Efficient Research Workflows with the UNIX Shell

The UNIX shell is a pow­er­ful tool for researchers who want to work more effi­cient­ly with files and data and auto­mate repet­i­tive tasks. This hands-on work­shop intro­duces par­tic­i­pants to the UNIX shell, from nav­i­gat­ing the file sys­tem and man­ag­ing files to inspect­ing, fil­ter­ing, and sum­ma­riz­ing research data. Par­tic­i­pants will also learn how to cre­ate sim­ple shell scripts to auto­mate com­mon research work­flows. The work­shop is based on Car­pen­tries train­ing mate­ri­als and con­cludes with an intro­duc­tion to the 4TU.ResearchData repos­i­to­ry and how com­mand-line work­flows can sup­port open and reusable research data prac­tices. 

Learning objectives

By the end of this work­shop, par­tic­i­pants will be able to:

1. Access and use the UNIX shell on their own machine for inter­act­ing with the file sys­tem.

2. Nav­i­gate direc­to­ries and man­age files effi­cient­ly using basic shell com­mands .

3. Pre­view and inspect data files

4. Fil­ter and sum­ma­rize data to extract rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion from large datasets.

5. Write sim­ple shell scripts to auto­mate repet­i­tive research tasks, such as batch file pro­cess­ing, renam­ing, and sum­ma­riz­ing datasets.

6. How to use and deposit data in the 4TU.ResearchData repos­i­to­ry, and under­stand how shell work­flows can inte­grate with open data prac­tices.

Prerequisites

• No pri­or expe­ri­ence with UNIX shell.
• Par­tic­i­pants should bring their own lap­tops with a Bash shell (Mac/Linux users have it by default; Win­dows users should install Git Bash or WSL).
  
  

Target Audience

This work­shop is designed for any­one inter­est­ed in improv­ing effi­cien­cy in research work­flows with the UNIX shell.

Instructors

Leila Iñi­go de la Cruz

Resources

Par­tic­i­pants are encour­aged to bring their own lap­tops for hands-on exer­cis­es.

If you are inter­est­ed in orga­niz­ing one of those train­ings at your insti­tu­tion (cur­rent 4TU.ResearchData mem­ber’s insti­tu­tions), please approach our train­er Leila Iñi­go!