An associative array is an array which uses strings as indices instead of integers. To see how associative arrays work, we’re going to look at both the Korn shell and Perl, though only the newest ...

On Unix — the progenitor of Linux — there was /bin/sh. It was simple, by comparison to today’s shells, but it allowed you to enter commands and — most importantly — execute lists of commands. In fact, ...

Scripting allows shell users to automate repetitive tasks, improving reproducibility, reducing the risk of errors, freeing time, and avoiding boredom. Bioinformatics analysis pipelines may involve ...

This Wiley Publishing tome is big (more than 650 pages), useful and very complete. Be warned, however, that its scope is limited to system administration. The purpose of the book is to solve “real ...