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This is Info file bashref.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.67 from
the input file /usr/homes/chet/src/bash/src/doc/bashref.texi.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Utilities
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Bash: (bash). The GNU Bourne-Again SHell.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
This text is a brief description of the features that are present in
the Bash shell.
This is Edition 2.3, last updated 20 January 1999,
of `The GNU Bash Reference Manual',
for `Bash', Version 2.03.
Copyright (C) 1991-1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions,
except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved
by the Free Software Foundation.

File: bashref.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
Bash Features
*************
This text is a brief description of the features that are present in
the Bash shell.
This is Edition 2.3, last updated 20 January 1999, of `The GNU Bash
Reference Manual', for `Bash', Version 2.03.
Copyright (C) 1991, 1993, 1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Bash contains features that appear in other popular shells, and some
features that only appear in Bash. Some of the shells that Bash has
borrowed concepts from are the Bourne Shell (`sh'), the Korn Shell
(`ksh'), and the C-shell (`csh' and its successor, `tcsh'). The
following menu breaks the features up into categories based upon which
one of these other shells inspired the feature.
This manual is meant as a brief introduction to features found in
Bash. The Bash manual page should be used as the definitive reference
on shell behavior.
* Menu:
* Introduction:: An introduction to the shell.
* Definitions:: Some definitions used in the rest of this
manual.
* Basic Shell Features:: The shell "building blocks".
* Bourne Shell Features:: Features similar to those found in the
Bourne shell.
* Bash Features:: Features found only in Bash.
* Job Control:: A chapter describing what job control is
and how Bash allows you to use it.
* Using History Interactively:: Chapter dealing with history expansion
rules.
* Command Line Editing:: Chapter describing the command line
editing features.
* Installing Bash:: How to build and install Bash on your system.
* Reporting Bugs:: How to report bugs in Bash.
* Builtin Index:: Index of Bash builtin commands.
* Reserved Word Index:: Index of Bash reserved words.
* Variable Index:: Quick reference helps you find the
variable you want.
* Function Index:: Index of bindable Readline functions.
* Concept Index:: General index for concepts described in
this manual.

File: bashref.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Definitions, Prev: Top, Up: Top
Introduction
************
* Menu:
* What is Bash?:: A short description of Bash.
* What is a shell?:: A brief introduction to shells.

File: bashref.info, Node: What is Bash?, Next: What is a shell?, Up: Introduction
What is Bash?
=============
Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear
in the GNU operating system. The name is an acronym for the
`Bourne-Again SHell', a pun on Steve Bourne, the author of the direct
ancestor of the current Unix shell `/bin/sh', which appeared in the
Seventh Edition Bell Labs Research version of Unix.
Bash is an `sh'-compatible shell that incorporates useful features
from the Korn shell `ksh' and the C shell `csh'. It is intended to be
a conformant implementation of the IEEE POSIX Shell and Tools
specification (IEEE Working Group 1003.2). It offers functional
improvements over `sh' for both interactive and programming use.
While the GNU operating system will include a version of `csh', Bash
will be the default shell. Like other GNU software, Bash is quite
portable. It currently runs on nearly every version of Unix and a few
other operating systems - independently-supported ports exist for
MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 95, and Windows NT.

File: bashref.info, Node: What is a shell?, Prev: What is Bash?, Up: Introduction
What is a shell?
================
At its base, a shell is simply a macro processor that executes
commands. A Unix shell is both a command interpreter, which provides
the user interface to the rich set of Unix utilities, and a programming
language, allowing these utilitites to be combined. Files containing
commands can be created, and become commands themselves. These new
commands have the same status as system commands in directories like
`/bin', allowing users or groups to establish custom environments.
A shell allows execution of Unix commands, both synchronously and
asynchronously. The shell waits for synchronous commands to complete
before accepting more input; asynchronous commands continue to execute
in parallel with the shell while it reads and executes additional
commands. The "redirection" constructs permit fine-grained control of
the input and output of those commands, and the shell allows control
over the contents of their environment. Unix shells also provide a
small set of built-in commands ("builtins") implementing functionality
impossible (e.g., `cd', `break', `continue', and `exec'), or
inconvenient (`history', `getopts', `kill', or `pwd', for example) to
obtain via separate utilities. Shells may be used interactively or
non-interactively: they accept input typed from the keyboard or from a
file. All of the shell builtins are described in subsequent sections.
While executing commands is essential, most of the power (and
complexity) of shells is due to their embedded programming languages.
Like any high-level language, the shell provides variables, flow
control constructs, quoting, and functions.
Shells have begun offering features geared specifically for
interactive use rather than to augment the programming language. These
interactive features include job control, command line editing, history
and aliases. Each of these features is described in this manual.

File: bashref.info, Node: Definitions, Next: Basic Shell Features, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
Definitions
***********
These definitions are used throughout the remainder of this manual.
`POSIX'
A family of open system standards based on Unix. Bash is
concerned with POSIX 1003.2, the Shell and Tools Standard.
`blank'
A space or tab character.
`builtin'
A command that is implemented internally by the shell itself,
rather than by an executable program somewhere in the file system.
`control operator'
A `word' that performs a control function. It is a `newline' or
one of the following: `||', `&&', `&', `;', `;;', `|', `(', or `)'.
`exit status'
The value returned by a command to its caller.
`field'
A unit of text that is the result of one of the shell expansions.
After expansion, when executing a command, the resulting fields
are used as the command name and arguments.
`filename'
A string of characters used to identify a file.
`job'
A set of processes comprising a pipeline, and any processes
descended from it, that are all in the same process group.
`job control'
A mechanism by which users can selectively stop (suspend) and
restart (resume) execution of processes.
`metacharacter'
A character that, when unquoted, separates words. A metacharacter
is a `blank' or one of the following characters: `|', `&', `;',
`(', `)', `<', or `>'.
`name'
A `word' consisting solely of letters, numbers, and underscores,
and beginning with a letter or underscore. `Name's are used as
shell variable and function names. Also referred to as an
`identifier'.
`operator'
A `control operator' or a `redirection operator'. *Note
Redirections::, for a list of redirection operators.
`process group'
A collection of related processes each having the same process
group ID.
`process group ID'
A unique identifer that represents a `process group' during its
lifetime.
`reserved word'
A `word' that has a special meaning to the shell. Most reserved
words introduce shell flow control constructs, such as `for' and
`while'.
`return status'
A synonym for `exit status'.
`signal'
A mechanism by which a process may be notified by the kernal of an
event occurring in the system.
`special builtin'
A shell builtin command that has been classified as special by the
POSIX.2 standard.
`token'
A sequence of characters considered a single unit by the shell.
It is either a `word' or an `operator'.
`word'
A `token' that is not an `operator'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Basic Shell Features, Next: Bourne Shell Features, Prev: Definitions, Up: Top
Basic Shell Features
********************
Bash is an acronym for `Bourne-Again SHell'. The Bourne shell is
the traditional Unix shell originally written by Stephen Bourne. All
of the Bourne shell builtin commands are available in Bash, and the
rules for evaluation and quoting are taken from the POSIX 1003.2
specification for the `standard' Unix shell.
This chapter briefly summarizes the shell's `building blocks':
commands, control structures, shell functions, shell parameters, shell
expansions, redirections, which are a way to direct input and output
from and to named files, and how the shell executes commands.
* Menu:
* Shell Syntax:: What your input means to the shell.
* Shell Commands:: The types of commands you can use.
* Shell Functions:: Grouping commands by name.
* Shell Parameters:: Special shell variables.
* Shell Expansions:: How Bash expands variables and the various
expansions available.
* Redirections:: A way to control where input and output go.
* Executing Commands:: What happens when you run a command.
* Shell Scripts:: Executing files of shell commands.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Syntax, Next: Shell Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Syntax
============
* Menu:
* Shell Operation:: The basic operation of the shell.
* Quoting:: How to remove the special meaning from characters.
* Comments:: How to specify comments.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Operation, Next: Quoting, Up: Shell Syntax
Shell Operation
---------------
The following is a brief description of the shell's operation when it
reads and executes a command. Basically, the shell does the following:
1. Reads its input from a file (*note Shell Scripts::.), from a string
supplied as an argument to the `-c' invocation option (*note
Invoking Bash::.), or from the user's terminal.
2. Breaks the input into words and operators, obeying the quoting
rules described in *Note Quoting::. These tokens are separated by
`metacharacters'. Alias expansion is performed by this step
(*note Aliases::.).
3. Parses the tokens into simple and compound commands (*note Shell
Commands::.).
4. Performs the various shell expansions (*note Shell Expansions::.),
breaking the expanded tokens into lists of filenames (*note
Filename Expansion::.) and commands and arguments.
5. Performs any necessary redirections (*note Redirections::.) and
removes the redirection operators and their operands from the
argument list.
6. Executes the command (*note Executing Commands::.).
7. Optionally waits for the command to complete and collects its exit
status (*note Exit Status::.).

File: bashref.info, Node: Quoting, Next: Comments, Prev: Shell Operation, Up: Shell Syntax
Quoting
-------
* Menu:
* Escape Character:: How to remove the special meaning from a single
character.
* Single Quotes:: How to inhibit all interpretation of a sequence
of characters.
* Double Quotes:: How to suppress most of the interpretation of a
sequence of characters.
* ANSI-C Quoting:: How to expand ANSI-C sequences in quoted strings.
* Locale Translation:: How to translate strings into different languages.
Quoting is used to remove the special meaning of certain characters
or words to the shell. Quoting can be used to disable special
treatment for special characters, to prevent reserved words from being
recognized as such, and to prevent parameter expansion.
Each of the shell metacharacters (*note Definitions::.) has special
meaning to the shell and must be quoted if it is to represent itself.
There are three quoting mechanisms: the ESCAPE CHARACTER, single
quotes, and double quotes.

File: bashref.info, Node: Escape Character, Next: Single Quotes, Up: Quoting
Escape Character
................
A non-quoted backslash `\' is the Bash escape character. It
preserves the literal value of the next character that follows, with
the exception of `newline'. If a `\newline' pair appears, and the
backslash itself is not quoted, the `\newline' is treated as a line
continuation (that is, it is removed from the input stream and
effectively ignored).

File: bashref.info, Node: Single Quotes, Next: Double Quotes, Prev: Escape Character, Up: Quoting
Single Quotes
.............
Enclosing characters in single quotes preserves the literal value of
each character within the quotes. A single quote may not occur between
single quotes, even when preceded by a backslash.

File: bashref.info, Node: Double Quotes, Next: ANSI-C Quoting, Prev: Single Quotes, Up: Quoting
Double Quotes
.............
Enclosing characters in double quotes preserves the literal value of
all characters within the quotes, with the exception of `$', ``', and
`\'. The characters `$' and ``' retain their special meaning within
double quotes (*note Shell Expansions::.). The backslash retains its
special meaning only when followed by one of the following characters:
`$', ``', `"', `\', or `newline'. Within double quotes, backslashes
that are followed by one of these characters are removed. Backslashes
preceding characters without a special meaning are left unmodified. A
double quote may be quoted within double quotes by preceding it with a
backslash.
The special parameters `*' and `@' have special meaning when in
double quotes (*note Shell Parameter Expansion::.).

File: bashref.info, Node: ANSI-C Quoting, Next: Locale Translation, Prev: Double Quotes, Up: Quoting
ANSI-C Quoting
..............
Words of the form `$'STRING'' are treated specially. The word
expands to STRING, with backslash-escaped characters replaced as
specifed by the ANSI C standard. Backslash escape sequences, if
present, are decoded as follows:
`\a'
alert (bell)
`\b'
backspace
`\e'
an escape character (not ANSI C)
`\f'
form feed
`\n'
newline
`\r'
carriage return
`\t'
horizontal tab
`\v'
vertical tab
`\\'
backslash
`\NNN'
the character whose `ASCII' code is the octal value NNN (one to
three digits)
`\xNNN'
the character whose `ASCII' code is the hexadecimal value NNN (one
to three digits)
The result is single-quoted, as if the dollar sign had not been present.

File: bashref.info, Node: Locale Translation, Prev: ANSI-C Quoting, Up: Quoting
Locale-Specific Translation
...........................
A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign (`$') will cause
the string to be translated according to the current locale. If the
current locale is `C' or `POSIX', the dollar sign is ignored. If the
string is translated and replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

File: bashref.info, Node: Comments, Prev: Quoting, Up: Shell Syntax
Comments
--------
In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the
`interactive_comments' option to the `shopt' builtin is enabled (*note
Bash Builtins::.), a word beginning with `#' causes that word and all
remaining characters on that line to be ignored. An interactive shell
without the `interactive_comments' option enabled does not allow
comments. The `interactive_comments' option is on by default in
interactive shells. *Note Is This Shell Interactive?::, for a
description of what makes a shell interactive.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Commands, Next: Shell Functions, Prev: Shell Syntax, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Commands
==============
* Menu:
* Simple Commands:: The most common type of command.
* Pipelines:: Connecting the input and output of several
commands.
* Lists:: How to execute commands sequentially.
* Looping Constructs:: Shell commands for iterative action.
* Conditional Constructs:: Shell commands for conditional execution.
* Command Grouping:: Ways to group commands.

File: bashref.info, Node: Simple Commands, Next: Pipelines, Up: Shell Commands
Simple Commands
---------------
A simple command is the kind of command encountered most often.
It's just a sequence of words separated by `blank's, terminated by one
of the shell's control operators (*note Definitions::.). The first
word generally specifies a command to be executed.
The return status (*note Exit Status::.) of a simple command is its
exit status as provided by the POSIX.1 `waitpid' function, or 128+N if
the command was terminated by signal N.

File: bashref.info, Node: Pipelines, Next: Lists, Prev: Simple Commands, Up: Shell Commands
Pipelines
---------
A `pipeline' is a sequence of simple commands separated by `|'.
The format for a pipeline is
[`time' [`-p']] [`!'] COMMAND1 [`|' COMMAND2 ...]
The output of each command in the pipeline is connected to the input of
the next command. That is, each command reads the previous command's
output.
The reserved word `time' causes timing statistics to be printed for
the pipeline once it finishes. The statistics currently consist of
elapsed (wall-clock) time and user and system time consumed by the
command's execution. The `-p' option changes the output format to that
specified by POSIX. The `TIMEFORMAT' variable may be set to a format
string that specifies how the timing information should be displayed.
*Note Bash Variables::, for a description of the available formats.
The use of `time' as a reserved word permits the timing of shell
builtins, shell functions, and pipelines. An external `time' command
cannot time these easily.
If the pipeline is not executed asynchronously (*note Lists::.), the
shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to complete.
Each command in a pipeline is executed in its own subshell (*note
Command Execution Environment::.). The exit status of a pipeline is
the exit status of the last command in the pipeline. If the reserved
word `!' precedes the pipeline, the exit status is the logical negation
of the exit status of the last command.

File: bashref.info, Node: Lists, Next: Looping Constructs, Prev: Pipelines, Up: Shell Commands
Lists of Commands
-----------------
A `list' is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by one of
the operators `;', `&', `&&', or `||', and optionally terminated by one
of `;', `&', or a `newline'.
Of these list operators, `&&' and `||' have equal precedence,
followed by `;' and `&', which have equal precedence.
If a command is terminated by the control operator `&', the shell
executes the command asynchronously in a subshell. This is known as
executing the command in the BACKGROUND. The shell does not wait for
the command to finish, and the return status is 0 (true). The standard
input for asynchronous commands, in the absence of any explicit
redirections, is redirected from `/dev/null'.
Commands separated by a `;' are executed sequentially; the shell
waits for each command to terminate in turn. The return status is the
exit status of the last command executed.
The control operators `&&' and `||' denote AND lists and OR lists,
respectively. An AND list has the form
COMMAND && COMMAND2
COMMAND2 is executed if, and only if, COMMAND returns an exit status of
zero.
An OR list has the form
COMMAND || COMMAND2
COMMAND2 is executed if, and only if, COMMAND returns a non-zero exit
status.
The return status of AND and OR lists is the exit status of the last
command executed in the list.

File: bashref.info, Node: Looping Constructs, Next: Conditional Constructs, Prev: Lists, Up: Shell Commands
Looping Constructs
------------------
Bash supports the following looping constructs.
Note that wherever you see a `;' in the description of a command's
syntax, it may be replaced with one or more newlines.
`until'
The syntax of the `until' command is:
until TEST-COMMANDS; do CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS; done
Execute CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS as long as TEST-COMMANDS has an exit
status which is not zero. The return status is the exit status of
the last command executed in CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS, or zero if none
was executed.
`while'
The syntax of the `while' command is:
while TEST-COMMANDS; do CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS; done
Execute CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS as long as TEST-COMMANDS has an exit
status of zero. The return status is the exit status of the last
command executed in CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS, or zero if none was
executed.
`for'
The syntax of the `for' command is:
for NAME [in WORDS ...]; do COMMANDS; done
Expand WORDS, and execute COMMANDS once for each member in the
resultant list, with NAME bound to the current member. If `in
WORDS' is not present, `in "$@"' is assumed. The return status is
the exit status of the last command that executes. If there are
no items in the expansion of WORDS, no commands are executed, and
the return status is zero.
The `break' and `continue' builtins (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.)
may be used to control loop execution.

File: bashref.info, Node: Conditional Constructs, Next: Command Grouping, Prev: Looping Constructs, Up: Shell Commands
Conditional Constructs
----------------------
`if'
The syntax of the `if' command is:
if TEST-COMMANDS; then
CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS;
[elif MORE-TEST-COMMANDS; then
MORE-CONSEQUENTS;]
[else ALTERNATE-CONSEQUENTS;]
fi
The TEST-COMMANDS list is executed, and if its return status is
zero, the CONSEQUENT-COMMANDS list is executed. If TEST-COMMANDS
returns a non-zero status, each `elif' list is executed in turn,
and if its exit status is zero, the corresponding MORE-CONSEQUENTS
is executed and the command completes. If `else
ALTERNATE-CONSEQUENTS' is present, and the final command in the
final `if' or `elif' clause has a non-zero exit status, then
ALTERNATE-CONSEQUENTS is executed. The return status is the exit
status of the last command executed, or zero if no condition
tested true.
`case'
The syntax of the `case' command is:
`case WORD in [ [(] PATTERN [| PATTERN]...) COMMAND-LIST ;;]... esac'
`case' will selectively execute the COMMAND-LIST corresponding to
the first PATTERN that matches WORD. The `|' is used to separate
multiple patterns, and the `)' operator terminates a pattern list.
A list of patterns and an associated command-list is known as a
CLAUSE. Each clause must be terminated with `;;'. The WORD
undergoes tilde expansion, parameter expansion, command
substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal before
matching is attempted. Each PATTERN undergoes tilde expansion,
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic
expansion.
There may be an arbitrary number of `case' clauses, each terminated
by a `;;'. The first pattern that matches determines the
command-list that is executed.
Here is an example using `case' in a script that could be used to
describe one interesting feature of an animal:
echo -n "Enter the name of an animal: "
read ANIMAL
echo -n "The $ANIMAL has "
case $ANIMAL in
horse | dog | cat) echo -n "four";;
man | kangaroo ) echo -n "two";;
*) echo -n "an unknown number of";;
esac
echo " legs."
The return status is zero if no PATTERN is matched. Otherwise, the
return status is the exit status of the COMMAND-LIST executed.
`select'
The `select' construct allows the easy generation of menus. It
has almost the same syntax as the `for' command:
select NAME [in WORDS ...]; do COMMANDS; done
The list of words following `in' is expanded, generating a list of
items. The set of expanded words is printed on the standard error
output stream, each preceded by a number. If the `in WORDS' is
omitted, the positional parameters are printed, as if `in "$@"'
had been specifed. The `PS3' prompt is then displayed and a line
is read from the standard input. If the line consists of a number
corresponding to one of the displayed words, then the value of
NAME is set to that word. If the line is empty, the words and
prompt are displayed again. If `EOF' is read, the `select'
command completes. Any other value read causes NAME to be set to
null. The line read is saved in the variable `REPLY'.
The COMMANDS are executed after each selection until a `break' or
`return' command is executed, at which point the `select' command
completes.
Here is an example that allows the user to pick a filename from the
current directory, and displays the name and index of the file
selected.
select fname in *;
do
echo you picked $fname \($REPLY\)
break;
done
`((...))'
(( EXPRESSION ))
The arithmetic EXPRESSION is evaluated according to the rules
described below (*note Shell Arithmetic::.). If the value of the
expression is non-zero, the return status is 0; otherwise the
return status is 1. This is exactly equivalent to
let "EXPRESSION"
*Note Bash Builtins::, for a full description of the `let' builtin.
`[[...]]'
[[ EXPRESSION ]]
Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on the evaluation of the
conditional expression EXPRESSION. Expressions are composed of
the primaries described below in *Note Bash Conditional
Expressions::. Word splitting and filename expansion are not
performed on the words between the `[[' and `]]'; tilde expansion,
parameter and variable expansion, arithmetic expansion, command
substitution, process substitution, and quote removal are
performed.
When the `==' and `!=' operators are used, the string to the right
of the operator is considered a pattern and matched according to
the rules described below in *Note Pattern Matching::. The return
value is 0 if the string matches or does not match the pattern,
respectively, and 1 otherwise. Any part of the pattern may be
quoted to force it to be matched as a string.
Expressions may be combined using the following operators, listed
in decreasing order of precedence:
`( EXPRESSION )'
Returns the value of EXPRESSION. This may be used to
override the normal precedence of operators.
`! EXPRESSION'
True if EXPRESSION is false.
`EXPRESSION1 && EXPRESSION2'
True if both EXPRESSION1 and EXPRESSION2 are true.
`EXPRESSION1 || EXPRESSION2'
True if either EXPRESSION1 or EXPRESSION2 is true.
The && and || commands do not execute EXPRESSION2 if the value of
EXPRESSION1 is sufficient to determine the return value of the
entire conditional expression.

File: bashref.info, Node: Command Grouping, Prev: Conditional Constructs, Up: Shell Commands
Grouping Commands
-----------------
Bash provides two ways to group a list of commands to be executed as
a unit. When commands are grouped, redirections may be applied to the
entire command list. For example, the output of all the commands in
the list may be redirected to a single stream.
`()'
( LIST )
Placing a list of commands between parentheses causes a subshell
to be created, and each of the commands in LIST to be executed in
that subshell. Since the LIST is executed in a subshell, variable
assignments do not remain in effect after the subshell completes.
`{}'
{ LIST; }
Placing a list of commands between curly braces causes the list to
be executed in the current shell context. No subshell is created.
The semicolon (or newline) following LIST is required.
In addition to the creation of a subshell, there is a subtle
difference between these two constructs due to historical reasons. The
braces are `reserved words', so they must be separated from the LIST by
`blank's. The parentheses are `operators', and are recognized as
separate tokens by the shell even if they are not separated from the
LIST by whitespace.
The exit status of both of these constructs is the exit status of
LIST.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Functions, Next: Shell Parameters, Prev: Shell Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Functions
===============
Shell functions are a way to group commands for later execution
using a single name for the group. They are executed just like a
"regular" command. Shell functions are executed in the current shell
context; no new process is created to interpret them.
Functions are declared using this syntax:
[ `function' ] NAME () { COMMAND-LIST; }
This defines a shell function named NAME. The reserved word
`function' is optional. If the `function' reserved word is supplied,
the parentheses are optional. The BODY of the function is the
COMMAND-LIST between { and }. This list is executed whenever NAME is
specified as the name of a command. The exit status of a function is
the exit status of the last command executed in the body.
When a function is executed, the arguments to the function become
the positional parameters during its execution (*note Positional
Parameters::.). The special parameter `#' that expands to the number of
positional parameters is updated to reflect the change. Positional
parameter `0' is unchanged.
If the builtin command `return' is executed in a function, the
function completes and execution resumes with the next command after
the function call. When a function completes, the values of the
positional parameters and the special parameter `#' are restored to the
values they had prior to the function's execution. If a numeric
argument is given to `return', that is the function's return status;
otherwise the functions's return status is the exit status of the last
command executed before the `return'.
Variables local to the function may be declared with the `local'
builtin. These variables are visible only to the function and the
commands it invokes.
Functions may be recursive. No limit is placed on the number of
recursive calls.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Parameters, Next: Shell Expansions, Prev: Shell Functions, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Parameters
================
* Menu:
* Positional Parameters:: The shell's command-line arguments.
* Special Parameters:: Parameters with special meanings.
A PARAMETER is an entity that stores values. It can be a `name', a
number, or one of the special characters listed below. For the shell's
purposes, a VARIABLE is a parameter denoted by a `name'.
A parameter is set if it has been assigned a value. The null string
is a valid value. Once a variable is set, it may be unset only by using
the `unset' builtin command.
A variable may be assigned to by a statement of the form
NAME=[VALUE]
If VALUE is not given, the variable is assigned the null string. All
VALUEs undergo tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion,
command substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal (detailed
below). If the variable has its `integer' attribute set (see the
description of the `declare' builtin in *Note Bash Builtins::), then
VALUE is subject to arithmetic expansion even if the `$((...))'
expansion is not used (*note Arithmetic Expansion::.). Word splitting
is not performed, with the exception of `"$@"' as explained below.
Filename expansion is not performed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Positional Parameters, Next: Special Parameters, Up: Shell Parameters
Positional Parameters
---------------------
A POSITIONAL PARAMETER is a parameter denoted by one or more digits,
other than the single digit `0'. Positional parameters are assigned
from the shell's arguments when it is invoked, and may be reassigned
using the `set' builtin command. Positional parameter `N' may be
referenced as `${N}'. Positional parameters may not be assigned to
with assignment statements. The positional parameters are temporarily
replaced when a shell function is executed (*note Shell Functions::.).
When a positional parameter consisting of more than a single digit
is expanded, it must be enclosed in braces.

File: bashref.info, Node: Special Parameters, Prev: Positional Parameters, Up: Shell Parameters
Special Parameters
------------------
The shell treats several parameters specially. These parameters may
only be referenced; assignment to them is not allowed.
`*'
Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. When the
expansion occurs within double quotes, it expands to a single word
with the value of each parameter separated by the first character
of the `IFS' special variable. That is, `"$*"' is equivalent to
`"$1C$2C..."', where C is the first character of the value of the
`IFS' variable. If `IFS' is unset, the parameters are separated
by spaces. If `IFS' is null, the parameters are joined without
intervening separators.
`@'
Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. When the
expansion occurs within double quotes, each parameter expands to a
separate word. That is, `"$@"' is equivalent to `"$1" "$2" ...'.
When there are no positional parameters, `"$@"' and `$@' expand to
nothing (i.e., they are removed).
`#'
Expands to the number of positional parameters in decimal.
`?'
Expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground
pipeline.
`-'
Expands to the current option flags as specified upon invocation,
by the `set' builtin command, or those set by the shell itself
(such as the `-i' option).
`$'
Expands to the process ID of the shell. In a `()' subshell, it
expands to the process ID of the invoking shell, not the subshell.
`!'
Expands to the process ID of the most recently executed background
(asynchronous) command.
`0'
Expands to the name of the shell or shell script. This is set at
shell initialization. If Bash is invoked with a file of commands
(*note Shell Scripts::.), `$0' is set to the name of that file.
If Bash is started with the `-c' option (*note Invoking Bash::.),
then `$0' is set to the first argument after the string to be
executed, if one is present. Otherwise, it is set to the filename
used to invoke Bash, as given by argument zero.
`_'
At shell startup, set to the absolute filename of the shell or
shell script being executed as passed in the argument list.
Subsequently, expands to the last argument to the previous command,
after expansion. Also set to the full pathname of each command
executed and placed in the environment exported to that command.
When checking mail, this parameter holds the name of the mail file.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Expansions, Next: Redirections, Prev: Shell Parameters, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Expansions
================
Expansion is performed on the command line after it has been split
into `token's. There are seven kinds of expansion performed:
* brace expansion
* tilde expansion
* parameter and variable expansion
* command substitution
* arithmetic expansion
* word splitting
* filename expansion
* Menu:
* Brace Expansion:: Expansion of expressions within braces.
* Tilde Expansion:: Expansion of the ~ character.
* Shell Parameter Expansion:: How Bash expands variables to their values.
* Command Substitution:: Using the output of a command as an argument.
* Arithmetic Expansion:: How to use arithmetic in shell expansions.
* Process Substitution:: A way to write and read to and from a
command.
* Word Splitting:: How the results of expansion are split into separate
arguments.
* Filename Expansion:: A shorthand for specifying filenames matching patterns.
* Quote Removal:: How and when quote characters are removed from
words.
The order of expansions is: brace expansion, tilde expansion,
parameter, variable, and arithmetic expansion and command substitution
(done in a left-to-right fashion), word splitting, and filename
expansion.
On systems that can support it, there is an additional expansion
available: PROCESS SUBSTITUTION. This is performed at the same time as
parameter, variable, and arithmetic expansion and command substitution.
Only brace expansion, word splitting, and filename expansion can
change the number of words of the expansion; other expansions expand a
single word to a single word. The only exceptions to this are the
expansions of `"$@"' (*note Special Parameters::.) and `"${NAME[@]}"'
(*note Arrays::.).
After all expansions, `quote removal' (*note Quote Removal::.) is
performed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Brace Expansion, Next: Tilde Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Brace Expansion
---------------
Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be
generated. This mechanism is similar to FILENAME EXPANSION (*note
Filename Expansion::.), but the file names generated need not exist.
Patterns to be brace expanded take the form of an optional PREAMBLE,
followed by a series of comma-separated strings between a pair of
braces, followed by an optional POSTSCRIPT. The preamble is prepended
to each string contained within the braces, and the postscript is then
appended to each resulting string, expanding left to right.
Brace expansions may be nested. The results of each expanded string
are not sorted; left to right order is preserved. For example,
bash$ echo a{d,c,b}e
ade ace abe
Brace expansion is performed before any other expansions, and any
characters special to other expansions are preserved in the result. It
is strictly textual. Bash does not apply any syntactic interpretation
to the context of the expansion or the text between the braces.
A correctly-formed brace expansion must contain unquoted opening and
closing braces, and at least one unquoted comma. Any incorrectly
formed brace expansion is left unchanged.
This construct is typically used as shorthand when the common prefix
of the strings to be generated is longer than in the above example:
mkdir /usr/local/src/bash/{old,new,dist,bugs}
or
chown root /usr/{ucb/{ex,edit},lib/{ex?.?*,how_ex}}

File: bashref.info, Node: Tilde Expansion, Next: Shell Parameter Expansion, Prev: Brace Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Tilde Expansion
---------------
If a word begins with an unquoted tilde character (`~'), all of the
characters up to the first unquoted slash (or all characters, if there
is no unquoted slash) are considered a TILDE-PREFIX. If none of the
characters in the tilde-prefix are quoted, the characters in the
tilde-prefix following the tilde are treated as a possible LOGIN NAME.
If this login name is the null string, the tilde is replaced with the
value of the `HOME' shell variable. If `HOME' is unset, the home
directory of the user executing the shell is substituted instead.
Otherwise, the tilde-prefix is replaced with the home directory
associated with the specified login name.
If the tilde-prefix is `~+', the value of the shell variable `PWD'
replaces the tilde-prefix. If the tilde-prefix is `~-', the value of
the shell variable `OLDPWD', if it is set, is substituted.
If the characters following the tilde in the tilde-prefix consist of
a number N, optionally prefixed by a `+' or a `-', the tilde-prefix is
replaced with the corresponding element from the directory stack, as it
would be displayed by the `dirs' builtin invoked with the characters
following tilde in the tilde-prefix as an argument (*note The Directory
Stack::.). If the tilde-prefix, sans the tilde, consists of a number
without a leading `+' or `-', `+' is assumed.
If the login name is invalid, or the tilde expansion fails, the word
is left unchanged.
Each variable assignment is checked for unquoted tilde-prefixes
immediately following a `:' or `='. In these cases, tilde expansion is
also performed. Consequently, one may use file names with tildes in
assignments to `PATH', `MAILPATH', and `CDPATH', and the shell assigns
the expanded value.
The following table shows how Bash treats unquoted tilde-prefixes:
`~'
The value of `$HOME'
`~/foo'
`$HOME/foo'
`~fred/foo'
The subdirectory `foo' of the home directory of the user `fred'
`~+/foo'
`$PWD/foo'
`~-/foo'
`${OLDPWD-'~-'}/foo'
`~N'
The string that would be displayed by `dirs +N'
`~+N'
The string that would be displayed by `dirs +N'
`~-N'
The string that would be displayed by `dirs -N'

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Parameter Expansion, Next: Command Substitution, Prev: Tilde Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Shell Parameter Expansion
-------------------------
The `$' character introduces parameter expansion, command
substitution, or arithmetic expansion. The parameter name or symbol to
be expanded may be enclosed in braces, which are optional but serve to
protect the variable to be expanded from characters immediately
following it which could be interpreted as part of the name.
When braces are used, the matching ending brace is the first `}' not
escaped by a backslash or within a quoted string, and not within an
embedded arithmetic expansion, command substitution, or parameter
expansion.
The basic form of parameter expansion is ${PARAMETER}. The value of
PARAMETER is substituted. The braces are required when PARAMETER is a
positional parameter with more than one digit, or when PARAMETER is
followed by a character that is not to be interpreted as part of its
name.
If the first character of PARAMETER is an exclamation point, a level
of variable indirection is introduced. Bash uses the value of the
variable formed from the rest of PARAMETER as the name of the variable;
this variable is then expanded and that value is used in the rest of
the substitution, rather than the value of PARAMETER itself. This is
known as `indirect expansion'.
In each of the cases below, WORD is subject to tilde expansion,
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.
When not performing substring expansion, Bash tests for a parameter
that is unset or null; omitting the colon results in a test only for a
parameter that is unset.
`${PARAMETER:-WORD}'
If PARAMETER is unset or null, the expansion of WORD is
substituted. Otherwise, the value of PARAMETER is substituted.
`${PARAMETER:=WORD}'
If PARAMETER is unset or null, the expansion of WORD is assigned
to PARAMETER. The value of PARAMETER is then substituted.
Positional parameters and special parameters may not be assigned
to in this way.
`${PARAMETER:?WORD}'
If PARAMETER is null or unset, the expansion of WORD (or a message
to that effect if WORD is not present) is written to the standard
error and the shell, if it is not interactive, exits. Otherwise,
the value of PARAMETER is substituted.
`${PARAMETER:+WORD}'
If PARAMETER is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise
the expansion of WORD is substituted.
`${PARAMETER:OFFSET}'
`${PARAMETER:OFFSET:LENGTH}'
Expands to up to LENGTH characters of PARAMETER, starting at the
character specified by OFFSET. If LENGTH is omitted, expands to
the substring of PARAMETER, starting at the character specified by
OFFSET. LENGTH and OFFSET are arithmetic expressions (*note Shell
Arithmetic::.). This is referred to as Substring Expansion.
LENGTH must evaluate to a number greater than or equal to zero.
If OFFSET evaluates to a number less than zero, the value is used
as an offset from the end of the value of PARAMETER. If PARAMETER
is `@', the result is LENGTH positional parameters beginning at
OFFSET. If PARAMETER is an array name indexed by `@' or `*', the
result is the LENGTH members of the array beginning with
`${PARAMETER[OFFSET]}'. Substring indexing is zero-based unless
the positional parameters are used, in which case the indexing
starts at 1.
`${#PARAMETER}'
The length in characters of the expanded value of PARAMETER is
substituted. If PARAMETER is `*' or `@', the value substituted is
the number of positional parameters. If PARAMETER is an array
name subscripted by `*' or `@', the value substituted is the
number of elements in the array.
`${PARAMETER#WORD}'
`${PARAMETER##WORD}'
The WORD is expanded to produce a pattern just as in filename
expansion (*note Filename Expansion::.). If the pattern matches
the beginning of the expanded value of PARAMETER, then the result
of the expansion is the expanded value of PARAMETER with the
shortest matching pattern (the `#' case) or the longest matching
pattern (the `##' case) deleted. If PARAMETER is `@' or `*', the
pattern removal operation is applied to each positional parameter
in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. If PARAMETER is
an array variable subscripted with `@' or `*', the pattern removal
operation is applied to each member of the array in turn, and the
expansion is the resultant list.
`${PARAMETER%WORD}'
`${PARAMETER%%WORD}'
The WORD is expanded to produce a pattern just as in filename
expansion. If the pattern matches a trailing portion of the
expanded value of PARAMETER, then the result of the expansion is
the value of PARAMETER with the shortest matching pattern (the `%'
case) or the longest matching pattern (the `%%' case) deleted. If
PARAMETER is `@' or `*', the pattern removal operation is applied
to each positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the
resultant list. If PARAMETER is an array variable subscripted
with `@' or `*', the pattern removal operation is applied to each
member of the array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant
list.
`${PARAMETER/PATTERN/STRING}'
`${PARAMETER//PATTERN/STRING}'
The PATTERN is expanded to produce a pattern just as in filename
expansion. PARAMETER is expanded and the longest match of PATTERN
against its value is replaced with STRING. In the first form,
only the first match is replaced. The second form causes all
matches of PATTERN to be replaced with STRING. If PATTERN begins
with `#', it must match at the beginning of the expanded value of
PARAMETER. If PATTERN begins with `%', it must match at the end
of the expanded value of PARAMETER. If STRING is null, matches of
PATTERN are deleted and the `/' following PATTERN may be omitted.
If PARAMETER is `@' or `*', the substitution operation is applied
to each positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the
resultant list. If PARAMETER is an array variable subscripted
with `@' or `*', the substitution operation is applied to each
member of the array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant
list.

File: bashref.info, Node: Command Substitution, Next: Arithmetic Expansion, Prev: Shell Parameter Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Command Substitution
--------------------
Command substitution allows the output of a command to replace the
command name. There are two forms:
$(COMMAND)
or
`COMMAND`
Bash performs the expansion by executing COMMAND and replacing the
command substitution with the standard output of the command, with any
trailing newlines deleted. Embedded newlines are not deleted, but they
may be removed during word splitting. The command substitution `$(cat
FILE)' can be replaced by the equivalent but faster `$(< FILE)'.
When the old-style backquote form of substitution is used, backslash
retains its literal meaning except when followed by `$', ``', or `\'.
The first backquote not preceded by a backslash terminates the command
substitution. When using the `$(COMMAND)' form, all characters between
the parentheses make up the command; none are treated specially.
Command substitutions may be nested. To nest when using the
backquoted form, escape the inner backquotes with backslashes.
If the substitution appears within double quotes, word splitting and
filename expansion are not performed on the results.

File: bashref.info, Node: Arithmetic Expansion, Next: Process Substitution, Prev: Command Substitution, Up: Shell Expansions
Arithmetic Expansion
--------------------
Arithmetic expansion allows the evaluation of an arithmetic
expression and the substitution of the result. The format for
arithmetic expansion is:
$(( EXPRESSION ))
The expression is treated as if it were within double quotes, but a
double quote inside the parentheses is not treated specially. All
tokens in the expression undergo parameter expansion, command
substitution, and quote removal. Arithmetic substitutions may be
nested.
The evaluation is performed according to the rules listed below
(*note Shell Arithmetic::.). If the expression is invalid, Bash prints
a message indicating failure to the standard error and no substitution
occurs.

File: bashref.info, Node: Process Substitution, Next: Word Splitting, Prev: Arithmetic Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Process Substitution
--------------------
Process substitution is supported on systems that support named
pipes (FIFOs) or the `/dev/fd' method of naming open files. It takes
the form of
<(LIST)
or
>(LIST)
The process LIST is run with its input or output connected to a FIFO or
some file in `/dev/fd'. The name of this file is passed as an argument
to the current command as the result of the expansion. If the
`>(LIST)' form is used, writing to the file will provide input for
LIST. If the `<(LIST)' form is used, the file passed as an argument
should be read to obtain the output of LIST.
When available, process substitution is performed simultaneously with
parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic
expansion.

File: bashref.info, Node: Word Splitting, Next: Filename Expansion, Prev: Process Substitution, Up: Shell Expansions
Word Splitting
--------------
The shell scans the results of parameter expansion, command
substitution, and arithmetic expansion that did not occur within double
quotes for word splitting.
The shell treats each character of `$IFS' as a delimiter, and splits
the results of the other expansions into words on these characters. If
`IFS' is unset, or its value is exactly `<space><tab><newline>', the
default, then any sequence of `IFS' characters serves to delimit words.
If `IFS' has a value other than the default, then sequences of the
whitespace characters `space' and `tab' are ignored at the beginning
and end of the word, as long as the whitespace character is in the
value of `IFS' (an `IFS' whitespace character). Any character in `IFS'
that is not `IFS' whitespace, along with any adjacent `IFS' whitespace
characters, delimits a field. A sequence of `IFS' whitespace
characters is also treated as a delimiter. If the value of `IFS' is
null, no word splitting occurs.
Explicit null arguments (`""' or `''') are retained. Unquoted
implicit null arguments, resulting from the expansion of PARAMETERs
that have no values, are removed. If a parameter with no value is
expanded within double quotes, a null argument results and is retained.
Note that if no expansion occurs, no splitting is performed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Filename Expansion, Next: Quote Removal, Prev: Word Splitting, Up: Shell Expansions
Filename Expansion
------------------
* Menu:
* Pattern Matching:: How the shell matches patterns.
After word splitting, unless the `-f' option has been set (*note The
Set Builtin::.), Bash scans each word for the characters `*', `?', `(',
and `['. If one of these characters appears, then the word is regarded
as a PATTERN, and replaced with an alphabetically sorted list of file
names matching the pattern. If no matching file names are found, and
the shell option `nullglob' is disabled, the word is left unchanged.
If the `nullglob' option is set, and no matches are found, the word is
removed. If the shell option `nocaseglob' is enabled, the match is
performed without regard to the case of alphabetic characters.
When a pattern is used for filename generation, the character `.' at
the start of a filename or immediately following a slash must be
matched explicitly, unless the shell option `dotglob' is set. When
matching a file name, the slash character must always be matched
explicitly. In other cases, the `.' character is not treated specially.
See the description of `shopt' in *Note Bash Builtins::, for a
description of the `nocaseglob', `nullglob', and `dotglob' options.
The `GLOBIGNORE' shell variable may be used to restrict the set of
filenames matching a pattern. If `GLOBIGNORE' is set, each matching
filename that also matches one of the patterns in `GLOBIGNORE' is
removed from the list of matches. The filenames `.' and `..' are
always ignored, even when `GLOBIGNORE' is set. However, setting
`GLOBIGNORE' has the effect of enabling the `dotglob' shell option, so
all other filenames beginning with a `.' will match. To get the old
behavior of ignoring filenames beginning with a `.', make `.*' one of
the patterns in `GLOBIGNORE'. The `dotglob' option is disabled when
`GLOBIGNORE' is unset.

File: bashref.info, Node: Pattern Matching, Up: Filename Expansion
Pattern Matching
................
Any character that appears in a pattern, other than the special
pattern characters described below, matches itself. The NUL character
may not occur in a pattern. The special pattern characters must be
quoted if they are to be matched literally.
The special pattern characters have the following meanings:
`*'
Matches any string, including the null string.
`?'
Matches any single character.
`[...]'
Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A pair of characters
separated by a minus sign denotes a RANGE; any character lexically
between those two characters, inclusive, is matched. If the first
character following the `[' is a `!' or a `^' then any character
not enclosed is matched. A `-' may be matched by including it as
the first or last character in the set. A `]' may be matched by
including it as the first character in the set.
Within `[' and `]', CHARACTER CLASSES can be specified using the
syntax `[:'CLASS`:]', where CLASS is one of the following classes
defined in the POSIX.2 standard:
alnum alpha ascii blank cntrl digit graph lower
print punct space upper xdigit
A character class matches any character belonging to that class.
Within `[' and `]', an EQUIVALENCE CLASS can be specified using
the syntax `[='C`=]', which matches all characters with the same
collation weight (as defined by the current locale) as the
character C.
Within `[' and `]', the syntax `[.'SYMBOL`.]' matches the
collating symbol SYMBOL.
If the `extglob' shell option is enabled using the `shopt' builtin,
several extended pattern matching operators are recognized. In the
following description, a PATTERN-LIST is a list of one or more patterns
separated by a `|'. Composite patterns may be formed using one or more
of the following sub-patterns:
`?(PATTERN-LIST)'
Matches zero or one occurrence of the given patterns.
`*(PATTERN-LIST)'
Matches zero or more occurrences of the given patterns.
`+(PATTERN-LIST)'
Matches one or more occurrences of the given patterns.
`@(PATTERN-LIST)'
Matches exactly one of the given patterns.
`!(PATTERN-LIST)'
Matches anything except one of the given patterns.

File: bashref.info, Node: Quote Removal, Prev: Filename Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions
Quote Removal
-------------
After the preceding expansions, all unquoted occurrences of the
characters `\', `'', and `"' that did not result from one of the above
expansions are removed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Redirections, Next: Executing Commands, Prev: Shell Expansions, Up: Basic Shell Features
Redirections
============
Before a command is executed, its input and output may be REDIRECTED
using a special notation interpreted by the shell. Redirection may
also be used to open and close files for the current shell execution
environment. The following redirection operators may precede or appear
anywhere within a simple command or may follow a command. Redirections
are processed in the order they appear, from left to right.
In the following descriptions, if the file descriptor number is
omitted, and the first character of the redirection operator is `<',
the redirection refers to the standard input (file descriptor 0). If
the first character of the redirection operator is `>', the redirection
refers to the standard output (file descriptor 1).
The word following the redirection operator in the following
descriptions, unless otherwise noted, is subjected to brace expansion,
tilde expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic
expansion, quote removal, and filename expansion. If it expands to
more than one word, Bash reports an error.
Note that the order of redirections is significant. For example,
the command
ls > DIRLIST 2>&1
directs both standard output and standard error to the file DIRLIST,
while the command
ls 2>&1 > DIRLIST
directs only the standard output to file DIRLIST, because the standard
error was duplicated as standard output before the standard output was
redirected to DIRLIST.
A failure to open or create a file causes the redirection to fail.
Redirecting Input
-----------------
Redirection of input causes the file whose name results from the
expansion of WORD to be opened for reading on file descriptor `n', or
the standard input (file descriptor 0) if `n' is not specified.
The general format for redirecting input is:
[n]<WORD
Redirecting Output
------------------
Redirection of output causes the file whose name results from the
expansion of WORD to be opened for writing on file descriptor `n', or
the standard output (file descriptor 1) if `n' is not specified. If
the file does not exist it is created; if it does exist it is truncated
to zero size.
The general format for redirecting output is:
[n]>[|]WORD
If the redirection operator is `>', and the `noclobber' option to
the `set' builtin has been enabled, the redirection will fail if the
filename whose name results from the expansion of WORD exists and is a
regular file. If the redirection operator is `>|', or the redirection
operator is `>' and the `noclobber' option is not enabled, the
redirection is attempted even if the file named by WORD exists.
Appending Redirected Output
---------------------------
Redirection of output in this fashion causes the file whose name
results from the expansion of WORD to be opened for appending on file
descriptor `n', or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if `n' is
not specified. If the file does not exist it is created.
The general format for appending output is:
[n]>>WORD
Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error
----------------------------------------------
Bash allows both the standard output (file descriptor 1) and the
standard error output (file descriptor 2) to be redirected to the file
whose name is the expansion of WORD with this construct.
There are two formats for redirecting standard output and standard
error:
&>WORD
and
>&WORD
Of the two forms, the first is preferred. This is semantically
equivalent to
>WORD 2>&1
Here Documents
--------------
This type of redirection instructs the shell to read input from the
current source until a line containing only WORD (with no trailing
blanks) is seen. All of the lines read up to that point are then used
as the standard input for a command.
The format of here-documents is as follows:
<<[-]WORD
HERE-DOCUMENT
DELIMITER
No parameter expansion, command substitution, filename expansion, or
arithmetic expansion is performed on WORD. If any characters in WORD
are quoted, the DELIMITER is the result of quote removal on WORD, and
the lines in the here-document are not expanded. If WORD is unquoted,
all lines of the here-document are subjected to parameter expansion,
command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. In the latter case,
the pair `\newline' is ignored, and `\' must be used to quote the
characters `\', `$', and ``'.
If the redirection operator is `<<-', then all leading tab
characters are stripped from input lines and the line containing
DELIMITER. This allows here-documents within shell scripts to be
indented in a natural fashion.
Duplicating File Descriptors
----------------------------
The redirection operator
[n]<&WORD
is used to duplicate input file descriptors. If WORD expands to one or
more digits, the file descriptor denoted by `n' is made to be a copy of
that file descriptor. If the digits in WORD do not specify a file
descriptor open for input, a redirection error occurs. If WORD
evaluates to `-', file descriptor `n' is closed. If `n' is not
specified, the standard input (file descriptor 0) is used.
The operator
[n]>&WORD
is used similarly to duplicate output file descriptors. If `n' is not
specified, the standard output (file descriptor 1) is used. If the
digits in WORD do not specify a file descriptor open for output, a
redirection error occurs. As a special case, if `n' is omitted, and
WORD does not expand to one or more digits, the standard output and
standard error are redirected as described previously.
Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing
------------------------------------------------
The redirection operator
[n]<>WORD
causes the file whose name is the expansion of WORD to be opened for
both reading and writing on file descriptor `n', or on file descriptor
0 if `n' is not specified. If the file does not exist, it is created.

File: bashref.info, Node: Executing Commands, Next: Shell Scripts, Prev: Redirections, Up: Basic Shell Features
Executing Commands
==================
* Menu:
* Simple Command Expansion:: How Bash expands simple commands before
executing them.
* Command Search and Execution:: How Bash finds commands and runs them.
* Command Execution Environment:: The environment in which Bash
executes commands that are not
shell builtins.
* Environment:: The environment given to a command.
* Exit Status:: The status returned by commands and how Bash
interprets it.
* Signals:: What happens when Bash or a command it runs
receives a signal.

File: bashref.info, Node: Simple Command Expansion, Next: Command Search and Execution, Up: Executing Commands
Simple Command Expansion
------------------------
When a simple command is executed, the shell performs the following
expansions, assignments, and redirections, from left to right.
1. The words that the parser has marked as variable assignments (those
preceding the command name) and redirections are saved for later
processing.
2. The words that are not variable assignments or redirections are
expanded (*note Shell Expansions::.). If any words remain after
expansion, the first word is taken to be the name of the command
and the remaining words are the arguments.
3. Redirections are performed as described above (*note
Redirections::.).
4. The text after the `=' in each variable assignment undergoes tilde
expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic
expansion, and quote removal before being assigned to the variable.
If no command name results, the variable assignments affect the
current shell environment. Otherwise, the variables are added to the
environment of the executed command and do not affect the current shell
environment. If any of the assignments attempts to assign a value to a
readonly variable, an error occurs, and the command exits with a
non-zero status.
If no command name results, redirections are performed, but do not
affect the current shell environment. A redirection error causes the
command to exit with a non-zero status.
If there is a command name left after expansion, execution proceeds
as described below. Otherwise, the command exits. If one of the
expansions contained a command substitution, the exit status of the
command is the exit status of the last command substitution performed.
If there were no command substitutions, the command exits with a status
of zero.

File: bashref.info, Node: Command Search and Execution, Next: Command Execution Environment, Prev: Simple Command Expansion, Up: Executing Commands
Command Search and Execution
----------------------------
After a command has been split into words, if it results in a simple
command and an optional list of arguments, the following actions are
taken.
1. If the command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts to
locate it. If there exists a shell function by that name, that
function is invoked as described above in *Note Shell Functions::.
2. If the name does not match a function, the shell searches for it
in the list of shell builtins. If a match is found, that builtin
is invoked.
3. If the name is neither a shell function nor a builtin, and
contains no slashes, Bash searches each element of `$PATH' for a
directory containing an executable file by that name. Bash uses a
hash table to remember the full pathnames of executable files to
avoid multiple `PATH' searches (see the description of `hash' in
*Note Bourne Shell Builtins::). A full search of the directories
in `$PATH' is performed only if the command is not found in the
hash table. If the search is unsuccessful, the shell prints an
error message and returns an exit status of 127.
4. If the search is successful, or if the command name contains one
or more slashes, the shell executes the named program in a
separate execution environment. Argument 0 is set to the name
given, and the remaining arguments to the command are set to the
arguments supplied, if any.
5. If this execution fails because the file is not in executable
format, and the file is not a directory, it is assumed to be a
SHELL SCRIPT and the shell executes it as described in *Note Shell
Scripts::.
6. If the command was not begun asynchronously, the shell waits for
the command to complete and collects its exit status.

File: bashref.info, Node: Command Execution Environment, Next: Environment, Prev: Command Search and Execution, Up: Executing Commands
Command Execution Environment
-----------------------------
The shell has an EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT, which consists of the
following:
* open files inherited by the shell at invocation, as modified by
redirections supplied to the `exec' builtin
* the current working directory as set by `cd', `pushd', or `popd',
or inherited by the shell at invocation
* the file creation mode mask as set by `umask' or inherited from
the shell's parent
* current traps set by `trap'
* shell parameters that are set by variable assignment or with `set'
or inherited from the shell's parent in the environment
* shell functions defined during execution or inherited from the
shell's parent in the environment
* options enabled at invocation (either by default or with
command-line arguments) or by `set'
* options enabled by `shopt'
* shell aliases defined with `alias' (*note Aliases::.)
* various process IDs, including those of background jobs (*note
Lists::.), the value of `$$', and the value of `$PPID'
When a simple command other than a builtin or shell function is to
be executed, it is invoked in a separate execution environment that
consists of the following. Unless otherwise noted, the values are
inherited from the shell.
* the shell's open files, plus any modifications and additions
specified by redirections to the command
* the current working directory
* the file creation mode mask
* shell variables marked for export, along with variables exported
for the command, passed in the environment (*note Environment::.)
* traps caught by the shell are reset to the values inherited from
the shell's parent, and traps ignored by the shell are ignored
A command invoked in this separate environment cannot affect the
shell's execution environment.
Command substitution and asynchronous commands are invoked in a
subshell environment that is a duplicate of the shell environment,
except that traps caught by the shell are reset to the values that the
shell inherited from its parent at invocation. Builtin commands that
are invoked as part of a pipeline are also executed in a subshell
environment. Changes made to the subshell environment cannot affect
the shell's execution environment.

File: bashref.info, Node: Environment, Next: Exit Status, Prev: Command Execution Environment, Up: Executing Commands
Environment
-----------
When a program is invoked it is given an array of strings called the
ENVIRONMENT. This is a list of name-value pairs, of the form
`name=value'.
Bash allows you to manipulate the environment in several ways. On
invocation, the shell scans its own environment and creates a parameter
for each name found, automatically marking it for EXPORT to child
processes. Executed commands inherit the environment. The `export'
and `declare -x' commands allow parameters and functions to be added to
and deleted from the environment. If the value of a parameter in the
environment is modified, the new value becomes part of the environment,
replacing the old. The environment inherited by any executed command
consists of the shell's initial environment, whose values may be
modified in the shell, less any pairs removed by the `unset' and
`export -n' commands, plus any additions via the `export' and `declare
-x' commands.
The environment for any simple command or function may be augmented
temporarily by prefixing it with parameter assignments, as described in
*Note Shell Parameters::. These assignment statements affect only the
environment seen by that command.
If the `-k' option is set (*note The Set Builtin::.), then all
parameter assignments are placed in the environment for a command, not
just those that precede the command name.
When Bash invokes an external command, the variable `$_' is set to
the full path name of the command and passed to that command in its
environment.

File: bashref.info, Node: Exit Status, Next: Signals, Prev: Environment, Up: Executing Commands
Exit Status
-----------
For the shell's purposes, a command which exits with a zero exit
status has succeeded. A non-zero exit status indicates failure. This
seemingly counter-intuitive scheme is used so there is one well-defined
way to indicate success and a variety of ways to indicate various
failure modes. When a command terminates on a fatal signal whose
number is N, Bash uses the value 128+N as the exit status.
If a command is not found, the child process created to execute it
returns a status of 127. If a command is found but is not executable,
the return status is 126.
If a command fails because of an error during expansion or
redirection, the exit status is greater than zero.
The exit status is used by the Bash conditional commands (*note
Conditional Constructs::.) and some of the list constructs (*note
Lists::.).
All of the Bash builtins return an exit status of zero if they
succeed and a non-zero status on failure, so they may be used by the
conditional and list constructs. All builtins return an exit status of
2 to indicate incorrect usage.

File: bashref.info, Node: Signals, Prev: Exit Status, Up: Executing Commands
Signals
-------
When Bash is interactive, in the absence of any traps, it ignores
`SIGTERM' (so that `kill 0' does not kill an interactive shell), and
`SIGINT' is caught and handled (so that the `wait' builtin is
interruptible). When Bash receives a `SIGINT', it breaks out of any
executing loops. In all cases, Bash ignores `SIGQUIT'. If job control
is in effect (*note Job Control::.), Bash ignores `SIGTTIN', `SIGTTOU',
and `SIGTSTP'.
Commands started by Bash have signal handlers set to the values
inherited by the shell from its parent. When job control is not in
effect, asynchronous commands ignore `SIGINT' and `SIGQUIT' as well.
Commands run as a result of command substitution ignore the
keyboard-generated job control signals `SIGTTIN', `SIGTTOU', and
`SIGTSTP'.
The shell exits by default upon receipt of a `SIGHUP'. Before
exiting, it resends the `SIGHUP' to all jobs, running or stopped.
Stopped jobs are sent `SIGCONT' to ensure that they receive the
`SIGHUP'. To prevent the shell from sending the `SIGHUP' signal to a
particular job, it should be removed from the jobs table with the
`disown' builtin (*note Job Control Builtins::.) or marked to not
receive `SIGHUP' using `disown -h'.
If the `huponexit' shell option has been set with `shopt' (*note
Bash Builtins::.), Bash sends a `SIGHUP' to all jobs when an
interactive login shell exits.
When Bash receives a signal for which a trap has been set while
waiting for a command to complete, the trap will not be executed until
the command completes. When Bash is waiting for an asynchronous
command via the `wait' builtin, the reception of a signal for which a
trap has been set will cause the `wait' builtin to return immediately
with an exit status greater than 128, immediately after which the trap
is executed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Scripts, Prev: Executing Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features
Shell Scripts
=============
A shell script is a text file containing shell commands. When such
a file is used as the first non-option argument when invoking Bash, and
neither the `-c' nor `-s' option is supplied (*note Invoking Bash::.),
Bash reads and executes commands from the file, then exits. This mode
of operation creates a non-interactive shell. When Bash runs a shell
script, it sets the special parameter `0' to the name of the file,
rather than the name of the shell, and the positional parameters are
set to the remaining arguments, if any are given. If no additional
arguments are supplied, the positional parameters are unset.
A shell script may be made executable by using the `chmod' command
to turn on the execute bit. When Bash finds such a file while
searching the `$PATH' for a command, it spawns a subshell to execute
it. In other words, executing
filename ARGUMENTS
is equivalent to executing
bash filename ARGUMENTS
if `filename' is an executable shell script. This subshell
reinitializes itself, so that the effect is as if a new shell had been
invoked to interpret the script, with the exception that the locations
of commands remembered by the parent (see the description of `hash' in
*Note Bourne Shell Builtins::) are retained by the child.
Most versions of Unix make this a part of the kernel's command
execution mechanism. If the first line of a script begins with the two
characters `#!', the remainder of the line specifies an interpreter for
the program. The arguments to the interpreter consist of a single
optional argument following the interpreter name on the first line of
the script file, followed by the name of the script file, followed by
the rest of the arguments. Bash will perform this action on operating
systems that do not handle it themselves. Note that some older
versions of Unix limit the interpreter name and argument to a maximum
of 32 characters.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bourne Shell Features, Next: Bash Features, Prev: Basic Shell Features, Up: Top
Bourne Shell Style Features
***************************
* Menu:
* Bourne Shell Builtins:: Builtin commands inherited from the Bourne
Shell.
* Bourne Shell Variables:: Variables which Bash uses in the same way
as the Bourne Shell.
* Other Bourne Shell Features:: Addtional aspects of Bash which behave in
the same way as the Bourne Shell.
This section briefly summarizes things which Bash inherits from the
Bourne Shell: builtins, variables, and other features. It also lists
the significant differences between Bash and the Bourne Shell. Many of
the builtins have been extended by POSIX or Bash.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bourne Shell Builtins, Next: Bourne Shell Variables, Up: Bourne Shell Features
Bourne Shell Builtins
=====================
The following shell builtin commands are inherited from the Bourne
Shell. These commands are implemented as specified by the POSIX 1003.2
standard.
`:'
: [ARGUMENTS]
Do nothing beyond expanding ARGUMENTS and performing redirections.
The return status is zero.
`.'
. FILENAME [ARGUMENTS]
Read and execute commands from the FILENAME argument in the
current shell context. If FILENAME does not contain a slash, the
`$PATH' variable is used to find FILENAME. The current directory
is searched if FILENAME is not found in `$PATH'. If any ARGUMENTS
are supplied, they become the positional parameters when FILENAME
is executed. Otherwise the positional parameters are unchanged.
The return status is the exit status of the last command executed,
or zero if no commands are executed. If FILENAME is not found, or
cannot be read, the return status is non-zero.
`break'
break [N]
Exit from a `for', `while', `until', or `select' loop. If N is
supplied, the Nth enclosing loop is exited. N must be greater
than or equal to 1. The return status is zero unless N is not
greater than or equal to 1.
`cd'
cd [-LP] [DIRECTORY]
Change the current working directory to DIRECTORY. If DIRECTORY
is not given, the value of the `HOME' shell variable is used. If
the shell variable `CDPATH' exists, it is used as a search path.
If DIRECTORY begins with a slash, `CDPATH' is not used. The `-P'
option means to not follow symbolic links; symbolic links are
followed by default or with the `-L' option. If DIRECTORY is `-',
it is equivalent to `$OLDPWD'. The return status is zero if the
directory is successfully changed, non-zero otherwise.
`continue'
continue [N]
Resume the next iteration of an enclosing `for', `while', `until',
or `select' loop. If N is supplied, the execution of the Nth
enclosing loop is resumed. N must be greater than or equal to 1.
The return status is zero unless N is not greater than or equal to
1.
`eval'
eval [ARGUMENTS]
The arguments are concatenated together into a single command,
which is then read and executed, and its exit status returned as
the exit status of `eval'. If there are no arguments or only
empty arguments, the return status is zero.
`exec'
exec [-cl] [-a NAME] [COMMAND [ARGUMENTS]]
If COMMAND is supplied, it replaces the shell without creating a
new process. If the `-l' option is supplied, the shell places a
dash in the zeroth arg passed to COMMAND. This is what the
`login' program does. The `-c' option causes COMMAND to be
executed with an empty environment. If `-a' is supplied, the
shell passes NAME as the zeroth argument to COMMAND. If no
COMMAND is specified, redirections may be used to affect the
current shell environment. If there are no redirection errors, the
return status is zero; otherwise the return status is non-zero.
`exit'
exit [N]
Exit the shell, returning a status of N to the shell's parent.
Any trap on `EXIT' is executed before the shell terminates.
`export'
export [-fn] [-p] [NAME[=VALUE]]
Mark each NAME to be passed to child processes in the environment.
If the `-f' option is supplied, the NAMEs refer to shell
functions; otherwise the names refer to shell variables. The `-n'
option means to no longer mark each NAME for export. If no NAMES
are supplied, or if the `-p' option is given, a list of exported
names is displayed. The `-p' option displays output in a form
that may be reused as input. The return status is zero unless an
invalid option is supplied, one of the names is not a valid shell
variable name, or `-f' is supplied with a name that is not a shell
function.
`getopts'
getopts OPTSTRING NAME [ARGS]
`getopts' is used by shell scripts to parse positional parameters.
OPTSTRING contains the option letters to be recognized; if a letter
is followed by a colon, the option is expected to have an
argument, which should be separated from it by white space. Each
time it is invoked, `getopts' places the next option in the shell
variable NAME, initializing NAME if it does not exist, and the
index of the next argument to be processed into the variable
`OPTIND'. `OPTIND' is initialized to 1 each time the shell or a
shell script is invoked. When an option requires an argument,
`getopts' places that argument into the variable `OPTARG'. The
shell does not reset `OPTIND' automatically; it must be manually
reset between multiple calls to `getopts' within the same shell
invocation if a new set of parameters is to be used.
When the end of options is encountered, `getopts' exits with a
return value greater than zero. `OPTIND' is set to the index of
the first non-option argument, and `name' is set to `?'.
`getopts' normally parses the positional parameters, but if more
arguments are given in ARGS, `getopts' parses those instead.
`getopts' can report errors in two ways. If the first character of
OPTSTRING is a colon, SILENT error reporting is used. In normal
operation diagnostic messages are printed when invalid options or
missing option arguments are encountered. If the variable `OPTERR'
is set to 0, no error messages will be displayed, even if the first
character of `optstring' is not a colon.
If an invalid option is seen, `getopts' places `?' into NAME and,
if not silent, prints an error message and unsets `OPTARG'. If
`getopts' is silent, the option character found is placed in
`OPTARG' and no diagnostic message is printed.
If a required argument is not found, and `getopts' is not silent,
a question mark (`?') is placed in NAME, `OPTARG' is unset, and a
diagnostic message is printed. If `getopts' is silent, then a
colon (`:') is placed in NAME and `OPTARG' is set to the option
character found.
`hash'
hash [-r] [-p FILENAME] [NAME]
Remember the full pathnames of commands specified as NAME
arguments, so they need not be searched for on subsequent
invocations. The commands are found by searching through the
directories listed in `$PATH'. The `-p' option inhibits the path
search, and FILENAME is used as the location of NAME. The `-r'
option causes the shell to forget all remembered locations. If no
arguments are given, information about remembered commands is
printed. The return status is zero unless a NAME is not found or
an invalid option is supplied.
`pwd'
pwd [-LP]
Print the current working directory. If the `-P' option is
supplied, the path printed will not contain symbolic links. If
the `-L' option is supplied, the path printed may contain symbolic
links. The return status is zero unless an error is encountered
while determining the name of the current directory or an invalid
option is supplied.
`readonly'
readonly [-apf] [NAME] ...
Mark each NAME as readonly. The values of these names may not be
changed by subsequent assignment. If the `-f' option is supplied,
each NAME refers to a shell function. The `-a' option means each
NAME refers to an array variable. If no NAME arguments are given,
or if the `-p' option is supplied, a list of all readonly names is
printed. The `-p' option causes output to be displayed in a
format that may be reused as input. The return status is zero
unless an invalid option is supplied, one of the NAME arguments is
not a valid shell variable or function name, or the `-f' option is
supplied with a name that is not a shell function.
`return'
return [N]
Cause a shell function to exit with the return value N. This may
also be used to terminate execution of a script being executed
with the `.' builtin, returning either N or the exit status of the
last command executed within the script as the exit status of the
script. The return status is false if `return' is used outside a
function and not during the execution of a script by `.'.
`shift'
shift [N]
Shift the positional parameters to the left by N. The positional
parameters from N+1 ... `$#' are renamed to `$1' ... `$#'-N+1.
Parameters represented by the numbers `$#' to N+1 are unset. N
must be a non-negative number less than or equal to `$#'. If N is
zero or greater than `$#', the positional parameters are not
changed. The return status is zero unless N is greater than `$#'
or less than zero, non-zero otherwise.
`test'
`['
Evaluate a conditional expression EXPR. Each operator and operand
must be a separate argument. Expressions are composed of the
primaries described below in *Note Bash Conditional Expressions::.
Expressions may be combined using the following operators, listed
in decreasing order of precedence.
`! EXPR'
True if EXPR is false.
`( EXPR )'
Returns the value of EXPR. This may be used to override the
normal precedence of operators.
`EXPR1 -a EXPR2'
True if both EXPR1 and EXPR2 are true.
`EXPR1 -o EXPR2'
True if either EXPR1 or EXPR2 is true.
The `test' and `[' builtins evaluate conditional expressions using
a set of rules based on the number of arguments.
0 arguments
The expression is false.
1 argument
The expression is true if and only if the argument is not
null.
2 arguments
If the first argument is `!', the expression is true if and
only if the second argument is null. If the first argument
is one of the unary conditional operators (*note Bash
Conditional Expressions::.), the expression is true if the
unary test is true. If the first argument is not a valid
unary operator, the expression is false.
3 arguments
If the second argument is one of the binary conditional
operators (*note Bash Conditional Expressions::.), the result
of the expression is the result of the binary test using the
first and third arguments as operands. If the first argument
is `!', the value is the negation of the two-argument test
using the second and third arguments. If the first argument
is exactly `(' and the third argument is exactly `)', the
result is the one-argument test of the second argument.
Otherwise, the expression is false. The `-a' and `-o'
operators are considered binary operators in this case.
4 arguments
If the first argument is `!', the result is the negation of
the three-argument expression composed of the remaining
arguments. Otherwise, the expression is parsed and evaluated
according to precedence using the rules listed above.
5 or more arguments
The expression is parsed and evaluated according to precedence
using the rules listed above.
`times'
times
Print out the user and system times used by the shell and its
children. The return status is zero.
`trap'
trap [-lp] [ARG] [SIGSPEC ...]
The commands in ARG are to be read and executed when the shell
receives signal SIGSPEC. If ARG is absent or equal to `-', all
specified signals are reset to the values they had when the shell
was started. If ARG is the null string, then the signal specified
by each SIGSPEC is ignored by the shell and commands it invokes.
If ARG is `-p', the shell displays the trap commands associated
with each SIGSPEC. If no arguments are supplied, or only `-p' is
given, `trap' prints the list of commands associated with each
signal number in a form that may be reused as shell input. Each
SIGSPEC is either a signal name such as `SIGINT' (with or without
the `SIG' prefix) or a signal number. If a SIGSPEC is `0' or
`EXIT', ARG is executed when the shell exits. If a SIGSPEC is
`DEBUG', the command ARG is executed after every simple command.
The `-l' option causes the shell to print a list of signal names
and their corresponding numbers.
Signals ignored upon entry to the shell cannot be trapped or reset.
Trapped signals are reset to their original values in a child
process when it is created.
The return status is zero unless a SIGSPEC does not specify a
valid signal.
`umask'
umask [-p] [-S] [MODE]
Set the shell process's file creation mask to MODE. If MODE
begins with a digit, it is interpreted as an octal number; if not,
it is interpreted as a symbolic mode mask similar to that accepted
by the `chmod' command. If MODE is omitted, the current value of
the mask is printed. If the `-S' option is supplied without a
MODE argument, the mask is printed in a symbolic format. If the
`-p' option is supplied, and MODE is omitted, the output is in a
form that may be reused as input. The return status is zero if
the mode is successfully changed or if no MODE argument is
supplied, and non-zero otherwise.
`unset'
unset [-fv] [NAME]
Each variable or function NAME is removed. If no options are
supplied, or the `-v' option is given, each NAME refers to a shell
variable. If the `-f' option is given, the NAMEs refer to shell
functions, and the function definition is removed. Readonly
variables and functions may not be unset. The return status is
zero unless a NAME does not exist or is readonly.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bourne Shell Variables, Next: Other Bourne Shell Features, Prev: Bourne Shell Builtins, Up: Bourne Shell Features
Bourne Shell Variables
======================
Bash uses certain shell variables in the same way as the Bourne
shell. In some cases, Bash assigns a default value to the variable.
`CDPATH'
A colon-separated list of directories used as a search path for
the `cd' builtin command.
`HOME'
The current user's home directory; the default for the `cd' builtin
command. The value of this variable is also used by tilde
expansion (*note Tilde Expansion::.).
`IFS'
A list of characters that separate fields; used when the shell
splits words as part of expansion.
`MAIL'
If this parameter is set to a filename and the `MAILPATH' variable
is not set, Bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in the
specified file.
`MAILPATH'
A colon-separated list of filenames which the shell periodically
checks for new mail. Each list entry can specify the message that
is printed when new mail arrives in the mail file by separating
the file name from the message with a `?'. When used in the text
of the message, `$_' expands to the name of the current mail file.
`OPTARG'
The value of the last option argument processed by the `getopts'
builtin.
`OPTIND'
The index of the last option argument processed by the `getopts'
builtin.
`PATH'
A colon-separated list of directories in which the shell looks for
commands.
`PS1'
The primary prompt string. The default value is `\s-\v\$ '.
`PS2'
The secondary prompt string. The default value is `> '.

File: bashref.info, Node: Other Bourne Shell Features, Prev: Bourne Shell Variables, Up: Bourne Shell Features
Other Bourne Shell Features
===========================
* Menu:
* Major Differences From The Bourne Shell:: Major differences between
Bash and the Bourne shell.
Bash implements essentially the same grammar, parameter and variable
expansion, redirection, and quoting as the Bourne Shell. Bash uses the
POSIX 1003.2 standard as the specification of how these features are to
be implemented. There are some differences between the traditional
Bourne shell and Bash; this section quickly details the differences of
significance. A number of these differences are explained in greater
depth in subsequent sections.

File: bashref.info, Node: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell, Up: Other Bourne Shell Features
Major Differences From The SVR4.2 Bourne Shell
----------------------------------------------
* Bash is POSIX-conformant, even where the POSIX specification
differs from traditional `sh' behavior.
* Bash has multi-character invocation options (*note Invoking
Bash::.).
* Bash has command-line editing (*note Command Line Editing::.) and
the `bind' builtin.
* Bash has command history (*note Bash History Facilities::.) and the
`history' and `fc' builtins to manipulate it.
* Bash implements `csh'-like history expansion (*note History
Interaction::.).
* Bash has one-dimensional array variables (*note Arrays::.), and the
appropriate variable expansions and assignment syntax to use them.
Several of the Bash builtins take options to act on arrays. Bash
provides a number of built-in array variables.
* The `$'...'' quoting syntax, which expands ANSI-C
backslash-escaped characters in the text between the single quotes,
is supported (*note ANSI-C Quoting::.).
* Bash supports the `$"..."' quoting syntax to do locale-specific
translation of the characters between the double quotes. The
`-D', `--dump-strings', and `--dump-po-strings' invocation options
list the translatable strings found in a script (*note Locale
Translation::.).
* Bash implements the `!' keyword to negate the return value of a
pipeline (*note Pipelines::.). Very useful when an `if' statement
needs to act only if a test fails.
* Bash has the `time' reserved word and command timing (*note
Pipelines::.). The display of the timing statistics may be
controlled with the `TIMEFORMAT' variable.
* Bash includes the `select' compound command, which allows the
generation of simple menus (*note Conditional Constructs::.).
* Bash includes the `[[' compound command, which makes conditional
testing part of the shell grammar (*note Conditional
Constructs::.).
* Bash includes brace expansion (*note Brace Expansion::.) and tilde
expansion (*note Tilde Expansion::.).
* Bash implements command aliases and the `alias' and `unalias'
builtins (*note Aliases::.).
* Bash provides shell arithmetic, the `((' compound command (*note
Conditional Constructs::.), and arithmetic expansion (*note Shell
Arithmetic::.).
* Variables present in the shell's initial environment are
automatically exported to child processes. The Bourne shell does
not normally do this unless the variables are explicitly marked
using the `export' command.
* Bash includes the POSIX pattern removal `%', `#', `%%' and `##'
expansions to remove leading or trailing substrings from variable
values (*note Shell Parameter Expansion::.).
* The expansion `${#xx}', which returns the length of `${xx}', is
supported (*note Shell Parameter Expansion::.).
* The expansion `${var:'OFFSET`[:'LENGTH`]}', which expands to the
substring of `var''s value of length LENGTH, beginning at OFFSET,
is present (*note Shell Parameter Expansion::.).
* The expansion `${var/[/]'PATTERN`[/'REPLACEMENT`]}', which matches
PATTERN and replaces it with REPLACEMENT in the value of `var', is
available (*note Shell Parameter Expansion::.).
* Bash has INDIRECT variable expansion using `${!word}' (*note Shell
Parameter Expansion::.).
* Bash can expand positional parameters beyond `$9' using `${NUM}'.
* The POSIX `$()' form of command substitution is implemented (*note
Command Substitution::.), and preferred to the Bourne shell's ```'
(which is also implemented for backwards compatibility).
* Bash has process substitution (*note Process Substitution::.).
* Bash automatically assigns variables that provide information
about the current user (`UID', `EUID', and `GROUPS'), the current
host (`HOSTTYPE', `OSTYPE', `MACHTYPE', and `HOSTNAME'), and the
instance of Bash that is running (`BASH', `BASH_VERSION', and
`BASH_VERSINFO'). *Note Bash Variables::, for details.
* The `IFS' variable is used to split only the results of expansion,
not all words (*note Word Splitting::.). This closes a
longstanding shell security hole.
* Bash implements the full set of POSIX.2 filename expansion
operators, including CHARACTER CLASSES, EQUIVALENCE CLASSES, and
COLLATING SYMBOLS (*note Filename Expansion::.).
* Bash implements extended pattern matching features when the
`extglob' shell option is enabled (*note Pattern Matching::.).
* It is possible to have a variable and a function with the same
name; `sh' does not separate the two name spaces.
* Bash functions are permitted to have local variables using the
`local' builtin, and thus useful recursive functions may be
written.
* Variable assignments preceding commands affect only that command,
even builtins and functions (*note Environment::.). In `sh', all
variable assignments preceding commands are global unless the
command is executed from the file system.
* Bash performs filename expansion on filenames specified as operands
to input and output redirection operators.
* Bash contains the `<>' redirection operator, allowing a file to be
opened for both reading and writing, and the `&>' redirection
operator, for directing standard output and standard error to the
same file (*note Redirections::.).
* The `noclobber' option is available to avoid overwriting existing
files with output redirection (*note The Set Builtin::.). The
`>|' redirection operator may be used to override `noclobber'.
* The Bash `cd' and `pwd' builtins (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.)
each take `-L' and `-P' builtins to switch between logical and
physical modes.
* Bash allows a function to override a builtin with the same name,
and provides access to that builtin's functionality within the
function via the `builtin' and `command' builtins (*note Bash
Builtins::.).
* The `command' builtin allows selective disabling of functions when
command lookup is performed (*note Bash Builtins::.).
* Individual builtins may be enabled or disabled using the `enable'
builtin (*note Bash Builtins::.).
* The Bash `exec' builtin takes additional options that allow users
to control the contents of the environment passed to the executed
command, and what the zeroth argument to the command is to be
(*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.).
* Shell functions may be exported to children via the environment
using `export -f' (*note Shell Functions::.).
* The Bash `export', `readonly', and `declare' builtins can take a
`-f' option to act on shell functions, a `-p' option to display
variables with various attributes set in a format that can be used
as shell input, a `-n' option to remove various variable
attributes, and `name=value' arguments to set variable attributes
and values simultaneously.
* The Bash `hash' builtin allows a name to be associated with an
arbitrary filename, even when that filename cannot be found by
searching the `$PATH', using `hash -p' (*note Bourne Shell
Builtins::.).
* Bash includes a `help' builtin for quick reference to shell
facilities (*note Bash Builtins::.).
* The `printf' builtin is available to display formatted output
(*note Bash Builtins::.).
* The Bash `read' builtin (*note Bash Builtins::.) will read a line
ending in `\' with the `-r' option, and will use the `REPLY'
variable as a default if no arguments are supplied. The Bash
`read' builtin also accepts a prompt string with the `-p' option
and will use Readline to obtain the line when given the `-e'
option.
* The `return' builtin may be used to abort execution of scripts
executed with the `.' or `source' builtins (*note Bourne Shell
Builtins::.).
* Bash includes the `shopt' builtin, for finer control of shell
optional capabilities (*note Bash Builtins::.).
* Bash has much more optional behavior controllable with the `set'
builtin (*note The Set Builtin::.).
* The `test' builtin (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.) is slightly
different, as it implements the POSIX algorithm, which specifies
the behavior based on the number of arguments.
* The `trap' builtin (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.) allows a
`DEBUG' pseudo-signal specification, similar to `EXIT'. Commands
specified with a `DEBUG' trap are executed after every simple
command. The `DEBUG' trap is not inherited by shell functions.
* The Bash `type' builtin is more extensive and gives more
information about the names it finds (*note Bash Builtins::.).
* The Bash `umask' builtin permits a `-p' option to cause the output
to be displayed in the form of a `umask' command that may be
reused as input (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.).
* Bash implements a `csh'-like directory stack, and provides the
`pushd', `popd', and `dirs' builtins to manipulate it (*note The
Directory Stack::.). Bash also makes the directory stack visible
as the value of the `DIRSTACK' shell variable.
* Bash interprets special backslash-escaped characters in the prompt
strings when interactive (*note Printing a Prompt::.).
* The Bash restricted mode is more useful (*note The Restricted
Shell::.); the SVR4.2 shell restricted mode is too limited.
* The `disown' builtin can remove a job from the internal shell job
table (*note Job Control Builtins::.) or suppress the sending of
`SIGHUP' to a job when the shell exits as the result of a `SIGHUP'.
* The SVR4.2 shell has two privilege-related builtins (`mldmode' and
`priv') not present in Bash.
* Bash does not have the `stop' or `newgrp' builtins.
* Bash does not use the `SHACCT' variable or perform shell
accounting.
* The SVR4.2 `sh' uses a `TIMEOUT' variable like Bash uses `TMOUT'.
More features unique to Bash may be found in *Note Bash Features::.
Implementation Differences From The SVR4.2 Shell
------------------------------------------------
Since Bash is a completely new implementation, it does not suffer
from many of the limitations of the SVR4.2 shell. For instance:
* Bash does not fork a subshell when redirecting into or out of a
shell control structure such as an `if' or `while' statement.
* Bash does not allow unbalanced quotes. The SVR4.2 shell will
silently insert a needed closing quote at `EOF' under certain
circumstances. This can be the cause of some hard-to-find errors.
* The SVR4.2 shell uses a baroque memory management scheme based on
trapping `SIGSEGV'. If the shell is started from a process with
`SIGSEGV' blocked (e.g., by using the `system()' C library
function call), it misbehaves badly.
* In a questionable attempt at security, the SVR4.2 shell, when
invoked without the `-p' option, will alter its real and effective
UID and GID if they are less than some magic threshold value,
commonly 100. This can lead to unexpected results.
* The SVR4.2 shell does not allow users to trap `SIGSEGV',
`SIGALRM', or `SIGCHLD'.
* The SVR4.2 shell does not allow the `IFS', `MAILCHECK', `PATH',
`PS1', or `PS2' variables to be unset.
* The SVR4.2 shell treats `^' as the undocumented equivalent of `|'.
* Bash allows multiple option arguments when it is invoked (`-x -v');
the SVR4.2 shell allows only one option argument (`-xv'). In
fact, some versions of the shell dump core if the second argument
begins with a `-'.
* The SVR4.2 shell exits a script if any builtin fails; Bash exits a
script only if one of the POSIX.2 special builtins fails, and only
for certain failures, as enumerated in the POSIX.2 standard.
* The SVR4.2 shell behaves differently when invoked as `jsh' (it
turns on job control).

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash Features, Next: Job Control, Prev: Bourne Shell Features, Up: Top
Bash Features
*************
This section describes features unique to Bash.
* Menu:
* Invoking Bash:: Command line options that you can give
to Bash.
* Bash Startup Files:: When and how Bash executes scripts.
* Is This Shell Interactive?:: Determining the state of a running Bash.
* Bash Builtins:: Table of builtins specific to Bash.
* The Set Builtin:: This builtin is so overloaded it
deserves its own section.
* Bash Conditional Expressions:: Primitives used in composing expressions for
the `test' builtin.
* Bash Variables:: List of variables that exist in Bash.
* Shell Arithmetic:: Arithmetic on shell variables.
* Aliases:: Substituting one command for another.
* Arrays:: Array Variables.
* The Directory Stack:: History of visited directories.
* Printing a Prompt:: Controlling the PS1 string.
* The Restricted Shell:: A more controlled mode of shell execution.
* Bash POSIX Mode:: Making Bash behave more closely to what
the POSIX standard specifies.

File: bashref.info, Node: Invoking Bash, Next: Bash Startup Files, Up: Bash Features
Invoking Bash
=============
bash [long-opt] [-ir] [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o OPTION] [ARGUMENT ...]
bash [long-opt] [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o OPTION] -c STRING [ARGUMENT ...]
bash [long-opt] -s [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o OPTION] [ARGUMENT ...]
In addition to the single-character shell command-line options
(*note The Set Builtin::.), there are several multi-character options
that you can use. These options must appear on the command line before
the single-character options in order for them to be recognized.
`--dump-po-strings'
Equivalent to `-D', but the output is in the GNU `gettext' PO
(portable object) file format.
`--dump-strings'
Equivalent to `-D'.
`--help'
Display a usage message on standard output and exit sucessfully.
`--login'
Make this shell act as if it were directly invoked by login. This
is equivalent to `exec -l bash' but can be issued from another
shell, such as `csh'. `exec bash --login' will replace the
current shell with a Bash login shell.
`--noediting'
Do not use the GNU Readline library (*note Command Line Editing::.)
to read interactive command lines.
`--noprofile'
Don't load the system-wide startup file `/etc/profile' or any of
the personal initialization files `~/.bash_profile',
`~/.bash_login', or `~/.profile' when Bash is invoked as a login
shell.
`--norc'
Don't read the `~/.bashrc' initialization file in an interactive
shell. This is on by default if the shell is invoked as `sh'.
`--posix'
Change the behavior of Bash where the default operation differs
from the POSIX 1003.2 standard to match the standard. This is
intended to make Bash behave as a strict superset of that
standard. *Note Bash POSIX Mode::, for a description of the Bash
POSIX mode.
`--rcfile FILENAME'
Execute commands from FILENAME (instead of `~/.bashrc') in an
interactive shell.
`--restricted'
Make the shell a restricted shell (*note The Restricted Shell::.).
`--verbose'
Equivalent to `-v'.
`--version'
Show version information for this instance of Bash on the standard
output and exit successfully.
There are several single-character options that may be supplied at
invocation which are not available with the `set' builtin.
`-c STRING'
Read and execute commands from STRING after processing the
options, then exit. Any remaining arguments are assigned to the
positional parameters, starting with `$0'.
`-i'
Force the shell to run interactively.
`-r'
Make the shell a restricted shell (*note The Restricted Shell::.).
`-s'
If this option is present, or if no arguments remain after option
processing, then commands are read from the standard input. This
option allows the positional parameters to be set when invoking an
interactive shell.
`-D'
A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by `$' is printed on
the standard ouput. These are the strings that are subject to
language translation when the current locale is not `C' or `POSIX'
(*note Locale Translation::.). This implies the `-n' option; no
commands will be executed.
`--'
A `--' signals the end of options and disables further option
processing. Any arguments after the `--' are treated as filenames
and arguments.
An *interactive* shell is one whose input and output are both
connected to terminals (as determined by `isatty(3)'), or one started
with the `-i' option.
If arguments remain after option processing, and neither the `-c'
nor the `-s' option has been supplied, the first argument is assumed to
be the name of a file containing shell commands (*note Shell
Scripts::.). When Bash is invoked in this fashion, `$0' is set to the
name of the file, and the positional parameters are set to the
remaining arguments. Bash reads and executes commands from this file,
then exits. Bash's exit status is the exit status of the last command
executed in the script. If no commands are executed, the exit status
is 0.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash Startup Files, Next: Is This Shell Interactive?, Prev: Invoking Bash, Up: Bash Features
Bash Startup Files
==================
This section describs how Bash executes its startup files. If any
of the files exist but cannot be read, Bash reports an error. Tildes
are expanded in file names as described above under Tilde Expansion
(*note Tilde Expansion::.).
When Bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a
non-interactive shell with the `--login' option, it first reads and
executes commands from the file `/etc/profile', if that file exists.
After reading that file, it looks for `~/.bash_profile',
`~/.bash_login', and `~/.profile', in that order, and reads and
executes commands from the first one that exists and is readable. The
`--noprofile' option may be used when the shell is started to inhibit
this behavior.
When a login shell exits, Bash reads and executes commands from the
file `~/.bash_logout', if it exists.
When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started, Bash
reads and executes commands from `~/.bashrc', if that file exists.
This may be inhibited by using the `--norc' option. The `--rcfile
FILE' option will force Bash to read and execute commands from FILE
instead of `~/.bashrc'.
So, typically, your `~/.bash_profile' contains the line
`if [ -f `~/.bashrc' ]; then . `~/.bashrc'; fi'
after (or before) any login-specific initializations.
When Bash is started non-interactively, to run a shell script, for
example, it looks for the variable `BASH_ENV' in the environment,
expands its value if it appears there, and uses the expanded value as
the name of a file to read and execute. Bash behaves as if the
following command were executed:
`if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi'
but the value of the `PATH' variable is not used to search for the file
name.
If Bash is invoked with the name `sh', it tries to mimic the startup
behavior of historical versions of `sh' as closely as possible, while
conforming to the POSIX standard as well.
When invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-interactive
shell with the `--login' option, it first attempts to read and execute
commands from `/etc/profile' and `~/.profile', in that order. The
`--noprofile' option may be used to inhibit this behavior. When
invoked as an interactive shell with the name `sh', Bash looks for the
variable `ENV', expands its value if it is defined, and uses the
expanded value as the name of a file to read and execute. Since a
shell invoked as `sh' does not attempt to read and execute commands
from any other startup files, the `--rcfile' option has no effect. A
non-interactive shell invoked with the name `sh' does not attempt to
read any other startup files.
When invoked as `sh', Bash enters POSIX mode after the startup files
are read.
When Bash is started in POSIX mode, as with the `--posix' command
line option, it follows the POSIX standard for startup files. In this
mode, interactive shells expand the `ENV' variable and commands are
read and executed from the file whose name is the expanded value. No
other startup files are read.
Bash attempts to determine when it is being run by the remote shell
daemon, usually `rshd'. If Bash determines it is being run by rshd, it
reads and executes commands from `~/.bashrc', if that file exists and
is readable. It will not do this if invoked as `sh'. The `--norc'
option may be used to inhibit this behavior, and the `--rcfile' option
may be used to force another file to be read, but `rshd' does not
generally invoke the shell with those options or allow them to be
specified.
If Bash is started with the effective user (group) id not equal to
the real user (group) id, and the `-p' option is not supplied, no
startup files are read, shell functions are not inherited from the
environment, the `SHELLOPTS' variable, if it appears in the
environment, is ignored, and the effective user id is set to the real
user id. If the `-p' option is supplied at invocation, the startup
behavior is the same, but the effective user id is not reset.

File: bashref.info, Node: Is This Shell Interactive?, Next: Bash Builtins, Prev: Bash Startup Files, Up: Bash Features
Is This Shell Interactive?
==========================
As defined in *Note Invoking Bash::, an interactive shell is one
whose input and output are both connected to terminals (as determined
by `isatty(3)'), or one started with the `-i' option.
To determine within a startup script whether Bash is running
interactively or not, examine the variable `$PS1'; it is unset in
non-interactive shells, and set in interactive shells. Thus:
if [ -z "$PS1" ]; then
echo This shell is not interactive
else
echo This shell is interactive
fi
Alternatively, startup scripts may test the value of the `-' special
parameter. It contains `i' when the shell is interactive. For example:
case "$-" in
*i*) echo This shell is interactive ;;
*) echo This shell is not interactive ;;
esac

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash Builtins, Next: The Set Builtin, Prev: Is This Shell Interactive?, Up: Bash Features
Bash Builtin Commands
=====================
This section describes builtin commands which are unique to or have
been extended in Bash.
`bind'
bind [-m KEYMAP] [-lpsvPSV]
bind [-m KEYMAP] [-q FUNCTION] [-u FUNCTION] [-r KEYSEQ]
bind [-m KEYMAP] -f FILENAME
bind [-m KEYMAP] KEYSEQ:FUNCTION-NAME
Display current Readline (*note Command Line Editing::.) key and
function bindings, or bind a key sequence to a Readline function
or macro. The binding syntax accepted is identical to that of
`.inputrc' (*note Readline Init File::.), but each binding must be
passed as a separate argument: e.g.,
`"\C-x\C-r":re-read-init-file'. Options, if supplied, have the
following meanings:
`-m KEYMAP'
Use KEYMAP as the keymap to be affected by the subsequent
bindings. Acceptable KEYMAP names are `emacs',
`emacs-standard', `emacs-meta', `emacs-ctlx', `vi',
`vi-command', and `vi-insert'. `vi' is equivalent to
`vi-command'; `emacs' is equivalent to `emacs-standard'.
`-l'
List the names of all Readline functions.
`-p'
Display Readline function names and bindings in such a way
that they can be re-read.
`-P'
List current Readline function names and bindings.
`-v'
Display Readline variable names and values in such a way that
they can be re-read.
`-V'
List current Readline variable names and values.
`-s'
Display Readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output in such a way that they can be re-read.
`-S'
Display Readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output.
`-f FILENAME'
Read key bindings from FILENAME.
`-q FUNCTION'
Query about which keys invoke the named FUNCTION.
`-u FUNCTION'
Unbind all keys bound to the named FUNCTION.
`-r KEYSEQ'
Remove any current binding for KEYSEQ.
The return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied or
an error occurs.
`builtin'
builtin [SHELL-BUILTIN [ARGS]]
Run a shell builtin, passing it ARGS, and return its exit status.
This is useful when defining a shell function with the same name
as a shell builtin, retaining the functionality of the builtin
within the function. The return status is non-zero if
SHELL-BUILTIN is not a shell builtin command.
`command'
command [-pVv] COMMAND [ARGUMENTS ...]
Runs COMMAND with ARGUMENTS ignoring any shell function named
COMMAND. Only shell builtin commands or commands found by
searching the `PATH' are executed. If there is a shell function
named `ls', running `command ls' within the function will execute
the external command `ls' instead of calling the function
recursively. The `-p' option means to use a default value for
`$PATH' that is guaranteed to find all of the standard utilities.
The return status in this case is 127 if COMMAND cannot be found
or an error occurred, and the exit status of COMMAND otherwise.
If either the `-V' or `-v' option is supplied, a description of
COMMAND is printed. The `-v' option causes a single word
indicating the command or file name used to invoke COMMAND to be
displayed; the `-V' option produces a more verbose description.
In this case, the return status is zero if COMMAND is found, and
non-zero if not.
`declare'
declare [-afFrxi] [-p] [NAME[=VALUE]]
Declare variables and give them attributes. If no NAMEs are
given, then display the values of variables instead.
The `-p' option will display the attributes and values of each
NAME. When `-p' is used, additional options are ignored. The
`-F' option inhibits the display of function definitions; only the
function name and attributes are printed. `-F' implies `-f'. The
following options can be used to restrict output to variables with
the specified attributes or to give variables attributes:
`-a'
Each NAME is an array variable (*note Arrays::.).
`-f'
Use function names only.
`-i'
The variable is to be treated as an integer; arithmetic
evaluation (*note Shell Arithmetic::.) is performed when the
variable is assigned a value.
`-r'
Make NAMEs readonly. These names cannot then be assigned
values by subsequent assignment statements or unset.
`-x'
Mark each NAME for export to subsequent commands via the
environment.
Using `+' instead of `-' turns off the attribute instead. When
used in a function, `declare' makes each NAME local, as with the
`local' command.
The return status is zero unless an invalid option is encountered,
an attempt is made to define a function using `-f foo=bar', an
attempt is made to assign a value to a readonly variable, an
attempt is made to assign a value to an array variable without
using the compound assignment syntax (*note Arrays::.), one of the
NAMES is not a valid shell variable name, an attempt is made to
turn off readonly status for a readonly variable, an attempt is
made to turn off array status for an array variable, or an attempt
is made to display a non-existent function with `-f'.
`echo'
echo [-neE] [ARG ...]
Output the ARGs, separated by spaces, terminated with a newline.
The return status is always 0. If `-n' is specified, the trailing
newline is suppressed. If the `-e' option is given,
interpretation of the following backslash-escaped characters is
enabled. The `-E' option disables the interpretation of these
escape characters, even on systems where they are interpreted by
default. `echo' interprets the following escape sequences:
`\a'
alert (bell)
`\b'
backspace
`\c'
suppress trailing newline
`\e'
escape
`\f'
form feed
`\n'
new line
`\r'
carriage return
`\t'
horizontal tab
`\v'
vertical tab
`\\'
backslash
`\NNN'
the character whose `ASCII' code is the octal value NNN (one
to three digits)
`\xNNN'
the character whose `ASCII' code is the hexadecimal value NNN
(one to three digits)
`enable'
enable [-n] [-p] [-f FILENAME] [-ads] [NAME ...]
Enable and disable builtin shell commands. Disabling a builtin
allows a disk command which has the same name as a shell builtin
to be executed with specifying a full pathname, even though the
shell normally searches for builtins before disk commands. If
`-n' is used, the NAMEs become disabled. Otherwise NAMEs are
enabled. For example, to use the `test' binary found via `$PATH'
instead of the shell builtin version, type `enable -n test'.
If the `-p' option is supplied, or no NAME arguments appear, a
list of shell builtins is printed. With no other arguments, the
list consists of all enabled shell builtins. The `-a' option
means to list each builtin with an indication of whether or not it
is enabled.
The `-f' option means to load the new builtin command NAME from
shared object FILENAME, on systems that support dynamic loading.
The `-d' option will delete a builtin loaded with `-f'.
If there are no options, a list of the shell builtins is displayed.
The `-s' option restricts `enable' to the POSIX special builtins.
If `-s' is used with `-f', the new builtin becomes a special
builtin.
The return status is zero unless a NAME is not a shell builtin or
there is an error loading a new builtin from a shared object.
`help'
help [PATTERN]
Display helpful information about builtin commands. If PATTERN is
specified, `help' gives detailed help on all commands matching
PATTERN, otherwise a list of the builtins is printed. The return
status is zero unless no command matches PATTERN.
`let'
let EXPRESSION [EXPRESSION]
The `let' builtin allows arithmetic to be performed on shell
variables. Each EXPRESSION is evaluated according to the rules
given below in *Note Shell Arithmetic::. If the last EXPRESSION
evaluates to 0, `let' returns 1; otherwise 0 is returned.
`local'
local NAME[=VALUE]
For each argument, a local variable named NAME is created, and
assigned VALUE. `local' can only be used within a function; it
makes the variable NAME have a visible scope restricted to that
function and its children. The return status is zero unless
`local' is used outside a function or an invalid NAME is supplied.
`logout'
logout [N]
Exit a login shell, returning a status of N to the shell's parent.
`printf'
`printf' FORMAT [ARGUMENTS]
Write the formatted ARGUMENTS to the standard output under the
control of the FORMAT. The FORMAT is a character string which
contains three types of objects: plain characters, which are
simply copied to standard output, character escape sequences,
which are converted and copied to the standard output, and format
specifications, each of which causes printing of the next
successive ARGUMENT. In addition to the standard `printf(1)'
formats, `%b' causes `printf' to expand backslash escape sequences
in the corresponding ARGUMENT, and `%q' causes `printf' to output
the corresponding ARGUMENT in a format that can be reused as shell
input.
The FORMAT is reused as necessary to consume all of the ARGUMENTS.
If the FORMAT requires more ARGUMENTS than are supplied, the extra
format specifications behave as if a zero value or null string, as
appropriate, had been supplied.
`read'
read [-a ANAME] [-p PROMPT] [-er] [NAME ...]
One line is read from the standard input, and the first word is
assigned to the first NAME, the second word to the second NAME,
and so on, with leftover words and their intervening separators
assigned to the last NAME. If there are fewer words read from the
standard input than names, the remaining names are assigned empty
values. The characters in the value of the `IFS' variable are
used to split the line into words. The backslash character `\'
may be used to remove any special meaning for the next character
read and for line continuation. If no names are supplied, the
line read is assigned to the variable `REPLY'. The return code is
zero, unless end-of-file is encountered. Options, if supplied,
have the following meanings:
`-r'
If this option is given, backslash does not act as an escape
character. The backslash is considered to be part of the
line. In particular, a backslash-newline pair may not be
used as a line continuation.
`-p PROMPT'
Display PROMPT, without a trailing newline, before attempting
to read any input. The prompt is displayed only if input is
coming from a terminal.
`-a ANAME'
The words are assigned to sequential indices of the array
variable ANAME, starting at 0. All elements are removed from
ANAME before the assignment. Other NAME arguments are
ignored.
`-e'
Readline (*note Command Line Editing::.) is used to obtain
the line.
`shopt'
shopt [-pqsu] [-o] [OPTNAME ...]
Toggle the values of variables controlling optional shell behavior.
With no options, or with the `-p' option, a list of all settable
options is displayed, with an indication of whether or not each is
set. The `-p' option causes output to be displayed in a form that
may be reused as input. Other options have the following meanings:
`-s'
Enable (set) each OPTNAME.
`-u'
Disable (unset) each OPTNAME.
`-q'
Suppresses normal output; the return status indicates whether
the OPTNAME is set or unset. If multiple OPTNAME arguments
are given with `-q', the return status is zero if all
OPTNAMES are enabled; non-zero otherwise.
`-o'
Restricts the values of OPTNAME to be those defined for the
`-o' option to the `set' builtin (*note The Set Builtin::.).
If either `-s' or `-u' is used with no OPTNAME arguments, the
display is limited to those options which are set or unset,
respectively.
Unless otherwise noted, the `shopt' options are disabled (off) by
default.
The return status when listing options is zero if all OPTNAMES are
enabled, non-zero otherwise. When setting or unsetting options,
the return status is zero unless an OPTNAME is not a valid shell
option.
The list of `shopt' options is:
`cdable_vars'
If this is set, an argument to the `cd' builtin command that
is not a directory is assumed to be the name of a variable
whose value is the directory to change to.
`cdspell'
If set, minor errors in the spelling of a directory component
in a `cd' command will be corrected. The errors checked for
are transposed characters, a missing character, and a
character too many. If a correction is found, the corrected
path is printed, and the command proceeds. This option is
only used by interactive shells.
`checkhash'
If this is set, Bash checks that a command found in the hash
table exists before trying to execute it. If a hashed
command no longer exists, a normal path search is performed.
`checkwinsize'
If set, Bash checks the window size after each command and,
if necessary, updates the values of `LINES' and `COLUMNS'.
`cmdhist'
If set, Bash attempts to save all lines of a multiple-line
command in the same history entry. This allows easy
re-editing of multi-line commands.
`dotglob'
If set, Bash includes filenames beginning with a `.' in the
results of filename expansion.
`execfail'
If this is set, a non-interactive shell will not exit if it
cannot execute the file specified as an argument to the `exec'
builtin command. An interactive shell does not exit if `exec'
fails.
`expand_aliases'
If set, aliases are expanded as described below< under Aliases
(*note Aliases::.). This option is enabled by default for
interactive shells.
`extglob'
If set, the extended pattern matching features described above
(*note Pattern Matching::.) are enabled.
`histappend'
If set, the history list is appended to the file named by the
value of the `HISTFILE' variable when the shell exits, rather
than overwriting the file.
`histreedit'
If set, and Readline is being used, a user is given the
opportunity to re-edit a failed history substitution.
`histverify'
If set, and Readline is being used, the results of history
substitution are not immediately passed to the shell parser.
Instead, the resulting line is loaded into the Readline
editing buffer, allowing further modification.
`hostcomplete'
If set, and Readline is being used, Bash will attempt to
perform hostname completion when a word containing a `@' is
being completed (*note Commands For Completion::.). This
option is enabled by default.
`huponexit'
If set, Bash will send `SIGHUP' to all jobs when an
interactive login shell exits (*note Signals::.).
`interactive_comments'
Allow a word beginning with `#' to cause that word and all
remaining characters on that line to be ignored in an
interactive shell. This option is enabled by default.
`lithist'
If enabled, and the `cmdhist' option is enabled, multi-line
commands are saved to the history with embedded newlines
rather than using semicolon separators where possible.
`mailwarn'
If set, and a file that Bash is checking for mail has been
accessed since the last time it was checked, the message
`"The mail in MAILFILE has been read"' is displayed.
`nocaseglob'
If set, Bash matches filenames in a case-insensitive fashion
when performing filename expansion.
`nullglob'
If set, Bash allows filename patterns which match no files to
expand to a null string, rather than themselves.
`promptvars'
If set, prompt strings undergo variable and parameter
expansion after being expanded (*note Printing a Prompt::.).
This option is enabled by default.
`restricted_shell'
The shell sets this option if it is started in restricted mode
(*note The Restricted Shell::.). The value may not be
changed. This is not reset when the startup files are
executed, allowing the startup files to discover whether or
not a shell is restricted.
`shift_verbose'
If this is set, the `shift' builtin prints an error message
when the shift count exceeds the number of positional
parameters.
`sourcepath'
If set, the `source' builtin uses the value of `PATH' to find
the directory containing the file supplied as an argument.
This option is enabled by default.
The return status when listing options is zero if all OPTNAMES are
enabled, non-zero otherwise. When setting or unsetting options,
the return status is zero unless an OPTNAME is not a valid shell
option.
`source'
source FILENAME
A synonym for `.' (*note Bourne Shell Builtins::.).
`type'
type [-atp] [NAME ...]
For each NAME, indicate how it would be interpreted if used as a
command name.
If the `-t' option is used, `type' prints a single word which is
one of `alias', `function', `builtin', `file' or `keyword', if
NAME is an alias, shell function, shell builtin, disk file, or
shell reserved word, respectively. If the NAME is not found, then
nothing is printed, and `type' returns a failure status.
If the `-p' option is used, `type' either returns the name of the
disk file that would be executed, or nothing if `-t' would not
return `file'.
If the `-a' option is used, `type' returns all of the places that
contain an executable named FILE. This includes aliases and
functions, if and only if the `-p' option is not also used.
The return status is zero if any of the NAMES are found, non-zero
if none are found.
`typeset'
typeset [-afFrxi] [-p] [NAME[=VALUE]]
The `typeset' command is supplied for compatibility with the Korn
shell; however, it has been deprecated in favor of the `declare'
builtin command.
`ulimit'
ulimit [-acdflmnpstuvSH] [LIMIT]
`ulimit' provides control over the resources available to processes
started by the shell, on systems that allow such control. If an
option is given, it is interpreted as follows:
`-S'
Change and report the soft limit associated with a resource.
`-H'
Change and report the hard limit associated with a resource.
`-a'
All current limits are reported.
`-c'
The maximum size of core files created.
`-d'
The maximum size of a process's data segment.
`-f'
The maximum size of files created by the shell.
`-l'
The maximum size that may be locked into memory.
`-m'
The maximum resident set size.
`-n'
The maximum number of open file descriptors.
`-p'
The pipe buffer size.
`-s'
The maximum stack size.
`-t'
The maximum amount of cpu time in seconds.
`-u'
The maximum number of processes available to a single user.
`-v'
The maximum amount of virtual memory available to the process.
If LIMIT is given, it is the new value of the specified resource.
Otherwise, the current value of the soft limit for the specified
resource is printed, unless the `-H' option is supplied. When
setting new limits, if neither `-H' nor `-S' is supplied, both the
hard and soft limits are set. If no option is given, then `-f' is
assumed. Values are in 1024-byte increments, except for `-t',
which is in seconds, `-p', which is in units of 512-byte blocks,
and `-n' and `-u', which are unscaled values.
The return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied, a
non-numeric argument other than `unlimited' is supplied as a
LIMIT, or an error occurs while setting a new limit.

File: bashref.info, Node: The Set Builtin, Next: Bash Conditional Expressions, Prev: Bash Builtins, Up: Bash Features
The Set Builtin
===============
This builtin is so complicated that it deserves its own section.
`set'
set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCHP] [-o OPTION] [ARGUMENT ...]
If no options or arguments are supplied, `set' displays the names
and values of all shell variables and functions, sorted according
to the current locale, in a format that may be reused as input.
When options are supplied, they set or unset shell attributes.
Options, if specified, have the following meanings:
`-a'
Mark variables which are modified or created for export.
`-b'
Cause the status of terminated background jobs to be reported
immediately, rather than before printing the next primary
prompt.
`-e'
Exit immediately if a simple command (*note Simple
Commands::.) exits with a non-zero status, unless the command
that fails is part of an `until' or `while' loop, part of an
`if' statement, part of a `&&' or `||' list, or if the
command's return status is being inverted using `!'.
`-f'
Disable file name generation (globbing).
`-h'
Locate and remember (hash) commands as they are looked up for
execution. This option is enabled by default.
`-k'
All arguments in the form of assignment statements are placed
in the environment for a command, not just those that precede
the command name.
`-m'
Job control is enabled (*note Job Control::.).
`-n'
Read commands but do not execute them; this may be used to
check a script for syntax errors. This option is ignored by
interactive shells.
`-o OPTION-NAME'
Set the option corresponding to OPTION-NAME:
`allexport'
Same as `-a'.
`braceexpand'
Same as `-B'.
`emacs'
Use an `emacs'-style line editing interface (*note
Command Line Editing::.).
`errexit'
Same as `-e'.
`hashall'
Same as `-h'.
`histexpand'
Same as `-H'.
`history'
Enable command history, as described in *Note Bash
History Facilities::. This option is on by default in
interactive shells.
`ignoreeof'
An interactive shell will not exit upon reading EOF.
`keyword'
Same as `-k'.
`monitor'
Same as `-m'.
`noclobber'
Same as `-C'.
`noexec'
Same as `-n'.
`noglob'
Same as `-f'.
`notify'
Same as `-b'.
`nounset'
Same as `-u'.
`onecmd'
Same as `-t'.
`physical'
Same as `-P'.
`posix'
Change the behavior of Bash where the default operation
differs from the POSIX 1003.2 standard to match the
standard (*note Bash POSIX Mode::.). This is intended
to make Bash behave as a strict superset of that
standard.
`privileged'
Same as `-p'.
`verbose'
Same as `-v'.
`vi'
Use a `vi'-style line editing interface.
`xtrace'
Same as `-x'.
`-p'
Turn on privileged mode. In this mode, the `$BASH_ENV' and
`$ENV' files are not processed, shell functions are not
inherited from the environment, and the `SHELLOPTS' variable,
if it appears in the environment, is ignored. If the shell
is started with the effective user (group) id not equal to the
real user (group) id, and the `-p' option is not supplied,
these actions are taken and the effective user id is set to
the real user id. If the `-p' option is supplied at startup,
the effective user id is not reset. Turning this option off
causes the effective user and group ids to be set to the real
user and group ids.
`-t'
Exit after reading and executing one command.
`-u'
Treat unset variables as an error when performing parameter
expansion. An error message will be written to the standard
error, and a non-interactive shell will exit.
`-v'
Print shell input lines as they are read.
`-x'
Print a trace of simple commands and their arguments after
they are expanded and before they are executed.
`-B'
The shell will perform brace expansion (*note Brace
Expansion::.). This option is on by default.
`-C'
Prevent output redirection using `>', `>&', and `<>' from
overwriting existing files.
`-H'
Enable `!' style history substitution (*note History
Interaction::.). This option is on by default for
interactive shells.
`-P'
If set, do not follow symbolic links when performing commands
such as `cd' which change the current directory. The
physical directory is used instead. By default, Bash follows
the logical chain of directories when performing commands
which change the current directory.
For example, if `/usr/sys' is a symbolic link to
`/usr/local/sys' then:
$ cd /usr/sys; echo $PWD
/usr/sys
$ cd ..; pwd
/usr
If `set -P' is on, then:
$ cd /usr/sys; echo $PWD
/usr/local/sys
$ cd ..; pwd
/usr/local
`--'
If no arguments follow this option, then the positional
parameters are unset. Otherwise, the positional parameters
are set to the ARGUMENTS, even if some of them begin with a
`-'.
`-'
Signal the end of options, cause all remaining ARGUMENTS to
be assigned to the positional parameters. The `-x' and `-v'
options are turned off. If there are no arguments, the
positional parameters remain unchanged.
Using `+' rather than `-' causes these options to be turned off.
The options can also be used upon invocation of the shell. The
current set of options may be found in `$-'.
The remaining N ARGUMENTS are positional parameters and are
assigned, in order, to `$1', `$2', ... `$N'. The special
parameter `#' is set to N.
The return status is always zero unless an invalid option is
supplied.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash Conditional Expressions, Next: Bash Variables, Prev: The Set Builtin, Up: Bash Features
Bash Conditional Expressions
============================
Conditional expressions are used by the `[[' compound command and
the `test' and `[' builtin commands.
Expressions may be unary or binary. Unary expressions are often
used to examine the status of a file. There are string operators and
numeric comparison operators as well. If any FILE argument to one of
the primaries is of the form `/dev/fd/N', then file descriptor N is
checked.
`-a FILE'
True if FILE exists.
`-b FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a block special file.
`-c FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a character special file.
`-d FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a directory.
`-e FILE'
True if FILE exists.
`-f FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a regular file.
`-g FILE'
True if FILE exists and its set-group-id bit is set.
`-h FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a symbolic link.
`-k FILE'
True if FILE exists and its "sticky" bit is set.
`-p FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a named pipe (FIFO).
`-r FILE'
True if FILE exists and is readable.
`-s FILE'
True if FILE exists and has a size greater than zero.
`-t FD'
True if file descriptor FD is open and refers to a terminal.
`-u FILE'
True if FILE exists and its set-user-id bit is set.
`-w FILE'
True if FILE exists and is writable.
`-x FILE'
True if FILE exists and is executable.
`-O FILE'
True if FILE exists and is owned by the effective user id.
`-G FILE'
True if FILE exists and is owned by the effective group id.
`-L FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a symbolic link.
`-S FILE'
True if FILE exists and is a socket.
`-N FILE'
True if FILE exists and has been modified since it was last read.
`FILE1 -nt FILE2'
True if FILE1 is newer (according to modification date) than FILE2.
`FILE1 -ot FILE2'
True if FILE1 is older than FILE2.
`FILE1 -ef FILE2'
True if FILE1 and FILE2 have the same device and inode numbers.
`-o OPTNAME'
True if shell option OPTNAME is enabled. The list of options
appears in the description of the `-o' option to the `set' builtin
(*note The Set Builtin::.).
`-z STRING'
True if the length of STRING is zero.
`-n STRING'
`STRING'
True if the length of STRING is non-zero.
`STRING1 == STRING2'
True if the strings are equal. `=' may be used in place of `=='.
`STRING1 != STRING2'
True if the strings are not equal.
`STRING1 < STRING2'
True if STRING1 sorts before STRING2 lexicographically in the
current locale.
`STRING1 > STRING2'
True if STRING1 sorts after STRING2 lexicographically in the
current locale.
`ARG1 OP ARG2'
`OP' is one of `-eq', `-ne', `-lt', `-le', `-gt', or `-ge'. These
arithmetic binary operators return true if ARG1 is equal to, not
equal to, less than, less than or equal to, greater than, or
greater than or equal to ARG2, respectively. ARG1 and ARG2 may be
positive or negative integers.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash Variables, Next: Shell Arithmetic, Prev: Bash Conditional Expressions, Up: Bash Features
Bash Variables
==============
These variables are set or used by Bash, but other shells do not
normally treat them specially.
`BASH'
The full pathname used to execute the current instance of Bash.
`BASH_ENV'
If this variable is set when Bash is invoked to execute a shell
script, its value is expanded and used as the name of a startup
file to read before executing the script. *Note Bash Startup
Files::.
`BASH_VERSION'
The version number of the current instance of Bash.
`BASH_VERSINFO'
A readonly array variable whose members hold version information
for this instance of Bash. The values assigned to the array
members are as follows:
`BASH_VERSINFO[0]'
The major version number (the RELEASE).
`BASH_VERSINFO[1]'
The minor version number (the VERSION).
`BASH_VERSINFO[2]'
The patch level.
`BASH_VERSINFO[3]'
The build version.
`BASH_VERSINFO[4]'
The release status (e.g., BETA1).
`BASH_VERSINFO[5]'
The value of `MACHTYPE'.
`DIRSTACK'
An array variable (*note Arrays::.) containing the current
contents of the directory stack. Directories appear in the stack
in the order they are displayed by the `dirs' builtin. Assigning
to members of this array variable may be used to modify
directories already in the stack, but the `pushd' and `popd'
builtins must be used to add and remove directories. Assignment
to this variable will not change the current directory. If
`DIRSTACK' is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it
is subsequently reset.
`EUID'
The numeric effective user id of the current user. This variable
is readonly.
`FCEDIT'
The editor used as a default by the `-e' option to the `fc'
builtin command.
`FIGNORE'
A colon-separated list of suffixes to ignore when performing
filename completion. A file name whose suffix matches one of the
entries in `FIGNORE' is excluded from the list of matched file
names. A sample value is `.o:~'
`GLOBIGNORE'
A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of filenames to
be ignored by filename expansion. If a filename matched by a
filename expansion pattern also matches one of the patterns in
`GLOBIGNORE', it is removed from the list of matches.
`GROUPS'
An array variable containing the list of groups of which the
current user is a member. This variable is readonly.
`histchars'
Up to three characters which control history expansion, quick
substitution, and tokenization (*note History Interaction::.).
The first character is the "history-expansion-char", that is, the
character which signifies the start of a history expansion,
normally `!'. The second character is the character which
signifies `quick substitution' when seen as the first character on
a line, normally `^'. The optional third character is the
character which indicates that the remainder of the line is a
comment when found as the first character of a word, usually `#'.
The history comment character causes history substitution to be
skipped for the remaining words on the line. It does not
necessarily cause the shell parser to treat the rest of the line
as a comment.
`HISTCMD'
The history number, or index in the history list, of the current
command. If `HISTCMD' is unset, it loses its special properties,
even if it is subsequently reset.
`HISTCONTROL'
Set to a value of `ignorespace', it means don't enter lines which
begin with a space or tab into the history list. Set to a value
of `ignoredups', it means don't enter lines which match the last
entered line. A value of `ignoreboth' combines the two options.
Unset, or set to any other value than those above, means to save
all lines on the history list. The second and subsequent lines of
a multi-line compound command are not tested, and are added to the
history regardless of the value of `HISTCONTROL'.
`HISTIGNORE'
A colon-separated list of patterns used to decide which command
lines should be saved on the history list. Each pattern is
anchored at the beginning of the line and must fully specify the
line (no implicit `*' is appended). Each pattern is tested
against the line after the checks specified by `HISTCONTROL' are
applied. In addition to the normal shell pattern matching
characters, `&' matches the previous history line. `&' may be
escaped using a backslash. The backslash is removed before
attempting a match. The second and subsequent lines of a
multi-line compound command are not tested, and are added to the
history regardless of the value of `HISTIGNORE'.
`HISTIGNORE' subsumes the function of `HISTCONTROL'. A pattern of
`&' is identical to `ignoredups', and a pattern of `[ ]*' is
identical to `ignorespace'. Combining these two patterns,
separating them with a colon, provides the functionality of
`ignoreboth'.
`HISTFILE'
The name of the file to which the command history is saved. The
default is `~/.bash_history'.
`HISTSIZE'
The maximum number of commands to remember on the history list.
The default value is 500.
`HISTFILESIZE'
The maximum number of lines contained in the history file. When
this variable is assigned a value, the history file is truncated,
if necessary, to contain no more than that number of lines. The
default value is 500. The history file is also truncated to this
size after writing it when an interactive shell exits.
`HOSTFILE'
Contains the name of a file in the same format as `/etc/hosts' that
should be read when the shell needs to complete a hostname. You
can change the file interactively; the next time you attempt to
complete a hostname, Bash will add the contents of the new file to
the already existing database.
`HOSTNAME'
The name of the current host.
`HOSTTYPE'
A string describing the machine Bash is running on.
`IGNOREEOF'
Controls the action of the shell on receipt of an `EOF' character
as the sole input. If set, the value denotes the number of
consecutive `EOF' characters that can be read as the first
character on an input line before the shell will exit. If the
variable exists but does not have a numeric value (or has no
value) then the default is 10. If the variable does not exist,
then `EOF' signifies the end of input to the shell. This is only
in effect for interactive shells.
`INPUTRC'
The name of the Readline startup file, overriding the default of
`~/.inputrc'.
`LANG'
Used to determine the locale category for any category not
specifically selected with a variable starting with `LC_'.
`LC_ALL'
This variable overrides the value of `LANG' and any other `LC_'
variable specifying a locale category.
`LC_COLLATE'
This variable determines the collation order used when sorting the
results of filename expansion, and determines the behavior of
range expressions, equivalence classes, and collating sequences
within filename expansion and pattern matching (*note Filename
Expansion::.).
`LC_CTYPE'
This variable determines the interpretation of characters and the
behavior of character classes within filename expansion and pattern
matching (*note Filename Expansion::.).
`LC_MESSAGES'
This variable determines the locale used to translate double-quoted
strings preceded by a `$' (*note Locale Translation::.).
`LINENO'
The line number in the script or shell function currently
executing.
`MACHTYPE'
A string that fully describes the system type on which Bash is
executing, in the standard GNU CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM format.
`MAILCHECK'
How often (in seconds) that the shell should check for mail in the
files specified in the `MAILPATH' or `MAIL' variables.
`OLDPWD'
The previous working directory as set by the `cd' builtin.
`OPTERR'
If set to the value 1, Bash displays error messages generated by
the `getopts' builtin command.
`OSTYPE'
A string describing the operating system Bash is running on.
`PIPESTATUS'
An array variable (*note Arrays::.) containing a list of exit
status values from the processes in the most-recently-executed
foreground pipeline (which may contain only a single command).
`PPID'
The process id of the shell's parent process. This variable is
readonly.
`PROMPT_COMMAND'
If present, this contains a string which is a command to execute
before the printing of each primary prompt (`$PS1').
`PS3'
The value of this variable is used as the prompt for the `select'
command. If this variable is not set, the `select' command
prompts with `#? '
`PS4'
This is the prompt printed before the command line is echoed when
the `-x' option is set (*note The Set Builtin::.). The first
character of `PS4' is replicated multiple times, as necessary, to
indicate multiple levels of indirection. The default is `+ '.
`PWD'
The current working directory as set by the `cd' builtin.
`RANDOM'
Each time this parameter is referenced, a random integer between 0
and 32767 is generated. Assigning a value to this variable seeds
the random number generator.
`REPLY'
The default variable for the `read' builtin.
`SECONDS'
This variable expands to the number of seconds since the shell was
started. Assignment to this variable resets the count to the
value assigned, and the expanded value becomes the value assigned
plus the number of seconds since the assignment.
`SHELLOPTS'
A colon-separated list of enabled shell options. Each word in the
list is a valid argument for the `-o' option to the `set' builtin
command (*note The Set Builtin::.). The options appearing in
`SHELLOPTS' are those reported as `on' by `set -o'. If this
variable is in the environment when Bash starts up, each shell
option in the list will be enabled before reading any startup
files. This variable is readonly.
`SHLVL'
Incremented by one each time a new instance of Bash is started.
This is intended to be a count of how deeply your Bash shells are
nested.
`TIMEFORMAT'
The value of this parameter is used as a format string specifying
how the timing information for pipelines prefixed with the `time'
reserved word should be displayed. The `%' character introduces an
escape sequence that is expanded to a time value or other
information. The escape sequences and their meanings are as
follows; the braces denote optional portions.
`%%'
A literal `%'.
`%[P][l]R'
The elapsed time in seconds.
`%[P][l]U'
The number of CPU seconds spent in user mode.
`%[P][l]S'
The number of CPU seconds spent in system mode.
`%P'
The CPU percentage, computed as (%U + %S) / %R.
The optional P is a digit specifying the precision, the number of
fractional digits after a decimal point. A value of 0 causes no
decimal point or fraction to be output. At most three places
after the decimal point may be specified; values of P greater than
3 are changed to 3. If P is not specified, the value 3 is used.
The optional `l' specifies a longer format, including minutes, of
the form MMmSS.FFs. The value of P determines whether or not the
fraction is included.
If this variable is not set, Bash acts as if it had the value
`$'\nreal\t%3lR\nuser\t%3lU\nsys\t%3lS''
If the value is null, no timing information is displayed. A
trailing newline is added when the format string is displayed.
`TMOUT'
If set to a value greater than zero, the value is interpreted as
the number of seconds to wait for input after issuing the primary
prompt. Bash terminates after that number of seconds if input does
not arrive.
`UID'
The numeric real user id of the current user. This variable is
readonly.

File: bashref.info, Node: Shell Arithmetic, Next: Aliases, Prev: Bash Variables, Up: Bash Features
Shell Arithmetic
================
The shell allows arithmetic expressions to be evaluated, as one of
the shell expansions or by the `let' builtin.
Evaluation is done in long integers with no check for overflow,
though division by 0 is trapped and flagged as an error. The following
list of operators is grouped into levels of equal-precedence operators.
The levels are listed in order of decreasing precedence.
`- +'
unary minus and plus
`! ~'
logical and bitwise negation
`**'
exponentiation
`* / %'
multiplication, division, remainder
`+ -'
addition, subtraction
`<< >>'
left and right bitwise shifts
`<= >= < >'
comparison
`== !='
equality and inequality
`&'
bitwise AND
`^'
bitwise exclusive OR
`|'
bitwise OR
`&&'
logical AND
`||'
logical OR
`expr ? expr : expr'
conditional evaluation
`= *= /= %= += -= <<= >>= &= ^= |='
assignment
Shell variables are allowed as operands; parameter expansion is
performed before the expression is evaluated. The value of a parameter
is coerced to a long integer within an expression. A shell variable
need not have its integer attribute turned on to be used in an
expression.
Constants with a leading 0 are interpreted as octal numbers. A
leading `0x' or `0X' denotes hexadecimal. Otherwise, numbers take the
form [BASE`#']N, where BASE is a decimal number between 2 and 64
representing the arithmetic base, and N is a number in that base. If
BASE is omitted, then base 10 is used. The digits greater than 9 are
represented by the lowercase letters, the uppercase letters, `_', and
`@', in that order. If BASE is less than or equal to 36, lowercase and
uppercase letters may be used interchangably to represent numbers
between 10 and 35.
Operators are evaluated in order of precedence. Sub-expressions in
parentheses are evaluated first and may override the precedence rules
above.

File: bashref.info, Node: Aliases, Next: Arrays, Prev: Shell Arithmetic, Up: Bash Features
Aliases
=======
* Menu:
* Alias Builtins:: Builtins commands to maniuplate aliases.
Aliases allow a string to be substituted for a word when it is used
as the first word of a simple command. The shell maintains a list of
ALIASES that may be set and unset with the `alias' and `unalias'
builtin commands.
The first word of each simple command, if unquoted, is checked to see
if it has an alias. If so, that word is replaced by the text of the
alias. The alias name and the replacement text may contain any valid
shell input, including shell metacharacters, with the exception that
the alias name may not contain `='. The first word of the replacement
text is tested for aliases, but a word that is identical to an alias
being expanded is not expanded a second time. This means that one may
alias `ls' to `"ls -F"', for instance, and Bash does not try to
recursively expand the replacement text. If the last character of the
alias value is a space or tab character, then the next command word
following the alias is also checked for alias expansion.
Aliases are created and listed with the `alias' command, and removed
with the `unalias' command.
There is no mechanism for using arguments in the replacement text,
as in `csh'. If arguments are needed, a shell function should be used
(*note Shell Functions::.).
Aliases are not expanded when the shell is not interactive, unless
the `expand_aliases' shell option is set using `shopt' (*note Bash
Builtins::.).
The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are somewhat
confusing. Bash always reads at least one complete line of input
before executing any of the commands on that line. Aliases are
expanded when a command is read, not when it is executed. Therefore, an
alias definition appearing on the same line as another command does not
take effect until the next line of input is read. The commands
following the alias definition on that line are not affected by the new
alias. This behavior is also an issue when functions are executed.
Aliases are expanded when a function definition is read, not when the
function is executed, because a function definition is itself a
compound command. As a consequence, aliases defined in a function are
not available until after that function is executed. To be safe,
always put alias definitions on a separate line, and do not use `alias'
in compound commands.
For almost every purpose, aliases are superseded by shell functions.

File: bashref.info, Node: Alias Builtins, Up: Aliases
Alias Builtins
--------------
`alias'
alias [`-p'] [NAME[=VALUE] ...]
Without arguments or with the `-p' option, `alias' prints the list
of aliases on the standard output in a form that allows them to be
reused as input. If arguments are supplied, an alias is defined
for each NAME whose VALUE is given. If no VALUE is given, the name
and value of the alias is printed.
`unalias'
unalias [-a] [NAME ... ]
Remove each NAME from the list of aliases. If `-a' is supplied,
all aliases are removed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Arrays, Next: The Directory Stack, Prev: Aliases, Up: Bash Features
Arrays
======
Bash provides one-dimensional array variables. Any variable may be
used as an array; the `declare' builtin will explicitly declare an
array. There is no maximum limit on the size of an array, nor any
requirement that members be indexed or assigned contiguously. Arrays
are zero-based.
An array is created automatically if any variable is assigned to
using the syntax
name[SUBSCRIPT]=VALUE
The SUBSCRIPT is treated as an arithmetic expression that must evaluate
to a number greater than or equal to zero. To explicitly declare an
array, use
declare -a NAME
The syntax
declare -a NAME[SUBSCRIPT]
is also accepted; the SUBSCRIPT is ignored. Attributes may be
specified for an array variable using the `declare' and `readonly'
builtins. Each attribute applies to all members of an array.
Arrays are assigned to using compound assignments of the form
name=(value1 ... valueN)
where each VALUE is of the form `[[SUBSCRIPT]=]'STRING. If the
optional subscript is supplied, that index is assigned to; otherwise
the index of the element assigned is the last index assigned to by the
statement plus one. Indexing starts at zero. This syntax is also
accepted by the `declare' builtin. Individual array elements may be
assigned to using the `name['SUBSCRIPT`]='VALUE syntax introduced above.
Any element of an array may be referenced using
`${name['SUBSCRIPT`]}'. The braces are required to avoid conflicts
with the shell's filename expansion operators. If the SUBSCRIPT is `@'
or `*', the word expands to all members of the array NAME. These
subscripts differ only when the word appears within double quotes. If
the word is double-quoted, `${name[*]}' expands to a single word with
the value of each array member separated by the first character of the
`IFS' variable, and `${name[@]}' expands each element of NAME to a
separate word. When there are no array members, `${name[@]}' expands
to nothing. This is analogous to the expansion of the special
parameters `@' and `*'. `${#name['SUBSCRIPT`]}' expands to the length
of `${name['SUBSCRIPT`]}'. If SUBSCRIPT is `@' or `*', the expansion
is the number of elements in the array. Referencing an array variable
without a subscript is equivalent to referencing element zero.
The `unset' builtin is used to destroy arrays. `unset'
`name[SUBSCRIPT]' destroys the array element at index SUBSCRIPT.
`unset' NAME, where NAME is an array, removes the entire array. A
subscript of `*' or `@' also removes the entire array.
The `declare', `local', and `readonly' builtins each accept a `-a'
option to specify an array. The `read' builtin accepts a `-a' option
to assign a list of words read from the standard input to an array, and
can read values from the standard input into individual array elements.
The `set' and `declare' builtins display array values in a way that
allows them to be reused as input.

File: bashref.info, Node: The Directory Stack, Next: Printing a Prompt, Prev: Arrays, Up: Bash Features
The Directory Stack
===================
The directory stack is a list of recently-visited directories. The
`pushd' builtin adds directories to the stack as it changes the current
directory, and the `popd' builtin removes specified directories from
the stack and changes the current directory to the directory removed.
The `dirs' builtin displays the contents of the directory stack.
The contents of the directory stack are also visible as the value of
the `DIRSTACK' shell variable.
`dirs'
dirs [+N | -N] [-clvp]
Display the list of currently remembered directories. Directories
are added to the list with the `pushd' command; the `popd' command
removes directories from the list.
`+N'
Displays the Nth directory (counting from the left of the
list printed by `dirs' when invoked without options), starting
with zero.
`-N'
Displays the Nth directory (counting from the right of the
list printed by `dirs' when invoked without options), starting
with zero.
`-c'
Clears the directory stack by deleting all of the elements.
`-l'
Produces a longer listing; the default listing format uses a
tilde to denote the home directory.
`-p'
Causes `dirs' to print the directory stack with one entry per
line.
`-v'
Causes `dirs' to print the directory stack with one entry per
line, prefixing each entry with its index in the stack.
`popd'
popd [+N | -N] [-n]
Remove the top entry from the directory stack, and `cd' to the new
top directory. When no arguments are given, `popd' removes the
top directory from the stack and performs a `cd' to the new top
directory. The elements are numbered from 0 starting at the first
directory listed with `dirs'; i.e., `popd' is equivalent to `popd
+0'.
`+N'
Removes the Nth directory (counting from the left of the list
printed by `dirs'), starting with zero.
`-N'
Removes the Nth directory (counting from the right of the
list printed by `dirs'), starting with zero.
`-n'
Suppresses the normal change of directory when removing
directories from the stack, so that only the stack is
manipulated.
`pushd'
pushd [DIR | +N | -N] [-n]
Save the current directory on the top of the directory stack and
then `cd' to DIR. With no arguments, `pushd' exchanges the top
two directories.
`+N'
Brings the Nth directory (counting from the left of the list
printed by `dirs', starting with zero) to the top of the list
by rotating the stack.
`-N'
Brings the Nth directory (counting from the right of the list
printed by `dirs', starting with zero) to the top of the list
by rotating the stack.
`-n'
Suppresses the normal change of directory when adding
directories to the stack, so that only the stack is
manipulated.
`DIR'
Makes the current working directory be the top of the stack,
and then executes the equivalent of ``cd' DIR'. `cd's to DIR.

File: bashref.info, Node: Printing a Prompt, Next: The Restricted Shell, Prev: The Directory Stack, Up: Bash Features
Controlling the Prompt
======================
The value of the variable `PROMPT_COMMAND' is examined just before
Bash prints each primary prompt. If it is set and non-null, then the
value is executed just as if it had been typed on the command line.
In addition, the following table describes the special characters
which can appear in the prompt variables:
`\a'
A bell character.
`\d'
The date, in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g., "Tue May 26").
`\e'
An escape character.
`\h'
The hostname, up to the first `.'.
`\H'
The hostname.
`\n'
A newline.
`\r'
A carriage return.
`\s'
The name of the shell, the basename of `$0' (the portion following
the final slash).
`\t'
The time, in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format.
`\T'
The time, in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format.
`\@'
The time, in 12-hour am/pm format.
`\u'
The username of the current user.
`\v'
The version of Bash (e.g., 2.00)
`\V'
The release of Bash, version + patchlevel (e.g., 2.00.0)
`\w'
The current working directory.
`\W'
The basename of `$PWD'.
`\!'
The history number of this command.
`\#'
The command number of this command.
`\$'
If the effective uid is 0, `#', otherwise `$'.
`\NNN'
The character whose ASCII code is the octal value NNN.
`\\'
A backslash.
`\['
Begin a sequence of non-printing characters. This could be used to
embed a terminal control sequence into the prompt.
`\]'
End a sequence of non-printing characters.

File: bashref.info, Node: The Restricted Shell, Next: Bash POSIX Mode, Prev: Printing a Prompt, Up: Bash Features
The Restricted Shell
====================
If Bash is started with the name `rbash', or the `--restricted'
option is supplied at invocation, the shell becomes restricted. A
restricted shell is used to set up an environment more controlled than
the standard shell. A restricted shell behaves identically to `bash'
with the exception that the following are disallowed:
* Changing directories with the `cd' builtin.
* Setting or unsetting the values of the `SHELL', `PATH', `ENV', or
`BASH_ENV' variables.
* Specifying command names containing slashes.
* Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the `.'
builtin command.
* Importing function definitions from the shell environment at
startup.
* Parsing the value of `SHELLOPTS' from the shell environment at
startup.
* Redirecting output using the `>', `>|', `<>', `>&', `&>', and `>>'
redirection operators.
* Using the `exec' builtin to replace the shell with another command.
* Adding or deleting builtin commands with the `-f' and `-d' options
to the `enable' builtin.
* Specifying the `-p' option to the `command' builtin.
* Turning off restricted mode with `set +r' or `set +o restricted'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash POSIX Mode, Prev: The Restricted Shell, Up: Bash Features
Bash POSIX Mode
===============
Starting Bash with the `--posix' command-line option or executing
`set -o posix' while Bash is running will cause Bash to conform more
closely to the POSIX.2 standard by changing the behavior to match that
specified by POSIX.2 in areas where the Bash default differs.
The following list is what's changed when `POSIX mode' is in effect:
1. When a command in the hash table no longer exists, Bash will
re-search `$PATH' to find the new location. This is also
available with `shopt -s checkhash'.
2. The `>&' redirection does not redirect stdout and stderr.
3. The message printed by the job control code and builtins when a job
exits with a non-zero status is `Done(status)'.
4. Reserved words may not be aliased.
5. The POSIX.2 `PS1' and `PS2' expansions of `!' to the history
number and `!!' to `!' are enabled, and parameter expansion is
performed on the values of `PS1' and `PS2' regardless of the
setting of the `promptvars' option.
6. Interactive comments are enabled by default. (Bash has them on by
default anyway.)
7. The POSIX.2 startup files are executed (`$ENV') rather than the
normal Bash files.
8. Tilde expansion is only performed on assignments preceding a
command name, rather than on all assignment statements on the line.
9. The default history file is `~/.sh_history' (this is the default
value of `$HISTFILE').
10. The output of `kill -l' prints all the signal names on a single
line, separated by spaces.
11. Non-interactive shells exit if FILENAME in `.' FILENAME is not
found.
12. Non-interactive shells exit if a syntax error in an arithmetic
expansion results in an invalid expression.
13. Redirection operators do not perform filename expansion on the word
in the redirection unless the shell is interactive.
14. Function names must be valid shell `name's. That is, they may not
contain characters other than letters, digits, and underscores, and
may not start with a digit. Declaring a function with an invalid
name causes a fatal syntax error in non-interactive shells.
15. POSIX.2 `special' builtins are found before shell functions during
command lookup.
16. If a POSIX.2 special builtin returns an error status, a
non-interactive shell exits. The fatal errors are those listed in
the POSIX.2 standard, and include things like passing incorrect
options, redirection errors, variable assignment errors for
assignments preceding the command name, and so on.
17. If the `cd' builtin finds a directory to change to using
`$CDPATH', the value it assigns to the `PWD' variable does not
contain any symbolic links, as if `cd -P' had been executed.
18. If `$CDPATH' is set, the `cd' builtin will not implicitly append
the current directory to it. This means that `cd' will fail if no
valid directory name can be constructed from any of the entries in
`$CDPATH', even if the a directory with the same name as the name
given as an argument to `cd' exists in the current directory.
19. A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if a variable
assignment error occurs when no command name follows the assignment
statements. A variable assignment error occurs, for example, when
trying to assign a value to a readonly variable.
20. A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if the iteration
variable in a `for' statement or the selection variable in a
`select' statement is a readonly variable.
21. Process substitution is not available.
22. Assignment statements preceding POSIX.2 special builtins persist
in the shell environment after the builtin completes.
23. The `export' and `readonly' builtin commands display their output
in the format required by POSIX.2.
There is other POSIX.2 behavior that Bash does not implement.
Specifically:
1. Assignment statements affect the execution environment of all
builtins, not just special ones.

File: bashref.info, Node: Job Control, Next: Using History Interactively, Prev: Bash Features, Up: Top
Job Control
***********
This chapter discusses what job control is, how it works, and how
Bash allows you to access its facilities.
* Menu:
* Job Control Basics:: How job control works.
* Job Control Builtins:: Bash builtin commands used to interact
with job control.
* Job Control Variables:: Variables Bash uses to customize job
control.

File: bashref.info, Node: Job Control Basics, Next: Job Control Builtins, Up: Job Control
Job Control Basics
==================
Job control refers to the ability to selectively stop (suspend) the
execution of processes and continue (resume) their execution at a later
point. A user typically employs this facility via an interactive
interface supplied jointly by the system's terminal driver and Bash.
The shell associates a JOB with each pipeline. It keeps a table of
currently executing jobs, which may be listed with the `jobs' command.
When Bash starts a job asynchronously, it prints a line that looks like:
[1] 25647
indicating that this job is job number 1 and that the process ID of the
last process in the pipeline associated with this job is 25647. All of
the processes in a single pipeline are members of the same job. Bash
uses the JOB abstraction as the basis for job control.
To facilitate the implementation of the user interface to job
control, the system maintains the notion of a current terminal process
group ID. Members of this process group (processes whose process group
ID is equal to the current terminal process group ID) receive
keyboard-generated signals such as `SIGINT'. These processes are said
to be in the foreground. Background processes are those whose process
group ID differs from the terminal's; such processes are immune to
keyboard-generated signals. Only foreground processes are allowed to
read from or write to the terminal. Background processes which attempt
to read from (write to) the terminal are sent a `SIGTTIN' (`SIGTTOU')
signal by the terminal driver, which, unless caught, suspends the
process.
If the operating system on which Bash is running supports job
control, Bash contains facilities to use it. Typing the SUSPEND
character (typically `^Z', Control-Z) while a process is running causes
that process to be stopped and returns control to Bash. Typing the
DELAYED SUSPEND character (typically `^Y', Control-Y) causes the
process to be stopped when it attempts to read input from the terminal,
and control to be returned to Bash. The user then manipulates the
state of this job, using the `bg' command to continue it in the
background, the `fg' command to continue it in the foreground, or the
`kill' command to kill it. A `^Z' takes effect immediately, and has
the additional side effect of causing pending output and typeahead to
be discarded.
There are a number of ways to refer to a job in the shell. The
character `%' introduces a job name. Job number `n' may be referred to
as `%n'. A job may also be referred to using a prefix of the name used
to start it, or using a substring that appears in its command line.
For example, `%ce' refers to a stopped `ce' job. Using `%?ce', on the
other hand, refers to any job containing the string `ce' in its command
line. If the prefix or substring matches more than one job, Bash
reports an error. The symbols `%%' and `%+' refer to the shell's
notion of the current job, which is the last job stopped while it was
in the foreground or started in the background. The previous job may
be referenced using `%-'. In output pertaining to jobs (e.g., the
output of the `jobs' command), the current job is always flagged with a
`+', and the previous job with a `-'.
Simply naming a job can be used to bring it into the foreground:
`%1' is a synonym for `fg %1', bringing job 1 from the background into
the foreground. Similarly, `%1 &' resumes job 1 in the background,
equivalent to `bg %1'
The shell learns immediately whenever a job changes state.
Normally, Bash waits until it is about to print a prompt before
reporting changes in a job's status so as to not interrupt any other
output. If the the `-b' option to the `set' builtin is enabled, Bash
reports such changes immediately (*note The Set Builtin::.).
If an attempt to exit Bash is while jobs are stopped, the shell
prints a message warning that there are stopped jobs. The `jobs'
command may then be used to inspect their status. If a second attempt
to exit is made without an intervening command, Bash does not print
another warning, and the stopped jobs are terminated.

File: bashref.info, Node: Job Control Builtins, Next: Job Control Variables, Prev: Job Control Basics, Up: Job Control
Job Control Builtins
====================
`bg'
bg [JOBSPEC]
Resume the suspended job JOBSPEC in the background, as if it had
been started with `&'. If JOBSPEC is not supplied, the current
job is used. The return status is zero unless it is run when job
control is not enabled, or, when run with job control enabled, if
JOBSPEC was not found or JOBSPEC specifies a job that was started
without job control.
`fg'
fg [JOBSPEC]
Resume the job JOBSPEC in the foreground and make it the current
job. If JOBSPEC is not supplied, the current job is used. The
return status is that of the command placed into the foreground,
or non-zero if run when job control is disabled or, when run with
job control enabled, JOBSPEC does not specify a valid job or
JOBSPEC specifies a job that was started without job control.
`jobs'
jobs [-lpnrs] [JOBSPEC]
jobs -x COMMAND [ARGUMENTS]
The first form lists the active jobs. The options have the
following meanings:
`-l'
List process IDs in addition to the normal information.
`-n'
Display information only about jobs that have changed status
since the user was last notified of their status.
`-p'
List only the process ID of the job's process group leader.
`-r'
Restrict output to running jobs.
`-s'
Restrict output to stopped jobs.
If JOBSPEC is given, output is restricted to information about
that job. If JOBSPEC is not supplied, the status of all jobs is
listed.
If the `-x' option is supplied, `jobs' replaces any JOBSPEC found
in COMMAND or ARGUMENTS with the corresponding process group ID,
and executes COMMAND, passing it ARGUMENTs, returning its exit
status.
`kill'
kill [-s SIGSPEC] [-n SIGNUM] [-SIGSPEC] JOBSPEC or PID
kill -l [EXIT_STATUS]
Send a signal specified by SIGSPEC or SIGNUM to the process named
by job specification JOBSPEC or process ID PID. SIGSPEC is either
a signal name such as `SIGINT' (with or without the `SIG' prefix)
or a signal number; SIGNUM is a signal number. If SIGSPEC and
SIGNUM are not present, `SIGTERM' is used. The `-l' option lists
the signal names. If any arguments are supplied when `-l' is
given, the names of the signals corresponding to the arguments are
listed, and the return status is zero. EXIT_STATUS is a number
specifying a signal number or the exit status of a process
terminated by a signal. The return status is zero if at least one
signal was successfully sent, or non-zero if an error occurs or an
invalid option is encountered.
`wait'
wait [JOBSPEC|PID]
Wait until the child process specified by process ID PID or job
specification JOBSPEC exits and return the exit status of the last
command waited for. If a job spec is given, all processes in the
job are waited for. If no arguments are given, all currently
active child processes are waited for, and the return status is
zero. If neither JOBSPEC nor PID specifies an active child process
of the shell, the return status is 127.
`disown'
disown [-ar] [-h] [JOBSPEC ...]
Without options, each JOBSPEC is removed from the table of active
jobs. If the `-h' option is given, the job is not removed from
the table, but is marked so that `SIGHUP' is not sent to the job
if the shell receives a `SIGHUP'. If JOBSPEC is not present, and
neither the `-a' nor `-r' option is supplied, the current job is
used. If no JOBSPEC is supplied, the `-a' option means to remove
or mark all jobs; the `-r' option without a JOBSPEC argument
restricts operation to running jobs.
`suspend'
suspend [-f]
Suspend the execution of this shell until it receives a `SIGCONT'
signal. The `-f' option means to suspend even if the shell is a
login shell.
When job control is not active, the `kill' and `wait' builtins do
not accept JOBSPEC arguments. They must be supplied process IDs.

File: bashref.info, Node: Job Control Variables, Prev: Job Control Builtins, Up: Job Control
Job Control Variables
=====================
`auto_resume'
This variable controls how the shell interacts with the user and
job control. If this variable exists then single word simple
commands without redirections are treated as candidates for
resumption of an existing job. There is no ambiguity allowed; if
there is more than one job beginning with the string typed, then
the most recently accessed job will be selected. The name of a
stopped job, in this context, is the command line used to start
it. If this variable is set to the value `exact', the string
supplied must match the name of a stopped job exactly; if set to
`substring', the string supplied needs to match a substring of the
name of a stopped job. The `substring' value provides
functionality analogous to the `%?' job ID (*note Job Control
Basics::.). If set to any other value, the supplied string must
be a prefix of a stopped job's name; this provides functionality
analogous to the `%' job ID.

File: bashref.info, Node: Using History Interactively, Next: Command Line Editing, Prev: Job Control, Up: Top
Using History Interactively
***************************
This chapter describes how to use the GNU History Library
interactively, from a user's standpoint. It should be considered a
user's guide. For information on using the GNU History Library in
other programs, see the GNU Readline Library Manual.
* Menu:
* Bash History Facilities:: How Bash lets you manipulate your command
history.
* Bash History Builtins:: The Bash builtin commands that manipulate
the command history.
* History Interaction:: What it feels like using History as a user.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash History Facilities, Next: Bash History Builtins, Up: Using History Interactively
Bash History Facilities
=======================
When the `-o history' option to the `set' builtin is enabled (*note
The Set Builtin::.), the shell provides access to the COMMAND HISTORY,
the list of commands previously typed. The text of the last `HISTSIZE'
commands (default 500) is saved in a history list. The shell stores
each command in the history list prior to parameter and variable
expansion but after history expansion is performed, subject to the
values of the shell variables `HISTIGNORE' and `HISTCONTROL'. When the
shell starts up, the history is initialized from the file named by the
`HISTFILE' variable (default `~/.bash_history'). `HISTFILE' is
truncated, if necessary, to contain no more than the number of lines
specified by the value of the `HISTFILESIZE' variable. When an
interactive shell exits, the last `HISTSIZE' lines are copied from the
history list to `HISTFILE'. If the `histappend' shell option is set
(*note Bash Builtins::.), the lines are appended to the history file,
otherwise the history file is overwritten. If `HISTFILE' is unset, or
if the history file is unwritable, the history is not saved. After
saving the history, the history file is truncated to contain no more
than `$HISTFILESIZE' lines. If `HISTFILESIZE' is not set, no
truncation is performed.
The builtin command `fc' may be used to list or edit and re-execute
a portion of the history list. The `history' builtin can be used to
display or modify the history list and manipulate the history file.
When using the command-line editing, search commands are available in
each editing mode that provide access to the history list.
The shell allows control over which commands are saved on the history
list. The `HISTCONTROL' and `HISTIGNORE' variables may be set to cause
the shell to save only a subset of the commands entered. The `cmdhist'
shell option, if enabled, causes the shell to attempt to save each line
of a multi-line command in the same history entry, adding semicolons
where necessary to preserve syntactic correctness. The `lithist' shell
option causes the shell to save the command with embedded newlines
instead of semicolons. *Note Bash Builtins::, for a description of
`shopt'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Bash History Builtins, Next: History Interaction, Prev: Bash History Facilities, Up: Using History Interactively
Bash History Builtins
=====================
Bash provides two builtin commands that allow you to manipulate the
history list and history file.
`fc'
`fc [-e ENAME] [-nlr] [FIRST] [LAST]'
`fc -s [PAT=REP] [COMMAND]'
Fix Command. In the first form, a range of commands from FIRST to
LAST is selected from the history list. Both FIRST and LAST may
be specified as a string (to locate the most recent command
beginning with that string) or as a number (an index into the
history list, where a negative number is used as an offset from the
current command number). If LAST is not specified it is set to
FIRST. If FIRST is not specified it is set to the previous
command for editing and -16 for listing. If the `-l' flag is
given, the commands are listed on standard output. The `-n' flag
suppresses the command numbers when listing. The `-r' flag
reverses the order of the listing. Otherwise, the editor given by
ENAME is invoked on a file containing those commands. If ENAME is
not given, the value of the following variable expansion is used:
`${FCEDIT:-${EDITOR:-vi}}'. This says to use the value of the
`FCEDIT' variable if set, or the value of the `EDITOR' variable if
that is set, or `vi' if neither is set. When editing is complete,
the edited commands are echoed and executed.
In the second form, COMMAND is re-executed after each instance of
PAT in the selected command is replaced by REP.
A useful alias to use with the `fc' command is `r='fc -s'', so
that typing `r cc' runs the last command beginning with `cc' and
typing `r' re-executes the last command (*note Aliases::.).
`history'
history [-c] [N]
history [-anrw] [FILENAME]
history -ps ARG
Display the history list with line numbers. Lines prefixed with
with a `*' have been modified. An argument of N says to list only
the last N lines. Options, if supplied, have the following
meanings:
`-w'
Write out the current history to the history file.
`-r'
Read the current history file and append its contents to the
history list.
`-a'
Append the new history lines (history lines entered since the
beginning of the current Bash session) to the history file.
`-n'
Append the history lines not already read from the history
file to the current history list. These are lines appended
to the history file since the beginning of the current Bash
session.
`-c'
Clear the history list. This may be combined with the other
options to replace the history list completely.
`-s'
The ARGs are added to the end of the history list as a single
entry.
`-p'
Perform history substitution on the ARGs and display the
result on the standard output, without storing the results in
the history list.
When the `-w', `-r', `-a', or `-n' option is used, if FILENAME is
given, then it is used as the history file. If not, then the
value of the `HISTFILE' variable is used.

File: bashref.info, Node: History Interaction, Prev: Bash History Builtins, Up: Using History Interactively
History Expansion
=================
The History library provides a history expansion feature that is
similar to the history expansion provided by `csh'. This section
describes the syntax used to manipulate the history information.
History expansions introduce words from the history list into the
input stream, making it easy to repeat commands, insert the arguments
to a previous command into the current input line, or fix errors in
previous commands quickly.
History expansion takes place in two parts. The first is to
determine which line from the history list should be used during
substitution. The second is to select portions of that line for
inclusion into the current one. The line selected from the history is
called the "event", and the portions of that line that are acted upon
are called "words". Various "modifiers" are available to manipulate
the selected words. The line is broken into words in the same fashion
that Bash does, so that several words surrounded by quotes are
considered one word. History expansions are introduced by the
appearance of the history expansion character, which is `!' by default.
Only `\' and `'' may be used to escape the history expansion character.
Several shell options settable with the `shopt' builtin (*note Bash
Builtins::.) may be used to tailor the behavior of history expansion.
If the `histverify' shell option is enabled, and Readline is being
used, history substitutions are not immediately passed to the shell
parser. Instead, the expanded line is reloaded into the Readline
editing buffer for further modification. If Readline is being used,
and the `histreedit' shell option is enabled, a failed history
expansion will be reloaded into the Readline editing buffer for
correction. The `-p' option to the `history' builtin command may be
used to see what a history expansion will do before using it. The `-s'
option to the `history' builtin may be used to add commands to the end
of the history list without actually executing them, so that they are
available for subsequent recall. This is most useful in conjunction
with Readline.
The shell allows control of the various characters used by the
history expansion mechanism with the `histchars' variable.
* Menu:
* Event Designators:: How to specify which history line to use.
* Word Designators:: Specifying which words are of interest.
* Modifiers:: Modifying the results of substitution.

File: bashref.info, Node: Event Designators, Next: Word Designators, Up: History Interaction
Event Designators
-----------------
An event designator is a reference to a command line entry in the
history list.
`!'
Start a history substitution, except when followed by a space, tab,
the end of the line, `=' or `('.
`!N'
Refer to command line N.
`!-N'
Refer to the command N lines back.
`!!'
Refer to the previous command. This is a synonym for `!-1'.
`!STRING'
Refer to the most recent command starting with STRING.
`!?STRING[?]'
Refer to the most recent command containing STRING. The trailing
`?' may be omitted if the STRING is followed immediately by a
newline.
`^STRING1^STRING2^'
Quick Substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing STRING1
with STRING2. Equivalent to `!!:s/STRING1/STRING2/'.
`!#'
The entire command line typed so far.

File: bashref.info, Node: Word Designators, Next: Modifiers, Prev: Event Designators, Up: History Interaction
Word Designators
----------------
Word designators are used to select desired words from the event. A
`:' separates the event specification from the word designator. It may
be omitted if the word designator begins with a `^', `$', `*', `-', or
`%'. Words are numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first
word being denoted by 0 (zero). Words are inserted into the current
line separated by single spaces.
`0 (zero)'
The `0'th word. For many applications, this is the command word.
`N'
The Nth word.
`^'
The first argument; that is, word 1.
`$'
The last argument.
`%'
The word matched by the most recent `?STRING?' search.
`X-Y'
A range of words; `-Y' abbreviates `0-Y'.
`*'
All of the words, except the `0'th. This is a synonym for `1-$'.
It is not an error to use `*' if there is just one word in the
event; the empty string is returned in that case.
`X*'
Abbreviates `X-$'
`X-'
Abbreviates `X-$' like `X*', but omits the last word.
If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the
previous command is used as the event.

File: bashref.info, Node: Modifiers, Prev: Word Designators, Up: History Interaction
Modifiers
---------
After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence of one or
more of the following modifiers, each preceded by a `:'.
`h'
Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving only the head.
`t'
Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the tail.
`r'
Remove a trailing suffix of the form `.SUFFIX', leaving the
basename.
`e'
Remove all but the trailing suffix.
`p'
Print the new command but do not execute it.
`q'
Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions.
`x'
Quote the substituted words as with `q', but break into words at
spaces, tabs, and newlines.
`s/OLD/NEW/'
Substitute NEW for the first occurrence of OLD in the event line.
Any delimiter may be used in place of `/'. The delimiter may be
quoted in OLD and NEW with a single backslash. If `&' appears in
NEW, it is replaced by OLD. A single backslash will quote the
`&'. The final delimiter is optional if it is the last character
on the input line.
`&'
Repeat the previous substitution.
`g'
Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. Used in
conjunction with `s', as in `gs/OLD/NEW/', or with `&'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Command Line Editing, Next: Installing Bash, Prev: Using History Interactively, Up: Top
Command Line Editing
********************
This chapter describes the basic features of the GNU command line
editing interface.
* Menu:
* Introduction and Notation:: Notation used in this text.
* Readline Interaction:: The minimum set of commands for editing a line.
* Readline Init File:: Customizing Readline from a user's view.
* Bindable Readline Commands:: A description of most of the Readline commands
available for binding
* Readline vi Mode:: A short description of how to make Readline
behave like the vi editor.

File: bashref.info, Node: Introduction and Notation, Next: Readline Interaction, Up: Command Line Editing
Introduction to Line Editing
============================
The following paragraphs describe the notation used to represent
keystrokes.
The text <C-k> is read as `Control-K' and describes the character
produced when the <k> key is pressed while the Control key is depressed.
The text <M-k> is read as `Meta-K' and describes the character
produced when the meta key (if you have one) is depressed, and the <k>
key is pressed. If you do not have a meta key, the identical keystroke
can be generated by typing <ESC> first, and then typing <k>. Either
process is known as "metafying" the <k> key.
The text <M-C-k> is read as `Meta-Control-k' and describes the
character produced by "metafying" <C-k>.
In addition, several keys have their own names. Specifically,
<DEL>, <ESC>, <LFD>, <SPC>, <RET>, and <TAB> all stand for themselves
when seen in this text, or in an init file (*note Readline Init
File::.).

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Interaction, Next: Readline Init File, Prev: Introduction and Notation, Up: Command Line Editing
Readline Interaction
====================
Often during an interactive session you type in a long line of text,
only to notice that the first word on the line is misspelled. The
Readline library gives you a set of commands for manipulating the text
as you type it in, allowing you to just fix your typo, and not forcing
you to retype the majority of the line. Using these editing commands,
you move the cursor to the place that needs correction, and delete or
insert the text of the corrections. Then, when you are satisfied with
the line, you simply press <RETURN>. You do not have to be at the end
of the line to press <RETURN>; the entire line is accepted regardless
of the location of the cursor within the line.
* Menu:
* Readline Bare Essentials:: The least you need to know about Readline.
* Readline Movement Commands:: Moving about the input line.
* Readline Killing Commands:: How to delete text, and how to get it back!
* Readline Arguments:: Giving numeric arguments to commands.
* Searching:: Searching through previous lines.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Bare Essentials, Next: Readline Movement Commands, Up: Readline Interaction
Readline Bare Essentials
------------------------
In order to enter characters into the line, simply type them. The
typed character appears where the cursor was, and then the cursor moves
one space to the right. If you mistype a character, you can use your
erase character to back up and delete the mistyped character.
Sometimes you may miss typing a character that you wanted to type,
and not notice your error until you have typed several other
characters. In that case, you can type <C-b> to move the cursor to the
left, and then correct your mistake. Afterwards, you can move the
cursor to the right with <C-f>.
When you add text in the middle of a line, you will notice that
characters to the right of the cursor are `pushed over' to make room
for the text that you have inserted. Likewise, when you delete text
behind the cursor, characters to the right of the cursor are `pulled
back' to fill in the blank space created by the removal of the text. A
list of the basic bare essentials for editing the text of an input line
follows.
<C-b>
Move back one character.
<C-f>
Move forward one character.
<DEL>
Delete the character to the left of the cursor.
<C-d>
Delete the character underneath the cursor.
Printing characters
Insert the character into the line at the cursor.
<C-_>
Undo the last editing command. You can undo all the way back to an
empty line.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Movement Commands, Next: Readline Killing Commands, Prev: Readline Bare Essentials, Up: Readline Interaction
Readline Movement Commands
--------------------------
The above table describes the most basic possible keystrokes that
you need in order to do editing of the input line. For your
convenience, many other commands have been added in addition to <C-b>,
<C-f>, <C-d>, and <DEL>. Here are some commands for moving more rapidly
about the line.
<C-a>
Move to the start of the line.
<C-e>
Move to the end of the line.
<M-f>
Move forward a word, where a word is composed of letters and
digits.
<M-b>
Move backward a word.
<C-l>
Clear the screen, reprinting the current line at the top.
Notice how <C-f> moves forward a character, while <M-f> moves
forward a word. It is a loose convention that control keystrokes
operate on characters while meta keystrokes operate on words.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Killing Commands, Next: Readline Arguments, Prev: Readline Movement Commands, Up: Readline Interaction
Readline Killing Commands
-------------------------
"Killing" text means to delete the text from the line, but to save
it away for later use, usually by "yanking" (re-inserting) it back into
the line. If the description for a command says that it `kills' text,
then you can be sure that you can get the text back in a different (or
the same) place later.
When you use a kill command, the text is saved in a "kill-ring".
Any number of consecutive kills save all of the killed text together, so
that when you yank it back, you get it all. The kill ring is not line
specific; the text that you killed on a previously typed line is
available to be yanked back later, when you are typing another line.
Here is the list of commands for killing text.
<C-k>
Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the
line.
<M-d>
Kill from the cursor to the end of the current word, or if between
words, to the end of the next word.
<M-DEL>
Kill from the cursor the start of the previous word, or if between
words, to the start of the previous word.
<C-w>
Kill from the cursor to the previous whitespace. This is
different than <M-DEL> because the word boundaries differ.
Here is how to "yank" the text back into the line. Yanking means to
copy the most-recently-killed text from the kill buffer.
<C-y>
Yank the most recently killed text back into the buffer at the
cursor.
<M-y>
Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top. You can only do this
if the prior command is <C-y> or <M-y>.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Arguments, Next: Searching, Prev: Readline Killing Commands, Up: Readline Interaction
Readline Arguments
------------------
You can pass numeric arguments to Readline commands. Sometimes the
argument acts as a repeat count, other times it is the sign of the
argument that is significant. If you pass a negative argument to a
command which normally acts in a forward direction, that command will
act in a backward direction. For example, to kill text back to the
start of the line, you might type `M-- C-k'.
The general way to pass numeric arguments to a command is to type
meta digits before the command. If the first `digit' typed is a minus
sign (<->), then the sign of the argument will be negative. Once you
have typed one meta digit to get the argument started, you can type the
remainder of the digits, and then the command. For example, to give
the <C-d> command an argument of 10, you could type `M-1 0 C-d'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Searching, Prev: Readline Arguments, Up: Readline Interaction
Searching for Commands in the History
-------------------------------------
Readline provides commands for searching through the command history
(*note Bash History Facilities::.) for lines containing a specified
string. There are two search modes: INCREMENTAL and NON-INCREMENTAL.
Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the
search string. As each character of the search string is typed,
Readline displays the next entry from the history matching the string
typed so far. An incremental search requires only as many characters
as needed to find the desired history entry. The characters present in
the value of the ISEARCH-TERMINATORS variable are used to terminate an
incremental search. If that variable has not been assigned a value,
the <ESC> and <C-J> characters will terminate an incremental search.
<C-g> will abort an incremental search and restore the original line.
When the search is terminated, the history entry containing the search
string becomes the current line. To find other matching entries in the
history list, type <C-s> or <C-r> as appropriate. This will search
backward or forward in the history for the next entry matching the
search string typed so far. Any other key sequence bound to a Readline
command will terminate the search and execute that command. For
instance, a <RET> will terminate the search and accept the line,
thereby executing the command from the history list.
Non-incremental searches read the entire search string before
starting to search for matching history lines. The search string may be
typed by the user or be part of the contents of the current line.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Init File, Next: Bindable Readline Commands, Prev: Readline Interaction, Up: Command Line Editing
Readline Init File
==================
Although the Readline library comes with a set of `emacs'-like
keybindings installed by default, it is possible to use a different set
of keybindings. Any user can customize programs that use Readline by
putting commands in an "inputrc" file in his home directory. The name
of this file is taken from the value of the shell variable `INPUTRC'.
If that variable is unset, the default is `~/.inputrc'.
When a program which uses the Readline library starts up, the init
file is read, and the key bindings are set.
In addition, the `C-x C-r' command re-reads this init file, thus
incorporating any changes that you might have made to it.
* Menu:
* Readline Init File Syntax:: Syntax for the commands in the inputrc file.
* Conditional Init Constructs:: Conditional key bindings in the inputrc file.
* Sample Init File:: An example inputrc file.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline Init File Syntax, Next: Conditional Init Constructs, Up: Readline Init File
Readline Init File Syntax
-------------------------
There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the Readline init
file. Blank lines are ignored. Lines beginning with a `#' are
comments. Lines beginning with a `$' indicate conditional constructs
(*note Conditional Init Constructs::.). Other lines denote variable
settings and key bindings.
Variable Settings
You can modify the run-time behavior of Readline by altering the
values of variables in Readline using the `set' command within the
init file. Here is how to change from the default Emacs-like key
binding to use `vi' line editing commands:
set editing-mode vi
A great deal of run-time behavior is changeable with the following
variables.
`bell-style'
Controls what happens when Readline wants to ring the
terminal bell. If set to `none', Readline never rings the
bell. If set to `visible', Readline uses a visible bell if
one is available. If set to `audible' (the default),
Readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
`comment-begin'
The string to insert at the beginning of the line when the
`insert-comment' command is executed. The default value is
`"#"'.
`completion-ignore-case'
If set to `on', Readline performs filename matching and
completion in a case-insensitive fashion. The default value
is `off'.
`completion-query-items'
The number of possible completions that determines when the
user is asked whether he wants to see the list of
possibilities. If the number of possible completions is
greater than this value, Readline will ask the user whether
or not he wishes to view them; otherwise, they are simply
listed. The default limit is `100'.
`convert-meta'
If set to `on', Readline will convert characters with the
eighth bit set to an ASCII key sequence by stripping the
eighth bit and prepending an <ESC> character, converting them
to a meta-prefixed key sequence. The default value is `on'.
`disable-completion'
If set to `On', Readline will inhibit word completion.
Completion characters will be inserted into the line as if
they had been mapped to `self-insert'. The default is `off'.
`editing-mode'
The `editing-mode' variable controls which default set of key
bindings is used. By default, Readline starts up in Emacs
editing mode, where the keystrokes are most similar to Emacs.
This variable can be set to either `emacs' or `vi'.
`enable-keypad'
When set to `on', Readline will try to enable the application
keypad when it is called. Some systems need this to enable
the arrow keys. The default is `off'.
`expand-tilde'
If set to `on', tilde expansion is performed when Readline
attempts word completion. The default is `off'.
`horizontal-scroll-mode'
This variable can be set to either `on' or `off'. Setting it
to `on' means that the text of the lines being edited will
scroll horizontally on a single screen line when they are
longer than the width of the screen, instead of wrapping onto
a new screen line. By default, this variable is set to `off'.
`input-meta'
If set to `on', Readline will enable eight-bit input (it will
not strip the eighth bit from the characters it reads),
regardless of what the terminal claims it can support. The
default value is `off'. The name `meta-flag' is a synonym
for this variable.
`isearch-terminators'
The string of characters that should terminate an incremental
search without subsequently executing the character as a
command (*note Searching::.). If this variable has not been
given a value, the characters <ESC> and <C-J> will terminate
an incremental search.
`keymap'
Sets Readline's idea of the current keymap for key binding
commands. Acceptable `keymap' names are `emacs',
`emacs-standard', `emacs-meta', `emacs-ctlx', `vi',
`vi-command', and `vi-insert'. `vi' is equivalent to
`vi-command'; `emacs' is equivalent to `emacs-standard'. The
default value is `emacs'. The value of the `editing-mode'
variable also affects the default keymap.
`mark-directories'
If set to `on', completed directory names have a slash
appended. The default is `on'.
`mark-modified-lines'
This variable, when set to `on', causes Readline to display an
asterisk (`*') at the start of history lines which have been
modified. This variable is `off' by default.
`output-meta'
If set to `on', Readline will display characters with the
eighth bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape
sequence. The default is `off'.
`print-completions-horizontally'
If set to `on', Readline will display completions with matches
sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down
the screen. The default is `off'.
`show-all-if-ambiguous'
This alters the default behavior of the completion functions.
If set to `on', words which have more than one possible
completion cause the matches to be listed immediately instead
of ringing the bell. The default value is `off'.
`visible-stats'
If set to `on', a character denoting a file's type is
appended to the filename when listing possible completions.
The default is `off'.
Key Bindings
The syntax for controlling key bindings in the init file is
simple. First you have to know the name of the command that you
want to change. The following sections contain tables of the
command name, the default keybinding, if any, and a short
description of what the command does.
Once you know the name of the command, simply place the name of
the key you wish to bind the command to, a colon, and then the
name of the command on a line in the init file. The name of the
key can be expressed in different ways, depending on which is most
comfortable for you.
KEYNAME: FUNCTION-NAME or MACRO
KEYNAME is the name of a key spelled out in English. For
example:
Control-u: universal-argument
Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
Control-o: "> output"
In the above example, <C-u> is bound to the function
`universal-argument', and <C-o> is bound to run the macro
expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text
`> output' into the line).
"KEYSEQ": FUNCTION-NAME or MACRO
KEYSEQ differs from KEYNAME above in that strings denoting an
entire key sequence can be specified, by placing the key
sequence in double quotes. Some GNU Emacs style key escapes
can be used, as in the following example, but the special
character names are not recognized.
"\C-u": universal-argument
"\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
"\e[11~": "Function Key 1"
In the above example, <C-u> is bound to the function
`universal-argument' (just as it was in the first example),
`<C-x> <C-r>' is bound to the function `re-read-init-file',
and `<ESC> <[> <1> <1> <~>' is bound to insert the text
`Function Key 1'.
The following GNU Emacs style escape sequences are available when
specifying key sequences:
`\C-'
control prefix
`\M-'
meta prefix
`\e'
an escape character
`\\'
backslash
`\"'
<">
`\''
<'>
In addition to the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second set
of backslash escapes is available:
`\a'
alert (bell)
`\b'
backspace
`\d'
delete
`\f'
form feed
`\n'
newline
`\r'
carriage return
`\t'
horizontal tab
`\v'
vertical tab
`\NNN'
the character whose ASCII code is the octal value NNN (one to
three digits)
`\xNNN'
the character whose ASCII code is the hexadecimal value NNN
(one to three digits)
When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must be
used to indicate a macro definition. Unquoted text is assumed to
be a function name. In the macro body, the backslash escapes
described above are expanded. Backslash will quote any other
character in the macro text, including `"' and `''. For example,
the following binding will make `C-x \' insert a single `\' into
the line:
"\C-x\\": "\\"

File: bashref.info, Node: Conditional Init Constructs, Next: Sample Init File, Prev: Readline Init File Syntax, Up: Readline Init File
Conditional Init Constructs
---------------------------
Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional
compilation features of the C preprocessor which allows key bindings
and variable settings to be performed as the result of tests. There
are four parser directives used.
`$if'
The `$if' construct allows bindings to be made based on the
editing mode, the terminal being used, or the application using
Readline. The text of the test extends to the end of the line; no
characters are required to isolate it.
`mode'
The `mode=' form of the `$if' directive is used to test
whether Readline is in `emacs' or `vi' mode. This may be
used in conjunction with the `set keymap' command, for
instance, to set bindings in the `emacs-standard' and
`emacs-ctlx' keymaps only if Readline is starting out in
`emacs' mode.
`term'
The `term=' form may be used to include terminal-specific key
bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the
terminal's function keys. The word on the right side of the
`=' is tested against both the full name of the terminal and
the portion of the terminal name before the first `-'. This
allows `sun' to match both `sun' and `sun-cmd', for instance.
`application'
The APPLICATION construct is used to include
application-specific settings. Each program using the
Readline library sets the APPLICATION NAME, and you can test
for it. This could be used to bind key sequences to
functions useful for a specific program. For instance, the
following command adds a key sequence that quotes the current
or previous word in Bash:
$if Bash
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
$endif
`$endif'
This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an `$if'
command.
`$else'
Commands in this branch of the `$if' directive are executed if the
test fails.
`$include'
This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads
commands and bindings from that file.
$include /etc/inputrc

File: bashref.info, Node: Sample Init File, Prev: Conditional Init Constructs, Up: Readline Init File
Sample Init File
----------------
Here is an example of an inputrc file. This illustrates key
binding, variable assignment, and conditional syntax.
# This file controls the behaviour of line input editing for
# programs that use the Gnu Readline library. Existing programs
# include FTP, Bash, and Gdb.
#
# You can re-read the inputrc file with C-x C-r.
# Lines beginning with '#' are comments.
#
# First, include any systemwide bindings and variable assignments from
# /etc/Inputrc
$include /etc/Inputrc
#
# Set various bindings for emacs mode.
set editing-mode emacs
$if mode=emacs
Meta-Control-h: backward-kill-word Text after the function name is ignored
#
# Arrow keys in keypad mode
#
#"\M-OD": backward-char
#"\M-OC": forward-char
#"\M-OA": previous-history
#"\M-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in ANSI mode
#
"\M-[D": backward-char
"\M-[C": forward-char
"\M-[A": previous-history
"\M-[B": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit keypad mode
#
#"\M-\C-OD": backward-char
#"\M-\C-OC": forward-char
#"\M-\C-OA": previous-history
#"\M-\C-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit ANSI mode
#
#"\M-\C-[D": backward-char
#"\M-\C-[C": forward-char
#"\M-\C-[A": previous-history
#"\M-\C-[B": next-history
C-q: quoted-insert
$endif
# An old-style binding. This happens to be the default.
TAB: complete
# Macros that are convenient for shell interaction
$if Bash
# edit the path
"\C-xp": "PATH=${PATH}\e\C-e\C-a\ef\C-f"
# prepare to type a quoted word -- insert open and close double quotes
# and move to just after the open quote
"\C-x\"": "\"\"\C-b"
# insert a backslash (testing backslash escapes in sequences and macros)
"\C-x\\": "\\"
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
# Add a binding to refresh the line, which is unbound
"\C-xr": redraw-current-line
# Edit variable on current line.
"\M-\C-v": "\C-a\C-k$\C-y\M-\C-e\C-a\C-y="
$endif
# use a visible bell if one is available
set bell-style visible
# don't strip characters to 7 bits when reading
set input-meta on
# allow iso-latin1 characters to be inserted rather than converted to
# prefix-meta sequences
set convert-meta off
# display characters with the eighth bit set directly rather than
# as meta-prefixed characters
set output-meta on
# if there are more than 150 possible completions for a word, ask the
# user if he wants to see all of them
set completion-query-items 150
# For FTP
$if Ftp
"\C-xg": "get \M-?"
"\C-xt": "put \M-?"
"\M-.": yank-last-arg
$endif

File: bashref.info, Node: Bindable Readline Commands, Next: Readline vi Mode, Prev: Readline Init File, Up: Command Line Editing
Bindable Readline Commands
==========================
* Menu:
* Commands For Moving:: Moving about the line.
* Commands For History:: Getting at previous lines.
* Commands For Text:: Commands for changing text.
* Commands For Killing:: Commands for killing and yanking.
* Numeric Arguments:: Specifying numeric arguments, repeat counts.
* Commands For Completion:: Getting Readline to do the typing for you.
* Keyboard Macros:: Saving and re-executing typed characters
* Miscellaneous Commands:: Other miscellaneous commands.
This section describes Readline commands that may be bound to key
sequences.

File: bashref.info, Node: Commands For Moving, Next: Commands For History, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Commands For Moving
-------------------
`beginning-of-line (C-a)'
Move to the start of the current line.
`end-of-line (C-e)'
Move to the end of the line.
`forward-char (C-f)'
Move forward a character.
`backward-char (C-b)'
Move back a character.
`forward-word (M-f)'
Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of
letters and digits.
`backward-word (M-b)'
Move back to the start of this, or the previous, word. Words are
composed of letters and digits.
`clear-screen (C-l)'
Clear the screen and redraw the current line, leaving the current
line at the top of the screen.
`redraw-current-line ()'
Refresh the current line. By default, this is unbound.

File: bashref.info, Node: Commands For History, Next: Commands For Text, Prev: Commands For Moving, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Commands For Manipulating The History
-------------------------------------
`accept-line (Newline, Return)'
Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is. If this line is
non-empty, add it to the history list according to the setting of
the `HISTCONTROL' and `HISTIGNORE' variables. If this line was a
history line, then restore the history line to its original state.
`previous-history (C-p)'
Move `up' through the history list.
`next-history (C-n)'
Move `down' through the history list.
`beginning-of-history (M-<)'
Move to the first line in the history.
`end-of-history (M->)'
Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
being entered.
`reverse-search-history (C-r)'
Search backward starting at the current line and moving `up'
through the history as necessary. This is an incremental search.
`forward-search-history (C-s)'
Search forward starting at the current line and moving `down'
through the the history as necessary. This is an incremental
search.
`non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)'
Search backward starting at the current line and moving `up'
through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search
for a string supplied by the user.
`non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)'
Search forward starting at the current line and moving `down'
through the the history as necessary using a non-incremental search
for a string supplied by the user.
`history-search-forward ()'
Search forward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the current cursor
position (the POINT). This is a non-incremental search. By
default, this command is unbound.
`history-search-backward ()'
Search backward through the history for the string of characters
between the start of the current line and the point. This is a
non-incremental search. By default, this command is unbound.
`yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)'
Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually the
second word on the previous line). With an argument N, insert the
Nth word from the previous command (the words in the previous
command begin with word 0). A negative argument inserts the Nth
word from the end of the previous command.
`yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)'
Insert last argument to the previous command (the last word of the
previous history entry). With an argument, behave exactly like
`yank-nth-arg'. Successive calls to `yank-last-arg' move back
through the history list, inserting the last argument of each line
in turn.

File: bashref.info, Node: Commands For Text, Next: Commands For Killing, Prev: Commands For History, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Commands For Changing Text
--------------------------
`delete-char (C-d)'
Delete the character under the cursor. If the cursor is at the
beginning of the line, there are no characters in the line, and
the last character typed was not bound to `delete-char', then
return `EOF'.
`backward-delete-char (Rubout)'
Delete the character behind the cursor. A numeric argument means
to kill the characters instead of deleting them.
`forward-backward-delete-char ()'
Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at the
end of the line, in which case the character behind the cursor is
deleted. By default, this is not bound to a key.
`quoted-insert (C-q, C-v)'
Add the next character typed to the line verbatim. This is how to
insert key sequences like <C-q>, for example.
`self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)'
Insert yourself.
`transpose-chars (C-t)'
Drag the character before the cursor forward over the character at
the cursor, moving the cursor forward as well. If the insertion
point is at the end of the line, then this transposes the last two
characters of the line. Negative arguments don't work.
`transpose-words (M-t)'
Drag the word behind the cursor past the word in front of the
cursor moving the cursor over that word as well.
`upcase-word (M-u)'
Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.
`downcase-word (M-l)'
Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move the cursor.
`capitalize-word (M-c)'
Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative
argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

File: bashref.info, Node: Commands For Killing, Next: Numeric Arguments, Prev: Commands For Text, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Killing And Yanking
-------------------
`kill-line (C-k)'
Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the
line.
`backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)'
Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
`unix-line-discard (C-u)'
Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
`kill-whole-line ()'
Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where the
cursor is. By default, this is unbound.
`kill-word (M-d)'
Kill from the cursor to the end of the current word, or if between
words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the same
as `forward-word'.
`backward-kill-word (M-DEL)'
Kill the word behind the cursor. Word boundaries are the same as
`backward-word'.
`unix-word-rubout (C-w)'
Kill the word behind the cursor, using white space as a word
boundary. The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
`delete-horizontal-space ()'
Delete all spaces and tabs around point. By default, this is
unbound.
`kill-region ()'
Kill the text between the point and the *mark* (saved cursor
position). This text is referred to as the REGION. By default,
this command is unbound.
`copy-region-as-kill ()'
Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer, so it can be yanked
right away. By default, this command is unbound.
`copy-backward-word ()'
Copy the word before point to the kill buffer. The word
boundaries are the same as `backward-word'. By default, this
command is unbound.
`copy-forward-word ()'
Copy the word following point to the kill buffer. The word
boundaries are the same as `forward-word'. By default, this
command is unbound.
`yank (C-y)'
Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at the current
cursor position.
`yank-pop (M-y)'
Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top. You can only do this
if the prior command is yank or yank-pop.

File: bashref.info, Node: Numeric Arguments, Next: Commands For Completion, Prev: Commands For Killing, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Specifying Numeric Arguments
----------------------------
`digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ... M--)'
Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new
argument. <M-> starts a negative argument.
`universal-argument ()'
This is another way to specify an argument. If this command is
followed by one or more digits, optionally with a leading minus
sign, those digits define the argument. If the command is
followed by digits, executing `universal-argument' again ends the
numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored. As a special case, if
this command is immediately followed by a character that is
neither a digit or minus sign, the argument count for the next
command is multiplied by four. The argument count is initially
one, so executing this function the first time makes the argument
count four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen, and so
on. By default, this is not bound to a key.

File: bashref.info, Node: Commands For Completion, Next: Keyboard Macros, Prev: Numeric Arguments, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Letting Readline Type For You
-----------------------------
`complete (TAB)'
Attempt to do completion on the text before the cursor. This is
application-specific. Generally, if you are typing a filename
argument, you can do filename completion; if you are typing a
command, you can do command completion; if you are typing in a
symbol to GDB, you can do symbol name completion; if you are
typing in a variable to Bash, you can do variable name completion,
and so on. Bash attempts completion treating the text as a
variable (if the text begins with `$'), username (if the text
begins with `~'), hostname (if the text begins with `@'), or
command (including aliases and functions) in turn. If none of
these produces a match, filename completion is attempted.
`possible-completions (M-?)'
List the possible completions of the text before the cursor.
`insert-completions (M-*)'
Insert all completions of the text before point that would have
been generated by `possible-completions'.
`menu-complete ()'
Similar to `complete', but replaces the word to be completed with
a single match from the list of possible completions. Repeated
execution of `menu-complete' steps through the list of possible
completions, inserting each match in turn. At the end of the list
of completions, the bell is rung and the original text is restored.
An argument of N moves N positions forward in the list of matches;
a negative argument may be used to move backward through the list.
This command is intended to be bound to `TAB', but is unbound by
default.
`delete-char-or-list ()'
Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or
end of the line (like `delete-char'). If at the end of the line,
behaves identically to `possible-completions'. This command is
unbound by default.
`complete-filename (M-/)'
Attempt filename completion on the text before point.
`possible-filename-completions (C-x /)'
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a filename.
`complete-username (M-~)'
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
username.
`possible-username-completions (C-x ~)'
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a username.
`complete-variable (M-$)'
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
shell variable.
`possible-variable-completions (C-x $)'
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a shell variable.
`complete-hostname (M-@)'
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
hostname.
`possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)'
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a hostname.
`complete-command (M-!)'
Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a
command name. Command completion attempts to match the text
against aliases, reserved words, shell functions, shell builtins,
and finally executable filenames, in that order.
`possible-command-completions (C-x !)'
List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
it as a command name.
`dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)'
Attempt completion on the text before point, comparing the text
against lines from the history list for possible completion
matches.
`complete-into-braces (M-{)'
Perform filename completion and return the list of possible
completions enclosed within braces so the list is available to the
shell (*note Brace Expansion::.).

File: bashref.info, Node: Keyboard Macros, Next: Miscellaneous Commands, Prev: Commands For Completion, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Keyboard Macros
---------------
`start-kbd-macro (C-x ()'
Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.
`end-kbd-macro (C-x ))'
Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
and save the definition.
`call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)'
Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the
characters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

File: bashref.info, Node: Miscellaneous Commands, Prev: Keyboard Macros, Up: Bindable Readline Commands
Some Miscellaneous Commands
---------------------------
`re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)'
Read in the contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any
bindings or variable assignments found there.
`abort (C-g)'
Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
(subject to the setting of `bell-style').
`do-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-X, ...)'
If the metafied character X is lowercase, run the command that is
bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
`prefix-meta (ESC)'
Make the next character typed be metafied. This is for keyboards
without a meta key. Typing `ESC f' is equivalent to typing `M-f'.
`undo (C-_, C-x C-u)'
Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
`revert-line (M-r)'
Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the
`undo' command enough times to get back to the beginning.
`tilde-expand (M-&)'
Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
`set-mark (C-@)'
Set the mark to the current point. If a numeric argument is
supplied, the mark is set to that position.
`exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)'
Swap the point with the mark. The current cursor position is set
to the saved position, and the old cursor position is saved as the
mark.
`character-search (C-])'
A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of
that character. A negative count searches for previous
occurrences.
`character-search-backward (M-C-])'
A character is read and point is moved to the previous occurrence
of that character. A negative count searches for subsequent
occurrences.
`insert-comment (M-#)'
The value of the `comment-begin' variable is inserted at the
beginning of the current line, and the line is accepted as if a
newline had been typed. This makes the current line a shell
comment.
`dump-functions ()'
Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the Readline
output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the output is
formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an INPUTRC
file. This command is unbound by default.
`dump-variables ()'
Print all of the settable variables and their values to the
Readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the
output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
INPUTRC file. This command is unbound by default.
`dump-macros ()'
Print all of the Readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they ouput. If a numeric argument is supplied, the output
is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an INPUTRC
file. This command is unbound by default.
`glob-expand-word (C-x *)'
The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname
expansion, and the list of matching file names is inserted,
replacing the word.
`glob-list-expansions (C-x g)'
The list of expansions that would have been generated by
`glob-expand-word' is displayed, and the line is redrawn.
`display-shell-version (C-x C-v)'
Display version information about the current instance of Bash.
`shell-expand-line (M-C-e)'
Expand the line as the shell does. This performs alias and
history expansion as well as all of the shell word expansions
(*note Shell Expansions::.).
`history-expand-line (M-^)'
Perform history expansion on the current line.
`magic-space ()'
Perform history expansion on the current line and insert a space
(*note History Interaction::.).
`alias-expand-line ()'
Perform alias expansion on the current line (*note Aliases::.).
`history-and-alias-expand-line ()'
Perform history and alias expansion on the current line.
`insert-last-argument (M-., M-_)'
A synonym for `yank-last-arg'.
`operate-and-get-next (C-o)'
Accept the current line for execution and fetch the next line
relative to the current line from the history for editing. Any
argument is ignored.
`emacs-editing-mode (C-e)'
When in `vi' editing mode, this causes a switch back to `emacs'
editing mode, as if the command `set -o emacs' had been executed.

File: bashref.info, Node: Readline vi Mode, Prev: Bindable Readline Commands, Up: Command Line Editing
Readline vi Mode
================
While the Readline library does not have a full set of `vi' editing
functions, it does contain enough to allow simple editing of the line.
The Readline `vi' mode behaves as specified in the POSIX 1003.2
standard.
In order to switch interactively between `emacs' and `vi' editing
modes, use the `set -o emacs' and `set -o vi' commands (*note The Set
Builtin::.). The Readline default is `emacs' mode.
When you enter a line in `vi' mode, you are already placed in
`insertion' mode, as if you had typed an `i'. Pressing <ESC> switches
you into `command' mode, where you can edit the text of the line with
the standard `vi' movement keys, move to previous history lines with
`k' and subsequent lines with `j', and so forth.

File: bashref.info, Node: Installing Bash, Next: Reporting Bugs, Prev: Command Line Editing, Up: Top
Installing Bash
***************
This chapter provides basic instructions for installing Bash on the
various supported platforms. The distribution supports nearly every
version of Unix (and, someday, GNU). Other independent ports exist for
MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 95, and Windows NT.
* Menu:
* Basic Installation:: Installation instructions.
* Compilers and Options:: How to set special options for various
systems.
* Compiling For Multiple Architectures:: How to compile Bash for more
than one kind of system from
the same source tree.
* Installation Names:: How to set the various paths used by the installation.
* Specifying the System Type:: How to configure Bash for a particular system.
* Sharing Defaults:: How to share default configuration values among GNU
programs.
* Operation Controls:: Options recognized by the configuration program.
* Optional Features:: How to enable and disable optional features when
building Bash.

File: bashref.info, Node: Basic Installation, Next: Compilers and Options, Up: Installing Bash
Basic Installation
==================
These are installation instructions for Bash.
The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation. It uses
those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package
(the top directory, the `builtins' and `doc' directories, and the each
directory under `lib'). It also creates a `config.h' file containing
system-dependent definitions. Finally, it creates a shell script named
`config.status' that you can run in the future to recreate the current
configuration, a file `config.cache' that saves the results of its
tests to speed up reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' containing
compiler output (useful mainly for debugging `configure'). If at some
point `config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you may
remove or edit it.
If you need to do unusual things to compile Bash, please try to
figure out how `configure' could check whether or not to do them, and
mail diffs or instructions to <bash-maintainers@gnu.org> so they can be
considered for the next release.
The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
called Autoconf. You only need `configure.in' if you want to change it
or regenerate `configure' using a newer version of Autoconf. If you do
this, make sure you are using Autoconf version 2.10 or newer.
If you need to change `configure.in' or regenerate `configure', you
will need to create two files: `_distribution' and `_patchlevel'.
`_distribution' should contain the major and minor version numbers of
the Bash distribution, for example `2.01'. `_patchlevel' should
contain the patch level of the Bash distribution, `0' for example. The
script `support/mkconffiles' has been provided to automate the creation
of these files.
The simplest way to compile Bash is:
1. `cd' to the directory containing the source code and type
`./configure' to configure Bash for your system. If you're using
`csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type `sh
./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
`configure' itself.
Running `configure' takes awhile. While running, it prints some
messages telling which features it is checking for.
2. Type `make' to compile Bash and build the `bashbug' bug reporting
script.
3. Optionally, type `make tests' to run the Bash test suite.
4. Type `make install' to install `bash' and `bashbug'. This will
also install the manual pages and Info file.
You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source
code directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the files that
`configure' created (so you can compile Bash for a different kind of
computer), type `make distclean'.

File: bashref.info, Node: Compilers and Options, Next: Compiling For Multiple Architectures, Prev: Basic Installation, Up: Installing Bash
Compilers and Options
=====================
Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that
the `configure' script does not know about. You can give `configure'
initial values for variables by setting them in the environment. Using
a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like
this:
CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure
On systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:
env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure
The configuration process uses GCC to build Bash if it is available.

File: bashref.info, Node: Compiling For Multiple Architectures, Next: Installation Names, Prev: Compilers and Options, Up: Installing Bash
Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================
You can compile Bash for more than one kind of computer at the same
time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their own
directory. To do this, you must use a version of `make' that supports
the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'. `cd' to the directory where
you want the object files and executables to go and run the `configure'
script from the source directory. You may need to supply the
`--srcdir=PATH' argument to tell `configure' where the source files
are. `configure' automatically checks for the source code in the
directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.
If you have to use a `make' that does not supports the `VPATH'
variable, you can compile Bash for one architecture at a time in the
source code directory. After you have installed Bash for one
architecture, use `make distclean' before reconfiguring for another
architecture.
Alternatively, if your system supports symbolic links, you can use
the `support/mkclone' script to create a build tree which has symbolic
links back to each file in the source directory. Here's an example
that creates a build directory in the current directory from a source
directory `/usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0':
bash /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0/support/mkclone -s /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0 .
The `mkclone' script requires Bash, so you must have already built Bash
for at least one architecture before you can create build directories
for other architectures.

File: bashref.info, Node: Installation Names, Next: Specifying the System Type, Prev: Compiling For Multiple Architectures, Up: Installing Bash
Installation Names
==================
By default, `make install' will install into `/usr/local/bin',
`/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an installation prefix other
than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the option `--prefix=PATH'.
You can specify separate installation prefixes for
architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If you
give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH', `make install' will
use `PATH' as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

File: bashref.info, Node: Specifying the System Type, Next: Sharing Defaults, Prev: Installation Names, Up: Installing Bash
Specifying the System Type
==========================
There may be some features `configure' can not figure out
automatically, but needs to determine by the type of host Bash will run
on. Usually `configure' can figure that out, but if it prints a
message saying it can not guess the host type, give it the
`--host=TYPE' option. `TYPE' can either be a short name for the system
type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name with three fields:
`CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM' (e.g., `sparc-sun-sunos4.1.2').
See the file `support/config.sub' for the possible values of each field.

File: bashref.info, Node: Sharing Defaults, Next: Operation Controls, Prev: Specifying the System Type, Up: Installing Bash
Sharing Defaults
================
If you want to set default values for `configure' scripts to share,
you can create a site shell script called `config.site' that gives
default values for variables like `CC', `cache_file', and `prefix'.
`configure' looks for `PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then
`PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists. Or, you can set the
`CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script.
A warning: the Bash `configure' looks for a site script, but not all
`configure' scripts do.

File: bashref.info, Node: Operation Controls, Next: Optional Features, Prev: Sharing Defaults, Up: Installing Bash
Operation Controls
==================
`configure' recognizes the following options to control how it
operates.
`--cache-file=FILE'
Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of
`./config.cache'. Set FILE to `/dev/null' to disable caching, for
debugging `configure'.
`--help'
Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.
`--quiet'
`--silent'
`-q'
Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.
`--srcdir=DIR'
Look for the Bash source code in directory DIR. Usually
`configure' can determine that directory automatically.
`--version'
Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
script, and exit.
`configure' also accepts some other, not widely used, boilerplate
options.

File: bashref.info, Node: Optional Features, Prev: Operation Controls, Up: Installing Bash
Optional Features
=================
The Bash `configure' has a number of `--enable-FEATURE' options,
where FEATURE indicates an optional part of Bash. There are also
several `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE is something like
`gnu-malloc' or `purify'. To turn off the default use of a package, use
`--without-PACKAGE'. To configure Bash without a feature that is
enabled by default, use `--disable-FEATURE'.
Here is a complete list of the `--enable-' and `--with-' options
that the Bash `configure' recognizes.
`--with-afs'
Define if you are using the Andrew File System from Transarc.
`--with-curses'
Use the curses library instead of the termcap library. This should
be supplied if your system has an inadequate or incomplete termcap
database.
`--with-glibc-malloc'
Use the GNU libc version of `malloc' in `lib/malloc/gmalloc.c'.
This is not the version of `malloc' that appears in glibc version
2, but a modified version of the `malloc' from glibc version 1.
This is somewhat slower than the default `malloc', but wastes less
space on a per-allocation basis, and will return memory to the
operating system under some circumstances.
`--with-gnu-malloc'
Use the GNU version of `malloc' in `lib/malloc/malloc.c'. This is
not the same `malloc' that appears in GNU libc, but an older
version derived from the 4.2 BSD `malloc'. This `malloc' is very
fast, but wastes some space on each allocation. This option is
enabled by default. The `NOTES' file contains a list of systems
for which this should be turned off, and `configure' disables this
option automatically for a number of systems.
`--with-installed-readline'
Define this to make bash link with a locally-installed version of
Readline rather than the version in lib/readline. This works only
with readline 4.0 and later versions.
`--with-purify'
Define this to use the Purify memory allocation checker from Pure
Software.
`--enable-minimal-config'
This produces a shell with minimal features, close to the
historical Bourne shell.
There are several `--enable-' options that alter how Bash is
compiled and linked, rather than changing run-time features.
`--enable-profiling'
This builds a Bash binary that produces profiling information to be
processed by `gprof' each time it is executed.
`--enable-static-link'
This causes Bash to be linked statically, if `gcc' is being used.
This could be used to build a version to use as root's shell.
The `minimal-config' option can be used to disable all of the
following options, but it is processed first, so individual options may
be enabled using `enable-FEATURE'.
All of the following options except for `disabled-builtins' and
`usg-echo-default' are enabled by default, unless the operating system
does not provide the necessary support.
`--enable-alias'
Allow alias expansion and include the `alias' and `unalias'
builtins (*note Aliases::.).
`--enable-array-variables'
Include support for one-dimensional array shell variables (*note
Arrays::.).
`--enable-bang-history'
Include support for `csh'-like history substitution (*note History
Interaction::.).
`--enable-brace-expansion'
Include `csh'-like brace expansion ( `b{a,b}c' ==> `bac bbc' ).
See *Note Brace Expansion::, for a complete description.
`--enable-command-timing'
Include support for recognizing `time' as a reserved word and for
displaying timing statistics for the pipeline following `time'.
This allows pipelines as well as shell builtins and functions to
be timed.
`--enable-cond-command'
Include support for the `[[' conditional command (*note
Conditional Constructs::.).
`--enable-directory-stack'
Include support for a `csh'-like directory stack and the `pushd',
`popd', and `dirs' builtins (*note The Directory Stack::.).
`--enable-disabled-builtins'
Allow builtin commands to be invoked via `builtin xxx' even after
`xxx' has been disabled using `enable -n xxx'. See *Note Bash
Builtins::, for details of the `builtin' and `enable' builtin
commands.
`--enable-dparen-arithmetic'
Include support for the `((...))' command (*note Conditional
Constructs::.).
`--enable-extended-glob'
Include support for the extended pattern matching features
described above under *Note Pattern Matching::.
`--enable-help-builtin'
Include the `help' builtin, which displays help on shell builtins
and variables.
`--enable-history'
Include command history and the `fc' and `history' builtin
commands.
`--enable-job-control'
This enables the job control features (*note Job Control::.), if
the operating system supports them.
`--enable-process-substitution'
This enables process substitution (*note Process Substitution::.)
if the operating system provides the necessary support.
`--enable-prompt-string-decoding'
Turn on the interpretation of a number of backslash-escaped
characters in the `$PS1', `$PS2', `$PS3', and `$PS4' prompt
strings. See *Note Printing a Prompt::, for a complete list of
prompt string escape sequences.
`--enable-readline'
Include support for command-line editing and history with the Bash
version of the Readline library (*note Command Line Editing::.).
`--enable-restricted'
Include support for a "restricted shell". If this is enabled,
Bash, when called as `rbash', enters a restricted mode. See *Note
The Restricted Shell::, for a description of restricted mode.
`--enable-select'
Include the `select' builtin, which allows the generation of simple
menus (*note Conditional Constructs::.).
`--enable-usg-echo-default'
Make the `echo' builtin expand backslash-escaped characters by
default, without requiring the `-e' option. This makes the Bash
`echo' behave more like the System V version.
The file `config.h.top' contains C Preprocessor `#define' statements
for options which are not settable from `configure'. Some of these are
not meant to be changed; beware of the consequences if you do. Read
the comments associated with each definition for more information about
its effect.

File: bashref.info, Node: Reporting Bugs, Next: Builtin Index, Prev: Installing Bash, Up: Top
Reporting Bugs
**************
Please report all bugs you find in Bash. But first, you should make
sure that it really is a bug, and that it appears in the latest version
of Bash that you have.
Once you have determined that a bug actually exists, use the
`bashbug' command to submit a bug report. If you have a fix, you are
encouraged to mail that as well! Suggestions and `philosophical' bug
reports may be mailed to <bug-bash@gnu.org> or posted to the Usenet
newsgroup `gnu.bash.bug'.
All bug reports should include:
* The version number of Bash.
* The hardware and operating system.
* The compiler used to compile Bash.
* A description of the bug behaviour.
* A short script or `recipe' which exercises the bug and may be used
to reproduce it.
`bashbug' inserts the first three items automatically into the template
it provides for filing a bug report.
Please send all reports concerning this manual to <chet@po.CWRU.Edu>.

File: bashref.info, Node: Builtin Index, Next: Reserved Word Index, Prev: Reporting Bugs, Up: Top
Index of Shell Builtin Commands
*******************************
* Menu:
* .: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* :: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* [: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* alias: Alias Builtins.
* bg: Job Control Builtins.
* bind: Bash Builtins.
* break: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* builtin: Bash Builtins.
* cd: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* command: Bash Builtins.
* continue: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* declare: Bash Builtins.
* dirs: The Directory Stack.
* disown: Job Control Builtins.
* echo: Bash Builtins.
* enable: Bash Builtins.
* eval: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* exec: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* exit: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* export: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* fc: Bash History Builtins.
* fg: Job Control Builtins.
* getopts: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* hash: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* help: Bash Builtins.
* history: Bash History Builtins.
* jobs: Job Control Builtins.
* kill: Job Control Builtins.
* let: Bash Builtins.
* local: Bash Builtins.
* logout: Bash Builtins.
* popd: The Directory Stack.
* printf: Bash Builtins.
* pushd: The Directory Stack.
* pwd: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* read: Bash Builtins.
* readonly: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* return: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* set: The Set Builtin.
* shift: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* shopt: Bash Builtins.
* source: Bash Builtins.
* suspend: Job Control Builtins.
* test: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* times: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* trap: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* type: Bash Builtins.
* typeset: Bash Builtins.
* ulimit: Bash Builtins.
* umask: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* unalias: Alias Builtins.
* unset: Bourne Shell Builtins.
* wait: Job Control Builtins.

File: bashref.info, Node: Reserved Word Index, Next: Variable Index, Prev: Builtin Index, Up: Top
Shell Reserved Words
********************
* Menu:
* !: Pipelines.
* [[: Conditional Constructs.
* ]]: Conditional Constructs.
* case: Conditional Constructs.
* do: Looping Constructs.
* done: Looping Constructs.
* elif: Conditional Constructs.
* else: Conditional Constructs.
* esac: Conditional Constructs.
* fi: Conditional Constructs.
* for: Looping Constructs.
* function: Shell Functions.
* if: Conditional Constructs.
* in: Conditional Constructs.
* select: Conditional Constructs.
* then: Conditional Constructs.
* time: Pipelines.
* until: Looping Constructs.
* while: Looping Constructs.
* {: Command Grouping.
* }: Command Grouping.

File: bashref.info, Node: Variable Index, Next: Function Index, Prev: Reserved Word Index, Up: Top
Parameter and Variable Index
****************************
* Menu:
* !: Special Parameters.
* #: Special Parameters.
* $: Special Parameters.
* *: Special Parameters.
* -: Special Parameters.
* 0: Special Parameters.
* ?: Special Parameters.
* @: Special Parameters.
* _: Special Parameters.
* auto_resume: Job Control Variables.
* BASH: Bash Variables.
* BASH_ENV: Bash Variables.
* BASH_VERSINFO: Bash Variables.
* BASH_VERSION: Bash Variables.
* bell-style: Readline Init File Syntax.
* CDPATH: Bourne Shell Variables.
* comment-begin: Readline Init File Syntax.
* completion-query-items: Readline Init File Syntax.
* convert-meta: Readline Init File Syntax.
* DIRSTACK: Bash Variables.
* disable-completion: Readline Init File Syntax.
* editing-mode: Readline Init File Syntax.
* enable-keypad: Readline Init File Syntax.
* EUID: Bash Variables.
* expand-tilde: Readline Init File Syntax.
* FCEDIT: Bash Variables.
* FIGNORE: Bash Variables.
* GLOBIGNORE: Bash Variables.
* GROUPS: Bash Variables.
* histchars: Bash Variables.
* HISTCMD: Bash Variables.
* HISTCONTROL: Bash Variables.
* HISTFILE: Bash Variables.
* HISTFILESIZE: Bash Variables.
* HISTIGNORE: Bash Variables.
* HISTSIZE: Bash Variables.
* HOME: Bourne Shell Variables.
* horizontal-scroll-mode: Readline Init File Syntax.
* HOSTFILE: Bash Variables.
* HOSTNAME: Bash Variables.
* HOSTTYPE: Bash Variables.
* IFS: Bourne Shell Variables.
* IGNOREEOF: Bash Variables.
* input-meta: Readline Init File Syntax.
* INPUTRC: Bash Variables.
* isearch-terminators: Readline Init File Syntax.
* keymap: Readline Init File Syntax.
* LANG: Bash Variables.
* LC_ALL: Bash Variables.
* LC_COLLATE: Bash Variables.
* LC_CTYPE: Bash Variables.
* LC_MESSAGES: Bash Variables.
* LINENO: Bash Variables.
* MACHTYPE: Bash Variables.
* MAIL: Bourne Shell Variables.
* MAILCHECK: Bash Variables.
* MAILPATH: Bourne Shell Variables.
* mark-modified-lines: Readline Init File Syntax.
* meta-flag: Readline Init File Syntax.
* OLDPWD: Bash Variables.
* OPTARG: Bourne Shell Variables.
* OPTERR: Bash Variables.
* OPTIND: Bourne Shell Variables.
* OSTYPE: Bash Variables.
* output-meta: Readline Init File Syntax.
* PATH: Bourne Shell Variables.
* PIPESTATUS: Bash Variables.
* PPID: Bash Variables.
* PROMPT_COMMAND: Bash Variables.
* PS1: Bourne Shell Variables.
* PS2: Bourne Shell Variables.
* PS3: Bash Variables.
* PS4: Bash Variables.
* PWD: Bash Variables.
* RANDOM: Bash Variables.
* REPLY: Bash Variables.
* SECONDS: Bash Variables.
* SHELLOPTS: Bash Variables.
* SHLVL: Bash Variables.
* show-all-if-ambiguous: Readline Init File Syntax.
* TIMEFORMAT: Bash Variables.
* TMOUT: Bash Variables.
* UID: Bash Variables.
* visible-stats: Readline Init File Syntax.

File: bashref.info, Node: Function Index, Next: Concept Index, Prev: Variable Index, Up: Top
Function Index
**************
* Menu:
* abort (C-g): Miscellaneous Commands.
* accept-line (Newline, Return): Commands For History.
* backward-char (C-b): Commands For Moving.
* backward-delete-char (Rubout): Commands For Text.
* backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout): Commands For Killing.
* backward-kill-word (M-DEL): Commands For Killing.
* backward-word (M-b): Commands For Moving.
* beginning-of-history (M-<): Commands For History.
* beginning-of-line (C-a): Commands For Moving.
* call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e): Keyboard Macros.
* capitalize-word (M-c): Commands For Text.
* character-search (C-]): Miscellaneous Commands.
* character-search-backward (M-C-]): Miscellaneous Commands.
* clear-screen (C-l): Commands For Moving.
* complete (TAB): Commands For Completion.
* copy-backward-word (): Commands For Killing.
* copy-forward-word (): Commands For Killing.
* copy-region-as-kill (): Commands For Killing.
* delete-char (C-d): Commands For Text.
* delete-char-or-list (): Commands For Completion.
* delete-horizontal-space (): Commands For Killing.
* digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ... M--): Numeric Arguments.
* do-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-X, ...): Miscellaneous Commands.
* downcase-word (M-l): Commands For Text.
* dump-functions (): Miscellaneous Commands.
* dump-macros (): Miscellaneous Commands.
* dump-variables (): Miscellaneous Commands.
* end-kbd-macro (C-x )): Keyboard Macros.
* end-of-history (M->): Commands For History.
* end-of-line (C-e): Commands For Moving.
* exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x): Miscellaneous Commands.
* forward-backward-delete-char (): Commands For Text.
* forward-char (C-f): Commands For Moving.
* forward-search-history (C-s): Commands For History.
* forward-word (M-f): Commands For Moving.
* history-search-backward (): Commands For History.
* history-search-forward (): Commands For History.
* insert-comment (M-#): Miscellaneous Commands.
* insert-completions (M-*): Commands For Completion.
* kill-line (C-k): Commands For Killing.
* kill-region (): Commands For Killing.
* kill-whole-line (): Commands For Killing.
* kill-word (M-d): Commands For Killing.
* menu-complete (): Commands For Completion.
* next-history (C-n): Commands For History.
* non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n): Commands For History.
* non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p): Commands For History.
* possible-completions (M-?): Commands For Completion.
* prefix-meta (ESC): Miscellaneous Commands.
* previous-history (C-p): Commands For History.
* quoted-insert (C-q, C-v): Commands For Text.
* re-read-init-file (C-x C-r): Miscellaneous Commands.
* redraw-current-line (): Commands For Moving.
* reverse-search-history (C-r): Commands For History.
* revert-line (M-r): Miscellaneous Commands.
* self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...): Commands For Text.
* set-mark (C-@): Miscellaneous Commands.
* start-kbd-macro (C-x (): Keyboard Macros.
* transpose-chars (C-t): Commands For Text.
* transpose-words (M-t): Commands For Text.
* undo (C-_, C-x C-u): Miscellaneous Commands.
* universal-argument (): Numeric Arguments.
* unix-line-discard (C-u): Commands For Killing.
* unix-word-rubout (C-w): Commands For Killing.
* upcase-word (M-u): Commands For Text.
* yank (C-y): Commands For Killing.
* yank-last-arg (M-., M-_): Commands For History.
* yank-nth-arg (M-C-y): Commands For History.
* yank-pop (M-y): Commands For Killing.

File: bashref.info, Node: Concept Index, Prev: Function Index, Up: Top
Concept Index
*************
* Menu:
* alias expansion: Aliases.
* arithmetic evaluation: Shell Arithmetic.
* arithmetic expansion: Arithmetic Expansion.
* arithmetic, shell: Shell Arithmetic.
* arrays: Arrays.
* background: Job Control Basics.
* Bash configuration: Basic Installation.
* Bash installation: Basic Installation.
* Bourne shell: Basic Shell Features.
* brace expansion: Brace Expansion.
* builtin: Definitions.
* command editing: Readline Bare Essentials.
* command execution: Command Search and Execution.
* command expansion: Simple Command Expansion.
* command history: Bash History Facilities.
* command search: Command Search and Execution.
* command substitution: Command Substitution.
* command timing: Pipelines.
* commands, conditional: Conditional Constructs.
* commands, grouping: Command Grouping.
* commands, lists: Lists.
* commands, looping: Looping Constructs.
* commands, pipelines: Pipelines.
* commands, shell: Shell Commands.
* commands, simple: Simple Commands.
* comments, shell: Comments.
* configuration: Basic Installation.
* control operator: Definitions.
* directory stack: The Directory Stack.
* editing command lines: Readline Bare Essentials.
* environment: Environment.
* evaluation, arithmetic: Shell Arithmetic.
* event designators: Event Designators.
* execution environment: Command Execution Environment.
* exit status <1>: Exit Status.
* exit status: Definitions.
* expansion: Shell Expansions.
* expansion, arithmetic: Arithmetic Expansion.
* expansion, brace: Brace Expansion.
* expansion, filename: Filename Expansion.
* expansion, parameter: Shell Parameter Expansion.
* expansion, pathname: Filename Expansion.
* expansion, tilde: Tilde Expansion.
* expressions, arithmetic: Shell Arithmetic.
* expressions, conditional: Bash Conditional Expressions.
* field: Definitions.
* filename: Definitions.
* filename expansion: Filename Expansion.
* foreground: Job Control Basics.
* functions, shell: Shell Functions.
* history builtins: Bash History Builtins.
* history events: Event Designators.
* history expansion: History Interaction.
* history list: Bash History Facilities.
* History, how to use: Job Control Variables.
* identifier: Definitions.
* initialization file, readline: Readline Init File.
* installation: Basic Installation.
* interaction, readline: Readline Interaction.
* interactive shell <1>: Is This Shell Interactive?.
* interactive shell: Invoking Bash.
* job: Definitions.
* job control <1>: Definitions.
* job control: Job Control Basics.
* kill ring: Readline Killing Commands.
* killing text: Readline Killing Commands.
* localization: Locale Translation.
* matching, pattern: Pattern Matching.
* metacharacter: Definitions.
* name: Definitions.
* notation, readline: Readline Bare Essentials.
* operator, shell: Definitions.
* parameter expansion: Shell Parameter Expansion.
* parameters: Shell Parameters.
* parameters, positional: Positional Parameters.
* parameters, special: Special Parameters.
* pathname expansion: Filename Expansion.
* pattern matching: Pattern Matching.
* pipeline: Pipelines.
* POSIX: Definitions.
* POSIX Mode: Bash POSIX Mode.
* process group: Definitions.
* process group ID: Definitions.
* process substitution: Process Substitution.
* prompting: Printing a Prompt.
* quoting: Quoting.
* quoting, ANSI: ANSI-C Quoting.
* Readline, how to use: Modifiers.
* redirection: Redirections.
* reserved word: Definitions.
* restricted shell: The Restricted Shell.
* return status: Definitions.
* shell arithmetic: Shell Arithmetic.
* shell function: Shell Functions.
* shell script: Shell Scripts.
* shell variable: Shell Parameters.
* signal: Definitions.
* signal handling: Signals.
* special builtin: Definitions.
* startup files: Bash Startup Files.
* suspending jobs: Job Control Basics.
* tilde expansion: Tilde Expansion.
* token: Definitions.
* variable, shell: Shell Parameters.
* word: Definitions.
* word splitting: Word Splitting.
* yanking text: Readline Killing Commands.

Tag Table:
Node: Top1187
Node: Introduction3146
Node: What is Bash?3371
Node: What is a shell?4465
Node: Definitions6487
Node: Basic Shell Features9148
Node: Shell Syntax10371
Node: Shell Operation10660
Node: Quoting11954
Node: Escape Character12979
Node: Single Quotes13451
Node: Double Quotes13780
Node: ANSI-C Quoting14678
Node: Locale Translation15547
Node: Comments15968
Node: Shell Commands16582
Node: Simple Commands17093
Node: Pipelines17652
Node: Lists19179
Node: Looping Constructs20634
Node: Conditional Constructs22239
Node: Command Grouping28177
Node: Shell Functions29554
Node: Shell Parameters31518
Node: Positional Parameters32844
Node: Special Parameters33593
Node: Shell Expansions36214
Node: Brace Expansion38137
Node: Tilde Expansion39698
Node: Shell Parameter Expansion42030
Node: Command Substitution48426
Node: Arithmetic Expansion49700
Node: Process Substitution50545
Node: Word Splitting51439
Node: Filename Expansion52891
Node: Pattern Matching54855
Node: Quote Removal57244
Node: Redirections57530
Node: Executing Commands63600
Node: Simple Command Expansion64267
Node: Command Search and Execution66190
Node: Command Execution Environment68193
Node: Environment70647
Node: Exit Status72304
Node: Signals73501
Node: Shell Scripts75396
Node: Bourne Shell Features77432
Node: Bourne Shell Builtins78162
Node: Bourne Shell Variables92273
Node: Other Bourne Shell Features93978
Node: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell94721
Node: Bash Features106910
Node: Invoking Bash108013
Node: Bash Startup Files112198
Node: Is This Shell Interactive?116342
Node: Bash Builtins117313
Node: The Set Builtin138717
Node: Bash Conditional Expressions145533
Node: Bash Variables148666
Node: Shell Arithmetic161096
Node: Aliases163144
Node: Alias Builtins165719
Node: Arrays166335
Node: The Directory Stack169356
Node: Printing a Prompt172706
Node: The Restricted Shell174369
Node: Bash POSIX Mode175730
Node: Job Control179891
Node: Job Control Basics180357
Node: Job Control Builtins184556
Node: Job Control Variables188848
Node: Using History Interactively189998
Node: Bash History Facilities190677
Node: Bash History Builtins193018
Node: History Interaction196386
Node: Event Designators198938
Node: Word Designators199865
Node: Modifiers201114
Node: Command Line Editing202431
Node: Introduction and Notation203091
Node: Readline Interaction204129
Node: Readline Bare Essentials205321
Node: Readline Movement Commands206861
Node: Readline Killing Commands207826
Node: Readline Arguments209541
Node: Searching210515
Node: Readline Init File212263
Node: Readline Init File Syntax213302
Node: Conditional Init Constructs222508
Node: Sample Init File224946
Node: Bindable Readline Commands228115
Node: Commands For Moving228865
Node: Commands For History229712
Node: Commands For Text232541
Node: Commands For Killing234508
Node: Numeric Arguments236657
Node: Commands For Completion237783
Node: Keyboard Macros241615
Node: Miscellaneous Commands242173
Node: Readline vi Mode246493
Node: Installing Bash247371
Node: Basic Installation248448
Node: Compilers and Options251358
Node: Compiling For Multiple Architectures252092
Node: Installation Names253749
Node: Specifying the System Type254474
Node: Sharing Defaults255178
Node: Operation Controls255843
Node: Optional Features256748
Node: Reporting Bugs263158
Node: Builtin Index264229
Node: Reserved Word Index267632
Node: Variable Index269090
Node: Function Index274363
Node: Concept Index278853

End Tag Table
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