- Part I: Foundations
- 1. Introduction to Shell Scripting
- 2. Navigating the Terminal
- 3. Working with Files and Directories
- 4. Text Editing at the Command Line
- 5. Writing Your First Shell Script
- 6. Variables and User Input
- 7. Making Decisions with Conditionals
- 8. Loops and Iteration
- 9. Functions and Script Organization
- Part II: Advanced Techniques
- 10. Pattern Matching and Regular Expressions
- 11. Text Transformation with sed and awk
- 12. Advanced File and Directory Operations
- 13. String Manipulation Techniques
- 14. Error Handling and Debugging
- 15. Advanced Pattern Processing
- 16. Process Management and Job Control
- Part III: Real-World Applications
- 17. Building Production-Ready Scripts
- 18. Complete Automation Projects
- Appendices
- A. Setting Up Your Environment
- B. Command Reference Guide
- C. Common Errors and Solutions
- D. POSIX vs Bash Comparison
- E. Additional Resources
- F. Glossary of Terms
- G. Quick Reference Index
- H. Bibliography
POSIX Shell Scripting from Scratch
Write Once, Run Everywhere - A Beginner's Guide
Stop writing scripts that break when you switch systems. Master POSIX shell scripting and write automation that works everywhere—Linux, macOS, BSD, and beyond.
Starting from absolute zero, this practical guide turns complete beginners into confident shell programmers. You’ll start by opening your first terminal window and quickly move to automating real tasks. Learn to process text files, manage system resources, and create professional-grade scripts that run reliably on any Unix-like system.
Instead of platform-specific tricks, you’ll focus on portable POSIX-compliant scripting—the universal language of Unix. Through hands-on projects like backup tools, monitoring dashboards, and deployment helpers, you’ll gain skills you can apply immediately.
Whether you’re a system administrator, a developer moving into DevOps, or a curious beginner, this book gives you a solid, long-lasting foundation.
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About
About the Book
POSIX Shell Scripting from Scratch: Write Once, Run Everywhere is the definitive guide for anyone who wants to master shell scripting from the ground up. Unlike many resources that assume prior programming knowledge, this book starts with the absolute basics—opening your terminal for the first time—and systematically builds your skills to professional-level automation.
This isn’t just another shell scripting book. It’s a complete learning system that transforms beginners into confident script developers. Every concept is introduced with clear explanations, practical examples, and hands-on exercises that reinforce learning. The book focuses exclusively on POSIX-compliant shell scripting, so your scripts work seamlessly across Linux, macOS, BSD, and any Unix-like system—true “write once, run everywhere” capability.
Starting from zero, you’ll learn how to navigate the command line, manipulate files and directories, and write your first shell script. As you progress, you’ll master variables, user input, conditional logic, loops, and functions. The journey continues into advanced topics like regular expressions, text transformation with sed and awk, process management, and error handling.
But this book goes beyond syntax. You’ll also learn professional practices: debugging techniques, performance optimization, security considerations, and how to write maintainable, production-ready scripts. Real-world projects throughout the book—from building a backup system to creating a system monitoring dashboard—ensure you can apply your skills immediately.
You’ll especially benefit if you are:
- A complete beginner with no programming experience who wants to automate tasks
- A system administrator seeking to standardize and improve scripting practices
- A developer who needs shell scripting for DevOps, CI/CD, and deployment
- A student learning Unix/Linux system administration
- Anyone who wants their scripts to work reliably across different Unix-like systems
By the end, you’ll have a solid, portable toolkit for automating everyday tasks and building robust command-line tools that run anywhere.
Author
About the Author
Sultan Zavrak
Sultan Zavrak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at Duzce University, Turkey. He received his B.Sc. (2010) and M.Sc. (2013) degrees in Computer Engineering from Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, and his Ph.D. in Computer and Information Engineering from Sakarya University in 2020.
Dr. Zavrak’s research interests span computer networks, network security, and machine learning, with a strong focus on automation and real-world systems. His passion for teaching and tooling-driven workflows led him to develop this comprehensive guide, making POSIX shell scripting approachable for beginners while preserving technical rigor and industry best practices.
With more than a decade of experience in academic research, he offers a perspective that bridges theoretical computer science with the everyday automation challenges faced by engineers and practitioners.
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