Ideal for UNIX users who hunger for technical -- yet accessible -- information, "UNIX Power Tools, 2nd Edition," consists of tips, tricks, concepts, and freeware (CD-ROM included). It also covers add-on utilities and how to take advantage of clever features in the most popular UNIX utilities. Loaded with even more practical advice about almost every aspect of UNIX, this edition addresses the technology that UNIX users face today, differing from the first edition in a number of important ways. First, it slants the blend of options and commands more toward the POSIX utilities, including the GNU versions; the "bash" and "tcsh" shells have greater coverage, but we've kept the first edition's emphasis on the core concepts of "sh" and "csh" that will help you use all UNIX shells; and, Perl is more important than "awk" these days, so we've de-emphasized awk in this edition. This is a browser's book.like a magazine that you don't read from start to finish, but leaf through repeatedly until you realize that you've read it all. The book is structured so that it bursts at the seams with cross references. Interesting "sidebars" explore syntax or point out other directions for exploration, including relevant technical details that might not be immediately apparent.

You'll find articles abstracted from other O'Reilly books, new information that highlights program "tricks" and "gotchas," tips posted to the Net over the years, and other accumulated wisdom. The 53 chapters in this book discuss topics like file management, text editors, shell programming -- even office automation. Overall, there's plenty of material here to satisfy even the most voracious appetites. The bottom line? "UNIX Power Tools" is loaded with practical advice about almost every aspect of UNIX. It will help you think creatively about UNIX, and will help you get to the point where you can analyze your own problems. Your own solutions won't be far behind. The CD-ROM includes all of the scripts and aliases from the book, plus "perl," GNU "emacs," "netpbm" (graphics manipulation utilities), "ispell," "screen," the "sc" spreadsheet, and about 60 other freeware programs. In addition to the source code, all the software is precompiled for Sun4, Digital UNIX, IBM AIX, HP/UX, Red Hat Linux, Solaris, and SCO UNIX.