Dave's book review of Shell Script Pearls

Excellent!

Shell Script Pearls was published in 2006, but, like the shell, it remains useful to this day. Not only does it feature a variety of tips and tricks (as expected), it also makes a pretty great reference for things that always trip me up, like tests, argument parsing, etc.

Beyond that, it has some really gory examples through out, which I appreciate all the more because they are so realistic! If you’re still writing shell scripts in this day and age, you’re going to want these nasty techniques. There’s a reason you’re still writing stuff in shell!

I bought this paperback used when it was about 15 years old and it’s gonna hit its 20th birthday in not too long.

But pretty much all of the tools in this book are (sadly?) still more-or-less exactly the same as described, so don’t let the age scare you off.

Honestly, it’s exactly because all of this stuff is still true that it’s worth knowing. Trendy stuff comes and goes, but Unix cruft lasts forever.

Highly recommended and I’m tempted to say this is the book I would recommend for anyone curious about shell scripting!

Here’s my card on shells.