#!/bin/bash
# a script to change the extension of a file from a given value to .txt
param="java"  # the default is to work on .java file
if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
    param=$1  #if a command line parameter is given, use it.
fi
for f in *.$param;
do
  #first way to get rid of all dots in the file name.  Uses tr
  #aa=`echo $f | tr -d .`
  #echo $aa
  #ln -s $f $aa.txt

  # More efficient way to get rid of dots ... 
  # THis uses built into shell string manipulation 
  echo ${f/.}
  ln -s $f ${f/.}.txt
done