Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition

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By Cameron Newham, Bill Rosenblatt

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: January 1998

Pages: 336

The first thing users of the Linux operating system come face to face with is the shell. "Shell" is the UNIX term for a user interface to the system -- something that lets you communicate with the computer via the keyboard and display. Bash, the Free Software Foundation's "Bourne Again Shell," is the default shell for Linux, the popular free UNIX-like operating system. It's also a replacement for the standard UNIX Bourne shell, which serves both as a user interface and as a programming language. Like the FSF's other tools, bash is more than a mere replacement: it extends the Bourne shell in many ways. Features include command line editing, key bindings, integrated programming features, command completion, control structures (especially the select construct, which enables you to create menus easily), and new ways to customize your environment.

Whether you want to use bash for its user interface or its programming features you will find Learning the bash Shell a valuable guide. The book covers all of bash's features, both for interactive use and programming. If you are new to shell programming, Learning the bash Shell provides an excellent introduction, covering everything from the most basic to the most advanced features, like signal handling and command line processing. If you've been writing shell scripts for years, it offers a great way to find out what the new shell offers. The book is full of examples of shell commands and programs that are designed to be useful in your everyday life as a user, not just to illustrate the feature being explained. All of these examples are freely available to you online on the Internet.

This second edition covers all of the features of bash Version 2.0, while still applying to bash Version 1.x. New features include the addition of one-dimensional arrays, parameter expansion, and more pattern-matching operations. bash 2.0 provides even more conformity with POSIX.2 standards, and in POSIX.2 mode is completely POSIX.2 conformant. This second edition covers several new commands, security improvements, additions to ReadLine, improved configuration and installation, and an additional programming aid, the bash shell debugger.

With this book you'll learn:

How to install bash as your login shell
The basics of interactive shell use, including UNIX file and directory structures, standard I/O, and background jobs
Command line editing, history substitution, and key bindings
How to customize your shell environment without programming
The nuts and bolts of basic shell programming, flow control structures, command-line options and typed variables
Process handling, from job control to processes, coroutines and subshells
Debugging techniques, such as trace and verbose modes
Techniques for implementing system-wide shell customization and features related to system security

Chapter 1 bash Basics
1. What Is a Shell?
2. Scope of This Book
3. History of UNIX Shells
4. Getting bash
5. Interactive Shell Use
6. Files
7. Input and Output
8. Background Jobs
9. Special Characters and Quoting
10. Help
Chapter 2 Command-Line Editing
1. Enabling Command-Line Editing
2. The History File
3. emacs Editing Mode
4. vi Editing Mode
5. The fc Command
6. History Expansion
7. readline
8. Keyboard Habits
Chapter 3 Customizing Your Environment
1. The .bash_profile, .bash_logout, and .bashrc Files
2. Aliases
3. Options
4. Shell Variables
5. Customization and Subprocesses
6. Customization Hints
Chapter 4 Basic Shell Programming
1. Shell Scripts and Functions
2. Shell Variables
3. String Operators
4. Command Substitution
5. Advanced Examples: pushd and popd
Chapter 5 Flow Control
1. if/else
2. for
3. case
4. select
5. while and until
Chapter 6 Command-Line Options and Typed Variables
1. Command-Line Options
2. Typed Variables
3. Integer Variables and Arithmetic
4. Arrays
Chapter 7 Input/Output and Command-Line Processing
1. I/O Redirectors
2. String I/O
3. Command-Line Processing
Chapter 8 Process Handling
1. Process IDs and Job Numbers
2. Job Control
3. Signals
4. trap
5. Coroutines
6. Subshells
7. Process Substitution
Chapter 9 Debugging Shell Programs
1. Basic Debugging Aids
2. A bash Debugger
Chapter 10 bash Administration
1. Installing bash as the Standard Shell
2. Environment Customization
3. System Security Features
Chapter 11 bash for Your System
1. Obtaining bash
2. Unpacking the Archive
3. What’s in the Archive
4. Who Do I Turn to?

Appendix Related Shells
1. The Bourne Shell
2. The IEEE 1003.2 POSIX Shell Standard
3. The Korn Shell
4. pdksh
5. Workalikes on PC Platforms
Appendix Reference Lists
1. Invocation
2. Built-In Commands and Reserved Words
3. Environment Variables
4. Test Operators
5. set Options
6. shopt Options
7. I/O Redirection
8. emacs Mode Commands
9. vi Control Mode Commands
Appendix Loadable Built-Ins
Appendix Syntax
1. Reserved Words
2. BNF for bash
Appendix Obtaining Sample Programs
1. FTP
2. FTPMAIL
Colophon

Title:

Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition

By:

Cameron Newham, Bill Rosenblatt

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Safari Books Online

Print:

January 1998

Pages:

336

Print ISBN:

978-1-56592-347-8

| ISBN 10:

1-56592-347-2

Cameron Newham

Cameron Newham lives in Perth, Western Australia. After completing a Bachelor of Science majoring in information technology and geography at the University of Western Australia, Cameron joined Universal Defence Systems (later to become Australian Defence Industries) as a software engineer. He has been with ADI for six years, working on various aspects of command and control systems. In his spare time Cameron can be found surfing the Internet, ballroom dancing, or driving his sports car. He also has more than a passing interest in space science, 3D graphics, synthesiser music, and Depeche Mode. Bill Rosenblatt is author of the the O'Reilly Nutshell Handbook® Learning the Korn Shell; co-author, with Deb Cameron, of Learning GNU Emacs; and a contributor to UNIX Power Tools. He is director of publishing systems at the Times Mirror Company in New York City and a columnist in SunWorld Online magazine on the World Wide Web. Bill received a B.S.E. from Princeton University and an M.S. and A.B.D. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, each in some variant of computer science. His interests in the computing field include multimedia databases, electronic publishing, and object- oriented systems. Outside of the computing field, he's interested in jazz, classical music, antique maps, and Sherlock Holmes pastiche novels. Bill lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He wishes his landlord allowed pets so that he could truthfully claim to have a dog and cat with suitably droll names like "Coltrane" and "Ravel."

View Cameron Newham's full profile page.
Bill Rosenblatt

Bill Rosenblatt is president of GiantSteps/Media Technology Strategies, a consulting firm in New York City. Before founding GiantSteps, Bill was CTO of Fathom, an online content and education company associated with Columbia University and other scholarly institutions. He has been a technology executive at McGraw-Hill and Times Mirror, and head of strategic marketing for media and publishing at Sun Microsystems. Bill was also one of the architects of the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), a standard for online content identification and DRM.

View Bill Rosenblatt's full profile page.

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oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition

4.6

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7/15/2010

(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

good book

By sanju

from chennai,India

About Me Sys Admin

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Comments about oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition:

its useful

5/27/2009

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Good Learning Manual

By octopusgrabbus

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition:

This is a solidly written book that contained what I needed to learn the rudiments of bash. There are some advanced features I would like to see in it, but, all in all, I am glad to have the book as part of my library.

1/31/2009

5.0

Everything I needed

By Fabio Alessandro Locati

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition:

This was exactly the book I needed. I needed to learn quickly the bash... and I did, thanks to this book :)

2/28/2004

(4 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition Review

By Germ

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition:

Reviewer: Germ

Website: http://www.usalug.org

The Book:

Learning the bash Shell

By Cameron Newham, Bill Rosenblatt

334 pages

2nd Edition January 1998

ISBN: 1-56592-347-2

Book Link: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bash2/

Code Examples: http://examples.oreilly.com/bash2/

If you are a user of Linux/Unix, sooner or later you will need to use the shell. The Free Software Foundation's "Bourne Again Shell" is the most widely used. Learning the bash Shell Second Edition by Cameron Newman and Bill Rosenblatt is nearly indispensible in order to gain a fantastic working knowledge of the bash shell. The book is geared towards bash 2.0, but is also relevant to bash 1.x.

This book is written for beginners and takes you from the basics all the way to system administration. Even the old pros are likely to learn a trick or two. It covers features of bash all the way to the "wow, I didn't know bash could do that!" level. People have come to expect well written, easy to read, and professional books from O'Reilly and this title is no exception.

Chapter 1 starts with the basics. You will gain knowledge of the directory and file structure, how to install bash as your login shell, and the basics of interactive shell use. The successive chapters will take you all the way to system administration. Each chapter of the book builds on what you have learned in Previous chapters.

Chapter 2 teaches you about command line editing. You can put bash in edit mode and edit command lines just as you would edit text with a text editor.

Chapter 3 tells you how to customize your environment. One of the more useful things to me are aliases. Do you use a lengthy command quite often? Create an alias for that command and give your fingers a rest. The authors tell you how.

Chapter 4 covers basic shell programming. You'll learn how to write and edit shell scripts.

The book continues with coverage of Flow Control, Command Line Options, Input/Output Processing, Process Handling, Debugging, Getting and Installing bash, and Administration. It finishes with some extremely useful appendices covering Related Shells, Reference Lists, Loadable Built-Ins, Systax, and Obtaining Sample Programs.

I am no guru, but I know my way around the CLI and one thing I found especially useful for me is Appendix B. It contains lists of options, built-in commands and variables, and I/O redirections among other commands.

The authors have provided tons of examples from commands to scripts and the major scripts are available for download from O'Reilly at the link above.

If you just want to be confortable using the command line interface or want to go all the way to a working knowledge of writing your own scripts and administering your system or a network, this is the book for you.

It's a must have for anyone using Linux/UNIX. I give Learning the bash Shell 5/5 Big Grins.

1/12/2002

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition Review

By Dave Rogers

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition:

I can think of no higher accolade than to say that this book taught me exactly what I needed to know about the bash shell. I plan to make it a required text for the next session of our College's Linux course.

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Chapter 1 bash Basics

What Is a Shell?

Scope of This Book

History of UNIX Shells

Getting bash

Interactive Shell Use

Files

Input and Output

Background Jobs

Special Characters and Quoting

Help

Chapter 2 Command-Line Editing

Enabling Command-Line Editing

The History File

emacs Editing Mode

vi Editing Mode

The fc Command

History Expansion

readline

Keyboard Habits

Chapter 3 Customizing Your Environment

The .bash_profile, .bash_logout, and .bashrc Files

Aliases

Options

Shell Variables

Customization and Subprocesses

Customization Hints

Chapter 4 Basic Shell Programming

Shell Scripts and Functions

Shell Variables

String Operators

Command Substitution

Advanced Examples: pushd and popd

Chapter 5 Flow Control

if/else

for

case

select

while and until

Chapter 6 Command-Line Options and Typed Variables

Command-Line Options

Typed Variables

Integer Variables and Arithmetic

Arrays

Chapter 7 Input/Output and Command-Line Processing

I/O Redirectors

String I/O

Command-Line Processing

Chapter 8 Process Handling

Process IDs and Job Numbers

Job Control

Signals

trap

Coroutines

Subshells

Process Substitution

Chapter 9 Debugging Shell Programs

Basic Debugging Aids

A bash Debugger

Chapter 10 bash Administration

Installing bash as the Standard Shell

Environment Customization

System Security Features

Chapter 11 bash for Your System

Obtaining bash

Unpacking the Archive

What’s in the Archive

Who Do I Turn to?

Appendix Related Shells

The Bourne Shell

The IEEE 1003.2 POSIX Shell Standard

The Korn Shell

pdksh

Workalikes on PC Platforms

Appendix Reference Lists

Invocation

Built-In Commands and Reserved Words

Environment Variables

Test Operators

set Options