7 Best Linux shell scripting Courses for Programmers to Learn in 2024

These are the best online courses to learn shell scripting in bash, sh, csh, ksh, and other Linux shells.

javinpaul
Javarevisited
9 min readSep 30, 2020

--

7 Best Linux shell scripting Courses for Programmers
image_credit — Bash Learning by LinkedIn

Hello guys, if you always wanted to learn bash scripting and become a rockstar developer and looking for the best shell scripting course then you have come to the right place. In the last, I have shared the best Linux courses, best websites to learn Linux, and best Linux books, and today, I am going to share the best course to learn bash shell.

Disclosure — Btw, some of these links are affiliate links and I may get paid if you join these courses using my links.

you might know that a massive chunk of a developer’s time is wasted in trying to repeat tasks and commands, especially when it comes to working with a bunch of UNIX or Linux machines, and a good knowledge of shell scripting can free you from such mundane task and give time to do some interesting stuff.

If you don’t know what shell scripting is then let me tell you is nothing but a program written using shell built-ins, and Linux commands to automate things, like checking if a host is reachable or finding and deleting large files that are older than certain days or archiving them into another machine.

Basically, it’s a tool that allows you to automate boring and repeating tasks, and that’s the way programmers should work. They should not be repeating stuff; instead, they should be investing that time to create a script or program which can automate that task.

Why Learn Shell scripting like Bash in Linux?

I always ask programmers, developers, and system admins to learn and master shell scripting because it's one of the skills which not only saves time and increases productivity but also separates yours from average programmers who don’t have a passion for automation and are not good with their tools.

I’ll give you one of the real-world examples from my career. Once I was working on a project which had around 40 Linux hosts where our Java application was installed.

After one big release, we realized that one config change was missed, and there wasn’t enough time to do it a proper way, i.e. to create another build and load into the deployment tool (we’re using Opsware that time) and release again. So, we decided to manually make the change in all 40 hosts.

I started doing changes, and 10 minutes later, my tech lead came to me and ask all done? I said, well, I have just started; only two servers are done now. He looked at me with curiosity and asked how I am doing the changes?.

I told him that I am going to each box, opening the config file in VI editor, and then making the change. He took control from me, make the change in the config file, and writes a script to copy that file to all 40 servers, which took just 2 minutes for him, and run it another 1 minute, and all was done.

I was surprised why I didn’t think about that, but my lack of Linux knowledge and shell scripting prevented me.

That day I realized that if you want to improve your productivity and impress your colleague, then you must be good at your tools, and shell scripting is one of them.

7 Best Linux command and Shell Scripting Courses for Programmers in 2024

Now that you know what is shell scripting and why a programmer should learn shell scripting, it’s time to go to the next level, how do you learn shell scripting? Or how can you improve your shell scripting skills in Linux?

Well, an online training course is a good starting point, followed by the book for more comprehensive learning. Earlier I have shared some of the essential UNIX programming books and courses, and today, I am going to share some of the best online courses to learn Shell scripting in Linux.

1. Shell Scripting: Discover How to Automate Command Line Tasks

This is one of the best courses to learn shell scripting from scratch, particularly if you don’t have much experience in shell scripting and automation. The course is well laid, and it's neither very long nor very short, which means you will learn essential knowledge in a quick time and start creating scripts in no time.

By the end of this course, you will be able to create shell scripts with ease. You’ll learn how to take tedious and repetitious tasks and turn them into programs that will save you time and simplify your life on Linux, Unix, or MAC systems.

The course teaches essential shell scripting techniques like
— checking the exit status of programs and commands and how to make effective use of them in shell scripts.
— how to accept input from the user
— how to write conditional statements and loops in shell scripts
— real-world examples of shell scripts from his collections.
— practice exercise and quizzes.

In short, one of the best courses to learn shell programming for Linux, Unix, and Mac.

Here is the link to join this course: Shell Scripting: Discover How to Automate Command Line Tasks

best course to learn Shell Scripting

2. Linux Shell Programming for Beginners

This is one of the most complete courses to learn shell scripting in Linux using the bash shell. In this course instructor not only explains basics like what is a shell or what is bash and how it is different from just typing the command in the command line but also goes on to show you how can automate your day-to-day task using shell scripts.

The course teaches you how to write bash scripts, explains how command history, echo commands, and variables work in bash, operators, loops, statements, and all other concepts you need to write complex shell scripts to automate repetitive tasks.

Here is the link to join the course: Linux Shell Programming for Beginners

In addition to providing you with all the theoretical information about BASH and Shell Scripting, the course also provides many examples at every step to get you familiar with how shell scripting works and what happens when you execute a particular shell script.

best shell scripting course for beginners

3. Linux Shell Scripting: A Project-Based Approach to Learning

This is one of the comprehensive courses to learn shell scripting or shell programming in Linux, particularly with the bash scripts.

In this course, you will learn basics like creating and using variables, shell built-in commands and operators, conditionals, loop, checking exit status, and taking input from the user but also advanced concepts like performing text and string manipulation, processing multiple command-line arguments, and error handling.

Here is the link to join this course: Linux Shell Scripting: A Project-Based Approach to Learning

The best part of this course is that It’s project-based, which means instead of learning bits and pieces of information, you’ll write actual shell scripts that you can use in real-world situations. You get the chance to immediately put what you learn to use so that you fully understand and remember it.

best course to learn Shell Scripting on Udemy

4. Bash Shell scripting

Best complete course on Linux Bash scripting and command line

Shell scripting allows us to use the shell’s abilities and to automate a lot of tasks that would otherwise require a lot of commands.

Here is the link to join the course: Bash Shell scripting

Bash scripting will help you automate routine tasks and save valuable time, whether you’re a sysadmin, Linux user, or software developer. A shell script is much quicker than programming in any other language.

best Udemy course to learn Shell Scripting

5. Learning Bash Scripting

This is another nice course to learn Bash scripting from scratch. This course is by LinkedInLearning and it's perfect for beginners starting with bash.

This course is created by Scott Simpson and he will teach you everything from the syntax — introducing variables, numbers, and control structures — so you can start writing scripts right away.

He will also show you how to wrap up multiline operations in one file, implement flow control, and interact with users to get input. Plus, he offers challenges along the way that allow you to put what you’ve learned to the test.

Overall a good course to learn IT Automation and bash scripting course in 1.5 hours.

Here is the link to join this course Learning Bash Scripting

7 Best Linux shell scripting Courses for Programmers
image_credit — Bash Learning by LinkedIn

By the way, you would need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to watch this course which costs around $29.99 per month but you can also watch this course for FREE by taking their 1-month-free-trail which is a great way to explore their 16000+ online courses on the latest technology.

6. Master the Bash Shell

This is a text-based interactive course to learn Bash shell from

. If you are a beginner to bash or learn some bash commands, this course can help you to both learn and master the bash shell, a useful tool for developers.

In this course, you’ll learn core concepts such as globbing and quoting, how to create functions, and your own scripts. You’ll then learn some more advanced topics like job control and debugging which are essential concepts for any developer.

Here is the link to join this course — Master the Bash Shell

best Shell Scripting course on Educative

And, if you find the Educative platform and their interactive courses useful then you can also get an Educative Subscription which provides access to their 100+ courses for just $18 per month (47% discount). It’s very cost-effective and great for preparing for coding interviews.

7. Bash Shell Scripting Tutorial for Beginners

Linux has many shells Like the Bourne shell (sh), C shell (cash), Korn shell (ksh), and Bourne Again shell popularly known as bash.

It incorporates useful features from ksh and csh shell. Bash is not only an excellent command-line shell but a scripting language in itself, and this course helps you to realize the full potential of bash and Linux commands.

Here is the link to join the course: Bash Shell Scripting Tutorial for Beginners

In this course, you will not only learn how to use bash for writing shell scripts but also learn several useful Linux commands in a quick time. Generally, anyone takes ages to discover those commands without any guidance, but this course teaches you in a couple of hours.

best Shell Scripting course on Pluralsight

That’s all about some of the best shell scripting courses for programmers and Linux users. Automation is a really important skill, and as your experience and responsibility grow, you will appreciate automation more.

A good knowledge of shell scripting using bash in Linux or using Python or Perl or any other scripting language goes a long way to improve your productivity while working as an IT professional.


Other Online Resources for Programmers and Developers you may like

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these best shell scripting courses, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.

P. S. — If you are looking for some free online courses to kick-start your Linux shell scripting journey then don’t get sad. I have also shared some of the best free courses to learn bash scripting in Linux earlier, you can check them out as well. The bottom line, learn shell scripting to become a more valuable programmer.

--

--

javinpaul
Javarevisited

I am Java programmer, blogger, working on Java, J2EE, UNIX, FIX Protocol. I share Java tips on http://javarevisited.blogspot.com and http://java67.com