Shell scripting

Shell scripting is a powerful way to assist in automation of repeating tasks. While fairly easy to learn, the shell scripting language has a lot of caveats. In this area we collect tips and tricks to help you creating better shell scripts.

Check if a directory or file exists

How to check if a directory or file exists within a shell script? This can be achieved by using an operator of the test command.

Making scripts (more) secure and safe

When you create a shell script, many things can go wrong. With a few basics you can catch errors easier and at the same time make your scripts (more) fail-safe.

Prompt for user input in a shell script

How to prompt users in your shell script, like asking answer Yes or No? In this article we look at options to achieve this.

Strip one or more characters from a variable or output

Want to delete one or more characters from a variable or piped output? There are multiple ways to achieve this using standard system utilities.