Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible, Second Edition

This is a very comprehensive book at over 800 pages. It is as easy as to follow as this type of a book can be. It is detailed and accurate. For the most part all topics are covered before they are used: only a couple of exceptions were noted and they were minor with one being covered in the next section. The information is presented clearly with ample examples and explanations. The book is functional and practical. It also teaches a lot of commands that you probably were not aware of. With that knowledge the man pages become that much more useful. If you want to administer a LAMP server or a 'NIX network, a lot of what you need to know is with respect to being able to do it from the command line or using scripts is in this book. I personally would never use scripts to partition drives but for doing cron jobs, checking file permissions, getting hardware info, checking and setting environmental variables, etc., this book covers the basics of how to get desired result. I find that it is necessary to use the command line sometimes and the GUI at other times and sometimes both to get the results needed. For instance when moving the default data directory for a MySQL install to a separate drive, the easy button is to copy over the defaults directories to the new drive. Have done several installs like this with varying distros and regardless of what flags I set, or whether using a drag and drop or the command line, the permissions always get changed in the sub directories. Theory this and that, haven't found a way to make it happen in the real world. Have found using the command line to list full permissions change individual permissions and using two open terminals to compare file by file the permissions and changing the root directories using nautilus is the best/fastest way to get 100% first go positive results. Yes an active gnome install does eat 10% of resources, you can see it using top, also covered in the book, but it can be turned off so it is not important. You also have to edit config files containing environmental variables. This book covers the tools required to do so. It is my reference book of choice for command line issues.

Overall this book will give you a nice grasp of the CLI and how things work. It helped me a ton and i still reference it from time to time. If you are getting this book solely for shell scripting, a few topics are either not mentioned or touched on lightly. A example is math, for floating point math they use `bc`, a external command that may not be installed by default. which is a nice tool and will get the job done, but they show you a few good examples of how to use it then briefly talk about the (( )) internal command(later on in the book) which can do the same thing with less effort. Some other topics you won't see is parameter expansion, why [[ should be used over [ (test) in most cases, command grouping, subshell execution & process substitution. Finding information on any of those aren't hard, just not in the book. That plus the typos, some of which may prevent the command from executing correctly, prevents me from giving five stars. I would and have recommended the book to others.

If you are new to Linux and want to understand its power at the command shell, this book is for you. The first few chapters cover things like the various distros, the desktop, and using the editors before delving into the BASH shell. It starts with issuing simple commands like "echo hello world" and how to write a script in the editor with some commands. Each subsequent chapter brings more involved subjects such as shell variables, command piping, do/for loops, if/then/else/case, etc. There are plenty of examples in every chapter. This book is what I turn to if I have a question about how to do something in a script.

Does a decent job in explaining syntax and flow but leaves out full detail that is needed for a full understanding. The title is not justified. Bible infers a complete refference where as this is like the old testament, good information and interesting but not the full story.

I'm a newbie penquinisto, so I needed all the help I can get. This book has been a good purchase for the information that I have been needing to write shell scripts and understand the command line. The web has lots of information but this puts all in one place and you can read it at the coffee shop and impress others!

Excellent packaging and product. Easy read and to follow. Broken down to informative chapter headings which as previously described are easy to follow - would recommend to other's learning Linux shell and scripting.

I am taking some Linux classes in school. I purchased this because I struggle a lot with Bash scripting and I wanted to supplement my text books with a book that focused on scripting. The book itself is easy enough to follow and has does a good job of explaining the various commands. Where it falls short though are the amount of sample scripts. As I said above I struggle with scripting. I have no issues at all getting around in the terminal but I don't think my brain is wired correctly to ever be proficient in writing scripts. I wish it gave more than one example for the sample scripts. The way I learn is by seeing various scripts and seeing how they perform, but when the book only gives one example of how to use a variable I believe it falls short of my needs. I wish there would be three or for different examples. If you are a fast learner and have a natural talent for scripting then this may be the right book for you. If you are like me and need to be shown several different examples of how to use different commands and options then this will not meet your needs.

Is a very detailed, peer to peer book, from scratch to advanced, I highly recommended, the author take its time on every theme.

Das Buch führt den Neuling gut an die Besonderheiten der Shell heran. Aber auch erfahrenere Scripter finden in dem gut aufgebauten Buch nette Beispiele und Ideen, wie man Scripte besser machen kann. Es ist in einem leicht verständlichen Englisch geschrieben und die Beispiel Scripte werden gut erklärt und auf Besonderheiten wird hingewiesen. Zudem ist es als Nachschlagwerk gut geeignet, wenn man ein Problem mit einem eigenen Script hat und sich ein Beispiel abschauen möchte. Ich kann das Buch auf ganzer Linie empfehlen und habe es mir sowohl als "echtes Buch" und als e-book gekauft.

Whilst not having any formal programming education and being rather self-taught I struggled with grasping all the non-Windows concepts which *nix uses. Desperate for getting the concepts right I bought this book. Today, i'd argue that this is where I should have started. The book provides a clear cut presentation of how to use the linux command-line from the lowest level and gradually moves upwards, by adding layers of syntax in a logical and coherent way. It starts with the (real) basics and guides the reader to a more detailed level in gentle steps with a cute but subtle humour. Whilst most would argue that learning the command-line can be quite a dry subject, the Authors actually manage to present the subject in a living and involving manner. Reading the book (at the rather of a chapter every second evening from front to back) feels more like having a dialogue with the authors than memorising a phone-book (which a lot of other books on the command-line makes you feel like). So, the one liner to people who have started using linux and wants to know "what is under the bonnet?" This is the book to read!

The word "Bible" should have warned me. The book is fine as a reference and as a teaching aid- if only he'd stop banging on about God.

A good read for beginners or as an on the shelf reference for those just needing a reminder. The use of the word "Bible" might cause offence to some, unwise in non-religious book titles.

I've been unix scripting for the last 12 months, self taught and thought I should try to develop a less idiosyncratic and patchy style. Hence the purchase of this book. It's not for me. It appears to go through all the commands and indeed has large sections on file permissions and disk partitions that seems relevant for a system administrator, but a lot of the time it seems to do little more for a command than you could obtain by typing man command. It's a thick book, but full of white space and copies of screen output, the amount of smart ideas for scripting seem low (I haven't read all the book). I'm 150 pages in and really haven't learned much. I think I'm just going to buy another book rather than finish this one.