Learning the Bash Shell

Cameron Newham

O’Reilly’s bestselling book on Linux’s bash shell is at itagain. Now that Linux is an established player both as aserver and on the desktop Learning the bash Shell has beenupdated and refreshed to account for all the latest changes.Indeed, this third edition serves as the most valuable guideyet to the bash shell.As any good programmer knows, the first thing users of theLinux operating system come face to face with is the shellthe UNIX term for a user interface to the system. In otherwords, it’s what lets you communicate with the computer viathe keyboard and display. Mastering the bash shell mightsound fairly simple but it isn’t. In truth, there are manycomplexities that need careful explanation, which is justwhat Learning the bash Shell provides.If you are new to shell programming, the book provides anexcellent introduction, covering everything from the mostbasic to the most advanced features. And if you’ve beenwriting shell scripts for years, it offers a great way tofind out what the new shell offers. Learning the bash Shellis also full of practical examples of shell commands andprograms that will make everyday use of Linux that mucheasier. With this book, programmers will learn:How to install bash as your login shellThe basics of interactive shell use, including UNIX file anddirectory structures, standard I/O, and background jobs Command line editing, history substitution, and key bindingsHow to customize your shell environment without programming The nuts and bolts of basic shell programming, flow controlstructures, command-line options and typed variables Process handling, from job control to processes, coroutinesand subshells Debugging techniques, such as trace andverbose modes Techniques for implementing system-wide shell customizationand features related to system security