As part of the best-selling Pocket Primer series, this book introduces readers to useful command-line utilities for creating powerful shell scripts. It focuses on the "bash" command set, though many concepts apply to other command shells like sh, ksh, zsh, and csh. The book covers piping data between commands and using versatile sed and awk commands. Aimed at beginners, it also serves as a good reference for those with some experience in shell scripting.
The journey starts with an introduction to bash, covering files and directories, useful commands, and conditional logic with loops. Readers then learn to filter data with grep, transform data with sed, and work with awk. The book introduces shell scripts, showcasing their use with grep and awk for data manipulation. Various scripts are provided for data scientists and analysts needing shell-based solutions for text file cleaning.
Understanding these concepts is crucial for simplifying routine tasks and creating efficient shell scripts. This book transitions readers from novices to proficient scriptwriters, combining theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Companion files with source code examples enhance learning. By the end, readers will be equipped to implement shell scripts in real-world scenarios.