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From Bash To Z Shell
A *nix-style shell is available on a number of platforms, so the authors chose not to limit themselves to just one, such as Linux. The techniques they discuss can be used in Unix, as well as under Windows using cygwin.
In case you're not overly well-versed in shell handling, the first part of the book does a pretty good job covering all of the things a typical user might want to do. Basic command editing, I/O redirection, jobs, processes, and some simple scripting are all covered. For many users, this is also as far as they would like to go. However, reading a little further yields treasure.
The next part delves into bash version 3.0 and zsh version 4.2, both freely available on the Internet. In addition to more sophisticated command line editing techniques, the authors also delve into the misty realms of re-binding keys. A great many users find themselves typing the same sequences over and over again. While sometimes a script makes sense to encapsulate these sequences, sometimes you want to simply enter some text and that's where a key binding makes sense. One example given in the book for zsh is bindkey -s '\C-xt' 'March 2004\eb' . After the binding, typing CTRL-x t puts the string 'March 2004' onto the command line, and moves the cursor under the '2' so you can insert the day of the month. That's a very simple example for a very powerful facility. A good chunk of chapter 4 is spent on showing how to make the most of bindkey (or its bash cousin 'bind').
The next few chapters cover common topics of prompt strings, file/directory globbing, and shell history. Then, significant press is given to the subject of pattern matching. Many people understand basic pattern matching and regular expressions, but From Bash to Z Shell goes into careful detail, with many examples from both bash and zsh, to contrast the (minor) differences between these two powerful shells. The next chapter discusses command line and file/directory name completion, a topic usually glossed over in other texts. Finally, job processing wraps up Part 2.
The third and final part of the book deals with extending the shell using variables, scripts, and functions. Here's where we get into the nitty-gritty. The first two chapters go over familiar territory: shell variables and shell programming. The chapter on programming is easy to follow, and I suggest you try the examples as you go to get the most out of it. The last two chapters focus on topics frequently overlooked: editor functions, and completion functions. Editor functions allow you (with bind[key]) to define new capabilities to use while editing the command line. This is where a true power user can shine, creating a suite of new functions to speed his/her use of zsh or bash. Completion functions work in defining new ways for the shell to complete a command, file name, or directory, based on a user-written function. Honestly, it's not something I would tend to use, but the capability is intriguing.
All in all, From Bash to Z Shell provides a frequent shell user with a plethora of new insights into customizing the bash and zsh shell programs to fit his/her tastes. The authors have filled a void in tackling the subject of customizing the shell rather than just simply using it. I would have liked to see more coverage of some of the more standard uses of the shells, just so the book could be a more complete reference, rather than the specialized one it is. Specialized or not, there is a lot offered here, and you couldn't go wrong getting this book.
You can purchase From Bash to Z Shell: Conquering the Command Line from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Which shell has a better wallpaper? More options when I right-click?
Uh, wouldn't it have been cooler to actually go the extra mile with the whole A to Z metaphor and call the book "From Ash to Z Shell"? There is a shell called ash.
It's like the good old days!!!
zshell sux!! bash rules!!
In the course of every project, it will become necessary to shoot the scientists and begin production.
I think either shell mentioned in the book is great, I personally use
bash, mostly just because of historical reasons.
Speaking of different shells in general. Here is a very handy list
that can help you pick which shell is best for you. This is not meant
to start a war over which shell is better but is just meant to help
pick the shell that is best for you:
http://www.unix.com/showthread.php?t=12274
Just thought it would be helpful.
--greg Vulcan quiescent... Q: What machine shutdown with this message?
I like the Advanced Bash Scripting Guide quite a bit, but I'd also like to learn about other shells, without reading through a mountain of manpages, nor reading through webpages, and just for general interest while riding the El (not because "I need to do x!").
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
Quickly runs out of the room and hides.
Unix shells by example. Just enough in-depth for my taste. Full of tricks you actually will remember, and if you don't remember the exact syntax it can be quickly found in the book again (which I occasionally/often have to do... Kudos to those that can write commands with multiple single and double quotes in one go :-) ).
The book is mostly on bash, and c-shell.
Please login to access my lawn
Back in '91 or so, I lost legitamate source-code access to ksh. bash was around but, at the time, it only had emacs-like command-line editing. I then discovered that a bunch of folks in the CS dept at Princeton were developing a new (to me anyway) metashell called zsh that was, for the most part a ksh workalike with vi-like command-line editing.
One thing I have never been able to do successfully is to emulate the old ksh's ability to hit Esc-Esc on the command line and get popped into vi with the last command in the history file ready to be edited. It was such a boon to rapid development of shell scripts. Then again, I don't do as much shell scripting these days, so its probably no great loss.
If anybody knows how to do this, esc-esc thing in zsh and can tell me, I'd be really grateful.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Kaa
Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
I like zsh and use it a lot, but there is just one big feature still missing: proper unicode support.
:(
I know they started working on it in february, at least more actively then before. So it will come eventually. Once the internals are done they will move on to the line editor.
Untill then, it still "eats" my prompt when backslashing over multibyte characters...
I cordially propose that the default prompt of your new shell be changed to
}><(([@>
for reasons which should be obvious.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
What a timesaver! I start so many commands withIn all seriousness, though, I'd like to stick my suggestion in here: Wicked Cool Shell Scripts is a charming little read and the scripts are all on line!
grammar-lesson free since 1999. (rescinded - 2005)
Every shell script I write can run in a non-dynamic bourne shell. With all my years of supporting dozens of different flavors of unix, I grew accustomed to never assuming what shells may or may not be available on a given system.
#!/bin/sh 4 LIFE!
I used to find myself using find a lot -- mostly for handling files in subdirectories, and/or for selecting files based on metadata of various kinds. But zsh makes find almost totally unnecessary: it has a simple but very powerful syntax which extends the simple '*' and '?' file completion to allow selection by size/date/type/&c, exclusion lists, user-specified ordering, and most usefully it can select files in subdirectories too. And because it's right there in the shell, the results are easy to use without that awkward -exec syntax. I don't think I've used find once since switching to zsh!
I really don't understand why it hasn't become more popular. It's free and open source; it can mimic other shells (notably, ksh), and it ships with systems such as Mac OS X.
Ceterum censeo subscriptionem esse delendam.
A shell called fish? Can you call it shellfish for short? Did you make it GPL? If so, thanks for not being selfish with shellfish!
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Those shopping for a shell, and with a taste for Python, would do well to check out ipython.
In the 'pysh' mode, it acts as a fully functional system shell, even on Windows. Bash and friends suck on windows, but IPython truly shines there. It really makes the command prompt use of Windows feasible, with bash like filename completion etc. Being able to extend it with python functions (as opposed to separate scripts) is a killer feature as well.
I've actually replaced the command prompt launchers on my KDE desktop with 'ipython -p pysh' launchers.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak