Shell Scripting: Expert Recipes for Linux, Bash, and More

Summary

System administration requires the mastery of a complex and interrelated set of tools. I hope this chapter has presented some of the ways in which these tools can be used in shell scripts to automate common system administration tasks, to make complex tasks easier, quicker, and repeatable, and also to help make basic operations more flexible and useful.

The first parts of this book covered more theory, concepts, and details of how particular tools and features in the Unix and GNU/Linux ecosystem work. The rest of the book consists of recipes, with a focus on the tasks themselves and how and why they are done in a certain way. These recipes build upon the knowledge and information presented earlier to build up a set of solid, practical shell scripts that can be used as is or modified for particular uses. These recipes also provide useful examples of how the tools and features of the shell can be put together for a variety of purposes.