The Mac OS X Automator tool lets me run a perl script as well shell scripts, but I'd like to use awk instead. How can I fit this into my workflow? Perl appears in the popup menu of possible shells for the script, but awk does not. [more inside]
posted by maniabug on Jan 9, 2011 - 4 answers

I'm seeking to write a shell script (probably using sed) that will be given some text and will abbreviate it for me. I've no need to reinvent the wheel, if such a shell script already exists. More inside. [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Jul 26, 2010 - 6 answers

On MacOS, I can say osascript -e 'set myapp to name of (info for (path to frontmost application))' to print the name of the program that currently has focus, in a way that's useful for shell scripting. How can I get the same information in a graphical session on Linux?
posted by fantabulous timewaster on May 12, 2010 - 21 answers

I'm working on a quick Automator workflow and need some help replacing the local hostname in a series of URLs. [more inside]
posted by nathan_teske on Nov 26, 2007 - 3 answers

I would basically like to rip off, wholesale, some command-line script which will provide me a countdown -- only in days. No years, months, minutes, or seconds. Unfortunately, adapting an existing script is beyond my ken. [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Sep 27, 2007 - 5 answers