Introduction

This tutorial was started because there are not many guides out there that teach bash scripting by example. This will be a work in progress, and more content will be added as time permits.

What is Shell Scripting?

The shell is a command interpreter – examples include bash, csh, ksh, sh. Simply put, a shell script is a text file that allows you automate or “glue together” any set of commands/tasks you would normally have to type by hand. In addition to almost the entire repertoire of Linux commands, utilities, and tools you could normally invoke from the command-line, a shell script also permits conditional statements, loops, and testing constructs. Shell scripts are best suited for administrative tasks, and any routine tasks that don’t require a full-blown programming language.

Starting off with a Sha-bang

In Linux and other Unix-Like operating systems, when the first line of a script contains a #!character sequence, the program loader interprets what follows as a directive to use that interpreter.

Examples include:

#!/bin/sh
print “Hello, World!”

#!/bin/bash
echo “Hello World!”

#!/bin/cat
Hello World!

Exercises

1) Submit the Hello_World tutorial challenge.