Bash Pocket Reference

It's simple: you need to know how to work with the bash shell if you want to get to the heart of Mac OS X, Linux, and other Unix systems. Updated for the most recent version of bash, this concise little book puts all of the essential information about bash at your fingertips. You'll quickly find answers to annoying questions that always come up when you're writing shell scripts -- What characters do you need to quote? How do you get variable substitution to do exactly what you want? How do you use arrays? -- and much more.

If you're a user or programmer of any Unix variant, or if you're using bash on Windows, you'll find this pocket reference indispensable.

This book covers:

• Invoking the Shell
• Syntax
• Functions
• Variables
• Arithmetic Expressions
• Command History
• Programmable Completion
• Job Control
• Shell Options
• Command Execution
• Coprocesses
• Restricted Shells
• Built-in Commands

About the Author

Arnold Robbins is a professional programmer and technical author who has worked with Unix systems since 1980 and has been using AWK since 1987. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. Arnold is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is coauthor of the sixth edition of O'Reilly's Learning the vi Editor.

Chapter 1 The Bash Shell

• Conventions
• History
• Overview of Features
• Invoking the Shell
• Syntax
• Functions
• Variables
• Arithmetic Expressions
• Command History
• Programmable Completion
• Job Control
• Shell Options
• Command Execution
• Coprocesses
• Restricted Shells
• Built-in Commands
• Resources
• Acknowledgments