Levels 21–28: Expert

Level 21: Cron & Scheduling

Automate everything. If you do it twice, cron it.

Crontab format:

MIN  HOUR  DAY  MONTH  WEEKDAY  command
 *    *     *     *       *      /usr/local/bin/script.sh

Field	Range	Special
Minute	0–59
Hour	0–23
Day of month	1–31
Month	1–12 (or Jan–Dec)
Day of week	0–7 (0 and 7 = Sunday)

Special values:

Syntax	Meaning
*	Every value
*/15	Every 15 (step)
1-5	Range: 1 through 5
1,3,5	List: 1, 3, and 5

Common patterns:

# Every minute
* * * * * /usr/local/bin/healthcheck.sh

# Every day at 2am
0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh

# Every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * /usr/local/bin/sync.sh

# 9am weekdays (Mon–Fri)
0 9 * * 1-5 /usr/local/bin/report.sh

# First day of every month at midnight
0 0 1 * * /usr/local/bin/monthly.sh

crontab commands:

Command	Action
crontab -l	List current crontab
crontab -e	Edit crontab
crontab -r	Remove ALL cron jobs (no confirmation)
crontab -u user -l	List another user’s crontab (root)

at: one-time scheduled tasks:

echo '/usr/local/bin/restart.sh' | at 23:00
echo '/usr/local/bin/script.sh' | at 2:30 AM tomorrow
atq           # List pending at jobs
atrm 3        # Remove at job #3

---

Level 22: Logs & Monitoring

When something breaks at 3am, logs are your flashlight.

Command	What it does
tail -f /var/log/syslog	Follow log file live
tail -f app.log | grep --line-buffered ERROR	Follow with live filter
journalctl	All systemd journal entries
journalctl -f	Follow journal live
journalctl -u nginx	Logs for specific service
journalctl -fu nginx	Follow specific service live
journalctl --since '1 hour ago'	Time-filtered logs
journalctl --since '2024-01-15 08:00' --until '2024-01-15 09:00'	Time window
journalctl -b	Logs from current boot only
journalctl -b -1	Logs from previous boot
journalctl -n 50	Last 50 lines
journalctl -p err	Error priority and above
logger 'message'	Write to system log from script
logger -t mytag 'message'	Write with tag

Tip

Always use grep --line-buffered when piping from tail -f. Without it, grep holds output in its buffer and filtered lines may not appear immediately.

---

Level 23: Package Management

Same concepts, different commands: know your distro.

Debian / Ubuntu (apt):

sudo apt update                    # Refresh package index
sudo apt upgrade                   # Upgrade installed packages
sudo apt full-upgrade              # Upgrade + handle dependency changes
sudo apt install -y packagename    # Install (-y = no prompts)
sudo apt remove packagename        # Remove (keep config files)
sudo apt purge packagename         # Remove + delete config files
sudo apt autoremove                # Remove orphaned dependencies
apt search keyword                 # Search available packages
apt show packagename               # Show package details
dpkg -l | grep packagename         # List installed package

RHEL / Fedora / CentOS (dnf/yum):

sudo dnf update                    # Update all packages
sudo dnf install -y packagename    # Install
sudo dnf remove packagename        # Remove
dnf search keyword                 # Search
dnf info packagename               # Show details
rpm -qa | grep packagename         # List installed

macOS (Homebrew):

brew update                        # Update Homebrew itself
brew upgrade                       # Upgrade all packages
brew install packagename           # Install
brew uninstall packagename         # Remove
brew search keyword                # Search
brew info packagename              # Show details
brew list                          # List installed

---

Level 24: Compression Deep Dive

Different formats for different needs. Know the trade-offs.

Format	Speed	Ratio	Best for
gzip (.gz)	Fast	Good	Log rotation, web serving, general use
bzip2 (.bz2)	Moderate	Better	Source code archives
xz (.xz)	Slow	Best	Long-term storage, kernel releases
zip (.zip)	Fast	Moderate	Windows compatibility

Command	What it does
gzip file	Compress (replaces original)
gzip -k file	Compress, keep original
gunzip file.gz	Decompress
zcat file.gz	Read compressed file (stdout)
zgrep pattern file.gz	grep inside compressed file
bzip2 file	Compress with bzip2
bunzip2 file.bz2	Decompress bzip2
bzcat file.bz2	Read bzip2 compressed
xz file	Compress with xz
xz -9 file	Maximum compression (slowest)
unxz file.xz	Decompress xz
xzcat file.xz	Read xz compressed
zip -r out.zip dir/	Create zip archive
unzip out.zip	Extract zip
unzip -l out.zip	List zip contents

tar + compression combined:

tar -czf archive.tar.gz  dir/    # gzip   (.tar.gz  / .tgz)
tar -cjf archive.tar.bz2 dir/   # bzip2  (.tar.bz2)
tar -cJf archive.tar.xz  dir/   # xz     (.tar.xz)
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz         # extract gzip
tar -xJf archive.tar.xz         # extract xz
tar -tzf archive.tar.gz         # list contents

---

Level 25: Bash String Processing

Built-in shell operations: no subprocess, no external commands.

Syntax	Result	Example
${#var}	String length	${#NAME} → 9
${var:0:4}	Substring from offset 0, length 4	${NAME:0:4} → Bash
${var: -3}	Last 3 characters (note the space)	${NAME: -4} → uest
${var%pattern}	Strip shortest suffix match	${FILE%.gz} → file.tar
${var%%pattern}	Strip longest suffix match	${FILE%%.tar*} → file
${var#pattern}	Strip shortest prefix match	${PATH#*/}
${var##pattern}	Strip longest prefix match	${PATH##*/} → filename
${var/find/replace}	Replace first occurrence	${TEXT/cat/dog}
${var//find/replace}	Replace all occurrences	${TEXT//cat/dog}
${var^^}	Uppercase all (bash 4+)	${name^^} → NAME
${var,,}	Lowercase all (bash 4+)	${NAME,,} → name
${var:-default}	Use default if var is unset/empty	${PORT:-8080}
${var:=default}	Assign default if unset/empty	${DIR:=/tmp}

Note

macOS ships Bash 3.2 which does not support ${var^^} or ${var,,}. Use echo "$var" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' instead.

printf formatting:

printf '%-20s %5d\n' "Alice" 95     # Left-aligned name, right-aligned number
printf '%.2f\n' 3.14159             # 2 decimal places: 3.14
printf '%05d\n' 42                  # Zero-padded: 00042
printf '%s\n' "${array[@]}"         # One element per line

---

Level 26: Arrays in Bash

Store multiple values. Iterate safely. No string-splitting bugs.

Indexed arrays:

# Create
SERVERS=(web01 web02 db01)

# Access
echo ${SERVERS[0]}        # web01 (zero-indexed)
echo ${SERVERS[-1]}       # db01  (last element, bash 4.2+)
echo ${SERVERS[@]}        # all elements
echo ${#SERVERS[@]}       # element count: 3

# Append
SERVERS+=(db02)

# Loop: always quote "${arr[@]}"
for s in "${SERVERS[@]}"; do
    echo "Checking $s..."
done

# Slice
echo ${SERVERS[@]:1:2}    # elements 1 and 2: web02 db01

Associative arrays (bash 4+):

declare -A PORTS=([http]=80 [https]=443 [ssh]=22)

echo ${PORTS[http]}       # 80
echo ${!PORTS[@]}         # all keys: http https ssh
echo ${PORTS[@]}          # all values: 80 443 22

for key in "${!PORTS[@]}"; do
    echo "$key → ${PORTS[$key]}"
done

Note

macOS Bash 3.2 does not support declare -A (associative arrays) or negative indices. Install Bash 5 via Homebrew for full support: brew install bash.

---

Level 27: Functions & Error Handling

Production scripts don’t silently fail.

The safety header: put this at the top of every production script:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

Option	Effect
set -e	Exit immediately on any non-zero exit code
set -u	Treat unset variables as an error
set -o pipefail	Fail if any command in a pipe fails

Functions:

# Define
greet() {
    local name="$1"           # local variables don't leak
    echo "Hello, $name!"
}

# Call
greet Tony

# Return values (via exit code)
is_root() {
    [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] && return 0 || return 1
}

if is_root; then
    echo "Running as root"
fi

Exit codes:

# $? = exit code of last command
ls /nonexistent 2>/dev/null
echo $?      # 2 (non-zero = failure)

# Always check immediately: $? changes after every command
cp src.txt dst.txt
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Copy failed" >&2
    exit 1
fi

trap: guaranteed cleanup:

TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)

cleanup() {
    rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
    echo "Cleaned up."
}

trap cleanup EXIT       # Runs on any exit
trap cleanup INT TERM   # Also runs on Ctrl+C / kill

# Do work in $TMPDIR...

trap ... EXIT fires on: normal completion, set -e error, SIGTERM, Ctrl+C. The cleanup always runs.

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Level 28: Systemd & Services

systemd manages everything that runs in the background on modern Linux.

Command	What it does
systemctl status nginx	Show service status, PID, memory, recent logs
sudo systemctl start nginx	Start service now
sudo systemctl stop nginx	Stop service now
sudo systemctl restart nginx	Stop then start (brief downtime)
sudo systemctl reload nginx	Re-read config without restart (if supported)
sudo systemctl enable nginx	Enable autostart on boot
sudo systemctl disable nginx	Disable autostart on boot
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx	Enable AND start in one command
sudo systemctl disable --now nginx	Disable AND stop in one command
systemctl list-units --type=service	List all service units
systemctl --state=failed	Show only failed units
journalctl -u nginx	Logs for this service
journalctl -fu nginx	Follow logs live
sudo systemctl daemon-reload	Reload unit files after editing

Minimal unit file (/etc/systemd/system/myapp.service):

[Unit]
Description=My Application
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=myapp
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/myapp --config /etc/myapp/config.yml
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

After creating or editing a unit file:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now myapp
journalctl -fu myapp    # Watch it start

Service states:

State	Meaning
active (running)	Running normally
active (exited)	Ran once and exited cleanly (oneshot)
inactive (dead)	Not running
failed	Exited with error or crashed
activating	In the process of starting