Lesson 1
Introduction to Basic UNIX Shell Programming
This course offers a hands-on introduction to creating scripts in the UNIX shell, or command line environment. These scripts are used on all UNIX systems for system administration work, repetitive tasks, or just to automate a long series of steps.
This course is the first in a two-part series. Basic UNIX Shell Programming assumes you are new to shell programming, but you should be familiar with basic UNIX concepts. If you have used a UNIX command line, that's even better.
It is assumed that you are familiar with common UNIX tasks such as logging in , moving around the filesystem from a command line, and entering common UNIX commands. In this course you will build on those concepts to create your own shell programs.
This course actually gives you access to a UNIX system, so you can immediately apply the skills you learn.
Course objectives
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Define a shell program and how it interacts with your UNIX system
- List the components that make up all shell scripts
- Describe the differences between popular shells
- Use different types of shell variables to hold data values
- Create coherent script objectives and designs
- Read and write files from within a script
- Define appropriate tests for conditions in a script
- Use different looping operations to control script flow
- Redirect input and output to control how data is handled in a script
The series
Creating Basic UNIX Shell Scripts is the first of two courses in the UNIX Shell Programming series.
In the next lesson, we will examine the course prerequisites.