Unix/Linux Shell Scripting Training in Norway

This Unix/Linux Shell Scripting training introduces the Unix operating system and enables participants to write efficient shell scripts. Throughout the course, delegates will build scripts of increasing complexity and gain hands-on experience with console I/O, text processing, arithmetic operations, process control, and signal handling.

No prior experience is required.

• UNIX users
• Programmers
• System administrators

The course is primarily delivered using the Korn shell (ksh), while also covering Bash, Bourne, and C shells. Training is typically conducted on Red Hat or Ubuntu Linux systems.

Review of Core Concepts

• The history and evolution of UNIX
• The filesystem, mounting devices and inodes
• Processes, threads, scheduling and signals
• Using the essential UNIX commands
• Comparing the different UNIX shells
• Picking the right shell for the job

Starting Shell Programming

• Why shell scripts are an essential tool
• Using the shebang line to pick an interpreter
• Declaring and working with shell variables
• Built in operators for testing and arithmetic
• Evaluating expressions using the expr command
• Testing variables with if and case
• Creating and controlling for, while and until loops
• Debugging your shell scripts

Regular Expressions

• How a Regular Expression Engine operates
• The difference between basic and extended regular expressions
• Options for using regular expressions in shell scripts
• Creating character classes and specifying multiplicities
• Meta-characters for specifying positions in the input
• Using parenthesis for grouping and submatches
• The non greedy versions of *, + and ?
• Using parenthesis that do not capture
• Applying modifiers to only part of the expression
• Using look-around assertions to match without capturing

Creating Useful Scripts

• Creating formatted output with printf
• Working with environment variables
• Testing the exit status of a command
• Looping till a command is successful
• Discarding command output using /dev/null
• Using /dev/zero to create test files
• Testing the attributes of files
• Returning an exit status from your script
• Processing command line arguments
• Reading and parsing input from the keyboard
• Processing files one line at a time
• Creating and working with arrays

Using the Sed Tool in Shell Scripts

• Understanding how Sed transforms text input
• Working with commands and addresses
• Manipulating the contents of the pattern space
• Using the hold buffer to copy and paste text
• Sed commands for selection and iteration

Using the Awk Tool in Shell Scripts

• Understanding how Awk processes text
• Breaking up input into records and fields
• Writing actions to processes records
• Using regular expressions in actions
• Awk commands for selection and iteration
• Adding functions to Awk scripts

Advanced Shell Programming

• Trapping and handling signals
• Running other programs via exec
• Starting, monitoring and deleting processes
• Breaking up scripts into functions
• Security issues with shell scripts

Alternatives to Shell Scripting

• How Perl improves and extends shell scripting
• Object oriented scripting using Ruby and Python