Getting Started with Bash

Setting Up Bash

Most Unix/Linux systems come with Bash pre-installed.

To check if Bash is installed, open a terminal and type:

bash --version

If Bash isn't installed, you can install it using your system's package manager.

For example, on Ubuntu/Debian, type:

sudo apt-get install bash

On macOS, you can install Bash via Homebrew:

brew install bash

On Windows, you can use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) to run Linux or just use Git Bash for Windows.

Running Bash Commands

Example

bash --version
GNU bash, version 5.2.21(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

This command shows the Bash version installed on your system.

You can also write scripts (a list of commands) in a file with a .sh extension:

 #!/bin/bash
echo "Hello, Bash!"

Simple Script Example:

Save this in a file called hello.sh and run it with:

Example

bash hello.sh
Hello, Bash!