Unix / Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial

Steve's Bourne / Bash shell scripting tutorial

A Bourne Shell Programming/Scripting Tutorial for learning about using the Unix shell. Learn Linux / Unix shell scripting by example along with the theory. We'll have you mastering Unix shell scripting in no time! Available right here on the World Wide Web. Comments Welcome.

Version: 1.0z
© 2000 - 2008 Steve Parker.
Mail To: steve at steve-parker.org
Canonical URL: http://steve-parker.org/sh/sh.shtml
You are free to take copies of these pages for personal use.
Last Updated: 7th March 2008

INTRO

Introduction

Scope of Variables

Pre-set Variables

VARIABLES - Part III

Default Values

HINTS AND TIPS

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Doug Kramer (Java, Google.com) says:

"When I started writing CGI script in Bourne shell on the Java team at Sun, I scoured the Internet for a good tutorial and used Steve Parker's guide, which I really like. Now that I've moved to Google and switched to Linux and bash, I've decided to use it as the basis for an in-house introductory course on bash scripting here at Google for our tech writers. I highly recommend it as accurate and written at the right level, plus it includes a useful reference"

Feedback

Links To Other Resources

Wikipedia Entry on Bourne Shell
Local mirror of Steve Bourne's Introduction to the Unix Shell - written by the great man himself.
ooblick - another good tutorial.
Shelldorado - and another one.
quoting-guide.html - a pretty definitive document on quoting and escape characters.
What to watch out for when writing portable shell scripts
ss64.com have a great list of commands, with links to man pages for most of them.
See also The Rosetta Stone for Unix.
Amazon have a good number of books on the Unix Shell - As a general rule, I'd go for (say) O'Reilly books (Addison-Wesley tend to be pretty good, too) in preference to the "in 24 hours" or "for dummies" books - in my experience these tend to be rather glib and just rush you through the basics, without the real information you actually need. Of course, you can also buy this tutorial as a PDF.
lintsh has a lot of useful information about script portability.