The bash shell

Updated: 11/13/2018 by Computer Hope

• About bash
• bash syntax
• bash examples
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About bash
Short for "Bourne-Again Shell," bash is a Unix shell. Originally released in 1989 as a free replacement
for the Bourne Shell, bash is part of the GNU project.
It is the default shell environment in both Linux and Mac OS X.

Description
bash is an sh-compatible command language interpreter that executes commands read from the
standard input or from a file. bash also incorporates useful features from the Korn and C shells (ksh
and csh).
bash is intended to be a conformant implementation of the Shell and Utilities portion of the IEEE
POSIX specification (IEEE Standard 1003.1). bash can be configured to be POSIX-conformant by
default.
bash syntax
bash [options] [file]

Options
All of the single-character shell options documented in the description of the set builtin command can
be used as options when invoking bash.
The following options are also available:

If the -c option is present, then commands are read from string. If there are arguments after
-c string
the string, they are assigned to the positional parameters, starting with $0.

If the -i option is present, the shell is interactive. For more information about interactive
-i
shells, see invocation, below.

Make bash act as if it had been invoked as a login shell. See the "Invocation" section below
-l
for more details.

If the -r option is present, the shell becomes restricted (see the "Restricted Shell" section
-r
below for more details.

If the -s option is present, or if no arguments remain after option processing, then commands
-s are read from the standard input. This option allows the positional parameters to be set when
invoking an interactive shell.

A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by $ is printed on the standard output. These are
-D the strings that are subject to language translation when the current locale is not C or
POSIX. This implies the -n option; no commands will be executed.

shopt_option is one of the shell options accepted by the shopt builtin (see the section "Shell
[-+]O Builtin Commands" for details). If shopt_option is present, -O sets the value of that option;
[shopt_o +O unsets it. If shopt_option is not supplied, the names and values of the shell options
ption] 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. An argument of - is equivalent to --.

bash also interprets a number of multi-character options. These options must appear on the command
line before the single-character options to be recognized:

Arrange for the debugger profile to be executed before the shell starts. Turns on
--debugger extended debugging mode (see the description of the extdebug option to the
shopt builtin below).
 Equivalent to -D, but the output is in the GNU gettext po (portable object) file
--dump-po-strings
format.

--dump-strings equivalent to -D.

--help Display a usage message and exit.

Execute commands from file instead of the system-wide initialization file

--initfile file, --rcfile
/etc/bash.bashrc and the standard personal initialization file ~/.bashrc if the
file
shell is interactive (see the "Invocation" section below for details).

--login Equivalent to -l

Do not use the GNU readline library to read command lines when the shell is
--noediting
interactive.

Do not read either the system-wide startup file /etc/profile or any of the personal
initialization files ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, or ~/.profile. By default, bash
--noprofile
reads these files when it is invoked as a login shell (see the "Invocation" section
below for details).

Do not read and execute the system-wide initialization file /etc/bash.bashrc and
--norc the personal initialization file ~/.bashrc if the shell is interactive. This option is
on by default if the shell is invoked as sh.

Change the behavior of bash where the default operation differs from the POSIX
--posix
standard to match the standard.

The shell becomes restricted (see the "Restricted Shell" section below for
--restricted
details).

--verbose Equivalent to -v.

--version Show version information for this instance of bash and exit.

Arguments
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. If 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. An
attempt is first made to open the file in the current directory, and if no file is found, the shell searches
the directories in PATH for the script.
Invocation
A login shell is one whose first character of argument zero is a -, or one started with the --login option.
An interactive shell is one started without non-option arguments and without the -c option whose
standard input and error are both connected to terminals (as determined by isatty), or one started with
the -i option. PS1 (command prompt string) is set and $- includes i if bash is interactive, allowing a
shell script or a startup file to test this state.
The following paragraphs describe how bash executes its startup files. If any of the files exist but
cannot be read, bash reports an error. Tildes are expanded in filenames as described below under "Tilde
Expansion" in the "Expansion" section.
When bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-interactive shell with the --login option,
it first reads and executes commands from the file /etc/profile, if that file exists. After reading that file,
it looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order, and reads and executes
commands from the first one that exists and is readable. The --noprofile option may be used when the
shell is started to inhibit this behavior.
When a login shell exits, bash reads and executes commands from the file ~/.bash_logout, if it exists.
When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started, bash reads and executes commands from
/etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc, if these files exist. This may be inhibited by using the --norc option.
The --rcfile file option will force bash to read and execute commands from file instead of
/etc/bash.bashrc and ~/.bashrc.
When bash is started non-interactively, to run a shell script, for example, it looks for the variable
BASH_ENV in the environment, expands its value if it appears there, and uses the expanded value as
the name of a file to read and execute. Bash behaves as if the following command were executed:
if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi

but the value of the PATH variable is not used to search for the file name.
If bash is invoked with the name sh, it tries to mimic the startup behavior of historical versions of sh as
closely as possible, while conforming to the POSIX standard as well. When invoked as an interactive
login shell, or a non-interactive shell with the --login option, it first attempts to read and execute
commands from /etc/profile and ~/.profile, in that order. The --noprofile option may be used to inhibit
this behavior. When invoked as an interactive shell with the name sh, bash looks for the variable ENV,
expands its value if it is defined, and uses the expanded value as the name of a file to read and execute.
Since a shell invoked as sh does not attempt to read and execute commands from any other startup
files, the --rcfile option has no effect. A non-interactive shell invoked with the name sh does not
attempt to read any other startup files. When invoked as sh, bash enters posix mode after the startup
files are read.
When bash is started in posix mode, as with the --posix command line option, it follows the POSIX
standard for startup files. In this mode, interactive shells expand the ENV variable and commands are
read and executed from the file whose name is the expanded value. No other startup files are read.
Bash attempts to determine when it is being run 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
and ~/.bashrc, if these files exist and are readable. It will not do this if invoked as sh. The --norc
option may be used to inhibit this behavior, and the --rcfile option may be used to force another file to
be read, but rshd does not generally invoke the shell with those options or allow them to be specified.
If the shell is started with the effective user (or group) id not equal to the real user (or 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.

Definitions
In the following sections, these terms are defined as follows:

blank a blank space or tab.

a sequence of characters considered as a single unit by the shell. Also known as a

word
token.

a word consisting only of alphanumeric characters and underscores, and beginning

name
with alphabetic character or an underscore. Also referred to as an identifier.

a character that, when unquoted, separates words. A bash metacharacter is one of the
metacharacter
following: |, &, ;, (, ), <, >, space, or tab.

control a token that performs a control function. It is one of the following symbols: ||, &,
operator &&, ;, ;;, (, ), |, |&, or a newline.

Reserved Words
Reserved words are words that have special meaning to the shell. The following words are recognized
as reserved when unquoted and either the first word or a simple command (see the "Shell Grammar"
section below), or the third word of a case or for command:
!
case
do
done
elif
else
esac
fi
for
function
if
in
select
then
until
while
{
}
time
[[
]]

Shell Grammar
Simple Commands
A simple command is an optional sequence of variable assignments followed by blank-separated words
and redirections, and terminated by a control operator. The first word specifies the command to be
executed, and is passed as argument zero. The remaining words are passed as arguments to the invoked
command.
The return value of a simple command is its exit status, or 128+n if the command is terminated by
signal n.
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 ] ] [ ! ] command [ [ | ⎪ | & ] command2 ... ]

The standard output of command is connected via a pipe to the standard input of command2. This
connection is performed before any redirections specified by the command (see the "Redirection"
section below for details). If |& is used, the standard error of command is connected to command2's
standard input through the pipe; it is shorthand for 2>&1 |. This implicit redirection of the standard
error is performed after any redirections specified by the command.
The return status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command, unless the pipefail option is
enabled. 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
a pipeline, the exit status of that pipeline 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.
If the time reserved word precedes a pipeline, the elapsed as well as user and system time consumed by
its execution are reported when the pipeline terminates. The -p option changes the output format to that
specified by POSIX. When the shell is in 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 the description of TIMEFORMAT in
the "Shell Variables" section below for details.
When the shell is in 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.
Each command in a pipeline is executed as a separate process (a subshell).
Lists
A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by one of the operators ;, &, &&, or ||, and
optionally terminated by one of ;, &, or <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 instead of a semicolon to delimit commands.
If a command is terminated by the control operator &, the shell executes the command in the
background in a subshell. The shell does not wait for the command to finish, and the return status is 0.
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 of more pipelines separated by the && and || control
operators, 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.
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.
Compound Commands
A compound command is one of the following:

list is executed in a subshell environment (see the "Command Execution Environment"

section below for details). Variable assignments and builtin commands that affect the
(list)
shell's environment do not remain in effect after the command completes. The return
status is the exit status of list.
 list is executed in the current shell environment. The list must be terminated with a
newline or semicolon. This is known as a group command. The return status is the exit
{ list; } status of list. Note that unlike the metacharacters ( and ), { and } are reserved words and
must occur where a reserved word is permitted to be recognized. Since they do not cause a
word break, they must be separated from list by whitespace or another shell metacharacter.

The expression is evaluated according to the rules described below in the section
((expressio
"Arithmetic Evaluation". If the value of the expression is non-zero, the return status is 0;
n))
otherwise the return status is 1. This is exactly equivalent to let "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 under the section
"Conditional Expressions." Word splitting and pathname expansion are not performed on
the words between the [[ and ]]; tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion,
[[ expressio
arithmetic expansion, command substitution, process substitution, and quote removal are
n ]]
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.

See the description of the test builtin command (in the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below) for
the handling of parameters (i.e. missing parameters).
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 under Pattern Matching. If the shell option
nocasematch 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 it 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 an extended regular expression and matched
accordingly (as in regex). 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 shell
option nocasematch is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of alphabetic
characters. Any part of the pattern may be quoted to force it to be matched as a string. Substrings
matched by parenthesized subexpressions within the regular expression are saved in the array variable
BASH_REMATCH. The element of BASH_REMATCH with index 0 is the portion of the string
matching the entire regular expression. The element of BASH_REMATCH with index n is the portion
of the string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression.
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.
for name [ [ in [ word ... ] ] ; ] do list ; done

The list of words following in is expanded, generating a list of items. The variable name is set to each
element of this list in turn, and list is executed each time. If the in word is omitted, the for command
executes list once for each positional parameter that is set (see the "Parameters" section below). The
return status is the exit status of the last command that executes. If the expansion of the items following
in results in an empty list, no commands are executed, and the return status is 0.
for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) ; do list ; done

First, the arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated according to the rules described below under
"Arithmetic Expansion". The arithmetic expression expr2 is then evaluated repeatedly until it evaluates
to zero. Each time expr2 evaluates to a non-zero value, list is 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 list that is executed, or false if any of the expressions is invalid.
select name [ in word ] ; do list ; 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, each preceded by a number. If the in word is omitted, the positional
parameters are printed (see the "Parameters" section below). The PS3 prompt is then displayed and a
line 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 command completes. Any other value read causes name to be set
to null. The line read is saved in the variable REPLY. The list is executed after each selection until a
break command is executed. The exit status of select is the exit status of the last command executed in
list, or zero if no commands were executed.
case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac

A case command first expands word, and tries to match it against each pattern in turn, using the same
matching rules as for pathname expansion (see the "Pathname Expansion" section, below). The word is
expanded using tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, arithmetic substitution, command
substitution, process substitution and quote removal. Each pattern examined is expanded using tilde
expansion, parameter and variable expansion, arithmetic substitution, command substitution, and
process substitution. If the shell option nocasematch is enabled, the match is performed without regard
to the case of alphabetic characters. When a match is found, the corresponding list is executed. 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 list associated with the next set of patterns. Using ;;& in
place of ;; causes the shell to test the next pattern list in the statement, if any, and execute any
associated list on a successful match. The exit status is zero if no pattern matches. Otherwise, it is the
exit status of the last command executed in list.
if list; then list; [ elif list; then list; ] ... [ else list; ] fi

The if list is executed. If its exit status is zero, the then list is executed. Otherwise, each elif list is
executed in turn, and if its exit status is zero, the corresponding then list is executed and the command
completes. Otherwise, the else list is executed, if present. The exit status is the exit status of the last
command executed, or zero if no condition tested true.
while list-1; do list-2; done until list-1; do list-2; done

The while command continuously executes the list list-2 as long as the last command in the list list-1
returns an exit status of zero. The until command is identical to the while command, except that the
test is negated; list-2 is executed as long as the last command in list-1 returns a non-zero exit status.
The exit status of the while and until commands is the exit status of the last command executed in list-
2, or zero if none was executed.
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. The
NAME must not be supplied if command is a simple command (see above); otherwise, it is interpreted
as the first word of the simple command. When the coproc is executed, the shell creates an array
variable (see the "Arrays" section below) 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 the "Redirection" section below).
The file descriptors can be utilized as arguments to shell commands and redirections using standard
word expansions. 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.
The return status of a coprocess is the exit status of command.
Shell Function Definitions
A shell function is an object that is called like a simple command and executes a compound command
with a new set of positional parameters. Shell functions are declared as follows:
name () compound-command [redirection]

function name [()] compound-command [redirection]

This defines a function named name. The reserved word function is optional. If the function reserved
word is supplied, the parentheses are optional. The body of the function is the compound command
compound-command (see "Compound Commands" section above). That command is usually a list of
commands between { and }, but may be any command listed under Compound Commands above. The
compound-command is executed whenever name is specified as the name of a simple command. Any
redirections (see "Redirection" section below) specified when a function is defined are performed when
the function is executed. 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. See "Functions" section below.

Comments
In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the interactive_comments option to the
shopt builtin is enabled (see "Shell Builtin Commands" section below), 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.

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 metacharacters listed above under the "Definitions" section 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 the "History Expansion" section
below), the history expansion character, usually !, must be quoted to prevent history expansion.
There are three quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single quotes, and double quotes.
A non-quoted backslash (\) is the 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 is not
itself quoted, the \<newline> is treated as a line continuation (that is, it is removed from the input
stream and effectively ignored).
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.
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, !. The characters $ and ` retain
their special meaning within double quotes. The backslash retains its special meaning only when
followed by one of the following characters: $, `, ", \, or <newline>. 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 the section
"Parameters" below).
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

\f form feed

\n new line

\r carriage return

\t horizontal tab

\v vertical tab

\\ backslash

\' single quote

\" double quote

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

the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value
\uHHHH
HHHH (one to four hex digits)

the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value
\UHHHHHHHH
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.
A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign ($"string") will cause the string to be translated
according to the current locale. If the current locale is C or POSIX, the dollar sign is ignored. If the
string is translated and replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

Parameters
A parameter is an entity that stores values. It can be a name, a number, or one of the special characters
listed below under Special Parameters. 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
declare below in the "Shell Builtin Commands" section). 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 (also documented in the "Shell Builtin Commands" section).
A variable may be assigned 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 (see
the section "Expansion" below). If the variable has its integer attribute set, then value is evaluated as an
arithmetic expression even if the $((...)) expansion is not used (see the section "Arithmetic Expansion"
below). Word splitting is not performed, with the exception of "$@" as explained below under Special
Parameters. Pathname expansion is not performed. Assignment statements may also appear as
arguments to the alias, declare, typeset, export, readonly, and local builtin commands.
In the context where an assignment statement is assigning a value to a shell variable or array index, the
+= operator can be used to append to or add to the variable's previous value. 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" below), 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.
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 parameters may not be assigned to with
assignment statements. The positional parameters are temporarily replaced when a shell function is
executed (see the section "Functions" below).
When a positional parameter consisting of more than a single digit is expanded, it must be enclosed in
braces (see the section "Expansion" below).
Special Parameters
The shell treats several parameters specially. These parameters may only be referenced; assignment to
them is not allowed.

Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. When the expansion occurs within double
quotes, it expands to a single word with the value of each parameter separated by the first character
of the IFS special variable. That is, "$*" is equivalent to "$1c$2c...", where c is the first character of
the value of the IFS variable. If IFS is unset, the parameters are separated by spaces. If IFS is null,
the parameters are joined without intervening separators. The @ Expands to the positional
* parameters, starting from one. When the expansion occurs within double quotes, each parameter
expands to a separate word. That is, "$@" is equivalent to "$1" "$2" ... If the double-quoted
expansion occurs within a word, the expansion of the first parameter is joined with the beginning
part of the original word, and the expansion of the last parameter is joined with the last part of the
original word. When there are no positional parameters, "$@" 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.

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). The $ Expands to the process ID of the shell. In a
() subshell, it expands to the process ID of the current shell, not the subshell.

! Expands to the process ID of the most recently executed background (asynchronous) command.

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, $0 is set to the name of that file. If bash is started with the -c option, then
0
$0 is set to the first argument after the string to be executed, if one is present. Otherwise, it is set to
the file name used to invoke bash, as given by argument zero.

_ At shell startup, set to the absolute 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 command, 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 currently being checked.

Shell Variables
The following variables are set by the shell:

BASH Expands to the full file name used to invoke this instance of bash.

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 section "Shell
Builtin Commands" below). The options appearing in BASHOPTS are those
BASHOPTS
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 read-only.

Expands to the process ID of the current bash process. This differs from $$ under
BASHPID certain circumstances, such as subshells that do not require bash to be re-
initialized.

An associative array variable whose members correspond to the internal list of

aliases as maintained by the alias builtin. Elements added to this array appear in
BASH_ALIASES
the alias list; unsetting array elements cause aliases to be removed from the alias
list.

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
BASH_ARGC 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 description of the extdebug option to the shopt builtin
below)

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
BASH_ARGV
executed, the parameters supplied are pushed onto BASH_ARGV. The shell sets
BASH_ARGV only when in extended debugging mode (see the description of the
extdebug option to the shopt builtin below)

An associative array variable whose members correspond to the internal hash

table of commands as maintained by the hash builtin. Elements added to this
BASH_CMDS
array appear in the hash table; unsetting array elements cause commands to be
removed from the hash table.
 The command currently being executed or about to be executed, unless the shell is
BASH_COMMA
executing a command as the result of a trap, in which case it is the command
ND
executing at the time of the trap.

BASH_EXECUTI
The command argument to the -c invocation option.
ON_STRING

An array variable whose members are the line numbers in source files where each
corresponding member of FUNCNAME was invoked. The $
{BASH_LINENO[$i]} is the line number in the source file ($
BASH_LINENO
{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.

An array variable whose members are assigned by the =~ binary operator to the
[[ conditional command. The element with index 0 is the portion of the string
BASH_REMATC
matching the entire regular expression. The element with index n is the portion of
H
the string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression. This variable is read-
only.

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

BASH_SUBSHEL Incremented by one each time a subshell or subshell environment is spawned. The
L initial value is 0.

A readonly array variable whose members hold version information for this
instance of bash. The values assigned to the array members are as follows:

BASH_VERSINFO[0]: The major version number (the release).

BASH_VERSINFO[1]: The minor version number (the version).

BASH_VERSINF
O 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 Expands to a string describing the version of this instance of bash.

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" below).

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

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

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
COMP_POINT 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 the section "Programmable Completion" below).

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
COMP_TYPE 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 the section
"Programmable Completion" below).

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

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

An array variable (see "Arrays" below) created to hold the file descriptors for
COPROC output from and input to an unnamed coprocess (see the section "Coprocesses"
above).

An array variable (see the section "Arrays" below) 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
DIRSTACK 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.
 Expands to the effective user ID of the current user, initialized at shell startup.
EUID
This variable is readonly.

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 and return an error status. If
FUNCNAME is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is subsequently
FUNCNAME
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.

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

The history number, or index in the history list, of the current command. If
HISTCMD
HISTCMD is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

HOSTNAME Automatically set to the name of the current host.

Automatically set to a string that uniquely describes the type of machine on which
HOSTTYPE
bash is executing. The default is system-dependent.

Each time this parameter is referenced, the shell substitutes a decimal number
representing the current sequential line number (starting with 1) within a script or
LINENO function. When not in a script or function, the value substituted is not guaranteed
to be meaningful. If LINENO is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is
subsequently reset.

Automatically set to a string that fully describes the system type on which bash is
ACHTYPE executing, in the standard GNU cpu-company-system format. The default is
system- dependent.

An array variable (see the "Arrays" section below) created to hold the text read by
MAPFILE
the mapfile builtin when no variable name is supplied.

OLDPWD The previous working directory as set by the cd command.

The value of the last option argument processed by the getopts builtin command
OPTARG
(see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).
 The index of the next argument to be processed by the getopts builtin command
OPTIND
(see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).

Automatically set to a string that describes the operating system on which bash is
OSTYPE
executing. The default is system-dependent.

An array variable (see the section "Arrays" below) containing a list of exit status
PIPESTATUS values from the processes in the most-recently-executed foreground pipeline
(which may contain only a single command).

PPID The process ID of the shell's parent. This variable is readonly.

PWD The current working directory as set by the cd command.

Each time this parameter is referenced, a random integer between 0 and 32767 is
generated. The sequence of random numbers may be initialized by assigning a
RANDOM
value to RANDOM. If RANDOM is unset, it loses its special properties, even if
it is subsequently reset.

READLINE_LIN The contents of the readline line buffer, for use with "bind -x" (see the section
E "Shell Builtin Commands" below).

READLINE_POI The position of the insertion point in the readline line buffer, for use with "bind
NT -x" (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).

Set to the line of input read by the read builtin command when no arguments are
REPLY
supplied.

Each time this parameter is referenced, the number of seconds since shell
invocation is returned. If a value is assigned to SECONDS, the value returned
SECONDS upon subsequent references is the number of seconds since the assignment plus
the value assigned. If SECONDS is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it
is subsequently reset.

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 section "Shell
Builtin Commands" below). The options appearing in SHELLOPTS are those
SHELLOPTS
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 read-only.

SHLVL Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

Expands to the user ID of the current user, initialized at shell startup. This variable
UID
is readonly.
The following variables are used by the shell. In some cases, bash assigns a default value to a variable;
these cases are noted below.

If this parameter is set when bash is executing a shell script, its value is
interpreted as a filename containing commands to initialize the shell, as in
BASH_ENV ~/.bashrc. The value of BASH_ENV is subjected to parameter expansion,
command substitution, and arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a
file name. PATH is not used to search for the resultant file name.

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. The file
descriptor is closed when BASH_XTRACEFD is unset or assigned a new
BASH_XTRACEFD 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.

The search path for the cd command. This is a colon-separated list of

CDPATH directories in which the shell looks for destination directories specified by the
cd command. A sample value is ".:~:/usr".

Used by the select compound command to determine the terminal width when
COLUMNS
printing selection lists. Automatically set upon receipt of a SIGWINCH.

An array variable from which bash reads the possible completions generated
COMPREPLY by a shell function invoked by the programmable completion facility (see
"Programmable Completion" below).

If bash finds this variable in the environment when the shell starts with value
EMACS "t", it assumes that the shell is running in an Emacs shell buffer and disables
line editing.

ENV Similar to BASH_ENV; used when the shell is invoked in POSIX mode.

FCEDIT The default editor for the fc builtin command.

A colon-separated list of suffixes to ignore when performing filename

completion (see the section "Readline" below). A filename whose suffix
FIGNORE matches one of the entries in FIGNORE is excluded from the list of matched
filenames. A sample value is ".o:~" (Quoting is needed when assigning a
value to this variable, which contains tildes).

If set to a numeric value greater than 0, defines a maximum function nesting

FUNCNEST level. Function invocations that exceed this nesting level will cause the
current command to abort.
 A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of filenames to be ignored
by pathname expansion. If a filename matched by a pathname expansion
GLOBIGNORE
pattern also matches one of the patterns in GLOBIGNORE, it is removed
from the list of matches.

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 matching 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
HISTCONTROL
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.

The name of the file in which command history is saved (see the section
HISTFILE "History" below). The default value is ~/.bash_history. If unset, the
command history is not saved when an interactive shell exits.

The maximum number of lines contained in the history file. When this
variable is assigned a value, the history file is truncated, if necessary, by
HISTFILESIZE removing the oldest entries, to contain no more than that number of lines. The
default value is 500. The history file is also truncated to this size after writing
it when an interactive shell exits.

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
HISTIGNORE
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 number of commands to remember in the command history (see the

HISTSIZE
section "History" below). The default value is 500.

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.

The home directory of the current user; the default argument for the cd builtin
HOME command. The value of this variable is also used when performing tilde
expansion.

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
HOSTFILE
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.

The Internal Field Separator that is used for word splitting after expansion
IFS and to split lines into words with the read builtin command. The default value
is "<space><tab><newline>".

Controls the action of an interactive shell on receipt of an EOF character as

the sole input. If set, the value is the number of consecutive EOF characters
which must be typed as the first characters on an input line before bash exits.
IGNOREEOF
If the variable exists but does not have a numeric value, or has no value, the
default value is 10. If it does not exist, EOF signifies the end of input to the
shell.

The filename for the readline startup file, overriding the default of ~/.inputrc
INPUTRC
(see the section "Readline" below).

Used to determine the locale category for any category not specifically
LANG
selected with a variable starting with LC_.

This variable overrides the value of LANG and any other LC_ variable
LC_ALL
specifying a locale category.

This variable determines the collation order used when sorting the results of
pathname expansion, and determines the behavior of range expressions,
LC_COLLATE
equivalence classes, and collating sequences within pathname expansion and
pattern matching.

This variable determines the interpretation of characters and the behavior of

LC_CTYPE
character classes within pathname expansion and pattern matching.

This variable determines the locale used to translate double-quoted strings

LC_MESSAGES
preceded by a $.
LC_NUMERIC This variable determines the locale category used for number formatting.

Used by the select compound command to determine the column length for
LINES
printing selection lists. Automatically set upon receipt of a SIGWINCH.

If this parameter is set to a file or directory name and the MAILPATH

MAIL variable is not set, bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in the specified
file or Maildir-format directory.

Specifies how often (in seconds) bash checks for mail. The default is 60
seconds. When it is time to check for mail, the shell does so before displaying
MAILCHECK
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.

A colon-separated list of file names to be checked for mail. The message to be

printed when mail arrives in a particular file may be specified by separating
the file name from the message with a '?'. When used in the text of the
message, $_ expands to the name of the current mailfile. Example:
MAILPATH
MAILPATH='/var/mail/bfox?"You have mail":~/shell-mail?"$_ has
mail!"'

Bash supplies a default value for this variable, but the location of the user
mail files that it uses is system dependent (e.g., /var/mail/$USER).

If set to the value 1, bash displays error messages generated by the getopts
builtin command (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).
OPTERR is initialized to 1 each time the shell is invoked or a shell script is
executed. PATH The search path for commands. It is a colon-separated list of
directories in which the shell looks for commands (see the section "Command
OPTERR
Execution" below). 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. The default path is system-
dependent, and is set by the administrator who installs bash. A common value
is "/usr/gnu/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin".

If this variable is in the environment when bash starts, the shell enters posix
POSIXLY_CORREC mode before reading the startup files, as if the --posix invocation option had
T 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.

PROMPT_COMMAN If set, the value is executed as a command prior to issuing each primary
D prompt.

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 the section "Prompting" below). Characters removed are
 replaced with an ellipsis.

The value of this parameter is expanded (see "Prompting" below) and used as
PS1
the primary prompt string. The default value is "\s-\v\$ ".

The value of this parameter is expanded as with PS1 and used as the
PS2
secondary prompt string. The default is "> ".

The value of this parameter is used as the prompt for the select command (see
PS3
the section "Shell Grammar" above).

The value of this parameter is expanded as with PS1 and the value is printed
before each command bash displays during an execution trace. The first
PS4
character of PS4 is replicated multiple times, as necessary, to indicate
multiple levels of indirection. The default is "+ ".

The full pathname to the shell is kept in this environment variable. If it is not
SHELL set when the shell starts, bash assigns to it the full pathname of the current
user's login shell.

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%3lS'. If the value is null, no timing information is
displayed. A trailing newline is added when the format string is displayed.

If set to a value greater than zero, TMOUT is treated as the default timeout
for the read builtin. The select command terminates if input does not arrive
after TMOUT seconds when input is coming from a terminal. In an
TMOUT
interactive shell, the value is interpreted as the number of seconds to wait for
input after issuing the primary prompt. Bash terminates after waiting for that
number of seconds if input does not arrive.

If set, bash uses its value as the name of a directory in which bash creates
TMPDIR
temporary files for the shell's use.

This variable controls how the shell interacts with the user and job control. If
this variable is set, single word simple commands without redirections are
treated as candidates for resumption of an existing stopped job. There is no
ambiguity allowed; if there is more than one job beginning with the string
typed, the job most recently accessed is selected. The name of a stopped job,
in this context, is the command line used to start it. If set to the value exact,
auto_resume
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 identifier (see the section "Job Control" below). 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 %string job identifier.

The two or three characters which control history expansion and tokenization
(see the section "History Expansion" below). The first character is the history
expansion character, the character that signals the start of a history expansion,
normally '!'. The second character is the quick substitution character, which is
used as shorthand for re-running the previous command entered, substituting
histchars one string for another in the command. The default is '^'. The optional third
character is the character that indicates that the remainder of the line is a
comment when found as the first character of a word, normally '#'. 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.

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) and are zero-based; associative arrays
are referenced using arbitrary strings.
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. If subscript evaluates to a number less than zero, it is used as an offset from one greater than
the array's maximum index (so a subscript of -1 refers to the last element of the array). To explicitly
declare an indexed array, use declare -a name (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).
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 ... valuen), where each
value is of the form [subscript]=string. Indexed array assignments do not require the bracket and
subscript. When assigning to indexed arrays, if the optional brackets and subscript are 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.
When assigning to an associative array, the subscript is required.
This syntax is also accepted by the declare builtin. Individual array elements may be assigned to using
the name[subscript]=value syntax introduced above.
Any element of an array may be referenced using ${name[subscript]}. The braces are required to avoid
conflicts with pathname expansion. If subscript is @ or *, the word expands to all members of 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 special 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 @ (see the section "Special
Parameters" above). ${#name[subscript]} expands to the length of ${name[subscript]}. If subscript is *
or @, the expansion is the number of elements in the array. Referencing an array variable without a
subscript is equivalent to referencing the array with a subscript of 0.
An array variable is considered set if a subscript has been assigned a value. The null string is a valid
value.
The unset builtin is used to destroy arrays. unset name[subscript] destroys the array element at index
subscript. Care must be taken to avoid unwanted side effects caused by pathname expansion. unset
name, where name is an array, or unset name[subscript], where subscript is * or @, removes the entire
array.
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. The set and
declare builtins display array values in a way that allows them to be reused as assignments.

Expansion
Expansion is performed on the command line after it has been split into words. There are seven kinds
of expansion performed: brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, command
substitution, arithmetic expansion, word splitting, and pathname expansion.
The order of expansions is: brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter, variable and arithmetic
expansion and command substitution (done in a left-to-right fashion), word splitting, and pathname
expansion.
On systems that can support it, there is an additional expansion available: process substitution.
Only brace expansion, word splitting, and pathname expansion can change the number of words of the
expansion; other expansions expand a single word to a single word. The only exceptions to this are the
expansions of "$@" and "${name[@]}" as explained above (see the section "Parameters").

Brace Expansion
Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be generated. This mechanism is
similar to pathname 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, a{d,c,b}e expands into '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.
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.
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}}

Brace expansion introduces a slight incompatibility with historical versions of sh. sh does not treat
opening or closing braces specially when they appear as part of a word, and preserves them in the
output. Bash removes braces from words as a consequence of brace expansion. For example, a word
entered to sh as file{1,2} appears identically in the output. The same word is output as file1 file2 after
expansion by bash. If strict compatibility with sh is desired, start bash with the +B option or disable
brace expansion with the +B option to the set command (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands"
below).

Tilde Expansion
If a word begins with an unquoted tilde character ('~'), all of the characters preceding 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
shell parameter HOME. 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 a '~+', the value of the shell variable PWD replaces the tilde-prefix. If the tilde-
prefix is a '~-', 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 tilde-prefix as an argument. If the characters following
the tilde in the tilde-prefix consist of a number without a leading '+' or '-', '+' is assumed.
If the login name is invalid, or the tilde expansion fails, the word is 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 file names with tildes
in assignments to PATH, MAILPATH, and CDPATH, and the shell assigns the expanded value.
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.
Quick reference: Here is table briefly describing each bash parameter expansion form, and how it
behaves depending on the value of parameter.

parameter is Set, and parameter is Set, but

Form parameter is Unset
not Null Null
${parameter:-word} expand to parameter expand to word expand to word
${parameter-word} expand to parameter expand to Null expand to word
expand word, expand word,
${parameter:=word} expand to parameter assign to parameter, assign to parameter,
expand to parameter expand to parameter
expand word,
${parameter=word} expand to parameter expand to Null assign to parameter,
expand to parameter
return an Error, return an Error,
${parameter:?word} expand to parameter
terminate command terminate command
return an Error,
${parameter?word} expand to parameter expand to Null
terminate command
${parameter:+word} expand to parameter expand to Null expand to Null
${parameter+word} expand to parameter expand to word expand to Null
As you can see, if the expansion form includes a colon (":"), there is an alternate behavior when
parameter is set, but its value is Null (which is equivalent to the single-quoted empty string, ''). If
parameter is not set at all, behavior is the same with or without a colon.
The following descriptions go into a bit more detail:
${parameter}

Here, the value of parameter is substituted. The braces are required when parameter is a positional
parameter with more than one digit, or when parameter is followed by a character that is not to be
interpreted as part of its name.
If the first character of parameter is an exclamation point (!), a level of variable indirection is
introduced. Bash uses the value of the variable formed from the rest of parameter as the name of the
variable; this variable is then expanded and that value is used in the rest of the substitution, rather than
the value of parameter itself. This is known as indirect expansion. The exceptions to this are the
expansions of ${!prefix*} and ${!name[@]} described below. The exclamation point must immediately
follow the left brace 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 forms documented below, bash tests for a
parameter that is unset or null. Omitting the colon results in a test only for a parameter that is unset,
bypassing the test if the parameter is null.
${parameter:-word}

Use Default Values. If parameter is unset or null, the expansion of word is substituted. Otherwise, the
value of parameter is substituted.
${parameter:=word}

Assign Default Values. 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}

Display Error if Null or Unset. 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}

Use Alternate Value. If parameter is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise the expansion of
word is substituted.
${parameter:offset}

${parameter:offset:length}

Substring Expansion. Expands to up to length characters of parameter starting at the character

specified by offset. If length is omitted, expands to the substring of parameter starting at the character
specified by offset. The length and offset are arithmetic expressions (see the section "Arithmetic
Evaluation" below). If offset evaluates to a number less than zero, the value is used as an offset from
the end of the value of parameter. Arithmetic expressions starting with a - must be separated by
whitespace from the preceding : to be distinguished from the Use Default Values expansion. If length
evaluates to a number less than zero, and parameter is not @ and not an indexed or associative array, it
is interpreted as an offset from the end of the value of parameter rather than a number of characters,
and the expansion is the characters between the two offsets. If parameter is @, the result is length
positional parameters beginning at offset. 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. Substring expansion
applied to an associative array produces undefined results. Note that a negative offset must be separated
from the colon by at least one space to avoid being confused with the :- expansion. 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@}

Names matching 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[*]}

List of array keys. 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}

Parameter length. The length in characters of the value of parameter is substituted. If parameter is * or
@, the value substituted is the number of positional parameters. If parameter is an array name
subscripted by * or @, the value substituted is the number of elements in the array.
${parameter#word}

${parameter##word}

Remove matching prefix pattern. The word is expanded to produce a pattern just as in pathname
expansion. If the pattern matches the beginning of the 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}

Remove matching suffix pattern. The word is expanded to produce a pattern just as in pathname
expansion. If the pattern matches a trailing portion 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/pattern/string}

Pattern substitution. The pattern is expanded to produce a pattern just as in pathname expansion. The
Parameter is expanded and the longest match of pattern against its value is replaced with string. 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 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}

Case modification. This expansion modifies the case of alphabetic characters in parameter. The pattern
is expanded to produce a pattern just as in pathname expansion. 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.

Command Substitution
Command substitution allows the output of a command to replace the command name. There are two
forms:
$(command)

or
`command`

Bash performs the expansion by executing command and replacing the command substitution with the
standard output of the command, with any trailing newlines deleted. Embedded newlines are not
deleted, but they may be removed during word splitting. The command substitution $(cat file) can be
replaced by the equivalent but faster $(< file).
When the old-style backquote form of substitution is used, backslash retains its literal meaning except
when followed by $, `, or \. The first backquote not preceded by a backslash terminates the command
substitution. When using the $(command) form, all characters between the parentheses make up the
command; none are treated specially.
Command substitutions may be nested. To nest when using the backquoted form, escape the inner
backquotes with backslashes.
If the substitution appears within double quotes, word splitting and pathname expansion are not
performed on the results.

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 old format $[expression] is deprecated and will be removed in upcoming versions of bash.
The expression is treated as if it were within double quotes, but a double quote inside the parentheses is
not treated specially. All tokens in the expression undergo parameter expansion, string expansion,
command substitution, and quote removal. Arithmetic expansions may be nested.
The evaluation is performed according to the rules listed below under the section "Arithmetic
Evaluation." If expression is invalid, bash prints a message indicating failure and no substitution
occurs.

Process Substitution
Process substitution is supported on systems that support named pipes (FIFOs) or the /dev/fd method
of naming open files. It takes the form of <(list) or >(list). The process list is run with its input or
output connected to a FIFO or some file in /dev/fd. The name of this file is passed as an argument to
the current command as the result of the expansion. If the >(list) form is used, writing to the file will
provide input for list. If the <(list) form is used, the file passed as an argument should be read to obtain
the output of list.
When available, process substitution is performed simultaneously with parameter and variable
expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.
Word Splitting
The shell scans the results of parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion
that did not occur within double quotes for word splitting.
The shell treats each character of IFS as a delimiter, and splits the results of the other expansions into
words on these characters. If IFS is unset, or its value is exactly <space><tab><newline>, the default,
then 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 and tab are ignored at the beginning and end of the word, as long as the whitespace character is
in the value of IFS (an IFS whitespace character). Any character in IFS that is not IFS whitespace,
along with any adjacent IFS whitespace characters, delimits a field. A sequence of IFS whitespace
characters is also treated as a delimiter. If the value of IFS is null, no word splitting occurs.
Explicit null arguments ("" or '') are retained. Unquoted implicit null arguments, resulting from the
expansion of parameters that have no values, are removed. If a parameter with no value is expanded
within double quotes, a null argument results and is retained.
Note that if no expansion occurs, no splitting is performed.

Pathname Expansion
After word splitting, unless the -f option has been set, bash scans each word for the characters *, ?, and
[. If one of these characters appears, then the word is regarded as a pattern, and replaced with an
alphabetically sorted list of file names matching the pattern. If no matching file names are found, and
the shell option nullglob is not enabled, 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. Note that when using range
expressions like [a-z] (see the next section, "Pattern Matching"), letters of the other case may be
included, depending on the setting of LC_COLLATE. When a pattern is used for pathname expansion,
the character "." at the start of a name or immediately following a slash must be matched explicitly,
unless the shell option dotglob is set. When matching a pathname, the slash character must always be
matched explicitly. In other cases, the "." character is not treated specially. See the description of shopt
below under the section "Shell Builtin Commands" for a description of the nocaseglob, nullglob,
failglob, and dotglob shell 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. The file names "." 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 file names beginning with a "." will match.
To get the old behavior of ignoring file names beginning with a ".", make ".*" one of the patterns in
GLOBIGNORE. The dotglob option is disabled when GLOBIGNORE is unset.

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 pathname 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 sorts 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. The sorting order of characters in
range expressions is determined by the current locale and the value of the LC_COLLATE shell
variable, if set. A - may be matched by including it as the first or last character in the set. A ] may
be matched by including it as the first character in the set.

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

i
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

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.

Redirection
Before a command is executed, its input and output may be redirected using a special notation
interpreted by the shell. Redirection may also be used to open and close files for the current shell
execution environment. The following redirection operators may precede or appear anywhere within a
simple command or may follow a command. Redirections are processed in the order they appear, from
left to right.
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.
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, pathname 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 and standard error to the file dirlist, while the command
ls 2>&1 > dirlist

directs only the standard output to file dirlist, because the standard error was duplicated from 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:

/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.

/
If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port is an integer port number or
dev/tcp/host
service name, bash attempts to open a TCP connection to the corresponding socket.
/port

/
If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port is an integer port number or
dev/udp/hos
service name, bash attempts to open a UDP connection to the corresponding socket.
t/port

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.
Note that the exec builtin command can make redirections take effect in the current shell.

Redirecting Input
Redirection of input causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to be opened for
reading on file descriptor n, or the standard input (file descriptor 0) if n is not specified.
The general format for redirecting input is:
[n]<word

Redirecting Output
Redirection of output causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to be opened for
writing on file descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified. If the file does
not exist it is created; if it does exist it is truncated to zero size.
The general format for redirecting output is:
[n]>word

If the redirection operator is >, and the noclobber option to the set builtin has been enabled, the
redirection will fail if the 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 to the set
builtin command is not enabled, the redirection is attempted even if the file named by word exists.

Appending Redirected Output

Redirection of output in this fashion causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to
be opened for appending on file descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not
specified. If the file does not exist it is created.
The general format for appending output is:
[n]>>word

Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

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

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

Here Documents
This type of redirection instructs the shell to read input from the current source until a line containing
only delimiter (with no trailing blanks) is seen. All of the lines read up to that point are then used as the
standard input for a command.
The format of here-documents is:
<<[-]word here-document delimiter

No parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion, or pathname expansion is

performed on word. If any characters in word are quoted, the delimiter is the result of quote removal on
word, and the lines in the here-document are not expanded. If word is unquoted, all lines of the here-
document are subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. In
the latter case, the 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.

Here Strings
A variant of here documents, the format is:
<<<word

The word is expanded and supplied to the command on its standard input.

Duplicating File Descriptors

The redirection operator
[n]<&word

is used to duplicate input file descriptors. If word expands to one or more digits, the file descriptor
denoted by n is made to be a copy of that file descriptor. If the digits in word do not specify a file
descriptor open for input, a redirection error occurs. If word evaluates to -, file descriptor n is closed. If
n is not specified, the standard input (file descriptor 0) is used.
The operator
[n]>&word

is used similarly to duplicate output file descriptors. If n is not specified, the standard output (file
descriptor 1) is used. If the digits in word do not specify a file descriptor open for output, a redirection
error occurs. As a special case, if n is omitted, and word does not expand to one or more digits, the
standard output and standard error are redirected as described previously.

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. The 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.

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.

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 (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" for details). 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 = 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. If arguments are needed, a shell
function should be used (see the section "Functions" below).
Aliases are not expanded when the shell is not interactive, unless the expand_aliases shell option is set
using shopt (see the description of shopt under the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).
The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are somewhat confusing. Bash always reads at
least one complete line of input before executing any of the commands on that line. Aliases are
expanded when a command is read, not when it is executed. Therefore, an alias definition appearing on
the same line as another command does not take effect until the next line of input is read. The
commands following the alias definition on that line are not affected by the new alias. This behavior is
also an issue when functions are executed. Aliases are expanded when a function definition is read, not
when the function is executed, because a function definition is itself a compound command. As a
consequence, aliases defined in a function are not available until after that function is executed. To be
safe, always put alias definitions on a separate line, and do not use alias in compound commands.
For almost every purpose, aliases are superseded by shell functions.

Functions
A shell function, defined as described above under the section "Shell Grammar", stores a series of
commands for later execution. 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. Functions are executed in the
context of the current shell; no new process is created to interpret them (contrast this with the execution
of a shell script). When a function is executed, the arguments to the function become the positional
parameters during its execution. The special parameter # 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 (see the description of the trap builtin under the
section "Shell Builtin Commands" below) are not inherited unless the function has been given the trace
attribute (see the description of the declare builtin below) or the -o functrace shell 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.
Variables local to the function may be declared with the local builtin command. Ordinarily, variables
and their values are shared between the function and its caller.
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.
Function names and definitions may be listed with the -f option to the declare or typeset builtin
commands. 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. A function definition
may be deleted using the -f option to the unset builtin. Note that shell functions and variables with the
same name may result in multiple identically-named entries in the environment passed to the shell's
children. Care should be taken in cases where this may cause a problem.
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 imposed on the
number of recursive calls.

Arithmetic Evaluation
The shell allows arithmetic expressions to be evaluated, under certain circumstances (see the let and
declare builtin commands and the section "Arithmetic Expansion"). 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.
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. 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.

Conditional Expressions
Conditional expressions are used by the [[ compound command and the test and [ builtin commands to
test file attributes and perform string and arithmetic comparisons. Expressions are formed from the
following unary or binary primaries. If any 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.
Unless otherwise specified, primaries that operate on files follow symbolic links and operate on the
target of the link, rather than the link itself.
When used with [[, the < and > operators sort lexicographically using the current locale. The test
command sorts using ASCII ordering.

-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 is set-group-id.

-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.

True if file1 is newer (according to modification date) than file2, or if file1 exists and
file1 -nt file2
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. See the list of options under the
 description of the -o option to the set builtin below.

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

-z string True if the length of string is zero.

string, -n string True if the length of string is non-zero.

string1 ==
True if the strings are equal. = should be used with the test command for POSIX
string2, string1
conformance.
= string2

string1 !=
True if the strings are not equal.
string2

string1 <
True if string1 sorts before string2 lexicographically.
string2

string1 >
True if string1 sorts after string2 lexicographically.
string2

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
arg1 OP arg2
greater than or equal to arg2, respectively. The Arg1 and arg2 may be positive or
negative integers.

Simple Command Expansion

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

Command 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 above in the section "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 the PATH for a directory containing an executable file by that name. Bash uses a hash table to
remember the full pathnames of executable files (see hash under the section "Shell Builtin Commands"
below). 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 with the original command and the
original command's arguments as its arguments, and the function's exit status becomes the exit status of
the shell. 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 given, 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, a file containing shell commands. A subshell is spawned to execute it. This
subshell reinitializes itself, so that the effect is as if a new shell had been invoked to handle the script,
with the exception that the locations of commands remembered by the parent (see hash below under
the section "Shell Builtin Commands") are retained by the child.
If the program is a file beginning with #!, the remainder of the first line specifies an interpreter for the
program. The shell executes the specified interpreter on operating systems that do not handle this
executable format themselves. The arguments to the interpreter consist of a single optional argument
following the interpreter name on the first line of the program, followed by the name of the program,
followed by the command arguments, if any.

Command Execution Environment

The shell has an execution environment, which consists of the following:
• open files inherited by the shell at invocation, as modified by redirections supplied to the exec
builtin
• the current working directory as set by cd, pushd, or popd, or inherited by the shell at
invocation
• the file creation mode mask as set by umask or inherited from the shell's parent
• current traps set by trap
• shell parameters that are set by variable assignment or with set or inherited from the shell's
parent in the environment
• shell functions defined during execution or inherited from the shell's parent in the environment
• options enabled at invocation (either by default or with command-line arguments) or by set
• options enabled by shopt
• shell aliases defined with alias
• various process IDs, including those of background jobs, 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
• 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.

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.
The shell 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 command, 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 above in the section "Parameters." These assignment
statements affect only the environment seen by that command.
If the -k option is set (see the set builtin command below), 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 file name of the command
and passed to that command in its environment.

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. An exit status of
zero indicates success. A non-zero exit status indicates failure. When a command terminates on a fatal
signal N, bash uses the value of 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.
Shell builtin commands return a status of 0 (true) if successful, and non-zero (false) if an error occurs
while they execute. All builtins return an exit status of 2 to indicate incorrect usage.
Bash itself returns the exit status of the last command executed, unless a syntax error occurs, in which
case it exits with a non-zero value. See also the exit builtin command below.

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). In all
cases, bash ignores SIGQUIT. If job control is in effect, bash ignores SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and
SIGTSTP.
Non-builtin commands run 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 signal to a particular job, it should be removed
from the jobs table with the disown builtin (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below) or
marked to not receive SIGHUP using disown -h.
If the huponexit shell option has been set with shopt, 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.

Job Control
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 (in the background), 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 may then manipulate 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. A job may also be referred to using a prefix of the
name used to start it, or using a substring that appears in its command line. For example, %ce refers to
a stopped ce job. If a prefix matches more than one job, bash reports an error. Using %?ce, on the other
hand, refers to any job containing the string ce in its command line. If the substring matches more than
one job, bash reports an error. The symbols %% and %+ refer to the shell's notion of the current job,
which is the last job stopped while it was in the foreground or started in the background. The previous
job may be referenced using %-. 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 single % (with no accompanying job specification)
also refers to the current job.
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 command is enabled, bash reports such changes immediately. Any trap on
SIGCHLD is executed for each child that exits.
If an attempt to exit bash is made while jobs are stopped (or, if the checkjobs shell option has been
enabled using the shopt builtin, running), 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, the shell does not print
another warning, and any stopped jobs are terminated.

Prompting
When executing interactively, bash displays the primary prompt PS1 when it is ready to read a
command, and the secondary prompt PS2 when it needs more input to complete a command. Bash
allows these prompt strings to be customized by inserting a number of backslash-escaped special
characters that are decoded as follows:

\a an ASCII bell character (07)

\d the date in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g., "Tue May 26")

\
the format is passed to strftime and the result is inserted into the prompt string; an empty
D{forma
format results in a locale-specific time representation. The braces are required.
t}

\e an ASCII escape character (033)

\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 newline

\r carriage return

\s the name of the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion following the final slash)

\t the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format

\T the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format

\@ the current time in 12-hour am/pm format

\A the current 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 + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)

the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde (uses the value of the
\w
PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable)

\W the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde

\! the history number of this command

\# the command number of this command

\$ if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $

\nnn the character corresponding to the octal number nnn

\\ a backslash

begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which 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 the
section "History", below), 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 description of the shopt command under "Shell Builtin Commands"
section below).

Readline
This is the library that handles reading input when using an interactive shell, unless the --noediting
option is given at shell invocation. Line editing is also used when using the -e option to the read
builtin. 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 (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below). To turn off line editing after the
shell is running, use the +o emacs or +o vi options to the set builtin.

Readline Notation
In this section, the Emacs-style notation is used to denote keystrokes. Control keys are denoted by C-
key, e.g., C-n means Control-N. Similarly, meta keys are denoted by M-key, so M-x means Meta-X.
On keyboards without a meta key, M-x means ESC x, i.e., press the Escape key then the x key. This
makes ESC the meta prefix. The combination M-C-x means ESC-Control-x, or press the Escape key
then hold the Control key while pressing the x key.
Readline commands may be given numeric arguments, which normally act as a repeat count.
Sometimes, however, it is the sign of the argument that is significant. Passing a negative argument to a
command that acts in the forward direction (e.g., kill-line) causes that command to act in a backward
direction. Commands whose behavior with arguments deviates from this are noted below.
When a command is described as killing text, the text deleted is saved for possible future retrieval
(yanking). The killed text is saved in a kill ring. Consecutive kills cause the text to be accumulated into
one unit, which can be yanked all at once. Commands which do not kill text separate the chunks of text
on the kill ring.

Readline Initialization
Readline is customized by putting commands in an initialization file (the inputrc file). The name of
this file is taken from the value of the INPUTRC variable. If that variable is unset, the default is
~/.inputrc. When a program which uses the readline library starts up, the initialization file is read, and
the key bindings and variables are set. There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the readline
initialization file. Blank lines are ignored. Lines beginning with a # are comments. Lines beginning
with a $ indicate conditional constructs. Other lines denote key bindings and variable settings.
The default key-bindings may be changed with an inputrc file. Other programs that use this library
may add their own commands and bindings.
For example, placing
M-Control-u: universal-argument

or
C-Meta-u: universal-argument

into the inputrc would make M-C-u execute the readline command universal-argument.
The following symbolic character names are recognized: RUBOUT, DEL, ESC, LFD, NEWLINE,
RET, RETURN, SPC, SPACE, and TAB.
In addition to command names, readline allows keys to be bound to a string that is inserted when the
key is pressed (a macro).

Readline Key Bindings

The syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple. All that is required is the name of
the command or the text of a macro and a key sequence to which it should be bound. The name may be
specified in one of two ways: as a symbolic key name, possibly with Meta- or Control- prefixes, or as
a key sequence.
When using the form keyname:function-name or macro, keyname is the name of a key spelled out in
English. For example:
Control-u: universal-argument Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word Control-o: "> output"

In the above example, C-u is bound to the function universal-argument, 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).
In the second form, "keyseq":function-name or macro, keyseq differs from keyname above in that
strings denoting an entire key sequence may be specified by placing the sequence within double quotes.
Some GNU Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following example, but the symbolic
character names are not recognized.
"\C-u": universal-argument "\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file "\e[11~": "Function Key 1"

In this example, C-u is again bound to the function universal-argument. 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 full set of GNU Emacs style escape sequences is

\C- control prefix

\M- meta prefix

\e an escape character

\\ backslash

\" literal "

\' literal '

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 '.
Bash allows the current readline key bindings to be displayed or modified with the bind builtin
command. The editing mode may be switched during interactive use by using the -o option to the set
builtin command (see the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below).

Readline Variables
Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its behavior. A variable may be set in the
inputrc file with a statement of the form.
set variable-name value

Except where noted, readline variables can take the values On or Off (without regard to case).
Unrecognized variable names are ignored. When a variable value is read, empty or null values, "on"
(case-insensitive), and "1" are equivalent to On. All other values are equivalent to Off. The variables
and their default values are:

Controls what happens when readline wants to ring the

terminal bell. If set to none, readline never rings the bell.
bell-style audible If set to visible, readline uses a visible bell if one is
available. If set to audible, readline attempts to ring the
terminal's bell.

bind-tty-special-chars On If set to On, readline attempts to bind the control

 characters treated specially by the kernel's terminal driver
to their readline equivalents.

The string that is inserted when the readline insert-

comment-begin "#" comment command is executed. This command is bound
to M-# in emacs mode and to # in vi command mode.

If set to On, readline performs filename matching and

completion-ignore-case Off
completion in a case-insensitive fashion.

The length in characters of the common prefix of a list of

possible completions that is displayed without
completion-prefix-display-length 0 modification. When set to a value greater than zero,
common prefixes longer than this value are replaced with
an ellipsis when displaying possible completions.

This determines when the user is queried about viewing

the number of possible completions generated by the
possible-completions command. It may be set to any
integer value greater than or equal to zero. If the number
completion-query-items 100
of possible completions is greater than or equal to the
value of this variable, the user is asked whether or not he
wishes to view them; otherwise they are listed on the
terminal.

If set to On, readline will convert characters with the

eighth bit set to an ASCII key sequence by stripping the
convert-meta On
eighth bit and prefixing an escape character (in effect,
using escape as the meta prefix).

If set to On, readline will inhibit word completion.

disable-completion Off Completion characters will be inserted into the line as if
they had been mapped to self-insert.

Controls whether readline begins with a set of key

editing-mode emacs bindings similar to Emacs or vi. editing-mode can be set
to either emacs or vi.

When set to On, on operating systems that indicate they

echo-control-characters On support it, readline echoes a character corresponding to a
signal generated from the keyboard.

When set to On, readline will try to enable the application

enable-keypad Off keypad when it is called. Some systems need this to
enable the arrow keys.
 When set to On, readline will try to enable any meta
modifier key the terminal claims to support when it is
enable-meta-key On
called. On many terminals, the meta key is used to send
eight-bit characters.

If set to On, tilde expansion is performed when readline

expand-tilde Off
attempts word completion.

If set to On, the history code attempts to place point at the

history-preserve-point Off same location on each history line retrieved with
previous-history or next-history.

Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the

history-size 0 history list. If set to zero, the number of entries in the
history list is not limited.

When set to On, makes readline use a single line for

display, scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen
horizontal-scroll-mode Off
line when it becomes longer than the screen width rather
than wrapping to a new line.

If set to On, readline will enable eight-bit input (that is, it

will not strip the high bit from the characters it reads),
input-meta Off
regardless of what the terminal claims it can support. The
name meta-flag is a synonym for this variable.

The string of characters that should terminate an

incremental search without subsequently executing the
"C-[C-
isearch-terminators character as a command. If this variable has not been
J"
given a value, the characters ESC and C-J will terminate
an incremental search.

Set the current readline keymap. The set of valid keymap

names is emacs, emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-
ctlx, vi, vi-command, and vi-insert. vi is equivalent to
keymap emacs
vi-command; emacs is equivalent to emacs-standard.
The default value is emacs; the value of editing-mode
also affects the default keymap.

If set to On, completed directory names have a slash

mark-directories On
appended.

If set to On, history lines that have been modified are

mark-modified-lines Off
displayed with a preceding asterisk (*).

mark-symlinked-directories Off If set to On, completed names that are symbolic links to
 directories have a slash appended (subject to the value of
mark-directories).

This variable, when set to On, causes readline to match

files whose names begin with a '.' (hidden files) when
match-hidden-files On performing filename completion. If set to Off, the leading
'.' must be supplied by the user in the filename to be
completed.

If set to On, menu completion displays the common

menu-complete-display-prefix Off prefix of the list of possible completions (which may be
empty) before cycling through the list.

If set to On, readline will display characters with the

output-meta Off eighth bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed
escape sequence.

If set to On, readline uses an internal more-like pager to

page-completions On
display a screenful of possible completions at a time.

If set to On, readline will display completions with

print-completions-horizontally Off matches sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather
than down the screen.

If set to On, readline will undo all changes to history lines

before returning when accept-line is executed. By default,
revert-all-at-newline Off
history lines may be modified and retain individual undo
lists across calls to readline.

This alters the default behavior of the completion

functions. If set to On, words which have more than one
show-all-if-ambiguous Off
possible completion cause the matches to be listed
immediately instead of ringing the bell.

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
show-all-if-unmodified Off 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.

skip-completed-text Off 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.

If set to On, a character denoting a file's type as reported

visible-stats Off by stat is appended to the filename when listing possible
completions.

Readline Conditional Constructs

Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional compilation features of the C
preprocessor that allows key bindings and variable settings to be performed as the result of tests. There
are four parser directives used.

The $if construct allows bindings to be made based on the editing mode, the terminal being
used, or the application using readline. The text of the test extends to the end of the line; no
characters are required to isolate it.

mode

The mode= form of the $if directive is used to test whether readline is in emacs or vi mode.
This may be used in conjunction with the set keymap command, for instance, to set bindings
in the emacs-standard and emacs-ctlx keymaps only if readline is starting out in emacs
mode.

term

$if 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 the both full name of the terminal and the portion of the terminal name before
the first -. This allows sun to match both sun and sun-cmd, for instance.

application

The application construct is used to include application-specific settings. Each program

using the readline library sets the application name, and an initialization file 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

$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 would read /etc/inputrc:

$include /etc/inputrc

Searching
Readline provides commands for searching through the command history (see section "History"
below) for lines containing a specified string. There are two search modes: incremental and non-
incremental.
Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the search string. As each character of
the search string is typed, readline displays the next entry from the history matching the string typed so
far. An incremental search requires only as many characters as needed to find the desired history entry.
The characters present in the value of the isearch-terminators variable are used to terminate an
incremental search. If that variable has not been assigned a value the Escape and Control-J characters
will terminate an incremental search. Control-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 Control-S or Control-R as appropriate. This will
search backward or forward in the history for the next entry matching the search string typed so far.
Any other key sequence bound to a readline command will terminate the search and execute that
command. For instance, a newline will terminate the search and accept the line, thereby executing the
command from the history list.
Readline remembers the last incremental search string. If two Control-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.

Readline Command Names

The following is a list of the names of the commands and the default key sequences to which they are
bound. 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.

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.

Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of
forward-word M-f
alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).

Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words are
backward-word M-b
composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).

Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are delimited by non-
shell-forward-word
quoted shell metacharacters.

Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words are
shell-backward-word
delimited by non-quoted shell metacharacters.

Clear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the screen. With an
clear-screen C-l
argument, refresh the current line without clearing the screen.

redraw-current-line Refresh the current line.

Commands for Manipulating the History

Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is. If
this line is non-empty, add it to the history list
Newline,
accept-line according to the state of the HISTCONTROL
Return
variable. If the line is a modified history line, then
restore the history line to its original state.

Fetch the previous command from the history list,

previous-history C-p
moving back in the list.

Fetch the next command from the history list,

next-history C-n
moving forward in the list.

beginning-of-history M-< Move to the first line in the history.

Move to the end of the input history, i.e., the line

end-of-history M->
currently being entered.

Search backward starting at the current line and

reverse-search-history C-r moving 'up' through the history as necessary. This
is an incremental search.

forward-search-history C-s Search forward starting at the current line and

 moving 'down' through the history as necessary.
This is an incremental search.

Search backward through the history starting at the

non-incremental-reverse-search-history M-p current line using a non- incremental search for a
string supplied by the user.

Search forward through the history using a non-

non-incremental-forward-search-history M-n incremental search for a string supplied by the
user.

Search forward through the history for the string of

history-search-forward characters between the start of the current line and
the point. This is a non-incremental search.

Search backward through the history for the string

history-search-backward of characters between the start of the current line
and the point. This is a non-incremental search.

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
yank-nth-arg M-C-y 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.

Insert the 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)
yank-last-arg M-., M-_ 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.

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 the section "History
Expansion" below for a description of history
 expansion.

Perform history expansion on the current line. See

history-expand-line M-^ the section "History Expansion" below for a
description of history expansion.

Perform history expansion on the current line and

magic-space insert a space. See the section "History Expansion"
below for a description of history expansion.

Perform alias expansion on the current line. See

alias-expand-line the section "Aliases" above for a description of
alias expansion.

Perform history and alias expansion on the current

history-and-alias-expand-line
line.

insert-last-argument M-., M-_ A synonym for yank-last-arg.

Accept the current line for execution and fetch the

operate-and-get-next C-o next line relative to the current line from the
history for editing. Any argument is ignored.

Invoke an editor on the current command line, and

execute the result as shell commands. Bash
edit-and-execute-command C-xC-e
attempts to invoke $VISUAL, $EDITOR, and
emacs as the editor, in that order.

Commands for Changing Text

Delete the character at point. If point is at the beginning of
the line, there are no characters in the line, and the last
delete-char C-d
character typed was not bound to delete-char, then return
EOF.

Delete the character behind the cursor. When given a numeric

backward-delete-char Rubout
argument, save the deleted text on the kill ring.

Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at

forward-backward-delete-char the end of the line, in which case the character behind the
cursor is deleted.

C-q, C- Add the next character typed to the line verbatim. This is how
quoted-insert
v to insert characters like C-q, for example.
 C-v
tab-insert Insert a tab character.
TAB

a, b, A,
self-insert Insert the character typed.
1, !, ...

Drag the character before point forward over the character at

point, moving point forward as well. If point is at the end of
transpose-chars C-t
the line, then this transposes the two characters before point.
Negative arguments have no effect.

Drag the word before point past the word after point, moving
transpose-words M-t point over that word as well. If point is at the end of the line,
this transposes the last two words on the line.

Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative

upcase-word M-u argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move
point.

Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative

downcase-word M-l argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move
point.

Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative

capitalize-word M-c argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move
point.

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
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.

Killing and Yanking

kill-line C-k Kill the text from point to the end of the line.

C-x
backward-kill-line Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
Rubout

unix-line-discard C-u Kill backward from point to the beginning of the line. The
 killed text is saved on the kill-ring.

kill-whole-line Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is.

Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between

kill-word M-d words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the
same as those used by forward-word.

Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as
backward-kill-word M-Rubout
those used by backward-word.

Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between

shell-kill-word M-d words, to the end of the next word. Word boundaries are the
same as those used by shell-forward-word.

Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as
shell-backward-kill-word M-Rubout
those used by shell-backward-word.

Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word

unix-word-rubout C-w
boundary. The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.

Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash
unix-filename-rubout character as the word boundaries. The killed text is saved on the
kill-ring.

delete-horizontal-space M-\ Delete all spaces and tabs around point.

kill-region Kill the text in the current region.

copy-region-as-kill Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.

Copy the word before point to the kill buffer. The word
copy-backward-word
boundaries are the same as backward-word.

Copy the word following point to the kill buffer. The word
copy-forward-word
boundaries are the same as forward-word.

yank C-y Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.

Rotate the kill ring, and yank the new top. Only works following
yank-pop M-y
yank or yank-pop.
Numeric Arguments
M-
0,
M- Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new
digit-argument
1, ... argument. M-- starts a negative argument.
,
M--

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
universal-argument special case, if this command is immediately followed by a character that is
neither a digit or minus sign, the argument count for the next command is
multiplied by four. The argument count is initially one, so executing this
function the first time makes the argument count four, a second time makes
the argument count sixteen, and so on.

Completing
Attempt to perform completion on the text before point.
Bash attempts completion treating the text as a variable (if
the text begins with $), username (if the text begins with ~),
complete TAB
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.

Insert all completions of the text before point that would

insert-completions M-*
have been generated by possible-completions.

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
menu-complete
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. This command is unbound
 by default.

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,
delete-char-or-list
behaves identically to possible-completions. This command
is unbound by default.

complete-filename M-/ Attempt filename completion on the text before point.

List the possible completions of the text before point,

possible-filename-completions C-x /
treating it as a filename.

Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a

complete-username M-~
username.

List the possible completions of the text before point,

possible-username-completions C-x ~
treating it as a username.

Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a

complete-variable M-$
shell variable.

List the possible completions of the text before point,

possible-variable-completions C-x $
treating it as a shell variable.

Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a

complete-hostname M-@
hostname.

List the possible completions of the text before point,

possible-hostname-completions C-x @
treating it as a hostname.

Attempt completion on the text before point, treating it as a

command name. Command completion attempts to match
complete-command M-!
the text against aliases, reserved words, shell functions, shell
builtins, and finally executable filenames, in that order.

List the possible completions of the text before point,

possible-command-completions C-x !
treating it as a command name.

Attempt completion on the text before point, comparing the

dynamic-complete-history M-TAB 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.

Perform filename completion and insert the list of possible

complete-into-braces M-{ completions enclosed within braces so the list is available to
the shell (see the section "Brace Expansion" above).

Keyboard Macros
start-kbd-macro C-x ( Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.

Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro and store
end-kbd-macro C-x )
the definition.

C-x Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the characters in the
call-last-kbd-macro
e macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

Miscellaneous
Read in the contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any
re-read-init-file C-x C-r
bindings or variable assignments found there.

Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
abort C-g
(subject to the setting of bell-style).

M-a,
If the metafied character x is lowercase, run the command that is
do-uppercase-version M-b,
bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
M-x, ...

prefix-meta ESC Metafy the next character typed. ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.

C-_, C-
undo Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
x C-u

Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the
revert-line M-r
undo command enough times to return the line to its initial state.

tilde-expand M-& Perform tilde expansion on the current word.

C-@,
M- Set the mark to the point. If a numeric argument is supplied, the
set-mark
<space 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.

A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of

character-search (C-] that character. A negative count searches for previous
occurrences.

A character is read and point is moved to the previous occurrence

character-search-backward M-C-] of that character. A negative count searches for subsequent
occurrences.

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
skip-csi-sequence sequence is bound to "\[", 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-[.

Without a numeric argument, the value of the readline 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
insert-comment M-# 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.

The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname

expansion, with an asterisk implicitly appended. This pattern is
glob-complete-word M-g
used to generate a list of matching file names for possible
completions.

The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname

expansion, and the list of matching file names is inserted,
glob-expand-word C-x *
replacing the word. If a numeric argument is supplied, an asterisk
is appended before pathname expansion.

The list of expansions that would have been generated by glob-

expand-word is displayed, and the line is redrawn. If a numeric
glob-list-expansions C-x g
argument is supplied, an asterisk is appended before pathname
expansion.

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.

Print all of the set-able readline variables and their values to the
readline output stream. If a numeric argument is supplied, the
dump-variables
output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
inputrc file.

Print all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
strings they output. If a numeric argument is supplied, the output
dump-macros
is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an inputrc
file.

display-shell-version C-x C-v Display version information about the current instance of bash.

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 the section "Shell Builtin
Commands" below), the programmable completion facilities are invoked.
First, the command name is identified. 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 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 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.
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 as described above under Completing 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.
Any completions specified by a pathname 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 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. Each word is then
expanded using brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, command
substitution, and arithmetic expansion, as described above under the section "Expansion." The results
are split using the rules described above under the section "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 under the section
"Shell 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 is the name of the
command whose arguments are being completed, the second argument is the word being completed,
and the third argument 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 builtin described below, to generate the matches. It must put the possible
completions in the COMPREPLY array variable.
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.
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 bash default 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 complete -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

History
When the -o history option to the set builtin is enabled, the shell provides access to the command
history, the list of commands previously typed. The value of the HISTSIZE 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
(see the section "Expansion" above) but after history expansion is performed, subject to the values of
the shell variables HISTIGNORE and HISTCONTROL.
On startup, the history is initialized from the file named by the variable HISTFILE (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 HISTFILESIZE. When the history file is read,
lines beginning with the history comment character followed immediately by a digit are interpreted as
timestamps for the preceding history line. These timestamps are optionally displayed depending on the
value of the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable. When an interactive shell exits, the last $HISTSIZE
lines are copied from the history list to $HISTFILE. If the histappend shell option is enabled (see the
description of shopt under the section "Shell Builtin Commands" below), 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. If the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable is set, time stamps are
written to the history file, marked with the history comment character, so they may be preserved across
shell sessions. This uses the history comment character to distinguish timestamps from other history
lines. After saving the history, the history file is truncated to contain no more than HISTFILESIZE
lines. If HISTFILESIZE is not set, no truncation is performed.
The builtin command fc (see the "Shell Builtin Commands" section below) 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.
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. See the description of the shopt builtin below under the section "Shell Builtin
Commands" for information on setting and unsetting shell options.

History Expansion
The shell supports a history expansion feature that is similar to the history expansion in csh. This
section describes what syntax features are available. This feature is enabled by default for interactive
shells, and can be disabled using the +H option to the set builtin command (see the section "Shell
Builtin Commands" below). Non-interactive shells do not perform history expansion by default.
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. It takes place in two parts. The first is to determine which line from the history list to use during
substitution. The second is to select portions of that line for inclusion into the current one. The line
selected from the history is the event, and the portions of that line that are acted upon are words.
Various modifiers are available to manipulate the selected words. The line is broken into words in the
same fashion as when reading input, so that several metacharacter-separated words surrounded by
quotes are considered one word. History expansions are introduced by the appearance of the history
expansion character, which is ! by default. Only backslash (\) and single quotes can quote the history
expansion character.
Several characters inhibit history expansion if found immediately following the history expansion
character, even if it is unquoted: space, tab, newline, carriage return, and =. If the extglob shell
option is enabled, ( will also inhibit expansion.
Several shell options settable with the shopt builtin may be used to tailor the behavior of history
expansion. If the histverify shell option is enabled (see the description of the shopt builtin below), 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 substitution 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.
The shell allows control of the various characters used by the history expansion mechanism (see the
description of histchars above under the section "Shell Variables"). The shell uses the history comment
character to mark history timestamps when writing the history file.

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 blank, newline, carriage

!
return, = or ( (when the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin).

!n Refer to command line n.

!-n Refer to the current command minus n.

!! Refer to the previous command. This is a synonym for '!-1'.

Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list
!string
starting with string.

Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list
!?string[?] containing string. The trailing ? may be omitted if string is followed immediately by a
newline.

^string1^stri Quick substitution. Repeat the previous command, replacing string1 with string2.
ng2^ Equivalent to "!!:s/string1/string2/" (see Modifiers below).

!# The entire command line typed so far.

Word Designators
Word designators are used to select desired words from the event. A : separates the event specification
from the word designator. It may be omitted if the word designator begins with a ^, $, *, -, or %.
Words are numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first word being denoted by 0 (zero).
Words are inserted into the current line separated by single spaces.

0 The zeroth word. For the shell, this is the command word.

n The nth word.

^ The first argument. That is, word 1.

$ The last argument.

% The word matched by the most recent '?string?' search.

x-y A range of words; '-y' abbreviates '0-y'.

All of the words but the zeroth. This is a synonym for '1-$'. It is not an error to use * if there is just
*
one word in the event; the empty string is returned in that case.

x* Abbreviates x-$.

x- Abbreviates x-$ like x*, but omits the last word.

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

Modifiers
After the optional word designator, there may appear a sequence of one or more of the following
modifiers, each preceded by a ':'.

h Remove a trailing file name component, leaving only the head.

t Remove all leading file name components, leaving the tail.

r Remove a trailing suffix of the form .xxx, 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 blanks and newlines.
 Substitute new for the first occurrence of old in the event line. Any delimiter can be used in
place of /. The final delimiter is optional if it is the last character of the event line. The delimiter
s/old/
may be quoted in old and new with a single backslash. If & appears in new, it is replaced by
new/
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.

& Repeat the previous substitution.

Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. This is used in conjunction with ':s' (e.g.,
':gs/old/new/') or ':&'. If used with ':s', any delimiter can be used in place of /, and the final
g
delimiter is optional if it is the last character of the event line. An a may be used as a synonym
for g.

G Apply the following 's' modifier once to each word in the event line.

Shell Builtin Commands

Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented in this section 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, 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.

No effect; the command does nothing beyond expanding

: [arguments] arguments and performing any specified redirections. A zero exit
code is returned.

Read and execute commands from filename in the current shell

environment and return the exit status of the last command
executed from filename. If filename does not contain a slash, file
names in PATH are used to find the directory containing filename.
The file searched for in PATH need not be executable. When bash
. filename [arguments] is not in posix mode, the current directory is searched if no file is
found in PATH. If the sourcepath option to the shopt builtin
source filename [arguments] command is turned off, the PATH is not searched. If any
arguments are supplied, they become the positional parameters
when filename is executed. Otherwise the positional parameters
are unchanged. The return status is the status of the last command
exited within the script (0 if no commands are executed), and false
if filename is not found or cannot be read.

alias [-p] [name[=value] ...] Alias with no arguments or with the -p option prints the list of
aliases in the form alias name=value on standard output. When
arguments are supplied, an alias is defined for each name whose
value is given. A trailing space in value causes the next word to be
 checked for alias substitution when the alias is expanded. For each
name in the argument list for which no value is supplied, the name
and value of the alias is printed. Alias returns true unless a name
is given for which no alias has been defined.

Resume each suspended job jobspec in the background, as if it

had been started with &. If jobspec is not present, the shell's
notion of the current job is used. bg jobspec returns 0 unless run
bg [jobspec ...]
when job control is disabled or, when run with job control enabled,
any specified jobspec was not found or was started without job
control.

bind [-m keymap] [-lpsvPSV] Display current readline key and function bindings, bind a key
sequence to a readline function or macro, or set a readline
bind [-m keymap] [-q function] [-u variable. Each non-option argument is a command as it would
function] [-r keyseq] appear in .inputrc, but each binding or command must be passed
as a separate argument; e.g., '"\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file'.
bind [-m keymap] -f filename Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

bind [-m keymap] -x keyseq:shell- -m keymap

command
Use keymap as the keymap to be affected by the subsequent
bind [-m keymap] bindings. Acceptable keymap names are emacs, emacs-standard,
keyseq:function-name emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-move, vi-command, and vi-
insert. vi is equivalent to vi-command; emacs is equivalent to
bind readline-command emacs-standard.

-l

List the names of all readline functions.

-p

Display readline function names and bindings in such a way that

they can be re-read.

-P

List current readline function names and bindings.

-s

Display readline key sequences bound to macros and the strings

they output in such a way that they can be re-read.

-S

Display readline key sequences bound to macros and the strings

 they output.

-v

Display readline variable names and values in such a way that they
can be re-read.

-V

List current readline variable names and values.

-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 variable to the current
location of the insertion point. If the executed command changes
the value of READLINE_LINE or READLINE_POINT, those
new values will be reflected in the editing state.

The return value is 0 unless an unrecognized option is given or an

error occurred.

Exit from within a for, while, until, or select loop. If n is

specified, break n levels. n must be ≥ 1. If n is greater than the
break [n]
number of enclosing loops, all enclosing loops are exited. The
return value is 0 unless n is not greater than or equal to 1.

builtin shell-builtin [arguments] Execute the specified shell builtin, passing it arguments, and
return its exit status. This is useful when defining a function whose
name is the same as a shell builtin, retaining the functionality of
 the builtin within the function. The cd builtin is commonly
redefined this way. The return status is false if shell-builtin is not a
shell builtin command.

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
caller [expr]
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.

Change the current directory to dir. The variable HOME is the

default dir. The variable CDPATH defines the search path for the
directory containing dir. Alternative directory names in CDPATH
are separated by a colon (:). A null directory name in CDPATH is
the same as the current directory, i.e., ".". If dir begins with a slash
(/), then CDPATH is not used. The -P option says to use the
physical directory structure instead of following symbolic links
(see also the -P option to the set builtin command); the -L option
cd [-L|[-P [-e]]] [dir] forces symbolic links to be followed. 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. An argument of - is equivalent to
$OLDPWD. 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 value is true if the
directory was successfully changed; false otherwise.

Run command with args suppressing the normal shell function

lookup. Only builtin commands or commands found in the PATH
are executed. If the -p option is given, the search for command is
performed using a default value for PATH that is guaranteed to
find all of the standard utilities. If either the -V or -v option is
command [-pVv] supplied, a description of command is printed. The -v option
causes a single word indicating the command or file name used to
command [arg ...] invoke command to be displayed; the -V option produces a more
verbose description. If the -V or -v option is supplied, the exit
status is 0 if command was found, and 1 if not. If neither option is
supplied and an error occurred or command cannot be found, the
exit status is 127. Otherwise, the exit status of the command
builtin is the exit status of command.

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 [-abcdefgjksuv] [-o Specify how arguments to each name should be completed. If the
comp-option] [-DE] [-A action] [- -p option is supplied, or if no options are supplied, existing
G globpat] [-W wordlist] [-F completion specifications are printed in a way that allows them to
function] [-C command] [-X be reused as input. The -r option removes a completion
filterpat] [-P prefix] [-S suffix] specification for each name, or, if no names are supplied, all
name [name ...] completion specifications. The -D option indicates that the
remaining options and actions should apply to the "default"
complete -pr [-DE] [name ...] command completion; that is, completion attempted on a
command for which no completion has previously been defined.
The -E option indicates that the remaining options and actions
should apply to "empty" command completion; that is, completion
attempted on a blank line.

The process of applying these completion specifications when

word completion is attempted is described above under the section
"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. The 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). Intended to be used with shell
functions.

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.
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.
hostname: Hostnames, as taken from the file specified by the
HOSTFILE shell variable.
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.
shopt: Shell option names as accepted by the shopt builtin.
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 finishes, the possible completions are
retrieved from the value of the COMPREPLY array variable.

-G globpat

The pathname 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 pathname 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.

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 the remaining options should apply to
the "default" command completion; that is, completion attempted
compopt [-o option] [-DE] [+o
on a command for which no completion has previously been
option] [name]
defined. The -E option indicates that the remaining options should
apply to "empty" command completion; that is, completion
attempted on a blank line.

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.

Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for, while, until, or

select loop. If n is specified, resume at the nth enclosing loop. n
continue [n] must be ≥ 1. If n is greater than the number of enclosing loops, the
last enclosing loop (the "top-level" loop) is resumed. The return
value is 0 unless n is not greater than or equal to 1.

declare [-aAfFgilrtux] [-p] Declare variables and/or give them attributes. If no names are
[name[=value] ...] given then display the values of variables. The -p option will
display the attributes and values of each name. When -p is used
typeset [-aAfFgilrtux] [-p] with name arguments, additional options are ignored. When -p is
[name[=value] ...] supplied without name arguments, it 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, the source file name and line
number where the function is defined are displayed as well. The -F
option 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 following
options can be used to restrict output to variables with the
specified attribute or to give variables attributes:

-a

Each name is an indexed array variable (see the section "Arrays"

above).

-A

Each name is an associative array variable (see the section

"Arrays" above).

-f

Use function names only.

-i

The variable is treated as an integer; arithmetic evaluation (see the

section "Arithmetic Evaluation" above) is performed when the
variable is assigned a value.

-l

When the variable is assigned a value, all uppercase characters are

converted to lowercase. The uppercase attribute is disabled.

-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 lowercase characters are

converted to uppercase. The lowercase attribute is disabled.

-x

Mark names for export to subsequent commands via the

environment.

Using '+' instead of '-' turns off the attribute instead, with the
exceptions that +a may not be used to destroy an array variable
and +r will not remove the readonly attribute. When used in a
function, makes each name local, as with the local command,
unless the -g option is supplied, If a variable name is followed by
 =value, the value of the variable is set to value. The return value
is 0 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 the section "Arrays" above), 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.

Without options, displays the list of currently remembered

directories. The default display is on a single line with directory
names separated by spaces. Directories are added to the list with
the pushd command; the popd command removes entries from
the list.

+n

Displays the nth entry counting from the left of the list shown by
dirs when invoked without options, starting with zero.

-n

Displays the nth entry counting from the right of the list shown by
dirs when invoked without options, starting with zero.

-c
dirs [+n] [-n] [-clpv]
Clears the directory stack by deleting all of the entries.

-l

Produces a longer listing; the default listing format uses a tilde to

denote the home directory.

-p

Print the directory stack with one entry per line.

-v

Print the directory stack with one entry per line, prefixing each
entry with its index in the stack.

The return value is 0 unless an invalid option is supplied or n

indexes beyond the end of the directory stack.
 Without options, each jobspec is removed from the table of active
jobs. If jobspec is not present, and neither -a nor -r is supplied, the
shell's notion of the current job is used. If the -h option is given,
each jobspec 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
disown [-ar] [-h] [jobspec ...]
no jobspec is 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. The return
value is 0 unless a jobspec does not specify a valid job.

echo [-neE] [arg ...] Output the args, separated by spaces, followed by a newline. The
return status is always 0. If -n is specified, the trailing newline is
suppressed. If the -e option is given, interpretation of the
following backslash-escaped characters is enabled. The -E option
disables the interpretation of these escape characters, even on
systems where they are interpreted by default. 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: an escape character

\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 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, each name is disabled; otherwise, names are enabled.
For example, to use the test binary found via the PATH instead of
the shell builtin version, run "enable -n test". The -f option means
to load the new builtin command name from shared object
enable [-a] [-dnps] [-f filename] filename, on systems that support dynamic loading. The -d option
[name ...] will delete a builtin previously loaded with -f. If no name
arguments are given, or if the -p option is supplied, a list of shell
builtins is printed. With no other option arguments, the list consists
of all enabled shell builtins. If -n is supplied, only disabled builtins
are printed. If -a is supplied, the list printed includes all builtins,
with an indication of whether or not each is enabled. If -s is
supplied, the output is restricted to the POSIX special builtins. The
return value is 0 unless a name is not a shell builtin or there is an
error loading a new builtin from a shared object.

The args are read and concatenated together into a single

command. This command is then read and executed by the shell,
eval [arg ...]
and its exit status is returned as the value of eval. If there are no
args, or only null arguments, eval returns 0.

If command is specified, it replaces the shell. No new process is

created. The arguments become the arguments to command. If the
-l option is supplied, the shell places a dash at the beginning of the
zeroth argument passed to command. This is what login does. The
-c option causes command to be executed with an empty
environment. If -a is supplied, the shell passes name as the zeroth
exec [-cl] [-a name] [command
argument to the executed command. If command cannot be
[arguments]]
executed for some reason, a non-interactive shell exits, unless the
shell option execfail is enabled, in which case it returns failure. An
interactive shell returns failure if the file cannot be executed. If
command is not specified, any redirections take effect in the
current shell, and the return status is 0. If there is a redirection
error, the return status is 1.

exit [n] Cause the shell to exit with a status of n. If n is omitted, the exit
status is that of the last command executed. A trap on EXIT is
 executed before the shell terminates.

The supplied names are marked for automatic export to the

environment of subsequently executed commands. If the -f option
is given, the names refer to functions. If no names are given, or if
the -p option is supplied, a list of all names that are exported in
export [-fn] [name[=word]] ...
this shell is printed. The -n option causes the export property to be
removed from each name. If a variable name is followed by
export -p
=word, the value of the variable is set to word. export returns an
exit status of 0 unless an invalid option is encountered, one of the
names is not a valid shell variable name, or -f is supplied with a
name that is not a function.

Fix Command. In the first form, a range of commands from first to

last is selected from the history list. The First and last may be
specified as a string (to locate the last command beginning with
that string) or as a number (an index into the history list, where a
negative number is used as an offset from the current command
number). If last is not specified it is set to the current command
for listing (so that "fc -l -10" prints the last 10 commands) and to
first otherwise. If first is not specified it is set to the previous
command for editing and -16 for listing.

The -n option suppresses the command numbers when listing. The

-r option reverses the order of the commands. If the -l option is
given, the commands are listed on standard output. Otherwise, the
editor given by ename is invoked on a file containing those
fc [-e ename] [-lnr] [first] [last] commands. If ename is not given, the value of the FCEDIT
variable is used, and the value of EDITOR if FCEDIT is not set.
fc -s [pat=rep] [cmd] If neither variable is set, vi is used. When editing is complete, the
edited commands are echoed and executed.

In the second form, command is re-executed after each instance of

pat is replaced by rep. A useful alias to use with this is "r='fc -s'",
so that typing "r cc" runs the last command beginning with "cc"
and typing "r" re-executes the last command.

If the first form is used, the return value is 0 unless an invalid

option is encountered or first or last specify history lines out of
range. If the -e option is supplied, the return value is the value of
the last command executed or failure if an error occurs with the
temporary file of commands. If the second form is used, the return
status is that of the command re-executed, unless cmd does not
specify a valid history line, in which case fc returns failure.

fg [jobspec] Resume jobspec in the foreground, and make it the current job. If
jobspec is not present, the shell's notion of the current job is used.
The return value is that of the command placed into the
 foreground, or failure if run when job control is disabled or, when
run with job control enabled, if jobspec does not specify a valid
job or jobspec specifies a job that was started without job control.

getopts is used by shell procedures to parse positional parameters.

The 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 white space. The
colon and question mark characters 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 given in args, getopts parses those instead.
getopts optstring name [args]
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.

getopts returns true if an option, specified or unspecified, is found.

It returns false if the end of options is encountered or an error
occurs.

hash [-lr] [-p filename] [-dt] Each time hash is invoked, the full pathname of the command
 name is determined by searching the directories in $PATH and
remembered. Any previously-remembered pathname is discarded.
If the -p option is supplied, no path search is performed, and
filename is used as the full file name of the command. 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]
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 true unless a name is not found or an invalid
option is supplied.

Display helpful information about builtin commands. If pattern is

specified, help gives detailed help on all commands matching
pattern; otherwise help for all the builtins and shell control
structures is printed. -d Display a short description of each pattern
help [-dms] [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 0 unless no command matches pattern.

history [n] With no options, display the command history list with line
numbers. Lines listed with a * have been modified. An argument
history -c of n lists only the last n lines. If the shell variable
HISTTIMEFORMAT is set and not null, it is used as a format
history -d offset string for strftime to display the time stamp associated with each
displayed history entry. No intervening blank is printed between
history -anrw [filename] the formatted time stamp and the history line. If filename is
supplied, it is used as the name of the history file; if not, the value
history -p arg [arg ...] of HISTFILE is used. Options, if supplied, have the following
meanings:
history -s arg [arg ...]
-c: Clear the history list by deleting all the entries.

-d offset: Delete the history entry at position offset.

-a: Append the "new" history lines (history lines entered since the
beginning of the current bash session) to the history file.

-n: Read the history lines not already read from the history file
into the current history list. These are lines appended to the history
file since the beginning of the current bash session.

-r: Read the contents of the history file and use them as the current
 history.

-w: Write the current history to the history file, overwriting the
history file's contents.

-p: Perform history substitution on the following args and display

the result on the standard output. Does not store the results in the
history list. Each arg must be quoted to disable normal history
expansion.

-s: Store the args in the history list as a single entry. The last
command in the history list is removed before the args are added.

If the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable 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 previous history line. The return value is 0
unless an invalid option is encountered, an error occurs while
reading or writing the history file, an invalid offset is supplied as
an argument to -d, or the history expansion supplied as an
argument to -p fails.

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.
jobs [-lnprs] [ jobspec ... ]
-r: Restrict output to running jobs.
jobs -x command [ args ... ]
-s: Restrict output to stopped jobs.

If jobspec is given, output is restricted to information about that

job. The return status is 0 unless an invalid option is encountered
or an invalid jobspec is supplied.

If the -x option is supplied, jobs replaces any jobspec found in

command or args with the corresponding process group ID, and
executes command passing it args, returning its exit status.

kill [-s sigspec | -n signum | Send the signal named by sigspec or signum to the processes
-sigspec] [pid | jobspec] ... named by pid or jobspec. The sigspec is either a case-insensitive
 signal name such as SIGKILL (with or without the SIG prefix) or
a signal number; signum is a signal number. If sigspec is not
present, then SIGTERM is assumed. An argument of -l lists the
signal names. If any arguments are supplied when -l is given, the
names of the signals corresponding to the arguments are listed,
kill -l [sigspec | exit_status]
and the return status is 0. The exit_status argument to -l is a
number specifying either a signal number or the exit status of a
process terminated by a signal. The kill returns true if at least one
signal was successfully sent, or false if an error occurs or an
invalid option is encountered.

Each arg is an arithmetic expression to be evaluated (see the

let arg [arg ...] section "Arithmetic Evaluation" above). If the last arg evaluates to
0, let returns 1; 0 is returned otherwise.

For each argument, a local variable named name is created, and

assigned value. The option can be any of the options accepted by
declare. When local is used within a function, it causes the
variable name to have a visible scope restricted to that function
local [option] [name[=value] ...] and its children. With no operands, local writes a list of local
variables to the standard output. It is an error to use local when not
within a function. The return status is 0 unless local is used
outside a function, an invalid name is supplied, or name is a
readonly variable.

logout Exit a login shell.

mapfile [-n count] [-O origin] [-s Read lines from the standard input into the indexed array variable
count] [-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [-c array, or from file descriptor fd if the -u option is supplied. The
quantum] [array] variable MAPFILE is the default array. Options, if supplied, have
the following meanings:
readarray [-n count] [-O origin] [-
s count] [-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [- -n: Copy at most count lines. If count is 0, all lines are copied.
c quantum] [array]
-O: Begin assigning to array at index origin. The default index is
0.

-s: Discard the first count lines read.

-t: Remove a trailing 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. The 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 if array
is not an indexed array.

Removes entries from the directory stack. With no arguments,

removes the top directory from the stack, and performs a cd to the
new top directory. Arguments, if supplied, have the following
meanings:

-n: Suppresses the normal change of directory when removing

directories from the stack, so that only the stack is manipulated.

+n Removes the nth entry counting from the left of the list shown
by dirs, starting with zero. For example: "popd +0" removes the
popd [-n] [+n] [-n]
first directory, "popd +1" the second.

-n Removes the nth entry counting from the right of the list shown
by dirs, starting with zero. For example: "popd -0" removes the
last directory, "popd -1" the next to last.

If the popd command is successful, a dirs is performed as well,

and the return status is 0. popd returns false if an invalid option is
encountered, the directory stack is empty, a non-existent directory
stack entry is specified, or the directory change fails.

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 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 format specifications, printf interprets the
 following extensions:

%b causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences in the

corresponding argument (except that \c terminates output,
backslashes in \', \", and \? are not removed, and octal escapes
beginning with \0 may contain up to four digits).

%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. 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.

Arguments to non-string format specifiers are treated as C

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.

pushd [-n] [+n] [-n] Adds a directory to the top of the directory stack, or rotates the
stack, making the new top of the stack the current working
pushd [-n] [dir] directory. With no arguments, exchanges the top two directories
and returns 0, unless the directory stack is empty. Arguments, if
supplied, have the following meanings:

-n: Suppresses the normal change of directory when adding

directories to the stack, so that only the stack is manipulated.

+n: Rotates the stack so that the nth directory (counting from the
left of the list shown by dirs, starting with zero) is at the top.

-n: Rotates the stack so that the nth directory (counting from the
right of the list shown by dirs, starting with zero) is at the top.

dir: Adds dir to the directory stack at the top, making it the new
current working directory.

If the pushd command is successful, a dirs is performed as well.

If the first form is used, pushd returns 0 unless the cd to dir fails.
 With the second form, pushd returns 0 unless the directory stack
is empty, a non-existent directory stack element is specified, or the
directory change to the specified new current directory fails.

Print the absolute pathname of the current working directory. The

pathname printed contains no symbolic links if the -P option is
supplied or the -o physical option to the set builtin command is
pwd [-LP] enabled. If the -L option is used, the pathname printed may
contain symbolic links. The return status is 0 unless an error
occurs while reading the name of the current directory or an
invalid option is supplied.

read [-ers] [-a aname] [-d delim] One line is read from the standard input, or from the file descriptor
[-i text] [-n nchars] [-N nchars] [-p fd supplied as an argument to the -u option, and the first word is
prompt] [-t timeout] [-u fd] assigned to the first name, the second word to the second name,
[name ...] and so on, with leftover words and their intervening separators
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 IFS are used to split the line into words.
The backslash character (\) may be used to remove any special
meaning for the next character read and for line continuation.
Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-a aname: The words are assigned to sequential indices of the

array variable aname, starting at 0. The aname is unset before any
new values are assigned. Other name arguments are ignored.

-d delim: The first character of delim is used to terminate the input

line, rather than newline.

-e: If the standard input is coming from a terminal, readline (see

"Readline" above) is used to obtain the line. Readline uses the
current (or default, if line editing was not previously active)
editing settings.

-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 honor 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.
 -p prompt: Display prompt on standard error, without a trailing
newline, before attempting to read any input. The prompt is
displayed only if input is coming from a terminal.

-r: Backslash does not act as an escape character. The backslash is

considered to be part of the line. In particular, a backslash-newline
pair may not be used as a line continuation.

-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 is not read within timeout seconds. The 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 timeout is 0, read returns success if
input is available on the specified file descriptor, failure 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 is assigned to the variable REPLY. The return code is
zero, unless end-of-file is encountered, read times out (in which
case the return code is greater than 128), or an invalid file
descriptor is supplied as the argument to -u.

The given names are marked readonly; the values of these names
may not be changed by subsequent assignment. If the -f option is
supplied, the functions corresponding to the names are so marked.
The -a option restricts the variables to indexed arrays; the -A
option restricts the variables to associative arrays. If both options
are supplied, -A takes precedence. If no name arguments are
readonly [-aAf] [-p] given, or if the -p option is supplied, a list of all readonly names is
[name[=word] ...] 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 =word, the value of the variable is set to
word. The return status is 0 unless an invalid option is
encountered, one of the names is not a valid shell variable name,
or -f is supplied with a name that is not a function.

return [n] Causes a function to exit with the return value specified by n. If n
is omitted, the return status is that of the last command executed in
the function body. If used outside a function, but during execution
of a script by the . (source) command, it causes the shell to stop
executing that script and return either n or the exit status of the last
command executed within the script as the exit status of the script.
If used outside a function and not during execution of a script by .,
 the return status is false. Any command associated with the
RETURN trap is executed before execution resumes after the
function or script.

set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] Without options, the name and value of each shell variable are
[-o option-name] [arg ...] displayed in a format that can be reused as input for setting or
resetting the currently-set variables. Read-only variables cannot be
set [+abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] reset. In posix mode, only shell variables are listed. The output is
[+o option-name] [arg ...] sorted according to the current locale. When options are specified,
they set or unset shell attributes. Any arguments remaining after
option processing are treated as values for the positional
parameters and are assigned, in order, to $1, $2, ... $n. Options, if
specified, have the following meanings:

-a: Automatically mark variables and functions that are modified

or created for export to the environment of subsequent commands.

-b: Report the status of terminated background jobs immediately,

rather than before the next primary prompt. This is effective only
when job control is enabled.

-e Exit immediately if a pipeline (which may consist of a single

simple command), a subshell command enclosed in parentheses,
or one of the commands executed as part of a command list
enclosed by braces (see "Shell Grammar" above) exits with 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 following the if or elif reserved words,
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 value is being inverted with
!. 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 the section "Command Execution
Environment" above), and may cause subshells to exit before
executing all the commands in the subshell.

-f: Disable pathname expansion.

-h: Remember the location of commands as they are looked up for

execution. This 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: Monitor mode. Job control is enabled. This option is on by

default for interactive shells on systems that support it (see "Job
Control," above). Background processes run in a separate process
group and a line containing their exit status is printed upon their
completion.

-n: Read commands but do not execute them. This may be used to
check a shell script for syntax errors. This is ignored by interactive
shells.

-o option-name: The option-name can be one of the following:

allexport: Same as -a.

braceexpand: Same as -B.

emacs: Use an emacs-style command line editing interface. This is

enabled by default when the shell is interactive, unless the shell is
started with the --noediting option. 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 above under

HISTORY. This option is on by default in interactive shells.

ignoreeof: The effect is as if the shell command

"IGNOREEOF=10" had been executed (see "Shell Variables,"
above).

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
(posix mode).

privileged: Same as -p.

verbose: Same as -v.

vi: Use a vi-style command line editing interface. This also affects
the editing interface used for read -e.

xtrace: Same as -x.

If -o is supplied with no option-name, the values of the current

options are printed. If +o is supplied with no option-name, a series
of set commands to recreate the current option settings is
displayed on the standard output.

-p: Turn on privileged mode. In this mode, the $ENV and

$BASH_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 "@" and "*" as an error when performing parameter
expansion. If expansion is attempted on an unset variable or
parameter, the shell prints an error message, and, if not interactive,
exits with a non-zero status.

-v: Print shell input lines as they are read.

-x: After expanding each simple command, for command, case

command, select command, or arithmetic for command, display
the expanded value of PS4, followed by the command and its
expanded arguments or associated word list.

-B: The shell performs brace expansion (see "Brace Expansion"

above). This is on by default.

-C: If set, bash does not overwrite an existing file with the >, >&,
and <> redirection operators. This may be overridden when
creating output files by using the redirection operator >| instead of
>.

-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. This option is on by default

when the shell is interactive.

-P: If set, the shell does not follow symbolic links when executing
commands such as cd that change the current working directory. It
uses the physical directory structure instead. By default, bash
follows the logical chain of directories when performing
commands which change the current directory.

-T If set, any traps 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 args, even if some of them begin with a -.

- Signal the end of options, cause all remaining args to be assigned

to the positional parameters. The -x and -v options are turned off.
If there are no args, the positional parameters remain unchanged.

The options are off by default unless otherwise noted. Using +

rather than - causes these options to be turned off. The options can
also be specified as arguments to an invocation of the shell. The
current set of options may be found in $-. The return status is
 always true unless an invalid option is encountered.

The positional parameters from n+1 ... are renamed to $1 ....

Parameters represented by the numbers $# down to $#-n+1 are
unset. The n must be a non-negative number less than or equal to
shift [n] $#. If n is 0, no parameters are changed. If n is not given, it is
assumed to be 1. If n is greater than $#, the positional parameters
are not changed. The return status is greater than zero if n is
greater than $# or less than zero; otherwise 0.

shopt [-pqsu] [-o] [optname ...] Toggle the values of variables controlling optional shell behavior.
With no options, or with the -p option, a list of all settable options
is displayed, with an indication of whether or not each is set. The
-p option causes output to be displayed in a form that may be
reused as input. Other options have the following meanings:

-s: Enable (set) each optname.

-u: Disable (unset) each optname.

-q: Suppresses normal output (quiet mode); 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.

If either -s or -u is used with no optname arguments, the display is

limited to those options that are set or unset, respectively. Unless
otherwise noted, the shopt options are disabled (unset) 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:

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 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 one
character too many. If a correction is found, the corrected file
name is printed, and the command proceeds. This option is only
used by interactive shells.

checkhash: If 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 the section "Job Control").
The shell always postpones exiting if any jobs are stopped.

checkwinsize: If set, bash checks the window size after each

command and, if necessary, updates the values of LINES and
COLUMNS.

cmdhist: If set, bash attempts to save all lines of a multiple-line

command in the same history entry. This allows easy re-editing of
multi-line commands.

compat31: If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 3.1

with respect to quoted arguments to the [[ conditional command's
=~ operator.

compat32: If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 3.2

with respect to locale-specific string comparison when using the [[
conditional command's < and > operators. Bash versions prior to
bash-4.1 use ASCII collation and strcmp; bash-4.1 and later use
the current locale's collation sequence and strcoll.

compat40: If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 4.0

with respect to locale-specific string comparison when using the [[
conditional command's < and > operators (see previous item) and
the effect of interrupting a command list.

compat41: If set, bash, when in posix mode, treats a single quote

in a double-quoted parameter expansion as a special character. The
single quotes must match (an even number) and the characters
between the single quotes are considered quoted. This is the
behavior of posix mode through version 4.1. The default bash
behavior remains as in previous versions.

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 pathname expansion.

execfail: If 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 above

under ALIASES. This option is enabled by default for interactive
shells.

extdebug: If set, behavior intended for use by debuggers is

enabled:

1. The -F option to the declare builtin displays the source file

name and line number corresponding to each function
name supplied as an argument.
2. If the command run by the DEBUG trap returns a non-zero
value, the next command is skipped and not executed.
3. 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), a call to return is simulated.
4. BASH_ARGC and BASH_ARGV are updated as
described in their descriptions above.
5. Function tracing is enabled: command substitution, shell
functions, and subshells invoked with ( command ) inherit
the DEBUG and RETURN traps.
6. 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 under Pathname Expansion 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

pathname 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 "Shell Variables" above for a description of
FIGNORE. This option is enabled by default.

globstar: If set, the pattern ** used in a pathname 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 "Completing" under "Readline," above).
This is enabled by default.

huponexit: If set, bash will send SIGHUP to all jobs when an

interactive login shell exits.

interactive_comments: If set, allow a word beginning with # to

cause that word and all remaining characters on that line to be
ignored in an interactive shell (see "Comments" above). 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 set, and the cmdhist option is enabled, multi-line

commands are saved to the history with embedded newlines rather
 than using semicolon separators where possible.

login_shell: The shell sets this option if it is started as a login shell

(see "Invocation" above). 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 pathname expansion (see "Pathname
Expansion" above).

nocasematch: If set, bash matches patterns in a case-insensitive

fashion when performing matching while executing case or
[[ conditional commands.

nullglob: If set, bash allows patterns which match no files (see

"Pathname Expansion" above) to expand to a null string, rather
than themselves.

progcomp: If set, the programmable completion facilities (see

"Programmable Completion" above) are enabled. This option is
enabled by default.

promptvars: If set, prompt strings undergo parameter expansion,

command substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal
after being expanded as described in "Prompting" above. This
option is enabled by default.

restricted_shell: The shell sets this option if it is started in

restricted mode (see "Restricted Shell" below). 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 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.

Suspend the execution of this shell until it receives a SIGCONT

signal. A login shell cannot be suspended; the -f option can be
suspend [-f] used to override this and force the suspension. The return status is
0 unless the shell is a login shell and -f is not supplied, or if job
control is not enabled.

test expr Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on the evaluation of the

conditional expression expr. Each operator and operand must be a
[ expr ] separate argument. Expressions are composed of the primaries
described above under "Conditional Expressions." test does not
accept any options, nor does it accept and ignore an argument of --
as signifying the end of options.

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.

test and [ 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 listed above under Conditional
Expressions, the expression is true if the unary test is true. If the
first argument is not a valid unary conditional 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 listed above under 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.

Print the accumulated user and system times for the shell and for
times
processes run from the shell. The return status is 0.

trap [-lp] [[arg] sigspec ...] The command arg is to be read and executed when the shell
receives signal(s) sigspec. If arg is absent (and there is a single
sigspec) or -, each specified signal is reset to its original
disposition (the value it had upon entrance to the shell). If arg is
the null string the signal specified by each sigspec is ignored by
the shell and by the commands it invokes. If arg is not present and
-p has been supplied, then the trap commands associated with each
sigspec are displayed. If no arguments are supplied or if only -p is
given, trap prints the list of commands associated with each signal.
The -l option causes the shell to print a list of signal names and
their corresponding numbers. Each sigspec is either a signal name
defined in <signal.h>, or a signal number. Signal names are case
insensitive and the SIG prefix is optional.

If a sigspec is EXIT (0) the command arg is executed on exit from

the shell. 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 (see "Shell Grammar,"
above). Refer to the description of the extdebug option to 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

 simple command has 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 a
while or until keyword, part of the test in an if statement, part of a
command executed in a && or || list, or if the command's return
value is being inverted via !. These are the same conditions obeyed
by the errexit 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 false if any sigspec is invalid;
otherwise trap returns true.

With no options, indicate how each name would be interpreted if

used as a command name. If the -t option is used, type prints a
string that is one of alias, keyword, function, builtin, or file if
name is an alias, shell reserved word, function, builtin, or disk file,
respectively. If the name is not found, then nothing is printed, and
an exit status of false is returned. If the -p option is used, type
either returns the name of the disk file that would be executed if
name were specified as a command name, or nothing if "type -t
name" would not return file. The -P option forces a PATH search
type [-aftpP] name [name ...]
for each name, even if "type -t name" would not return file. If a
command is hashed, -p and -P print the hashed value, not
necessarily the file that appears first in PATH. If the -a option is
used, type prints all of the places that contain an executable named
name. This includes aliases and functions, if and only if the -p
option is not also used. The table of hashed commands is not
consulted when using -a. The -f option suppresses shell function
lookup, as with the command builtin. type returns true if all of the
arguments are found, false if any are not found.

ulimit [-HSTabcdefilmnpqrstuvx Provides control over the resources available to the shell and to
[limit]] processes started by it, on systems that allow such control. The -H
and -S options specify that the hard or soft limit is set for the given
resource. 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. If neither -H nor -S is specified, both the soft and hard limits
are set. The value of limit can be a number in the unit specified for
the resource or one of the special values hard, soft, or unlimited,
which stand for the current hard limit, the current soft limit, and no
limit, respectively. If limit is omitted, the current value of the soft
limit of the resource is printed, unless the -H option is given.
When more than one resource is specified, the limit name and unit
are printed before the value. Other options are interpreted as
follows:
-a: All current limits are reported.

-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.

-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 size in 512-byte blocks (this may not be set).

-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.

-T: The maximum number of threads.

If limit is given, it is the new value of the specified resource (the

-a option is display only). If no option is given, then -f is assumed.
Values are in 1024-byte increments, except for -t, which is in
seconds, -p, which is in units of 512-byte blocks, and -T, -b, -n,
and -u, which are unscaled values. The return status is 0 unless an
invalid option or argument is supplied, or an error occurs while
 setting a new limit.

The user file-creation mask is set to mode. If mode begins with a

digit, it is interpreted as an octal number; otherwise it is
interpreted as a symbolic mode mask similar to that accepted by
chmod. If mode is omitted, the current value of the mask is
printed. The -S option causes the mask to be printed in symbolic
umask [-p] [-S] [mode]
form; the default output is an octal number. 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 0 if the mode was successfully
changed or if no mode argument was supplied, and false
otherwise.

Remove each name from the list of defined aliases. If -a is

unalias [-a] [name ...] supplied, all alias definitions are removed. The return value is true
unless a supplied name is not a defined alias.

For each name, remove the corresponding variable or function. If

no options are supplied, or the -v option is given, each name refers
to a shell variable. Readonly variables may not be unset. If -f is
specified, each name refers to a shell function, and the function
definition is removed. Each unset variable or function is removed
unset [-fv] [name ...]
from the environment passed to subsequent commands. If any of
COMP_WORDBREAKS, RANDOM, SECONDS, LINENO,
HISTCMD, FUNCNAME, GROUPS, or DIRSTACK are unset,
they lose their special properties, even if they are subsequently
reset. The exit status is true unless a name is readonly.

Wait for each specified process and return its termination status.
Each n may be a process ID or a job specification; if a job spec is
given, all processes in that job's pipeline are waited for. If n is not
wait [n ...] given, all currently active child processes are waited for, and the
return status is zero. If n specifies a non-existent process or job,
the return status is 127. Otherwise, the return status is the exit
status of the last process or job waited for.

Restricted Shell
If bash is started with the name rbash, or the -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. It
behaves identically to bash with the exception that the following are disallowed or not performed:
• changing directories with cd
• setting or unsetting the values of SHELL, PATH, ENV, or BASH_ENV
• specifying command names containing /
• specifying a file name containing a / as an argument to the . 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 command to replace the shell with another command
• adding or deleting builtin commands with the -f and -d options to the enable builtin command
• using the enable builtin command to enable disabled shell builtins
• specifying the -p option to the command builtin command
• 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 the section "Command Execution"
above), rbash turns off any restrictions in the shell spawned to execute the script.

Files
/bin/bash The bash executable.

/etc/profile The systemwide initialization file, executed for login shells.

/etc/bash.bashrc The systemwide per-interactive-shell startup file.

/etc/bash.bash.logout The systemwide login shell cleanup file, executed when a login shell exits.

~/.bash_profile The personal initialization file, executed for login shells.

~/.bashrc The individual per-interactive-shell startup file.

~/.bash_logout The individual login shell cleanup file, executed when a login shell exits.

~/.inputrc Individual readline initialization file.

bash examples
bash

Launches the bash command interpreter. The remainder of the examples will assume that you are at a
bash prompt.
myvar="This is the value of my variable."

Sets the value of variable $myvar to "This is the value of my variable."

echo $myvar

Prints the value of $myvar.

echo text$myvar

Prints "textThis is the value of my variable."

echo text1${myvar}text2

Prints "text1This is the value of my variable.text2".

export MYVAR="This is my variable."

environment variable MYVAR to "This is my variable."

echo $MYVAR

Prints the value of the environment variable MYVAR.

export MYVAR=abracadabra;echo ${MYVAR#*ab}${MYVAR##*ab}

This one-line command prints "racadabrara". This command does a few things:
1. sets the value of the environment variable MYVAR to "abracadabra";
2. takes the value of MYVAR and removes the shortest possible ("#") substring that matches the
pattern *ab, which in this case is "ab", which results in the string "racadabra";
3. takes the value of MYVAR and removes the longest possible ("##") substring that matches the
pattern *ab, which in this case is "abracadab", which results in the strings "ra";
4. prints the two results together, resulting in the concatenated string "racadabrara".
myvar="12";echo $(( $myvar + 3 ))

Prints "15".
myvar=0
while [ $myvar -ne 10 ]
do
echo $myvar
myvar=$(( $myvar + 1 ))
done

Prints the following:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9