Book Image

Mastering Linux Shell Scripting - Second Edition

By : Mokhtar Ebrahim, Andrew Mallett
5 (1)
Book Image

Mastering Linux Shell Scripting - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Mokhtar Ebrahim, Andrew Mallett

Overview of this book

In this book, you’ll discover everything you need to know to master shell scripting and make informed choices about the elements you employ. Grab your favorite editor and start writing your best Bash scripts step by step. Get to grips with the fundamentals of creating and running a script in normal mode, and in debug mode. Learn about various conditional statements' code snippets, and realize the power of repetition and loops in your shell script. You will also learn to write complex shell scripts. This book will also deep dive into file system administration, directories, and system administration like networking, process management, user authentications, and package installation and regular expressions. Towards the end of the book, you will learn how to use Python as a BASH Scripting alternative. By the end of this book, you will know shell scripts at the snap of your fingers and will be able to automate and communicate with your system with keyboard expressions.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)

The What and Why of Scripting with Bash

Welcome to the what and why of bash scripting. In this chapter, you will discover the types of shells in Linux and why we chose bash. You will learn what bash is, how to write your first bash script, and how to run it. Also, you will see how to configure Linux editors, such as vim and nano, in order to type your code.

Like in any other scripting language, variables are the basic blocks of coding. You will learn how to declare variables such as integers, strings, and arrays. Furthermore, you will learn how to export these variables and extend their scope outside the running process.

Finally, you will see how to visually debug your code using Visual Studio Code.

We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

  • Types of Linux shells
  • What is bash scripting?
  • The bash command hierarchy
  • Preparing text editors for scripting
  • Creating and executing scripts
  • Declaring variables
  • Variable scope
  • Command substitution
  • Debugging your scripts