10 Best Linux Shell Scripting Tutorials for Beginners [2024 JUN]— Learn Shell Scripting Online

Learn Linux shell scripting to help automate routine tasks with the best Linux shell scripting tutorials for beginners in 2024.

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14 min readMay 24, 2018

Linux has a variety of different shells Like Bourne shell (sh), C shell (csh), Korn shell (ksh), TC shell (tcsh), Bourne Again shell (bash). Certainly the most popular shell is “bash”. Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). bash is not only an excellent command line shell, but a scripting language in itself. 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.

Bash shell is the most common command line interpreter for Linux operating system. It is a result of decades of development of various command line interpreters,each building up on its predecessor good features, and adding its own improvements.

In today’s world, scripting is gaining ground everywhere-from network devices to supercomputers. Once you master Bash for common administrative task, you can go ahead and learn Python or Perl more easily, because you have a solid foundation on what Linux can and can not do.

Although Bash is not a full-blown programming languages, with it’s loops, conditions, variables, chaining multiple commands together, shell scripts have grown to be much more than just command line expressions put together.

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

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

Learn how to shell script through project-based training (Bash Scripting, Bash Programming, Grep, Awk, and More).

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.

In this Linux shell scripting course you will learn how to:

Name your shell scripts.
Use the proper permissions on your shell scripts.
Create and use variables in your scripts.
Use shell built-in commands and operating system commands.
Make the most out of special variables that are available to you in your scripts.
Make decisions by using if statements and performing several different kinds of tests
Check the exit statuses of commands and why you need to.
Use cryptographic hash functions
Create random data so you can do things like automatically generate strong passwords for user accounts.
Perform the same action or set of actions over a series of data utilizing for loops, while loops, and infinite loops.
Control all types of input and output.
Accept standard input from a user as well as from another program.
Redirect standard output and standard error.
Combine standard output and standard error
Use command pipelining
Perform text and string manipulation.
Process command line arguments
Creating functions and when to do so.
Parsing, analyzing, and reporting on log files, CSV files, and other data.
Writing scripts that execute commands on other systems.
Much, much, more…

2. Introduction to Bash Shell Scripting

This course will help those new to shells and shell scripting to build a foundation with the Bash shell.

In this course, you will learn how to:

create aliases.
create cron jobs.
manipulate files and directories.
write a Bash shell script.

You will learn several Bash shell commands that will allow you to navigate and use the shell for everyday tasks.

You will also write a Bash shell script that will back up a directory and email the compressed file, a culmination of all the commands you will cover.

You will cover the knowledge to customize your system, you will have a solid foundation to expand what you can do with Bash on the command line and in scripts.

3. Learning Linux Shell Scripting

Linux shell scripting is a useful tool for eliminating repetitive, boring tasks. Scripts make many jobs — from programming to system administration — easier, more predictable, and more fun.

In this course, you will learn:

the basics of scripting, such as printing to the console and defining variables.
how to read and create scripts to automate many kinds of tasks in Linux.
how to create interactive scripts and handle bad input data.

With the help of this course, you will be able to read and create scripts to automate many kinds of tasks in Linux.

It first covers the basics of scripting, such as printing to the console and defining variables. Then it shows how to write scripts that accept parameters, read and write files, and monitor other system processes.

Plus, you will find out how to create interactive scripts and handle bad input data.

4. Linux Shell Programming for Beginners

This BASH course will start from the basics and answer any questions you have about BASH and writing Shell scripts. It will cover topics such as what is a shell, what is a shell script, difference between an interactive shell and a shell script, customizing your shell, conditional statements, loops, command-line options and so much more.

At the end of this course, you will learn:

How to write well documented, modular, efficient, and complex shell scripts
How to automate your daily routing jobs
A firm grasp of general programming concepts such as loops, commands, statements
How to effectively write command line processing, process management and even manipulate command-line functions
A basis of programming concepts that can help you learn high-level programming languages such as Java or C#.
With so much packed in this tiny course, it is perfect for you to start learning BASH. Enroll now and let’s get automated!

5. Creating Shell Scripts in Enterprise Linux

Being able to create shell scripts is pure gold for Linux administrators. This course teaches you to automate the boring and laborious work so you can concentrate on what is important.

The course includes:

Automating the Boring Stuff
Writing Your First Script
Collecting User Input and Code Logic
Using Functions and Loops in Scripts
Building Menus in BASH

In this course, Creating Shell Scripts in Enterprise Linux, you will gain foundational knowledge of shell scripting in Linux to help you and your operators.

First, you will learn to write effective scripts and use shortcuts in vim. Next, you will discover the power of conditional statements in BASH that bring logic into your scripts, testing user input.

Finally, you will explore how to build menus for operators and restrict them to only those tasks assigned in the menu.

When you’re finished with this course, you will have the skills and knowledge of Linux Shell Scripting to create scripts to deploy on your systems.

6. Bash Scripting and Shell Programming (Linux Command Line)

Learn bash programming for Linux, Unix, & Mac. Learn how to write bash scripts like a pro & solve real-world problems.

Here is what you will get and learn by taking this Bash Scripting course:

A step-by-step process of writing bash shell scripts that solve real-world problems.
The #1 thing you must do every time you create a bash script.
How to quickly find and fix the most common shell scripting errors.
For those of you who want to start programming right away, watch the two video shell scripting crash course. If you do nothing else than watch these two videos you’ll be ahead of most bash programmers.
How to accept input from a user and then make decisions on that input.
How to accept and process command line arguments.
What special variables are available, how to use them in your shell scripts, and when to do so.
A shell script creation check list — You’ll never have to guess what to include in each of your shell scripts again. Just use this simple check list.
A shell script template (boilerplate). Use this format for each of your shell scripts. It shows exactly what to include and where everything goes. Eliminate guesswork!
Practice exercises with solutions so you can start using what you learn right away.
Real-world examples of shell scripts from my personal collection.
A download that contains the scripts used in the presentations and lessons. You’ll be able to look at and experiment with everything you’re learning.
Quizzes after each section just to make sure you’re learning the most important aspects of shell scripting.

What you learn in this course can be applied to any shell, however the focus is on the bash shell and you’ll learn some really advanced bash features. Again, whether you’re using bash, bourne (sh), KornShell (ksh), C shell (csh), Z shell (zsh), or even the tcsh shell, you’ll be able to put what you learn in this course to good use.

7. Bash Shell Scripting: Crash Course For Beginners

Learn Bash Shell Scripting from total beginner:Start from the Command Line,finish with a real world Shell Script Project.

This course will give you a clear understanding of how to write Shell Scripts. In this course everything is explained at a slow pace and thoroughly to make sure you can follow everything.

Moreover after walking you through all the fundamentals of Shell Scripting, the last 2 Sections are project based, there we will combine everything you have learned in the course to create a script that solve s real world problem.

By the end of the course you’ll be writing your own Shell Scripts, in particular you will learn how to:

Use the command line
Automate tasks using Shell Scripts
Create and use variables in your scripts
Make decisions by using if-else statements
Make decision based on strings, variables or files
Use arithmetic expressions
Loop through files and folders with “for” and “while” loops
Use functions
Deal with variables scope
Create Shell Scripts that solves real world problems
and much more…

8. Linux Shell Programming for Beginners

The Complete course to master Bash shell scripting for Linux.

The course starts at the very beginning including what is BASH, what are shells, what do you mean by shell scripts, customizing your shell, difference between a shell script and an interactive shell, command line-options, statements, loops and so much more.

In addition to providing you with theoretic information about BASH and Shell Scripting, the course will also give numerous examples at every step to get you familiar with how scripting works and what happens when you execute a certain script. Additionally, you will also be provided with all the scripts that were used by the instructor to try on your own.

Learn how to write well documented, modular, efficient and complex shell scripts, automate daily routines, basic programming concepts such as loops, commands and statements, how to effectively write command line processing, process management and even manipulate command-line functions.

9. Bash Shell Scripting

Best complete course on Linux Bash scripting and command line.

Bash Shell scripting is a very detailed approach to make a student familiar with the concept of Bash programming and also grooming the student in various field in terms of commands, analysis, debugging with the help of Live examples and hands on. These examples are downloadable.

Helps to solve interview question

2. Automate the boring stuff with shell scripts

3. Built an expertise in Linux command line

4. Understand system internals and boot process

10. Bash Shell Scripting Tutorial for Beginners

Learn Bash Shell Scripting to automate the frequently performed tasks.

The goal of this course is to provide you with a working knowledge of Bash scripting. We’ll start with the basics, starting from creating our first Bash script and running it. Next you will learn about the bash environment, local variables, conditional statements, functions, loops, case statements, string operations, and co processes.

11. Bash Shell scripting and automation

Linux command line and Bash Shell scripting.

Learn the complete set of linux and bash commands.
Learn how to automate things in Linux
Learn how to program in Bash Shell and writing professional water tight scripts.
Learn an exhaustive details about grep, fgrep, egrep etc and its various use case.
Learn and understand exec and shell redirection and various use case.
Learn how to leverage pipes and redirections to fit your custom needs.
Learn the construct of shell scripts like array, exit status, various conditional statement, switch case, test expression, string handling, command line arguments.
Detailed description of how shell interacts with kernel and whats is use case.learn exhaustive details on find command and various variance like finding executable file, zero size file, file of certain size range, file in certain date range etc.
Understand in great details of how to handle pipes and signal for a professional scripting scripting practice.
Learn how to debug Shell scripts in practicality and how to be a champ in Shell script writing.

This course goes in great depth of the internals of various commands so as to understand their working principal which helps in making the base of shell scripting knowledge strong and acts as a great binder to remember various stuffs.

You will also learn about Unix/Linux File and directory hierarchy and various ways permission and ownership of files and directory can be changed.

12. Bash Shell Scripting For Beginners: Learn Bash In 1 Hour!

Learn shell programming now! Automate and write bash scripts on Linux, UNIX, Mac & Windows like a pro.

This course is a step-by-step introduction on how to use Bash Shell to write programs, automate tasks and much more. All taught by an experienced System Administrator. Writing your first script, variables, cron automation, loops and more — it’s all covered step-by-step. This course will give you a solid theoretical understanding of Bash Shell Scripting as well as the practical skills to use it proficiently at your job.

What you will learn in this course.

First you learn what the Bash shell is and how it developed to the stage it is in at the moment.
Then, as we install a VPS with DigitalOcean, you will get practical, and learn the basics of scripting in Bash, adding features like variables, redirections and pipes.
You will also learn how to automate tasks with cron jobs (scheduled tasks), and advanced features of Bash as a programming language (if…else, loops, functions and user input).

To put all pieces together, and maybe add few new ones, there are two case studies. One for installing subversion server for sharing scripts you have written, and another case study, which will extract information from web server(Apache) logs and put them into a database (mysql).

And every section will have an exercise video full of training questions, so you can test and improve your skills as we go along.

13. Learn Bash Shell in Linux for Beginners

This course teaches beginning Linux shell scripting in the Bash shell.

This course teaches beginning Linux shell scripting in the Bash shell. The emphasis in the course is on the scripting language itself: using scripts to automate common tasks, and the logic within the language used to control the execution of the script. The course is in two units, and contains over an hour of demos and discussion. This is the second part of the Linux course series from EDUMobile Academy.

In the first unit of the course, we’ll explore the shell environment itself, and cover such topics as:

a simple hello world script
making scripts executable
why we run a script with a ./ and how to remove it
running a script to act upon the currently running shell
variables and how to use them
the .bashrc file

The second unit covers scripting commands, particularly control flow. Topics include:

exit status of shell commands
the if statement and tests
handling command line arguments
random numbers
loops (while, until, and for)
the case statement

14. Linux Shell Programming for Beginners

At the end of this course, you will learn:

How to write well documented, modular, efficient, and complex shell scripts
How to automate your daily routing jobs
A firm grasp of general programming concepts such as loops, commands, statements
How to effectively write command line processing, process management and even manipulate command-line functions
A basis of programming concepts that can help you learn high-level programming languages such as Java or C#.
With so much packed in this tiny course, it is perfect for you to start learning BASH. Enroll now and let’s get automated!

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

Learn shell programming for Linux, Unix, & Mac. Learn how to write shell scripts like a pro & solve real-world problems.

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.

Here is what you will get and learn by taking this Shell Scripting course:

A step-by-step process of writing shell scripts that solve real-world problems.
The #1 thing you must do every time you create a shell script.
How to quickly find and fix the most common shell scripting errors.
For those of you who want to start scripting right away, watch the two video shell scripting crash course. If you do nothing else than watch these two videos you’ll be ahead of most shell programmers.
How to accept input from a user and then make decisions on that input.
How to accept and process command line arguments.
What special variables are available, how to use them in your shell scripts, and when to do so.
A shell script creation check list — You’ll never have to guess what to include in each of your shell scripts again. Just use this simple check list.
A shell script template (boilerplate). Use this format for each of your shell scripts. It shows exactly what to include and where everything goes. Eliminate guesswork!
Practice exercises with solutions so you can start using what you learn right away.
Real-world examples of shell scripts from my personal collection.
A download that contains the scripts used in the presentations and lessons. You’ll be able to look at and experiment with everything you’re learning.
Quizzes after each section just to make sure you’re learning the most important aspects of shell scripting.

Also, you’ll be able to use these scripts on any Linux environment including Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, RedHat, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Slackware, Kali Linux and more. You’re scripts will even run on other operating systems such as Apple’s Mac OS X, Oracle’s Solaris, IBM’s AIX, HP’s HP-UX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

Update: We have created the latest version of top shell scripting tutorials. Feel free to checkout the best shell scripting tutorials of the year.

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