Bash Scripting

A shell is the program that turns typed commands into actions: it reads a line, interprets it, runs it, and repeats. Bash (the Bourne Again SHell) is the default shell on most Linux systems and macOS, and it is the language behind build scripts, CI/CD pipelines, containers, and server automation. This track removes the mystery around the shell, compares the major interpreters, and teaches you to write real Bash on both Linux and Windows.

Scope: Study the topics in order, run every example in a real terminal, and adopt the robust-scripting habits from Phase 5 before you automate anything important.

Bash Study Progress

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#	BASH	Topic	Description
PHASE 1: THE SHELL
	01	What Is a Shell?	Terminal, shell, and kernel; the read-eval-print loop.
	02	Shell Interpreters Compared	sh, dash, bash, zsh, fish, ksh, and PowerShell.
	03	Running Scripts on Linux & Windows	Native, WSL2, Git Bash, Cygwin, shebang, permissions.
PHASE 2: THE LANGUAGE
	04	Commands & Syntax	Simple commands, builtins, PATH, aliases, substitution.
	05	Quoting & Escaping	Word splitting, single and double quotes, escapes.
	06	Variables & Parameters	Assignment, special parameters, string operations.
	07	Expansion & Globbing	Brace, tilde, command, and filename expansion order.
	08	Arrays & Associative Maps	Indexed arrays and key-value maps.
	09	Redirection & Pipelines	Standard streams, pipes, here-docs, process substitution.
PHASE 3: PROGRAMMING
	10	Conditionals & Tests	if, test, [[ ]], case, and boolean logic.
	11	Loops & Iteration	for, while, until, select, break, and continue.
	12	Functions	Arguments, return codes, local scope, and libraries.
	13	Arithmetic & Math	Integer math, arithmetic expansion, and bc.
PHASE 4: SYSTEM & TEXT
	14	Files & Directories	File tests, find, reading files, and line-by-line loops.
	15	Text Processing	grep, sed, awk, and regular expressions.
	16	Processes, Signals & Jobs	Background jobs, wait, traps, and subshells.
	17	Environment & Startup Files	Login, interactive, and non-interactive shell startup.
PHASE 5: ROBUST ENGINEERING
	18	Robust Script Engineering	Strict mode, ShellCheck, debugging, and testing.
PHASE 6: PRACTICE & REFERENCE
	19	Lab Examples	Run and modify single-file practice scripts.
	20	Study Projects	Backups, reports, CLI menus, and health checks.
	21	References & Tools	Manuals, guides, linters, and practice sites.

Credits: Lesson content drafted with DeepSeek via Fireworks AI. References: free tutorials below.

Free References

For the full categorized list — manuals, free books, linters, practice games, and sample repositories — see the References & Tools page.