HPR3023: Critique My Script, Episode 1 - Qots-Crew-Gen

This is my second HPR episode and the first in what could be a series about shell scripts I have written. This episode goes through a short script which randomly generates first and last names for a ten man aircrew to use with the Avalon Hill game B-17 Queen of the Skies.

You can see the basic script in action here:
https://www.sodface.com/misc/qots-crew-gen

and a more complicated version here, though based on the same underlying methodolgy:
https://www.sodface.com/misc/qots-crew-gen2

Here’s the script:

#!/bin/sh

first_names='./firstnames.txt'
last_names='./surnames.txt'
crew_positions='./positions.txt'
crew_ranks='./ranks.txt'

len_first_names=$(wc -l < ${first_names})
len_last_names=$(wc -l < ${last_names})

num_pairs=$(printf "10 ${len_first_names} ${len_last_names}" | \
    awk 'BEGIN { srand() }
    { for (i=1; i<=$1; i++) {
        for(f = 2; f <= NF; f++) {
        num=int(rand() * $f + 1); printf num"," } printf "\n"
    }
    }')

i=1

for crew_member in ${num_pairs}
do
  line_num=$(printf "${crew_member}" | cut -d',' -f1)
  first_name=$(sed -n ${line_num}p ${first_names})

  line_num=$(printf "${crew_member}" | cut -d',' -f2)
  last_name=$(sed -n ${line_num}p ${last_names})

  crew_position=$(sed -n ${i}p ${crew_positions})
  crew_rank=$(sed -n ${i}p ${crew_ranks})

  #
  # Use the variables above to generate HTML.
  # Omitted here to simplify this example.
  #

  i=$((( ${i} +1 )))
done

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