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Bash Quick Start Guide
Bash Quick Start Guide

Bash Quick Start Guide: Get up and running with shell scripting with Bash

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Bash Quick Start Guide

Bash Command Structure

In this chapter, we'll learn the structure of a simple Bash command line, and the basics of quoting. You should read this chapter all the way through, paying careful attention especially to the material on quoting, even if you feel you already know how Bash commands work.

In this chapter, you will learn the following:

  • How to use Bash interactively
  • The structure of simple commands
  • How to quote data safely
  • How to run several commands with one command line
  • How to make a command line stop if a command fails
  • How to run a command in the background

Using Bash interactively

If Bash is your login shell, and you log in to the system from a terminal or terminal emulator, then it will start in interactive mode. In this mode, Bash will present a prompt when it's ready to accept a command from your terminal. This differs from non-interactive or batch mode, where commands are read from some other source, such as a script file. We will use interactive mode in this chapter to experiment with the basics of shell script command line grammar.

Nearly all of the features available to Bash in scripts are also available on the interactive command line, and they behave essentially the same way as if you ran them from a script. This allows you to treat the interactive command line as a live scripting environment: you can assign variables, create functions, and manage control flow and processes.

...

Interactive key bindings

In this book, we won't focus too much on the interactive keyboard shortcuts in Bash. This is because it's more useful to know the syntax of the shell scripting language than it is to know key bindings.

To read more about Bash key bindings, after you have finished this book, consult the Bash manual under the READLINE section, and the GNU Readline manual:

$ man bash
$ man 3 readline
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Key benefits

  • Demystify the Bash command line
  • Write shell scripts safely and effectively
  • Speed up and automate your daily work

Description

Bash and shell script programming is central to using Linux, but it has many peculiar properties that are hard to understand and unfamiliar to many programmers, with a lot of misleading and even risky information online. Bash Quick Start Guide tackles these problems head on, and shows you the best practices of shell script programming. This book teaches effective shell script programming with Bash, and is ideal for people who may have used its command line but never really learned it in depth. This book will show you how even simple programming constructs in the shell can speed up and automate any kind of daily command-line work. For people who need to use the command line regularly in their daily work, this book provides practical advice for using the command-line shell beyond merely typing or copy-pasting commands into the shell. Readers will learn techniques suitable for automating processes and controlling processes, on both servers and workstations, whether for single command lines or long and complex scripts. The book even includes information on configuring your own shell environment to suit your workflow, and provides a running start for interpreting Bash scripts written by others.

Who is this book for?

People who use the command line on Unix and Linux servers already, but don't write primarily in Bash. This book is ideal for people who've been using a scripting language such as Python, JavaScript or PHP, and would like to understand and use Bash more effectively.

What you will learn

  • Understand where the Bash shell fits in the system administration and programming worlds
  • Use the interactive Bash command line effectively
  • Get to grips with the structure of a Bash command line
  • Master pattern-matching and transforming text with Bash
  • Filter and redirect program input and output
  • Write shell scripts safely and effectively

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Sep 28, 2018
Length: 186 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789538830
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Product Details

Publication date : Sep 28, 2018
Length: 186 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789538830
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
What is Bash? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Bash Command Structure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Essential Commands Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Input, Output, and Redirection Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Variables and Patterns Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Loops and Conditionals Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Scripts, Functions, and Aliases Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Best Practices Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(2 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
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1 star 0%
Kinger Mar 12, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This was the only book I could find that lays out best practises for bash scripting, such as proper quoting, variable naming, and parameter expansion. There are many books that will show you a lot of interesting script examples but they'll also teach you bad habits that might get you into trouble down the road. This would be a great first book for anyone looking to write safe, portable scripts. Highly recommended!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
WF May 01, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I purchased a few Bash starter books to review for a future class I'll be teaching. I actually ordered this one by accident thinking this was a beginners book. First, let me say it's an excellet book. And I'll definitely be using this book for teaching Bash script writing for web servers. Which is what this is for...Bash script writing :). If your looking to learn Bash this might not be the first book you would want to go with. But it definitely would be the second. I recomed Bash In Easy Steps. From the Easy Steps series. It will get you up and going on Bash and all the commands quick and easy. A middle schooler could understand it. I'm teaching my niece in 1st grade from that book. The next step would definitely be this book. It will get you to the next steps. Where you can write backup scripts for Wordpress, and MySQL to basic and advance automation scripts for your home PC or server.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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