Beginning Shell Scripting (Paperback)

• Covering all major platforms-Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows-this guide shows programmers and power users how to customize an operating system, automate commands, and simplify administration tasks using shell scripts
• Offers complete shell-scripting instructions, robust code examples, and full scripts for OS customization
• Covers shells as a user interface, basic scripting techniques, script editing and debugging, graphing data, and simplifying administrative tasks
• In addition to Unix and Linux scripting, the book covers the latest Windows scripting techniques and offers a complete tutorial on Mac OS X scripting, including detailed coverage of mobile file systems, legacy applications, Mac text editors, video captures, and the Mac OS X Open Scripting Architecture

Shell scripts give you the power to automate tedious daily tasks, improve your work capabilities, and get more out of your computers. Whether you are working on Mac OS^®X, Linux^®, Unix^®, or Windows^®, this book presents complete shell scripting instructions, robust code examples, and full scripts for customizing your operating system.

You'll first learn the basics of shell scripts, including what they are, how they run, and how you can design executable commands from them. You'll then progress to more advanced scripting topics, such as using awk and sed commands, building command pipelines, and creating functions. This book covers everything you'll need to know about shells and scripting in order to begin writing your own.

What you will learn from this book

• How shells work and how to find them on your system
• Steps for passing data to a shell script and modifying your environment
• Techniques for creating, reading, enhancing, and removing files
• How to query about processes and gather information about what is running on your system
• Tips for editing and debugging scripts
• Ways to monitor and administer your system using scripts
• How to call on your desktop applications from scripts

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who wants to get more out of their computer systems, including Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, and Windows users.

Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.