INTRODUCTION
Common scripting languages include: Shell scripts - sh, bash, csh, tcsh Other scripting languages - TCL, Perl, Python We will look at sh as it is simple, portable, powerful and just like the command line Repeated tasks can be done much faster Scripts act as exact records of what commands were run Scripts avoid small inconsistent errors in processing Knowing scripting helps with any computer tasks, not just analysis Examples of useful tasks: Automatically call BET with several different options Measure image stats/volumes/PEs for a set of subjects with a single command Extract timing info from stimulus / behavioural data files Renaming sets of files Changing the format of a set of files (e.g. png to tiff) In these slides there are several accompanying practicals that are extremely useful and can be found by following the links marked with at the bottom right (to the left of the navigation arrows)