Bash is a full-fledged programming language with which you can easily automate everyday tasks. Take a minesweeper game as an example.

(Image: Thorsten Hübner)

Introduction to Bash Programming: Developing Minesweeper in the Linux Shell Quick start Two loops Distribution by chance Endless fun Leadership skills Damage Control Article in c’t 2 / 2021 read Shell programming is one of the basic skills of Linux admins, but it is also useful for everyday users because it can easily automate complex tasks. Using a minesweeper game, we will show you how to use the possibilities of bash without in-depth programming knowledge.

Shell scripts are often underestimated, after all they were originally little more than a list of commands that you had previously entered manually. That is why many shell scripts, or rather shell programs, are still created today, in which the last commands entered are saved in a file.

Quick start The file extension “.sh “You can also omit, it only serves as an indication to the operator that this is a shell script that can be read as plain text and not a binary program. And that is exactly what characterizes scripts in general: you can simply open and edit them in a text editor. It is crucial for the execution of a script that the interpreter with which the script is executed is named in the first line after the so-called She-Bang. Bash scripts therefore always begin with the line:

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