Bash Cookbook

Create simple to advanced shell scripts and extend your system functionality with effective recipes

Key Features

• Automate tedious and repetitive tasks
• Create several novel applications ranging from a simple IRC logger to a webscraper
• Become a seasoned user to efficiently manage your system

Book Description

In Linux, one of the most powerful tools that can be used almost everyday is the Bash shell. Using a collection of engaging recipes, Bash Cookbook walks you through a series of exercises designed to teach you to effectively use the Bash shell to create and execute your own scripts.

The book starts by introducing you to the basics of using the Bash shell and teaches you the fundamentals of generating any input necessary from a command. Then, you'll get to grips with a number of exercises that demonstrate the automation of daily task for sysadmins and power users. Once you have a hands-on understanding, you move onto more advanced projects that can solve real-world problems in a comprehensive and portable way on Linux. You will discover projects such as creating an application with a menu, beginning scripts on a startup, parsing and displaying human-readable information, and executing remote commands with authentication using self-generated SSH keys.

By the end of this book, you will have gained significant experience of solving real-world problems from automating routine tasks to managing your systems as well as creating your own scripts.

What you will learn

• Understand the basics of Bash shell scripting on a Linux system
• Gain working knowledge on how redirections and pipes interact
• Retrieve and parse input or output of any command
• Automate tasks such as data collection and creating and applying a patch
• Create a script that acts like a program with different features
• Customize your Bash shell and discover neat tricks to extend your programs
• Compile and install shell and log commands on your system's console using Syslog

Who This Book Is For

Bash Cookbook is for power users and system administrators involved in writing Bash scripts to automate tasks. This book is also ideal for users who are interested in automating complex daily tasks.

About the Author

Ron Brash is CTO & co-founder of a successful technology consultancy that provides services in a multitude of domains, but primarily in FOSS and Linux. He has a MsComp degree from Concordia University, Montreal, and a Bachelor of Technology from BCIT, Vancouver, Canada. For over 7 years, he has been working on embedded systems, which provide security and network connectivity in industrial control systems and SCADA networks - all running an optimized embedded Linux. He participates regularly at FOSS and community events providing feedback, mini-seminars where appropriate and loves to share knowledge. In fact, the concept of sharing knowledge and improving the lives of developers, users and administrators was among the motivations for writing this book - "why can't technology be easy and accessible for everyone?" In his spare time, he explores new technologies for improved connectivity/performance and if not in front of a computer, he enjoys spending time cooking, extreme sports, being on the water and tuning performance cars.