Like most geeks, I've always loved efficiency and productivity. Coming from a Windows-dominated world, the command line I was faced with in my CompSci degree was Initially mystifying, but over time I have come to see it as the most powerful human-computer interface out there. After spending years wresting with the command line at work, I decided to write a book on bash, and have blogged extensively on this and related topics. I also run live courses on bash and the command line for O'Reilly. There's nothing I enjoy more than opening people's eyes to the power of the shell!
I wrote
Learn Bash the Hard Way: Master Bash Using The Only Method That Works
Regular expressions are the cornerstone of command line wizardry.
They are used in pretty much all command-line tools, and all programming languages.
If you read this book, you'll have a deep understanding of what's going on, and the knowledge to go from hand-waving and guessing your way through regular expression writing to the mastery the book promises.
Regular expressions are an extremely powerful tool for manipulating text and data. They are now standard features in a wide range of languages and popular tools, including Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, VB.NET and C# (and any language using the .NET Framework), PHP, and MySQL. If you don't use regular expressions yet, you will discover in this book a whole new world of mastery over your data. If you already use them, you'll appreciate this book's unprecedented detail and breadth of coverage. If you think you know all you need to know about regular expressions, this book is a stunning eye-opener.…
For a few years, I had a copy of this book on my desk, and would flick through it in spare moments, gradually absorbing all the minutiae of grep's options in the hope they would be useful to me one day.
You can get some idea of the book's utility from the fact that I had to regularly buy a new copy because someone would 'borrow' it and not give it back.
"Grep Pocket Reference" is the first guide devoted to grep, the powerful utility program that helps you locate content in any file on a Unix or Linux system. Several applications use grep, from mail filtering and system log management to malware analysis and application development, and there are many other ways to use the utility. This pocket reference is ideal for system administrators, security professionals, developers, and others who want to learn more about grep and take new approaches with it.With "Grep Pocket Reference", you will: learn methods for filtering large files for specific content; acquire information not included in…
After using sed and awk for years in ad hoc one-liners I'd either Googled, or been given I decided to study them properly.
Reading this book was not time wasted, as I saw how powerful these two tools could be, and have used them ever since. From the serious to the whimsical, each section concisely teaches you something significant.
I haven't read it in years, and I'm going to read it again straight after writing this!
sed & awk describes two text processing programs that are mainstays of the UNIX programmer's toolbox. sed is a "stream editor" for editing streams of text that might be too large to edit as a single file, or that might be generated on the fly as part of a larger data processing step. The most common operation done with sed is substitution, replacing one block of text with another. awk is a complete programming language. Unlike many conventional languages, awk is "data driven" -- you specify what kind of data you are interested in and the operations to be performed…
In 2001, when I was young and everything was possible I asked my CTO what Interactive Development Environment (IDE) I should use.
'vim' was the response, so I went away and learned it. To this day, I use vim by default for almost all my programming needs. The learning curve is very steep, but the rewards are great, not least because it's hard to find a platform that cannot run it.
This book reinforces the learning you can do elsewhere through walkthroughs and tips and lets you know what's possible, so that when you really need to do things like search and replace, or run a macro, you can look it up again and get it under your fingers.
Vim is a fast and efficient text editor that will make you a faster and more efficient developer. It's available on almost every OS, and if you master the techniques in this book, you'll never need another text editor. In more than 120 Vim tips, you'll quickly learn the editor's core functionality and tackle your trickiest editing and writing tasks. This beloved bestseller has been revised and updated to Vim 7.4 and includes two brand-new tips and five fully revised tips.A highly configurable, cross-platform text editor, Vim is a serious tool for programmers, web developers, and sysadmins who want to…
Once I'd covered the command line basics, then I bought this book and kept it by my bed for a couple of years, imbibing its contents over and over.
It contains so many examples of how the command line can be used in real-world situations, as well as more practical advice and timeless tips. It feels like you've got four experts at your shoulder helping you get better.
It's so good I'm going to start re-reading it as soon as I've finished writing this.
With the growing popularity of Linux and the advent of Darwin, Unix has metamorphosed into something new and exciting. No longer perceived as a difficult operating system, more and more users are discovering the advantages of Unix for the first time. But whether you are a newcomer or a Unix power user, you'll find yourself thumbing through the goldmine of information in the new edition of Unix Power Tools to add to your store of knowledge. Want to try something new? Check this book first, and you're sure to find a tip or trick that will prevent you from learning…
Learn Bash the Hard Way teaches you bash using the 'Hard Way' method, which pushes you to get your hands dirty to learn what you need fast by actually using the tool you are learning. In the same way that you don't learn to ride a bike by reading about it, you don't learn bash just by reading the manual. This book safely walks you through learning the key concepts that set you up to become a true senior engineer.
