The Korn shell is an interactive command and scripting language for accessing Unix® and other computer systems. As a complete and high-level programming language in itself, it's been a favorite since it was developed in the mid 1980s by David G. Korn at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Knowing how to use it is an essential skill for serious Unix users. Learning the Korn Shell shows you how to use the Korn shell as a user interface and as a programming environment. Writing applications is often easier and quicker with Korn than with other high-level languages. Because of this, the Korn shell is the most often used shell in commercial environments and among inexperienced users. There are two other widely used shells, the Bourne shell and the C shell. The Korn shell, or ksh, has the best features of both, plus many new features of its own. ksh can do much to enhance productivity and the quality of a user's work, both in interacting with the system, and in programming. The new version, ksh93, has the functionality of other scripting languages such as awk, icon, Perl, rexx, and tcl. Learning the Korn Shell is the key to gaining control of the Korn shell and becoming adept at using it as an interactive command and scripting language. Prior programming experience is not required in order to understand the chapters on basic shell programming. Readers will learn how to write many applications more easily and quickly than with other high-level languages. In addition, readers will also learn about Unix utilities and the way the Unix operating system works in general. The authors maintain that you shouldn't have to be an internals expert to use and program the shell effectively. The second edition covers all the features of the current version of the Korn shell, including many new features not in earlier versions of ksh93, making it the most up-to-date reference available on the Korn shell. It compares the current version of the Korn shell to several other Bourne-compatible shells, including several Unix emulation environments for MS-DOS and Windows. In addition, it describes how to download and build ksh93 from source code. A solid offering for many years, this newly revised title inherits a long tradition of trust among computer professionals who want to learn or refine an essential skill.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 35 Ratings

Learning the Korn Shell (2nd Edition) - 2007-01-28
Reviewer Rating:
I once was blind. Spending decades in the UNIX world I spent time with several shells. Down through the years I visited many shells and even bought a book on the Korn Shell by the designer David Korn. I sort of got complacent (know-it-all).

Now obtaining a position supporting AIX I once again find that the prefer supported shell is the Korn shell; even sh is linked to ksh93. Several times I came across unexplainable anomalies; sometime paths would be absolute and at other times they would follow links. Traps seemed to work a tad different and other outcomes seemed to be hit or miss.

The purchase of this book has been a real eye opener. What seemed to be arbitrary was in reality lack of personal knowledge of the latest version of the korn shell.

I could not believe that a book by David Korn of AT&T did not even mention signals.

Some of the highlights of the book are:
Job control
Functions
Command history
Command-line editing
Integrated programming features
Control structures
Debugging primitives
Regular expressions
Advanced I/O features
New options and variables
Increased speed
Security features
Major features
Security features
POSIX compliance
Arithmetic for loops
Floating-point arithmetic
Structured variable names
Indirect variable references
Associative arrays
Additional text manipulation facilities
More built-in commands

Excellent - 2005-12-02
Reviewer Rating:
This book is just great. It has a lot of examples and every concept is well explained. Even for those who are not used to programming, this is a great book to start shell scripting.
The authors relate concepts (commands usage, for example) with those of bash and other shells, which is very helpful if you already know how to program with csh, Bourne, etc.
So... if you're looking for a GOOD book about ksh, buy this one!!

Learning the Korn Shell (2nd Edition) - 2008-07-24
Reviewer Rating:
This book is excellent for beginner-intermediate users. I did not have any experience with Unix scripts prior to this book, after finishing it I came away with a very good understanding of the Korn Shell.

Book is well written and covers the basics: command line editing, setting up your environment, up to process handling and debugging. One flaw of the book is that there is not enough examples. Also many of the examples later on in the book are built based on examples from previous chapters. While that is good for a learning exercise it does not give you a direct, simple example you may require.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book, I still use this as a reference at work.

Good Book, Worth Buying - 2007-07-13
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book a few days ago for use at work. Previously, I didn't have much of a need for interacting with a Unix shell outside of cd and ls.

This book reads easy, and the author(s) seem genuinely interested in the subject - not the usual dry textbook point of view. Topics are explained well, with small examples to show how it actually works. I would suggest having access to a Unix machine with the Korn shell, as you can experiment with the commands a bit on your own.

BTW, I didn't realize that the Unix machine I work on has the 1988 version of the Korn shell instead of the 93 version (the book covers 93), but most of the book is still relevant. They also cover what has changed in the 2 versions.

Very Helpful Reference to KSH - 2005-11-22
Reviewer Rating:
I found this book very helpful in learning to write scripts for the Korn Shell. I keep it on my desk all the time now, even for other shells (Bash/etc). It's an invaluable reference to me.

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