Classic Shell Scripting
by Arnold Robbins, Nelson H.F. Beebe · first published 2005
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical coverage of shell scripting that highlights portability issues and canonical Unix idioms; recommended for beginners wanting to move to reliable first-try scripts and anyone learning shell fundamentals.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I've been reading through Classic Shell Scripting by Arnold Robbins and Nelson H. F. Beebe, it's a great book! Seeing how full-featured the classic Unix/BSD/GNU/Linux etc. toolkit is has left me wondering why Perl, Python, and Ruby are so successful.…
on “Ask HN: Do people build websites in Awk?” ↗I went through Classic Shell Scripting by Arnold Robbins and Nelson HF Beebe (O'Reilly) recently. It was a pretty solid coverage that highlighted portability issues and canonical uses of the shell. I don't know if you'd call it advanced, though.
on “Ask HN: Terminal Literature?” ↗…beginner-that-generally-can-work-out-things-with-a-lot-of-random-tries, to someone who often has things right on the first try, and if not, have a clue of what is going on , has been the following book: Classic Shell Scripting Arnold Robbins, Nelson H.F. Beebe Recommend it to anyone with a basic understanding and a will to learn more. It also really doubles as a rich information resource. Cannot recommend it enough if books…
on “Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?” ↗Two oreilly books to give you an overview, sorta know the lie of the land. Classic Shell Scripting by Arnold Robbins Unix Power Tools 3rd edition Two additional worthwhile books: The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike Mastering Regular Expressions by Friedl. All 4 are classics.…
on “Ask HN: How do I become a shell god?” ↗For those looking for learning resources, here are some I've found useful: The Advanced Bash Scripting Guide[0] Classic Shell Scripting[1] Google Shell Style Guide[2] Wicked Cool Shell Scripts[3] 0. https://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/ 1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/299533.Classic_Shell_Scr... 2. https://google.github.io/styleguide/shellguide.html…
on “Shells Are Two Things” ↗…is almost meaningless to beginners, because the basic skills are common to all shells. (That said, you will love zsh once you use it) I learned to use shell, about 7 years ago, by reading O'Reilly "Classic Shell Scripting". It is well written, and teach you something that you can hardly learn from google. But don't try to remember everything, especially those advanced string manipulation syntax, because one would usually…
on “Ask HN: How can I get better at bash?” ↗Now and then I reread a chapter of "Classic Shell Scripting" (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596005955.do) - probably the best book on shell script I know.
on “Unix Tricks” ↗> I learned to use shell, about 7 years ago, by reading O'Reilly "Classic Shell Scripting". I can second this recommendation. :)
on “Ask HN: How can I get better at bash?” ↗…Fermat's Enigma - Simon Singh 4. Deep Work - Cal Newport 5. Smarter Faster Better - Charles Duhigg 6. 1984 7. So good they can't ignore you - Cal Newport 8. Distributed Systems for fun and profit 9. Classic Shell Scripting Things I partially read and hope to complete some time: 1. The music of Primes 2. Traction 3. Founders at work 4. Your Memory: How it works and how to improve it Things I would recommend: Fermat's…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…administrator. You notice a few items scattered around the desk (the computer is locked down and cannot be taken) Random Books: Pointers on C C Programing Language Unix Power Tools Sed and Awk Classic Shell Scripting Unix in a Nutshell A set of index cards (half size 2.5x3) with lists for next tasks for each project/issue being tracked. A couple of notebooks A coffee mug and a cup of water A green marker for…
on “Ask HN: What is on your desk besides your computer (and components), and phone?” ↗I'm no expert but have always found the O'Reilly books helpful. Also... well I'm not sure what HN's policy is on sources/linking but let's just say that you could search right now for "Classic Shell Scripting pdf" or "Learning the Bash Shell pdf" and find those fairly quickly online...
on “You Are Not Paid to Write Code” ↗…$1: Unix in a Nutshell (4th ed.) sed & awk (2nd ed.) lex and yacc (2nd ed.) Learning the bash Shell (3rd ed.) Linux Pocket Guide (3rd ed.) $8: (all of the above, plus) bash Cookbook Classic Shell Scripting Learning GNU Emacs (3rd ed.) Unix Power Tools Learning the vi and Vim Editors (7th ed.) Bash Pocket Reference (2nd ed.) Learning Unix for OS X (2nd ed.) $15: (all of the above, plus) Essential…
on “Humble Book Bundle: Unix” ↗