old-www/LDP/abs/html/part1.html

237 lines
3.5 KiB
HTML

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML
><HEAD
><TITLE
>Introduction</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide"
HREF="index.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Shell Programming!"
HREF="why-shell.html"></HEAD
><BODY
CLASS="PART"
BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#0000FF"
VLINK="#840084"
ALINK="#0000FF"
><DIV
CLASS="NAVHEADER"
><TABLE
SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TH
COLSPAN="3"
ALIGN="center"
>Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide: </TH
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="80%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="bottom"
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="10%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="bottom"
><A
HREF="why-shell.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="PART"
><A
NAME="PART1"
></A
><DIV
CLASS="TITLEPAGE"
><H1
CLASS="TITLE"
>Part 1. Introduction</H1
><DIV
CLASS="PARTINTRO"
><A
NAME="AEN43"
></A
><TABLE
BORDER="0"
WIDTH="100%"
CELLSPACING="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CLASS="EPIGRAPH"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="45%"
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
WIDTH="45%"
ALIGN="LEFT"
VALIGN="TOP"
><I
><P
><I
>Script: <EM
>A writing; a written
document. [Obs.]</EM
></I
></P
><P
><I
>--<EM
>Webster's Dictionary</EM
>, 1913 ed.</I
></P
></I
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><P
><A
NAME="WHATSASCRIPT"
></A
></P
><P
>The shell is a command interpreter. More than just the
insulating layer between the operating system kernel and the user,
it's also a fairly powerful programming language. A shell program,
called a <I
CLASS="FIRSTTERM"
>script</I
>, is an easy-to-use tool for
building applications by <SPAN
CLASS="QUOTE"
>"gluing together"</SPAN
> system
calls, tools, utilities, and compiled binaries. Virtually the
entire repertoire of UNIX commands, utilities, and tools is
available for invocation by a shell script. If that were
not enough, internal shell commands, such as testing and loop
constructs, lend additional power and flexibility to scripts.
Shell scripts are especially well suited for administrative
system tasks and other routine repetitive tasks not requiring the
bells and whistles of a full-blown tightly structured programming
language.</P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="TOC"
><DL
><DT
><B
>Table of Contents</B
></DT
><DT
>1. <A
HREF="why-shell.html"
>Shell Programming!</A
></DT
><DT
>2. <A
HREF="sha-bang.html"
>Starting Off With a Sha-Bang</A
></DT
><DD
><DL
><DT
>2.1. <A
HREF="invoking.html"
>Invoking the script</A
></DT
><DT
>2.2. <A
HREF="prelimexer.html"
>Preliminary Exercises</A
></DT
></DL
></DD
></DL
></DIV
></DIV
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
><HR
ALIGN="LEFT"
WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
WIDTH="100%"
BORDER="0"
CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="0"
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="P"
>Prev</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="index.html"
ACCESSKEY="H"
>Home</A
></TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
><A
HREF="why-shell.html"
ACCESSKEY="N"
>Next</A
></TD
></TR
><TR
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="left"
VALIGN="top"
>Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide</TD
><TD
WIDTH="34%"
ALIGN="center"
VALIGN="top"
>&nbsp;</TD
><TD
WIDTH="33%"
ALIGN="right"
VALIGN="top"
>Shell Programming!</TD
></TR
></TABLE
></DIV
></BODY
></HTML
>