Imagine that you want to output multiple lines of text in Bash, or any shell script. Maybe it’s for a help string for a particularly convoluted shell script you’re writing. You could have a separate ...

Passing arguments, writing a help menu, and debugging can be burdensome. However, the getopts command, Heredoc, and the "set ...

You need to package up a bunch of files, send them somewhere, and do something with them at the destination. It isn’t an uncommon scenario. The obvious answer is to create an archive — a zip or tar ...

The shell does far more than run commands. Here’s how Bash expands your input behind the scenes so you can write cleaner, ...

Jack Wallen shows how you can create a Linux shell script that requires a password without having to save a password within the script. Image: dennizn/Adobe Stock ...

I realize I've been playing a bit fast and loose with my shell scripts over the last few months, because I haven't talked about how to ensure that error conditions ...

Wicked Cool Shell Scripts: 101 Scripts for Linux, OS X, and Unix Systems by Dave Taylor and Brandon Perry, 2 nd edition, no starch press (2017) is a book that can lift you up a notch in the super Unix ...

We've spent the last three columns talking about the basic nuts and bolts of shell script programming, so I think it's time to start digging into a real shell script, and build something interesting ...