bash Cookbook

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the GNU Software Foundation and Brian Fox for writing bash. And thank you to Chet Ramey, who has been maintaining and improving bash since around version 1.14 in the early to mid-1990s. More thanks to Chet for answering our questions and for reviewing a draft of this book.

Reviewers

Many thanks to our reviewers: Yves Eynard, Chet Ramey, William Shotts, Ryan Waldron, and Michael Wang. They all provided valuable feedback, suggestions and in some cases provided alternate solutions, pointed out issues we had overlooked, and in general greatly improved the book. Any errors or omissions in this text are ours and not theirs. An excellent example of their wisdom is the correct observation, “that sentence doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going!”

O’Reilly

Thanks to the entire team at O’Reilly, including Mike Loukides, Derek Di Matteo, and Laurel Ruma.

From the Authors

Carl

The writing of a book is never a solitary effort, though it has its moments. Thanks to JP and Cameron for working on this project with me. Our complementary talents and time schedules have made this a better book than it could have been alone. Thanks also to JP for his great sysadmin efforts to provide us with some infrastructure. Thanks to Mike for listening to my proposal for a bash cookbook and putting me in touch with JP and Cameron who were doing the same, for pushing us along when we got stuck, and reining us in when we went crazy. His steady guidance and technical input were much appreciated. My wife and children have patiently sup-ported me through this process, giving me encouragement, motivation, as well as time and space to work. I thank them wholeheartedly.

But deeper than the immediate task of this book was the background and preparation. I’m greatly indebted to Dr. Ralph Bjork who made it possible for me to start working with Unix, back before almost anyone had ever heard of it. His vision, fore-sight, and guidance have paid dividends for me longer than I would ever have expected.

My work on this book is dedicated to my parents, Hank and Betty, who have given me every good thing they had to offer—life itself, Christian faith, love, an excellent education, a sense of belonging, and all those good and healthy things one hopes to pass on to one’s own children. I can never thank them enough.

JP

Thanks to Cameron for writing Learning the bash Shell, from which I learned a lot and which was my primary reference until I started this project, and for contributing so much useful material from it. Thanks to Carl for all his work, without whom this would have taken four times as long and only been half as good. Thanks to Mike for getting the ball rolling, then keeping it rolling, and for bringing Carl on board. And thanks to both Carl and Mike for their patience with my life and time management issues.

This book is dedicated to Dad, who’d get a kick out of it. He always told me there are only two decisions that matter: what you do and who you marry. I’ve managed to get two for two, so I guess I’m doing pretty well. So this is also dedicated to Karen, for her incredible support, patience, and understanding during this longer than expected process and without whom even computers wouldn’t be as fun. Finally, to Kate and Sam, who contributed greatly to my aforementioned life management issues.

Cameron

I’d like to thank both JP and Carl for their splendid work, without which this book probably wouldn’t exist. I’d also like to thank JP for coming up with the idea of creating a bash cookbook; I’m sure he was regretting it through all those long hours at the keyboard, but with the tome complete in his hands I’m certain that he’s glad he took part. Lastly, I’d like to once again thank Adam.