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Start with the basics of your shell. The internet is full of good info (like here for example https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/ https://www.gn

Start with the basics of your shell. The internet is full of good info (like here for example https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/ https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/) to get you started. Once you're at the point where you've customized your shell, and tried a bit of scripting move on from just playing around with tutorials and documentation and start doing something useful/entertaining. Look into specific tools for whatever you need or are interested in doing. grep is really good to know. If you're into networking/internet stuff dig, whois, ping, and traceroute are too. wget curl and youtube-dl are great and provide all kinds of opportunities to automate some of the things you do online which can make you want to dig more into shell scripting and keep you going back to your terminal. ffmpeg and ImageMagick too. Maybe pick up some python.

latexr 3y ago
> Start with the basics of your shell. The internet is full of good info (like here for example That is not their shell. OP is on macOS, meaning their shell is Zsh. They should not be reading a comprehensive (and frankly very boringly structured, it starts with sections and sections of details irrelevant to a curious beginner) guide on Bash 5.2, which isn’t available on macOS by default.
- autoexec 3y ago
  As I said, it was only an example. I had no idea what shell they'd be using or that macOS apparently left them with Zsh and no other option. Apple's website suggests otherwise https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/change-the-default-shell-trml113/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/change-the-default-...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - latexr 3y ago
    It’s not “no other option”, they can switch to Bash but it’s an old version, or they could install a newer version with Homebrew or similar. But none of those steps should be taken by someone just starting. The point is precisely that the OP likely has no idea what their shell is. I wasn’t lobbying a criticism, but a correction so they are aware. Regarding the example guide, I do think it’s not a great one for total beginners. someone with interest in learning the Terminal should be given an interesting resource that let’s them play a bit with commands and understand what it’s about before drowning them in theory and technical information.

latexr 3y ago

> Start with the basics of your shell. The internet is full of good info (like here for example That is not their shell. OP is on macOS, meaning their shell is Zsh. They should not be reading a comprehensive (and frankly very boringly structured, it starts with sections and sections of details irrelevant to a curious beginner) guide on Bash 5.2, which isn’t available on macOS by default.

autoexec 3y ago
As I said, it was only an example. I had no idea what shell they'd be using or that macOS apparently left them with Zsh and no other option. Apple's website suggests otherwise https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/change-the-default-shell-trml113/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/change-the-default-...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- latexr 3y ago
  It’s not “no other option”, they can switch to Bash but it’s an old version, or they could install a newer version with Homebrew or similar. But none of those steps should be taken by someone just starting. The point is precisely that the OP likely has no idea what their shell is. I wasn’t lobbying a criticism, but a correction so they are aware. Regarding the example guide, I do think it’s not a great one for total beginners. someone with interest in learning the Terminal should be given an interesting resource that let’s them play a bit with commands and understand what it’s about before drowning them in theory and technical information.