Bash Hackers Wiki Frontpage
The main motivation was to provide human-readable documentation and information to not force users to read every bit of the Bash manpage - which is PITA sometimes. The docs here are not meant as newbie tutorial, more as educational summary.
What would YOU like to see here? (editable without registration)
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Bash version 4 is here! New information is being merged into this documentation step by step. The logo 
indicates Bash version 4 features or behaviour. There is also a small text about the interesting changes: Bash 4 - a rough overview
Scripting and general information
Scripting with style – an assorted collection of style and optic hints
Code snipplets
There is a section that holds small code snipplets.
How to....
Doing specific tasks: concepts, ways, ideas:
- Small getopts tutorial (under construction!)
Bash syntax and operations
- General:
- Expansions and substitutions:
| Introduction to expansions and substitutions | |
|---|---|
{A,B,C} {A..C} | Brace expansion |
~/ ~root/ | Tilde expansion |
$FOO ${BAR%.mp3} | Parameter expansion |
`command` $(command) | Command substitution |
<(command) >(command) | Process substitution |
$((1 + 2 + 3)) $[4 + 5 + 6] | Arithmetic expansion |
... | Word splitting |
/data/*-av/*.mp? | Pathname expansion |
- Compound commands:
| Compound commands overview | |
|---|---|
| Grouping | |
{ ...; } | command grouping |
( ... ) | command grouping in a subshell |
| Conditionals | |
[[ ... ]] | conditional expression |
if ...; then ...; fi | conditional branching |
case ... esac | pattern-based branching |
| Loops | |
for word in ...; do ...; done | classic for-loop |
for ((x=1; x<=10; x++)); do ...; done | C-style for-loop |
while ...; do ...; done | while loop |
until ...; do ...; done | until loop |
| Misc | |
(( ... )) | arithmetic evaluation |
select word in ...; do ...; done | user selections |
Command Descriptions
This is a selection of builtin commands and command-like keywords.
| A-G | |
|---|---|
| coproc | Co-processes |
| I-N | |
| let | arithmetic evaluation - an old fashioned way (Bash builtin) |
| mapfile | Mapping lines of input to an array, also named readarray (Bash builtin) |
| O-T | |
| printf | “advanced echo” (Bash builtin) |
| read | getting input from stdin (Bash builtin) |
| set | control positional parameters and shell behaviour (Bash builtin) |
| shopt | set/get shell options (Bash builtin) |
| test | the classic test command (Bash builtin) |
| U-Z | |
Dictionary
Most wanted
| Statistics for Month: January 2010 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Views | Article |
| 1 | 3405 | Small getopts tutorial (December: 3180) |
| 2 | 1951 | The printf command (December: 1953) |
| 3 | 1904 | The classic test command (December: 1928) |
| 4 | 1087 | Bash 4 - a rough overview (December: 1139) |
| 5 | 1033 | Parameter expansion (December: 743) |
| 6 | 905 | Handling positional parameters (December: 803) |
| 7 | 821 | Arithmetic expressions (December: 683) |
| 8 | 772 | Lock your script (against parallel run) (December: 606) |
| 9 | 750 | Terminal codes (ANSI/VT100) introduction (December: 590) |
| 10 | 601 | Editing files with the ed text editor from scripts (December: 610) |
January total views (all wiki pages): 39230 views (December: 38232)
Links
Bash related links
- Chet Ramey's bash page and its FAQ
- Greg's wiki - Greg's wiki with massive information about Bash and UNIX® in general
lhunathis making a Bash Guide on Greg's wiki (designed for newbies)- Heiner's "Shell Dorado" - Tips, tricks, links - for every situation
Assorted Shell links
- History and development of the traditional Bourne shell family - very interesting and nice to read!
Contact
If you have critics or suggestions, please feel free to send a mail using the contact form below. If you have quick suggestions, you can also use the Wishlist (editable by everyone!).
It also would be nice to drop a line when
- it helped you
- it didn't help you (something missing / unclear)
- you like it
- you don't like it
- you found mistakes / bugs
Simply: Reader's feedback
Please also see the imprint if you have problems with the site and its contents (legality, ...)!
Visits in irc.freenode.net, channel #bash 
