this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2026
28 points (96.7% liked)

Linux

66599 readers
91 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
 

There is lots of books, videos and manuals about bash. So it is hard to tell if one is good or not. By advanced bash I mean regular expressions, complex scripts, and kind-of obscure options of basic commands no beginner tutorial tells about.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

shellcheck.net

Also, advanced bash is mostly about structuring code for maintainability, exception handling and some good tidbit functions you can easily adapt. Actually a good experience for creating maintianable lower-level code too.

That said, i have a (POSIX) cheatsheet i still regularly use. Most important parts:

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
## exit codes for GNU/Linux
┌──────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Exitcode │ Meaning                                                │ Example                             │
├──────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1        │ Catchall for general errors, such as "divide by zero"  │ let "var1 = 1/0"                    │
│ 2        │ Misuse of shell builtins: Missing keyword or command.  │ empty_function() {}                 │
│ 126      │ cannot invoke requested command                        │ /dev/null                           │
│ 127      │ A utility to be executed was not found                 │ evho                                │
│ 128      │ Invalid argument to exit: only integer args in the     │ exit 3.14159                        │
│          │ range 0 - 255 allowed                                  │                                     │
│ 128+n    │ A command was interrupted by signal n (128 + n)        │ kill -9 $PPID returns 137 (128 + 9) │
│ 130      │ Script terminated by Ctrl+C: fatal error signal 2,     │ Ctl-C                               │
│          │ (130 = 128 + 2, see above)                             │                                     │
│ 255*     │ Exit status out of range: exit takes only integer args │ exit -1                             │
│          │ in the range 0 - 255                                   │                                     │
└──────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
## Numeric True/False

OR ||:
1 + 1 = 1         TRUE || TRUE = TRUE
1 + 0 = 1         TRUE || FALSE = TRUE
0 + 0 = 0         FALSE || FALSE = FALSE
AND &&:
1 * 1 = 1         TRUE && TRUE = TRUE
1 * 0 = 0         TRUE && FALSE = FALSE
0 * 0 = 0         FALSE && FALSE = FALSE

Btw; lowercase true/false are special in that they set the respective state, standalone or as argument.
     Said state can be set to variables too, for constructs like: var=true; $var && echo True


#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
## Variable-Expansion

┌───────────────────────┬───────┬───────┬───────────┐
│               VAR is: │ unset │ empty │ non-empty │
├───────────────────────┼───────┼───────┼───────────┤
│ [ -z "${VAR}"       ] │ true  │ true  │ false     │
│ [ -z "${VAR+set}"   ] │ true  │ false │ false     │
│ [ -z "${VAR-unset}" ] │ false │ true  │ false     │
│ [ -n "${VAR}"       ] │ false │ false │ true      │
│ [ -n "${VAR+set}"   ] │ false │ true  │ true      │
│ [ -n "${VAR-unset}" ] │ true  │ false │ true      │
└───────────────────────┴───────┴───────┴───────────┘

Btw,
[ -z $var ] &&
[ -n $var ] ||
are *not* the same; the first ist exact match, rather false, the second forgiving, rather true.

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
## Parameter expansion

# Use these in place of awk or sed calls when possible
┌─────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Parameter               │ Description                                 │
├─────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ${VAR/PATTERN/REPLACE}  │ Substitute first pattern with replacement   │
│ ${VAR//PATTERN/REPLACE} │ Substitute all pattern with replacement     │
│ ${VAR#PATTERN}          │ Remove shortest match of pattern from start │
│ ${VAR##PATTERN}         │ Remove longest match of pattern from start  │
│ ${VAR%PATTERN}          │ Remove shortest match of pattern from end   │
│ ${VAR%%PATTERN}         │ Remove longest match of pattern from end    │
│ ${#VAR}                 │ Length of var in characters                 │
└─────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Summary:
* String manipulation with ${VAR#PREFIX}, ${VAR##PREFIX}, ${VAR%SUFFIX} and ${VAR%%SUFFIX}.
* Conditional treatment of unset variables with ${VAR-DEFAULT}, ${VAR=DEFAULT}, ${VAR+FALLBACK}
   and ${VAR?MESSAGE} as well as the unset-or-empty variants with :-, :=, :+ and :?.
* Variable length with ${#VAR}.

filename=/foo/bar.baz
"${filename%/*}"  # /foo      # dirname
"${filename%.*}"  # /foo/bar  # filename
"${filename##*/}" # bar.baz   # basename
"${filename##*.}" # baz       # file-ext

Btw, if it goes over 100 to 150 loc, go Python at least. No matter how disciplined you are or how clean your code is, it gets messy.