Fun and functional Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX shell scripts

The UNIX shell is the main scripting environment of every Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX system, whether a rescued laptop or a million-dollar mainframe. This cookbook of useful, customizable, and fun scripts gives you the tools to solve common Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX problems and personalize your computing environment. Among the more than 100 scripts included are an interactive calculator, a spell checker, a disk backup utility, a weather tracker, and a web logfile analysis tool. The book also teaches you how to write your own sophisticated shell scripts by explaining the syntax and techniques used to build each example scripts. Examples are written in Bourne Shell (sh) syntax.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 34 Ratings

Good, yes. Wicked cool, maybe not. - 2006-12-20
Reviewer Rating:
This is a great book for learning by example, particularly as a follow-on to something more geared toward complete beginners to get you started. It provides a number of useful scripts (even though some of them duplicate functionality of common system utilities), with explanations of how and why they work, and even notes on how you might alter the code to suit your own purposes. If you're a relatively new programmer or system administrator that already has the basics of shell scripting in mind, but find yourself at loose ends wondering what to do next to help cement what you know and start learning more, this book may be exactly what you need. It's also useful for figuring out some of the basic principles of translating code to or from some other programming language, thanks to the code explanations.

The scripts themselves, however, are not exactly what I would call "wicked cool". The title is an obvious marketing conceit, designed to make the book seem more enticing. Most of the scripts, in fact, are surprisingly mundane -- but that doesn't mean they aren't useful. You may actually find yourself using some of them, with minor alterations, in your day-to-day life. Just don't expect to be wowed by the scripts themselves.

If you've read my review of Wicked Cool Perl Scripts, you may note that this is an almost word-for-word duplication. That was intentional: the books are very similar in quality, format, and usefulness, right down to the "wicked coolness" (or not) of the scripts.

Lots of examples - 2009-09-13
Reviewer Rating:
If you are looking for a reference book don't buy this. If you want a book with a huge amount of well written examples and scripts stop right here. This book is fun to read and keeps making you think, I can use that in my own scripts or I did not know you could do that.

Great

An enlightening collection of shell scripts - 2009-08-24
Reviewer Rating:
I have a confession to make. This book has been sitting patiently on my shelf for several years now waiting for a review. For many books in the computer field, a review several years after the publish date of the book is pointless, as the march of progress in the industry has usually rendered the book obsolete. Happily there are a few books in the field that remain useful for years and years after their publishing date. Wicked Cool Shell Scripts is one of those fortunate few.

Wicked Cool Shell Scripts is a collection of 101 Bourne Shell scripts that perform various tasks ranging from simple file manipulation and basic system administration, to tasks where I'd normally be reaching for Perl like web scraping and CGI scripts. Accompanying each script is a commentary about the interesting points of the script, as well as suggestions for how the script could be further modified and improved.

"Wicked cool" is a label I'd rarely apply to a shell script, and the scripts in this book rarely win that ribbon from me either. Were I choosing the title for this work, I'd probably go with something like "101 illustrative and interesting shell scripts," though such would probably not sell too many copies. In all honesty I can't say that during the time I've owned this book I've used much of the code provided. That said, the value I found in the book was a broadening of my vision of what is possible with a humble shell script, as well as lessons on the less-frequently used features of Bourne Shell. Despite the corny title, the book is useful, and has been one of those I have pulled off the shelf from time to time when I have a need for dusting off my shell skills.

Since it's not a reference work it can be a challenge to find what you're looking for if you approach the book in that manner. But after reading through the book, you'll probably have a better idea of how to approach any particular problem you're trying to solve with a shell script. You'll be familiar with a number of common "idioms" used in shell scripting--and that, I think, is the main reason to buy the book.

Wicked Cool Shell Scripts is easy to read, and useful for those who have some familiarity with shell scripting. It would probably be a stretch for someone completely new to the craft, though.

Very useful to beginner and experience shell script hackers - 2009-03-30
Reviewer Rating:
Today I received a copy of Wicked Cool Shell Scripts (101 scripts for Linux, Mac OS X, and Unix Systems) by Dave Taylor. As part of my transition from the world of Windows I have decided to learn how to do some shell scripting. I figured that 'wicked cool' scripts would stoke my interest in the process as well as teach me the basics and I was right.

Design
The design and format of a book is critical to me. A poorly designed layout will make it either difficult to learn or difficult to use as a reference after the initial reading. This book is very well designed. Every script example is numbered and broken down in to the following sections:

* The Code
* How It Works
* Running the Script
* The Results
* Hacking the Script

This break down makes it both easy to learn and easy to use as a reference.

Content
In addition to a great design this book has tremendous content. There are some very valuable scripts covered in the book; some of the best include:

* #39 Analyzing Disk Usage
* #56 Managing Backups
* #60 Tracking BBC News with Lynx
* #61 Extracting URLs from a Web Page
* #62 Defining Words Online
* #65 Digging Up Movie Info from IMDb
* #68 Tracking Changes on Web Pages
* #78 Reporting Broken External Links

There were many more interesting examples, but I like the list above. I need to figure out how to 'hack' a few of them so I can retrieve NFL scores and stats (Fantasy Football anyone) by the fall.

It is my honest opinion that one should learn shell scripting to truly unlock the power of Linux and this book makes the task of learning both easy and fun. The book would also be valuable to experienced shell hackers who want to look at how these scripts are constructed to improve on their skills. I have two books shelves and this one will be on the one that is within my reach when I am using my computer.

4 and 1/2 Stars.......... - 2009-02-24
Reviewer Rating:
This is a really fun and engaging book on the subject of shell scripting. For new users, in tandem with more of a 'fundamentals' book on scripting, this book will give you really good insight into the power that can be harnessed with the shell, not to mention giving you real-world examples you can follow along with and learn. A great buy!!

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