

Ask HN: Best Open Source Beginners Book for learning Shell - jalan

Hello, I am just a beginner when it comes to shell programming.<p>So, which is the best open source book out there for Shell Beginners.<p>Thanks.
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a3n
Don't know if these are "best," but they're good and available:

Complete Reference: Bash Reference Manual:
[http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html)

Complete Reference: Harder to find things but you should know your way around
it: $ man bash

Intro, Fundamentals: BASH Programming - Introduction HOW-TO:
[http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html](http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-
Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html)

You'll get here soon enough: Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide:
[http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/](http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/)

Ideas:

[http://www.bashoneliners.com/](http://www.bashoneliners.com/)

[http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse](http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/browse)

[http://www.catonmat.net/sitemap/](http://www.catonmat.net/sitemap/)

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heldrida
Hi, I'd like to mention this one because it's a very good technical book
[http://linuxcommand.org](http://linuxcommand.org) You can either buy the Book
or read it for free digitally!

Back a few years or months ago, I tried the most popular books, from Bash
Reference Manual that you can find at gnu.org, to other titles available for
free at tldp.org, etc and plenty other websites! In my opinion
linuxcommand.org is very easy to read and easier to understand!

Also, a few days ago this came up ( explainshell.com ), what this basically
does is letting you write a command and it tries to explain it by pointing you
the lines from the manual.

Finally, I think what also helps is installing a virtual machine, choose your
favourite linux distro, follow tutorials and try to customize it! It takes
years to become an expert, so I see nothing wrong if you're ok reading manuals
and following tutorials.

Hope this helps!

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Gyy0
I love Paul Sheer's "LINUX: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition" [1] It is
about much more than just the shell, but you can stop whenever you want.

That was my "free" book recommendation, if you want to buy a "regular" book,
then "The Unix Programming Environment" [2] can't be beat. You can find a dirt
cheap "low cost edition", or buy it second hand online.

[1]
[http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz](http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz)

[2] [http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/upe/](http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/upe/)

