script to control pianobar from any local terminal

i sit in multiple terminal sessions all day on my personal and work machine with my headphones on listening to pianobar (cli client for pandora : get it here or in gentoo emerge pianobar) and i realized that it was becoming a pain to send controls to the pipe for pianobar.

so i wrote a script that has a rudimentary level of control but shortens the stuff that has to be typed to send to the pipe to control pianobar

here it is:

#!/bin/bash

#### pianobar fifo control script

# lets check if fifo file exists, if not create it
PIPE=`cat ${HOME}/.config/pianobar/config | grep -v "#" | grep fifo | tr -d "\ " | cut -d"=" -f2`
if [[ ! -p ${PIPE} ]]; then
    if [[ -z ${PIPE} ]]; then
        printf "\npianobar fifo not specified in config\nexiting\n"
        exit 1
    fi
    printf "\npianobar fifo does not exist\n"
    read -p "should i create it ? (y/n): " YN
    case $YN in
        [Yy]* ) mkfifo ${PIPE} ; printf -- "\npianobar fifo created\n" ;;
        [Nn]* ) exit 1 ;;
    esac
fi

# lets make sure pianobar is running, if not ask to run
if [[ ! `pgrep -u $(id -u) pianobar$` ]]; then
    printf "\npianobar is not running\n"
    read -p "should i start pianobar ? (y/n): " YN
    case $YN in
        [Yy]* ) pianobar && exit ;;
        [Nn]* ) exit 1 ;;
    esac
fi

# help stuffs
help_section() {
    printf "\n$(basename $0)\n"
    printf -- "Usage: $(basename $0) [OPTION]\n\n"
    printf -- "Usage Example : \"$(basename $0) n\"  \"$(basename $0) --next\"  \"$(basename $0) next\"\n"
    printf -- "This will jump to the next track\n\n"
    printf -- "Options:\n"
    printf -- "+,  --love,     love        --  Love this song\n"
    printf -- "-,  --ban,      ban         --  Ban this song\n"
    printf -- "b,  --bookmark, bookmark    --  Bookmark song \ artist\n"
    printf -- "e,  --explain,  explain     --  Explain why this song is playing\n"
    printf -- "h,  --history,  history     --  History of whats played\n"
    printf -- "i,  --info,     info        --  Info for whats playing\n"
    printf -- "n,  --next,     next        --  Next song\n"
    printf -- "p,  --pause,    pause       --  Pause \ Play song\n"
    printf -- "q,  --quit,     quit        --  Quit Pianobar\n"
    printf -- "t,  --tired,    tired       --  Tired (ban song for 1 month)\n"
    printf -- "u,  --upcoming, upcoming    --  Upcoming songs\n"
    printf -- "vd, --voldown,  voldown     --  Volume Down\n"
    printf -- "vu, --volup,    volup       --  Volume Up\n"
    printf -- "\nvolume up and down can also have a value added:\n"
    printf -- "\n$(basename $0) [volume option] [1-25]\n\n\n"
    printf "pianobar pid (euid=$(id -u)): "
    pgrep -u $(id -u) pianobar$
    printf -- "\n"
}

# menu stuffs
case $1 in
    +|--love|love           ) printf "+" > ${PIPE} ;;
    -|--ban|ban             ) printf "-" > ${PIPE} ;;
    b|--bookmark|bookmark   ) printf "b" > ${PIPE} ;;
    e|--explain|explain     ) printf "e" > ${PIPE} ;;
    h|--history|history     ) printf "h" > ${PIPE} ;;
    i|--info|info           ) printf "i" > ${PIPE} ;;
    n|--next|next           ) printf "n" > ${PIPE} ;;
    p|--pause|pause         ) printf "p" > ${PIPE} ;;
    q|--quit|quit           ) printf "q" > ${PIPE} ;;
    t|--tired|tired         ) printf "t" > ${PIPE} ;;
    u|--upcoming|upcoming   ) printf "u" > ${PIPE} ;;
    vd|--voldown|voldown    ) printf "(" > ${PIPE}
        count=1
        while [[ $count -lt $2 ]]; do
            printf "(" > ${PIPE}
            count=`expr $count + 1`
        done
        ;;
    vu|--volup|volup        ) printf ")" > ${PIPE}
        count=1
        while [[ $count -lt $2 ]]; do
            printf ")" > ${PIPE}
            count=`expr $count + 1`
        done
        ;;
    *                       ) help_section ;;
esac

here it is in github.

all it does is give you a simple way to check that the fifo exists, starts pianobar, and then lets you send commands to the respective pipe from any terminal.

make sure to place this script somewhere in your path.