    while [[ $# -gt 1 ]];
    do
    key="$1";

    case $key in
        -c|--color)
            color="$2";
            shift;
        ;;
        -n|--noline)
            newLine=false;
        ;;
        *)
            # unknown option
        ;;
    esac
    shift;
    done

    message=${1:-$defaultMSG};   # Defaults to default message.
    color=${color:-$defaultColor};   # Defaults to default color, if not specified.
    newLine=${newLine:-$defaultNewLine};

    echo -en "${colors[$color]}";
    echo -en "$message";
    if [ "$newLine" = true ] ; then
        echo;
    fi
    tput sgr0; #  Reset text attributes to normal without clearing screen.

    return;
}

warning () {

    cecho -c 'yellow' "$@";
}

error () {

    cecho -c 'red' "$@";
}

information () {

    cecho -c 'blue' "$@";
}

 

Usage

Function cecho accepts the options to set the color and to control if a new line should be print.
Parameter -c or --color define the color for the print. See the array colors for the available options.
Parameter -n or --noline directs the system not to print a new line after the content.
The last parameter is the string message to be printed.
Functions warning, error and information are using cecho to print in color.
These three functions always print a new line and they have hardcoded one color set for each.

Example


#Get the name of the script currently being executed

scriptName=$(basename $(test -L "$0" && readlink "$0" || echo "$0"));

#Get the directory where the script currently being executed resides

scriptDirDIR=$(cd $(dirname "$0") && pwd);

#Print in blue color with no new line

cecho -n -c 'blue' "$scriptDir";

#Print in red color with a new line following the message

cecho -c 'red' "$scriptName";

#Using the information() function to print in blue followed by a new line

information ‘End of script’;


Activate a wireless hotspot on Windows 10 1

Requirements

  • You must be an administrator of the machine to complete this guide.
  • You need to have at least two network devices.
  • One of them needs to have access to the internet and the other one needs to be a WiFi adapter which has Hosted Network support.

To check if your wireless adapter supports the functionality for Hosted Network, open a Command Prompt and type NETSH WLAN show drivers.

To open the Command Prompt, press the buttons Windows+R on your keyboard.
A new run command prompt will appear.
Type in the input box cmd and hit the Enter button.

In the new Command Prompt type NETSH WLAN show drivers, the results should be similar to below.

C:\Users\bytefreaks>NETSH WLAN show drivers
 
Interface name: Wi-Fi
 
    Driver                    : Realtek RTL8188CU Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter
    Vendor                    : Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Provider                  : Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Date                      : 3/4/2016
    Version                   : 1027.4.630.2015
    INF file                  : ????
    Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
    Radio types supported     : 802.11n 802.11b 802.11g
    FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes
    802.11w Management Frame Protection supported : Yes
    Hosted network supported  : Yes
    Authentication and cipher supported in infrastructure mode:
                                Open            None
                                WPA2-Personal   CCMP
                                Open            WEP-40bit
                                Open            WEP-104bit
                                Open            WEP
                                WPA-Enterprise  TKIP
                                WPA-Personal    TKIP
                                WPA2-Enterprise TKIP
                                WPA2-Personal   TKIP
                                WPA-Enterprise  CCMP
                                WPA-Personal    CCMP
                                WPA2-Enterprise CCMP
                                Vendor defined  TKIP
                                Vendor defined  CCMP
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                                WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                                WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
    Authentication and cipher supported in ad-hoc mode:
                                Open            None
                                Open            WEP-40bit
                                Open            WEP-104bit
                                Open            WEP
                                WPA2-Personal   CCMP
    Wireless Display Supported: Yes (Graphics Driver: Yes, Wi-Fi Driver: Yes)

In the results you need to find the line Hosted network supported and verify that the value is set to Yes, if it is not, then you cannot proceed with this wireless network adapter.

In case you got a permission error on the above command, try to open a new Command Prompt with admin rights.

Press the keys Windows+X, in the pop-up menu select Command Prompt (Admin). If your account has enough access rights, a new run command prompt will appear. In the new Command Prompt (Admin) type NETSH WLAN show drivers, the results should be similar to above.

If this failed as well, you cannot proceed with the current account, you either need to sign in with another account or ask your system administrator to perform this task for you.

How to setup the hotspot

In the Command Prompt enter the following command:

NETSH WLAN set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=BYTEFREAKS key=0123456789

Update ssid=BYTEFREAKS with the name that you want to give your network. e.g. ssid=MY_NETWORK.

Update key=0123456789 with the password that you want to give your network. e.g. ssid=y0m2ZSQ3ng.

The new network will use WPA/WPA2 PSK security policy so your password needs to be at least 8 characters long.

The results will be similar to the following block.

C:\Users\bytefreaks>NETSH WLAN set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=HIDDEN007 key=0123456789
The hosted network mode has been set to allow.
The SSID of the hosted network has been successfully changed.
The user key passphrase of the hosted network has been successfully changed.

How to activate the hotspot

Once the Hosted Network is created, enter the following command as is to activate it

NETSH WLAN start hostednetwork

C:\Users\bytefreaks>NETSH WLAN start hostednetwork
The hosted network started.

After this step, your network will be visible to connect to but it will not provide its users with internet access.

Please note that due to the lack of commands in the documentation (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd815243(v=vs.85).aspx) it is not possible to prevent your hotspot from broadcasting its SSID to everyone. In other words, it is not possible to hide your network from other users, so use a strong password!

hotspot-creation-commands

How to share internet connection with the hotspot

Press on the keyboard Windows+X to open the Power User menu, and select Network Connections.

power-user-menu

You will notice that a there is a new device in this list. The name of this device will be something line Local Area Connection* 12. That device is the new virtual device you created in the previous step to create the hotspot.

network-configuration-before-sharing

Right-click the other network adapter, that has an active internet connection and select Properties.

network-configuration-right-click-device

Click on the Sharing tab.

network-configuration-share-settings

Enable the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection option.

From the Home networking connection drop-down menu select the virtual device that we created.

Click OK to close the configuration and apply the changes.

By completing this step, all devices connected to your Hotspot will have access to the internet via the connection of the second network device.