By Cameron Newham, Bill Rosenblatt
January 1998
Pages: 336
ISBN 10: 1-56592-347-2 |
ISBN 13: 9781565923478
(Average of 2 Customer Reviews)
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This second edition covers all of the features of bash Version 2.0, while still applying to bash Version 1.x. It includes one-dimensional arrays, parameter expansion, more pattern-matching operations, new commands, security improvements, additions to ReadLine, improved configuration and installation, and an additional programming aid, the bash shell debugger.
Full Description
- 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
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Book details
Second Edition: January 1998
ISBN: 1-56592-347-2
Pages: 336
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 2 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition Review, February 28 2004
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.
Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition Review, January 12 2002
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.
Learning the bash Shell, 2nd Edition Review, July 09 1998
Submitted by Paramesh Banerjee [Respond | View]
I reached Japan, and found myself with the huge task of quickly processing data from more than a thousand, continuously runnung GPS stations since 1996.Each station producing nearly 2MB data each day, I was given hundreds of CDROM to copy data from, to a Linux system, and I was new to these. The task required installation of processing software, produce quality result from the processing, and automate the whole thing . I ran to Tokyo, found an english book shop (a rare commodity in Japan), and came accross this book. Grabbed this book, and few more from OReilly's, returned to Tsukuba. By the next day I was half way through, and on Monday, I was already writing shell scripts, and frantically searching thr the book for proper examples and commands. After 4-5 days, I am more confident, and the scripts are doing these day long processing jobs, while I am writing this piece of note.
Like most of the other OReilly's books, this one also is an easy reading, easy to digest, useful book.
-Paramesh Banerjee
Media reviews
"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...The authors have provided tons of examples from commands to scripts and the major scripts are available for download from O'Reilly...If you just want to be comfortable 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."
--USA Linux Users Group, January 2004
http://www.usalug.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=10423
"I purchased 'Learning the bash Shell' in December of 2000, when I was thrust into a Linux working environment and had no time to learn. From the moment the book arrived from Fatbrain till now, 'Learning the bash Shell' has kept a place no further than arms-length from my computer. No other technical book can say the same. Why have I found this book so useful? Obviously my needs have changed, as I've progressed in skill. Initially, I wanted to feel comfortable on the command line. Later on, I wanted to learn some shell scripting. 'Learning the bash Shell' taught me both."
--Meg Golding, linuxchix.org, May 2002
"I really like this book. To learn bash, you just start at the beginning of the book, read it in the order of its presentation, which is well-organized in a tutorial sequence, and try out all the commands and scripts the book gives as examples."
--Al Stevens, Dr Dobbs Journal, July 2001
"If you start to do any sort of serious shell programming, Learning the bash Shell would be a most useful volume." --Danny Yee, Linux Journal, February 2000
"I've never been less than impressed with any of their (O'Reilly) titlesLearning the BASH Shell is no exception. I would rank this alongside O'Reily's "Learning Python' as being one of the most user friendly and well laid out computer related books I've ever used."
--Steve Coe, Canada Computes, December 2000
"the usefulness of this book goes beyond being a beginners tutorial. If you haven't yet earned all the stars on your UNIX wizard cap, you will find this an often-used reference. We have learned to expect professional, well-written, technically correct books from O'Reilly, and
Learning the bash Shell is no exception. I think the authors have succeeded in making both an introductory primer and a valuable reference for the more experienced. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to become more productive using bash, as well as those who wish to learn to write moderately complex shell scripts"
-Bob vander Poel, Linux Journal, December 1998
"Beginners, rejoice: this is the reference you've wanted; this is the text which ought to follow the Linux Documentation Project's guide to "Linux Installation and Getting Started". Of course, Learning the bash Shell isn't by any stretch of the a "beginners only" book. Learning the bash Shell covers all of the more intermediate scripting topics as well: flow control, loops, conditional statements, subroutines, variable typing, job control, and so forth. Coverage of these staple subjects makes up the bulk of the and the clear and thoughtful way in which the information is presented sets Learning the bash Shell apart from the pack as a bash reference well-suited to getting actual work doneIn fact, no serious Linux user can afford to be without a copy."
--Aron Hsiao, Focus on Linux, http://linux.miningco.com/, April 1998
