Linux scriptreplay Command with Practical Examples

Introduction

In this lab, you will learn about the Linux scriptreplay command and how to use it to replay previously recorded terminal sessions. The lab covers the introduction to the scriptreplay command, recording terminal sessions with the script command, and replaying the recorded sessions using scriptreplay. The script command may need to be installed on your system, and the scriptreplay command can be a useful tool for troubleshooting, training, or sharing terminal sessions with others.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

Skills Graph

Introduction to the scriptreplay Command

In this step, you will learn about the scriptreplay command in Linux, which allows you to replay previously recorded terminal sessions. The scriptreplay command works in conjunction with the script command, which is used to record terminal sessions.

First, let's check if the script command is installed on your system:

which script

Example output:

/usr/bin/script

If the script command is not installed, you can install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y script

Now, let's create a sample terminal session recording using the script command:

script recording.log

This will start recording your terminal session, and all the commands you execute will be saved to the recording.log file.

Script started, output file is recording.log

You can now execute some commands in your terminal, and they will be recorded in the recording.log file.

echo "Hello, world!"
ls -l

To stop the recording, type exit:

exit
Script done, output file is recording.log

Now, you can replay the recorded session using the scriptreplay command:

scriptreplay recording.log

This will replay the recorded terminal session, and you will see the commands being executed as they were recorded.

Example output:

Script started on 2023-04-24 12:34:56
echo "Hello, world!"
Hello, world!
ls -l
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 42 Apr 24 12:34 recording.log
Script done on 2023-04-24 12:34:57

The scriptreplay command can be a useful tool for troubleshooting, training, or sharing terminal sessions with others.

Recording Terminal Sessions with script Command

In this step, you will learn how to use the script command to record your terminal sessions in Linux.

The script command is a simple yet powerful tool that allows you to record everything you do in the terminal. This can be useful for various purposes, such as:

• Troubleshooting: You can record a session and review it later to identify the steps that led to an issue.
• Training: You can record a session and share it with others to demonstrate a specific workflow or procedure.
• Documentation: You can use the recorded sessions to create step-by-step guides or tutorials.

Let's start by creating a new directory for your project:

mkdir ~/project
cd ~/project

Now, let's use the script command to start recording a terminal session:

script recording.log

This will start recording your terminal session, and all the commands you execute will be saved to the recording.log file.

Script started, output file is recording.log

You can now execute some commands in your terminal, and they will be recorded in the recording.log file.

echo "This is a test command."
ls -l

To stop the recording, type exit:

exit
Script done, output file is recording.log

You can now review the contents of the recording.log file:

cat recording.log

Example output:

This is a test command.
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 42 Apr 24 12:34 recording.log

The script command is a simple yet powerful tool that can be very useful in various scenarios. In the next step, you will learn how to replay the recorded terminal sessions using the scriptreplay command.

Replaying Recorded Sessions with scriptreplay Command

In this step, you will learn how to use the scriptreplay command to replay the terminal sessions you have recorded using the script command.

Assuming you have already recorded a terminal session using the script command in the previous step, let's replay the recorded session.

First, make sure you are in the ~/project directory, where the recording.log file is located:

cd ~/project

Now, use the scriptreplay command to replay the recorded session:

scriptreplay recording.log

This will replay the recorded terminal session, and you will see the commands being executed as they were recorded.

Example output:

Script started on 2023-04-24 12:34:56
echo "This is a test command."
This is a test command.
ls -l
total 4
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 42 Apr 24 12:34 recording.log
Script done on 2023-04-24 12:34:57

The scriptreplay command can be very useful in various scenarios, such as:

• Troubleshooting: You can replay a recorded session to identify the steps that led to an issue.
• Training: You can replay a recorded session to demonstrate a specific workflow or procedure to others.
• Collaboration: You can share the recorded session with colleagues or team members to help them understand a specific process or workflow.

The scriptreplay command can also be used with additional options to control the playback speed, pause the replay, or even skip certain parts of the recorded session.

Summary

In this lab, you learned about the scriptreplay command in Linux, which allows you to replay previously recorded terminal sessions. You first checked if the script command was installed on your system, and then used it to record a sample terminal session. The recorded session was saved to a file, and you then used the scriptreplay command to replay the recorded session. The scriptreplay command can be a useful tool for troubleshooting, training, or sharing terminal sessions with others. Additionally, you learned how to use the script command to record your terminal sessions, which can be useful for various purposes such as troubleshooting, training, or creating documentation.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet