Scripting Tutorial for Bash 4.0
The "Advanced Bash Scripting Guide" version 6 has been reworked to incorporate the new features of Bash 4.0.
The Advanced Bash Scripting Guide written by Mendel Cooper encompasses 361 code examples and would make a 960-page printed book. Cooper describes the guide not only as an "in-depth exploration of the art of shell scripting" but an introduction to general programming concepts such as recursion.
The new version 6.0.05 of the document demonstrates among other things the introduction of associative arrays that Bash 4.0 announced the end of February. As an example of their use Cooper provides a simple address database. He also goes into the expanded syntax for the case construct, enabling parallel processes through the coproc built-in, and use of the mapfile built-in to load an array with contents of a text file.
In an editorial comment at the end of the Bash version 4 chapter, Cooper nevertheless asks the question whether so many new features are really necessary: "Whatever happened to the lean and mean Bash we have come to know and love?" His suggestion for more "essential" features would include for-each loops and multi-dimensional arrays.
The document is included among the Linux Documentation Project Guides as text, HTML, PDF, PS and PDB. The author put it under Open Publication License with some additional conditions.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.