- •Table of Contents
- •Chapter 1. Why Shell Programming?
- •2.1. Invoking the script
- •2.2. Preliminary Exercises
- •Part 2. Basics
- •Chapter 3. Exit and Exit Status
- •Chapter 4. Special Characters
- •Chapter 5. Introduction to Variables and Parameters
- •5.1. Variable Substitution
- •5.2. Variable Assignment
- •5.3. Bash Variables Are Untyped
- •5.4. Special Variable Types
- •Chapter 6. Quoting
- •Chapter 7. Tests
- •7.1. Test Constructs
- •7.2. File test operators
- •7.3. Comparison operators (binary)
- •7.4. Nested if/then Condition Tests
- •7.5. Testing Your Knowledge of Tests
- •Chapter 8. Operations and Related Topics
- •8.1. Operators
- •8.2. Numerical Constants
- •Part 3. Beyond the Basics
- •Chapter 9. Variables Revisited
- •9.1. Internal Variables
- •9.2. Manipulating Strings
- •9.2.1. Manipulating strings using awk
- •9.2.2. Further Discussion
- •9.3. Parameter Substitution
- •9.4. Typing variables: declare or typeset
- •9.5. Indirect References to Variables
- •9.6. $RANDOM: generate random integer
- •9.7. The Double Parentheses Construct
- •Chapter 10. Loops and Branches
- •10.1. Loops
- •10.2. Nested Loops
- •10.3. Loop Control
- •10.4. Testing and Branching
- •Chapter 11. Internal Commands and Builtins
- •11.1. Job Control Commands
- •Chapter 12. External Filters, Programs and Commands
- •12.1. Basic Commands
- •12.2. Complex Commands
- •12.3. Time / Date Commands
- •12.4. Text Processing Commands
- •12.5. File and Archiving Commands
- •12.6. Communications Commands
- •12.7. Terminal Control Commands
- •12.8. Math Commands
- •12.9. Miscellaneous Commands
- •Chapter 13. System and Administrative Commands
- •Chapter 14. Command Substitution
- •Chapter 15. Arithmetic Expansion
- •Chapter 16. I/O Redirection
- •16.1. Using exec
- •16.2. Redirecting Code Blocks
- •16.3. Applications
- •Chapter 17. Here Documents
- •Chapter 18. Recess Time
- •Part 4. Advanced Topics
- •Chapter 19. Regular Expressions
- •19.1. A Brief Introduction to Regular Expressions
- •19.2. Globbing
- •Chapter 20. Subshells
- •Chapter 21. Restricted Shells
- •Chapter 22. Process Substitution
- •Chapter 23. Functions
- •23.1. Complex Functions and Function Complexities
- •23.2. Local Variables
- •23.2.1. Local variables make recursion possible.
- •Chapter 24. Aliases
- •Chapter 25. List Constructs
- •Chapter 26. Arrays
- •Chapter 27. Files
- •Chapter 28. /dev and /proc
- •28.2. /proc
- •Chapter 29. Of Zeros and Nulls
- •Chapter 30. Debugging
- •Chapter 31. Options
- •Chapter 32. Gotchas
- •Chapter 33. Scripting With Style
- •33.1. Unofficial Shell Scripting Stylesheet
- •Chapter 34. Miscellany
- •34.2. Shell Wrappers
- •34.3. Tests and Comparisons: Alternatives
- •34.4. Optimizations
- •34.5. Assorted Tips
- •34.6. Oddities
- •34.7. Portability Issues
- •34.8. Shell Scripting Under Windows
- •Chapter 35. Bash, version 2
- •Chapter 36. Endnotes
- •36.1. Author's Note
- •36.2. About the Author
- •36.3. Tools Used to Produce This Book
- •36.3.1. Hardware
- •36.3.2. Software and Printware
- •36.4. Credits
- •Bibliography
- •Appendix A. Contributed Scripts
- •Appendix C. Exit Codes With Special Meanings
- •Appendix D. A Detailed Introduction to I/O and I/O Redirection
- •Appendix E. Localization
- •Appendix F. History Commands
- •Appendix G. A Sample .bashrc File
- •Appendix H. Converting DOS Batch Files to Shell Scripts
- •Appendix I. Exercises
- •Appendix J. Copyright
Chapter 36. Endnotes
36.1. Author's Note
How did I come to write a Bash scripting book? It's a strange tale. It seems that a couple of years back, I needed to learn shell scripting, and what better way to do that than to read a good book on the subject. I was looking to buy a tutorial and reference covering all aspects of scripting. In fact, I was looking for this very book, or something much like it. Unfortunately, it didn't exist, so if I wanted it, I had to write it. And so, here we are, folks.
This reminds me of the apocryphal story about the mad professor. Crazy as a loon, the fellow was. At the sight of a book, any book, at the library, at a bookstore, anywhere, he would become totally obsessed with the idea that he could have written it, should have written it, and done a better job of it to boot. He would thereupon rush home and proceed to do just that, write a book with the same title. When he died some years later, he allegedly had several thousand books to his credit, probably putting even Asimov to shame. The books might not have been any good, who knows, but does that really matter? Here's a fellow who lived his dream, even if he was driven by it, and I can't help admiring the old coot...
36.2. About the Author
Who is this guy anyhow?
The author claims no credentials or special qualifications, other than a compulsion to write. [63] This book is somewhat of a departure from his other major work, HOW−2 Meet Women: The Shy Man's Guide to Relationships. He has also written the Software−Building HOWTO.
A Linux user since 1995 (Slackware 2.2, kernel 1.2.1), the author has emitted a few software truffles, including the cruft one−time pad encryption utility, the mcalc mortgage calculator, the judge Scrabble® adjudicator, and the yawl word gaming list package. He got his start in programming using FORTRAN IV on a CDC 3800, but is not the least bit nostalgic for those days.
Living in a secluded desert community with wife and dog, he cherishes human frailty.
36.3. Tools Used to Produce This Book
36.3.1. Hardware
A used IBM Thinkpad, model 760XL laptop (P166, 80 meg RAM) running Red Hat 7.1. Sure, it's slow and has a funky keyboard, but it beats the heck out of a No. 2 pencil and a Big Chief tablet.
36.3.2. Software and Printware
i.Bram Moolenaar's powerful SGML−aware vim text editor.
ii.OpenJade, a DSSSL rendering engine for converting SGML documents into other formats.
Chapter 36. Endnotes |
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