1. 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

2. Chapter 2 Command-Line Editing

   1. Enabling Command-Line Editing

   2. The History List

   3. emacs Editing Mode

   4. vi Editing Mode

   5. The fc Command

   6. History Expansion

   7. readline

   8. Keyboard Habits

3. 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

4. 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

5. Chapter 5 Flow Control

   1. if/else

   2. for

   3. case

   4. select

   5. while and until

6. Chapter 6 Command-Line Options and Typed Variables

   1. Command-Line Options

   2. Typed Variables

   3. Integer Variables and Arithmetic

   4. Arrays

7. Chapter 7 Input/Output and Command-Line Processing

   1. I/O Redirectors

   2. String I/O

   3. Command-Line Processing

8. Chapter 8 Process Handling

   1. Process IDs and Job Numbers

   2. Job Control

   3. Signals

   4. trap

   5. Coroutines

   6. Subshells

   7. Process Substitution

9. Chapter 9 Debugging Shell Programs

   1. Basic Debugging Aids

   2. A bash Debugger

10. Chapter 10 bash Administration

    1. Installing bash as the Standard Shell

    2. Environment Customization

    3. System Security Features

11. Chapter 11 Shell Scripting

    1. What's That Do?

    2. Starting Up

    3. Potential Problems

    4. Don't Use bash

12. Chapter 12 bash for Your System

    1. Obtaining bash

    2. Unpacking the Archive

    3. What's in the Archive

    4. Who Do I Turn to?

1. Appendix A Related Shells

   1. The Bourne Shell

   2. The IEEE 1003.2 POSIX Shell Standard

   3. The Korn Shell

   4. pdksh

   5. zsh

   6. Shell Clones and Unix-like Platforms

2. Appendix B Reference Lists

   1. Invocation

   2. Prompt String Customizations

   3. Built-In Commands and Reserved Words

   4. Built-In Shell Variables

   5. Test Operators

   6. set Options

   7. shopt Options

   8. I/O Redirection

   9. emacs Mode Commands

   10. vi Control Mode Commands

3. Appendix C Loadable Built-Ins

4. Appendix D Programmable Completion

5. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of Learning the bash Shell, Third Edition, is a silver bass, one of the 400-500 species of sea bass. The silver bass, also known as the white perch, is found in freshwater bays and river mouths along the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, and is most abundant in the Chesapeake region. Silver bass live in large schools and feed on small fishes and crustaceans. Although many bass never stray far from one place their whole lives, silver bass swim upstream to spawn, often becoming landlocked in the process. Like most bass, the silver bass is attracted to bright, shiny objects, and can be drawn quite close to swimmers and divers in this way. Colleen Gorman was the production editor and copyeditor for Learning the bash Shell, Third Edition. MaryAnne Weeks Mayo, Lydia Onofrei, and Emily Quill provided quality control. Peter Ryan provided production assistance. Angela Howard wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.