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Mastering Linux Shell Scripting

You're reading from   Mastering Linux Shell Scripting Master the complexities of Bash shell scripting and unlock the power of shell for your enterprise

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Product type Paperback
Published in Dec 2015
Publisher
ISBN-13 9781784396978
Length 198 pages
Edition 1st Edition
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Author (1):
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Andrew Mallett Andrew Mallett
Author Profile Icon Andrew Mallett
Andrew Mallett
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Table of Contents (16) Chapters Close

Preface 1. What and Why of Scripting with Bash FREE CHAPTER 2. Creating Interactive Scripts 3. Conditions Attached 4. Creating Code Snippets 5. Alternative Syntax 6. Iterating with Loops 7. Creating Building Blocks with Functions 8. Introducing sed 9. Automating Apache Virtual Hosts 10. Awk Fundamentals 11. Summarizing Logs with Awk 12. A Better lastlog with Awk 13. Using Perl as a Bash Scripting Alternative 14. Using Python as a Bash Scripting Alternative Index

Providing parameter defaults


Within bash parameters, there are named spaces in the memory that allow us access to stored values. There are two types of parameters:

  • Variables

  • Special parameters

Special parameters are read-only and are pre-set by the shell. Variables are maintained by ourselves as well as bash. In general, when talking about syntax, bash will refer to variables by their family name of parameters.

Variables

Variables are one type of parameter. These can be set by the system or by ourselves. For example, $USER is a variable parameter that is set by the system but can be written by us. As such, it is not a read-only requisite of special parameters.

Special parameters

Special parameters are the second parameter type and are managed by the shell itself and are presented as read-only. We have come across these before in parameters, such as $0 but let's take a look at another $-. We can expand these parameters to gain an understanding of their use, using the echo command:

$ echo "My shell...
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