Comments on: Learning the bash shell, continued https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/ Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:10:49 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Trinifar https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5293 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:10:49 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5293 I have, at times, been particularly adroit with bash scripting, but these days I quickly tire of yet another language that I need to learn to get something done — or of having to remember some strange syntax. Bash is especially arcane and that’s my problem with it. Fine 30 years ago, but not good today.Cshell is another option, and tshell, and …. Your readers should note you can tell your Unix which shell language to use as a default (Python anyone?) even while being able to override the default at will.Thing is, most of us master a new language when we have the need to use it and to the extent of that need. If we don’t use it for some time, we lose the dexterity of working with it. That’s my experience anyway.Ruby, Python, tckl, BeanShell, javascript, … the list goes on endlessly and on the back of C, C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, Java, Forth, SmallTalk, Prolog, LISP in all its flavors, Eiffel, ….Those of us who adapt to and learn new languages quickly survive. The large majority of people get lost in the tower of Babel.

]]> By: 386sx https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5292 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:41:07 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5292 If there are multiple commands on your system with the same name, there is a certain order in which the shell searches for the command.“hash” is another cool one. It can, for example, make bash know where a comand is and it doesn’t have to be in $PATH.hash -p ~/stuff/other_vim vim

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5291 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:11:34 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5291 Rick:THANK YOU!!! I knew that but totally blanked on it and was going nuts trying to remember/find/look that up.Everybody: Do what Rich said.

]]> By: Rick Pikul https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5290 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:34:39 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5290 A better way to check if a name is in use is to use the “which” command.This way, you don’t accidentally run a command that will do something you don’t like. Also, it will give you some idea of the importance of the command based on where it is.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5289 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:19:34 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5289 Cool idea. … working on it now..

]]> By: blf https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5288 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:12:18 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5288

So ‘blfnig’ could be a good name for a shell script you may right. [sic] Except it isn’t because it does not convey any meaning.

Now hang on a second here! I think that’s a rather good name. Or at least the first three letters of it… ;-)Slightly more seriously, I have a small tendency to name my commands (scripts or otherwise) as words which are also acronyms. One favourite from many years ago was “dung”, which stood for “Distributed Unix Network Grapher”. That program found candidate paths through a unidirectional network that met various constraints on the input, intermediate steps, and output. The name was more meaningful than it looks, since, for its intended usage, some of the nodes and links in the graph represented machines and connections in a network.In the case of “blfnig”, the first thing that comes to mind is “blf’s sNarky Interwoo Generator”, which sounds like it might be a “eliza”(?)-type thingie to generate snarky comments for woo-woo blogs, presumably written or inspired by(? because of?) yours truly… 😉

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5287 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:01:30 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5287 sed command accomplished

]]> By: Corey https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5286 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:31:47 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5286 I wish they taught this stuff in grade school. I’m taking a course in bioinformatics, and time we could have spent learning bioinformatics we had to spend learning what you outlined in this post. So wasteful

]]> By: Matt Platte https://gregladen.com/blog/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5285 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:17:32 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/03/18/learning-the-bash-shell-contin/#comment-5285 s/chmode/chmod/gI find transcripts of shell sessions way, way harder to decipher than when the command-and-response is presented in real time. But then I’m old and easily bored/distracted.

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