bash-shell-basics.md

Open Source Software Survival Essentials For Thriving Foreseeably

Bash Shell Basics

Table of Contents

• What Is bash
• How Much bash Do I Need To Learn?
• Where Can I Learn More About bash

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What Is bash

• The shell is our way INTO the command line, and it executes commands for us.

• Bash is the standard default command-line shell which is standard across all kinds of linux, the open source operating system.

When we see a $ sign before some commands, like this:

$ git version

Then that means that we will be using the bash shell. NOTE: We can list bash commands in a text file and run them as a script.

How Much bash Do I Need To Learn

Extremely little bash knowledge will suffice.

VERY few things can really help:

1. Learn how to get to the command line and test your installed version of bash:

$ bash --version

2. Most of what we do with bash is run package managers, navigate the filesystems,

$ cd ~

create directories

$ mkdir -p ~/projects/

Run scripts...

3. Use bash to keep an eye on system resources, like
   available disk storage :

$ df -h

and free memory:

$ free

4. Learn to run a bash script inside of another bash shell, so that if there is an error, only the inner shell exits:

$ bash test_script.sh

Where Can I Learn More About bash

Since bash can be scripted, and has dozens of builtin commands inside of it, the more we know about bash the better.

https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html

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After reading this FAQ, you are welcome to bring any and all questions HERE
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