From 9d8085074991d5c0a42d6fc96a2d1a3ee918aad1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Baumann Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2024 08:17:24 +0200 Subject: Adding upstream version 5.1. Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann --- doc/bashref.html | 15872 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 15872 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/bashref.html (limited to 'doc/bashref.html') diff --git a/doc/bashref.html b/doc/bashref.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a4c3ab --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/bashref.html @@ -0,0 +1,15872 @@ + + + + + + +Bash Reference Manual + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Bash Reference Manual

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

1 Introduction +
- 1.1 What is Bash?
- 1.2 What is a shell?
2 Definitions
3 Basic Shell Features +
4 Shell Builtin Commands +
5 Shell Variables +
- 5.1 Bourne Shell Variables
- 5.2 Bash Variables
6 Bash Features +
7 Job Control +
8 Command Line Editing +
9 Using History Interactively +
10 Installing Bash +
Appendix A Reporting Bugs
Appendix B Major Differences From The Bourne Shell +
- B.1 Implementation Differences From The SVR4.2 Shell
Appendix C GNU Free Documentation License
Appendix D Indexes +

+ + + +

Bash Features

+ +

This text is a brief description of the features that are present in +the Bash shell (version 5.1, 29 October 2020). +The Bash home page is http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/. +

This is Edition 5.1, last updated 29 October 2020, +of The GNU Bash Reference Manual, +for Bash, Version 5.1. +

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, noting which features were inspired by other shells and +which are specific to Bash. +

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. +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

• Introduction		An introduction to the shell. +
• Definitions		Some definitions used in the rest of this + manual. +
• Basic Shell Features		The shell "building blocks". +
• Shell Builtin Commands		Commands that are a part of the shell. +
• Shell Variables		Variables used or set by Bash. +
• Bash Features		Features found only in Bash. +
• Job Control		What job control is and how Bash allows you + to use it. +
• Command Line Editing		Chapter describing the command line + editing features. +
• Using History Interactively		Command History Expansion +
• Installing Bash		How to build and install Bash on your system. +
• Reporting Bugs		How to report bugs in Bash. +
• Major Differences From The Bourne Shell		A terse list of the differences + between Bash and historical + versions of /bin/sh. +
• GNU Free Documentation License		Copying and sharing this documentation. +
• Indexes		Various indexes for this manual. +

+ +

1 Introduction

+ + + + + +

+ +

1.1 What is Bash?

+ +

Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, +for the GNU operating system. +The name is an acronym for the ‘Bourne-Again SHell’, +a pun on Stephen Bourne, the author of the direct ancestor of +the current Unix shell sh, +which appeared in the Seventh Edition Bell Labs Research version +of Unix. +

Bash is largely compatible with sh and 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 portion of the IEEE POSIX +specification (IEEE Standard 1003.1). +It offers functional improvements over sh for both interactive and +programming use. +

While the GNU operating system provides other shells, including +a version of csh, Bash is 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, +and Windows platforms. +

+ +

1.2 What is a shell?

+ +

At its base, a shell is simply a macro processor that executes +commands. The term macro processor means functionality where text +and symbols are expanded to create larger expressions. +

A Unix shell is both a command interpreter and a programming +language. As a command interpreter, the shell provides the user +interface to the rich set of GNU utilities. The programming +language features allow these utilities 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 such as /bin, allowing users +or groups to establish custom environments to automate their common +tasks. +

Shells may be used interactively or non-interactively. In +interactive mode, they accept input typed from the keyboard. +When executing non-interactively, shells execute commands read +from a file. +

A shell allows execution of GNU 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. +Moreover, the shell allows control over the contents of commands’ +environments. +

Shells also provide a small set of built-in +commands (builtins) implementing functionality impossible +or inconvenient to obtain via separate utilities. +For example, cd, break, continue, and +exec cannot be implemented outside of the shell because +they directly manipulate the shell itself. +The history, getopts, kill, or pwd +builtins, among others, could be implemented in separate utilities, +but they are more convenient to use as builtin commands. +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 offer features geared specifically for +interactive use rather than to augment the programming language. +These interactive features include job control, command line +editing, command history and aliases. Each of these features is +described in this manual. +

+ +

2 Definitions

These definitions are used throughout the remainder of this manual. +

POSIX: +
A family of open system standards based on Unix. Bash +is primarily concerned with the Shell and Utilities portion of the +POSIX 1003.1 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 token 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. The value is restricted +to eight bits, so the maximum value is 255. +
+
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 space, tab, newline, or one of the following characters: +‘|’, ‘&’, ‘;’, ‘(’, ‘)’, ‘<’, or +‘>’. +
+
name: + +
A word consisting solely of letters, numbers, and underscores, +and beginning with a letter or underscore. Names are used as +shell variable and function names. +Also referred to as an identifier. +
+
operator: +
A control operator or a redirection operator. +See Redirections, for a list of redirection operators. +Operators contain at least one unquoted metacharacter. +
+
process group: +
A collection of related processes each having the same process +group ID. +
+
process group ID: +
A unique identifier 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 kernel +of an event occurring in the system. +
+
special builtin: +
A shell builtin command that has been classified as special by the +POSIX standard. +
+
token: +
A sequence of characters considered a single unit by the shell. +It is either a word or an operator. +
+
word: +
A sequence of characters treated as a unit by the shell. +Words may not include unquoted metacharacters. +

+ +

3 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, +The rules for evaluation and quoting are taken from the POSIX +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. +

+ + + + + + + + + +

• 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		How the shell stores values. +
• Shell Expansions		How Bash expands parameters 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. +

+ +

3.1 Shell Syntax

+ + + + + + +

When the shell reads input, it proceeds through a +sequence of operations. If the input indicates the beginning of a +comment, the shell ignores the comment symbol (‘#’), and the rest +of that line. +

Otherwise, roughly speaking, the shell reads its input and +divides the input into words and operators, employing the quoting rules +to select which meanings to assign various words and characters. +

The shell then parses these tokens into commands and other constructs, +removes the special meaning of certain words or characters, expands +others, redirects input and output as needed, executes the specified +command, waits for the command’s exit status, and makes that exit status +available for further inspection or processing. +

+ +

3.1.1 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: +

Reads its input from a file (see Shell Scripts), from a string +supplied as an argument to the -c invocation option +(see Invoking Bash), or from the user’s terminal. + +
Breaks the input into words and operators, obeying the quoting rules +described in Quoting. These tokens are separated by +metacharacters. Alias expansion is performed by this step +(see Aliases). + +
Parses the tokens into simple and compound commands +(see Shell Commands). + +
Performs the various shell expansions (see Shell Expansions), breaking +the expanded tokens into lists of filenames (see Filename Expansion) +and commands and arguments. + +
Performs any necessary redirections (see Redirections) and removes +the redirection operators and their operands from the argument list. + +
Executes the command (see Executing Commands). + +
Optionally waits for the command to complete and collects its exit +status (see Exit Status). + +

+ +

3.1.2 Quoting

+ + + + + + + + + +

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 (see Definitions) +has special meaning to the shell and must be quoted if it is to +represent itself. +When the command history expansion facilities are being used +(see History Interaction), the +history expansion character, usually ‘!’, must be quoted +to prevent history expansion. See Bash History Facilities, for +more details concerning history expansion. +

There are three quoting mechanisms: the +escape character, single quotes, and double quotes. +

+ +

3.1.2.1 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). +

+ +

3.1.2.2 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. +

+ +

3.1.2.3 Double Quotes

+ +

Enclosing characters in double quotes (‘"’) preserves the literal value +of all characters within the quotes, with the exception of +‘$’, ‘`’, ‘\’, +and, when history expansion is enabled, ‘!’. +When the shell is in +POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), +the ‘!’ has no special meaning +within double quotes, even when history expansion is enabled. +The characters ‘$’ and ‘`’ +retain their special meaning within double quotes (see 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. +If enabled, history expansion will be performed unless an ‘!’ +appearing in double quotes is escaped using a backslash. +The backslash preceding the ‘!’ is not removed. +

The special parameters ‘*’ and ‘@’ have special meaning +when in double quotes (see Shell Parameter Expansion). +

+ +

3.1.2.4 ANSI-C Quoting

+ + +

Words of the form $'string' are treated specially. The +word expands to string, with backslash-escaped characters replaced +as specified by the ANSI C standard. Backslash escape sequences, if +present, are decoded as follows: +

\a: alert (bell) +
\b: backspace +
\e
\E: an escape character (not ANSI C) +
\f: form feed +
\n: newline +
\r: carriage return +
\t: horizontal tab +
\v: vertical tab +
\\: backslash +
\': single quote +
\": double quote +
\?: question mark +
\nnn: the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn +(one to three octal digits) +
\xHH: the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH +(one or two hex digits) +
\uHHHH: the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value +HHHH (one to four hex digits) +
\UHHHHHHHH: the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value +HHHHHHHH (one to eight hex digits) +
\cx: a control-x character +

+ +

The expanded result is single-quoted, as if the dollar sign had not +been present. +

+ +

3.1.2.5 Locale-Specific Translation

+ + + + + +

A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign (‘$’) +will cause the string to be translated according to the current locale. +The gettext infrastructure performs the message catalog lookup and +translation, using the LC_MESSAGES and TEXTDOMAIN shell +variables, as explained below. See the gettext documentation for additional +details. +If the current locale is C or POSIX, +or if there are no translations available, +the dollar sign is ignored. +If the string is translated and replaced, the replacement is +double-quoted. +

+ + + +

Some systems use the message catalog selected by the LC_MESSAGES +shell variable. Others create the name of the message catalog from the +value of the TEXTDOMAIN shell variable, possibly adding a +suffix of ‘.mo’. If you use the TEXTDOMAIN variable, you +may need to set the TEXTDOMAINDIR variable to the location of +the message catalog files. Still others use both variables in this +fashion: +TEXTDOMAINDIR/LC_MESSAGES/LC_MESSAGES/TEXTDOMAIN.mo. +

+ +

3.1.3 Comments

+ + +

In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the +interactive_comments option to the shopt +builtin is enabled (see The Shopt Builtin), +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. +See Interactive Shells, for a description of what makes +a shell interactive. +

+ +

3.2 Shell Commands

+ + +

A simple shell command such as echo a b c consists of the command +itself followed by arguments, separated by spaces. +

More complex shell commands are composed of simple commands arranged together +in a variety of ways: in a pipeline in which the output of one command +becomes the input of a second, in a loop or conditional construct, or in +some other grouping. +

+ + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

3.2.1 Reserved Words

+ + +

Reserved words are words that have special meaning to the shell. +They are used to begin and end the shell’s compound commands. +

The following words are recognized as reserved when unquoted and +the first word of a command (see below for exceptions): +

+ + + + + +

`if`	`then`	`elif`	`else`	`fi`	`time`
`for`	`in`	`until`	`while`	`do`	`done`
`case`	`esac`	`coproc`	`select`	`function`
`{`	`}`	`[[`	`]]`	`!`

+ +

in is recognized as a reserved word if it is the third word of a +case or select command. +in and do are recognized as reserved +words if they are the third word in a for command. +

+ +

3.2.2 Simple Commands

+ + +

A simple command is the kind of command encountered most often. +It’s just a sequence of words separated by blanks, terminated +by one of the shell’s control operators (see Definitions). The +first word generally specifies a command to be executed, with the +rest of the words being that command’s arguments. +

The return status (see Exit Status) of a simple command is +its exit status as provided +by the POSIX 1003.1 waitpid function, or 128+n if +the command was terminated by signal n. +

+ +

3.2.3 Pipelines

+ + + +

A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated by +one of the control operators ‘|’ or ‘|&’. +

+ + + +

The format for a pipeline is +

[time [-p]] [!] command1 [ | or |& command2 ] …
+

+ +

The output of each command in the pipeline is connected via a pipe +to the input of the next command. +That is, each command reads the previous command’s output. This +connection is performed before any redirections specified by the +command. +

If ‘|&’ is used, command1’s standard error, in addition to +its standard output, is connected to +command2’s standard input through the pipe; +it is shorthand for 2>&1 |. +This implicit redirection of the standard error to the standard output is +performed after any redirections specified by the command. +

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. +When the shell is in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), +it does not recognize time as a reserved word if the next +token begins with a ‘-’. +The TIMEFORMAT variable may be set to a format string that +specifies how the timing information should be displayed. +See 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. +

When the shell is in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), time +may be followed by a newline. In this case, the shell displays the +total user and system time consumed by the shell and its children. +The TIMEFORMAT variable may be used to specify the format of +the time information. +

If the pipeline is not executed asynchronously (see Lists), the +shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to complete. +

Each command in a pipeline is executed in its own subshell, which is a +separate process (see Command Execution Environment). +If the lastpipe option is enabled using the shopt builtin +(see The Shopt Builtin), +the last element of a pipeline may be run by the shell process. +

The exit +status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command in the +pipeline, unless the pipefail option is enabled +(see The Set Builtin). +If pipefail is enabled, the pipeline’s return status is the +value of the last (rightmost) command to exit with a non-zero status, +or zero if all commands exit successfully. +If the reserved word ‘!’ precedes the pipeline, the +exit status is the logical negation of the exit status as described +above. +The shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to terminate before +returning a value. +

+ +

3.2.4 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. +

A sequence of one or more newlines may appear in a list +to delimit commands, equivalent to a semicolon. +

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, +and these are referred to as asynchronous commands. +The shell does not wait for the command to finish, and the return +status is 0 (true). +When job control is not active (see Job Control), +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. +

AND and OR lists are sequences of one or more pipelines +separated by the control operators ‘&&’ and ‘||’, +respectively. AND and OR lists are executed with left +associativity. +

An AND list has the form +

command1 && command2
+

+ +

command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 +returns an exit status of zero (success). +

An OR list has the form +

command1 || command2
+

+ +

command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 +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. +

+ +

3.2.5 Compound Commands

+ + + + + + + + +

Compound commands are the shell programming language constructs. +Each construct begins with a reserved word or control operator and is +terminated by a corresponding reserved word or operator. +Any redirections (see Redirections) associated with a compound command +apply to all commands within that compound command unless explicitly overridden. +

In most cases a list of commands in a compound command’s description may be +separated from the rest of the command by one or more newlines, and may be +followed by a newline in place of a semicolon. +

Bash provides looping constructs, conditional commands, and mechanisms +to group commands and execute them as a unit. +

+ +

3.2.5.1 Looping Constructs

+ + +

Bash supports the following looping constructs. +

Note that wherever a ‘;’ appears 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 (see Shell Expansions), and execute commands +once for each member +in the resultant list, with name bound to the current member. +If ‘in words’ is not present, the for command +executes the commands once for each positional parameter that is +set, as if ‘in "$@"’ had been specified +(see Special Parameters). +

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. +

An alternate form of the for command is also supported: +

for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) ; do commands ; done
+

+ +

First, the arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated according +to the rules described below (see Shell Arithmetic). +The arithmetic expression expr2 is then evaluated repeatedly +until it evaluates to zero. +Each time expr2 evaluates to a non-zero value, commands are +executed and the arithmetic expression expr3 is evaluated. +If any expression is omitted, it behaves as if it evaluates to 1. +The return value is the exit status of the last command in commands +that is executed, or false if any of the expressions is invalid. +

+ +

The break and continue builtins (see Bourne Shell Builtins) +may be used to control loop execution. +

+ +

3.2.5.2 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 match is performed according +to the rules described below in Pattern Matching. +If the nocasematch shell option +(see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) +is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case +of alphabetic characters. +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 ‘;;’, ‘;&’, or ‘;;&’. +The word undergoes tilde expansion, parameter expansion, command +substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal +(see Shell Parameter Expansion) +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 ‘;;’, ‘;&’, or ‘;;&’. +The first pattern that matches determines the +command-list that is executed. +It’s a common idiom to use ‘*’ as the final pattern to define the +default case, since that pattern will always match. +

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."
+

+ + +

If the ‘;;’ operator is used, no subsequent matches are attempted after +the first pattern match. +Using ‘;&’ in place of ‘;;’ causes execution to continue with +the command-list associated with the next clause, if any. +Using ‘;;&’ in place of ‘;;’ causes the shell to test the patterns +in the next clause, if any, and execute any associated command-list +on a successful match, +continuing the case statement execution as if the pattern list had not matched. +

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 specified. +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 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 (see 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"
+

See 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 +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. +Conditional operators such as ‘-f’ must be unquoted to be recognized +as primaries. +

When used with [[, the ‘<’ and ‘>’ operators sort +lexicographically using the current locale. +

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 Pattern Matching, +as if the extglob shell option were enabled. +The ‘=’ operator is identical to ‘==’. +If the nocasematch shell option +(see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) +is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case +of alphabetic characters. +The return value is 0 if the string matches (‘==’) or does not +match (‘!=’) the pattern, and 1 otherwise. +Any part of the pattern may be quoted to force the quoted portion +to be matched as a string. +

An additional binary operator, ‘=~’, is available, with the same +precedence as ‘==’ and ‘!=’. +When it is used, the string to the right of the operator is considered +a POSIX extended regular expression and matched accordingly +(using the POSIX regcomp and regexec interfaces +usually described in regex(3)). +The return value is 0 if the string matches +the pattern, and 1 otherwise. +If the regular expression is syntactically incorrect, the conditional +expression’s return value is 2. +If the nocasematch shell option +(see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) +is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case +of alphabetic characters. +Any part of the pattern may be quoted to force the quoted portion +to be matched as a string. +Bracket expressions in regular expressions must be treated carefully, +since normal quoting characters lose their meanings between brackets. +If the pattern is stored in a shell variable, quoting the variable +expansion forces the entire pattern to be matched as a string. +

The pattern will match if it matches any part of the string. +Anchor the pattern using the ‘^’ and ‘$’ regular expression +operators to force it to match the entire string. +The array variable BASH_REMATCH records which parts of the string +matched the pattern. +The element of BASH_REMATCH with index 0 contains the portion of +the string matching the entire regular expression. +Substrings matched by parenthesized subexpressions within the regular +expression are saved in the remaining BASH_REMATCH indices. +The element of BASH_REMATCH with index n is the portion of the +string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression. +

For example, the following will match a line +(stored in the shell variable line) +if there is a sequence of characters anywhere in the value consisting of +any number, including zero, of +characters in the space character class, +zero or one instances of ‘a’, then a ‘b’: +

[[ $line =~ [[:space:]]*(a)?b ]]
+

+ +

That means values like ‘aab’ and ‘ aaaaaab’ will match, as +will a line containing a ‘b’ anywhere in its value. +

Storing the regular expression in a shell variable is often a useful +way to avoid problems with quoting characters that are special to the +shell. +It is sometimes difficult to specify a regular expression literally +without using quotes, or to keep track of the quoting used by regular +expressions while paying attention to the shell’s quote removal. +Using a shell variable to store the pattern decreases these problems. +For example, the following is equivalent to the above: +

pattern='[[:space:]]*(a)?b'
+[[ $line =~ $pattern ]]
+

+ +

If you want to match a character that’s special to the regular expression +grammar, it has to be quoted to remove its special meaning. +This means that in the pattern ‘xxx.txt’, the ‘.’ matches any +character in the string (its usual regular expression meaning), but in the +pattern ‘"xxx.txt"’ it can only match a literal ‘.’. +Shell programmers should take special care with backslashes, since backslashes +are used both by the shell and regular expressions to remove the special +meaning from the following character. +The following two sets of commands are not equivalent: +

pattern='\.'
+
+[[ . =~ $pattern ]]
+[[ . =~ \. ]]
+
+[[ . =~ "$pattern" ]]
+[[ . =~ '\.' ]]
+

+ +

The first two matches will succeed, but the second two will not, because +in the second two the backslash will be part of the pattern to be matched. +In the first two examples, the backslash removes the special meaning from +‘.’, so the literal ‘.’ matches. +If the string in the first examples were anything other than ‘.’, say +‘a’, the pattern would not match, because the quoted ‘.’ in the +pattern loses its special meaning of matching any single character. +

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 || operators do not evaluate expression2 if the +value of expression1 is sufficient to determine the return +value of the entire conditional expression. +

+ +

3.2.5.3 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 +environment to be created (see Command Execution Environment), 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 blanks or other shell metacharacters. +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. +

+ +

3.2.6 Coprocesses

+ + +

A coprocess is a shell command preceded by the coproc +reserved word. +A coprocess is executed asynchronously in a subshell, as if the command +had been terminated with the ‘&’ control operator, with a two-way pipe +established between the executing shell and the coprocess. +

The format for a coprocess is: +

coproc [NAME] command [redirections]
+

+ +

This creates a coprocess named NAME. +If NAME is not supplied, the default name is COPROC. +NAME must not be supplied if command is a simple +command (see Simple Commands); otherwise, it is interpreted as +the first word of the simple command. +

When the coprocess is executed, the shell creates an array variable +(see Arrays) +named NAME in the context of the executing shell. +The standard output of command +is connected via a pipe to a file descriptor in the executing shell, +and that file descriptor is assigned to NAME[0]. +The standard input of command +is connected via a pipe to a file descriptor in the executing shell, +and that file descriptor is assigned to NAME[1]. +This pipe is established before any redirections specified by the +command (see Redirections). +The file descriptors can be utilized as arguments to shell commands +and redirections using standard word expansions. +Other than those created to execute command and process substitutions, +the file descriptors are not available in subshells. +

The process ID of the shell spawned to execute the coprocess is +available as the value of the variable NAME_PID. +The wait +builtin command may be used to wait for the coprocess to terminate. +

Since the coprocess is created as an asynchronous command, +the coproc command always returns success. +The return status of a coprocess is the exit status of command. +

+ +

3.2.7 GNU Parallel

+ +

There are ways to run commands in parallel that are not built into Bash. +GNU Parallel is a tool to do just that. +

GNU Parallel, as its name suggests, can be used to build and run commands +in parallel. You may run the same command with different arguments, whether +they are filenames, usernames, hostnames, or lines read from files. GNU +Parallel provides shorthand references to many of the most common operations +(input lines, various portions of the input line, different ways to specify +the input source, and so on). Parallel can replace xargs or feed +commands from its input sources to several different instances of Bash. +

For a complete description, refer to the GNU Parallel documentation. A few +examples should provide a brief introduction to its use. +

For example, it is easy to replace xargs to gzip all html files in the +current directory and its subdirectories: +

find . -type f -name '*.html' -print | parallel gzip
+

If you need to protect special characters such as newlines in file names, +use find’s -print0 option and parallel’s -0 option. +

You can use Parallel to move files from the current directory when the +number of files is too large to process with one mv invocation: +

printf '%s\n' * | parallel mv {} destdir
+

+ +

As you can see, the {} is replaced with each line read from standard input. +While using ls will work in most instances, it is not sufficient to +deal with all filenames. printf is a shell builtin, and therefore is +not subject to the kernel’s limit on the number of arguments to a program, +so you can use ‘*’ (but see below about the dotglob shell option). +If you need to accommodate special characters in filenames, you can use +

printf '%s\0' * | parallel -0 mv {} destdir
+

+ +

as alluded to above. +

This will run as many mv commands as there are files in the current +directory. +You can emulate a parallel xargs by adding the -X option: +

printf '%s\0' * | parallel -0 -X mv {} destdir
+

+ +

(You may have to modify the pattern if you have the dotglob option +enabled.) +

GNU Parallel can replace certain common idioms that operate on lines read +from a file (in this case, filenames listed one per line): +

	while IFS= read -r x; do
+		do-something1 "$x" "config-$x"
+		do-something2 < "$x"
+	done < file | process-output
+

+ +

with a more compact syntax reminiscent of lambdas: +

cat list | parallel "do-something1 {} config-{} ; do-something2 < {}" |
+           process-output
+

+ +

Parallel provides a built-in mechanism to remove filename extensions, which +lends itself to batch file transformations or renaming: +

ls *.gz | parallel -j+0 "zcat {} | bzip2 >{.}.bz2 && rm {}"
+

This will recompress all files in the current directory with names ending +in .gz using bzip2, running one job per CPU (-j+0) in parallel. +(We use ls for brevity here; using find as above is more +robust in the face of filenames containing unexpected characters.) +Parallel can take arguments from the command line; the above can also be +written as +

parallel "zcat {} | bzip2 >{.}.bz2 && rm {}" ::: *.gz
+

+ +

If a command generates output, you may want to preserve the input order in +the output. For instance, the following command +

{
+    echo foss.org.my ;
+    echo debian.org ;
+    echo freenetproject.org ;
+} | parallel traceroute
+

will display as output the traceroute invocation that finishes first. +Adding the -k option +

{
+    echo foss.org.my ;
+    echo debian.org ;
+    echo freenetproject.org ;
+} | parallel -k traceroute
+

will ensure that the output of traceroute foss.org.my is displayed first. +

Finally, Parallel can be used to run a sequence of shell commands in parallel, +similar to ‘cat file | bash’. +It is not uncommon to take a list of filenames, create a series of shell +commands to operate on them, and feed that list of commands to a shell. +Parallel can speed this up. Assuming that file contains a list of +shell commands, one per line, +

parallel -j 10 < file
+

+ +

will evaluate the commands using the shell (since no explicit command is +supplied as an argument), in blocks of ten shell jobs at a time. +

+ +

3.3 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. +When the name of a shell function is used as a simple command name, +the list of commands associated with that function name is executed. +Shell functions are executed in the current +shell context; no new process is created to interpret them. +

Functions are declared using this syntax: + +

fname () compound-command [ redirections ]
+

+ +

or +

function fname [()] compound-command [ redirections ]
+

+ +

This defines a shell function named fname. The reserved +word function is optional. +If the function reserved +word is supplied, the parentheses are optional. +The body of the function is the compound command +compound-command (see Compound Commands). +That command is usually a list enclosed between { and }, but +may be any compound command listed above, +with one exception: If the function reserved word is used, but the +parentheses are not supplied, the braces are required. +compound-command is executed whenever fname is specified as the +name of a command. +When the shell is in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), +fname must be a valid shell name and +may not be the same as one of the special builtins +(see Special Builtins). +In default mode, a function name can be any unquoted shell word that does +not contain ‘$’. +Any redirections (see Redirections) associated with the shell function +are performed when the function is executed. +A function definition may be deleted using the -f option to the +unset builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins). +

The exit status of a function definition is zero unless a syntax error +occurs or a readonly function with the same name already exists. +When executed, the exit status of a function is the exit status of the +last command executed in the body. +

Note that for historical reasons, in the most common usage the curly braces +that surround the body of the function must be separated from the body by +blanks or newlines. +This is because the braces are reserved words and are only recognized +as such when they are separated from the command list +by whitespace or another shell metacharacter. +Also, when using the braces, the list must be terminated by a semicolon, +a ‘&’, or a newline. +

When a function is executed, the arguments to the +function become the positional parameters +during its execution (see Positional Parameters). +The special parameter ‘#’ that expands to the number of +positional parameters is updated to reflect the change. +Special parameter 0 is unchanged. +The first element of the FUNCNAME variable is set to the +name of the function while the function is executing. +

All other aspects of the shell execution +environment are identical between a function and its caller +with these exceptions: +the DEBUG and RETURN traps +are not inherited unless the function has been given the +trace attribute using the declare builtin or +the -o functrace option has been enabled with +the set builtin, +(in which case all functions inherit the DEBUG and RETURN traps), +and the ERR trap is not inherited unless the -o errtrace +shell option has been enabled. +See Bourne Shell Builtins, for the description of the +trap builtin. +

The FUNCNEST variable, if set to a numeric value greater +than 0, defines a maximum function nesting level. Function +invocations that exceed the limit cause the entire command to +abort. +

If the builtin command return +is executed in a function, the function completes and +execution resumes with the next command after the function +call. +Any command associated with the RETURN trap is executed +before execution resumes. +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 function’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. This is particularly +important when a shell function calls other functions. +

Local variables "shadow" variables with the same name declared at +previous scopes. For instance, a local variable declared in a function +hides a global variable of the same name: references and assignments +refer to the local variable, leaving the global variable unmodified. +When the function returns, the global variable is once again visible. +

The shell uses dynamic scoping to control a variable’s visibility +within functions. +With dynamic scoping, visible variables and their values +are a result of the sequence of function calls that caused execution +to reach the current function. +The value of a variable that a function sees depends +on its value within its caller, if any, whether that caller is +the "global" scope or another shell function. +This is also the value that a local variable +declaration "shadows", and the value that is restored when the function +returns. +

For example, if a variable var is declared as local in function +func1, and func1 calls another function func2, +references to var made from within func2 will resolve to the +local variable var from func1, shadowing any global variable +named var. +

The following script demonstrates this behavior. +When executed, the script displays +

In func2, var = func1 local
+

+ +

func1()
+{
+    local var='func1 local'
+    func2
+}
+
+func2()
+{
+    echo "In func2, var = $var"
+}
+
+var=global
+func1
+

+ +

The unset builtin also acts using the same dynamic scope: if a +variable is local to the current scope, unset will unset it; +otherwise the unset will refer to the variable found in any calling scope +as described above. +If a variable at the current local scope is unset, it will remain so +until it is reset in that scope or until the function returns. +Once the function returns, any instance of the variable at a previous +scope will become visible. +If the unset acts on a variable at a previous scope, any instance of a +variable with that name that had been shadowed will become visible. +

Function names and definitions may be listed with the +-f option to the declare (typeset) +builtin command (see Bash Builtins). +The -F option to declare or typeset +will list the function names only +(and optionally the source file and line number, if the extdebug +shell option is enabled). +Functions may be exported so that subshells +automatically have them defined with the +-f option to the export builtin +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). +

Functions may be recursive. +The FUNCNEST variable may be used to limit the depth of the +function call stack and restrict the number of function invocations. +By default, no limit is placed on the number of recursive calls. +

+ +

3.4 Shell Parameters

+ + + + + + + + + +

A parameter is an entity that stores values. +It can be a name, a number, or one of the special characters +listed below. +A variable is a parameter denoted by a name. +A variable has a value and zero or more attributes. +Attributes are assigned using the declare builtin command +(see the description of the declare builtin in Bash Builtins). +

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, then value +is evaluated as an arithmetic expression even if the $((…)) +expansion is not used (see Arithmetic Expansion). +Word splitting is not performed, with the exception +of "$@" as explained below. +Filename expansion is not performed. +Assignment statements may also appear as arguments to the +alias, +declare, typeset, export, readonly, +and local builtin commands (declaration commands). +When in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), these builtins may appear +in a command after one or more instances of the command builtin +and retain these assignment statement properties. +

In the context where an assignment statement is assigning a value +to a shell variable or array index (see Arrays), the ‘+=’ +operator can be used to +append to or add to the variable’s previous value. +This includes arguments to builtin commands such as declare that +accept assignment statements (declaration commands). +When ‘+=’ is applied to a variable for which the integer attribute +has been set, value is evaluated as an arithmetic expression and +added to the variable’s current value, which is also evaluated. +When ‘+=’ is applied to an array variable using compound assignment +(see Arrays), the +variable’s value is not unset (as it is when using ‘=’), and new +values are appended to the array beginning at one greater than the array’s +maximum index (for indexed arrays), or added as additional key-value pairs +in an associative array. +When applied to a string-valued variable, value is expanded and +appended to the variable’s value. +

A variable can be assigned the nameref attribute using the +-n option to the declare or local builtin commands +(see Bash Builtins) +to create a nameref, or a reference to another variable. +This allows variables to be manipulated indirectly. +Whenever the nameref variable is referenced, assigned to, unset, or has +its attributes modified (other than using or changing the nameref +attribute itself), the +operation is actually performed on the variable specified by the nameref +variable’s value. +A nameref is commonly used within shell functions to refer to a variable +whose name is passed as an argument to the function. +For instance, if a variable name is passed to a shell function as its first +argument, running +

declare -n ref=$1
+

inside the function creates a nameref variable ref whose value is +the variable name passed as the first argument. +References and assignments to ref, and changes to its attributes, +are treated as references, assignments, and attribute modifications +to the variable whose name was passed as $1. +

If the control variable in a for loop has the nameref attribute, +the list of words can be a list of shell variables, and a name reference +will be established for each word in the list, in turn, when the loop is +executed. +Array variables cannot be given the nameref attribute. +However, nameref variables can reference array variables and subscripted +array variables. +Namerefs can be unset using the -n option to the unset builtin +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). +Otherwise, if unset is executed with the name of a nameref variable +as an argument, the variable referenced by the nameref variable will be unset. +

+ +

3.4.1 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}, or +as $N when N consists of a single digit. +Positional parameters may not be assigned to with assignment statements. +The set and shift builtins are used to set and +unset them (see Shell Builtin Commands). +The positional parameters are +temporarily replaced when a shell function is executed +(see Shell Functions). +

When a positional parameter consisting of more than a single +digit is expanded, it must be enclosed in braces. +

+ +

3.4.2 Special Parameters

+ + +

The shell treats several parameters specially. These parameters may +only be referenced; assignment to them is not allowed. +

* + +: +
($*) Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. +When the expansion is not within double quotes, each positional parameter +expands to a separate word. +In contexts where it is performed, those words +are subject to further word splitting and filename expansion. +When the expansion occurs within double quotes, it expands to a single word +with the value of each parameter separated by the first character of the +IFS special variable. That is, "$*" 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. +In contexts where word splitting is performed, this expands each +positional parameter to a separate word; if not within double +quotes, these words are subject to word splitting. +In contexts where word splitting is not performed, +this expands to a single word +with each positional parameter separated by a space. +When the +expansion occurs within double quotes, and word splitting is performed, +each parameter expands to a +separate word. That is, "$@" is equivalent to +"$1" "$2" …. +If the double-quoted expansion occurs within a word, the expansion of +the first parameter is joined with the beginning part of the original +word, and the expansion of the last parameter is joined with the last +part of the original word. +When there are no positional parameters, "$@" and +$@ +expand to nothing (i.e., they are removed). +
+
# + +: +
($#) Expands to the number of positional parameters in decimal. +
+
? + +: +
($?) Expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground +pipeline. +
+
- + +: +
($-, a hyphen.) 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 job most recently placed into the +background, whether executed as an asynchronous command or using +the bg builtin (see Job Control Builtins). +
+
0 + +: +
($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 +(see Shell Scripts), $0 is set to the name of that file. +If Bash is started with the -c option (see 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. +

+ +

3.5 Shell Expansions

+ + +

Expansion is performed on the command line after it has been split into +tokens. There are seven kinds of expansion performed: +

brace expansion +
tilde expansion +
parameter and variable expansion +
command substitution +
arithmetic expansion +
word splitting +
filename expansion +

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

• 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 and variable expansion, 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 tilde, parameter, variable, and arithmetic expansion and +command substitution. +

After these expansions are performed, quote characters present in the +original word are removed unless they have been quoted themselves +(quote removal). +

Only brace expansion, word splitting, and filename expansion +can increase 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 +"$@" and $* (see Special Parameters), and +"${name[@]}" and ${name[*]} +(see Arrays). +

After all expansions, quote removal (see Quote Removal) +is performed. +

+ +

3.5.1 Brace Expansion

+ + + +

Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be generated. +This mechanism is similar to +filename expansion (see Filename Expansion), +but the filenames generated need not exist. +Patterns to be brace expanded take the form of an optional preamble, +followed by either a series of comma-separated strings or a sequence expression +between a pair of braces, +followed by an optional postscript. +The preamble is prefixed 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
+

+ +

A sequence expression takes the form {x..y[..incr]}, +where x and y are either integers or single characters, +and incr, an optional increment, is an integer. +When integers are supplied, the expression expands to each number between +x and y, inclusive. +Supplied integers may be prefixed with ‘0’ to force each term to have the +same width. +When either x or y begins with a zero, the shell +attempts to force all generated terms to contain the same number of digits, +zero-padding where necessary. +When characters are supplied, the expression expands to each character +lexicographically between x and y, inclusive, +using the default C locale. +Note that both x and y must be of the same type. +When the increment is supplied, it is used as the difference between +each term. The default increment is 1 or -1 as appropriate. +

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 or a valid +sequence expression. +Any incorrectly formed brace expansion is left unchanged. +

A { or ‘,’ may be quoted with a backslash to prevent its +being considered part of a brace expression. +To avoid conflicts with parameter expansion, the string ‘${’ +is not considered eligible for brace expansion, +and inhibits brace expansion until the closing ‘}’. +

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}}
+

+ +

3.5.2 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 (see 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 the first ‘=’. +In these cases, tilde expansion is also performed. +Consequently, one may use filenames 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’ +

+ +

Bash also performs tilde expansion on words satisfying the conditions of +variable assignments (see Shell Parameters) +when they appear as arguments to simple commands. +Bash does not do this, except for the declaration commands listed +above, when in POSIX mode. +

+ +

3.5.3 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 parameter is a shell parameter as described above +(see Shell Parameters) or an array reference (see Arrays). +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 (!), +and parameter is not a nameref, +it introduces a level of indirection. +Bash uses the value formed by expanding the rest of +parameter as the new parameter; this is then +expanded and that value is used in the rest of the expansion, rather +than the expansion of the original parameter. +This is known as indirect expansion. +The value is subject to tilde expansion, +parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. +If parameter is a nameref, this expands to the name of the +variable referenced by parameter instead of performing the +complete indirect expansion. +The exceptions to this are the expansions of ${!prefix*} +and ${!name[@]} +described below. +The exclamation point must immediately follow the left brace in order to +introduce indirection. +

In each of the cases below, word is subject to tilde expansion, +parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. +

When not performing substring expansion, using the form described +below (e.g., ‘:-’), Bash tests for a parameter that is unset or null. +Omitting the colon results in a test only for a parameter that is unset. +Put another way, if the colon is included, +the operator tests for both parameter’s existence and that its value +is not null; if the colon is omitted, the operator tests only for existence. +

${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}

This is referred to as Substring Expansion. +It expands to up to length characters of the value of parameter +starting at the character specified by offset. +If parameter is ‘@’, an indexed array subscripted by +‘@’ or ‘*’, or an associative array name, the results differ as +described below. +If length is omitted, it expands to the substring of the value of +parameter starting at the character specified by offset +and extending to the end of the value. +length and offset are arithmetic expressions +(see Shell Arithmetic). +

If offset evaluates to a number less than zero, the value +is used as an offset in characters +from the end of the value of parameter. +If length evaluates to a number less than zero, +it is interpreted as an offset in characters +from the end of the value of parameter rather than +a number of characters, and the expansion is the characters between +offset and that result. +Note that a negative offset must be separated from the colon by at least +one space to avoid being confused with the ‘:-’ expansion. +

Here are some examples illustrating substring expansion on parameters and +subscripted arrays: +

$ string=01234567890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${string:7}
+7890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${string:7:0}
+
+$ echo ${string:7:2}
+78
+$ echo ${string:7:-2}
+7890abcdef
+$ echo ${string: -7}
+bcdefgh
+$ echo ${string: -7:0}
+
+$ echo ${string: -7:2}
+bc
+$ echo ${string: -7:-2}
+bcdef
+$ set -- 01234567890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${1:7}
+7890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${1:7:0}
+
+$ echo ${1:7:2}
+78
+$ echo ${1:7:-2}
+7890abcdef
+$ echo ${1: -7}
+bcdefgh
+$ echo ${1: -7:0}
+
+$ echo ${1: -7:2}
+bc
+$ echo ${1: -7:-2}
+bcdef
+$ array[0]=01234567890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${array[0]:7}
+7890abcdefgh
+$ echo ${array[0]:7:0}
+
+$ echo ${array[0]:7:2}
+78
+$ echo ${array[0]:7:-2}
+7890abcdef
+$ echo ${array[0]: -7}
+bcdefgh
+$ echo ${array[0]: -7:0}
+
+$ echo ${array[0]: -7:2}
+bc
+$ echo ${array[0]: -7:-2}
+bcdef
+

If parameter is ‘@’, the result is length positional +parameters beginning at offset. +A negative offset is taken relative to one greater than the greatest +positional parameter, so an offset of -1 evaluates to the last positional +parameter. +It is an expansion error if length evaluates to a number less than zero. +

The following examples illustrate substring expansion using positional +parameters: +

$ set -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
+$ echo ${@:7}
+7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
+$ echo ${@:7:0}
+
+$ echo ${@:7:2}
+7 8
+$ echo ${@:7:-2}
+bash: -2: substring expression < 0
+$ echo ${@: -7:2}
+b c
+$ echo ${@:0}
+./bash 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
+$ echo ${@:0:2}
+./bash 1
+$ echo ${@: -7:0}
+
+

If parameter is an indexed array name subscripted +by ‘@’ or ‘*’, the result is the length +members of the array beginning with ${parameter[offset]}. +A negative offset is taken relative to one greater than the maximum +index of the specified array. +It is an expansion error if length evaluates to a number less than zero. +

These examples show how you can use substring expansion with indexed +arrays: +

$ array=(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h)
+$ echo ${array[@]:7}
+7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
+$ echo ${array[@]:7:2}
+7 8
+$ echo ${array[@]: -7:2}
+b c
+$ echo ${array[@]: -7:-2}
+bash: -2: substring expression < 0
+$ echo ${array[@]:0}
+0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
+$ echo ${array[@]:0:2}
+0 1
+$ echo ${array[@]: -7:0}
+
+

Substring expansion applied to an associative array produces undefined +results. +

Substring indexing is zero-based unless the positional parameters +are used, in which case the indexing starts at 1 by default. +If offset is 0, and the positional parameters are used, $0 is +prefixed to the list. +

${!prefix*}

${!prefix@}

Expands to the names of variables whose names begin with prefix, +separated by the first character of the IFS special variable. +When ‘@’ is used and the expansion appears within double quotes, each +variable name expands to a separate word. +

${!name[@]}

${!name[*]}

If name is an array variable, expands to the list of array indices +(keys) assigned in name. +If name is not an array, expands to 0 if name is set and null +otherwise. +When ‘@’ is used and the expansion appears within double quotes, each +key expands to a separate word. +

${#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. +If parameter +is an indexed array name subscripted by a negative number, that number is +interpreted as relative to one greater than the maximum index of +parameter, so negative indices count back from the end of the +array, and an index of -1 references the last element. +

${parameter#word}

${parameter##word}

The word +is expanded to produce a pattern and matched according to the rules +described below (see Pattern Matching). 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 and matched according to the rules +described below (see Pattern Matching). +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}

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. +The match is performed according to the rules described below +(see Pattern Matching). +If pattern begins with ‘/’, all matches of pattern are +replaced with string. Normally only the first match is replaced. +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 the nocasematch shell option +(see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) +is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case +of alphabetic characters. +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. +

${parameter^pattern}

${parameter^^pattern}

${parameter,pattern}

${parameter,,pattern}

This expansion modifies the case of alphabetic characters in parameter. +The pattern is expanded to produce a pattern just as in +filename expansion. +Each character in the expanded value of parameter is tested against +pattern, and, if it matches the pattern, its case is converted. +The pattern should not attempt to match more than one character. +The ‘^’ operator converts lowercase letters matching pattern +to uppercase; the ‘,’ operator converts matching uppercase letters +to lowercase. +The ‘^^’ and ‘,,’ expansions convert each matched character in the +expanded value; the ‘^’ and ‘,’ expansions match and convert only +the first character in the expanded value. +If pattern is omitted, it is treated like a ‘?’, which matches +every character. +If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, +the case modification 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 case modification operation is applied to each member of the +array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. +

${parameter@operator}

The expansion is either a transformation of the value of parameter +or information about parameter itself, depending on the value of +operator. Each operator is a single letter: +

U: The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with lowercase +alphabetic characters converted to uppercase. +
u: The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with the first +character converted to uppercase, if it is alphabetic. +
L: The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with uppercase +alphabetic characters converted to lowercase. +
Q: The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter quoted in a +format that can be reused as input. +
E: The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with backslash +escape sequences expanded as with the $'…' quoting mechanism. +
P: The expansion is a string that is the result of expanding the value of +parameter as if it were a prompt string (see Controlling the Prompt). +
A: The expansion is a string in the form of +an assignment statement or declare command that, if +evaluated, will recreate parameter with its attributes and value. +
K: Produces a possibly-quoted version of the value of parameter, +except that it prints the values of +indexed and associative arrays as a sequence of quoted key-value pairs +(see Arrays). +
a: The expansion is a string consisting of flag values representing +parameter’s attributes. +

+ +

If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, +the 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 operation is applied to each member of the +array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. +

The result of the expansion is subject to word splitting and filename +expansion as described below. +

+ +

3.5.4 Command Substitution

+ + +

Command substitution allows the output of a command to replace +the command itself. +Command substitution occurs when a command is enclosed as follows: +

$(command)
+

or +

`command`
+

+ +

Bash performs the expansion by executing command in a subshell environment +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. +

+ +

3.5.5 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 and variable expansion, +command substitution, and quote removal. +The result is treated as the arithmetic expression to be evaluated. +Arithmetic expansions may be nested. +

The evaluation is performed according to the rules listed below +(see Shell Arithmetic). +If the expression is invalid, Bash prints a message indicating +failure to the standard error and no substitution occurs. +

+ +

3.5.6 Process Substitution

+ + +

Process substitution allows a process’s input or output to be +referred to using a filename. +It takes the form of +

<(list)
+

or +

>(list)
+

The process list is run asynchronously, and its input or output +appears as a filename. +This filename 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. +Note that no space may appear between the < or > +and the left parenthesis, otherwise the construct would be interpreted +as a redirection. +Process substitution is supported on systems that support named +pipes (FIFOs) or the /dev/fd method of naming open files. +

When available, process substitution is performed simultaneously with +parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic +expansion. +

+ +

3.5.7 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 using these characters +as field terminators. +If IFS is unset, or its value is exactly <space><tab><newline>, +the default, then sequences of + <space>, <tab>, and <newline> +at the beginning and end of the results of the previous +expansions are ignored, and any sequence of IFS +characters not at the beginning or end serves to delimit words. +If IFS has a value other than the default, then sequences of +the whitespace characters space, tab, and newline +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 +and passed to commands as empty strings. +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 +and passed to a command as an empty string. +When a quoted null argument appears as part of a word whose expansion is +non-null, the null argument is removed. +That is, the word +-d'' becomes -d after word splitting and +null argument removal. +

Note that if no expansion occurs, no splitting +is performed. +

+ +

3.5.8 Filename Expansion

+ + + + + + + + +

After word splitting, unless the -f option has been set +(see The Set Builtin), Bash scans each word for the characters +‘*’, ‘?’, and ‘[’. +If one of these characters appears, and is not quoted, then the word is +regarded as a pattern, +and replaced with an alphabetically sorted list of +filenames matching the pattern (see Pattern Matching). +If no matching filenames 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 failglob shell option is set, and no matches are found, +an error message is printed and the command is not executed. +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 expansion, the character ‘.’ +at the start of a filename or immediately following a slash +must be matched explicitly, unless the shell option dotglob is set. +The filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’ must always be matched explicitly, +even if dotglob is set. +In other cases, the ‘.’ character is not treated specially. +

When matching a filename, the slash character must always be +matched explicitly by a slash in the pattern, but in other matching +contexts it can be matched by a special pattern character as described +below (see Pattern Matching). +

See the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin, +for a description of the nocaseglob, nullglob, +failglob, and dotglob options. +

The GLOBIGNORE +shell variable may be used to restrict the set of file names matching a +pattern. If GLOBIGNORE +is set, each matching file name that also matches one of the patterns in +GLOBIGNORE is removed from the list of matches. +If the nocaseglob option is set, the matching against the patterns in +GLOBIGNORE is performed without regard to case. +The filenames +. and .. +are always ignored when GLOBIGNORE +is set and not null. +However, setting GLOBIGNORE to a non-null value 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. +

+ +

3.5.8.1 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. +A backslash escapes the following character; the +escaping backslash is discarded when matching. +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. +When the globstar shell option is enabled, and ‘*’ is used in +a filename expansion context, two adjacent ‘*’s used as a single +pattern will match all files and zero or more directories and +subdirectories. +If followed by a ‘/’, two adjacent ‘*’s will match only +directories and subdirectories. +

?

Matches any single character. +

[…]

Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A pair of characters +separated by a hyphen denotes a range expression; +any character that falls between those two characters, inclusive, +using the current locale’s collating sequence and character set, +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. +The sorting order of characters in range expressions is determined by +the current locale and the values of the +LC_COLLATE and LC_ALL shell variables, if set. +

For example, in the default C locale, ‘[a-dx-z]’ is equivalent to +‘[abcdxyz]’. Many locales sort characters in dictionary order, and in +these locales ‘[a-dx-z]’ is typically not equivalent to ‘[abcdxyz]’; +it might be equivalent to ‘[aBbCcDdxXyYz]’, for example. To obtain +the traditional interpretation of ranges in bracket expressions, you can +force the use of the C locale by setting the LC_COLLATE or +LC_ALL environment variable to the value ‘C’, or enable the +globasciiranges shell option. +

Within ‘[’ and ‘]’, character classes can be specified +using the syntax +[:class:], where class is one of the +following classes defined in the POSIX standard: +

alnum   alpha   ascii   blank   cntrl   digit   graph   lower
+print   punct   space   upper   word    xdigit
+

A character class matches any character belonging to that class. +The word character class matches letters, digits, and the character +‘_’. +

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 one of the given patterns. +
+
!(pattern-list): Matches anything except one of the given patterns. +

+ +

Complicated extended pattern matching against long strings is slow, +especially when the patterns contain alternations and the strings +contain multiple matches. +Using separate matches against shorter strings, or using arrays of +strings instead of a single long string, may be faster. +

+ +

3.5.9 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. +

+ +

3.6 Redirections

+ + +

Before a command is executed, its input and output +may be redirected +using a special notation interpreted by the shell. +Redirection allows commands’ file handles to be +duplicated, opened, closed, +made to refer to different files, +and can change the files the command reads from and writes to. +Redirection may also be used to modify file handles in 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. +

Each redirection that may be preceded by a file descriptor number +may instead be preceded by a word of the form {varname}. +In this case, for each redirection operator except +>&- and <&-, the shell will allocate a file descriptor greater +than 10 and assign it to {varname}. If >&- or <&- is preceded +by {varname}, the value of varname defines the file +descriptor to close. +If {varname} is supplied, the redirection persists beyond +the scope of the command, allowing the shell programmer to manage +the file descriptor’s lifetime manually. +

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, filename expansion, and word splitting. +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 (file descriptor 1) and standard error +(file descriptor 2) to the file dirlist, while the command +

ls 2>&1 > dirlist
+

directs only the standard output to file dirlist, +because the standard error was made a copy of the standard output +before the standard output was redirected to dirlist. +

Bash handles several filenames specially when they are used in +redirections, as described in the following table. +If the operating system on which Bash is running provides these +special files, bash will use them; otherwise it will emulate them +internally with the behavior described below. +

/dev/fd/fd: If fd is a valid integer, file descriptor fd is duplicated. +
+
/dev/stdin: File descriptor 0 is duplicated. +
+
/dev/stdout: File descriptor 1 is duplicated. +
+
/dev/stderr: File descriptor 2 is duplicated. +
+
/dev/tcp/host/port: If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port +is an integer port number or service name, Bash attempts to open +the corresponding TCP socket. +
+
/dev/udp/host/port: If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port +is an integer port number or service name, Bash attempts to open +the corresponding UDP socket. +

+ +

A failure to open or create a file causes the redirection to fail. +

Redirections using file descriptors greater than 9 should be used with +care, as they may conflict with file descriptors the shell uses +internally. +

3.6.1 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
+

+ +

3.6.2 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 file 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. +

3.6.3 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
+

+ +

3.6.4 Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

This construct 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. +

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
+

When using the second form, word may not expand to a number or +‘-’. If it does, other redirection operators apply +(see Duplicating File Descriptors below) for compatibility reasons. +

3.6.5 Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

This construct allows both the +standard output (file descriptor 1) and +the standard error output (file descriptor 2) +to be appended to the file whose name is the +expansion of word. +

The format for appending standard output and standard error is: +

&>>word
+

This is semantically equivalent to +

>>word 2>&1
+

(see Duplicating File Descriptors below). +

3.6.6 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 (or file descriptor n if n is specified) for a command. +

The format of here-documents is: +

[n]<<[-]word
+        here-document
+delimiter
+

+ +

No parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, +arithmetic expansion, or filename expansion is performed on +word. If any part of word is 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, +the character sequence \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. +

3.6.7 Here Strings

A variant of here documents, the format is: +

[n]<<< word
+

+ +

The word undergoes +tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, +command substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal. +Filename expansion and word splitting are not performed. +The result is supplied as a single string, +with a newline appended, +to the command on its +standard input (or file descriptor n if n is specified). +

3.6.8 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. +If word +evaluates to ‘-’, file descriptor n is closed. +As a special case, if n is omitted, and word does not +expand to one or more digits or ‘-’, the standard output and standard +error are redirected as described previously. +

3.6.9 Moving File Descriptors

The redirection operator +

[n]<&digit-
+

moves the file descriptor digit to file descriptor n, +or the standard input (file descriptor 0) if n is not specified. +digit is closed after being duplicated to n. +

Similarly, the redirection operator +

[n]>&digit-
+

moves the file descriptor digit to file descriptor n, +or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified. +

3.6.10 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. +

+ +

3.7 Executing Commands

+ + + + + + + + +

• 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. +

+ +

3.7.1 Simple Command Expansion

+ + +

When a simple command is executed, the shell performs the following +expansions, assignments, and redirections, from left to right, in +the following order. +

The words that the parser has marked as variable assignments (those +preceding the command name) and redirections are saved for later +processing. + +
The words that are not variable assignments or redirections are +expanded (see 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. + +
Redirections are performed as described above (see Redirections). + +
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. +

+ +

3.7.2 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. +

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 in Shell Functions. + +
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. + +
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 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 searches for a defined shell +function named command_not_found_handle. +If that function exists, it is invoked in a separate execution environment +with the original command and +the original command’s arguments as its arguments, and the function’s +exit status becomes the exit status of that subshell. +If that function is not defined, the shell prints an error +message and returns an exit status of 127. + +
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. + +
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 +Shell Scripts. + +
If the command was not begun asynchronously, the shell waits for +the command to complete and collects its exit status. + +

+ +

3.7.3 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 (see The Shopt Builtin) + +
shell aliases defined with alias (see Aliases) + +
various process IDs, including those of background jobs +(see 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 and functions marked for export, along with variables +exported for the command, passed in the environment (see 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, commands grouped with parentheses, +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. +

Subshells spawned to execute command substitutions inherit the value of +the -e option from the parent shell. When not in POSIX mode, +Bash clears the -e option in such subshells. +

If a command is followed by a ‘&’ and job control is not active, the +default standard input for the command is the empty file /dev/null. +Otherwise, the invoked command inherits the file descriptors of the calling +shell as modified by redirections. +

+ +

3.7.4 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 provides several ways to manipulate the environment. +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 Shell Parameters. +These assignment statements affect only the environment seen +by that command. +

If the -k option is set (see 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 pathname of the command and passed to that +command in its environment. +

+ +

3.7.5 Exit Status

+ + +

The exit status of an executed command is the value returned by the +waitpid system call or equivalent function. Exit statuses +fall between 0 and 255, though, as explained below, the shell may +use values above 125 specially. Exit statuses from shell builtins and +compound commands are also limited to this range. Under certain +circumstances, the shell will use special values to indicate specific +failure modes. +

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 +(see Conditional Constructs) and some of the list +constructs (see 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, +generally invalid options or missing arguments. +

+ +

3.7.6 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 (see Job Control), Bash +ignores SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP. +

Non-builtin 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 in addition to these inherited +handlers. +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, an interactive shell 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 (see Job Control Builtins) or marked +to not receive SIGHUP using disown -h. +

If the huponexit shell option has been set with shopt +(see The Shopt Builtin), Bash sends a SIGHUP to all jobs when +an interactive login shell exits. +

If Bash is waiting for a command to complete and receives a signal +for which a trap has been set, 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. +

+ +

3.8 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 +(see Invoking Bash), +Bash reads and executes commands from the file, then exits. This +mode of operation creates a non-interactive shell. The shell first +searches for the file in the current directory, and looks in the +directories in $PATH if not found there. +

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 Bourne Shell Builtins) +are retained by the child. +

Most versions of Unix make this a part of the operating system’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 and, depending on the operating system, one +or more optional arguments for that interpreter. +Thus, you can specify Bash, awk, Perl, or some other +interpreter and write the rest of the script file in that language. +

The arguments to the interpreter +consist of one or more optional arguments 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 supplied to the +script. +The details of how the interpreter line is split into an interpreter name +and a set of arguments vary across systems. +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 a single argument to a maximum of 32 characters, so it’s not +portable to assume that using more than one argument will work. +

Bash scripts often begin with #! /bin/bash (assuming that +Bash has been installed in /bin), since this ensures that +Bash will be used to interpret the script, even if it is executed +under another shell. It’s a common idiom to use env to find +bash even if it’s been installed in another directory: +#!/usr/bin/env bash will find the first occurrence of bash +in $PATH. +

+ +

4 Shell Builtin Commands

+ + + + + + + + +

Builtin commands are contained within the shell itself. +When the name of a builtin command is used as the first word of +a simple command (see Simple Commands), the shell executes +the command directly, without invoking another program. +Builtin commands are necessary to implement functionality impossible +or inconvenient to obtain with separate utilities. +

This section briefly describes the builtins which Bash inherits from +the Bourne Shell, as well as the builtin commands which are unique +to or have been extended in Bash. +

Several builtin commands are described in other chapters: builtin +commands which provide the Bash interface to the job control +facilities (see Job Control Builtins), the directory stack +(see Directory Stack Builtins), the command history +(see Bash History Builtins), and the programmable completion +facilities (see Programmable Completion Builtins). +

Many of the builtins have been extended by POSIX or Bash. +

Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented as accepting +options preceded by ‘-’ accepts ‘--’ +to signify the end of the options. +The :, true, false, and test/[ +builtins do not accept options and do not treat ‘--’ specially. +The exit, logout, return, +break, continue, let, +and shift builtins accept and process arguments beginning +with ‘-’ without requiring ‘--’. +Other builtins that accept arguments but are not specified as accepting +options interpret arguments beginning with ‘-’ as invalid options and +require ‘--’ to prevent this interpretation. +

+ +

4.1 Bourne Shell Builtins

+ +

The following shell builtin commands are inherited from the Bourne Shell. +These commands are implemented as specified by the POSIX standard. +

: (a colon)

: [arguments]
+

+ +

Do nothing beyond expanding arguments and performing redirections. +The return status is zero. +

. (a period)

. 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. +When Bash is not in POSIX mode, 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. +If the -T option is enabled, source inherits any trap on +DEBUG; if it is not, any DEBUG trap string is saved and +restored around the call to source, and source unsets the +DEBUG trap while it executes. +If -T is not set, and the sourced file changes +the DEBUG trap, the new value is retained when source completes. +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. +This builtin is equivalent to source. +

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 [-L|[-P [-e]] [-@] [directory]
+

+ +

Change the current working directory to directory. +If directory is not supplied, the value of the HOME +shell variable is used. +Any additional arguments following directory are ignored. +If the shell variable +CDPATH exists, it is used as a search path: +each directory name in CDPATH is searched for +directory, with alternative directory names in CDPATH +separated by a colon (‘:’). +If directory begins with a slash, CDPATH is not used. +

The -P option means to not follow symbolic links: symbolic links +are resolved while cd is traversing directory and before +processing an instance of ‘..’ in directory. +

By default, or when the -L option is supplied, symbolic links +in directory are resolved after cd processes an instance +of ‘..’ in directory. +

If ‘..’ appears in directory, it is processed by removing the +immediately preceding pathname component, back to a slash or the beginning +of directory. +

If the -e option is supplied with -P +and the current working directory cannot be successfully determined +after a successful directory change, cd will return an unsuccessful +status. +

On systems that support it, the -@ option presents the extended +attributes associated with a file as a directory. +

If directory is ‘-’, it is converted to $OLDPWD +before the directory change is attempted. +

If a non-empty directory name from CDPATH is used, or if +‘-’ is the first argument, and the directory change is +successful, the absolute pathname of the new working directory is +written to the standard output. +

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 at the +beginning of the zeroth argument 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 command +cannot be executed for some reason, a non-interactive shell exits, +unless the execfail shell option +is enabled. In that case, it returns failure. +An interactive shell returns failure if the file cannot be executed. +A subshell exits unconditionally if exec fails. +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. +If n is omitted, the exit status is that of the last command executed. +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 names of all exported variables is displayed. +The -p option displays output in a form that may be reused as input. +If a variable name is followed by =value, the value of +the variable is set to value. +

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 [arg …]
+

+ +

getopts is used by shell scripts to parse positional parameters. +optstring contains the option characters to be recognized; if a +character is followed by a colon, the option is expected to have an +argument, which should be separated from it by whitespace. +The colon (‘:’) and question mark (‘?’) may not be +used as option characters. +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 +supplied as arg values, 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] [-dt] [name]
+

+ +

Each time hash is invoked, it remembers the full pathnames of the +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. +Any previously-remembered pathname is discarded. +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. +The -d option causes the shell to forget the remembered location +of each name. +If the -t option is supplied, the full pathname to which each +name corresponds is printed. If multiple name arguments are +supplied with -t, the name is printed before the hashed +full pathname. +The -l option causes output to be displayed in a format +that may be reused as input. +If no arguments are given, or if only -l is supplied, +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 absolute pathname of the current working directory. +If the -P option is supplied, the pathname printed will not +contain symbolic links. +If the -L option is supplied, the pathname 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 [-aAf] [-p] [name[=value]] …
+

+ +

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 indexed +array variable; the -A option means each name refers +to an associative array variable. +If both options are supplied, -A takes precedence. +If no name arguments are given, or if the -p +option is supplied, a list of all readonly names is printed. +The other options may be used to restrict the output to a subset of +the set of readonly names. +The -p option causes output to be displayed in a format that +may be reused as input. +If a variable name is followed by =value, the value of +the variable is set to value. +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 stop executing and return the value n +to its caller. +If n is not supplied, the return value is the exit status of the +last command executed in the function. +If return is executed by a trap handler, the last command used to +determine the status is the last command executed before the trap handler. +If return is executed during a DEBUG trap, the last command +used to determine the status is the last command executed by the trap +handler before return was invoked. +return may also be used to terminate execution of a script +being executed with the . (source) builtin, +returning either n or +the exit status of the last command executed within the script as the exit +status of the script. +If n is supplied, the return value is its least significant +8 bits. +Any command associated with the RETURN trap is executed +before execution resumes after the function or script. +The return status is non-zero if return is supplied a non-numeric +argument or is used outside a function +and not during the execution of a script by . or source. +

shift

shift [n]
+

+ +

Shift the positional parameters to the left by n. +The positional parameters from n+1 … $# are +renamed to $1 … $#-n. +Parameters represented by the numbers $# down 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. +If n is not supplied, it is assumed to be 1. +The return status is zero unless n is greater than $# or +less than zero, non-zero otherwise. +

test

[

+ +

test expr
+

+ +

Evaluate a conditional expression expr and return a status of 0 +(true) or 1 (false). +Each operator and operand must be a separate argument. +Expressions are composed of the primaries described below in +Bash Conditional Expressions. +test does not accept any options, nor does it accept and ignore +an argument of -- as signifying the end of options. +

When the [ form is used, the last argument to the command must +be a ]. +

Expressions may be combined using the following operators, listed in +decreasing order of precedence. +The evaluation depends on the number of arguments; see below. +Operator precedence is used when there are five or more arguments. +

! 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 +(see 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

The following conditions are applied in the order listed. +

If the second argument is one of the binary conditional +operators (see Bash Conditional Expressions), the +result of the expression is the result of the binary test using the +first and third arguments as operands. +The ‘-a’ and ‘-o’ operators are considered binary operators +when there are three arguments. +
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. +

+ +

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. +

+ +

When used with test or ‘[’, the ‘<’ and ‘>’ +operators sort lexicographically using ASCII ordering. +

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 (and +there is a single sigspec) or +equal to ‘-’, each specified signal’s disposition is reset +to the value it 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 not present and -p has been supplied, +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. +The -l option causes the shell to print a list of signal names +and their corresponding numbers. +Each sigspec is either a signal name or a signal number. +Signal names are case insensitive and the SIG prefix is optional. +

If a sigspec +is 0 or EXIT, arg is executed when the shell exits. +If a sigspec is DEBUG, the command arg is executed +before every simple command, for command, case command, +select command, every arithmetic for command, and before +the first command executes in a shell function. +Refer to the description of the extdebug option to the +shopt builtin (see The Shopt Builtin) for details of its +effect on the DEBUG trap. +If a sigspec is RETURN, the command arg is executed +each time a shell function or a script executed with the . or +source builtins finishes executing. +

If a sigspec is ERR, the command arg +is executed whenever +a pipeline (which may consist of a single simple +command), a list, or a compound command returns a +non-zero exit status, +subject to the following conditions. +The ERR trap is not executed if the failed command is part of the +command list immediately following an until or while keyword, +part of the test following the if or elif reserved words, +part of a command executed in a && or || list +except the command following the final && or ||, +any command in a pipeline but the last, +or if the command’s return +status is being inverted using !. +These are the same conditions obeyed by the errexit (-e) +option. +

Signals ignored upon entry to the shell cannot be trapped or reset. +Trapped signals that are not being ignored are reset to their original +values in a subshell or subshell environment when one 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. +

Note that when the mode is interpreted as an octal number, each number +of the umask is subtracted from 7. Thus, a umask of 022 +results in permissions of 755. +

unset

unset [-fnv] [name]
+

+ +

Remove each variable or function name. +If the -v option is given, each +name refers to a shell variable and that variable is removed. +If the -f option is given, the names refer to shell +functions, and the function definition is removed. +If the -n option is supplied, and name is a variable with +the nameref attribute, name will be unset rather than the +variable it references. +-n has no effect if the -f option is supplied. +If no options are supplied, each name refers to a variable; if +there is no variable by that name, a function with that name, if any, is +unset. +Readonly variables and functions may not be unset. +Some shell variables lose their special behavior if they are unset; such +behavior is noted in the description of the individual variables. +The return status is zero unless a name is readonly. +

+ +

4.2 Bash Builtin Commands

+ +

This section describes builtin commands which are unique to +or have been extended in Bash. +Some of these commands are specified in the POSIX standard. +

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. +Aliases are described in Aliases. +

bind

bind [-m keymap] [-lpsvPSVX]
+bind [-m keymap] [-q function] [-u function] [-r keyseq]
+bind [-m keymap] -f filename
+bind [-m keymap] -x keyseq:shell-command
+bind [-m keymap] keyseq:function-name
+bind [-m keymap] keyseq:readline-command
+

+ +

Display current Readline (see Command Line Editing) +key and function bindings, +bind a key sequence to a Readline function or macro, +or set a Readline variable. +Each non-option argument is a command as it would appear in a +Readline initialization file (see Readline Init File), +but each binding or command 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-move, +vi-command, and +vi-insert. +vi is equivalent to vi-command (vi-move is also a +synonym); 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 used as input or in a Readline initialization file. +
+
-P: List current Readline function names and bindings. +
+
-v: Display Readline variable names and values in such a way that they +can be used as input or in a Readline initialization file. +
+
-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 used as input or in a Readline +initialization file. +
+
-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. +
+
-x keyseq:shell-command: Cause shell-command to be executed whenever keyseq is +entered. +When shell-command is executed, the shell sets the +READLINE_LINE variable to the contents of the Readline line +buffer and the READLINE_POINT and READLINE_MARK variables +to the current location of the insertion point and the saved insertion +point (the mark), respectively. +If the executed command changes the value of any of READLINE_LINE, +READLINE_POINT, or READLINE_MARK, those new values will be +reflected in the editing state. +
+
-X: List all key sequences bound to shell commands and the associated commands +in a format that can be reused as input. +

+ +

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. +

caller

caller [expr]
+

+ +

Returns the context of any active subroutine call (a shell function or +a script executed with the . or source builtins). +

Without expr, caller displays the line number and source +filename of the current subroutine call. +If a non-negative integer is supplied as expr, caller +displays the line number, subroutine name, and source file corresponding +to that position in the current execution call stack. This extra +information may be used, for example, to print a stack trace. The +current frame is frame 0. +

The return value is 0 unless the shell is not executing a subroutine +call or expr does not correspond to a valid position in the +call stack. +

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 [-aAfFgiIlnrtux] [-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 with name arguments, additional options, +other than -f and -F, are ignored. +

When -p is supplied without name arguments, declare +will display the attributes and values of all variables having the +attributes specified by the additional options. +If no other options are supplied with -p, declare will +display the attributes and values of all shell variables. The -f +option will restrict the display to shell functions. +

The -F option inhibits the display of function definitions; +only the function name and attributes are printed. +If the extdebug shell option is enabled using shopt +(see The Shopt Builtin), the source file name and line number where +each name is defined are displayed as well. +-F implies -f. +

The -g option forces variables to be created or modified at +the global scope, even when declare is executed in a shell function. +It is ignored in all other cases. +

The -I option causes local variables to inherit the attributes +(except the nameref attribute) +and value of any existing variable with the same +name at a surrounding scope. +If there is no existing variable, the local variable is initially unset. +

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 indexed array variable (see Arrays). +
+
-A: Each name is an associative array variable (see Arrays). +
+
-f: Use function names only. +
+
-i: The variable is to be treated as +an integer; arithmetic evaluation (see Shell Arithmetic) is +performed when the variable is assigned a value. +
+
-l: When the variable is assigned a value, all upper-case characters are +converted to lower-case. +The upper-case attribute is disabled. +
+
-n: Give each name the nameref attribute, making +it a name reference to another variable. +That other variable is defined by the value of name. +All references, assignments, and attribute modifications +to name, except for those using or changing the +-n attribute itself, are performed on the variable referenced by +name’s value. +The nameref attribute cannot be applied to array variables. +
+
-r: Make names readonly. These names cannot then be assigned values +by subsequent assignment statements or unset. +
+
-t: Give each name the trace attribute. +Traced functions inherit the DEBUG and RETURN traps from +the calling shell. +The trace attribute has no special meaning for variables. +
+
-u: When the variable is assigned a value, all lower-case characters are +converted to upper-case. +The lower-case attribute is disabled. +
+
-x: Mark each name for export to subsequent commands via +the environment. +

+ +

Using ‘+’ instead of ‘-’ turns off the attribute instead, +with the exceptions that ‘+a’ and ‘+A’ +may not be used to destroy array variables and ‘+r’ will not +remove the readonly attribute. +When used in a function, declare makes each name local, +as with the local command, unless the -g option is used. +If a variable name is followed by =value, the value of the variable +is set to value. +

When using -a or -A and the compound assignment syntax to +create array variables, additional attributes do not take effect until +subsequent assignments. +

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 (see 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 0 unless a write error occurs. +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. +The xpg_echo shell option may be used to +dynamically determine whether or not echo expands these +escape characters by default. +echo does not interpret -- to mean the end of options. +

echo interprets the following escape sequences: +

\a: alert (bell) +
\b: backspace +
\c: suppress further output +
\e
\E: escape +
\f: form feed +
\n: new line +
\r: carriage return +
\t: horizontal tab +
\v: vertical tab +
\\: backslash +
\0nnn: the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn +(zero to three octal digits) +
\xHH: the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH +(one or two hex digits) +
\uHHHH: the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value +HHHH (one to four hex digits) +
\UHHHHHHHH: the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value +HHHHHHHH (one to eight hex digits) +

+ +

enable

enable [-a] [-dnps] [-f filename] [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 without 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 (see Special Builtins). +

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 [-dms] [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. +

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings: +

-d: Display a short description of each pattern +
-m: Display the description of each pattern in a manpage-like format +
-s: Display only a short usage synopsis for each pattern +

+ +

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 Shell Arithmetic. If the +last expression evaluates to 0, let returns 1; +otherwise 0 is returned. +

local

local [option] name[=value] …
+

+ +

For each argument, a local variable named name is created, +and assigned value. +The option can be any of the options accepted by declare. +local can only be used within a function; it makes the variable +name have a visible scope restricted to that function and its +children. +If name is ‘-’, the set of shell options is made local to the +function in which local is invoked: shell options changed using +the set builtin inside the function are restored to their original +values when the function returns. +The restore is effected as if a series of set commands were executed +to restore the values that were in place before the function. +The return status is zero unless local is used outside +a function, an invalid name is supplied, or name is a +readonly variable. +

logout

logout [n]
+

+ +

Exit a login shell, returning a status of n to the shell’s +parent. +

mapfile

mapfile [-d delim] [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count]
+    [-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [-c quantum] [array]
+

+ +

Read lines from the standard input into the indexed array variable array, +or from file descriptor fd +if the -u option is supplied. +The variable MAPFILE is the default array. +Options, if supplied, have the following meanings: +

-d: The first character of delim is used to terminate each input line, +rather than newline. +If delim is the empty string, mapfile will terminate a line +when it reads a NUL character. +
-n: Copy at most count lines. If count is 0, all lines are copied. +
-O: Begin assigning to array at index origin. +The default index is 0. +
-s: Discard the first count lines read. +
-t: Remove a trailing delim (default newline) from each line read. +
-u: Read lines from file descriptor fd instead of the standard input. +
-C: Evaluate callback each time quantum lines are read. +The -c option specifies quantum. +
-c: Specify the number of lines read between each call to callback. +

+ +

If -C is specified without -c, +the default quantum is 5000. +When callback is evaluated, it is supplied the index of the next +array element to be assigned and the line to be assigned to that element +as additional arguments. +callback is evaluated after the line is read but before the +array element is assigned. +

If not supplied with an explicit origin, mapfile will clear array +before assigning to it. +

mapfile returns successfully unless an invalid option or option +argument is supplied, array is invalid or unassignable, or array +is not an indexed array. +

printf

printf [-v var] format [arguments]
+

+ +

Write the formatted arguments to the standard output under the +control of the format. +The -v option causes the output to be assigned to the variable +var rather than being printed to the standard output. +

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, printf +interprets the following extensions: +

%b: Causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences in the +corresponding argument in the same way as echo -e +(see Bash Builtins). +
%q: Causes printf to output the +corresponding argument in a format that can be reused as shell input. +
%(datefmt)T: Causes printf to output the date-time string resulting from using +datefmt as a format string for strftime(3). +The corresponding argument is an integer representing the number of +seconds since the epoch. +Two special argument values may be used: -1 represents the current +time, and -2 represents the time the shell was invoked. +If no argument is specified, conversion behaves as if -1 had been given. +This is an exception to the usual printf behavior. +

+ +

The %b, %q, and %T directives all use the field width and precision +arguments from the format specification and write that many bytes from +(or use that wide a field for) the expanded argument, which usually +contains more characters than the original. +

Arguments to non-string format specifiers are treated as C language constants, +except that a leading plus or minus sign is allowed, and if the leading +character is a single or double quote, the value is the ASCII value of +the following character. +

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. The return value is zero on success, +non-zero on failure. +

read

read [-ers] [-a aname] [-d delim] [-i text] [-n nchars]
+    [-N nchars] [-p prompt] [-t timeout] [-u fd] [name …]
+

+ +

One line is read from the standard input, or from the file descriptor +fd supplied as an argument to the -u option, +split into words as described above in Word Splitting, +and the first word +is assigned to the first name, the second word to the second name, +and so on. +If there are more words than names, +the remaining words and their intervening delimiters are assigned +to the last name. +If there are fewer words read from the input stream 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 using the same rules the shell +uses for expansion (described above in Word Splitting). +The backslash character ‘\’ may be used to remove any special +meaning for the next character read and for line continuation. +

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings: +

-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. +
+
-d delim: The first character of delim is used to terminate the input line, +rather than newline. +If delim is the empty string, read will terminate a line +when it reads a NUL character. +
+
-e: Readline (see Command Line Editing) is used to obtain the line. +Readline uses the current (or default, if line editing was not previously +active) editing settings, but uses Readline’s default filename completion. +
+
-i text: If Readline is being used to read the line, text is placed into +the editing buffer before editing begins. +
+
-n nchars: read returns after reading nchars characters rather than +waiting for a complete line of input, but honors a delimiter if fewer +than nchars characters are read before the delimiter. +
+
-N nchars: read returns after reading exactly nchars characters rather +than waiting for a complete line of input, unless EOF is encountered or +read times out. +Delimiter characters encountered in the input are +not treated specially and do not cause read to return until +nchars characters are read. +The result is not split on the characters in IFS; the intent is +that the variable is assigned exactly the characters read +(with the exception of backslash; see the -r option below). +
+
-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. +
+
-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 then be used as a line +continuation. +
+
-s: Silent mode. If input is coming from a terminal, characters are +not echoed. +
+
-t timeout: Cause read to time out and return failure if a complete line of +input (or a specified number of characters) +is not read within timeout seconds. +timeout may be a decimal number with a fractional portion following +the decimal point. +This option is only effective if read is reading input from a +terminal, pipe, or other special file; it has no effect when reading +from regular files. +If read times out, read saves any partial input read into +the specified variable name. +If timeout is 0, read returns immediately, without trying to +read any data. The exit status is 0 if input is available on +the specified file descriptor, non-zero otherwise. +The exit status is greater than 128 if the timeout is exceeded. +
+
-u fd: Read input from file descriptor fd. +

+ +

If no names are supplied, the line read, +without the ending delimiter but otherwise unmodified, +is assigned to the +variable REPLY. +The exit status is zero, unless end-of-file is encountered, read +times out (in which case the status is greater than 128), +a variable assignment error (such as assigning to a readonly variable) occurs, +or an invalid file descriptor is supplied as the argument to -u. +

readarray

readarray [-d delim] [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count]
+    [-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [-c quantum] [array]
+

+ +

Read lines from the standard input into the indexed array variable array, +or from file descriptor fd +if the -u option is supplied. +

A synonym for mapfile. +

source

source filename
+

+ +

A synonym for . (see Bourne Shell Builtins). +

type

type [-afptP] [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’. +

The -P option forces a path search for each name, even if +-t would not return ‘file’. +

If a command is hashed, -p and -P print the hashed value, +which is not necessarily the file that appears first in $PATH. +

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. +

If the -f option is used, type does not attempt to find +shell functions, as with the command builtin. +

The return status is zero if all of the names are found, non-zero +if any are not found. +

typeset

typeset [-afFgrxilnrtux] [-p] [name[=value] …]
+

+ +

The typeset command is supplied for compatibility with the Korn +shell. +It is a synonym for the declare builtin command. +

ulimit

ulimit [-HS] -a
+ulimit [-HS] [-bcdefiklmnpqrstuvxPRT] [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; no limits are set. +
+
-b: The maximum socket buffer size. +
+
-c: The maximum size of core files created. +
+
-d: The maximum size of a process’s data segment. +
+
-e: The maximum scheduling priority ("nice"). +
+
-f: The maximum size of files written by the shell and its children. +
+
-i: The maximum number of pending signals. +
+
-k: The maximum number of kqueues that may be allocated. +
+
-l: The maximum size that may be locked into memory. +
+
-m: The maximum resident set size (many systems do not honor this limit). +
+
-n: The maximum number of open file descriptors (most systems do not +allow this value to be set). +
+
-p: The pipe buffer size. +
+
-q: The maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues. +
+
-r: The maximum real-time scheduling priority. +
+
-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 shell, and, on +some systems, to its children. +
+
-x: The maximum number of file locks. +
+
-P: The maximum number of pseudoterminals. +
+
-R: The maximum time a real-time process can run before blocking, in microseconds. +
+
-T: The maximum number of threads. +

+ +

If limit is given, and the -a option is not used, +limit is the new value of the specified resource. +The special limit values hard, soft, and +unlimited stand for the current hard limit, the current soft limit, +and no limit, respectively. +A hard limit cannot be increased by a non-root user once it is set; +a soft limit may be increased up to the value of the hard limit. +Otherwise, the current value of the soft limit for the specified resource +is printed, unless the -H option is supplied. +When more than one +resource is specified, the limit name and unit, if appropriate, +are printed before the value. +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; +-R, which is in microseconds; +-p, which is in units of 512-byte blocks; +-P, +-T, +-b, +-k, +-n and -u, which are unscaled values; +and, when in POSIX Mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), +-c and -f, which are in 512-byte increments. +

The return status is zero unless an invalid option or argument is supplied, +or an error occurs while setting a new limit. +

unalias

unalias [-a] [name … ]
+

+ +

Remove each name from the list of aliases. If -a is +supplied, all aliases are removed. +Aliases are described in Aliases. +

+ +

4.3 Modifying Shell Behavior

+ + + + + + +

+ +

4.3.1 The Set Builtin

+ +

This builtin is so complicated that it deserves its own section. set +allows you to change the values of shell options and set the positional +parameters, or to display the names and values of shell variables. +

set

set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [-o option-name] [argument …]
+set [+abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [+o option-name] [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 +for setting or resetting the currently-set variables. +Read-only variables cannot be reset. +In POSIX mode, only shell variables are listed. +

When options are supplied, they set or unset shell attributes. +Options, if specified, have the following meanings: +

-a

Each variable or function that is created or modified is given the +export attribute and marked for export to the environment of +subsequent commands. +

-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 pipeline (see Pipelines), which may consist of a single simple command +(see Simple Commands), +a list (see Lists), +or a compound command (see Compound Commands) +returns a non-zero status. +The shell does not exit if the command that fails is part of the +command list immediately following a while or until keyword, +part of the test in an if statement, +part of any command executed in a && or || list except +the command following the final && or ||, +any command in a pipeline but the last, +or if the command’s return status is being inverted with !. +If a compound command other than a subshell +returns a non-zero status because a command failed +while -e was being ignored, the shell does not exit. +A trap on ERR, if set, is executed before the shell exits. +

This option applies to the shell environment and each subshell environment +separately (see Command Execution Environment), and may cause +subshells to exit before executing all the commands in the subshell. +

If a compound command or shell function executes in a context where +-e is being ignored, +none of the commands executed within the compound command or function body +will be affected by the -e setting, even if -e is set +and a command returns a failure status. +If a compound command or shell function sets -e while executing in +a context where -e is ignored, that setting will not have any +effect until the compound command or the command containing the function +call completes. +

-f

Disable filename expansion (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 (see Job Control). +All processes run in a separate process group. +When a background job completes, the shell prints a line +containing its exit status. +

-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 (see Command Line Editing). +This also affects the editing interface used for read -e. +
+
errexit: Same as -e. +
+
errtrace: Same as -E. +
+
functrace: Same as -T. +
+
hashall: Same as -h. +
+
histexpand: Same as -H. +
+
history: Enable command history, as described in 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. +
+
nolog: Currently ignored. +
+
notify: Same as -b. +
+
nounset: Same as -u. +
+
onecmd: Same as -t. +
+
physical: Same as -P. +
+
pipefail: If set, the return value of a pipeline is the value of the last +(rightmost) command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all +commands in the pipeline exit successfully. +This option is disabled by default. +
+
posix: Change the behavior of Bash where the default operation differs +from the POSIX standard to match the standard +(see 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. +This also affects the editing interface used for read -e. +
+
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, BASHOPTS, CDPATH and GLOBIGNORE +variables, if they appear in the environment, are 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 and parameters other than the special parameters +‘@’ or ‘*’ 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, for commands, case +commands, select commands, and arithmetic for commands +and their arguments or associated word lists after they are +expanded and before they are executed. The value of the PS4 +variable is expanded and the resultant value is printed before +the command and its expanded arguments. +

-B

The shell will perform brace expansion (see Brace Expansion). +This option is on by default. +

-C

Prevent output redirection using ‘>’, ‘>&’, and ‘<>’ +from overwriting existing files. +

-E

If set, any trap on ERR is inherited by shell functions, command +substitutions, and commands executed in a subshell environment. +The ERR trap is normally not inherited in such cases. +

-H

Enable ‘!’ style history substitution (see History Interaction). +This option is on by default for interactive shells. +

-P

If set, do not resolve 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
+

+ +

-T

If set, any trap on DEBUG and RETURN are inherited by +shell functions, command substitutions, and commands executed +in a subshell environment. +The DEBUG and RETURN traps are normally not inherited +in such cases. +

--

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. +

+ +

4.3.2 The Shopt Builtin

+ +

This builtin allows you to change additional shell optional behavior. +

shopt

shopt [-pqsu] [-o] [optname …]
+

+ +

Toggle the values of settings controlling optional shell behavior. +The settings can be either those listed below, or, if the +-o option is used, those available with the -o +option to the set builtin command (see The Set Builtin). +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; +if optnames are supplied, the output is restricted to those options. +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 (see The Set Builtin). +

+ +

If either -s or -u +is used with no optname arguments, shopt shows only +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: +

assoc_expand_once

If set, the shell suppresses multiple evaluation of associative array +subscripts during arithmetic expression evaluation, while executing +builtins that can perform variable assignments, +and while executing builtins that perform array dereferencing. +

autocd

If set, a command name that is the name of a directory is executed as if +it were the argument to the cd command. +This option is only used by interactive shells. +

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. +

checkjobs

If set, Bash lists the status of any stopped and running jobs before +exiting an interactive shell. If any jobs are running, this causes +the exit to be deferred until a second exit is attempted without an +intervening command (see Job Control). +The shell always postpones exiting if any jobs are stopped. +

checkwinsize

If set, Bash checks the window size after each external (non-builtin) +command and, if necessary, updates the values of +LINES and COLUMNS. +This option is enabled by default. +

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. +This option is enabled by default, but only has an effect if command +history is enabled (see Bash History Facilities). +

compat31

compat32

compat40

compat41

compat42

compat43

compat44

These control aspects of the shell’s compatibility mode +(see Shell Compatibility Mode). +

complete_fullquote

If set, Bash +quotes all shell metacharacters in filenames and directory names when +performing completion. +If not set, Bash +removes metacharacters such as the dollar sign from the set of +characters that will be quoted in completed filenames +when these metacharacters appear in shell variable references in words to be +completed. +This means that dollar signs in variable names that expand to directories +will not be quoted; +however, any dollar signs appearing in filenames will not be quoted, either. +This is active only when bash is using backslashes to quote completed +filenames. +This variable is set by default, which is the default Bash behavior in +versions through 4.2. +

direxpand

If set, Bash +replaces directory names with the results of word expansion when performing +filename completion. This changes the contents of the readline editing +buffer. +If not set, Bash attempts to preserve what the user typed. +

dirspell

If set, Bash +attempts spelling correction on directory names during word completion +if the directory name initially supplied does not exist. +

dotglob

If set, Bash includes filenames beginning with a ‘.’ in +the results of filename expansion. +The filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’ must always be matched explicitly, +even if dotglob is set. +

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, +Aliases. +This option is enabled by default for interactive shells. +

extdebug

If set at shell invocation, +or in a shell startup file, +arrange to execute the debugger profile +before the shell starts, identical to the --debugger option. +If set after invocation, behavior intended for use by debuggers is enabled: +

The -F option to the declare builtin (see Bash Builtins) +displays the source file name and line number corresponding to each function +name supplied as an argument. + +
If the command run by the DEBUG trap returns a non-zero value, the +next command is skipped and not executed. + +
If the command run by the DEBUG trap returns a value of 2, and the +shell is executing in a subroutine (a shell function or a shell script +executed by the . or source builtins), the shell simulates +a call to return. + +
BASH_ARGC and BASH_ARGV are updated as described in their +descriptions (see Bash Variables). + +
Function tracing is enabled: command substitution, shell functions, and +subshells invoked with ( command ) inherit the +DEBUG and RETURN traps. + +
Error tracing is enabled: command substitution, shell functions, and +subshells invoked with ( command ) inherit the +ERR trap. +

+ +

extglob

If set, the extended pattern matching features described above +(see Pattern Matching) are enabled. +

extquote

If set, $'string' and $"string" quoting is +performed within ${parameter} expansions +enclosed in double quotes. This option is enabled by default. +

failglob

If set, patterns which fail to match filenames during filename expansion +result in an expansion error. +

force_fignore

If set, the suffixes specified by the FIGNORE shell variable +cause words to be ignored when performing word completion even if +the ignored words are the only possible completions. +See Bash Variables, for a description of FIGNORE. +This option is enabled by default. +

globasciiranges

If set, range expressions used in pattern matching bracket expressions +(see Pattern Matching) +behave as if in the traditional C locale when performing +comparisons. That is, the current locale’s collating sequence +is not taken into account, so +‘b’ will not collate between ‘A’ and ‘B’, +and upper-case and lower-case ASCII characters will collate together. +

globstar

If set, the pattern ‘**’ used in a filename expansion context will +match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories. +If the pattern is followed by a ‘/’, only directories and +subdirectories match. +

gnu_errfmt

If set, shell error messages are written in the standard GNU error +message format. +

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 (see 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 (see Signals). +

inherit_errexit

If set, command substitution inherits the value of the errexit option, +instead of unsetting it in the subshell environment. +This option is enabled when POSIX mode is enabled. +

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. +

lastpipe

If set, and job control is not active, the shell runs the last command of +a pipeline not executed in the background in the current shell environment. +

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. +

localvar_inherit

If set, local variables inherit the value and attributes of a variable of +the same name that exists at a previous scope before any new value is +assigned. The nameref attribute is not inherited. +

localvar_unset

If set, calling unset on local variables in previous function scopes +marks them so subsequent lookups find them unset until that function +returns. This is identical to the behavior of unsetting local variables +at the current function scope. +

login_shell

The shell sets this option if it is started as a login shell +(see Invoking Bash). +The value may not be changed. +

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. +

no_empty_cmd_completion

If set, and Readline is being used, Bash will not attempt to search +the PATH for possible completions when completion is attempted +on an empty line. +

nocaseglob

If set, Bash matches filenames in a case-insensitive fashion when +performing filename expansion. +

nocasematch

If set, Bash matches patterns in a case-insensitive fashion when +performing matching while executing case or [[ +conditional commands, +when performing pattern substitution word expansions, +or when filtering possible completions as part of programmable completion. +

nullglob

If set, Bash allows filename patterns which match no +files to expand to a null string, rather than themselves. +

progcomp

If set, the programmable completion facilities +(see Programmable Completion) are enabled. +This option is enabled by default. +

progcomp_alias

If set, and programmable completion is enabled, Bash treats a command +name that doesn’t have any completions as a possible alias and attempts +alias expansion. If it has an alias, Bash attempts programmable +completion using the command word resulting from the expanded alias. +

promptvars

If set, prompt strings undergo +parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic +expansion, and quote removal after being expanded +as described below (see Controlling the Prompt). +This option is enabled by default. +

restricted_shell

The shell sets this option if it is started in restricted mode +(see 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. +

xpg_echo

If set, the echo builtin expands backslash-escape sequences +by default. +

+ +

4.4 Special Builtins

+ + +

For historical reasons, the POSIX standard has classified +several builtin commands as special. +When Bash is executing in POSIX mode, the special builtins +differ from other builtin commands in three respects: +

Special builtins are found before shell functions during command lookup. + +
If a special builtin returns an error status, a non-interactive shell exits. + +
Assignment statements preceding the command stay in effect in the shell +environment after the command completes. +

+ +

When Bash is not executing in POSIX mode, these builtins behave no +differently than the rest of the Bash builtin commands. +The Bash POSIX mode is described in Bash POSIX Mode. +

These are the POSIX special builtins: +

break : . continue eval exec exit export readonly return set
+shift trap unset
+

+ +

5 Shell Variables

+ + + + + + +

This chapter describes the shell variables that Bash uses. +Bash automatically assigns default values to a number of variables. +

+ +

5.1 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 +(see 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 or directory name +and the MAILPATH variable +is not set, Bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in +the specified file or Maildir-format directory. +
+
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 filename 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. +A zero-length (null) directory name in the value of PATH indicates the +current directory. +A null directory name may appear as two adjacent colons, or as an initial +or trailing colon. +
+
PS1 + +: The primary prompt string. The default value is ‘\s-\v\$ ’. +See Controlling the Prompt, for the complete list of escape +sequences that are expanded before PS1 is displayed. +
+
PS2 + +: The secondary prompt string. The default value is ‘> ’. +PS2 is expanded in the same way as PS1 before being +displayed. +
+

+ +

5.2 Bash Variables

+ +

These variables are set or used by Bash, but other shells +do not normally treat them specially. +

A few variables used by Bash are described in different chapters: +variables for controlling the job control facilities +(see Job Control Variables). +

_ + +

($_, an underscore.) +At shell startup, set to the pathname used to invoke the +shell or shell script being executed as passed in the environment +or argument list. +Subsequently, expands to the last argument to the previous simple +command executed in the foreground, after expansion. +Also set to the full pathname used to invoke each command executed +and placed in the environment exported to that command. +When checking mail, this parameter holds the name of the mail file. +

BASH + +

The full pathname used to execute the current instance of Bash. +

BASHOPTS + +

A colon-separated list of enabled shell options. Each word in +the list is a valid argument for the -s option to the +shopt builtin command (see The Shopt Builtin). +The options appearing in BASHOPTS are those reported +as ‘on’ by ‘shopt’. +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. +

BASHPID + +

Expands to the process ID of the current Bash process. +This differs from $$ under certain circumstances, such as subshells +that do not require Bash to be re-initialized. +Assignments to BASHPID have no effect. +If BASHPID +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_ALIASES + +

An associative array variable whose members correspond to the internal +list of aliases as maintained by the alias builtin. +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). +Elements added to this array appear in the alias list; however, +unsetting array elements currently does not cause aliases to be removed +from the alias list. +If BASH_ALIASES +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_ARGC + +

An array variable whose values are the number of parameters in each +frame of the current bash execution call stack. The number of +parameters to the current subroutine (shell function or script executed +with . or source) is at the top of the stack. When a +subroutine is executed, the number of parameters passed is pushed onto +BASH_ARGC. +The shell sets BASH_ARGC only when in extended debugging mode +(see The Shopt Builtin +for a description of the extdebug option to the shopt +builtin). +Setting extdebug after the shell has started to execute a script, +or referencing this variable when extdebug is not set, +may result in inconsistent values. +

BASH_ARGV + +

An array variable containing all of the parameters in the current bash +execution call stack. The final parameter of the last subroutine call +is at the top of the stack; the first parameter of the initial call is +at the bottom. When a subroutine is executed, the parameters supplied +are pushed onto BASH_ARGV. +The shell sets BASH_ARGV only when in extended debugging mode +(see The Shopt Builtin +for a description of the extdebug option to the shopt +builtin). +Setting extdebug after the shell has started to execute a script, +or referencing this variable when extdebug is not set, +may result in inconsistent values. +

BASH_ARGV0 + +

When referenced, this variable expands to the name of the shell or shell +script (identical to $0; See Special Parameters, +for the description of special parameter 0). +Assignment to BASH_ARGV0 +causes the value assigned to also be assigned to $0. +If BASH_ARGV0 +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_CMDS + +

An associative array variable whose members correspond to the internal +hash table of commands as maintained by the hash builtin +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). +Elements added to this array appear in the hash table; however, +unsetting array elements currently does not cause command names to be removed +from the hash table. +If BASH_CMDS +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_COMMAND + +

The command currently being executed or about to be executed, unless the +shell is executing a command as the result of a trap, +in which case it is the command executing at the time of the trap. +If BASH_COMMAND +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_COMPAT + +

The value is used to set the shell’s compatibility level. +See Shell Compatibility Mode, for a description of the various +compatibility levels and their effects. +The value may be a decimal number (e.g., 4.2) or an integer (e.g., 42) +corresponding to the desired compatibility level. +If BASH_COMPAT is unset or set to the empty string, the compatibility +level is set to the default for the current version. +If BASH_COMPAT is set to a value that is not one of the valid +compatibility levels, the shell prints an error message and sets the +compatibility level to the default for the current version. +The valid values correspond to the compatibility levels +described below (see Shell Compatibility Mode). +For example, 4.2 and 42 are valid values that correspond +to the compat42 shopt option +and set the compatibility level to 42. +The current version is also a valid value. +

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. See Bash Startup Files. +

BASH_EXECUTION_STRING + +

The command argument to the -c invocation option. +

BASH_LINENO + +

An array variable whose members are the line numbers in source files +where each corresponding member of FUNCNAME was invoked. +${BASH_LINENO[$i]} is the line number in the source file +(${BASH_SOURCE[$i+1]}) where +${FUNCNAME[$i]} was called (or ${BASH_LINENO[$i-1]} if +referenced within another shell function). +Use LINENO to obtain the current line number. +

BASH_LOADABLES_PATH + +

A colon-separated list of directories in which the shell looks for +dynamically loadable builtins specified by the +enable command. +

BASH_REMATCH + +

An array variable whose members are assigned by the ‘=~’ binary +operator to the [[ conditional command +(see Conditional Constructs). +The element with index 0 is the portion of the string +matching the entire regular expression. +The element with index n is the portion of the +string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression. +

BASH_SOURCE + +

An array variable whose members are the source filenames where the +corresponding shell function names in the FUNCNAME array +variable are defined. +The shell function ${FUNCNAME[$i]} is defined in the file +${BASH_SOURCE[$i]} and called from ${BASH_SOURCE[$i+1]} +

BASH_SUBSHELL + +

Incremented by one within each subshell or subshell environment when +the shell begins executing in that environment. +The initial value is 0. +If BASH_SUBSHELL +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

BASH_VERSINFO + +

A readonly array variable (see Arrays) +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. +

+ +

BASH_VERSION + +

The version number of the current instance of Bash. +

BASH_XTRACEFD + +

If set to an integer corresponding to a valid file descriptor, Bash +will write the trace output generated when ‘set -x’ +is enabled to that file descriptor. +This allows tracing output to be separated from diagnostic and error +messages. +The file descriptor is closed when BASH_XTRACEFD is unset or assigned +a new value. +Unsetting BASH_XTRACEFD or assigning it the empty string causes the +trace output to be sent to the standard error. +Note that setting BASH_XTRACEFD to 2 (the standard error file +descriptor) and then unsetting it will result in the standard error +being closed. +

CHILD_MAX + +

Set the number of exited child status values for the shell to remember. +Bash will not allow this value to be decreased below a POSIX-mandated +minimum, and there is a maximum value (currently 8192) that this may +not exceed. +The minimum value is system-dependent. +

COLUMNS + +

Used by the select command to determine the terminal width +when printing selection lists. +Automatically set if the checkwinsize option is enabled +(see The Shopt Builtin), or in an interactive shell upon receipt of a +SIGWINCH. +

COMP_CWORD + +

An index into ${COMP_WORDS} of the word containing the current +cursor position. +This variable is available only in shell functions invoked by the +programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). +

COMP_LINE + +

The current command line. +This variable is available only in shell functions and external +commands invoked by the +programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). +

COMP_POINT + +

The index of the current cursor position relative to the beginning of +the current command. +If the current cursor position is at the end of the current command, +the value of this variable is equal to ${#COMP_LINE}. +This variable is available only in shell functions and external +commands invoked by the +programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). +

COMP_TYPE + +

Set to an integer value corresponding to the type of completion attempted +that caused a completion function to be called: +TAB, for normal completion, +‘?’, for listing completions after successive tabs, +‘!’, for listing alternatives on partial word completion, +‘@’, to list completions if the word is not unmodified, +or +‘%’, for menu completion. +This variable is available only in shell functions and external +commands invoked by the +programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). +

COMP_KEY + +

The key (or final key of a key sequence) used to invoke the current +completion function. +

COMP_WORDBREAKS + +

The set of characters that the Readline library treats as word +separators when performing word completion. +If COMP_WORDBREAKS +is unset, it loses its special properties, +even if it is subsequently reset. +

COMP_WORDS + +

An array variable consisting of the individual +words in the current command line. +The line is split into words as Readline would split it, using +COMP_WORDBREAKS as described above. +This variable is available only in shell functions invoked by the +programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). +

COMPREPLY + +

An array variable from which Bash reads the possible completions +generated by a shell function invoked by the programmable completion +facility (see Programmable Completion). +Each array element contains one possible completion. +

COPROC + +

An array variable created to hold the file descriptors +for output from and input to an unnamed coprocess (see Coprocesses). +

DIRSTACK + +

An array variable 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. +

EMACS + +

If Bash finds this variable in the environment when the shell +starts with value ‘t’, it assumes that the shell is running in an +Emacs shell buffer and disables line editing. +

ENV + +

Expanded and executed similarlty to BASH_ENV +(see Bash Startup Files) +when an interactive shell is invoked in +POSIX Mode (see Bash POSIX Mode). +

EPOCHREALTIME + +

Each time this parameter is referenced, it expands to the number of seconds +since the Unix Epoch as a floating point value with micro-second granularity +(see the documentation for the C library function time for the +definition of Epoch). +Assignments to EPOCHREALTIME are ignored. +If EPOCHREALTIME +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if +it is subsequently reset. +

EPOCHSECONDS + +

Each time this parameter is referenced, it expands to the number of seconds +since the Unix Epoch (see the documentation for the C library function +time for the definition of Epoch). +Assignments to EPOCHSECONDS are ignored. +If EPOCHSECONDS +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. +

EXECIGNORE + +

A colon-separated list of shell patterns (see Pattern Matching) +defining the list of filenames to be ignored by command search using +PATH. +Files whose full pathnames match one of these patterns are not considered +executable files for the purposes of completion and command execution +via PATH lookup. +This does not affect the behavior of the [, test, and [[ +commands. +Full pathnames in the command hash table are not subject to EXECIGNORE. +Use this variable to ignore shared library files that have the executable +bit set, but are not executable files. +The pattern matching honors the setting of the extglob shell +option. +

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 filename whose suffix matches one of the entries in +FIGNORE +is excluded from the list of matched filenames. A sample +value is ‘.o:~’ +

FUNCNAME + +

An array variable containing the names of all shell functions +currently in the execution call stack. +The element with index 0 is the name of any currently-executing +shell function. +The bottom-most element (the one with the highest index) +is "main". +This variable exists only when a shell function is executing. +Assignments to FUNCNAME have no effect. +If FUNCNAME +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if +it is subsequently reset. +

This variable can be used with BASH_LINENO and BASH_SOURCE. +Each element of FUNCNAME has corresponding elements in +BASH_LINENO and BASH_SOURCE to describe the call stack. +For instance, ${FUNCNAME[$i]} was called from the file +${BASH_SOURCE[$i+1]} at line number ${BASH_LINENO[$i]}. +The caller builtin displays the current call stack using this +information. +

FUNCNEST + +

If set to a numeric value greater than 0, defines a maximum function +nesting level. Function invocations that exceed this nesting level +will cause the current command to abort. +

GLOBIGNORE + +

A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of file names to +be ignored by filename expansion. +If a file name matched by a filename expansion pattern also matches one +of the patterns in GLOBIGNORE, it is removed from the list +of matches. +The pattern matching honors the setting of the extglob shell +option. +

GROUPS + +

An array variable containing the list of groups of which the current +user is a member. +Assignments to GROUPS have no effect. +If GROUPS +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

histchars + +

Up to three characters which control history expansion, quick +substitution, and tokenization (see History Interaction). +The first character is the +history expansion character, 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. +Assignments to HISTCMD are ignored. +If HISTCMD +is unset, it loses its special properties, +even if it is subsequently reset. +

HISTCONTROL + +

A colon-separated list of values controlling how commands are saved on +the history list. +If the list of values includes ‘ignorespace’, lines which begin +with a space character are not saved in the history list. +A value of ‘ignoredups’ causes lines which match the previous +history entry to not be saved. +A value of ‘ignoreboth’ is shorthand for +‘ignorespace’ and ‘ignoredups’. +A value of ‘erasedups’ causes all previous lines matching the +current line to be removed from the history list before that line +is saved. +Any value not in the above list is ignored. +If HISTCONTROL is unset, or does not include a valid value, +all lines read by the shell parser are saved on the history list, +subject to the value of HISTIGNORE. +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. +

HISTFILE + +

The name of the file to which the command history is saved. The +default value is ~/.bash_history. +

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 +by removing the oldest entries. +The history file is also truncated to this size after +writing it when a shell exits. +If the value is 0, the history file is truncated to zero size. +Non-numeric values and numeric values less than zero inhibit truncation. +The shell sets the default value to the value of HISTSIZE +after reading any startup files. +

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 match the complete +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. +The pattern matching honors the setting of the extglob shell +option. +

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. +

HISTSIZE + +

The maximum number of commands to remember on the history list. +If the value is 0, commands are not saved in the history list. +Numeric values less than zero result in every command being saved +on the history list (there is no limit). +The shell sets the default value to 500 after reading any startup files. +

HISTTIMEFORMAT + +

If this variable is set and not null, its value is used as a format string +for strftime to print the time stamp associated with each history +entry displayed by the history builtin. +If this variable is set, time stamps are written to the history file so +they may be preserved across shell sessions. +This uses the history comment character to distinguish timestamps from +other history lines. +

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. +The list of possible hostname completions may be changed while the shell +is running; +the next time hostname completion is attempted after the +value is changed, Bash adds the contents of the new file to the +existing list. +If HOSTFILE is set, but has no value, or does not name a readable file, +Bash attempts to read +/etc/hosts to obtain the list of possible hostname completions. +When HOSTFILE is unset, the hostname list is cleared. +

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 initialization file, overriding the default +of ~/.inputrc. +

INSIDE_EMACS + +

If Bash finds this variable in the environment when the shell +starts, it assumes that the shell is running in an Emacs shell buffer +and may disable line editing depending on the value of TERM. +

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 +(see Filename Expansion). +

LC_CTYPE + +

This variable determines the interpretation of characters and the +behavior of character classes within filename expansion and pattern +matching (see Filename Expansion). +

LC_MESSAGES + +

This variable determines the locale used to translate double-quoted +strings preceded by a ‘$’ (see Locale Translation). +

LC_NUMERIC + +

This variable determines the locale category used for number formatting. +

LC_TIME + +

This variable determines the locale category used for data and time +formatting. +

LINENO + +

The line number in the script or shell function currently executing. +If LINENO +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

LINES + +

Used by the select command to determine the column length +for printing selection lists. +Automatically set if the checkwinsize option is enabled +(see The Shopt Builtin), or in an interactive shell upon receipt of a +SIGWINCH. +

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. +The default is 60 seconds. When it is time to check +for mail, the shell does so before displaying the primary prompt. +If this variable is unset, or set to a value that is not a number +greater than or equal to zero, the shell disables mail checking. +

MAPFILE + +

An array variable created to hold the text read by the +mapfile builtin when no variable name is supplied. +

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 (see 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). +

POSIXLY_CORRECT + +

If this variable is in the environment when Bash starts, the shell +enters POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode) before reading the +startup files, as if the --posix invocation option had been supplied. +If it is set while the shell is running, Bash enables POSIX mode, +as if the command +

set -o posix
+

had been executed. +When the shell enters POSIX mode, it sets this variable if it was +not already set. +

PPID + +

The process ID of the shell’s parent process. This variable +is readonly. +

PROMPT_COMMAND + +

If this variable is set, and is an array, +the value of each set element is interpreted as a command to execute +before printing the primary prompt ($PS1). +If this is set but not an array variable, +its value is used as a command to execute instead. +

PROMPT_DIRTRIM + +

If set to a number greater than zero, the value is used as the number of +trailing directory components to retain when expanding the \w and +\W prompt string escapes (see Controlling the Prompt). +Characters removed are replaced with an ellipsis. +

PS0 + +

The value of this parameter is expanded like PS1 +and displayed by interactive shells after reading a command +and before the command is executed. +

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 + +

The value of this parameter is expanded like PS1 +and the expanded value is the prompt printed before the command line +is echoed when the -x option is set (see The Set Builtin). +The first character of the expanded value 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, it expands to a random integer +between 0 and 32767. Assigning a value to this +variable seeds the random number generator. +If RANDOM +is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is +subsequently reset. +

READLINE_LINE + +

The contents of the Readline line buffer, for use +with ‘bind -x’ (see Bash Builtins). +

READLINE_MARK + +

The position of the mark (saved insertion point) in the +Readline line buffer, for use +with ‘bind -x’ (see Bash Builtins). +The characters between the insertion point and the mark are often +called the region. +

READLINE_POINT + +

The position of the insertion point in the Readline line buffer, for use +with ‘bind -x’ (see Bash Builtins). +

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. +The number of seconds at shell invocation and the current time is always +determined by querying the system clock. +If SECONDS +is unset, it loses its special properties, +even if it is subsequently reset. +

SHELL + +

This environment variable expands to the full pathname to the shell. +If it is not set when the shell starts, +Bash assigns to it the full pathname of the current user’s login shell. +

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 (see 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. +

SRANDOM + +

This variable expands to a 32-bit pseudo-random number each time it is +referenced. The random number generator is not linear on systems that +support /dev/urandom or arc4random, so each returned number +has no relationship to the numbers preceding it. +The random number generator cannot be seeded, so assignments to this +variable have no effect. +If SRANDOM +is unset, it loses its special properties, +even if it is subsequently reset. +

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, TMOUT is treated as the +default timeout for the read builtin (see Bash Builtins). +The select command (see Conditional Constructs) terminates +if input does not arrive after TMOUT seconds when input is coming +from a terminal. +

In an interactive shell, the value is interpreted as +the number of seconds to wait for a line of input after issuing +the primary prompt. +Bash +terminates after waiting for that number of seconds if a complete +line of input does not arrive. +

TMPDIR + +

If set, Bash uses its value as the name of a directory in which +Bash creates temporary files for the shell’s use. +

UID + +

The numeric real user id of the current user. This variable is readonly. +

+ +

6 Bash Features

+ +

This chapter describes features unique to Bash. +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

• Invoking Bash		Command line options that you can give + to Bash. +
• Bash Startup Files		When and how Bash executes scripts. +
• Interactive Shells		What an interactive shell is. +
• Bash Conditional Expressions		Primitives used in composing expressions for + the `test` builtin. +
• Shell Arithmetic		Arithmetic on shell variables. +
• Aliases		Substituting one command for another. +
• Arrays		Array Variables. +
• The Directory Stack		History of visited directories. +
• Controlling the Prompt		Customizing the various prompt strings. +
• The Restricted Shell		A more controlled mode of shell execution. +
• Bash POSIX Mode		Making Bash behave more closely to what + the POSIX standard specifies. +
• Shell Compatibility Mode		How Bash supports behavior that was present + in earlier versions and has changed. +

+ +

6.1 Invoking Bash

+ +

bash [long-opt] [-ir] [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o option]
+    [-O shopt_option] [argument …]
+bash [long-opt] [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o option]
+    [-O shopt_option] -c string [argument …]
+bash [long-opt] -s [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o option]
+    [-O shopt_option] [argument …]
+

+ +

All of the single-character options used with the set builtin +(see The Set Builtin) can be used as options when the shell is invoked. +In addition, there are several multi-character +options that you can use. These options must appear on the command +line before the single-character options to be recognized. +

--debugger: Arrange for the debugger profile to be executed before the shell +starts. Turns on extended debugging mode (see The Shopt Builtin +for a description of the extdebug option to the shopt +builtin). +
+
--dump-po-strings: A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by ‘$’ +is printed on the standard output +in the GNU gettext PO (portable object) file format. +Equivalent to -D except for the output format. +
+
--dump-strings: Equivalent to -D. +
+
--help: Display a usage message on standard output and exit successfully. +
+
--init-file filename
--rcfile filename: Execute commands from filename (instead of ~/.bashrc) +in an interactive shell. +
+
--login: Equivalent to -l. +
+
--noediting: Do not use the GNU Readline library (see Command Line Editing) +to read command lines when the shell is interactive. +
+
--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 standard to match the standard. This +is intended to make Bash behave as a strict superset of that +standard. See Bash POSIX Mode, for a description of the Bash +POSIX mode. +
+
--restricted: Make the shell a restricted shell (see The Restricted Shell). +
+
--verbose: Equivalent to -v. Print shell input lines as they’re read. +
+
--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: Read and execute commands from the first non-option argument +command_string, then exit. +If there are arguments after the command_string, +the first argument is assigned to $0 +and any remaining arguments are assigned to the positional parameters. +The assignment to $0 sets the name of the shell, which is used +in warning and error messages. +
+
-i: Force the shell to run interactively. Interactive shells are +described in Interactive Shells. +
+
-l: Make this shell act as if it had been directly invoked by login. +When the shell is interactive, this is equivalent to starting a +login shell with ‘exec -l bash’. +When the shell is not interactive, the login shell startup files will +be executed. +‘exec bash -l’ or ‘exec bash --login’ +will replace the current shell with a Bash login shell. +See Bash Startup Files, for a description of the special behavior +of a login shell. +
+
-r: Make the shell a restricted shell (see The Restricted Shell). +
+
-s: If this option is present, or if no arguments remain after option +processing, then commands are read from the standard input. +This option allows the positional parameters to be set +when invoking an interactive shell or when reading input +through a pipe. +
+
-D: A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by ‘$’ +is printed on the standard output. +These are the strings that +are subject to language translation when the current locale +is not C or POSIX (see Locale Translation). +This implies the -n option; no commands will be executed. +
+
[-+]O [shopt_option]: shopt_option is one of the shell options accepted by the +shopt builtin (see The Shopt Builtin). +If shopt_option is present, -O sets the value of that option; ++O unsets it. +If shopt_option is not supplied, the names and values of the shell +options accepted by shopt are printed on the standard output. +If the invocation option is +O, the output is displayed in a format +that may be reused as input. +
+
--: A -- signals the end of options and disables further option +processing. +Any arguments after the -- are treated as filenames and arguments. +

+ + +

A login shell is one whose first character of argument zero is +‘-’, or one invoked with the --login option. +

+ +

An interactive shell is one started without non-option arguments, +unless -s is specified, +without specifying the -c option, and whose input and output are both +connected to terminals (as determined by isatty(3)), or one +started with the -i option. See Interactive Shells, for more +information. +

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 (see 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. +

+ +

6.2 Bash Startup Files

+ + +

This section describes how Bash executes its startup files. +If any of the files exist but cannot be read, Bash reports an error. +Tildes are expanded in filenames as described above under +Tilde Expansion (see Tilde Expansion). +

Interactive shells are described in Interactive Shells. +

Invoked as an interactive login shell, or with `--login`

+ +

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 an interactive login shell exits, +or a non-interactive login shell executes the exit builtin command, +Bash reads and executes commands from +the file ~/.bash_logout, if it exists. +

Invoked as an interactive non-login shell

+ +

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. +

Invoked non-interactively

+ +

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 +filename. +

As noted above, if a non-interactive shell is invoked with the +--login option, Bash attempts to read and execute commands from the +login shell startup files. +

Invoked with name `sh`

+ +

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. +

Invoked in POSIX mode

+ +

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. +

Invoked by remote shell daemon

+ +

Bash attempts to determine when it is being run with its standard input +connected to a network connection, as when executed by the remote shell +daemon, usually rshd, or the secure shell daemon sshd. +If Bash determines it is being run in +this fashion, 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 +neither rshd nor sshd generally invoke the shell with those +options or allow them to be specified. +

Invoked with unequal effective and real UID/GIDs

+ +

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, BASHOPTS, CDPATH, and GLOBIGNORE +variables, if they appear in the environment, are 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. +

+ +

6.3 Interactive Shells

+ + + + + + + + + +

+ +

6.3.1 What is an Interactive Shell?

+ +

An interactive shell +is one started without non-option arguments, unless -s is +specified, without specifying the -c option, and +whose input and error output are both +connected to terminals (as determined by isatty(3)), +or one started with the -i option. +

An interactive shell generally reads from and writes to a user’s +terminal. +

The -s invocation option may be used to set the positional parameters +when an interactive shell is started. +

+ +

6.3.2 Is this Shell Interactive?

+ +

To determine within a startup script whether or not Bash is +running interactively, +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
+

+ +

Alternatively, startup scripts may 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
+

+ +

6.3.3 Interactive Shell Behavior

+ +

When the shell is running interactively, it changes its behavior in +several ways. +

Startup files are read and executed as described in Bash Startup Files. + +
Job Control (see Job Control) is enabled by default. When job +control is in effect, Bash ignores the keyboard-generated job control +signals SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP. + +
Bash expands and displays PS1 before reading the first line +of a command, and expands and displays PS2 before reading the +second and subsequent lines of a multi-line command. +Bash expands and displays PS0 after it reads a command but before +executing it. +See Controlling the Prompt, for a complete list of prompt +string escape sequences. + +
Bash executes the values of the set elements of the PROMPT_COMMANDS +array variable as commands before printing the primary prompt, $PS1 +(see Bash Variables). + +
Readline (see Command Line Editing) is used to read commands from +the user’s terminal. + +
Bash inspects the value of the ignoreeof option to set -o +instead of exiting immediately when it receives an EOF on its +standard input when reading a command (see The Set Builtin). + +
Command history (see Bash History Facilities) +and history expansion (see History Interaction) +are enabled by default. +Bash will save the command history to the file named by $HISTFILE +when a shell with history enabled exits. + +
Alias expansion (see Aliases) is performed by default. + +
In the absence of any traps, Bash ignores SIGTERM +(see Signals). + +
In the absence of any traps, SIGINT is caught and handled +(see Signals). +SIGINT will interrupt some shell builtins. + +
An interactive login shell sends a SIGHUP to all jobs on exit +if the huponexit shell option has been enabled (see Signals). + +
The -n invocation option is ignored, and ‘set -n’ has +no effect (see The Set Builtin). + +
Bash will check for mail periodically, depending on the values of the +MAIL, MAILPATH, and MAILCHECK shell variables +(see Bash Variables). + +
Expansion errors due to references to unbound shell variables after +‘set -u’ has been enabled will not cause the shell to exit +(see The Set Builtin). + +
The shell will not exit on expansion errors caused by var being unset +or null in ${var:?word} expansions +(see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
Redirection errors encountered by shell builtins will not cause the +shell to exit. + +
When running in POSIX mode, a special builtin returning an error +status will not cause the shell to exit (see Bash POSIX Mode). + +
A failed exec will not cause the shell to exit +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). + +
Parser syntax errors will not cause the shell to exit. + +
Simple spelling correction for directory arguments to the cd +builtin is enabled by default (see the description of the cdspell +option to the shopt builtin in The Shopt Builtin). + +
The shell will check the value of the TMOUT variable and exit +if a command is not read within the specified number of seconds after +printing $PS1 (see Bash Variables). + +

+ +

6.4 Bash Conditional Expressions

+ + +

Conditional expressions are used by the [[ compound command +and the test and [ builtin commands. The test +and [ commands determine their behavior based on the number +of arguments; see the descriptions of those commands for any other +command-specific actions. +

Expressions may be unary or binary, +and are formed from the following primaries. +Unary expressions are often used to examine the status of a file. +There are string operators and numeric comparison operators as well. +Bash handles several filenames specially when they are used in +expressions. +If the operating system on which Bash is running provides these +special files, Bash will use them; otherwise it will emulate them +internally with this behavior: +If the file argument to one of the primaries is of the form +/dev/fd/N, then file descriptor N is checked. +If the file argument to one of the primaries is one of +/dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, or /dev/stderr, file +descriptor 0, 1, or 2, respectively, is checked. +

When used with [[, the ‘<’ and ‘>’ operators sort +lexicographically using the current locale. +The test command uses ASCII ordering. +

Unless otherwise specified, primaries that operate on files follow symbolic +links and operate on the target of the link, rather than the link itself. +

-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. +

-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. +

-N file

True if file exists and has been modified since it was last read. +

-O file

True if file exists and is owned by the effective user id. +

-S file

True if file exists and is a socket. +

file1 -ef file2

True if file1 and file2 refer to the same device and +inode numbers. +

file1 -nt file2

True if file1 is newer (according to modification date) +than file2, or if file1 exists and file2 does not. +

file1 -ot file2

True if file1 is older than file2, +or if file2 exists and file1 does not. +

-o optname

True if the shell option optname is enabled. +The list of options appears in the description of the -o +option to the set builtin (see The Set Builtin). +

-v varname

True if the shell variable varname is set (has been assigned a value). +

-R varname

True if the shell variable varname is set and is a name reference. +

-z string

True if the length of string is zero. +

-n string

string

True if the length of string is non-zero. +

string1 == string2

string1 = string2

True if the strings are equal. +When used with the [[ command, this performs pattern matching as +described above (see Conditional Constructs). +

‘=’ should be used with the test command for POSIX conformance. +

string1 != string2

True if the strings are not equal. +

string1 < string2

True if string1 sorts before string2 lexicographically. +

string1 > string2

True if string1 sorts after string2 lexicographically. +

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. +When used with the [[ command, Arg1 and Arg2 +are evaluated as arithmetic expressions (see Shell Arithmetic). +

+ +

6.5 Shell Arithmetic

+ + + + + + +

The shell allows arithmetic expressions to be evaluated, as one of +the shell expansions or by using the (( compound command, the +let builtin, or the -i option to the declare builtin. +

Evaluation is done in fixed-width integers with no check for overflow, +though division by 0 is trapped and flagged as an error. +The operators and their precedence, associativity, and values +are the same as in the C language. +The following list of operators is grouped into levels of +equal-precedence operators. +The levels are listed in order of decreasing precedence. +

id++ id--: variable post-increment and post-decrement +
+
++id --id: variable pre-increment and pre-decrement +
+
- +: 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 operator +
+
= *= /= %= += -= <<= >>= &= ^= |=: assignment +
+
expr1 , expr2: comma +

+ +

Shell variables are allowed as operands; parameter expansion is +performed before the expression is evaluated. +Within an expression, shell variables may also be referenced by name +without using the parameter expansion syntax. +A shell variable that is null or unset evaluates to 0 when referenced +by name without using the parameter expansion syntax. +The value of a variable is evaluated as an arithmetic expression +when it is referenced, or when a variable which has been given the +integer attribute using ‘declare -i’ is assigned a value. +A null value evaluates to 0. +A shell variable need not have its integer attribute turned on +to be used in an expression. +

Integer constants follow the C language definition, without suffixes or +character constants. +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 the optional 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. +When specifying n, +if a non-digit is required, +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 interchangeably 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. +

+ +

6.6 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 characters ‘/’, ‘$’, ‘`’, ‘=’ and any of the +shell metacharacters or quoting characters listed above may not appear +in an alias name. +The replacement text may contain any valid +shell input, including shell metacharacters. +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 +blank, 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 +(see Shell Functions). +

Aliases are not expanded when the shell is not interactive, +unless the expand_aliases shell option is set using +shopt (see The Shopt Builtin). +

The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are +somewhat confusing. Bash +always reads at least one complete line of input, +and all lines that make up a compound command, +before executing any of the commands on that line or the compound command. +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 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, shell functions are preferred over aliases. +

+ +

6.7 Arrays

+ + +

Bash provides one-dimensional indexed and associative array variables. +Any variable may be used as an indexed 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. +Indexed arrays are referenced using integers (including arithmetic +expressions (see Shell Arithmetic)) and are zero-based; +associative arrays use arbitrary strings. +Unless otherwise noted, indexed array indices must be non-negative integers. +

An indexed 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. +To explicitly declare an array, use +

declare -a name
+

The syntax +

declare -a name[subscript]
+

is also accepted; the subscript is ignored. +

Associative arrays are created using +

declare -A name
+

+ +

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 value2 … )
+

where each +value may be of the form [subscript]=string. +Indexed array assignments do not require anything but string. +When assigning to indexed arrays, 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. +

Each value in the list undergoes all the shell expansions +described above (see Shell Expansions). +

When assigning to an associative array, the words in a compound assignment +may be either assignment statements, for which the subscript is required, +or a list of words that is interpreted as a sequence of alternating keys +and values: +name=(key1 value1 key2 value2 … ). +These are treated identically to +name=( [key1]=value1 [key2]=value2 … ). +The first word in the list determines how the remaining words +are interpreted; all assignments in a list must be of the same type. +When using key/value pairs, the keys may not be missing or empty; +a final missing value is treated like the empty string. +

This syntax is also accepted by the declare +builtin. Individual array elements may be assigned to using the +name[subscript]=value syntax introduced above. +

When assigning to an indexed array, if name +is subscripted by a negative number, that number is +interpreted as relative to one greater than the maximum index of +name, so negative indices count back from the end of the +array, and an index of -1 references the last element. +

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. +If the double-quoted expansion occurs within a word, the expansion of +the first parameter is joined with the beginning part of the original +word, and the expansion of the last parameter is joined with the last +part of the original word. +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. +If the subscript +used to reference an element of an indexed array +evaluates to a number less than zero, it is +interpreted as relative to one greater than the maximum index of the array, +so negative indices count back from the end of the array, +and an index of -1 refers to the last element. +

Referencing an array variable without a subscript is equivalent to +referencing with a subscript of 0. +Any reference to a variable using a valid subscript is legal, and +bash will create an array if necessary. +

An array variable is considered set if a subscript has been assigned a +value. The null string is a valid value. +

It is possible to obtain the keys (indices) of an array as well as the values. +${!name[@]} and ${!name[*]} expand to the indices +assigned in array variable name. +The treatment when in double quotes is similar to the expansion of the +special parameters ‘@’ and ‘*’ within double quotes. +

The unset builtin is used to destroy arrays. +unset name[subscript] +destroys the array element at index subscript. +Negative subscripts to indexed arrays are interpreted as described above. +Unsetting the last element of an array variable does not unset the variable. +unset name, where name is an array, removes the +entire array. A subscript of ‘*’ or ‘@’ also removes the +entire array. +

When using a variable name with a subscript as an argument to a command, +such as with unset, without using the word expansion syntax +described above, the argument is subject to the shell’s filename expansion. +If filename expansion is not desired, the argument should be quoted. +

The declare, local, and readonly +builtins each accept a -a option to specify an indexed +array and a -A option to specify an associative array. +If both options are supplied, -A takes precedence. +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. +

+ +

6.8 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 current directory is always the "top" +of the directory stack. +

The contents of the directory stack are also visible +as the value of the DIRSTACK shell variable. +

+ +

6.8.1 Directory Stack Builtins

+ +

dirs

dirs [-clpv] [+N | -N]
+

+ +

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. +The current directory is always the first directory in the stack. +

-c: Clears the directory stack by deleting all of the elements. +
-l: Produces a listing using full pathnames; +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. +
+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. +

+ +

popd

popd [-n] [+N | -N]
+

+ +

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; that is, popd is equivalent to popd +0. +

-n: Suppresses the normal change of directory when removing directories +from the stack, so that only the stack is manipulated. +
+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. +

+ + +

pushd

pushd [-n] [+N | -N | dir]
+

+ +

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 +and makes the new top the current directory. +

-n: Suppresses the normal change of directory when rotating or +adding directories to the stack, so that only the stack is manipulated. +
+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. +
dir: Makes dir be the top of the stack, making +it the new current directory as if it had been supplied as an argument +to the cd builtin. +

+ +

6.9 Controlling the Prompt

+ + +

Bash examines the value of the array variable PROMPT_COMMANDS just before +printing each primary prompt. +If any elements in PROMPT_COMMANDS are set and non-null, Bash +executes each value, in numeric order, +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 PS0, PS1, PS2, and +PS4: +

\a: A bell character. +
\d: The date, in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g., "Tue May 26"). +
\D{format}: The format is passed to strftime(3) and the result is inserted +into the prompt string; an empty format results in a locale-specific +time representation. The braces are required. +
\e: An escape character. +
\h: The hostname, up to the first ‘.’. +
\H: The hostname. +
\j: The number of jobs currently managed by the shell. +
\l: The basename of the shell’s terminal device name. +
\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. +
\A: The time, in 24-hour HH:MM 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, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde +(uses the $PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable). +
\W: The basename of $PWD, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde. +
\!: 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. +

+ +

The command number and the history number are usually different: +the history number of a command is its position in the history +list, which may include commands restored from the history file +(see Bash History Facilities), while the command number is +the position in the sequence of commands executed during the current +shell session. +

After the string is decoded, it is expanded via +parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic +expansion, and quote removal, subject to the value of the +promptvars shell option (see The Shopt Builtin). +This can have unwanted side effects if escaped portions of the string +appear within command substitution or contain characters special to +word expansion. +

+ +

6.10 The Restricted Shell

+ + +

If Bash is started with the name rbash, or the +--restricted +or +-r +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 or not performed: +

Changing directories with the cd builtin. +
Setting or unsetting the values of the SHELL, PATH, +HISTFILE, +ENV, or BASH_ENV variables. +
Specifying command names containing slashes. +
Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the . +builtin command. +
Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the history +builtin command. +
Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the -p +option to the hash 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. +
Using the enable builtin command to enable disabled shell builtins. +
Specifying the -p option to the command builtin. +
Turning off restricted mode with ‘set +r’ or ‘set +o restricted’. +

+ +

These restrictions are enforced after any startup files are read. +

When a command that is found to be a shell script is executed +(see Shell Scripts), rbash turns off any restrictions in +the shell spawned to execute the script. +

The restricted shell mode is only one component of a useful restricted +environment. It should be accompanied by setting PATH to a value +that allows execution of only a few verified commands (commands that +allow shell escapes are particularly vulnerable), leaving the user +in a non-writable directory other than his home directory after login, +not allowing the restricted shell to execute shell scripts, and cleaning +the environment of variables that cause some commands to modify their +behavior (e.g., VISUAL or PAGER). +

Modern systems provide more secure ways to implement a restricted environment, +such as jails, zones, or containers. +

+ +

6.11 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 standard by changing the behavior to +match that specified by POSIX in areas where the Bash default differs. +

When invoked as sh, Bash enters POSIX mode after reading the +startup files. +

The following list is what’s changed when ‘POSIX mode’ is in effect: +

Bash ensures that the POSIXLY_CORRECT variable is set. + +
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’. + +
Bash will not insert a command without the execute bit set into the +command hash table, even if it returns it as a (last-ditch) result +from a $PATH search. + +
The message printed by the job control code and builtins when a job +exits with a non-zero status is ‘Done(status)’. + +
The message printed by the job control code and builtins when a job +is stopped is ‘Stopped(signame)’, where signame is, for +example, SIGTSTP. + +
Alias expansion is always enabled, even in non-interactive shells. + +
Reserved words appearing in a context where reserved words are recognized +do not undergo alias expansion. + +
The POSIX PS1 and PS2 expansions of ‘!’ to +the history number and ‘!!’ to ‘!’ are enabled, +and parameter expansion is performed on the values of PS1 and +PS2 regardless of the setting of the promptvars option. + +
The POSIX startup files are executed ($ENV) rather than +the normal Bash files. + +
Tilde expansion is only performed on assignments preceding a command +name, rather than on all assignment statements on the line. + +
The default history file is ~/.sh_history (this is the +default value of $HISTFILE). + +
Redirection operators do not perform filename expansion on the word +in the redirection unless the shell is interactive. + +
Redirection operators do not perform word splitting on the word in the +redirection. + +
Function names must be valid shell names. 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. + +
Function names may not be the same as one of the POSIX special +builtins. + +
POSIX special builtins are found before shell functions +during command lookup. + +
When printing shell function definitions (e.g., by type), Bash does +not print the function keyword. + +
Literal tildes that appear as the first character in elements of +the PATH variable are not expanded as described above +under Tilde Expansion. + +
The time reserved word may be used by itself as a command. When +used in this way, it displays timing statistics for the shell and its +completed children. The TIMEFORMAT variable controls the format +of the timing information. + +
When parsing and expanding a ${…} expansion that appears within +double quotes, single quotes are no longer special and cannot be used to +quote a closing brace or other special character, unless the operator is +one of those defined to perform pattern removal. In this case, they do +not have to appear as matched pairs. + +
The parser does not recognize time as a reserved word if the next +token begins with a ‘-’. + + +
The ‘!’ character does not introduce history expansion within a +double-quoted string, even if the histexpand option is enabled. + +
If a POSIX special builtin returns an error status, a +non-interactive shell exits. The fatal errors are those listed in +the POSIX standard, and include things like passing incorrect options, +redirection errors, variable assignment errors for assignments preceding +the command name, and so on. + +
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. + +
A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if a variable +assignment error occurs in an assignment statement preceding a special +builtin, but not with any other simple command. + +
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. + +
Non-interactive shells exit if filename in . filename +is not found. + +
Non-interactive shells exit if a syntax error in an arithmetic expansion +results in an invalid expression. + +
Non-interactive shells exit if a parameter expansion error occurs. + +
Non-interactive shells exit if there is a syntax error in a script read +with the . or source builtins, or in a string processed by +the eval builtin. + +
While variable indirection is available, it may not be applied to the +‘#’ and ‘?’ special parameters. + +
When expanding the ‘*’ special parameter in a pattern context where the +expansion is double-quoted does not treat the $* as if it were +double-quoted. + +
Assignment statements preceding POSIX special builtins +persist in the shell environment after the builtin completes. + +
The command builtin does not prevent builtins that take assignment +statements as arguments from expanding them as assignment statements; +when not in POSIX mode, assignment builtins lose their assignment +statement expansion properties when preceded by command. + +
The bg builtin uses the required format to describe each job placed +in the background, which does not include an indication of whether the job +is the current or previous job. + +
The output of ‘kill -l’ prints all the signal names on a single line, +separated by spaces, without the ‘SIG’ prefix. + +
The kill builtin does not accept signal names with a ‘SIG’ +prefix. + +
The export and readonly builtin commands display their +output in the format required by POSIX. + +
The trap builtin displays signal names without the leading +SIG. + +
The trap builtin doesn’t check the first argument for a possible +signal specification and revert the signal handling to the original +disposition if it is, unless that argument consists solely of digits and +is a valid signal number. If users want to reset the handler for a given +signal to the original disposition, they should use ‘-’ as the +first argument. + +
trap -p displays signals whose dispositions are set to SIG_DFL and +those that were ignored when the shell started. + +
The . and source builtins do not search the current directory +for the filename argument if it is not found by searching PATH. + +
Enabling POSIX mode has the effect of setting the +inherit_errexit option, so +subshells spawned to execute command substitutions inherit the value of +the -e option from the parent shell. +When the inherit_errexit option is not enabled, +Bash clears the -e option in such subshells. + +
Enabling POSIX mode has the effect of setting the +shift_verbose option, so numeric arguments to shift +that exceed the number of positional parameters will result in an +error message. + +
When the alias builtin displays alias definitions, it does not +display them with a leading ‘alias ’ unless the -p option +is supplied. + +
When the set builtin is invoked without options, it does not display +shell function names and definitions. + +
When the set builtin is invoked without options, it displays +variable values without quotes, unless they contain shell metacharacters, +even if the result contains nonprinting characters. + +
When the cd builtin is invoked in logical mode, and the pathname +constructed from $PWD and the directory name supplied as an argument +does not refer to an existing directory, cd will fail instead of +falling back to physical mode. + +
When the cd builtin cannot change a directory because the +length of the pathname +constructed from $PWD and the directory name supplied as an argument +exceeds PATH_MAX when all symbolic links are expanded, cd will +fail instead of attempting to use only the supplied directory name. + +
The pwd builtin verifies that the value it prints is the same as the +current directory, even if it is not asked to check the file system with the +-P option. + +
When listing the history, the fc builtin does not include an +indication of whether or not a history entry has been modified. + +
The default editor used by fc is ed. + +
The type and command builtins will not report a non-executable +file as having been found, though the shell will attempt to execute such a +file if it is the only so-named file found in $PATH. + +
The vi editing mode will invoke the vi editor directly when +the ‘v’ command is run, instead of checking $VISUAL and +$EDITOR. + +
When the xpg_echo option is enabled, Bash does not attempt to interpret +any arguments to echo as options. Each argument is displayed, after +escape characters are converted. + +
The ulimit builtin uses a block size of 512 bytes for the -c +and -f options. + +
The arrival of SIGCHLD when a trap is set on SIGCHLD does +not interrupt the wait builtin and cause it to return immediately. +The trap command is run once for each child that exits. + +
The read builtin may be interrupted by a signal for which a trap +has been set. +If Bash receives a trapped signal while executing read, the trap +handler executes and read returns an exit status greater than 128. + +
Bash removes an exited background process’s status from the list of such +statuses after the wait builtin is used to obtain it. + +

+ +

There is other POSIX behavior that Bash does not implement by +default even when in POSIX mode. +Specifically: +

The fc builtin checks $EDITOR as a program to edit history +entries if FCEDIT is unset, rather than defaulting directly to +ed. fc uses ed if EDITOR is unset. + +
As noted above, Bash requires the xpg_echo option to be enabled for +the echo builtin to be fully conformant. + +

+ +

Bash can be configured to be POSIX-conformant by default, by specifying +the --enable-strict-posix-default to configure when building +(see Optional Features). +

+ +

6.12 Shell Compatibility Mode

+ + + +

Bash-4.0 introduced the concept of a ‘shell compatibility level’, specified +as a set of options to the shopt builtin +(compat31, +compat32, +compat40, +compat41, +and so on). +There is only one current +compatibility level – each option is mutually exclusive. +The compatibility level is intended to allow users to select behavior +from previous versions that is incompatible with newer versions +while they migrate scripts to use current features and +behavior. It’s intended to be a temporary solution. +

This section does not mention behavior that is standard for a particular +version (e.g., setting compat32 means that quoting the rhs of the regexp +matching operator quotes special regexp characters in the word, which is +default behavior in bash-3.2 and above). +

If a user enables, say, compat32, it may affect the behavior of other +compatibility levels up to and including the current compatibility level. +The idea is that each compatibility level controls behavior that changed +in that version of Bash, +but that behavior may have been present in earlier versions. +For instance, the change to use locale-based comparisons with the [[ +command came in bash-4.1, and earlier versions used ASCII-based comparisons, +so enabling compat32 will enable ASCII-based comparisons as well. +That granularity may not be sufficient for +all uses, and as a result users should employ compatibility levels carefully. +Read the documentation for a particular feature to find out the +current behavior. +

Bash-4.3 introduced a new shell variable: BASH_COMPAT. +The value assigned +to this variable (a decimal version number like 4.2, or an integer +corresponding to the compatNN option, like 42) determines the +compatibility level. +

Starting with bash-4.4, Bash has begun deprecating older compatibility +levels. +Eventually, the options will be removed in favor of BASH_COMPAT. +

Bash-5.0 is the final version for which there will be an individual shopt +option for the previous version. Users should use BASH_COMPAT +on bash-5.0 and later versions. +

The following table describes the behavior changes controlled by each +compatibility level setting. +The compatNN tag is used as shorthand for setting the +compatibility level +to NN using one of the following mechanisms. +For versions prior to bash-5.0, the compatibility level may be set using +the corresponding compatNN shopt option. +For bash-4.3 and later versions, the BASH_COMPAT variable is preferred, +and it is required for bash-5.1 and later versions. +

compat31

quoting the rhs of the [[ command’s regexp matching operator (=~) +has no special effect +

+ +

compat32

interrupting a command list such as "a ; b ; c" causes the execution +of the next command in the list (in bash-4.0 and later versions, +the shell acts as if it received the interrupt, so +interrupting one command in a list aborts the execution of the +entire list) +

+ +

compat40

the ‘<’ and ‘>’ operators to the [[ command do not +consider the current locale when comparing strings; they use ASCII +ordering. +Bash versions prior to bash-4.1 use ASCII collation and strcmp(3); +bash-4.1 and later use the current locale’s collation sequence and +strcoll(3). +

+ +

compat41

in posix mode, time may be followed by options and still be +recognized as a reserved word (this is POSIX interpretation 267) +
in posix mode, the parser requires that an even number of single +quotes occur in the word portion of a double-quoted ${…} +parameter expansion and treats them specially, so that characters within +the single quotes are considered quoted +(this is POSIX interpretation 221) +

+ +

compat42

the replacement string in double-quoted pattern substitution does not +undergo quote removal, as it does in versions after bash-4.2 +
in posix mode, single quotes are considered special when expanding +the word portion of a double-quoted ${…} parameter expansion +and can be used to quote a closing brace or other special character +(this is part of POSIX interpretation 221); +in later versions, single quotes +are not special within double-quoted word expansions +

+ +

compat43

the shell does not print a warning message if an attempt is made to +use a quoted compound assignment as an argument to declare +(declare -a foo=’(1 2)’). Later versions warn that this usage is +deprecated +
word expansion errors are considered non-fatal errors that cause the +current command to fail, even in posix mode +(the default behavior is to make them fatal errors that cause the shell +to exit) +
when executing a shell function, the loop state (while/until/etc.) +is not reset, so break or continue in that function will break +or continue loops in the calling context. Bash-4.4 and later reset +the loop state to prevent this +

+ +

compat44

the shell sets up the values used by BASH_ARGV and BASH_ARGC +so they can expand to the shell’s positional parameters even if extended +debugging mode is not enabled +
a subshell inherits loops from its parent context, so break +or continue will cause the subshell to exit. +Bash-5.0 and later reset the loop state to prevent the exit +
variable assignments preceding builtins like export and readonly +that set attributes continue to affect variables with the same +name in the calling environment even if the shell is not in posix +mode +

+ +

compat50 (set using BASH_COMPAT)

Bash-5.1 changed the way $RANDOM is generated to introduce slightly +more randomness. If the shell compatibility level is set to 50 or +lower, it reverts to the method from bash-5.0 and previous versions, +so seeding the random number generator by assigning a value to +RANDOM will produce the same sequence as in bash-5.0 +
If the command hash table is empty, Bash versions prior to bash-5.1 +printed an informational message to that effect, even when producing +output that can be reused as input. Bash-5.1 suppresses that message +when the -l option is supplied. +

+ +

7 Job Control

+ +

This chapter discusses what job control is, how it works, and how +Bash allows you to access its facilities. +

+ + + + + + +

+ +

7.1 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 operating system kernel’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 operating 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, if +the user so specifies with stty tostop, write to the terminal. +Background processes which attempt to +read from (write to when stty tostop is in effect) the +terminal are sent a SIGTTIN (SIGTTOU) +signal by the kernel’s 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 specification (jobspec). +

Job number n may be referred to as ‘%n’. +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. +A single ‘%’ (with no accompanying job specification) also refers +to the current job. +The previous job may be referenced using ‘%-’. +If there is only a single job, ‘%+’ and ‘%-’ can both be used +to refer to that job. +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 ‘-’. +

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 job whose command name begins with ‘ce’. +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. +

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 -b option to the set builtin is enabled, +Bash reports such changes immediately (see The Set Builtin). +Any trap on SIGCHLD is executed for each child process +that exits. +

If an attempt to exit Bash is made while jobs are stopped, (or running, if +the checkjobs option is enabled – see The Shopt Builtin), the +shell prints a warning message, and if the checkjobs option is +enabled, lists the jobs and their statuses. +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 any stopped jobs are terminated. +

When the shell is waiting for a job or process using the wait +builtin, and job control is enabled, wait will return when the +job changes state. The -f option causes wait to wait +until the job or process terminates before returning. +

+ +

7.2 Job Control Builtins

+ +

bg

bg [jobspec …]
+

+ +

Resume each 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, any +jobspec was not found or 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 [-lnprs] [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: Display only running jobs. +
+
-s: Display only 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|-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 case-insensitive 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 -L option is equivalent to -l. +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 [-fn] [-p varname] [jobspec or pid …]
+

+ +

Wait until the child process specified by each 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, +wait waits for all running background jobs and +the last-executed process substitution, if its process id is the same as +$!, +and the return status is zero. +If the -n option is supplied, wait waits for a single job +from the list of pids or jobspecs or, if no arguments are +supplied, any job, +to complete and returns its exit status. +If none of the supplied arguments is a child of the shell, or if no arguments +are supplied and the shell has no unwaited-for children, the exit status +is 127. +If the -p option is supplied, the process or job identifier of the job +for which the exit status is returned is assigned to the variable +varname named by the option argument. +The variable will be unset initially, before any assignment. +This is useful only when the -n option is supplied. +Supplying the -f option, when job control is enabled, +forces wait to wait for each pid or jobspec to +terminate before returning its status, intead of returning when it changes +status. +If neither jobspec nor pid specifies an active child process +of the shell, the return status is 127. +

disown

disown [-ar] [-h] [jobspec … | pid … ]
+

+ +

Without options, remove each jobspec 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 the +-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. +A login shell cannot be suspended; the -f +option can be used to override this and force the suspension. +

+ +

When job control is not active, the kill and wait +builtins do not accept jobspec arguments. They must be +supplied process IDs. +

+ +

7.3 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 (see 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. +
+

+ + + + + + +

+ +

8 Command Line Editing

+ +

This chapter describes the basic features of the GNU +command line editing interface. +Command line editing is provided by the Readline library, which is +used by several different programs, including Bash. +Command line editing is enabled by default when using an interactive shell, +unless the --noediting option is supplied at shell invocation. +Line editing is also used when using the -e option to the +read builtin command (see Bash Builtins). +By default, the line editing commands are similar to those of Emacs. +A vi-style line editing interface is also available. +Line editing can be enabled at any time using the -o emacs or +-o vi options to the set builtin command +(see The Set Builtin), or disabled using the +o emacs or ++o vi options to set. +

+ + + + + + + + + +

• 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. +
• Programmable Completion		How to specify the possible completions for + a specific command. +
• Programmable Completion Builtins		Builtin commands to specify how to + complete arguments for a particular command. +
• A Programmable Completion Example		An example shell function for + generating possible completions. +

+ +

8.1 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. +The Meta key is labeled ALT on many keyboards. +On keyboards with two keys labeled ALT (usually to either side of +the space bar), the ALT on the left side is generally set to +work as a Meta key. +The ALT key on the right may also be configured to work as a +Meta key or may be configured as some other modifier, such as a +Compose key for typing accented characters. +

If you do not have a Meta or ALT key, or another key working as +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 +(see Readline Init File). +If your keyboard lacks a LFD key, typing C-j will +produce the desired character. +The RET key may be labeled Return or Enter on +some keyboards. +

+ +

8.2 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 RET. You do not have to be at the +end of the line to press RET; the entire line is accepted +regardless of the location of the cursor within the line. +

+ + + + + + + + +

+ +

8.2.1 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 mistype a character, and +not notice the 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 bare +essentials for editing the text of an input line follows. +

C-b: Move back one character. +
C-f: Move forward one character. +
DEL or Backspace: 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-_ or C-x C-u: Undo the last editing command. You can undo all the way back to an +empty line. +

+ +

(Depending on your configuration, the Backspace key be set to +delete the character to the left of the cursor and the DEL key set +to delete the character underneath the cursor, like C-d, rather +than the character to the left of the cursor.) +

+ +

8.2.2 Readline Movement Commands

+ + +

The above table describes the most basic 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. +

+ +

8.2.3 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. +(‘Cut’ and ‘paste’ are more recent jargon for ‘kill’ and ‘yank’.) +

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. +Word boundaries are the same as those used by M-f. +
+
M-DEL: Kill from the cursor the start of the current word, or, if between +words, to the start of the previous word. +Word boundaries are the same as those used by M-b. +
+
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. +

+ +

8.2.4 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’, +which will delete the next ten characters on the input line. +

+ +

8.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History

+ +

Readline provides commands for searching through the command history +(see 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. +To search backward in the history for a particular string, type +C-r. Typing C-s searches forward through the history. +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-r or +C-s 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. +A movement command will terminate the search, make the last line found +the current line, and begin editing. +

Readline remembers the last incremental search string. If two +C-rs are typed without any intervening characters defining a new +search string, any remembered search string is used. +

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. +

+ +

8.3 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, conventionally 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. If that +file does not exist or cannot be read, the ultimate default is +/etc/inputrc. +The bind builtin command can also be used to set Readline +keybindings and variables. +See Bash Builtins. +

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. +

+ + + + +

+ +
• 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. +

+ +

8.3.1 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 (see 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. +The syntax is simple: +

set variable value
+

+ +

Here, for example, is how to +change from the default Emacs-like key binding to use +vi line editing commands: +

set editing-mode vi
+

+ +

Variable names and values, where appropriate, are recognized without regard +to case. Unrecognized variable names are ignored. +

Boolean variables (those that can be set to on or off) are set to on if +the value is null or empty, on (case-insensitive), or 1. Any other +value results in the variable being set to off. +

The bind -V command lists the current Readline variable names +and values. See Bash Builtins. +

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. +
+
bind-tty-special-chars: +
If set to ‘on’ (the default), Readline attempts to bind the control +characters treated specially by the kernel’s terminal driver to their +Readline equivalents. +
+
blink-matching-paren: +
If set to ‘on’, Readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to an +opening parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted. The default +is ‘off’. +
+
colored-completion-prefix: +
If set to ‘on’, when listing completions, Readline displays the +common prefix of the set of possible completions using a different color. +The color definitions are taken from the value of the LS_COLORS +environment variable. +The default is ‘off’. +
+
colored-stats: +
If set to ‘on’, Readline displays possible completions using different +colors to indicate their file type. +The color definitions are taken from the value of the LS_COLORS +environment variable. +The default is ‘off’. +
+
comment-begin: +
The string to insert at the beginning of the line when the +insert-comment command is executed. The default value +is "#". +
+
completion-display-width: +
The number of screen columns used to display possible matches +when performing completion. +The value is ignored if it is less than 0 or greater than the terminal +screen width. +A value of 0 will cause matches to be displayed one per line. +The default value is -1. +
+
completion-ignore-case: +
If set to ‘on’, Readline performs filename matching and completion +in a case-insensitive fashion. +The default value is ‘off’. +
+
completion-map-case: +
If set to ‘on’, and completion-ignore-case is enabled, Readline +treats hyphens (‘-’) and underscores (‘_’) as equivalent when +performing case-insensitive filename matching and completion. +The default value is ‘off’. +
+
completion-prefix-display-length: +
The length in characters of the common prefix of a list of possible +completions that is displayed without modification. When set to a +value greater than zero, common prefixes longer than this value are +replaced with an ellipsis when displaying possible completions. +
+
completion-query-items: +
The number of possible completions that determines when the user is +asked whether the list of possibilities should be displayed. +If the number of possible completions is greater than or equal to this value, +Readline will ask whether or not the user wishes to view them; +otherwise, they are simply listed. +This variable must be set to an integer value greater than or equal to 0. +A negative value means Readline should never ask. +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 prefixing an ESC character, converting them to a +meta-prefixed key sequence. The default value is ‘on’, but +will be set to ‘off’ if the locale is one that contains +eight-bit characters. +
+
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’. +
+
echo-control-characters: +
When set to ‘on’, on operating systems that indicate they support it, +readline echoes a character corresponding to a signal generated from the +keyboard. The default is ‘on’. +
+
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’. +
+
emacs-mode-string: +
If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, +this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary +prompt when emacs editing mode is active. The value is expanded like a +key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and +backslash escape sequences is available. +Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end sequences of +non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control +sequence into the mode string. +The default is ‘@’. +
+
enable-bracketed-paste: +
When set to ‘On’, Readline will configure the terminal in a way +that will enable it to insert each paste into the editing buffer as a +single string of characters, instead of treating each character as if +it had been read from the keyboard. This can prevent pasted characters +from being interpreted as editing commands. The default is ‘On’. +
+
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’. +
+
enable-meta-key: When set to ‘on’, Readline will try to enable any meta modifier +key the terminal claims to support when it is called. On many terminals, +the meta key is used to send eight-bit characters. +The default is ‘on’. +
+
expand-tilde: +
If set to ‘on’, tilde expansion is performed when Readline +attempts word completion. The default is ‘off’. +
+
history-preserve-point: +
If set to ‘on’, the history code attempts to place the point (the +current cursor position) at the +same location on each history line retrieved with previous-history +or next-history. The default is ‘off’. +
+
history-size: +
Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history list. +If set to zero, any existing history entries are deleted and no new entries +are saved. +If set to a value less than zero, the number of history entries is not +limited. +By default, the number of history entries is not limited. +If an attempt is made to set history-size to a non-numeric value, +the maximum number of history entries will be set to 500. +
+
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. +This variable is automatically set to ‘on’ for terminals of height 1. +By default, this variable is set to ‘off’. +
+
input-meta: + +
If set to ‘on’, Readline will enable eight-bit input (it +will not clear the eighth bit in the characters it reads), +regardless of what the terminal claims it can support. The +default value is ‘off’, but Readline will set it to ‘on’ if the +locale contains eight-bit characters. +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 (see 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. +Built-in keymap names are +emacs, +emacs-standard, +emacs-meta, +emacs-ctlx, +vi, +vi-move, +vi-command, and +vi-insert. +vi is equivalent to vi-command (vi-move is also a +synonym); emacs is equivalent to emacs-standard. +Applications may add additional names. +The default value is emacs. +The value of the editing-mode variable also affects the +default keymap. +
+
keyseq-timeout: Specifies the duration Readline will wait for a character when reading an +ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a complete key sequence using +the input read so far, or can take additional input to complete a longer +key sequence). +If no input is received within the timeout, Readline will use the shorter +but complete key sequence. +Readline uses this value to determine whether or not input is +available on the current input source (rl_instream by default). +The value is specified in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that +Readline will wait one second for additional input. +If this variable is set to a value less than or equal to zero, or to a +non-numeric value, Readline will wait until another key is pressed to +decide which key sequence to complete. +The default value is 500. +
+
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. +
+
mark-symlinked-directories: +
If set to ‘on’, completed names which are symbolic links +to directories have a slash appended (subject to the value of +mark-directories). +The default is ‘off’. +
+
match-hidden-files: +
This variable, when set to ‘on’, causes Readline to match files whose +names begin with a ‘.’ (hidden files) when performing filename +completion. +If set to ‘off’, the leading ‘.’ must be +supplied by the user in the filename to be completed. +This variable is ‘on’ by default. +
+
menu-complete-display-prefix: +
If set to ‘on’, menu completion displays the common prefix of the +list of possible completions (which may be empty) before cycling through +the list. The default is ‘off’. +
+
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’, but Readline will set it to ‘on’ if the +locale contains eight-bit characters. +
+
page-completions: +
If set to ‘on’, Readline uses an internal more-like pager +to display a screenful of possible completions at a time. +This variable is ‘on’ by default. +
+
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’. +
+
revert-all-at-newline: +
If set to ‘on’, Readline will undo all changes to history lines +before returning when accept-line is executed. By default, +history lines may be modified and retain individual undo lists across +calls to readline. 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’. +
+
show-all-if-unmodified: +
This alters the default behavior of the completion functions in +a fashion similar to show-all-if-ambiguous. +If set to ‘on’, +words which have more than one possible completion without any +possible partial completion (the possible completions don’t share +a common prefix) cause the matches to be listed immediately instead +of ringing the bell. +The default value is ‘off’. +
+
show-mode-in-prompt: +
If set to ‘on’, add a string to the beginning of the prompt +indicating the editing mode: emacs, vi command, or vi insertion. +The mode strings are user-settable (e.g., emacs-mode-string). +The default value is ‘off’. +
+
skip-completed-text: +
If set to ‘on’, this alters the default completion behavior when +inserting a single match into the line. It’s only active when +performing completion in the middle of a word. If enabled, readline +does not insert characters from the completion that match characters +after point in the word being completed, so portions of the word +following the cursor are not duplicated. +For instance, if this is enabled, attempting completion when the cursor +is after the ‘e’ in ‘Makefile’ will result in ‘Makefile’ +rather than ‘Makefilefile’, assuming there is a single possible +completion. +The default value is ‘off’. +
+
vi-cmd-mode-string: +
If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, +this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary +prompt when vi editing mode is active and in command mode. +The value is expanded like a +key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and +backslash escape sequences is available. +Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end sequences of +non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control +sequence into the mode string. +The default is ‘(cmd)’. +
+
vi-ins-mode-string: +
If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, +this string is displayed immediately before the last line of the primary +prompt when vi editing mode is active and in insertion mode. +The value is expanded like a +key binding, so the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and +backslash escape sequences is available. +Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end sequences of +non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control +sequence into the mode string. +The default is ‘(ins)’. +
+
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 need to find 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 on a line +in the init file the name of the key +you wish to bind the command to, a colon, and then the name of the +command. +There can be no space between the key name and the colon – that will be +interpreted as part of the key name. +The name of the key can be expressed in different ways, depending on +what you find most comfortable. +

In addition to command names, readline allows keys to be bound +to a string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a macro). +

The bind -p command displays Readline function names and +bindings in a format that can put directly into an initialization file. +See Bash Builtins. +

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 example above, C-u is bound to the function +universal-argument, +M-DEL is bound to the function backward-kill-word, 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). +

A number of symbolic character names are recognized while +processing this key binding syntax: +DEL, +ESC, +ESCAPE, +LFD, +NEWLINE, +RET, +RETURN, +RUBOUT, +SPACE, +SPC, +and +TAB. +

"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 again 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 +
\": ", a double quotation mark +
\': ', a single quote or apostrophe +

+ +

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 eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn +(one to three digits) +
\xHH: the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH +(one or two hex 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\\": "\\"
+

+ +

8.3.2 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, after any comparison operator, +extends to the end of the line; +unless otherwise noted, 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. +

version

The version test may be used to perform comparisons against +specific Readline versions. +The version expands to the current Readline version. +The set of comparison operators includes +‘=’ (and ‘==’), ‘!=’, ‘<=’, ‘>=’, ‘<’, +and ‘>’. +The version number supplied on the right side of the operator consists +of a major version number, an optional decimal point, and an optional +minor version (e.g., ‘7.1’). If the minor version is omitted, it +is assumed to be ‘0’. +The operator may be separated from the string version and +from the version number argument by whitespace. +The following example sets a variable if the Readline version being used +is 7.0 or newer: +

$if version >= 7.0
+set show-mode-in-prompt on
+$endif
+

+ +

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 +a particular value. +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
+

+ +

variable

The variable construct provides simple equality tests for Readline +variables and values. +The permitted comparison operators are ‘=’, ‘==’, and ‘!=’. +The variable name must be separated from the comparison operator by +whitespace; the operator may be separated from the value on the right hand +side by whitespace. +Both string and boolean variables may be tested. Boolean variables must be +tested against the values on and off. +The following example is equivalent to the mode=emacs test described +above: +

$if editing-mode == emacs
+set show-mode-in-prompt on
+$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. +For example, the following directive reads from /etc/inputrc: +

$include /etc/inputrc
+

+ +

8.3.3 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 system-wide 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="
+$endif
+
+# use a visible bell if one is available
+set bell-style visible
+
+# don't strip characters to 7 bits when reading
+set input-meta on
+
+# allow iso-latin1 characters to be inserted rather
+# than converted to prefix-meta sequences
+set convert-meta off
+
+# display characters with the eighth bit set directly
+# rather than as meta-prefixed characters
+set output-meta on
+
+# if there are 150 or more possible completions for a word,
+# ask whether or not the user wants to see all of them
+set completion-query-items 150
+
+# For FTP
+$if Ftp
+"\C-xg": "get \M-?"
+"\C-xt": "put \M-?"
+"\M-.": yank-last-arg
+$endif
+

+ +

8.4 Bindable Readline Commands

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

This section describes Readline commands that may be bound to key +sequences. +You can list your key bindings by executing +bind -P or, for a more terse format, suitable for an +inputrc file, bind -p. (See Bash Builtins.) +Command names without an accompanying key sequence are unbound by default. +

In the following descriptions, point refers to the current cursor +position, and mark refers to a cursor position saved by the +set-mark command. +The text between the point and mark is referred to as the region. +

+ +

8.4.1 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 the current or previous word. +Words are composed of letters and digits. +
+
shell-forward-word (M-C-f) + +: Move forward to the end of the next word. +Words are delimited by non-quoted shell metacharacters. +
+
shell-backward-word (M-C-b) + +: Move back to the start of the current or previous word. +Words are delimited by non-quoted shell metacharacters. +
+
previous-screen-line () + +: Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the previous +physical screen line. This will not have the desired effect if the current +Readline line does not take up more than one physical line or if point is not +greater than the length of the prompt plus the screen width. +
+
next-screen-line () + +: Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the next +physical screen line. This will not have the desired effect if the current +Readline line does not take up more than one physical line or if the length +of the current Readline line is not greater than the length of the prompt +plus the screen width. +
+
clear-display (M-C-l) + +: Clear the screen and, if possible, the terminal’s scrollback buffer, +then redraw the current line, +leaving the current line at the top of the screen. +
+
clear-screen (C-l) + +: Clear the screen, +then 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. +
+

+ +

8.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History

+ +

accept-line (Newline or 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 is a modified history line, then restore the history line +to its original state. +
+
previous-history (C-p) + +: Move ‘back’ through the history list, fetching the previous command. +
+
next-history (C-n) + +: Move ‘forward’ through the history list, fetching the next command. +
+
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. +This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the mark. +
+
forward-search-history (C-s) + +: Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ through +the history as necessary. This is an incremental search. +This command sets the region to the matched text and activates the mark. +
+
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. +The search string may match anywhere in a history line. +
+
non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n) + +: Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ +through the history as necessary using a non-incremental search +for a string supplied by the user. +The search string may match anywhere in a history line. +
+
history-search-forward () + +: Search forward through the history for the string of characters +between the start of the current line and the point. +The search string must match at the beginning of a history line. +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. +The search string must match at the beginning of a history line. +This is a non-incremental search. +By default, this command is unbound. +
+
history-substring-search-forward () + +: Search forward through the history for the string of characters +between the start of the current line and the point. +The search string may match anywhere in a history line. +This is a non-incremental search. +By default, this command is unbound. +
+
history-substring-search-backward () + +: Search backward through the history for the string of characters +between the start of the current line and the point. +The search string may match anywhere in a history line. +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) at point. +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. +Once the argument n is computed, the argument is extracted +as if the ‘!n’ history expansion had been specified. +
+
yank-last-arg (M-. or M-_) + +: Insert last argument to the previous command (the last word of the +previous history entry). +With a numeric argument, behave exactly like yank-nth-arg. +Successive calls to yank-last-arg move back through the history +list, inserting the last word (or the word specified by the argument to +the first call) of each line in turn. +Any numeric argument supplied to these successive calls determines +the direction to move through the history. A negative argument switches +the direction through the history (back or forward). +The history expansion facilities are used to extract the last argument, +as if the ‘!$’ history expansion had been specified. +
+
operate-and-get-next (C-o) + +: Accept the current line for return to the calling application as if a +newline had been entered, +and fetch the next line relative to the current line from the history +for editing. +A numeric argument, if supplied, specifies the history entry to use instead +of the current line. +
+

+ +

8.4.3 Commands For Changing Text

+ +

end-of-file (usually C-d) + +

The character indicating end-of-file as set, for example, by +stty. If this character is read when there are no characters +on the line, and point is at the beginning of the line, Readline +interprets it as the end of input and returns EOF. +

delete-char (C-d) + +

Delete the character at point. If this function is bound to the +same character as the tty EOF character, as C-d +commonly is, see above for the effects. +

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 or 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. +

bracketed-paste-begin () + +

This function is intended to be bound to the "bracketed paste" escape +sequence sent by some terminals, and such a binding is assigned by default. +It allows Readline to insert the pasted text as a single unit without treating +each character as if it had been read from the keyboard. The characters +are inserted as if each one was bound to self-insert instead of +executing any editing commands. +

Bracketed paste sets the region (the characters between point and the mark) +to the inserted text. It uses the concept of an active mark: when the +mark is active, Readline redisplay uses the terminal’s standout mode to +denote the region. +

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 have no effect. +

transpose-words (M-t) + +

Drag the word before point past the word after point, +moving point past that word as well. +If the insertion point is at the end of the line, this transposes +the last two words on the line. +

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. +

overwrite-mode () + +

Toggle overwrite mode. With an explicit positive numeric argument, +switches to overwrite mode. With an explicit non-positive numeric +argument, switches to insert mode. This command affects only +emacs mode; vi mode does overwrite differently. +Each call to readline() starts in insert mode. +

In overwrite mode, characters bound to self-insert replace +the text at point rather than pushing the text to the right. +Characters bound to backward-delete-char replace the character +before point with a space. +

By default, this command is unbound. +

+ +

8.4.4 Killing And Yanking

+ +

kill-line (C-k) + +: Kill the text from point to the end of the line. +With a negative numeric argument, kill backward from the cursor to the +beginning of the current line. +
+
backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout) + +: Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line. +With a negative numeric argument, kill forward from the cursor to the +end of the current line. +
+
unix-line-discard (C-u) + +: Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line. +
+
kill-whole-line () + +: Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is. +By default, this is unbound. +
+
kill-word (M-d) + +: Kill from point 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 point. +Word boundaries are the same as backward-word. +
+
shell-kill-word (M-C-d) + +: Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between +words, to the end of the next word. +Word boundaries are the same as shell-forward-word. +
+
shell-backward-kill-word () + +: Kill the word behind point. +Word boundaries are the same as shell-backward-word. +
+
shell-transpose-words (M-C-t) + +: Drag the word before point past the word after point, +moving point past that word as well. +If the insertion point is at the end of the line, this transposes +the last two words on the line. +Word boundaries are the same as shell-forward-word and +shell-backward-word. +
+
unix-word-rubout (C-w) + +: Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary. +The killed text is saved on the kill-ring. +
+
unix-filename-rubout () + +: Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash character +as the word boundaries. +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 in the current 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 point. +
+
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. +

+ +

8.4.5 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 nor 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. +

+ +

8.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You

+ +

complete (TAB) + +: Attempt to perform completion on the text before point. +The actual completion performed is application-specific. +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 point. +When displaying completions, Readline sets the number of columns used +for display to the value of completion-display-width, the value of +the environment variable COLUMNS, or the screen width, in that order. +
+
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 +(subject to the setting of bell-style) +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. +
+
menu-complete-backward () + +: Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the list +of possible completions, as if menu-complete had been given a +negative argument. +
+
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. +
+
dabbrev-expand () + +: Attempt menu 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 insert the list of possible completions +enclosed within braces so the list is available to the shell +(see Brace Expansion). +
+

+ +

8.4.7 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. +
+
print-last-kbd-macro () + +: Print the last keboard macro defined in a format suitable for the +inputrc file. +
+

+ +

8.4.8 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-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-x, …) + +: If the metafied character x is upper case, run the command +that is bound to the corresponding metafied lower case character. +The behavior is undefined if x is already lower case. +
+
prefix-meta (ESC) + +: Metafy the next character typed. This is for keyboards +without a meta key. Typing ‘ESC f’ is equivalent to typing +M-f. +
+
undo (C-_ or 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 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. +
+
skip-csi-sequence () + +: Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as those +defined for keys like Home and End. Such sequences begin with a +Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[. If this sequence is +bound to "\e[", keys producing such sequences will have no effect +unless explicitly bound to a readline command, instead of inserting +stray characters into the editing buffer. This is unbound by default, +but usually bound to ESC-[. +
+
insert-comment (M-#) + +: Without a numeric argument, the value of the comment-begin +variable is inserted at the beginning of the current line. +If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a toggle: if +the characters at the beginning of the line do not match the value +of comment-begin, the value is inserted, otherwise +the characters in comment-begin are deleted from the beginning of +the line. +In either case, the line is accepted as if a newline had been typed. +The default value of comment-begin causes this command +to make the current line a shell comment. +If a numeric argument causes the comment character to be removed, the line +will be executed by the shell. +
+
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 output. 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-complete-word (M-g) + +: The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname expansion, +with an asterisk implicitly appended. This pattern is used to +generate a list of matching file names for possible completions. +
+
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. +If a numeric argument is supplied, a ‘*’ is appended before +pathname expansion. +
+
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. +If a numeric argument is supplied, a ‘*’ is appended before +pathname expansion. +
+
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 (see 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 +(see History Interaction). +
+
alias-expand-line () + +: Perform alias expansion on the current line (see Aliases). +
+
history-and-alias-expand-line () + +: Perform history and alias expansion on the current line. +
+
insert-last-argument (M-. or M-_) + +: A synonym for yank-last-arg. +
+
edit-and-execute-command (C-x C-e) + +: Invoke an editor on the current command line, and execute the result as shell +commands. +Bash attempts to invoke +$VISUAL, $EDITOR, and emacs +as the editor, in that order. +
+ + +

+ +

8.5 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 standard. +

In order to switch interactively between emacs and vi +editing modes, use the ‘set -o emacs’ and ‘set -o vi’ +commands (see 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. +

+ +

8.6 Programmable Completion

+ + +

When word completion is attempted for an argument to a command for +which a completion specification (a compspec) has been defined +using the complete builtin (see Programmable Completion Builtins), +the programmable completion facilities are invoked. +

First, the command name is identified. +If a compspec has been defined for that command, the +compspec is used to generate the list of possible completions for the word. +If the command word is the empty string (completion attempted at the +beginning of an empty line), any compspec defined with +the -E option to complete is used. +If the command word is a full pathname, a compspec for the full +pathname is searched for first. +If no compspec is found for the full pathname, an attempt is made to +find a compspec for the portion following the final slash. +If those searches do not result in a compspec, any compspec defined with +the -D option to complete is used as the default. +If there is no default compspec, Bash attempts alias expansion +on the command word as a final resort, and attempts to find a compspec +for the command word from any successful expansion +

Once a compspec has been found, it is used to generate the list of +matching words. +If a compspec is not found, the default Bash completion +described above (see Commands For Completion) is performed. +

First, the actions specified by the compspec are used. +Only matches which are prefixed by the word being completed are +returned. +When the -f or -d option is used for filename or +directory name completion, the shell variable FIGNORE is +used to filter the matches. +See Bash Variables, for a description of FIGNORE. +

Any completions specified by a filename expansion pattern to the +-G option are generated next. +The words generated by the pattern need not match the word being completed. +The GLOBIGNORE shell variable is not used to filter the matches, +but the FIGNORE shell variable is used. +

Next, the string specified as the argument to the -W option +is considered. +The string is first split using the characters in the IFS +special variable as delimiters. +Shell quoting is honored within the string, in order to provide a +mechanism for the words to contain shell metacharacters or characters +in the value of IFS. +Each word is then expanded using +brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, +command substitution, and arithmetic expansion, +as described above (see Shell Expansions). +The results are split using the rules described above +(see Word Splitting). +The results of the expansion are prefix-matched against the word being +completed, and the matching words become the possible completions. +

After these matches have been generated, any shell function or command +specified with the -F and -C options is invoked. +When the command or function is invoked, the COMP_LINE, +COMP_POINT, COMP_KEY, and COMP_TYPE variables are +assigned values as described above (see Bash Variables). +If a shell function is being invoked, the COMP_WORDS and +COMP_CWORD variables are also set. +When the function or command is invoked, the first argument ($1) is the +name of the command whose arguments are being completed, the +second argument ($2) is the word being completed, and the third argument +($3) is the word preceding the word being completed on the current command +line. +No filtering of the generated completions against the word being completed +is performed; the function or command has complete freedom in generating +the matches. +

Any function specified with -F is invoked first. +The function may use any of the shell facilities, including the +compgen and compopt builtins described below +(see Programmable Completion Builtins), to generate the matches. +It must put the possible completions in the COMPREPLY array +variable, one per array element. +

Next, any command specified with the -C option is invoked +in an environment equivalent to command substitution. +It should print a list of completions, one per line, to +the standard output. +Backslash may be used to escape a newline, if necessary. +

After all of the possible completions are generated, any filter +specified with the -X option is applied to the list. +The filter is a pattern as used for pathname expansion; a ‘&’ +in the pattern is replaced with the text of the word being completed. +A literal ‘&’ may be escaped with a backslash; the backslash +is removed before attempting a match. +Any completion that matches the pattern will be removed from the list. +A leading ‘!’ negates the pattern; in this case any completion +not matching the pattern will be removed. +If the nocasematch shell option +(see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) +is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case +of alphabetic characters. +

Finally, any prefix and suffix specified with the -P and -S +options are added to each member of the completion list, and the result is +returned to the Readline completion code as the list of possible +completions. +

If the previously-applied actions do not generate any matches, and the +-o dirnames option was supplied to complete when the +compspec was defined, directory name completion is attempted. +

If the -o plusdirs option was supplied to complete when +the compspec was defined, directory name completion is attempted and any +matches are added to the results of the other actions. +

By default, if a compspec is found, whatever it generates is returned to +the completion code as the full set of possible completions. +The default Bash completions are not attempted, and the Readline default +of filename completion is disabled. +If the -o bashdefault option was supplied to complete when +the compspec was defined, the default Bash completions are attempted +if the compspec generates no matches. +If the -o default option was supplied to complete when the +compspec was defined, Readline’s default completion will be performed +if the compspec (and, if attempted, the default Bash completions) +generate no matches. +

When a compspec indicates that directory name completion is desired, +the programmable completion functions force Readline to append a slash +to completed names which are symbolic links to directories, subject to +the value of the mark-directories Readline variable, regardless +of the setting of the mark-symlinked-directories Readline variable. +

There is some support for dynamically modifying completions. This is +most useful when used in combination with a default completion specified +with -D. It’s possible for shell functions executed as completion +handlers to indicate that completion should be retried by returning an +exit status of 124. If a shell function returns 124, and changes +the compspec associated with the command on which completion is being +attempted (supplied as the first argument when the function is executed), +programmable completion restarts from the beginning, with an +attempt to find a new compspec for that command. This allows a set of +completions to be built dynamically as completion is attempted, rather than +being loaded all at once. +

For instance, assuming that there is a library of compspecs, each kept in a +file corresponding to the name of the command, the following default +completion function would load completions dynamically: +

_completion_loader()
+{
+    . "/etc/bash_completion.d/$1.sh" >/dev/null 2>&1 && return 124
+}
+complete -D -F _completion_loader -o bashdefault -o default
+

+ +

8.7 Programmable Completion Builtins

+ + +

Three builtin commands are available to manipulate the programmable completion +facilities: one to specify how the arguments to a particular command are to +be completed, and two to modify the completion as it is happening. +

compgen

compgen [option] [word]
+

+ +

Generate possible completion matches for word according to +the options, which may be any option accepted by the +complete +builtin with the exception of -p and -r, and write +the matches to the standard output. +When using the -F or -C options, the various shell variables +set by the programmable completion facilities, while available, will not +have useful values. +

The matches will be generated in the same way as if the programmable +completion code had generated them directly from a completion specification +with the same flags. +If word is specified, only those completions matching word +will be displayed. +

The return value is true unless an invalid option is supplied, or no +matches were generated. +

complete

complete [-abcdefgjksuv] [-o comp-option] [-DEI] [-A action] [-G globpat]
+[-W wordlist] [-F function] [-C command] [-X filterpat]
+[-P prefix] [-S suffix] name [name …]
+complete -pr [-DEI] [name …]
+

+ +

Specify how arguments to each name should be completed. +If the -p option is supplied, or if no options are supplied, existing +completion specifications are printed in a way that allows them to be +reused as input. +The -r option removes a completion specification for +each name, or, if no names are supplied, all +completion specifications. +The -D option indicates that other supplied options and actions should +apply to the “default” command completion; that is, completion attempted +on a command for which no completion has previously been defined. +The -E option indicates that other supplied options and actions should +apply to “empty” command completion; that is, completion attempted on a +blank line. +The -I option indicates that other supplied options and actions should +apply to completion on the initial non-assignment word on the line, or after a +command delimiter such as ‘;’ or ‘|’, which is usually command +name completion. +If multiple options are supplied, the -D option takes precedence +over -E, and both take precedence over -I. +If any of -D, -E, or -I are supplied, any other +name arguments are ignored; these completions only apply to the case +specified by the option. +

The process of applying these completion specifications when word completion +is attempted is described above (see Programmable Completion). +

Other options, if specified, have the following meanings. +The arguments to the -G, -W, and -X options +(and, if necessary, the -P and -S options) +should be quoted to protect them from expansion before the +complete builtin is invoked. +

+ +

-o comp-option

The comp-option controls several aspects of the compspec’s behavior +beyond the simple generation of completions. +comp-option may be one of: +

bashdefault: Perform the rest of the default Bash completions if the compspec +generates no matches. +
+
default: Use Readline’s default filename completion if the compspec generates +no matches. +
+
dirnames: Perform directory name completion if the compspec generates no matches. +
+
filenames: Tell Readline that the compspec generates filenames, so it can perform any +filename-specific processing (like adding a slash to directory names, +quoting special characters, or suppressing trailing spaces). +This option is intended to be used with shell functions specified +with -F. +
+
noquote: Tell Readline not to quote the completed words if they are filenames +(quoting filenames is the default). +
+
nosort: Tell Readline not to sort the list of possible completions alphabetically. +
+
nospace: Tell Readline not to append a space (the default) to words completed at +the end of the line. +
+
plusdirs: After any matches defined by the compspec are generated, +directory name completion is attempted and any +matches are added to the results of the other actions. +
+

+ +

-A action

The action may be one of the following to generate a list of possible +completions: +

alias: Alias names. May also be specified as -a. +
+
arrayvar: Array variable names. +
+
binding: Readline key binding names (see Bindable Readline Commands). +
+
builtin: Names of shell builtin commands. May also be specified as -b. +
+
command: Command names. May also be specified as -c. +
+
directory: Directory names. May also be specified as -d. +
+
disabled: Names of disabled shell builtins. +
+
enabled: Names of enabled shell builtins. +
+
export: Names of exported shell variables. May also be specified as -e. +
+
file: File names. May also be specified as -f. +
+
function: Names of shell functions. +
+
group: Group names. May also be specified as -g. +
+
helptopic: Help topics as accepted by the help builtin (see Bash Builtins). +
+
hostname: Hostnames, as taken from the file specified by the +HOSTFILE shell variable (see Bash Variables). +
+
job: Job names, if job control is active. May also be specified as -j. +
+
keyword: Shell reserved words. May also be specified as -k. +
+
running: Names of running jobs, if job control is active. +
+
service: Service names. May also be specified as -s. +
+
setopt: Valid arguments for the -o option to the set builtin +(see The Set Builtin). +
+
shopt: Shell option names as accepted by the shopt builtin +(see Bash Builtins). +
+
signal: Signal names. +
+
stopped: Names of stopped jobs, if job control is active. +
+
user: User names. May also be specified as -u. +
+
variable: Names of all shell variables. May also be specified as -v. +

+ +

-C command

command is executed in a subshell environment, and its output is +used as the possible completions. +

-F function

The shell function function is executed in the current shell +environment. +When it is executed, $1 is the name of the command whose arguments are +being completed, $2 is the word being completed, and $3 is the word +preceding the word being completed, as described above +(see Programmable Completion). +When it finishes, the possible completions are retrieved from the value +of the COMPREPLY array variable. +

-G globpat

The filename expansion pattern globpat is expanded to generate +the possible completions. +

-P prefix

prefix is added at the beginning of each possible completion +after all other options have been applied. +

-S suffix

suffix is appended to each possible completion +after all other options have been applied. +

-W wordlist

The wordlist is split using the characters in the +IFS special variable as delimiters, and each resultant word +is expanded. +The possible completions are the members of the resultant list which +match the word being completed. +

-X filterpat

filterpat is a pattern as used for filename expansion. +It is applied to the list of possible completions generated by the +preceding options and arguments, and each completion matching +filterpat is removed from the list. +A leading ‘!’ in filterpat negates the pattern; in this +case, any completion not matching filterpat is removed. +

+ +

The return value is true unless an invalid option is supplied, an option +other than -p or -r is supplied without a name +argument, an attempt is made to remove a completion specification for +a name for which no specification exists, or +an error occurs adding a completion specification. +

compopt

compopt [-o option] [-DEI] [+o option] [name]
+

Modify completion options for each name according to the +options, or for the currently-executing completion if no names +are supplied. +If no options are given, display the completion options for each +name or the current completion. +The possible values of option are those valid for the complete +builtin described above. +The -D option indicates that other supplied options should +apply to the “default” command completion; that is, completion attempted +on a command for which no completion has previously been defined. +The -E option indicates that other supplied options should +apply to “empty” command completion; that is, completion attempted on a +blank line. +The -I option indicates that other supplied options should +apply to completion on the initial non-assignment word on the line, or after a +command delimiter such as ‘;’ or ‘|’, which is usually command +name completion. +

If multiple options are supplied, the -D option takes precedence +over -E, and both take precedence over -I +

The return value is true unless an invalid option is supplied, an attempt +is made to modify the options for a name for which no completion +specification exists, or an output error occurs. +

+ +

8.8 A Programmable Completion Example

+ +

The most common way to obtain additional completion functionality beyond +the default actions complete and compgen provide is to use +a shell function and bind it to a particular command using complete -F. +

The following function provides completions for the cd builtin. +It is a reasonably good example of what shell functions must do when +used for completion. This function uses the word passed as $2 +to determine the directory name to complete. You can also use the +COMP_WORDS array variable; the current word is indexed by the +COMP_CWORD variable. +

The function relies on the complete and compgen builtins +to do much of the work, adding only the things that the Bash cd +does beyond accepting basic directory names: +tilde expansion (see Tilde Expansion), +searching directories in $CDPATH, which is described above +(see Bourne Shell Builtins), +and basic support for the cdable_vars shell option +(see The Shopt Builtin). +_comp_cd modifies the value of IFS so that it contains only +a newline to accommodate file names containing spaces and tabs – +compgen prints the possible completions it generates one per line. +

Possible completions go into the COMPREPLY array variable, one +completion per array element. The programmable completion system retrieves +the completions from there when the function returns. +

# A completion function for the cd builtin
+# based on the cd completion function from the bash_completion package
+_comp_cd()
+{
+    local IFS=$' \t\n'    # normalize IFS
+    local cur _skipdot _cdpath
+    local i j k
+
+    # Tilde expansion, which also expands tilde to full pathname
+    case "$2" in
+    \~*)    eval cur="$2" ;;
+    *)      cur=$2 ;;
+    esac
+
+    # no cdpath or absolute pathname -- straight directory completion
+    if [[ -z "${CDPATH:-}" ]] || [[ "$cur" == @(./*|../*|/*) ]]; then
+        # compgen prints paths one per line; could also use while loop
+        IFS=$'\n'
+        COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -d -- "$cur") )
+        IFS=$' \t\n'
+    # CDPATH+directories in the current directory if not in CDPATH
+    else
+        IFS=$'\n'
+        _skipdot=false
+        # preprocess CDPATH to convert null directory names to .
+        _cdpath=${CDPATH/#:/.:}
+        _cdpath=${_cdpath//::/:.:}
+        _cdpath=${_cdpath/%:/:.}
+        for i in ${_cdpath//:/$'\n'}; do
+            if [[ $i -ef . ]]; then _skipdot=true; fi
+            k="${#COMPREPLY[@]}"
+            for j in $( compgen -d -- "$i/$cur" ); do
+                COMPREPLY[k++]=${j#$i/}        # cut off directory
+            done
+        done
+        $_skipdot || COMPREPLY+=( $(compgen -d -- "$cur") )
+        IFS=$' \t\n'
+    fi
+
+    # variable names if appropriate shell option set and no completions
+    if shopt -q cdable_vars && [[ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+        COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -v -- "$cur") )
+    fi
+
+    return 0
+}
+

+ +

We install the completion function using the -F option to +complete: +

# Tell readline to quote appropriate and append slashes to directories;
+# use the bash default completion for other arguments
+complete -o filenames -o nospace -o bashdefault -F _comp_cd cd
+

+ +

Since we’d like Bash and Readline to take care of some +of the other details for us, we use several other options to tell Bash +and Readline what to do. The -o filenames option tells Readline +that the possible completions should be treated as filenames, and quoted +appropriately. That option will also cause Readline to append a slash to +filenames it can determine are directories (which is why we might want to +extend _comp_cd to append a slash if we’re using directories found +via CDPATH: Readline can’t tell those completions are directories). +The -o nospace option tells Readline to not append a space +character to the directory name, in case we want to append to it. +The -o bashdefault option brings in the rest of the "Bash default" +completions – possible completion that Bash adds to the default Readline +set. These include things like command name completion, variable completion +for words beginning with ‘$’ or ‘${’, completions containing pathname +expansion patterns (see Filename Expansion), and so on. +

Once installed using complete, _comp_cd will be called every +time we attempt word completion for a cd command. +

Many more examples – an extensive collection of completions for most of +the common GNU, Unix, and Linux commands – are available as part of the +bash_completion project. This is installed by default on many GNU/Linux +distributions. Originally written by Ian Macdonald, the project now lives +at https://github.com/scop/bash-completion/. There are ports for +other systems such as Solaris and Mac OS X. +

An older version of the bash_completion package is distributed with bash +in the examples/complete subdirectory. +

+ + +

+ +

9 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. +

+ + + + + + +

+ +

9.1 Bash History Facilities

+ + + +

When the -o history option to the set builtin +is enabled (see The Set Builtin), +the shell provides access to the command history, +the list of commands previously typed. +The value of the HISTSIZE shell variable is used as the +number of commands to save in a history list. +The text of the last $HISTSIZE +commands (default 500) is saved. +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). +The file named by the value of HISTFILE is truncated, if +necessary, to contain no more than the number of lines specified by +the value of the HISTFILESIZE variable. +When a shell with history enabled exits, the last +$HISTSIZE lines are copied from the history list to the file +named by $HISTFILE. +If the histappend shell option is set (see 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 unset, or set to null, a non-numeric value, or +a numeric value less than zero, the history file is not truncated. +

If the HISTTIMEFORMAT is set, the time stamp information +associated with each history entry is written to the history file, +marked with the history comment character. +When the history file is read, lines beginning with the history +comment character followed immediately by a digit are interpreted +as timestamps for the following history entry. +

The builtin command fc may be used to list or edit and re-execute +a portion of the history list. +The history builtin may be used to display or modify the history +list and manipulate the history file. +When using command-line editing, search commands +are available in each editing mode that provide access to the +history list (see Commands For History). +

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. +The shopt builtin is used to set these options. +See The Shopt Builtin, for a description of shopt. +

+ +

9.2 Bash History Builtins

+ + +

Bash provides two builtin commands which manipulate the +history list and history file. +

fc

fc [-e ename] [-lnr] [first] [last]
+fc -s [pat=rep] [command]
+

+ +

The first form selects a range of commands from first to +last from the history list and displays or edits and re-executes +them. +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). +

When listing, a first or last of 0 is equivalent to -1 +and -0 is equivalent to the current command (usually the fc +command); +otherwise 0 is equivalent to -1 and -0 is invalid. +

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. +command is interpreted the same as first above. +

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 (see Aliases). +

history

history [n]
+history -c
+history -d offset
+history -d start-end
+history [-anrw] [filename]
+history -ps arg
+

+ +

With no options, display the history list with line numbers. +Lines prefixed with a ‘*’ have been modified. +An argument of n lists only the last n lines. +If the shell variable HISTTIMEFORMAT is set and not null, +it is used as a format string for strftime to display +the time stamp associated with each displayed history entry. +No intervening blank is printed between the formatted time stamp +and the history line. +

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings: +

-c: Clear the history list. This may be combined +with the other options to replace the history list completely. +
+
-d offset: Delete the history entry at position offset. +If offset is positive, it should be specified as it appears when +the history is displayed. +If offset is negative, it is interpreted as relative to one greater +than the last history position, so negative indices count back from the +end of the history, and an index of ‘-1’ refers to the current +history -d command. +
+
-d start-end: Delete the history entries between positions start and end, +inclusive. Positive and negative values for start and end +are interpreted as described above. +
+
-a: Append the new history lines to the history file. +These are history lines entered since the beginning of the current +Bash session, but not already appended 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. +
+
-r: Read the history file and append its contents to +the history list. +
+
-w: Write out the current history list to the history file. +
+
-p: Perform history substitution on the args and display the result +on the standard output, without storing the results in the history list. +
+
-s: The args are added to the end of +the history list as a single entry. +
+

+ +

When any of the -w, -r, -a, or -n options 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. +

+ +

9.3 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 is performed immediately after a complete line +is read, before the shell breaks it into words, and is performed +on each line individually. Bash attempts to inform the history +expansion functions about quoting still in effect from previous lines. +

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. +

History expansion implements shell-like quoting conventions: +a backslash can be used to remove the special handling for the next character; +single quotes enclose verbatim sequences of characters, and can be used to +inhibit history expansion; +and characters enclosed within double quotes may be subject to history +expansion, since backslash can escape the history expansion character, +but single quotes may not, since they are not treated specially within +double quotes. +

When using the shell, only ‘\’ and ‘'’ may be used to escape the +history expansion character, but the history expansion character is +also treated as quoted if it immediately precedes the closing double quote +in a double-quoted string. +

Several shell options settable with the shopt +builtin (see The Shopt Builtin) 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, +as explained above (see Bash Variables). The shell uses +the history comment character to mark history timestamps when +writing the history file. +

+ + + + + + +

+ +

9.3.1 Event Designators

+ + +

An event designator is a reference to a command line entry in the +history list. +Unless the reference is absolute, events are relative to the current +position in the history list. + +

!: Start a history substitution, except when followed by a space, tab, +the end of the line, ‘=’ or ‘(’ (when the +extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin). +
+
!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 +preceding the current position in the history list +starting with string. +
+
!?string[?]: Refer to the most recent command +preceding the current position in the history list +containing string. +The trailing +‘?’ may be omitted if the string is followed immediately by +a newline. +If string is missing, the string from the most recent search is used; +it is an error if there is no previous search string. +
+
^string1^string2^: Quick Substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing string1 +with string2. Equivalent to +!!:s^string1^string2^. +
+
!#: The entire command line typed so far. +
+

+ +

9.3.2 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. +

For example, +

!!: designates the preceding command. When you type this, the preceding +command is repeated in toto. +
+
!!:$: designates the last argument of the preceding command. This may be +shortened to !$. +
+
!fi:2: designates the second argument of the most recent command starting with +the letters fi. +

+ +

Here are the word designators: +

0 (zero): The 0th word. For many applications, this is the command word. +
+
n: The nth word. +
+
^: The first argument; that is, word 1. +
+
$: The last argument. +
+
%: The first word matched by the most recent ‘?string?’ search, +if the search string begins with a character that is part of a word. +
+
x-y: A range of words; ‘-y’ abbreviates ‘0-y’. +
+
*: All of the words, except the 0th. This is a synonym for ‘1-$’. +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 ‘x’ is missing, it defaults to 0. +
+

+ +

If a word designator is supplied without an event specification, the +previous command is used as the event. +

+ +

9.3.3 Modifiers

+ +

After the optional word designator, you can add a sequence of one or more +of the following modifiers, each preceded by a ‘:’. +These modify, or edit, the word or words selected from the history event. +

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. +The ‘q’ and ‘x’ modifiers are mutually exclusive; the last one +supplied is used. +
+
s/old/new/: Substitute new for the first occurrence of old in the +event line. +Any character may be used as the delimiter 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 ‘&’. +If old is null, it is set to the last old +substituted, or, if no previous history substitutions took place, +the last string +in a !?string[?] +search. +If new is is null, each matching old is deleted. +The final delimiter is optional if it is the last +character on the input line. +
+
&: Repeat the previous substitution. +
+
g
a: Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. Used in +conjunction with ‘s’, as in gs/old/new/, +or with ‘&’. +
+
G: Apply the following ‘s’ or ‘&’ modifier once to each word +in the event. +
+

+ +

10 Installing Bash

+ +

This chapter provides basic instructions for installing Bash on +the various supported platforms. The distribution supports the +GNU operating systems, nearly every version of Unix, and several +non-Unix systems such as BeOS and Interix. +Other independent ports exist for +MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows platforms. +

+ + + + + + + + + +

• 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. +

+ +

10.1 Basic Installation

+ + + + + +

These are installation instructions for Bash. +

The simplest way to compile Bash is: +

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 some time. +While running, it prints messages telling which features it is +checking for. +
+
Type ‘make’ to compile Bash and build the bashbug bug +reporting script. + +
Optionally, type ‘make tests’ to run the Bash test suite. + +
Type ‘make install’ to install bash and bashbug. +This will also install the manual pages and Info file. + +

+ +

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, doc, and support directories, +each directory under lib, and several others). 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. +

To find out more about the options and arguments that the +configure script understands, type +

bash-4.2$ ./configure --help
+

+ +

at the Bash prompt in your Bash source directory. +

If you want to build Bash in a directory separate from the source +directory – to build for multiple architectures, for example – +just use the full path to the configure script. The following commands +will build bash in a directory under /usr/local/build from +the source code in /usr/local/src/bash-4.4: +

mkdir /usr/local/build/bash-4.4
+cd /usr/local/build/bash-4.4
+bash /usr/local/src/bash-4.4/configure
+make
+

+ +

See Compiling For Multiple Architectures for more information +about building in a directory separate from the source. +

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.ac is used to create configure +by a program called Autoconf. You only need +configure.ac 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 2.50 or +newer. +

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’. +

+ +

10.2 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. +

+ +

10.3 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 +(see Basic Installation). +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. +

+ +

10.4 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, +or by specifying a value for the DESTDIR ‘make’ +variable when running ‘make install’. +

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. +

+ +

10.5 Specifying the System Type

+ +

There may be some features configure can not figure out +automatically, but need 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., ‘i386-unknown-freebsd4.2’). +

See the file support/config.sub for the possible +values of each field. +

+ +

10.6 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. +

+ +

10.7 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. ‘configure --help’ prints the complete list. +

+ +

10.8 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 ‘bash-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-bash-malloc: Use the Bash version of +malloc in the directory lib/malloc. This is not the same +malloc that appears in GNU libc, but an older version +originally 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-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-gnu-malloc: A synonym for --with-bash-malloc. +
+
--with-installed-readline[=PREFIX]: 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 5.0 and later versions. If PREFIX is yes or not +supplied, configure uses the values of the make variables +includedir and libdir, which are subdirectories of prefix +by default, to find the installed version of Readline if it is not in +the standard system include and library directories. +If PREFIX is no, Bash links with the version in +lib/readline. +If PREFIX is set to any other value, configure treats it as +a directory pathname and looks for +the installed version of Readline in subdirectories of that directory +(include files in PREFIX/include and the library in +PREFIX/lib). +
+
--with-purify: Define this to use the Purify memory allocation checker from Rational +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-largefile: Enable support for large files if the operating system requires special compiler options +to build programs which can access large files. This is enabled by +default, if the operating system provides large file support. +
+
--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’, +‘direxpand-default’, and +‘xpg-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 (see Aliases). +
+
--enable-arith-for-command: Include support for the alternate form of the for command +that behaves like the C language for statement +(see Looping Constructs). +
+
--enable-array-variables: Include support for one-dimensional array shell variables +(see Arrays). +
+
--enable-bang-history: Include support for csh-like history substitution +(see History Interaction). +
+
--enable-brace-expansion: Include csh-like brace expansion +( b{a,b}c → bac bbc ). +See Brace Expansion, for a complete description. +
+
--enable-casemod-attributes: Include support for case-modifying attributes in the declare builtin +and assignment statements. Variables with the uppercase attribute, +for example, will have their values converted to uppercase upon assignment. +
+
--enable-casemod-expansion: Include support for case-modifying word expansions. +
+
--enable-command-timing: Include support for recognizing time as a reserved word and for +displaying timing statistics for the pipeline following time +(see Pipelines). +This allows pipelines as well as shell builtins and functions to be timed. +
+
--enable-cond-command: Include support for the [[ conditional command. +(see Conditional Constructs). +
+
--enable-cond-regexp: Include support for matching POSIX regular expressions using the +‘=~’ binary operator in the [[ conditional command. +(see Conditional Constructs). +
+
--enable-coprocesses: Include support for coprocesses and the coproc reserved word +(see Pipelines). +
+
--enable-debugger: Include support for the bash debugger (distributed separately). +
+
--enable-dev-fd-stat-broken: If calling stat on /dev/fd/N returns different results than +calling fstat on file descriptor N, supply this option to +enable a workaround. +This has implications for conditional commands that test file attributes. +
+
--enable-direxpand-default: Cause the direxpand shell option (see The Shopt Builtin) +to be enabled by default when the shell starts. +It is normally disabled by default. +
+
--enable-directory-stack: Include support for a csh-like directory stack and the +pushd, popd, and dirs builtins +(see 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 Bash Builtins, for details of the builtin and +enable builtin commands. +
+
--enable-dparen-arithmetic: Include support for the ((…)) command +(see Conditional Constructs). +
+
--enable-extended-glob: Include support for the extended pattern matching features described +above under Pattern Matching. +
+
--enable-extended-glob-default: Set the default value of the extglob shell option described +above under The Shopt Builtin to be enabled. +
+
--enable-function-import: Include support for importing function definitions exported by another +instance of the shell from the environment. This option is enabled by +default. +
+
--enable-glob-asciirange-default: Set the default value of the globasciiranges shell option described +above under The Shopt Builtin to be enabled. +This controls the behavior of character ranges when used in pattern matching +bracket expressions. +
+
--enable-help-builtin: Include the help builtin, which displays help on shell builtins and +variables (see Bash Builtins). +
+
--enable-history: Include command history and the fc and history +builtin commands (see Bash History Facilities). +
+
--enable-job-control: This enables the job control features (see Job Control), +if the operating system supports them. +
+
--enable-multibyte: This enables support for multibyte characters if the operating +system provides the necessary support. +
+
--enable-net-redirections: This enables the special handling of filenames of the form +/dev/tcp/host/port and +/dev/udp/host/port +when used in redirections (see Redirections). +
+
--enable-process-substitution: This enables process substitution (see Process Substitution) if +the operating system provides the necessary support. +
+
--enable-progcomp: Enable the programmable completion facilities +(see Programmable Completion). +If Readline is not enabled, this option has no effect. +
+
--enable-prompt-string-decoding: Turn on the interpretation of a number of backslash-escaped characters +in the $PS0, $PS1, $PS2, and $PS4 prompt +strings. See Controlling the 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 (see 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 +The Restricted Shell, for a description of restricted mode. +
+
--enable-select: Include the select compound command, which allows the generation of +simple menus (see Conditional Constructs). +
+
--enable-separate-helpfiles: Use external files for the documentation displayed by the help builtin +instead of storing the text internally. +
+
--enable-single-help-strings: Store the text displayed by the help builtin as a single string for +each help topic. This aids in translating the text to different languages. +You may need to disable this if your compiler cannot handle very long string +literals. +
+
--enable-strict-posix-default: Make Bash POSIX-conformant by default (see Bash POSIX Mode). +
+
--enable-usg-echo-default: A synonym for --enable-xpg-echo-default. +
+
--enable-xpg-echo-default: Make the echo builtin expand backslash-escaped characters by default, +without requiring the -e option. +This sets the default value of the xpg_echo shell option to on, +which makes the Bash echo behave more like the version specified in +the Single Unix Specification, version 3. +See Bash Builtins, for a description of the escape sequences that +echo recognizes. +

+ +

The file config-top.h 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. +

+ +

Appendix A 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. +The latest version of Bash is always available for FTP from +ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bash/. +

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 +bug-bash@gnu.org. +

+ +

Appendix B Major Differences From The Bourne Shell

+ +

Bash implements essentially the same grammar, parameter and +variable expansion, redirection, and quoting as the Bourne Shell. +Bash uses the POSIX 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 +previous sections. +This section uses the version of sh included in SVR4.2 (the +last version of the historical Bourne shell) as the baseline reference. +

Bash is POSIX-conformant, even where the POSIX specification +differs from traditional sh behavior (see Bash POSIX Mode). + +
Bash has multi-character invocation options (see Invoking Bash). + +
Bash has command-line editing (see Command Line Editing) and +the bind builtin. + +
Bash provides a programmable word completion mechanism +(see Programmable Completion), and builtin commands +complete, compgen, and compopt, to +manipulate it. + +
Bash has command history (see Bash History Facilities) and the +history and fc builtins to manipulate it. +The Bash history list maintains timestamp information and uses the +value of the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable to display it. + +
Bash implements csh-like history expansion +(see History Interaction). + +
Bash has one-dimensional array variables (see 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 (see 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 +(see Locale Translation). + +
Bash implements the ! keyword to negate the return value of +a pipeline (see Pipelines). +Very useful when an if statement needs to act only if a test fails. +The Bash ‘-o pipefail’ option to set will cause a pipeline to +return a failure status if any command fails. + +
Bash has the time reserved word and command timing (see Pipelines). +The display of the timing statistics may be controlled with the +TIMEFORMAT variable. + +
Bash implements the for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) +arithmetic for command, similar to the C language (see Looping Constructs). + +
Bash includes the select compound command, which allows the +generation of simple menus (see Conditional Constructs). + +
Bash includes the [[ compound command, which makes conditional +testing part of the shell grammar (see Conditional Constructs), including +optional regular expression matching. + +
Bash provides optional case-insensitive matching for the case and +[[ constructs. + +
Bash includes brace expansion (see Brace Expansion) and tilde +expansion (see Tilde Expansion). + +
Bash implements command aliases and the alias and unalias +builtins (see Aliases). + +
Bash provides shell arithmetic, the (( compound command +(see Conditional Constructs), +and arithmetic expansion (see 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 supports the ‘+=’ assignment operator, which appends to the value +of the variable named on the left hand side. + +
Bash includes the POSIX pattern removal ‘%’, ‘#’, ‘%%’ +and ‘##’ expansions to remove leading or trailing substrings from +variable values (see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
The expansion ${#xx}, which returns the length of ${xx}, +is supported (see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
The expansion ${var:offset[:length]}, +which expands to the substring of var’s value of length +length, beginning at offset, is present +(see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
The expansion +${var/[/]pattern[/replacement]}, +which matches pattern and replaces it with replacement in +the value of var, is available (see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
The expansion ${!prefix*} expansion, which expands to +the names of all shell variables whose names begin with prefix, +is available (see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
Bash has indirect variable expansion using ${!word} +(see Shell Parameter Expansion). + +
Bash can expand positional parameters beyond $9 using +${num}. + +
The POSIX $() form of command substitution +is implemented (see Command Substitution), +and preferred to the Bourne shell’s `` (which +is also implemented for backwards compatibility). + +
Bash has process substitution (see 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). See Bash Variables, +for details. + +
The IFS variable is used to split only the results of expansion, +not all words (see Word Splitting). +This closes a longstanding shell security hole. + +
The filename expansion bracket expression code uses ‘!’ and ‘^’ +to negate the set of characters between the brackets. +The Bourne shell uses only ‘!’. + +
Bash implements the full set of POSIX filename expansion operators, +including character classes, equivalence classes, and +collating symbols (see Filename Expansion). + +
Bash implements extended pattern matching features when the extglob +shell option is enabled (see 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 +(see Bash Builtins). + +
Variable assignments preceding commands affect only that command, even +builtins and functions (see 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 (see Redirections). + +
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 (see Redirections). + +
Bash includes the ‘<<<’ redirection operator, allowing a string to +be used as the standard input to a command. + +
Bash implements the ‘[n]<&word’ and ‘[n]>&word’ +redirection operators, which move one file descriptor to another. + +
Bash treats a number of filenames specially when they are +used in redirection operators (see Redirections). + +
Bash can open network connections to arbitrary machines and services +with the redirection operators (see Redirections). + +
The noclobber option is available to avoid overwriting existing +files with output redirection (see The Set Builtin). +The ‘>|’ redirection operator may be used to override noclobber. + +
The Bash cd and pwd builtins (see Bourne Shell Builtins) +each take -L and -P options 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 (see Bash Builtins). + +
The command builtin allows selective disabling of functions +when command lookup is performed (see Bash Builtins). + +
Individual builtins may be enabled or disabled using the enable +builtin (see 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 +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). + +
Shell functions may be exported to children via the environment +using export -f (see 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’ +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). + +
Bash includes a help builtin for quick reference to shell +facilities (see Bash Builtins). + +
The printf builtin is available to display formatted output +(see Bash Builtins). + +
The Bash read builtin (see Bash Builtins) +will read a line ending in ‘\’ with +the -r option, and will use the REPLY variable as a +default if no non-option 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 read builtin also has additional options to control input: +the -s option will turn off echoing of input characters as +they are read, the -t option will allow read to time out +if input does not arrive within a specified number of seconds, the +-n option will allow reading only a specified number of +characters rather than a full line, and the -d option will read +until a particular character rather than newline. + +
The return builtin may be used to abort execution of scripts +executed with the . or source builtins +(see Bourne Shell Builtins). + +
Bash includes the shopt builtin, for finer control of shell +optional capabilities (see The Shopt Builtin), and allows these options +to be set and unset at shell invocation (see Invoking Bash). + +
Bash has much more optional behavior controllable with the set +builtin (see The Set Builtin). + +
The ‘-x’ (xtrace) option displays commands other than +simple commands when performing an execution trace +(see The Set Builtin). + +
The test builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) +is slightly different, as it implements the POSIX algorithm, +which specifies the behavior based on the number of arguments. + +
Bash includes the caller builtin, which displays the context of +any active subroutine call (a shell function or a script executed with +the . or source builtins). This supports the bash +debugger. + +
The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows a +DEBUG pseudo-signal specification, similar to EXIT. +Commands specified with a DEBUG trap are executed before every +simple command, for command, case command, +select command, every arithmetic for command, and before +the first command executes in a shell function. +The DEBUG trap is not inherited by shell functions unless the +function has been given the trace attribute or the +functrace option has been enabled using the shopt builtin. +The extdebug shell option has additional effects on the +DEBUG trap. + +
The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows an +ERR pseudo-signal specification, similar to EXIT and DEBUG. +Commands specified with an ERR trap are executed after a simple +command fails, with a few exceptions. +The ERR trap is not inherited by shell functions unless the +-o errtrace option to the set builtin is enabled. +
+
The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows a +RETURN pseudo-signal specification, similar to +EXIT and DEBUG. +Commands specified with an RETURN trap are executed before +execution resumes after a shell function or a shell script executed with +. or source returns. +The RETURN trap is not inherited by shell functions unless the +function has been given the trace attribute or the +functrace option has been enabled using the shopt builtin. +
+
The Bash type builtin is more extensive and gives more information +about the names it finds (see 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 (see Bourne Shell Builtins). + +
Bash implements a csh-like directory stack, and provides the +pushd, popd, and dirs builtins to manipulate it +(see 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 (see Controlling the Prompt). + +
The Bash restricted mode is more useful (see 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 (see Job Control Builtins) or suppress the sending +of SIGHUP to a job when the shell exits as the result of a +SIGHUP. + +
Bash includes a number of features to support a separate debugger for +shell scripts. + +
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 Bash Features. +

+ +

B.1 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 special builtins fails, and +only for certain failures, as enumerated in the POSIX standard. + +
The SVR4.2 shell behaves differently when invoked as jsh +(it turns on job control). +

+ +

Appendix C GNU Free Documentation License

+ +

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008 +

+ +

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+http://fsf.org/
+
+Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
+of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
+

+ +

PREAMBLE + +
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other +functional and useful document free in the sense of freedom: to +assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, +with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. +Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way +to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible +for modifications made by others. +
+
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative +works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It +complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft +license designed for free software. +
+
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You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document +except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt +otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and +will automatically terminate your rights under this License. +
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+
FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE + +
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions +of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new +versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may +differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See +http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/. +
+
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“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any +World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also +provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A +public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A +“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the +site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC +site. +
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+

+ +

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

+ +

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of +the License in the document and put the following copyright and +license notices just after the title page: +

  Copyright (C)  year  your name.
+  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
+  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
+  or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
+  with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
+  Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
+  Free Documentation License''.
+

+ +

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, +replace the “with…Texts.” line with this: +

    with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
+    the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
+    being list.
+

+ +

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other +combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the +situation. +

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we +recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of +free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, +to permit their use in free software. +

+ + +

+ +

Appendix D Indexes

+ + + + + + + + + +

+ +

D.1 Index of Shell Builtin Commands

Jump to:	. + +: + +[ + + +A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +J + +K + +L + +M + +P + +R + +S + +T + +U + +W + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

	Index Entry	Section

.
	`.`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

:
	`:`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

[
	`[`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

A
	`alias`:	Bash Builtins

B
	`bg`:	Job Control Builtins
	`bind`:	Bash Builtins
	`break`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`builtin`:	Bash Builtins

C
	`caller`:	Bash Builtins
	`cd`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`command`:	Bash Builtins
	`compgen`:	Programmable Completion Builtins
	`complete`:	Programmable Completion Builtins
	`compopt`:	Programmable Completion Builtins
	`continue`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

D
	`declare`:	Bash Builtins
	`dirs`:	Directory Stack Builtins
	`disown`:	Job Control Builtins

E
	`echo`:	Bash Builtins
	`enable`:	Bash Builtins
	`eval`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`exec`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`exit`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`export`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

F
	`fc`:	Bash History Builtins
	`fg`:	Job Control Builtins

G
	`getopts`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

H
	`hash`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`help`:	Bash Builtins
	`history`:	Bash History Builtins

J
	`jobs`:	Job Control Builtins

K
	`kill`:	Job Control Builtins

L
	`let`:	Bash Builtins
	`local`:	Bash Builtins
	`logout`:	Bash Builtins

M
	`mapfile`:	Bash Builtins

P
	`popd`:	Directory Stack Builtins
	`printf`:	Bash Builtins
	`pushd`:	Directory Stack Builtins
	`pwd`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

R
	`read`:	Bash Builtins
	`readarray`:	Bash Builtins
	`readonly`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`return`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

S
	`set`:	The Set Builtin
	`shift`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`shopt`:	The Shopt Builtin
	`source`:	Bash Builtins
	`suspend`:	Job Control Builtins

T
	`test`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`times`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`trap`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`type`:	Bash Builtins
	`typeset`:	Bash Builtins

U
	`ulimit`:	Bash Builtins
	`umask`:	Bourne Shell Builtins
	`unalias`:	Bash Builtins
	`unset`:	Bourne Shell Builtins

W
	`wait`:	Job Control Builtins

Jump to:	. + +: + +[ + + +A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +J + +K + +L + +M + +P + +R + +S + +T + +U + +W + +

+ +

D.2 Index of Shell Reserved Words

Jump to:	! + +[ + +] + +{ + +} + + +C + +D + +E + +F + +I + +S + +T + +U + +W + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

	Index Entry	Section

!
	`!`:	Pipelines

[
	`[[`:	Conditional Constructs

]
	`]]`:	Conditional Constructs

{
	`{`:	Command Grouping

}
	`}`:	Command Grouping

C
	`case`:	Conditional Constructs

D
	`do`:	Looping Constructs
	`done`:	Looping Constructs

E
	`elif`:	Conditional Constructs
	`else`:	Conditional Constructs
	`esac`:	Conditional Constructs

F
	`fi`:	Conditional Constructs
	`for`:	Looping Constructs
	`function`:	Shell Functions

I
	`if`:	Conditional Constructs
	`in`:	Conditional Constructs

S
	`select`:	Conditional Constructs

T
	`then`:	Conditional Constructs
	`time`:	Pipelines

U
	`until`:	Looping Constructs

W
	`while`:	Looping Constructs

Jump to:	! + +[ + +] + +{ + +} + + +C + +D + +E + +F + +I + +S + +T + +U + +W + +

+ +

D.3 Parameter and Variable Index

Jump to:	! + +# + +$ + +* + +- + +0 + +? + +@ + +_ + + +A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +I + +K + +L + +M + +O + +P + +R + +S + +T + +U + +V + +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

	Index Entry	Section

!
	`!`:	Special Parameters

#
	`#`:	Special Parameters

$
	`$`:	Special Parameters
	`$!`:	Special Parameters
	`$#`:	Special Parameters
	`$$`:	Special Parameters
	`$*`:	Special Parameters
	`$-`:	Special Parameters
	`$0`:	Special Parameters
	`$?`:	Special Parameters
	`$@`:	Special Parameters
	`$_`:	Bash Variables

*
	`*`:	Special Parameters

-
	`-`:	Special Parameters

0
	`0`:	Special Parameters

?
	`?`:	Special Parameters

@
	`@`:	Special Parameters

_
	`_`:	Bash Variables

A
	`auto_resume`:	Job Control Variables

B
	`BASH`:	Bash Variables
	`BASHOPTS`:	Bash Variables
	`BASHPID`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_ALIASES`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_ARGC`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_ARGV`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_ARGV0`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_CMDS`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_COMMAND`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_COMPAT`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_ENV`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_EXECUTION_STRING`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_LINENO`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_LOADABLES_PATH`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_REMATCH`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_SOURCE`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_SUBSHELL`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_VERSINFO`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_VERSION`:	Bash Variables
	`BASH_XTRACEFD`:	Bash Variables
	`bell-style`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`bind-tty-special-chars`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`blink-matching-paren`:	Readline Init File Syntax

C
	`CDPATH`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`CHILD_MAX`:	Bash Variables
	`colored-completion-prefix`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`colored-stats`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`COLUMNS`:	Bash Variables
	`comment-begin`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`completion-display-width`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`completion-ignore-case`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`completion-map-case`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`completion-prefix-display-length`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`completion-query-items`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`COMPREPLY`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_CWORD`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_KEY`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_LINE`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_POINT`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_TYPE`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_WORDBREAKS`:	Bash Variables
	`COMP_WORDS`:	Bash Variables
	`convert-meta`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`COPROC`:	Bash Variables

D
	`DIRSTACK`:	Bash Variables
	`disable-completion`:	Readline Init File Syntax

E
	`echo-control-characters`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`editing-mode`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`EMACS`:	Bash Variables
	`emacs-mode-string`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`enable-bracketed-paste`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`enable-keypad`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`ENV`:	Bash Variables
	`EPOCHREALTIME`:	Bash Variables
	`EPOCHSECONDS`:	Bash Variables
	`EUID`:	Bash Variables
	`EXECIGNORE`:	Bash Variables
	`expand-tilde`:	Readline Init File Syntax

F
	`FCEDIT`:	Bash Variables
	`FIGNORE`:	Bash Variables
	`FUNCNAME`:	Bash Variables
	`FUNCNEST`:	Bash Variables

G
	`GLOBIGNORE`:	Bash Variables
	`GROUPS`:	Bash Variables

H
	`histchars`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTCMD`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTCONTROL`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTFILE`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTFILESIZE`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTIGNORE`:	Bash Variables
	`history-preserve-point`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`history-size`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`HISTSIZE`:	Bash Variables
	`HISTTIMEFORMAT`:	Bash Variables
	`HOME`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`horizontal-scroll-mode`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`HOSTFILE`:	Bash Variables
	`HOSTNAME`:	Bash Variables
	`HOSTTYPE`:	Bash Variables

I
	`IFS`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`IGNOREEOF`:	Bash Variables
	`input-meta`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`INPUTRC`:	Bash Variables
	`INSIDE_EMACS`:	Bash Variables
	`isearch-terminators`:	Readline Init File Syntax

K
	`keymap`:	Readline Init File Syntax

L
	`LANG`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_ALL`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_COLLATE`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_CTYPE`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_MESSAGES`:	Locale Translation
	`LC_MESSAGES`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_NUMERIC`:	Bash Variables
	`LC_TIME`:	Bash Variables
	`LINENO`:	Bash Variables
	`LINES`:	Bash Variables

M
	`MACHTYPE`:	Bash Variables
	`MAIL`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`MAILCHECK`:	Bash Variables
	`MAILPATH`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`MAPFILE`:	Bash Variables
	`mark-modified-lines`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`mark-symlinked-directories`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`match-hidden-files`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`menu-complete-display-prefix`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`meta-flag`:	Readline Init File Syntax

O
	`OLDPWD`:	Bash Variables
	`OPTARG`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`OPTERR`:	Bash Variables
	`OPTIND`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`OSTYPE`:	Bash Variables
	`output-meta`:	Readline Init File Syntax

P
	`page-completions`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`PATH`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`PIPESTATUS`:	Bash Variables
	`POSIXLY_CORRECT`:	Bash Variables
	`PPID`:	Bash Variables
	`PROMPT_COMMAND`:	Bash Variables
	`PROMPT_DIRTRIM`:	Bash Variables
	`PS0`:	Bash Variables
	`PS1`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`PS2`:	Bourne Shell Variables
	`PS3`:	Bash Variables
	`PS4`:	Bash Variables
	`PWD`:	Bash Variables

R
	`RANDOM`:	Bash Variables
	`READLINE_LINE`:	Bash Variables
	`READLINE_MARK`:	Bash Variables
	`READLINE_POINT`:	Bash Variables
	`REPLY`:	Bash Variables
	`revert-all-at-newline`:	Readline Init File Syntax

S
	`SECONDS`:	Bash Variables
	`SHELL`:	Bash Variables
	`SHELLOPTS`:	Bash Variables
	`SHLVL`:	Bash Variables
	`show-all-if-ambiguous`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`show-all-if-unmodified`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`show-mode-in-prompt`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`skip-completed-text`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`SRANDOM`:	Bash Variables

T
	`TEXTDOMAIN`:	Locale Translation
	`TEXTDOMAINDIR`:	Locale Translation
	`TIMEFORMAT`:	Bash Variables
	`TMOUT`:	Bash Variables
	`TMPDIR`:	Bash Variables

U
	`UID`:	Bash Variables

V
	`vi-cmd-mode-string`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`vi-ins-mode-string`:	Readline Init File Syntax
	`visible-stats`:	Readline Init File Syntax

Jump to:	! + +# + +$ + +* + +- + +0 + +? + +@ + +_ + + +A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +I + +K + +L + +M + +O + +P + +R + +S + +T + +U + +V + +

+ +

D.4 Function Index

Jump to:	A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +I + +K + +M + +N + +O + +P + +Q + +R + +S + +T + +U + +Y + +

	Index Entry	Section

A
	`abort (C-g)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`accept-line (Newline or Return)`:	Commands For History
	`alias-expand-line ()`:	Miscellaneous Commands

B
	`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
	`bracketed-paste-begin ()`:	Commands For Text

C
	`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-display (M-C-l)`:	Commands For Moving
	`clear-screen (C-l)`:	Commands For Moving
	`complete (TAB)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-command (M-!)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-filename (M-/)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-hostname (M-@)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-into-braces (M-{)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-username (M-~)`:	Commands For Completion
	`complete-variable (M-$)`:	Commands For Completion
	`copy-backward-word ()`:	Commands For Killing
	`copy-forward-word ()`:	Commands For Killing
	`copy-region-as-kill ()`:	Commands For Killing

D
	`dabbrev-expand ()`:	Commands For Completion
	`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
	`display-shell-version (C-x C-v)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`do-lowercase-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
	`dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)`:	Commands For Completion

E
	`edit-and-execute-command (C-x C-e)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`end-kbd-macro (C-x ))`:	Keyboard Macros
	`end-of-file (usually C-d)`:	Commands For Text
	`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

F
	`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

G
	`glob-complete-word (M-g)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`glob-expand-word (C-x *)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`glob-list-expansions (C-x g)`:	Miscellaneous Commands

H
	`history-and-alias-expand-line ()`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`history-expand-line (M-^)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`history-search-backward ()`:	Commands For History
	`history-search-forward ()`:	Commands For History
	`history-substring-search-backward ()`:	Commands For History
	`history-substring-search-forward ()`:	Commands For History

I
	`insert-comment (M-#)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`insert-completions (M-*)`:	Commands For Completion
	`insert-last-argument (M-. or M-_)`:	Miscellaneous Commands

K
	`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

M
	`magic-space ()`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`menu-complete ()`:	Commands For Completion
	`menu-complete-backward ()`:	Commands For Completion

N
	`next-history (C-n)`:	Commands For History
	`next-screen-line ()`:	Commands For Moving
	`non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)`:	Commands For History
	`non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)`:	Commands For History

O
	`operate-and-get-next (C-o)`:	Commands For History
	`overwrite-mode ()`:	Commands For Text

P
	`possible-command-completions (C-x !)`:	Commands For Completion
	`possible-completions (M-?)`:	Commands For Completion
	`possible-filename-completions (C-x /)`:	Commands For Completion
	`possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)`:	Commands For Completion
	`possible-username-completions (C-x ~)`:	Commands For Completion
	`possible-variable-completions (C-x $)`:	Commands For Completion
	`prefix-meta (ESC)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`previous-history (C-p)`:	Commands For History
	`previous-screen-line ()`:	Commands For Moving
	`print-last-kbd-macro ()`:	Keyboard Macros

Q
	`quoted-insert (C-q or C-v)`:	Commands For Text

R
	`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

S
	`self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, …)`:	Commands For Text
	`set-mark (C-@)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`shell-backward-kill-word ()`:	Commands For Killing
	`shell-backward-word (M-C-b)`:	Commands For Moving
	`shell-expand-line (M-C-e)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`shell-forward-word (M-C-f)`:	Commands For Moving
	`shell-kill-word (M-C-d)`:	Commands For Killing
	`shell-transpose-words (M-C-t)`:	Commands For Killing
	`skip-csi-sequence ()`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`start-kbd-macro (C-x ()`:	Keyboard Macros

T
	`tilde-expand (M-&)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`transpose-chars (C-t)`:	Commands For Text
	`transpose-words (M-t)`:	Commands For Text

U
	`undo (C-_ or C-x C-u)`:	Miscellaneous Commands
	`universal-argument ()`:	Numeric Arguments
	`unix-filename-rubout ()`:	Commands For Killing
	`unix-line-discard (C-u)`:	Commands For Killing
	`unix-word-rubout (C-w)`:	Commands For Killing
	`upcase-word (M-u)`:	Commands For Text

Y
	`yank (C-y)`:	Commands For Killing
	`yank-last-arg (M-. or M-_)`:	Commands For History
	`yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)`:	Commands For History
	`yank-pop (M-y)`:	Commands For Killing

Jump to:	A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +G + +H + +I + +K + +M + +N + +O + +P + +Q + +R + +S + +T + +U + +Y + +

+ +

D.5 Concept Index

Jump to:	A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +H + +I + +J + +K + +L + +M + +N + +O + +P + +Q + +R + +S + +T + +V + +W + +Y + +

	Index Entry	Section

A
	alias expansion:	Aliases
	arithmetic evaluation:	Shell Arithmetic
	arithmetic expansion:	Arithmetic Expansion
	arithmetic, shell:	Shell Arithmetic
	arrays:	Arrays

B
	background:	Job Control Basics
	Bash configuration:	Basic Installation
	Bash installation:	Basic Installation
	Bourne shell:	Basic Shell Features
	brace expansion:	Brace Expansion
	builtin:	Definitions

C
	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, compound:	Compound Commands
	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
	Compatibility Level:	Shell Compatibility Mode
	Compatibility Mode:	Shell Compatibility Mode
	completion builtins:	Programmable Completion Builtins
	configuration:	Basic Installation
	control operator:	Definitions
	coprocess:	Coprocesses

D
	directory stack:	The Directory Stack

E
	editing command lines:	Readline Bare Essentials
	environment:	Environment
	evaluation, arithmetic:	Shell Arithmetic
	event designators:	Event Designators
	execution environment:	Command Execution Environment
	exit status:	Definitions
	exit status:	Exit Status
	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

F
	field:	Definitions
	filename:	Definitions
	filename expansion:	Filename Expansion
	foreground:	Job Control Basics
	functions, shell:	Shell Functions

H
	history builtins:	Bash History Builtins
	history events:	Event Designators
	history expansion:	History Interaction
	history list:	Bash History Facilities
	History, how to use:	A Programmable Completion Example

I
	identifier:	Definitions
	initialization file, readline:	Readline Init File
	installation:	Basic Installation
	interaction, readline:	Readline Interaction
	interactive shell:	Invoking Bash
	interactive shell:	Interactive Shells
	internationalization:	Locale Translation

J
	job:	Definitions
	job control:	Definitions
	job control:	Job Control Basics

K
	kill ring:	Readline Killing Commands
	killing text:	Readline Killing Commands

L
	localization:	Locale Translation
	login shell:	Invoking Bash

M
	matching, pattern:	Pattern Matching
	metacharacter:	Definitions

N
	name:	Definitions
	native languages:	Locale Translation
	notation, readline:	Readline Bare Essentials

O
	operator, shell:	Definitions

P
	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
	programmable completion:	Programmable Completion
	prompting:	Controlling the Prompt

Q
	quoting:	Quoting
	quoting, ANSI:	ANSI-C Quoting

R
	Readline, how to use:	Job Control Variables
	redirection:	Redirections
	reserved word:	Definitions
	reserved words:	Reserved Words
	restricted shell:	The Restricted Shell
	return status:	Definitions

S
	shell arithmetic:	Shell Arithmetic
	shell function:	Shell Functions
	shell script:	Shell Scripts
	shell variable:	Shell Parameters
	shell, interactive:	Interactive Shells
	signal:	Definitions
	signal handling:	Signals
	special builtin:	Definitions
	special builtin:	Special Builtins
	startup files:	Bash Startup Files
	suspending jobs:	Job Control Basics

T
	tilde expansion:	Tilde Expansion
	token:	Definitions
	translation, native languages:	Locale Translation

V
	variable, shell:	Shell Parameters
	variables, readline:	Readline Init File Syntax

W
	word:	Definitions
	word splitting:	Word Splitting

Y
	yanking text:	Readline Killing Commands

Jump to:	A + +B + +C + +D + +E + +F + +H + +I + +J + +K + +L + +M + +N + +O + +P + +Q + +R + +S + +T + +V + +W + +Y + +

+ +

+ + + + + -- cgit v1.2.3

• What is Bash?		A short description of Bash. +
• What is a shell?		A brief introduction to shells. +

• Shell Operation		The basic operation of the shell. +
• Quoting		How to remove the special meaning from characters. +
• Comments		How to specify comments. +

• 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. +

• Reserved Words		Words that have special meaning to the shell. +
• Simple Commands		The most common type of command. +
• Pipelines		Connecting the input and output of several + commands. +
• Lists		How to execute commands sequentially. +
• Compound Commands		Shell commands for control flow. +
• Coprocesses		Two-way communication between commands. +
• GNU Parallel		Running commands in parallel. +

• Looping Constructs		Shell commands for iterative action. +
• Conditional Constructs		Shell commands for conditional execution. +
• Command Grouping		Ways to group commands. +

• Positional Parameters		The shell’s command-line arguments. +
• Special Parameters		Parameters denoted by special characters. +

• Bourne Shell Builtins		Builtin commands inherited from the Bourne + Shell. +
• Bash Builtins		Table of builtins specific to Bash. +
• Modifying Shell Behavior		Builtins to modify shell attributes and + optional behavior. +
• Special Builtins		Builtin commands classified specially by + POSIX. +

• The Set Builtin		Change the values of shell attributes and + positional parameters. +
• The Shopt Builtin		Modify shell optional behavior. +

• Bourne Shell Variables		Variables which Bash uses in the same way + as the Bourne Shell. +
• Bash Variables		List of variables that exist in Bash. +

• What is an Interactive Shell?		What determines whether a shell is Interactive. +
• Is this Shell Interactive?		How to tell if a shell is interactive. +
• Interactive Shell Behavior		What changes in a interactive shell? +

• 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. +

• 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. +

• 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. +

• 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. +

• Event Designators		How to specify which history line to use. +
• Word Designators		Specifying which words are of interest. +
• Modifiers		Modifying the results of substitution. +

• 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. +

Bash Reference Manual

Table of Contents

Bash Features

1 Introduction

1.1 What is Bash?

1.2 What is a shell?

2 Definitions

3 Basic Shell Features

3.1 Shell Syntax

3.1.1 Shell Operation

3.1.2 Quoting

3.1.2.1 Escape Character

3.1.2.2 Single Quotes

3.1.2.3 Double Quotes

3.1.2.4 ANSI-C Quoting

3.1.2.5 Locale-Specific Translation

3.1.3 Comments

3.2 Shell Commands

3.2.1 Reserved Words

3.2.2 Simple Commands

3.2.3 Pipelines

3.2.4 Lists of Commands

3.2.5 Compound Commands

3.2.5.1 Looping Constructs

3.2.5.2 Conditional Constructs

3.2.5.3 Grouping Commands

3.2.6 Coprocesses

3.2.7 GNU Parallel

3.3 Shell Functions

3.4 Shell Parameters

3.4.1 Positional Parameters

3.4.2 Special Parameters

3.5 Shell Expansions

3.5.1 Brace Expansion

3.5.2 Tilde Expansion

3.5.3 Shell Parameter Expansion

3.5.4 Command Substitution

3.5.5 Arithmetic Expansion

3.5.6 Process Substitution

3.5.7 Word Splitting

3.5.8 Filename Expansion

3.5.8.1 Pattern Matching

3.5.9 Quote Removal

3.6 Redirections

3.6.1 Redirecting Input

3.6.2 Redirecting Output

3.6.3 Appending Redirected Output

3.6.4 Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

3.6.5 Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

3.6.6 Here Documents

3.6.7 Here Strings

3.6.8 Duplicating File Descriptors

3.6.9 Moving File Descriptors

3.6.10 Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing

3.7 Executing Commands

3.7.1 Simple Command Expansion

3.7.2 Command Search and Execution

3.7.3 Command Execution Environment

3.7.4 Environment

3.7.5 Exit Status

3.7.6 Signals

3.8 Shell Scripts

4 Shell Builtin Commands

4.1 Bourne Shell Builtins

4.2 Bash Builtin Commands

4.3 Modifying Shell Behavior

4.3.1 The Set Builtin

4.3.2 The Shopt Builtin

4.4 Special Builtins

5 Shell Variables

5.1 Bourne Shell Variables

5.2 Bash Variables

6 Bash Features

6.1 Invoking Bash

6.2 Bash Startup Files

Invoked as an interactive login shell, or with --login

Invoked as an interactive non-login shell

Invoked non-interactively

Invoked with name sh

Invoked in POSIX mode

Invoked as an interactive login shell, or with `--login`

Invoked with name `sh`