Example of using named pipes in Linux Bash

Question

Can someone post a simple example of using named pipes in Bash in Linux?

Answer 1

Open two different shells, and leave them side by side. In both, go to the /tmp/ directory:

cd /tmp/

In the first one type:

mkfifo myPipe
echo "IPC_example_between_two_shells">myPipe

In the second one, type:

while read line; do echo "What has been passed through the pipe is ${line}"; done

First shell won't give you any prompt back until you execute the second part of the code in the second shell. It's because the fifo read and write is blocking.

You can also have a look at the FIFO type by doing a ls -al myPipe and see the details of this specific type of file.

Next step would be to embark the code in a script!