Linux Shell Scripting Syllabus – Complete Bash Course Outline

Linux Shell Scripting — Full Syllabus

This syllabus covers fundamental to advanced concepts of Linux shell scripting using Bash.
Each week/module is organized with main topics and subtopics for structured learning.

✅ Module 1: Introduction to Linux & Shell

• Overview of Linux and the command line
• What is a shell? Types of shells (Bash, Zsh, etc.)
• Interactive vs non-interactive shell
• Shebang (#!/bin/bash) and script execution
• Permissions and chmod

✅ Module 2: Basic Shell Scripting

• Creating and running scripts
• Shell variables and environment variables
• Quoting: single, double, backticks
• Command substitution
• Input/output redirection and pipelines

✅ Module 3: Conditional Statements

• if / else / elif constructs
• File tests (-f, -d, -r, -w)
• String and numeric comparisons
• Exit status and $?

✅ Module 4: Loops & Functions

• for, while, and until loops
• Loop control: break and continue
• Arrays in Bash
• Defining and calling functions
• Scope of variables inside functions

✅ Module 5: Script Arguments & Error Handling

• Positional parameters ($1, $#, $@)
• Using getopts for options
• Exit codes and set -e
• Error handling and logging
• Trapping signals with trap

✅ Module 6: File & Directory Management

• Working with files and directories
• find, xargs, stat
• Creating safe temporary files with mktemp
• Archiving and compressing files
• Backup scripting basics

✅ Module 7: Text Processing

• Using grep for searching
• cut, sort, uniq, paste
• Editing text with sed
• Parsing data with awk
• Regular expressions (basic & extended)

✅ Module 8: Process & Job Control

• Foreground and background jobs
• Process management (ps, top, kill)
• Signals and process priorities (nice)
• Automation with nohup and disown
• Introduction to systemd services (optional)

✅ Module 9: Scheduling & Automation

• Using cron jobs
• Crontab syntax and environment issues
• at command for one-time scheduling
• Automated log rotation
• Systemd timers (advanced)

✅ Module 10: Advanced Scripting Practices

• Input validation and sanitization
• Debugging with set -x
• Modular scripting (reusable libraries)
• Writing usage/help messages
• Best practices for clean scripts

✅ Module 11: Security & Testing

• Preventing command injection
• Safe handling of user input
• Principle of least privilege
• Automated testing with bats
• Documentation and version control with Git

✅ Module 12: Final Project

• Backup & restore automation script
• Log monitoring & alerting tool
• Deployment helper script
• System health check & report generator
• Presentation and demonstration