bash Cookbook

Solutions and Examples for bash Users

For system administrators, programmers, and end users, shell command or carefully crafted shell script can save you time and effort, or facilitate consistency and repeatability for a variety of common tasks. This cookbook provides more than 300 practical recipes for using bash, the popular Unix shell that enables you to harness and customize the power of any Unix or Linux system.

Ideal for new and experienced users alike—including proficient Windows users and sysadmins—this updated second edition helps you solve a wide range of problems. You’ll learn ways to handle input/output, file manipulation, program execution, administrative tasks, and many other challenges. Each recipe includes one or more scripting examples and a discussion of why the solution works.

You’ll find recipes for problems including:

• Standard output and input, and executing commands
• Shell variables, shell logic, and arithmetic
• Intermediate shell tools and advanced scripting
• Searching for files with find, locate, and slocate
• Working with dates and times
• Creating shell scripts for various end-user tasks
• Working with tasks that require parsing
• Writing secure shell scripts
• Configuring and customizing bash