From Bash to Z Shell Conquering the Command Line

This comprehensive, hands-on guide focuses on two of the most popular and feature-rich shells, bash and zsh. From Bash to Z Shell: Conquering the Command Line is a book for all skill levels. Novices will receive an introduction to the features of shells and power users will get to explore the benefits of zsh—one of the most powerful, versatile shells ever written. Intermediate users will uncover hints, recipes, and ideas to enhance their skill sets.

The book covers shell programming, but is unique in its thorough coverage of using shells interactively—a powerful and time-saving alternative to Windows and a mouse. This strong author team has written an immediately useful book, packed with examples and suggestions that users of Unix, Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows can readily apply.

Introduction: Introduction to shells; Using shell features together; More shell features.- Customizing bash and zsh: Starting shells and shell windows; The command line and editing; Shell history; File and directory management; Using patterns to match files and other things; Shell variables; The shell's Input/Output mechanisms; Processes and terminals; Using the completion system.- Customizing bash and zsh: A closer look at shell syntax; Shell functions and scripts; Extending the zsh editor with functions; Extending bash and zsh completion systems.