Summary

This chapter rounded out the remainder of the general topics you need to know to productively use the Unix command-line shell. We described environment variables and shell variables—both those that affect the behavior of the shell directly and those that can be used in scripts. The chapter also expanded on the use of STDIN and STDOUT, as well as pipes on the command line. The use of loops, conditional expressions, and the storage of your command-line expressions in executable files rounds out your ability to create powerful and completely customized solutions to problems that you encounter. Finally, the job scheduling cron facility was outlined, giving you the ability to run your scripts automatically when, and how you want. With these tools, there is little that you won't be able to do in the world of Unix.