Chapter 18: Cool Shell Tricks

Overview

The BASH shell is the product of many years of development work by a lot of people. It comes from the old days of Unix and was an important step in computer software evolution. It's a program that retains complete simplicity, yet packs in more features than most users could ever hope to use.

One of the best things about BASH is its sheer power. If you ever wonder if you can do a task differently (and more efficiently), you'll probably find that one of the many BASH developers has implemented a method to do so. Once you learn these techniques, you'll find you can whiz around the shell at blinding speed. It's just a matter of exploring the far reaches of BASH, and that's what you'll do in this chapter. Hold onto your hats because it's an exciting ride!