# The first word after the name of the script is available to a shell script as $1.
# The Second word after the name of the script is available to a shell script as $2.
# Etc.
# If there is no word in that position on the line, $1, $2, etc are an empty string

echo "There were `grep ' sshd\[' messages.1 | grep password | grep "Dec $1" | wc -l` Attacks On Dec $1"