System administrators need libraries of solutions that are ingenious but understandable. They don’t want to reinvent the wheel, but they don’t want to reinvent filesystem management either! Expert Shell Scripting is the ultimate resource for all working Linux, Unix, and OS X system administrators who would like to have short, succinct, and powerful shell implementations of tricky system scripting tasks.

• Automating small to medium system management tasks
• Analyzing system data and editing configuration files
• Scripting Linux, Unix, and OS X applications using bash, ksh, et al.

What you’ll learn

• Debug shell scripts using existing debuggers, not inspection.
• Use and extend text–editing one–liners and learn to forget Perl.
• Manage files and filesystems using scripting, not inflexible utilities.
• Use scripts to build complete Linux systems.
• Script X Window without getting lost in configuration files.
• Ignore Python, and script in bash and ksh instead.

Who this book is for

System administrators who need solutions to everyday problems.