Expert Shell Scripting

Preface

1: Shell Script Debugging

2: Standard Function Library

3: Date and Time Manipulation

4: Comparison and Tests

5: Accepting Command Line Options, Switches and Parameters

6: Testing Variables and Assigning Defaults

7: Indirect Reference Variables

8: Shell Process Tree

9: Data Redirection

10: Piping Input to Read

11: Math from the Shell

12: Cron

13: Self-Linked Scripts

14: Throttling Parallel Processes

15: Command Line Editing and History

16: Scripting from the Command Line

17: Automating User Input with Expect

18: User Input Timeout

19: Instant Keyboard Response

20: Directory Copying

21: A Brief Tour of the X Display Environment

22: X Navigation Window

23: Command Line Email Attachments

24: Text Processing One-Liners

25: Editing Files in Place

26: Evaluating Variables in a Flat File

27: Read Piped Input

28: Free-Format Output Using Cat

29: Automating FTP

30: Automating Email with Procmail

31: Process Management Monitor

32: Managing File Counts

33: Processes Running from Inittab

34: Automatic RCS

35: Colorful /proc Reporting

36: Password Aging Notification

37: Pseudo-Shadow File

38: Linux Gold System Build

39: System Snapshots

40: Removing Large Files and Log Rolling

41: Core Finder

42: Network Adapter Fail-over

Appendix A: Test Switches

Appendix B: Special Parameters

Appendix C: Other Shell Scripting Resources

Ron Peters spent more than 10 years administering Linux and Unix systems while building a very large library of shell scripts. He realized that the world is full of How-To documents, but not many seem to read them. Neither can many system administrators lay claim to being shell scripting experts. He apologizes that it took him so long to make his efforts known to the world. He is married with two children and very happy that he found the time to write this book.