Technical books publisher O'Reilly has released a “cookbook” full of bash shell scripting examples. The Bash Cookbook offers numerous complete working scripts aimed at helping users customize their systems and automate routine tasks.

(Click for larger view of the wood turtle)

The book was written by Carl Albing, JP Vossen, and Cameron Newham. Albing previously authored a book about Java development on Linux, while Newham engineers software for the Australian Defense Industries (ADI), and Vossen writes for various security-related magazines.

Sample scripts are accompanied by discussion points. Specific example scripts help readers to:

• Convert between DOS and Unix formats
• Work with compressed files
• Edit files automatically
• Work with dates and times
• Apply grep, sed, awk, and sort
• Integrate recipes for interactive use, such as command history
• Create functions, use aliases, and perform other tasks that make your life easier
• Learn short cuts that allow you to work faster by typing less
• Write more secure shell scripts that avoid the most common security weaknesses
• Configure and customize bash to suit your individual needs and style

Albing stated, “As users get more sophisticated, they want to write scripts to automate the tasks they have to do over and over again, or tasks that deal with large numbers of files.”

Vossen adds, “Users of all skill levels should be more comfortable, more effective, and faster at the bash prompt after reading this book,” said Vossen, adding, “I wanted to pick up where Learning the bash Shell left off.”

Availability

The Bash Cookbook is available now, direct from O'Reilly, priced at $50 for the 622-page book. A table of contents, sample chapter, index, and other details can also be found online, here.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.