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Bash Reference Manual

Next: Introduction, Previous: (dir), Up: (dir) [Contents][Index]

Bash Features
This text is a brief description of the features that are present in the Bash shell (version
5.2, 19 September 2022). The Bash home page is http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/.

This is Edition 5.2, last updated 19 September 2022, of The GNU Bash Reference
Manual, for Bash, Version 5.2.

Bash contains features that appear in other popular shells, and some features that only
appear in Bash. Some of the shells that Bash has borrowed concepts from are the
Bourne Shell (sh), the Korn Shell (ksh), and the C-shell (csh and its successor, tcsh).
The following menu breaks the features up into categories, noting which features were
inspired by other shells and which are specific to Bash.

This manual is meant as a brief introduction to features found in Bash. The Bash
manual page should be used as the definitive reference on shell behavior.

Table of Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 What is Bash?
1.2 What is a shell?

2 Definitions

3 Basic Shell Features

3.1 Shell Syntax
3.1.1 Shell Operation
3.1.2 Quoting
3.1.2.1 Escape Character
3.1.2.2 Single Quotes
3.1.2.3 Double Quotes
3.1.2.4 ANSI-C Quoting

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3.1.2.5 Locale-Specific Translation

3.1.3 Comments
3.2 Shell Commands
3.2.1 Reserved Words
3.2.2 Simple Commands
3.2.3 Pipelines
3.2.4 Lists of Commands
3.2.5 Compound Commands
3.2.5.1 Looping Constructs
3.2.5.2 Conditional Constructs
3.2.5.3 Grouping Commands
3.2.6 Coprocesses
3.2.7 GNU Parallel
3.3 Shell Functions
3.4 Shell Parameters
3.4.1 Positional Parameters
3.4.2 Special Parameters
3.5 Shell Expansions
3.5.1 Brace Expansion
3.5.2 Tilde Expansion
3.5.3 Shell Parameter Expansion
3.5.4 Command Substitution
3.5.5 Arithmetic Expansion
3.5.6 Process Substitution
3.5.7 Word Splitting
3.5.8 Filename Expansion
3.5.8.1 Pattern Matching
3.5.9 Quote Removal
3.6 Redirections
3.6.1 Redirecting Input
3.6.2 Redirecting Output
3.6.3 Appending Redirected Output
3.6.4 Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

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3.6.5 Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

3.6.6 Here Documents
3.6.7 Here Strings
3.6.8 Duplicating File Descriptors
3.6.9 Moving File Descriptors
3.6.10 Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing
3.7 Executing Commands
3.7.1 Simple Command Expansion
3.7.2 Command Search and Execution
3.7.3 Command Execution Environment
3.7.4 Environment
3.7.5 Exit Status
3.7.6 Signals
3.8 Shell Scripts

4 Shell Builtin Commands

4.1 Bourne Shell Builtins
4.2 Bash Builtin Commands
4.3 Modifying Shell Behavior
4.3.1 The Set Builtin
4.3.2 The Shopt Builtin
4.4 Special Builtins

5 Shell Variables
5.1 Bourne Shell Variables
5.2 Bash Variables

6 Bash Features
6.1 Invoking Bash
6.2 Bash Startup Files
6.3 Interactive Shells
6.3.1 What is an Interactive Shell?
6.3.2 Is this Shell Interactive?
6.3.3 Interactive Shell Behavior
6.4 Bash Conditional Expressions
6.5 Shell Arithmetic

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6.6 Aliases
6.7 Arrays
6.8 The Directory Stack
6.8.1 Directory Stack Builtins
6.9 Controlling the Prompt
6.10 The Restricted Shell
6.11 Bash POSIX Mode
6.12 Shell Compatibility Mode

7 Job Control
7.1 Job Control Basics
7.2 Job Control Builtins
7.3 Job Control Variables

8 Command Line Editing

8.1 Introduction to Line Editing
8.2 Readline Interaction
8.2.1 Readline Bare Essentials
8.2.2 Readline Movement Commands
8.2.3 Readline Killing Commands
8.2.4 Readline Arguments
8.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History
8.3 Readline Init File
8.3.1 Readline Init File Syntax
8.3.2 Conditional Init Constructs
8.3.3 Sample Init File
8.4 Bindable Readline Commands
8.4.1 Commands For Moving
8.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History
8.4.3 Commands For Changing Text
8.4.4 Killing And Yanking
8.4.5 Specifying Numeric Arguments
8.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You
8.4.7 Keyboard Macros
8.4.8 Some Miscellaneous Commands

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8.5 Readline vi Mode

8.6 Programmable Completion
8.7 Programmable Completion Builtins
8.8 A Programmable Completion Example

9 Using History Interactively

9.1 Bash History Facilities
9.2 Bash History Builtins
9.3 History Expansion
9.3.1 Event Designators
9.3.2 Word Designators
9.3.3 Modifiers
10 Installing Bash
10.1 Basic Installation
10.2 Compilers and Options
10.3 Compiling For Multiple Architectures
10.4 Installation Names
10.5 Specifying the System Type
10.6 Sharing Defaults
10.7 Operation Controls
10.8 Optional Features

Appendix A Reporting Bugs

Appendix B Major Differences From The Bourne Shell

B.1 Implementation Differences From The SVR4.2 Shell

Appendix C GNU Free Documentation License

Appendix D Indexes
D.1 Index of Shell Builtin Commands
D.2 Index of Shell Reserved Words
D.3 Parameter and Variable Index
D.4 Function Index
D.5 Concept Index

Next: Definitions, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

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1 Introduction
▪ What is Bash?

▪ What is a shell?

Next: What is a shell?, Up: Introduction [Contents][Index]

1.1 What is Bash?

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

Bash is largely compatible with sh and incorporates useful features from the Korn shell
ksh and the C shell csh. It is intended to be a conformant implementation of the IEEE
POSIX Shell and Tools portion of the IEEE POSIX specification (IEEE Standard 1003.1).
It offers functional improvements over sh for both interactive and programming use.

While the GNU operating system provides other shells, including a version of csh, Bash
is the default shell. Like other GNU software, Bash is quite portable. It currently runs on
nearly every version of Unix and a few other operating systems - independently-
supported ports exist for MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows platforms.

Previous: What is Bash?, Up: Introduction [Contents][Index]

1.2 What is a shell?

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

A Unix shell is both a command interpreter and a programming language. As a

command interpreter, the shell provides the user interface to the rich set of GNU utilities.
The programming language features allow these utilities to be combined. Files
containing commands can be created, and become commands themselves. These new
commands have the same status as system commands in directories such as /bin,
allowing users or groups to establish custom environments to automate their common
tasks.

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Shells may be used interactively or non-interactively. In interactive mode, they accept

input typed from the keyboard. When executing non-interactively, shells execute
commands read from a file.

A shell allows execution of GNU commands, both synchronously and asynchronously.

The shell waits for synchronous commands to complete before accepting more input;
asynchronous commands continue to execute in parallel with the shell while it reads
and executes additional commands. The redirection constructs permit fine-grained
control of the input and output of those commands. Moreover, the shell allows control
over the contents of commands’ environments.

Shells also provide a small set of built-in commands (builtins) implementing functionality
impossible or inconvenient to obtain via separate utilities. For example, cd, break,
continue, and exec cannot be implemented outside of the shell because they directly
manipulate the shell itself. The history, getopts, kill, or pwd builtins, among others,
could be implemented in separate utilities, but they are more convenient to use as
builtin commands. All of the shell builtins are described in subsequent sections.

While executing commands is essential, most of the power (and complexity) of shells is
due to their embedded programming languages. Like any high-level language, the shell
provides variables, flow control constructs, quoting, and functions.

Shells offer features geared specifically for interactive use rather than to augment the
programming language. These interactive features include job control, command line
editing, command history and aliases. Each of these features is described in this
manual.

Next: Basic Shell Features, Previous: Introduction, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

2 Definitions
These definitions are used throughout the remainder of this manual.

POSIX

A family of open system standards based on Unix. Bash is primarily concerned

with the Shell and Utilities portion of the POSIX 1003.1 standard.

blank

A space or tab character.

builtin

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A command that is implemented internally by the shell itself, rather than by an

executable program somewhere in the file system.

control operator

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

exit status

The value returned by a command to its caller. The value is restricted to eight bits,
so the maximum value is 255.

field

A unit of text that is the result of one of the shell expansions. After expansion,
when executing a command, the resulting fields are used as the command name
and arguments.

filename

A string of characters used to identify a file.

job

A set of processes comprising a pipeline, and any processes descended from it,
that are all in the same process group.

job control

A mechanism by which users can selectively stop (suspend) and restart (resume)
execution of processes.

metacharacter

A character that, when unquoted, separates words. A metacharacter is a space,

tab, newline, or one of the following characters: ‘|’, ‘&’, ‘;’, ‘(’, ‘)’, ‘<’, or ‘>’.

name

A word consisting solely of letters, numbers, and underscores, and beginning with
a letter or underscore. Names are used as shell variable and function names. Also
referred to as an identifier.

operator

A control operator or a redirection operator. See Redirections, for a list of

redirection operators. Operators contain at least one unquoted metacharacter.

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process group

A collection of related processes each having the same process group ID.

process group ID

A unique identifier that represents a process group during its lifetime.

reserved word

A word that has a special meaning to the shell. Most reserved words introduce
shell flow control constructs, such as for and while.

return status

A synonym for exit status.

signal

A mechanism by which a process may be notified by the kernel of an event

occurring in the system.

special builtin

A shell builtin command that has been classified as special by the POSIX standard.

token

A sequence of characters considered a single unit by the shell. It is either a word

or an operator.

word

A sequence of characters treated as a unit by the shell. Words may not include
unquoted metacharacters.

Next: Shell Builtin Commands, Previous: Definitions, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

3 Basic Shell Features

Bash is an acronym for ‘Bourne-Again SHell’. The Bourne shell is the traditional Unix
shell originally written by Stephen Bourne. All of the Bourne shell builtin commands are
available in Bash, The rules for evaluation and quoting are taken from the POSIX
specification for the ‘standard’ Unix shell.

This chapter briefly summarizes the shell’s ‘building blocks’: commands, control
structures, shell functions, shell parameters, shell expansions, redirections, which are a

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way to direct input and output from and to named files, and how the shell executes
commands.

▪ Shell Syntax

▪ Shell Commands

▪ Shell Functions

▪ Shell Parameters

▪ Shell Expansions

▪ Redirections

▪ Executing Commands

▪ Shell Scripts

Next: Shell Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.1 Shell Syntax

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

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

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

▪ Shell Operation

▪ Quoting

▪ Comments

Next: Quoting, Up: Shell Syntax [Contents][Index]

3.1.1 Shell Operation

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The following is a brief description of the shell’s operation when it reads and executes a
command. Basically, the shell does the following:

1. Reads its input from a file (see Shell Scripts), from a string supplied as an
argument to the -c invocation option (see Invoking Bash), or from the user’s
terminal.

2. Breaks the input into words and operators, obeying the quoting rules described
in Quoting. These tokens are separated by metacharacters. Alias expansion is
performed by this step (see Aliases).

3. Parses the tokens into simple and compound commands (see Shell
Commands).

4. Performs the various shell expansions (see Shell Expansions), breaking the
expanded tokens into lists of filenames (see Filename Expansion) and
commands and arguments.

5. Performs any necessary redirections (see Redirections) and removes the

redirection operators and their operands from the argument list.

6. Executes the command (see Executing Commands).

7. Optionally waits for the command to complete and collects its exit status (see
Exit Status).

Next: Comments, Previous: Shell Operation, Up: Shell Syntax [Contents][Index]

3.1.2 Quoting

Quoting is used to remove the special meaning of certain characters or words to the
shell. Quoting can be used to disable special treatment for special characters, to
prevent reserved words from being recognized as such, and to prevent parameter
expansion.

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

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

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▪ Escape Character

▪ Single Quotes

▪ Double Quotes

▪ ANSI-C Quoting

▪ Locale-Specific Translation

Next: Single Quotes, Up: Quoting [Contents][Index]

3.1.2.1 Escape Character

A non-quoted backslash ‘\’ is the Bash escape character. It preserves the literal value
of the next character that follows, with the exception of newline. If a \newline pair
appears, and the backslash itself is not quoted, the \newline is treated as a line
continuation (that is, it is removed from the input stream and effectively ignored).

Next: Double Quotes, Previous: Escape Character, Up: Quoting [Contents][Index]

3.1.2.2 Single Quotes

Enclosing characters in single quotes (‘'’) preserves the literal value of each character
within the quotes. A single quote may not occur between single quotes, even when
preceded by a backslash.

Next: ANSI-C Quoting, Previous: Single Quotes, Up: Quoting [Contents][Index]

3.1.2.3 Double Quotes

Enclosing characters in double quotes (‘"’) preserves the literal value of all characters
within the quotes, with the exception of ‘$’, ‘`’, ‘\’, and, when history expansion is
enabled, ‘!’. When the shell is in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), the ‘!’ has no
special meaning within double quotes, even when history expansion is enabled. The
characters ‘$’ and ‘`’ retain their special meaning within double quotes (see Shell
Expansions). The backslash retains its special meaning only when followed by one of
the following characters: ‘$’, ‘`’, ‘"’, ‘\’, or newline. Within double quotes, backslashes
that are followed by one of these characters are removed. Backslashes preceding
characters without a special meaning are left unmodified. A double quote may be
quoted within double quotes by preceding it with a backslash. If enabled, history
expansion will be performed unless an ‘!’ appearing in double quotes is escaped using

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a backslash. The backslash preceding the ‘!’ is not removed.

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

Next: Locale-Specific Translation, Previous: Double Quotes, Up: Quoting [Contents][Index]

3.1.2.4 ANSI-C Quoting

Character sequences of the form $’string’ are treated as a special kind of single quotes.
The sequence expands to string, with backslash-escaped characters in string replaced
as specified by the ANSI C standard. Backslash escape sequences, if present, are
decoded as follows:

\a

alert (bell)

\b

backspace

\e

\E

an escape character (not ANSI C)

\f

form feed

\n

newline

\r

carriage return

\t

horizontal tab

\v

vertical tab

\\

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backslash

\'

single quote

\"

double quote

\?

question mark

\nnn

the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn (one to three octal digits)

\xHH

the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH (one or two hex
digits)

\uHHHH

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

\UHHHHHHHH

the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal value
HHHHHHHH (one to eight hex digits)

\cx

a control-x character

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

Previous: ANSI-C Quoting, Up: Quoting [Contents][Index]

3.1.2.5 Locale-Specific Translation

Prefixing a double-quoted string with a dollar sign (‘$’), such as $"hello, world", will
cause the string to be translated according to the current locale. The gettext
infrastructure performs the lookup and translation, using the LC_MESSAGES,
TEXTDOMAINDIR, and TEXTDOMAIN shell variables, as explained below. See the gettext
documentation for additional details not covered here. If the current locale is C or POSIX,

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if there are no translations available, of if the string is not translated, the dollar sign is
ignored. Since this is a form of double quoting, the string remains double-quoted by
default, whether or not it is translated and replaced. If the noexpand_translation option
is enabled using the shopt builtin (see The Shopt Builtin), translated strings are single-
quoted instead of double-quoted.

The rest of this section is a brief overview of how you use gettext to create translations
for strings in a shell script named scriptname. There are more details in the gettext
documentation.

[Contents][Index]

Creating Internationalized Scripts

Once you’ve marked the strings in your script that you want to translate using $"...", you
create a gettext "template" file using the command

bash --dump-po-strings scriptname > domain.pot

The domain is your message domain. It’s just an arbitrary string that’s used to identify
the files gettext needs, like a package or script name. It needs to be unique among all
the message domains on systems where you install the translations, so gettext knows
which translations correspond to your script. You’ll use the template file to create
translations for each target language. The template file conventionally has the suffix
‘.pot’.

You copy this template file to a separate file for each target language you want to
support (called "PO" files, which use the suffix ‘.po’). PO files use various naming
conventions, but when you are working to translate a template file into a particular
language, you first copy the template file to a file whose name is the language you want
to target, with the ‘.po’ suffix. For instance, the Spanish translations of your strings
would be in a file named ‘es.po’, and to get started using a message domain named
"example," you would run

cp example.pot es.po

Ultimately, PO files are often named domain.po and installed in directories that contain
multiple translation files for a particular language.

Whichever naming convention you choose, you will need to translate the strings in the

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PO files into the appropriate languages. This has to be done manually.

When you have the translations and PO files complete, you’ll use the gettext tools to
produce what are called "MO" files, which are compiled versions of the PO files the
gettext tools use to look up translations efficiently. MO files are also called "message
catalog" files. You use the msgfmt program to do this. For instance, if you had a file with
Spanish translations, you could run

msgfmt -o es.mo es.po

to produce the corresponding MO file.

Once you have the MO files, you decide where to install them and use the
TEXTDOMAINDIR shell variable to tell the gettext tools where they are. Make sure to use
the same message domain to name the MO files as you did for the PO files when you
install them.

Your users will use the LANG or LC_MESSAGES shell variables to select the desired
language.

You set the TEXTDOMAIN variable to the script’s message domain. As above, you use the
message domain to name your translation files.

You, or possibly your users, set the TEXTDOMAINDIR variable to the name of a directory
where the message catalog files are stored. If you install the message files into the
system’s standard message catalog directory, you don’t need to worry about this
variable.

The directory where the message catalog files are stored varies between systems.
Some use the message catalog selected by the LC_MESSAGES shell variable. Others
create the name of the message catalog from the value of the TEXTDOMAIN shell variable,
possibly adding the ‘.mo’ suffix. If you use the TEXTDOMAIN variable, you may need to set
the TEXTDOMAINDIR variable to the location of the message catalog files, as above. It’s
common to use both variables in this fashion: $TEXTDOMAINDIR/$LC_MESSAGES/
LC_MESSAGES/$TEXTDOMAIN.mo.

If you used that last convention, and you wanted to store the message catalog files with
Spanish (es) and Esperanto (eo) translations into a local directory you use for custom
translation files, you could run

TEXTDOMAIN=example
TEXTDOMAINDIR=/usr/local/share/locale

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cp es.mo ${TEXTDOMAINDIR}/es/LC_MESSAGES/${TEXTDOMAIN}.mo
cp eo.mo ${TEXTDOMAINDIR}/eo/LC_MESSAGES/${TEXTDOMAIN}.mo

When all of this is done, and the message catalog files containing the compiled
translations are installed in the correct location, your users will be able to see translated
strings in any of the supported languages by setting the LANG or LC_MESSAGES
environment variables before running your script.

Previous: Quoting, Up: Shell Syntax [Contents][Index]

3.1.3 Comments

In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the interactive_comments

option to the shopt builtin is enabled (see The Shopt Builtin), a word beginning with ‘#’
causes that word and all remaining characters on that line to be ignored. An interactive
shell without the interactive_comments option enabled does not allow comments. The
interactive_comments option is on by default in interactive shells. See Interactive
Shells, for a description of what makes a shell interactive.

Next: Shell Functions, Previous: Shell Syntax, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.2 Shell Commands

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

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

▪ Reserved Words

▪ Simple Commands

▪ Pipelines

▪ Lists of Commands

▪ Compound Commands

▪ Coprocesses

▪ GNU Parallel

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Next: Simple Commands, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.1 Reserved Words

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

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

if then elif else fi time

for in until while do done
case esac coproc select function
{ } [[ ]] !

in is recognized as a reserved word if it is the third word of a case or select command.

in and do are recognized as reserved words if they are the third word in a for
command.

Next: Pipelines, Previous: Reserved Words, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.2 Simple Commands

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

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

Next: Lists of Commands, Previous: Simple Commands, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.3 Pipelines

A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated by one of the control

operators ‘|’ or ‘|&’.

The format for a pipeline is

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

The output of each command in the pipeline is connected via a pipe to the input of the
next command. That is, each command reads the previous command’s output. This
connection is performed before any redirections specified by command1.

If ‘|&’ is used, command1’s standard error, in addition to its standard output, is

connected to command2’s standard input through the pipe; it is shorthand for 2>&1 |.
This implicit redirection of the standard error to the standard output is performed after
any redirections specified by command1.

The reserved word time causes timing statistics to be printed for the pipeline once it
finishes. The statistics currently consist of elapsed (wall-clock) time and user and
system time consumed by the command’s execution. The -p option changes the output
format to that specified by POSIX. When the shell is in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX
Mode), it does not recognize time as a reserved word if the next token begins with a ‘-’.
The TIMEFORMAT variable may be set to a format string that specifies how the timing
information should be displayed. See Bash Variables, for a description of the available
formats. The use of time as a reserved word permits the timing of shell builtins, shell
functions, and pipelines. An external time command cannot time these easily.

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

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

Each command in a multi-command pipeline, where pipes are created, is executed in

its own subshell, which is a separate process (see Command Execution Environment).
If the lastpipe option is enabled using the shopt builtin (see The Shopt Builtin), the last
element of a pipeline may be run by the shell process when job control is not active.

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

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Next: Compound Commands, Previous: Pipelines, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.4 Lists of Commands

A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by one of the operators ‘;’, ‘&’,
‘&&’, or ‘||’, and optionally terminated by one of ‘;’, ‘&’, or a newline.

Of these list operators, ‘&&’ and ‘||’ have equal precedence, followed by ‘;’ and ‘&’,
which have equal precedence.

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

equivalent to a semicolon.

If a command is terminated by the control operator ‘&’, the shell executes the command
asynchronously in a subshell. This is known as executing the command in the
background, and these are referred to as asynchronous commands. The shell does not
wait for the command to finish, and the return status is 0 (true). When job control is not
active (see Job Control), the standard input for asynchronous commands, in the
absence of any explicit redirections, is redirected from /dev/null.

Commands separated by a ‘;’ are executed sequentially; the shell waits for each
command to terminate in turn. The return status is the exit status of the last command
executed.

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

An AND list has the form

command1 && command2

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

An OR list has the form

command1 || command2

command2 is executed if, and only if, command1 returns a non-zero exit status.

The return status of AND and OR lists is the exit status of the last command executed in

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the list.

Next: Coprocesses, Previous: Lists of Commands, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.5 Compound Commands

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

In most cases a list of commands in a compound command’s description may be

separated from the rest of the command by one or more newlines, and may be followed
by a newline in place of a semicolon.

Bash provides looping constructs, conditional commands, and mechanisms to group

commands and execute them as a unit.

▪ Looping Constructs

▪ Conditional Constructs

▪ Grouping Commands

Next: Conditional Constructs, Up: Compound Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.5.1 Looping Constructs

Bash supports the following looping constructs.

Note that wherever a ‘;’ appears in the description of a command’s syntax, it may be
replaced with one or more newlines.

until

The syntax of the until command is:

until test-commands; do consequent-commands; done

Execute consequent-commands as long as test-commands has an exit status

which is not zero. The return status is the exit status of the last command
executed in consequent-commands, or zero if none was executed.

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while

The syntax of the while command is:

while test-commands; do consequent-commands; done

Execute consequent-commands as long as test-commands has an exit status of

zero. The return status is the exit status of the last command executed in
consequent-commands, or zero if none was executed.

for

The syntax of the for command is:

for name [ [in [words …] ] ; ] do commands; done

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

The return status is the exit status of the last command that executes. If there are
no items in the expansion of words, no commands are executed, and the return
status is zero.

An alternate form of the for command is also supported:

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

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

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

Next: Grouping Commands, Previous: Looping Constructs, Up: Compound Commands [Contents]

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[Index]

3.2.5.2 Conditional Constructs

if

The syntax of the if command is:

if test-commands; then
consequent-commands;
[elif more-test-commands; then
more-consequents;]
[else alternate-consequents;]
fi

The test-commands list is executed, and if its return status is zero, the
consequent-commands list is executed. If test-commands returns a non-zero
status, each elif list is executed in turn, and if its exit status is zero, the
corresponding more-consequents is executed and the command completes. If
‘else alternate-consequents’ is present, and the final command in the final if or
elif clause has a non-zero exit status, then alternate-consequents is executed.
The return status is the exit status of the last command executed, or zero if no
condition tested true.

case

The syntax of the case command is:

case word in
[ [(] pattern [| pattern]…) command-list ;;]…
esac

case will selectively execute the command-list corresponding to the first pattern
that matches word. The match is performed according to the rules described
below in Pattern Matching. If the nocasematch shell option (see the description of
shopt in The Shopt Builtin) is enabled, the match is performed without regard to
the case of alphabetic characters. The ‘|’ is used to separate multiple patterns,
and the ‘)’ operator terminates a pattern list. A list of patterns and an associated
command-list is known as a clause.

Each clause must be terminated with ‘;;’, ‘;&’, or ‘;;&’. The word undergoes tilde
expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion,
and quote removal (see Shell Parameter Expansion) before matching is

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attempted. Each pattern undergoes tilde expansion, parameter expansion,

command substitution, arithmetic expansion, process substitution, and quote
removal.

There may be an arbitrary number of case clauses, each terminated by a ‘;;’, ‘;&’,
or ‘;;&’. The first pattern that matches determines the command-list that is
executed. It’s a common idiom to use ‘*’ as the final pattern to define the default
case, since that pattern will always match.

Here is an example using case in a script that could be used to describe one
interesting feature of an animal:

echo -n "Enter the name of an animal: "

read ANIMAL
echo -n "The $ANIMAL has "
case $ANIMAL in
horse | dog | cat) echo -n "four";;
man | kangaroo ) echo -n "two";;
*) echo -n "an unknown number of";;
esac
echo " legs."

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

select

The select construct allows the easy generation of menus. It has almost the same
syntax as the for command:

select name [in words …]; do commands; done

The list of words following in is expanded, generating a list of items, and the set of
expanded words is printed on the standard error output stream, each preceded by
a number. If the ‘in words’ is omitted, the positional parameters are printed, as if
‘in "$@"’ had been specified. select then displays the PS3 prompt and reads a line

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from the standard input. If the line consists of a number corresponding to one of
the displayed words, then the value of name is set to that word. If the line is
empty, the words and prompt are displayed again. If EOF is read, the select
command completes and returns 1. Any other value read causes name to be set
to null. The line read is saved in the variable REPLY.

The commands are executed after each selection until a break command is
executed, at which point the select command completes.

Here is an example that allows the user to pick a filename from the current
directory, and displays the name and index of the file selected.

select fname in *;
do
echo you picked $fname \($REPLY\)
break;
done

((…))

(( expression ))

The arithmetic expression is evaluated according to the rules described below

(see Shell Arithmetic). The expression undergoes the same expansions as if it
were within double quotes, but double quote characters in expression are not
treated specially are removed. If the value of the expression is non-zero, the
return status is 0; otherwise the return status is 1.

[[…]]

[[ expression ]]

Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on the evaluation of the conditional

expression expression. Expressions are composed of the primaries described
below in Bash Conditional Expressions. The words between the [[ and ]] do not
undergo word splitting and filename expansion. The shell performs tilde
expansion, parameter and variable expansion, arithmetic expansion, command
substitution, process substitution, and quote removal on those words (the
expansions that would occur if the words were enclosed in double quotes).
Conditional operators such as ‘-f’ must be unquoted to be recognized as
primaries.

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

When the ‘==’ and ‘!=’ operators are used, the string to the right of the operator is
considered a pattern and matched according to the rules described below in
Pattern Matching, as if the extglob shell option were enabled. The ‘=’ operator is
identical to ‘==’. If the nocasematch shell option (see the description of shopt in The
Shopt Builtin) is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of
alphabetic characters. The return value is 0 if the string matches (‘==’) or does not
match (‘!=’) the pattern, and 1 otherwise.

If you quote any part of the pattern, using any of the shell’s quoting mechanisms,
the quoted portion is matched literally. This means every character in the quoted
portion matches itself, instead of having any special pattern matching meaning.

An additional binary operator, ‘=~’, is available, with the same precedence as ‘==’
and ‘!=’. When you use ‘=~’, the string to the right of the operator is considered a
POSIX extended regular expression pattern and matched accordingly (using the
POSIX regcomp and regexec interfaces usually described in regex(3)). The return
value is 0 if the string matches the pattern, and 1 if it does not. If the regular
expression is syntactically incorrect, the conditional expression returns 2. If the
nocasematch shell option (see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) is
enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of alphabetic
characters.

You can quote any part of the pattern to force the quoted portion to be matched
literally instead of as a regular expression (see above). If the pattern is stored in a
shell variable, quoting the variable expansion forces the entire pattern to be
matched literally.

The pattern will match if it matches any part of the string. If you want to force the
pattern to match the entire string, anchor the pattern using the ‘^’ and ‘$’ regular
expression operators.

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

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

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

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If you want to match a character that’s special to the regular expression grammar
(‘^$|[]()\.*+?’), it has to be quoted to remove its special meaning. This means
that in the pattern ‘xxx.txt’, the ‘.’ matches any character in the string (its usual
regular expression meaning), but in the pattern ‘"xxx.txt"’, it can only match a
literal ‘.’.

Likewise, if you want to include a character in your pattern that has a special
meaning to the regular expression grammar, you must make sure it’s not quoted.
If you want to anchor a pattern at the beginning or end of the string, for instance,
you cannot quote the ‘^’ or ‘$’ characters using any form of shell quoting.

If you want to match ‘initial string’ at the start of a line, the following will work:

[[ $line =~ ^"initial string" ]]

but this will not:

[[ $line =~ "^initial string" ]]

because in the second example the ‘^’ is quoted and doesn’t have its usual
special meaning.

It is sometimes difficult to specify a regular expression properly without using

quotes, or to keep track of the quoting used by regular expressions while paying
attention to shell quoting and the shell’s quote removal. Storing the regular
expression in a shell variable is often a useful way to avoid problems with quoting
characters that are special to the shell. For example, the following is equivalent to
the pattern used above:

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

Shell programmers should take special care with backslashes, since backslashes
are used by both the shell and regular expressions to remove the special meaning
from the following character. This means that after the shell’s word expansions
complete (see Shell Expansions), any backslashes remaining in parts of the
pattern that were originally not quoted can remove the special meaning of pattern
characters. If any part of the pattern is quoted, the shell does its best to ensure
that the regular expression treats those remaining backslashes as literal, if they
appeared in a quoted portion.

The following two sets of commands are not equivalent:

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pattern='\.'

[[ . =~ $pattern ]]
[[ . =~ \. ]]

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

The first two matches will succeed, but the second two will not, because in the
second two the backslash will be part of the pattern to be matched. In the first two
examples, the pattern passed to the regular expression parser is ‘\.’. The
backslash removes the special meaning from ‘.’, so the literal ‘.’ matches. In the
second two examples, the pattern passed to the regular expression parser has the
backslash quoted (e.g., ‘\\\.’), which will not match the string, since it does not
contain a backslash. If the string in the first examples were anything other than ‘.’,
say ‘a’, the pattern would not match, because the quoted ‘.’ in the pattern loses its
special meaning of matching any single character.

Bracket expressions in regular expressions can be sources of errors as well, since

characters that are normally special in regular expressions lose their special
meanings between brackets. However, you can use bracket expressions to match
special pattern characters without quoting them, so they are sometimes useful for
this purpose.

Though it might seem like a strange way to write it, the following pattern will match
a ‘.’ in the string:

[[ . =~ [.] ]]

The shell performs any word expansions before passing the pattern to the regular
expression functions, so you can assume that the shell’s quoting takes
precedence. As noted above, the regular expression parser will interpret any
unquoted backslashes remaining in the pattern after shell expansion according to
its own rules. The intention is to avoid making shell programmers quote things
twice as much as possible, so shell quoting should be sufficient to quote special
pattern characters where that’s necessary.

The array variable BASH_REMATCH records which parts of the string matched the
pattern. The element of BASH_REMATCH with index 0 contains the portion of the
string matching the entire regular expression. Substrings matched by
parenthesized subexpressions within the regular expression are saved in the
remaining BASH_REMATCH indices. The element of BASH_REMATCH with index n is the

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portion of the string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression.

Bash sets BASH_REMATCH in the global scope; declaring it as a local variable will
lead to unexpected results.

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.

Previous: Conditional Constructs, Up: Compound Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.5.3 Grouping Commands

Bash provides two ways to group a list of commands to be executed as a unit. When
commands are grouped, redirections may be applied to the entire command list. For
example, the output of all the commands in the list may be redirected to a single
stream.

()

( list )

Placing a list of commands between parentheses forces the shell to create a

subshell (see Command Execution Environment), and each of the commands in
list is executed in that subshell environment. Since the list is executed in a
subshell, variable assignments do not remain in effect after the subshell
completes.

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{}

{ list; }

Placing a list of commands between curly braces causes the list to be executed in
the current shell context. No subshell is created. The semicolon (or newline)
following list is required.

In addition to the creation of a subshell, there is a subtle difference between these two
constructs due to historical reasons. The braces are reserved words, so they must be
separated from the list by blanks or other shell metacharacters. The parentheses are
operators, and are recognized as separate tokens by the shell even if they are not
separated from the list by whitespace.

The exit status of both of these constructs is the exit status of list.

Next: GNU Parallel, Previous: Compound Commands, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.6 Coprocesses

A coprocess is a shell command preceded by the coproc reserved word. A coprocess is

executed asynchronously in a subshell, as if the command had been terminated with
the ‘&’ control operator, with a two-way pipe established between the executing shell
and the coprocess.

The syntax for a coprocess is:

coproc [NAME] command [redirections]

This creates a coprocess named NAME. command may be either a simple command
(see Simple Commands) or a compound command (see Compound Commands).
NAME is a shell variable name. If NAME is not supplied, the default name is COPROC.

The recommended form to use for a coprocess is

coproc NAME { command; }

This form is recommended because simple commands result in the coprocess always
being named COPROC, and it is simpler to use and more complete than the other
compound commands.

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There are other forms of coprocesses:

coproc NAME compound-command

coproc compound-command
coproc simple-command

If command is a compound command, NAME is optional. The word following coproc

determines whether that word is interpreted as a variable name: it is interpreted as
NAME if it is not a reserved word that introduces a compound command. If command is
a simple command, NAME is not allowed; this is to avoid confusion between NAME and
the first word of the simple command.

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

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

Since the coprocess is created as an asynchronous command, the coproc command

always returns success. The return status of a coprocess is the exit status of command.

Previous: Coprocesses, Up: Shell Commands [Contents][Index]

3.2.7 GNU Parallel

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

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

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can replace xargs or feed commands from its input sources to several different
instances of Bash.

For a complete description, refer to the GNU Parallel documentation, which is available
at https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/parallel_tutorial.html.

Next: Shell Parameters, Previous: Shell Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.3 Shell Functions

Shell functions are a way to group commands for later execution using a single name
for the group. They are executed just like a "regular" command. When the name of a
shell function is used as a simple command name, the list of commands associated
with that function name is executed. Shell functions are executed in the current shell
context; no new process is created to interpret them.

Functions are declared using this syntax:

fname () compound-command [ redirections ]

or

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

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

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

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function is the exit status of the last command executed in the body.

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

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

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

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

If the builtin command return is executed in a function, the function completes and
execution resumes with the next command after the function call. Any command
associated with the RETURN trap is executed before execution resumes. When a function
completes, the values of the positional parameters and the special parameter ‘#’ are
restored to the values they had prior to the function’s execution. If a numeric argument
is given to return, that is the function’s return status; otherwise the function’s return
status is the exit status of the last command executed before the return.

Variables local to the function may be declared with the local builtin (local variables).
Ordinarily, variables and their values are shared between a function and its caller.
These variables are visible only to the function and the commands it invokes. This is
particularly important when a shell function calls other functions.

In the following description, the current scope is a currently- executing function.

Previous scopes consist of that function’s caller and so on, back to the "global" scope,

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where the shell is not executing any shell function. Consequently, a local variable at the
current local scope is a variable declared using the local or declare builtins in the
function that is currently executing.

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

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

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

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

In func2, var = func1 local

func1()
{
local var='func1 local'
func2
}

func2()
{
echo "In func2, var = $var"
}

var=global
func1

The unset builtin also acts using the same dynamic scope: if a variable is local to the
current scope, unset will unset it; otherwise the unset will refer to the variable found in

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any calling scope as described above. If a variable at the current local scope is unset, it
will remain so (appearing as unset) until it is reset in that scope or until the function
returns. Once the function returns, any instance of the variable at a previous scope will
become visible. If the unset acts on a variable at a previous scope, any instance of a
variable with that name that had been shadowed will become visible (see below how
localvar_unsetshell option changes this behavior).

Function names and definitions may be listed with the -f option to the declare
(typeset) builtin command (see Bash 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 child shell
processes (those created when executing a separate shell invocation) automatically
have them defined with the -f option to the export builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

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

Next: Shell Expansions, Previous: Shell Functions, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.4 Shell Parameters

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

A parameter is set if it has been assigned a value. The null string is a valid value. Once
a variable is set, it may be unset only by using the unset builtin command.

A variable may be assigned to by a statement of the form

name=[value]

If value is not given, the variable is assigned the null string. All values undergo tilde
expansion, parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, arithmetic
expansion, and quote removal (see Shell Parameter Expansion). If the variable has its
integer attribute set, then value is evaluated as an arithmetic expression even if the
$((…)) expansion is not used (see Arithmetic Expansion). Word splitting and filename
expansion are not performed. Assignment statements may also appear as arguments

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to the alias, declare, typeset, export, readonly, and local builtin commands
(declaration commands). When in POSIX mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), these builtins
may appear in a command after one or more instances of the command builtin and retain
these assignment statement properties.

In the context where an assignment statement is assigning a value to a shell variable or

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

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

declare -n ref=$1

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

If the control variable in a for loop has the nameref attribute, the list of words can be a
list of shell variables, and a name reference will be established for each word in the list,
in turn, when the loop is executed. Array variables cannot be given the nameref
attribute. However, nameref variables can reference array variables and subscripted
array variables. Namerefs can be unset using the -n option to the unset builtin (see

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Bourne Shell Builtins). Otherwise, if unset is executed with the name of a nameref
variable as an argument, the variable referenced by the nameref variable will be unset.

▪ Positional Parameters

▪ Special Parameters

Next: Special Parameters, Up: Shell Parameters [Contents][Index]

3.4.1 Positional Parameters

A positional parameter is a parameter denoted by one or more digits, other than the
single digit 0. Positional parameters are assigned from the shell’s arguments when it is
invoked, and may be reassigned using the set builtin command. Positional parameter N
may be referenced as ${N}, or as $N when N consists of a single digit. Positional
parameters may not be assigned to with assignment statements. The set and shift
builtins are used to set and unset them (see Shell Builtin Commands). The positional
parameters are temporarily replaced when a shell function is executed (see Shell
Functions).

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

Previous: Positional Parameters, Up: Shell Parameters [Contents][Index]

3.4.2 Special Parameters

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

($*) Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. When the expansion
is not within double quotes, each positional parameter expands to a separate
word. In contexts where it is performed, those words are subject to further word
splitting and filename expansion. When the expansion occurs within double
quotes, it expands to a single word with the value of each parameter separated by
the first character of the IFS special variable. That is, "$*" is equivalent to
"$1c$2c…", where c is the first character of the value of the IFS variable. If IFS is
unset, the parameters are separated by spaces. If IFS is null, the parameters are
joined without intervening separators.

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($@) Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one. In contexts where
word splitting is performed, this expands each positional parameter to a separate
word; if not within double quotes, these words are subject to word splitting. In
contexts where word splitting is not performed, this expands to a single word with
each positional parameter separated by a space. When the expansion occurs
within double quotes, and word splitting is performed, each parameter expands to
a separate word. That is, "$@" is equivalent to "$1" "$2" …. If the double-quoted
expansion occurs within a word, the expansion of the first parameter is joined with
the beginning part of the original word, and the expansion of the last parameter is
joined with the last part of the original word. When there are no positional
parameters, "$@" and $@ expand to nothing (i.e., they are removed).

($#) Expands to the number of positional parameters in decimal.

($?) Expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground pipeline.

($-, a hyphen.) Expands to the current option flags as specified upon invocation,
by the set builtin command, or those set by the shell itself (such as the -i option).

($$) Expands to the process ID of the shell. In a subshell, it expands to the

process ID of the invoking shell, not the subshell.

($!) Expands to the process ID of the job most recently placed into the
background, whether executed as an asynchronous command or using the bg
builtin (see Job Control Builtins).

($0) Expands to the name of the shell or shell script. This is set at shell
initialization. If Bash is invoked with a file of commands (see Shell Scripts), $0 is
set to the name of that file. If Bash is started with the -c option (see Invoking
Bash), then $0 is set to the first argument after the string to be executed, if one is
present. Otherwise, it is set to the filename used to invoke Bash, as given by
argument zero.

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Next: Redirections, Previous: Shell Parameters, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.5 Shell Expansions

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

▪ brace expansion

▪ tilde expansion

▪ parameter and variable expansion

▪ command substitution

▪ arithmetic expansion

▪ word splitting

▪ filename expansion

The order of expansions is: brace expansion; tilde expansion, parameter and variable
expansion, arithmetic expansion, and command substitution (done in a left-to-right
fashion); word splitting; and filename expansion.

On systems that can support it, there is an additional expansion available: process
substitution. This is performed at the same time as tilde, parameter, variable, and
arithmetic expansion and command substitution.

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

Only brace expansion, word splitting, and filename expansion can increase the number
of words of the expansion; other expansions expand a single word to a single word.
The only exceptions to this are the expansions of "$@" and $* (see Special
Parameters), and "${name[@]}" and ${name[*]} (see Arrays).

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

▪ Brace Expansion

▪ Tilde Expansion

▪ Shell Parameter Expansion

▪ Command Substitution

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▪ Arithmetic Expansion

▪ Process Substitution

▪ Word Splitting

▪ Filename Expansion

▪ Quote Removal

Next: Tilde Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

3.5.1 Brace Expansion

Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be generated. This

mechanism is similar to filename expansion (see Filename Expansion), but the
filenames generated need not exist. Patterns to be brace expanded take the form of an
optional preamble, followed by either a series of comma-separated strings or a
sequence expression between a pair of braces, followed by an optional postscript. The
preamble is prefixed to each string contained within the braces, and the postscript is
then appended to each resulting string, expanding left to right.

Brace expansions may be nested. The results of each expanded string are not sorted;
left to right order is preserved. For example,

bash$ echo a{d,c,b}e

ade ace abe

A sequence expression takes the form {x..y[..incr]}, where x and y are either
integers or letters, 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 letters are
supplied, the expression expands to each character lexicographically between x and y,
inclusive, using the default C locale. Note that both x and y must be of the same type
(integer or letter). 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.

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A correctly-formed brace expansion must contain unquoted opening and closing

braces, and at least one unquoted comma or a valid sequence expression. Any
incorrectly formed brace expansion is left unchanged.

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

This construct is typically used as shorthand when the common prefix of the strings to
be generated is longer than in the above example:

mkdir /usr/local/src/bash/{old,new,dist,bugs}

or

chown root /usr/{ucb/{ex,edit},lib/{ex?.?*,how_ex}}

Next: Shell Parameter Expansion, Previous: Brace Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents]

[Index]

3.5.2 Tilde Expansion

If a word begins with an unquoted tilde character (‘~’), all of the characters up to the first
unquoted slash (or all characters, if there is no unquoted slash) are considered a tilde-
prefix. If none of the characters in the tilde-prefix are quoted, the characters in the tilde-
prefix following the tilde are treated as a possible login name. If this login name is the
null string, the tilde is replaced with the value of the HOME shell variable. If HOME is unset,
the home directory of the user executing the shell is substituted instead. Otherwise, the
tilde-prefix is replaced with the home directory associated with the specified login name.

If the tilde-prefix is ‘~+’, the value of the shell variable PWD replaces the tilde-prefix. If the
tilde-prefix is ‘~-’, the value of the shell variable OLDPWD, if it is set, is substituted.

If the characters following the tilde in the tilde-prefix consist of a number N, optionally
prefixed by a ‘+’ or a ‘-’, the tilde-prefix is replaced with the corresponding element from
the directory stack, as it would be displayed by the dirs builtin invoked with the
characters following tilde in the tilde-prefix as an argument (see The Directory Stack). If
the tilde-prefix, sans the tilde, consists of a number without a leading ‘+’ or ‘-’, ‘+’ is
assumed.

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If the login name is invalid, or the tilde expansion fails, the word is left unchanged.

Each variable assignment is checked for unquoted tilde-prefixes immediately following

a ‘:’ or the first ‘=’. In these cases, tilde expansion is also performed. Consequently, one
may use filenames with tildes in assignments to PATH, MAILPATH, and CDPATH, and the
shell assigns the expanded value.

The following table shows how Bash treats unquoted tilde-prefixes:

The value of $HOME

~/foo

$HOME/foo

~fred/foo

The subdirectory foo of the home directory of the user fred

~+/foo

$PWD/foo

~-/foo

${OLDPWD-'~-'}/foo

~N

The string that would be displayed by ‘dirs +N’

~+N

The string that would be displayed by ‘dirs +N’

~-N

The string that would be displayed by ‘dirs -N’

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

Next: Command Substitution, Previous: Tilde Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

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3.5.3 Shell Parameter Expansion

The ‘$’ character introduces parameter expansion, command substitution, or arithmetic

expansion. The parameter name or symbol to be expanded may be enclosed in braces,
which are optional but serve to protect the variable to be expanded from characters
immediately following it which could be interpreted as part of the name.

When braces are used, the matching ending brace is the first ‘}’ not escaped by a
backslash or within a quoted string, and not within an embedded arithmetic expansion,
command substitution, or parameter expansion.

The basic form of parameter expansion is ${parameter}. The value of parameter is

substituted. The parameter is a shell parameter as described above (see Shell
Parameters) or an array reference (see Arrays). The braces are required when
parameter is a positional parameter with more than one digit, or when parameter is
followed by a character that is not to be interpreted as part of its name.

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

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

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

${parameter:-word}

If parameter is unset or null, the expansion of word is substituted. Otherwise, the

value of parameter is substituted.

$ v=123

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$ echo ${v-unset}
123

${parameter:=word}

If parameter is unset or null, the expansion of word is assigned to parameter. The

value of parameter is then substituted. Positional parameters and special
parameters may not be assigned to in this way.

$ var=
$ : ${var:=DEFAULT}
$ echo $var
DEFAULT

${parameter:?word}

If parameter is null or unset, the expansion of word (or a message to that effect if
word is not present) is written to the standard error and the shell, if it is not
interactive, exits. Otherwise, the value of parameter is substituted.

$ var=
$ : ${var:?var is unset or null}
bash: var: var is unset or null

${parameter:+word}

If parameter is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise the expansion of

word is substituted.

$ var=123
$ echo ${var:+var is set and not null}
var is set and not null

${parameter:offset}

${parameter:offset:length}

This is referred to as Substring Expansion. It expands to up to length characters of

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

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

Here are some examples illustrating substring expansion on parameters and

subscripted arrays:

$ string=01234567890abcdefgh
$ echo ${string:7}
7890abcdefgh
$ echo ${string:7:0}

$ echo ${string:7:2}
78
$ echo ${string:7:-2}
7890abcdef
$ echo ${string: -7}
bcdefgh
$ echo ${string: -7:0}

$ echo ${string: -7:2}

bc
$ echo ${string: -7:-2}
bcdef
$ set -- 01234567890abcdefgh
$ echo ${1:7}
7890abcdefgh
$ echo ${1:7:0}

$ echo ${1:7:2}
78
$ echo ${1:7:-2}
7890abcdef
$ echo ${1: -7}
bcdefgh
$ echo ${1: -7:0}

$ echo ${1: -7:2}

bc
$ echo ${1: -7:-2}
bcdef
$ array[0]=01234567890abcdefgh
$ echo ${array[0]:7}
7890abcdefgh

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$ echo ${array[0]:7:0}

$ echo ${array[0]:7:2}
78
$ echo ${array[0]:7:-2}
7890abcdef
$ echo ${array[0]: -7}
bcdefgh
$ echo ${array[0]: -7:0}

$ echo ${array[0]: -7:2}

bc
$ echo ${array[0]: -7:-2}
bcdef

If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the result is length positional parameters beginning at

offset. A negative offset is taken relative to one greater than the greatest positional
parameter, so an offset of -1 evaluates to the last positional parameter. It is an
expansion error if length evaluates to a number less than zero.

The following examples illustrate substring expansion using positional parameters:

$ set -- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
$ echo ${@:7}
7 8 9 0 a b c d e f g h
$ echo ${@:7:0}

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

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

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

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

Substring expansion applied to an associative array produces undefined results.

Substring indexing is zero-based unless the positional parameters are used, in

which case the indexing starts at 1 by default. If offset is 0, and the positional
parameters are used, $0 is prefixed to the list.

${!prefix*}

${!prefix@}

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

${!name[@]}

${!name[*]}

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

${#parameter}

The length in characters of the expanded value of parameter is substituted. If

parameter is ‘*’ or ‘@’, the value substituted is the number of positional parameters.
If parameter is an array name subscripted by ‘*’ or ‘@’, the value substituted is the
number of elements in the array. If parameter is an indexed array name
subscripted by a negative number, that number is interpreted as relative to one
greater than the maximum index of parameter, so negative indices count back
from the end of the array, and an index of -1 references the last element.

${parameter#word}

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${parameter##word}

The word is expanded to produce a pattern and matched according to the rules
described below (see Pattern Matching). If the pattern matches the beginning of
the expanded value of parameter, then the result of the expansion is the
expanded value of parameter with the shortest matching pattern (the ‘#’ case) or
the longest matching pattern (the ‘##’ case) deleted. If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the
pattern removal operation is applied to each positional parameter in turn, and the
expansion is the resultant list. If parameter is an array variable subscripted with ‘@’
or ‘*’, the pattern removal operation is applied to each member of the array in turn,
and the expansion is the resultant list.

${parameter%word}

${parameter%%word}

The word is expanded to produce a pattern and matched according to the rules
described below (see Pattern Matching). If the pattern matches a trailing portion of
the expanded value of parameter, then the result of the expansion is the value of
parameter with the shortest matching pattern (the ‘%’ case) or the longest matching
pattern (the ‘%%’ case) deleted. If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the pattern removal
operation is applied to each positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the
resultant list. If parameter is an array variable subscripted with ‘@’ or ‘*’, the pattern
removal operation is applied to each member of the array in turn, and the
expansion is the resultant list.

${parameter/pattern/string}

${parameter//pattern/string}

${parameter/#pattern/string}

${parameter/%pattern/string}

The pattern is expanded to produce a pattern just as in filename expansion.

Parameter is expanded and the longest match of pattern against its value is
replaced with string. string undergoes tilde expansion, parameter and variable
expansion, arithmetic expansion, command and process substitution, and quote
removal. The match is performed according to the rules described below (see
Pattern Matching).

In the first form above, only the first match is replaced. If there are two slashes
separating parameter and pattern (the second form above), all matches of pattern
are replaced with string. If pattern is preceded by ‘#’ (the third form above), it must
match at the beginning of the expanded value of parameter. If pattern is preceded

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by ‘%’ (the fourth form above), it must match at the end of the expanded value of
parameter. If the expansion of string is null, matches of pattern are deleted. If
string is null, matches of pattern are deleted and the ‘/’ following pattern may be
omitted.

If the patsub_replacement shell option is enabled using shopt, any unquoted

instances of ‘&’ in string are replaced with the matching portion of pattern. This is
intended to duplicate a common sed idiom.

Quoting any part of string inhibits replacement in the expansion of the quoted
portion, including replacement strings stored in shell variables. Backslash will
escape ‘&’ in string; the backslash is removed in order to permit a literal ‘&’ in the
replacement string. Users should take care if string is double-quoted to avoid
unwanted interactions between the backslash and double-quoting, since
backslash has special meaning within double quotes. Pattern substitution
performs the check for unquoted ‘&’ after expanding string, so users should ensure
to properly quote any occurrences of ‘&’ they want to be taken literally in the
replacement and ensure any instances of ‘&’ they want to be replaced are
unquoted.

For instance,

var=abcdef
rep='& '
echo ${var/abc/& }
echo "${var/abc/& }"
echo ${var/abc/$rep}
echo "${var/abc/$rep}"

will display four lines of "abc def", while

var=abcdef
rep='& '
echo ${var/abc/\& }
echo "${var/abc/\& }"
echo ${var/abc/"& "}
echo ${var/abc/"$rep"}

will display four lines of "& def". Like the pattern removal operators, double quotes
surrounding the replacement string quote the expanded characters, while double
quotes enclosing the entire parameter substitution do not, since the expansion is
performed in a context that doesn’t take any enclosing double quotes into account.

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Since backslash can escape ‘&’, it can also escape a backslash in the replacement
string. This means that ‘\\’ will insert a literal backslash into the replacement, so
these two echo commands

var=abcdef
rep='\\&xyz'
echo ${var/abc/\\&xyz}
echo ${var/abc/$rep}

will both output ‘\abcxyzdef’.

It should rarely be necessary to enclose only string in double quotes.

If the nocasematch shell option (see the description of shopt in The Shopt Builtin) is
enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of alphabetic
characters. If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the substitution operation is applied to each
positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. If parameter is
an array variable subscripted with ‘@’ or ‘*’, the substitution operation is applied to
each member of the array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.

${parameter^pattern}

${parameter^^pattern}

${parameter,pattern}

${parameter,,pattern}

This expansion modifies the case of alphabetic characters in parameter. The

pattern is expanded to produce a pattern just as in filename expansion. Each
character in the expanded value of parameter is tested against pattern, and, if it
matches the pattern, its case is converted. The pattern should not attempt to
match more than one character.

The ‘^’ operator converts lowercase letters matching pattern to uppercase; the ‘,’
operator converts matching uppercase letters to lowercase. The ‘^^’ and ‘,,’
expansions convert each matched character in the expanded value; the ‘^’ and ‘,’
expansions match and convert only the first character in the expanded value. If
pattern is omitted, it is treated like a ‘?’, which matches every character.

If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the case modification operation is applied to each

positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. If parameter is
an array variable subscripted with ‘@’ or ‘*’, the case modification operation is
applied to each member of the array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.

${parameter@operator}

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The expansion is either a transformation of the value of parameter or information

about parameter itself, depending on the value of operator. Each operator is a
single letter:

The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with lowercase

alphabetic characters converted to uppercase.

The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with the first
character converted to uppercase, if it is alphabetic.

The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with uppercase

alphabetic characters converted to lowercase.

The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter quoted in a format

that can be reused as input.

The expansion is a string that is the value of parameter with backslash

escape sequences expanded as with the $'…' quoting mechanism.

The expansion is a string that is the result of expanding the value of

parameter as if it were a prompt string (see Controlling the Prompt).

The expansion is a string in the form of an assignment statement or declare

command that, if evaluated, will recreate parameter with its attributes and
value.

Produces a possibly-quoted version of the value of parameter, except that it

prints the values of indexed and associative arrays as a sequence of quoted
key-value pairs (see Arrays).

The expansion is a string consisting of flag values representing parameter’s

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attributes.

Like the ‘K’ transformation, but expands the keys and values of indexed and
associative arrays to separate words after word splitting.

If parameter is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the operation is applied to each positional parameter in

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

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

Next: Arithmetic Expansion, Previous: Shell Parameter Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions

[Contents][Index]

3.5.4 Command Substitution

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

$(command)

or

`command`

Bash performs the expansion by executing command in a subshell environment and

replacing the command substitution with the standard output of the command, with any
trailing newlines deleted. Embedded newlines are not deleted, but they may be
removed during word splitting. The command substitution $(cat file) can be replaced
by the equivalent but faster $(< file).

When the old-style backquote form of substitution is used, backslash retains its literal
meaning except when followed by ‘$’, ‘`’, or ‘\’. The first backquote not preceded by a
backslash terminates the command substitution. When using the $(command) form, all
characters between the parentheses make up the command; none are treated
specially.

Command substitutions may be nested. To nest when using the backquoted form,

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escape the inner backquotes with backslashes.

If the substitution appears within double quotes, word splitting and filename expansion
are not performed on the results.

Next: Process Substitution, Previous: Command Substitution, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents]

[Index]

3.5.5 Arithmetic Expansion

Arithmetic expansion allows the evaluation of an arithmetic expression and the

substitution of the result. The format for arithmetic expansion is:

$(( expression ))

The expression undergoes the same expansions as if it were within double quotes, but
double quote characters in expression are not treated specially and are removed. All
tokens in the expression undergo parameter and variable expansion, command
substitution, and quote removal. The result is treated as the arithmetic expression to be
evaluated. Arithmetic expansions may be nested.

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

Next: Word Splitting, Previous: Arithmetic Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

3.5.6 Process Substitution

Process substitution allows a process’s input or output to be referred to using a

filename. It takes the form of

<(list)

or

>(list)

The process list is run asynchronously, and its input or output appears as a filename.
This filename is passed as an argument to the current command as the result of the

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expansion. If the >(list) form is used, writing to the file will provide input for list. If the
<(list) form is used, the file passed as an argument should be read to obtain the
output of list. Note that no space may appear between the < or > and the left
parenthesis, otherwise the construct would be interpreted as a redirection. Process
substitution is supported on systems that support named pipes (FIFOs) or the /dev/fd
method of naming open files.

When available, process substitution is performed simultaneously with parameter and

variable expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.

Next: Filename Expansion, Previous: Process Substitution, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

3.5.7 Word Splitting

The shell scans the results of parameter expansion, command substitution, and
arithmetic expansion that did not occur within double quotes for word splitting.

The shell treats each character of $IFS as a delimiter, and splits the results of the other
expansions into words using these characters as field terminators. If IFS is unset, or its
value is exactly <space><tab><newline>, the default, then sequences of <space>, <tab>,
and <newline> at the beginning and end of the results of the previous expansions are
ignored, and any sequence of IFS characters not at the beginning or end serves to
delimit words. If IFS has a value other than the default, then sequences of the
whitespace characters space, tab, and newline are ignored at the beginning and end of
the word, as long as the whitespace character is in the value of IFS (an IFS whitespace
character). Any character in IFS that is not IFS whitespace, along with any adjacent IFS
whitespace characters, delimits a field. A sequence of IFS whitespace characters is
also treated as a delimiter. If the value of IFS is null, no word splitting occurs.

Explicit null arguments ("" or '') are retained and passed to commands as empty
strings. Unquoted implicit null arguments, resulting from the expansion of parameters
that have no values, are removed. If a parameter with no value is expanded within
double quotes, a null argument results and is retained and passed to a command as an
empty string. When a quoted null argument appears as part of a word whose expansion
is non-null, the null argument is removed. That is, the word -d'' becomes -d after word
splitting and null argument removal.

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

Next: Quote Removal, Previous: Word Splitting, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

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3.5.8 Filename Expansion

After word splitting, unless the -f option has been set (see The Set Builtin), Bash scans
each word for the characters ‘*’, ‘?’, and ‘[’. If one of these characters appears, and is
not quoted, then the word is regarded as a pattern, and replaced with an alphabetically
sorted list of filenames matching the pattern (see Pattern Matching). If no matching
filenames are found, and the shell option nullglob is disabled, the word is left
unchanged. If the nullglob option is set, and no matches are found, the word is
removed. If the failglob shell option is set, and no matches are found, an error
message is printed and the command is not executed. If the shell option nocaseglob is
enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of alphabetic characters.

When a pattern is used for filename expansion, the character ‘.’ at the start of a
filename or immediately following a slash must be matched explicitly, unless the shell
option dotglob is set. In order to match the filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’, the pattern must begin
with ‘.’ (for example, ‘.?’), even if dotglob is set. If the globskipdots shell option is
enabled, the filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’ are never matched, even if the pattern begins with a
‘.’. When not matching filenames, the ‘.’ character is not treated specially.

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

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

The GLOBIGNORE shell variable may be used to restrict the set of file names matching a
pattern. If GLOBIGNORE is set, each matching file name that also matches one of the
patterns in GLOBIGNORE is removed from the list of matches. If the nocaseglob option is
set, the matching against the patterns in GLOBIGNORE is performed without regard to
case. The filenames . and .. are always ignored when GLOBIGNORE is set and not null.
However, setting GLOBIGNORE to a non-null value has the effect of enabling the dotglob
shell option, so all other filenames beginning with a ‘.’ will match. To get the old
behavior of ignoring filenames beginning with a ‘.’, make ‘.*’ one of the patterns in
GLOBIGNORE. The dotglob option is disabled when GLOBIGNORE is unset.

▪ Pattern Matching

Up: Filename Expansion [Contents][Index]

3.5.8.1 Pattern Matching

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Any character that appears in a pattern, other than the special pattern characters
described below, matches itself. The NUL character may not occur in a pattern. A
backslash escapes the following character; the escaping backslash is discarded when
matching. The special pattern characters must be quoted if they are to be matched
literally.

The special pattern characters have the following meanings:

Matches any string, including the null string. When the globstar shell option is
enabled, and ‘*’ is used in a filename expansion context, two adjacent ‘*’s used as
a single pattern will match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories.
If followed by a ‘/’, two adjacent ‘*’s will match only directories and subdirectories.

Matches any single character.

[…]

Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A pair of characters separated by a

hyphen denotes a range expression; any character that falls between those two
characters, inclusive, using the current locale’s collating sequence and character
set, is matched. If the first character following the ‘[’ is a ‘!’ or a ‘^’ then any
character not enclosed is matched. A ‘-’ may be matched by including it as the
first or last character in the set. A ‘]’ may be matched by including it as the first
character in the set. The sorting order of characters in range expressions, and the
characters included in the range, are determined by the current locale and the
values of the LC_COLLATE and LC_ALL shell variables, if set.

For example, in the default C locale, ‘[a-dx-z]’ is equivalent to ‘[abcdxyz]’. Many

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

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

alnum alpha ascii blank cntrl digit graph lower

print punct space upper word xdigit

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

Within ‘[’ and ‘]’, an equivalence class can be specified using the syntax [=c=],
which matches all characters with the same collation weight (as defined by the
current locale) as the character c.

Within ‘[’ and ‘]’, the syntax [.symbol.] matches the collating symbol symbol.

If the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin, the shell recognizes
several extended pattern matching operators. In the following description, a pattern-list
is a list of one or more patterns separated by a ‘|’. When matching filenames, the
dotglob shell option determines the set of filenames that are tested, as described
above. 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.

The extglob option changes the behavior of the parser, since the parentheses are
normally treated as operators with syntactic meaning. To ensure that extended
matching patterns are parsed correctly, make sure that extglob is enabled before
parsing constructs containing the patterns, including shell functions and command
substitutions.

When matching filenames, the dotglob shell option determines the set of filenames that
are tested: when dotglob is enabled, the set of filenames includes all files beginning
with ‘.’, but the filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’ must be matched by a pattern or sub-pattern that
begins with a dot; when it is disabled, the set does not include any filenames beginning
with “.” unless the pattern or sub-pattern begins with a ‘.’. As above, ‘.’ only has a

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special meaning when matching filenames.

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

Previous: Filename Expansion, Up: Shell Expansions [Contents][Index]

3.5.9 Quote Removal

After the preceding expansions, all unquoted occurrences of the characters ‘\’, ‘'’, and
‘"’ that did not result from one of the above expansions are removed.

Next: Executing Commands, Previous: Shell Expansions, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents]

[Index]

3.6 Redirections
Before a command is executed, its input and output may be redirected using a special
notation interpreted by the shell. Redirection allows commands’ file handles to be
duplicated, opened, closed, made to refer to different files, and can change the files the
command reads from and writes to. Redirection may also be used to modify file handles
in the current shell execution environment. The following redirection operators may
precede or appear anywhere within a simple command or may follow a command.
Redirections are processed in the order they appear, from left to right.

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

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).

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The word following the redirection operator in the following descriptions, unless
otherwise noted, is subjected to brace expansion, tilde expansion, parameter
expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion, quote removal, filename
expansion, and word splitting. If it expands to more than one word, Bash reports an
error.

Note that the order of redirections is significant. For example, the command

ls > dirlist 2>&1

directs both standard output (file descriptor 1) and standard error (file descriptor 2) to
the file dirlist, while the command

ls 2>&1 > dirlist

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

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

/dev/fd/fd

If fd is a valid integer, file descriptor fd is duplicated.

/dev/stdin

File descriptor 0 is duplicated.

/dev/stdout

File descriptor 1 is duplicated.

/dev/stderr

File descriptor 2 is duplicated.

/dev/tcp/host/port

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

/dev/udp/host/port

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If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port is an integer port number
or service name, Bash attempts to open the corresponding UDP socket.

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

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

▪ Redirecting Input

▪ Redirecting Output

▪ Appending Redirected Output

▪ Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

▪ Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

▪ Here Documents

▪ Here Strings

▪ Duplicating File Descriptors

▪ Moving File Descriptors

▪ Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing

3.6.1 Redirecting Input

Redirection of input causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to
be opened for reading on file descriptor n, or the standard input (file descriptor 0) if n is
not specified.

The general format for redirecting input is:

[n]<word

3.6.2 Redirecting Output

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

The general format for redirecting output is:

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[n]>[|]word

If the redirection operator is ‘>’, and the noclobber option to the set builtin has been
enabled, the redirection will fail if the file whose name results from the expansion of
word exists and is a regular file. If the redirection operator is ‘>|’, or the redirection
operator is ‘>’ and the noclobber option is not enabled, the redirection is attempted even
if the file named by word exists.

3.6.3 Appending Redirected Output

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

The general format for appending output is:

[n]>>word

3.6.4 Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

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

There are two formats for redirecting standard output and standard error:

&>word

and

>&word

Of the two forms, the first is preferred. This is semantically equivalent to

>word 2>&1

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

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3.6.5 Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

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

The format for appending standard output and standard error is:

&>>word

This is semantically equivalent to

>>word 2>&1

(see Duplicating File Descriptors below).

3.6.6 Here Documents

This type of redirection instructs the shell to read input from the current source until a
line containing only word (with no trailing blanks) is seen. All of the lines read up to that
point are then used as the standard input (or file descriptor n if n is specified) for a
command.

The format of here-documents is:

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

No parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion, or

filename expansion is performed on word. If any part of word is quoted, the delimiter is
the result of quote removal on word, and the lines in the here-document are not
expanded. If word is unquoted, all lines of the here-document are subjected to
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion, the character
sequence \newline is ignored, and ‘\’ must be used to quote the characters ‘\’, ‘$’, and
‘`’.

If the redirection operator is ‘<<-’, then all leading tab characters are stripped from input
lines and the line containing delimiter. This allows here-documents within shell scripts
to be indented in a natural fashion.

3.6.7 Here Strings

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A variant of here documents, the format is:

[n]<<< word

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

3.6.8 Duplicating File Descriptors

The redirection operator

[n]<&word

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

The operator

[n]>&word

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

3.6.9 Moving File Descriptors

The redirection operator

[n]<&digit-

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

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Similarly, the redirection operator

[n]>&digit-

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

3.6.10 Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing

The redirection operator

[n]<>word

causes the file whose name is the expansion of word to be opened for both reading and
writing on file descriptor n, or on file descriptor 0 if n is not specified. If the file does not
exist, it is created.

Next: Shell Scripts, Previous: Redirections, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.7 Executing Commands

▪ Simple Command Expansion

▪ Command Search and Execution

▪ Command Execution Environment

▪ Environment

▪ Exit Status

▪ Signals

Next: Command Search and Execution, Up: Executing Commands [Contents][Index]

3.7.1 Simple Command Expansion

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

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 (see

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Shell Expansions). If any words remain after expansion, the first word is taken to
be the name of the command and the remaining words are the arguments.

3. Redirections are performed as described above (see Redirections).

4. The text after the ‘=’ in each variable assignment undergoes tilde expansion,
parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote
removal before being assigned to the variable.

If no command name results, the variable assignments affect the current shell
environment. In the case of such a command (one that consists only of assignment
statements and redirections), assignment statements are performed before
redirections. 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.

Next: Command Execution Environment, Previous: Simple Command Expansion, Up: Executing

Commands [Contents][Index]

3.7.2 Command Search and Execution

After a command has been split into words, if it results in a simple command and an
optional list of arguments, the following actions are taken.

1. If the command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts to locate it. If there
exists a shell function by that name, that function is invoked as described in
Shell Functions.

2. If the name does not match a function, the shell searches for it in the list of shell
builtins. If a match is found, that builtin is invoked.

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3. If the name is neither a shell function nor a builtin, and contains no slashes,
Bash searches each element of $PATH for a directory containing an executable
file by that name. Bash uses a hash table to remember the full pathnames of
executable files to avoid multiple PATH searches (see the description of hash in
Bourne Shell Builtins). A full search of the directories in $PATH is performed only
if the command is not found in the hash table. If the search is unsuccessful, the
shell searches for a defined shell function named command_not_found_handle. If
that function exists, it is invoked in a separate execution environment with the
original command and the original command’s arguments as its arguments, and
the function’s exit status becomes the exit status of that subshell. If that function
is not defined, the shell prints an error message and returns an exit status of
127.

4. If the search is successful, or if the command name contains one or more

slashes, the shell executes the named program in a separate execution
environment. Argument 0 is set to the name given, and the remaining arguments
to the command are set to the arguments supplied, if any.

5. If this execution fails because the file is not in executable format, and the file is
not a directory, it is assumed to be a shell script and the shell executes it as
described in Shell Scripts.

6. If the command was not begun asynchronously, the shell waits for the command
to complete and collects its exit status.

Next: Environment, Previous: Command Search and Execution, Up: Executing Commands

[Contents][Index]

3.7.3 Command Execution Environment

The shell has an execution environment, which consists of the following:

▪ open files inherited by the shell at invocation, as modified by redirections

supplied to the exec builtin

▪ the current working directory as set by cd, pushd, or popd, or inherited by the
shell at invocation

▪ the file creation mode mask as set by umask or inherited from the shell’s parent

▪ current traps set by trap

▪ shell parameters that are set by variable assignment or with set or inherited

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from the shell’s parent in the environment

▪ shell functions defined during execution or inherited from the shell’s parent in the
environment

▪ options enabled at invocation (either by default or with command-line

arguments) or by set

▪ options enabled by shopt (see The Shopt Builtin)

▪ shell aliases defined with alias (see Aliases)

▪ various process IDs, including those of background jobs (see Lists of

Commands), the value of $$, and the value of $PPID

When a simple command other than a builtin or shell function is to be executed, it is

invoked in a separate execution environment that consists of the following. Unless
otherwise noted, the values are inherited from the shell.

▪ the shell’s open files, plus any modifications and additions specified by
redirections to the command

▪ the current working directory

▪ the file creation mode mask

▪ shell variables and functions marked for export, along with variables exported for
the command, passed in the environment (see Environment)

▪ traps caught by the shell are reset to the values inherited from the shell’s parent,
and traps ignored by the shell are ignored

A command invoked in this separate environment cannot affect the shell’s execution
environment.

A subshell is a copy of the shell process.

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.

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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.

Next: Exit Status, Previous: Command Execution Environment, Up: Executing Commands

[Contents][Index]

3.7.4 Environment

When a program is invoked it is given an array of strings called the environment. This is
a list of name-value pairs, of the form name=value.

Bash provides several ways to manipulate the environment. On invocation, the shell
scans its own environment and creates a parameter for each name found, automatically
marking it for export to child processes. Executed commands inherit the environment.
The export and ‘declare -x’ commands allow parameters and functions to be added to
and deleted from the environment. If the value of a parameter in the environment is
modified, the new value becomes part of the environment, replacing the old. The
environment inherited by any executed command consists of the shell’s initial
environment, whose values may be modified in the shell, less any pairs removed by the
and ‘export -n’ commands, plus any additions via the export and ‘declare -x’
unset
commands.

The environment for any simple command or function may be augmented temporarily
by prefixing it with parameter assignments, as described in Shell Parameters. These
assignment statements affect only the environment seen by that command.

If the -k option is set (see The Set Builtin), then all parameter assignments are placed
in the environment for a command, not just those that precede the command name.

When Bash invokes an external command, the variable ‘$_’ is set to the full pathname
of the command and passed to that command in its environment.

Next: Signals, Previous: Environment, Up: Executing Commands [Contents][Index]

3.7.5 Exit Status

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

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the shell will use special values to indicate specific failure modes.

For the shell’s purposes, a command which exits with a zero exit status has succeeded.
A non-zero exit status indicates failure. This seemingly counter-intuitive scheme is used
so there is one well-defined way to indicate success and a variety of ways to indicate
various failure modes. When a command terminates on a fatal signal whose number is
N, Bash uses the value 128+N as the exit status.

If a command is not found, the child process created to execute it returns a status of
127. If a command is found but is not executable, the return status is 126.

If a command fails because of an error during expansion or redirection, the exit status is
greater than zero.

The exit status is used by the Bash conditional commands (see Conditional Constructs)
and some of the list constructs (see Lists of Commands).

All of the Bash builtins return an exit status of zero if they succeed and a non-zero
status on failure, so they may be used by the conditional and list constructs. All builtins
return an exit status of 2 to indicate incorrect usage, generally invalid options or missing
arguments.

The exit status of the last command is available in the special parameter $? (see
Special Parameters).

Previous: Exit Status, Up: Executing Commands [Contents][Index]

3.7.6 Signals

When Bash is interactive, in the absence of any traps, it ignores SIGTERM (so that ‘kill
0’does not kill an interactive shell), and SIGINT is caught and handled (so that the wait
builtin is interruptible). When Bash receives a SIGINT, it breaks out of any executing
loops. In all cases, Bash ignores SIGQUIT. If job control is in effect (see Job Control),
Bash ignores SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP.

Non-builtin commands started by Bash have signal handlers set to the values inherited
by the shell from its parent. When job control is not in effect, asynchronous commands
ignore SIGINT and SIGQUIT in addition to these inherited handlers. Commands run as a
result of command substitution ignore the keyboard-generated job control signals
SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP.

The shell exits by default upon receipt of a SIGHUP. Before exiting, an interactive shell

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resends the SIGHUP to all jobs, running or stopped. Stopped jobs are sent SIGCONT to
ensure that they receive the SIGHUP. To prevent the shell from sending the SIGHUP signal
to a particular job, it should be removed from the jobs table with the disown builtin (see
Job Control Builtins) or marked to not receive SIGHUP using disown -h.

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

If Bash is waiting for a command to complete and receives a signal for which a trap has
been set, the trap will not be executed until the command completes. When Bash is
waiting for an asynchronous command via the wait builtin, the reception of a signal for
which a trap has been set will cause the wait builtin to return immediately with an exit
status greater than 128, immediately after which the trap is executed.

When job control is not enabled, and Bash is waiting for a foreground command to
complete, the shell receives keyboard-generated signals such as SIGINT (usually
generated by ‘^C’) that users commonly intend to send to that command. This happens
because the shell and the command are in the same process group as the terminal,
and ‘^C’ sends SIGINT to all processes in that process group. See Job Control, for a
more in-depth discussion of process groups.

When Bash is running without job control enabled and receives SIGINT while waiting for
a foreground command, it waits until that foreground command terminates and then
decides what to do about the SIGINT:

1. If the command terminates due to the SIGINT, Bash concludes that the user
meant to end the entire script, and acts on the SIGINT (e.g., by running a SIGINT
trap or exiting itself);

2. If the pipeline does not terminate due to SIGINT, the program handled the SIGINT
itself and did not treat it as a fatal signal. In that case, Bash does not treat
SIGINT as a fatal signal, either, instead assuming that the SIGINT was used as
part of the program’s normal operation (e.g., emacs uses it to abort editing
commands) or deliberately discarded. However, Bash will run any trap set on
SIGINT, as it does with any other trapped signal it receives while it is waiting for
the foreground command to complete, for compatibility.

Previous: Executing Commands, Up: Basic Shell Features [Contents][Index]

3.8 Shell Scripts

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A shell script is a text file containing shell commands. When such a file is used as the
first non-option argument when invoking Bash, and neither the -c nor -s option is
supplied (see Invoking Bash), Bash reads and executes commands from the file, then
exits. This mode of operation creates a non-interactive shell. The shell first searches for
the file in the current directory, and looks in the directories in $PATH if not found there.

When Bash runs a shell script, it sets the special parameter 0 to the name of the file,
rather than the name of the shell, and the positional parameters are set to the
remaining arguments, if any are given. If no additional arguments are supplied, the
positional parameters are unset.

A shell script may be made executable by using the chmod command to turn on the
execute bit. When Bash finds such a file while searching the $PATH for a command, it
creates a new instance of itself to execute it. In other words, executing

filename arguments

is equivalent to executing

bash filename arguments

if filename is an executable shell script. This subshell reinitializes itself, so that the
effect is as if a new shell had been invoked to interpret the script, with the exception
that the locations of commands remembered by the parent (see the description of hash
in Bourne Shell Builtins) are retained by the child.

Most versions of Unix make this a part of the operating system’s command execution
mechanism. If the first line of a script begins with the two characters ‘#!’, the remainder
of the line specifies an interpreter for the program and, depending on the operating
system, one or more optional arguments for that interpreter. Thus, you can specify
Bash, awk, Perl, or some other interpreter and write the rest of the script file in that
language.

The arguments to the interpreter consist of one or more optional arguments following
the interpreter name on the first line of the script file, followed by the name of the script
file, followed by the rest of the arguments supplied to the script. The details of how the
interpreter line is split into an interpreter name and a set of arguments vary across
systems. Bash will perform this action on operating systems that do not handle it
themselves. Note that some older versions of Unix limit the interpreter name and a
single argument to a maximum of 32 characters, so it’s not portable to assume that

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using more than one argument will work.

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

Next: Shell Variables, Previous: Basic Shell Features, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

4 Shell Builtin Commands

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

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

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

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

Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented as accepting options

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

▪ Bourne Shell Builtins

▪ Bash Builtin Commands

▪ Modifying Shell Behavior

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▪ Special Builtins

Next: Bash Builtin Commands, Up: Shell Builtin Commands [Contents][Index]

4.1 Bourne Shell Builtins

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

: (a colon)

: [arguments]

Do nothing beyond expanding arguments and performing redirections. The return

status is zero.

. (a period)

. filename [arguments]

Read and execute commands from the filename argument in the current shell
context. If filename does not contain a slash, the PATH variable is used to find
filename, but filename does not need to be executable. When Bash is not in POSIX
mode, it searches the current directory if filename is not found in $PATH. If any
arguments are supplied, they become the positional parameters when filename is
executed. Otherwise the positional parameters are unchanged. If the -T option is
enabled, . inherits any trap on DEBUG; if it is not, any DEBUG trap string is saved and
restored around the call to ., and . unsets the DEBUG trap while it executes. If -T is
not set, and the sourced file changes the DEBUG trap, the new value is retained
when . completes. The return status is the exit status of the last command
executed, or zero if no commands are executed. If filename is not found, or cannot
be read, the return status is non-zero. This builtin is equivalent to source.

break

break [n]

Exit from a for, while, until, or select loop. If n is supplied, the nth enclosing
loop is exited. n must be greater than or equal to 1. The return status is zero
unless n is not greater than or equal to 1.

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cd

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

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

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

By default, or when the -L option is supplied, symbolic links in directory are

resolved after cd processes an instance of ‘..’ in directory.

If ‘..’ appears in directory, it is processed by removing the immediately preceding

pathname component, back to a slash or the beginning of directory.

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

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

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

attempted.

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

If the directory change is successful, cd sets the value of the PWD environment
variable to the new directory name, and sets the OLDPWD environment variable to
the value of the current working directory before the change.

The return status is zero if the directory is successfully changed, non-zero

otherwise.

continue

continue [n]

Resume the next iteration of an enclosing for, while, until, or select loop. If n is

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supplied, the execution of the nth enclosing loop is resumed. n must be greater
than or equal to 1. The return status is zero unless n is not greater than or equal to
1.

eval

eval [arguments]

The arguments are concatenated together into a single command, which is then
read and executed, and its exit status returned as the exit status of eval. If there
are no arguments or only empty arguments, the return status is zero.

exec

exec [-cl] [-a name] [command [arguments]]

If command is supplied, it replaces the shell without creating a new process. If the
-l option is supplied, the shell places a dash at the beginning of the zeroth
argument passed to command. This is what the login program does. The -c
option causes command to be executed with an empty environment. If -a is
supplied, the shell passes name as the zeroth argument to command. If command
cannot be executed for some reason, a non-interactive shell exits, unless the
execfail shell option is enabled. In that case, it returns failure. An interactive shell
returns failure if the file cannot be executed. A subshell exits unconditionally if
exec fails. If no command is specified, redirections may be used to affect the
current shell environment. If there are no redirection errors, the return status is
zero; otherwise the return status is non-zero.

exit

exit [n]

Exit the shell, returning a status of n to the shell’s parent. If n is omitted, the exit
status is that of the last command executed. Any trap on EXIT is executed before
the shell terminates.

export

export [-fn] [-p] [name[=value]]

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Mark each name to be passed to child processes in the environment. If the -f

option is supplied, the names refer to shell functions; otherwise the names refer to
shell variables. The -n option means to no longer mark each name for export. If no
names are supplied, or if the -p option is given, a list of names of all exported
variables is displayed. The -p option displays output in a form that may be reused
as input. If a variable name is followed by =value, the value of the variable is set to
value.

The return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied, one of the names is
not a valid shell variable name, or -f is supplied with a name that is not a shell
function.

getopts

getopts optstring name [arg …]

getopts is used by shell scripts to parse positional parameters. optstring contains

the option characters to be recognized; if a character is followed by a colon, the
option is expected to have an argument, which should be separated from it by
whitespace. The colon (‘:’) and question mark (‘?’) may not be used as option
characters. Each time it is invoked, getopts places the next option in the shell
variable name, initializing name if it does not exist, and the index of the next
argument to be processed into the variable OPTIND. OPTIND is initialized to 1 each
time the shell or a shell script is invoked. When an option requires an argument,
getopts places that argument into the variable OPTARG. The shell does not reset
OPTIND automatically; it must be manually reset between multiple calls to getopts
within the same shell invocation if a new set of parameters is to be used.
When the end of options is encountered, getopts exits with a return value greater
than zero. OPTIND is set to the index of the first non-option argument, and name is
set to ‘?’.

getopts normally parses the positional parameters, but if more arguments are
supplied as arg values, getopts parses those instead.

getopts can report errors in two ways. If the first character of optstring is a colon,
silent error reporting is used. In normal operation, diagnostic messages are
printed when invalid options or missing option arguments are encountered. If the
variable OPTERR is set to 0, no error messages will be displayed, even if the first
character of optstring is not a colon.

If an invalid option is seen, getopts places ‘?’ into name and, if not silent, prints an
error message and unsets OPTARG. If getopts is silent, the option character found is

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placed in OPTARG and no diagnostic message is printed.

If a required argument is not found, and getopts is not silent, a question mark (‘?’)
is placed in name, OPTARG is unset, and a diagnostic message is printed. If getopts
is silent, then a colon (‘:’) is placed in name and OPTARG is set to the option
character found.

hash

hash [-r] [-p filename] [-dt] [name]

Each time hash is invoked, it remembers the full pathnames of the commands
specified as name arguments, so they need not be searched for on subsequent
invocations. The commands are found by searching through the directories listed
in $PATH. Any previously-remembered pathname is discarded. The -p option
inhibits the path search, and filename is used as the location of name. The -r
option causes the shell to forget all remembered locations. The -d option causes
the shell to forget the remembered location of each name. If the -t option is
supplied, the full pathname to which each name corresponds is printed. If multiple
name arguments are supplied with -t, the name is printed before the hashed full
pathname. The -l option causes output to be displayed in a format that may be
reused as input. If no arguments are given, or if only -l is supplied, information
about remembered commands is printed. The return status is zero unless a name
is not found or an invalid option is supplied.

pwd

pwd [-LP]

Print the absolute pathname of the current working directory. If the -P option is
supplied, the pathname printed will not contain symbolic links. If the -L option is
supplied, the pathname printed may contain symbolic links. The return status is
zero unless an error is encountered while determining the name of the current
directory or an invalid option is supplied.

readonly

readonly [-aAf] [-p] [name[=value]] …

Mark each name as readonly. The values of these names may not be changed by

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subsequent assignment. If the -f option is supplied, each name refers to a shell

function. The -a option means each name refers to an indexed array variable; the
-A option means each name refers to an associative array variable. If both options
are supplied, -A takes precedence. If no name arguments are given, or if the -p
option is supplied, a list of all readonly names is printed. The other options may be
used to restrict the output to a subset of the set of readonly names. The -p option
causes output to be displayed in a format that may be reused as input. If a
variable name is followed by =value, the value of the variable is set to value. The
return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied, one of the name
arguments is not a valid shell variable or function name, or the -f option is
supplied with a name that is not a shell function.

return

return [n]

Cause a shell function to stop executing and return the value n to its caller. If n is
not supplied, the return value is the exit status of the last command executed in
the function. If return is executed by a trap handler, the last command used to
determine the status is the last command executed before the trap handler. If
return is executed during a DEBUG trap, the last command used to determine the
status is the last command executed by the trap handler before return was
invoked. return may also be used to terminate execution of a script being
executed with the . (source) builtin, returning either n or the exit status of the last
command executed within the script as the exit status of the script. If n is supplied,
the return value is its least significant 8 bits. Any command associated with the
RETURN trap is executed before execution resumes after the function or script. The
return status is non-zero if return is supplied a non-numeric argument or is used
outside a function and not during the execution of a script by . or source.

shift

shift [n]

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

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test

test expr

Evaluate a conditional expression expr and return a status of 0 (true) or 1 (false).

Each operator and operand must be a separate argument. Expressions are
composed of the primaries described below in Bash Conditional Expressions. test
does not accept any options, nor does it accept and ignore an argument of -- as
signifying the end of options.

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

Expressions may be combined using the following operators, listed in decreasing

order of precedence. The evaluation depends on the number of arguments; see
below. Operator precedence is used when there are five or more arguments.

! expr

True if expr is false.

( expr )

Returns the value of expr. This may be used to override the normal
precedence of operators.

expr1 -a expr2

True if both expr1 and expr2 are true.

expr1 -o expr2

True if either expr1 or expr2 is true.

The test and [ builtins evaluate conditional expressions using a set of rules based
on the number of arguments.

0 arguments

The expression is false.

1 argument
The expression is true if, and only if, the argument is not null.

2 arguments

If the first argument is ‘!’, the expression is true if and only if the second

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argument is null. If the first argument is one of the unary conditional operators
(see Bash Conditional Expressions), the expression is true if the unary test is
true. If the first argument is not a valid unary operator, the expression is false.

3 arguments

The following conditions are applied in the order listed.

1. If the second argument is one of the binary conditional operators (see

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

2. If the first argument is ‘!’, the value is the negation of the two-
argument test using the second and third arguments.

3. If the first argument is exactly ‘(’ and the third argument is exactly ‘)’,
the result is the one-argument test of the second argument.

4. Otherwise, the expression is false.

4 arguments

The following conditions are applied in the order listed.

1. If the first argument is ‘!’, the result is the negation of the three-
argument expression composed of the remaining arguments.

2. If the first argument is exactly ‘(’ and the fourth argument is exactly ‘)’,
the result is the two-argument test of the second and third arguments.

3. Otherwise, the expression is parsed and evaluated according to

precedence using the rules listed above.

5 or more arguments

The expression is parsed and evaluated according to precedence using the

rules listed above.

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

times

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times

Print out the user and system times used by the shell and its children. The return
status is zero.

trap

trap [-lp] [arg] [sigspec …]

The commands in arg are to be read and executed when the shell receives signal
sigspec. If arg is absent (and there is a single sigspec) or equal to ‘-’, each
specified signal’s disposition is reset to the value it had when the shell was
started. If arg is the null string, then the signal specified by each sigspec is ignored
by the shell and commands it invokes. If arg is not present and -p has been
supplied, the shell displays the trap commands associated with each sigspec. If no
arguments are supplied, or only -p is given, trap prints the list of commands
associated with each signal number in a form that may be reused as shell input.
The -l option causes the shell to print a list of signal names and their
corresponding numbers. Each sigspec is either a signal name or a signal number.
Signal names are case insensitive and the SIG prefix is optional.

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

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

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

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subshell environment when one is created.

The return status is zero unless a sigspec does not specify a valid signal.

umask

umask [-p] [-S] [mode]

Set the shell process’s file creation mask to mode. If mode begins with a digit, it is
interpreted as an octal number; if not, it is interpreted as a symbolic mode mask
similar to that accepted by the chmod command. If mode is omitted, the current
value of the mask is printed. If the -S option is supplied without a mode argument,
the mask is printed in a symbolic format. If the -p option is supplied, and mode is
omitted, the output is in a form that may be reused as input. The return status is
zero if the mode is successfully changed or if no mode argument is supplied, and
non-zero otherwise.

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

unset

unset [-fnv] [name]

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

Next: Modifying Shell Behavior, Previous: Bourne Shell Builtins, Up: Shell Builtin Commands
[Contents][Index]

4.2 Bash Builtin Commands

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

alias

alias [-p] [name[=value] …]

Without arguments or with the -p option, alias prints the list of aliases on the
standard output in a form that allows them to be reused as input. If arguments are
supplied, an alias is defined for each name whose value is given. If no value is
given, the name and value of the alias is printed. Aliases are described in Aliases.

bind

bind [-m keymap] [-lpsvPSVX]

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

Display current Readline (see Command Line Editing) key and function bindings,
bind a key sequence to a Readline function or macro, or set a Readline variable.
Each non-option argument is a command as it would appear in a Readline
initialization file (see Readline Init File), but each binding or command must be
passed as a separate argument; e.g., ‘"\C-x\C-r":re-read-init-file’.

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-m keymap

Use keymap as the keymap to be affected by the subsequent bindings.

Acceptable keymap names are emacs, emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-
ctlx, vi, vi-move, vi-command, and vi-insert. vi is equivalent to vi-command
(vi-move is also a synonym); emacs is equivalent to emacs-standard.

-l

List the names of all Readline functions.

-p

Display Readline function names and bindings in such a way that they can be

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used as input or in a Readline initialization file.

-P

List current Readline function names and bindings.

-v

Display Readline variable names and values in such a way that they can be
used as input or in a Readline initialization file.

-V

List current Readline variable names and values.

-s

Display Readline key sequences bound to macros and the strings they output
in such a way that they can be used as input or in a Readline initialization file.

-S

Display Readline key sequences bound to macros and the strings they
output.

-f filename

Read key bindings from filename.

-q function

Query about which keys invoke the named function.

-u function

Unbind all keys bound to the named function.

-r keyseq

Remove any current binding for keyseq.

-x keyseq:shell-command

Cause shell-command to be executed whenever keyseq is entered. When

shell-command is executed, the shell sets the READLINE_LINE variable to the
contents of the Readline line buffer and the READLINE_POINT and
READLINE_MARK variables to the current location of the insertion point and the
saved insertion point (the mark), respectively. The shell assigns any numeric
argument the user supplied to the READLINE_ARGUMENT variable. If there was
no argument, that variable is not set. If the executed command changes the

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value of any of READLINE_LINE, READLINE_POINT, or READLINE_MARK, those new

values will be reflected in the editing state.

-X

List all key sequences bound to shell commands and the associated
commands in a format that can be reused as input.

The return status is zero unless an invalid option is supplied or an error occurs.

builtin

builtin [shell-builtin [args]]

Run a shell builtin, passing it args, and return its exit status. This is useful when
defining a shell function with the same name as a shell builtin, retaining the
functionality of the builtin within the function. The return status is non-zero if shell-
builtin is not a shell builtin command.

caller

caller [expr]

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

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

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

command

command [-pVv] command [arguments …]

Runs command with arguments ignoring any shell function named command.
Only shell builtin commands or commands found by searching the PATH are
executed. If there is a shell function named ls, running ‘command ls’ within the

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function will execute the external command ls instead of calling the function
recursively. The -p option means to use a default value for PATH that is guaranteed
to find all of the standard utilities. The return status in this case is 127 if command
cannot be found or an error occurred, and the exit status of command otherwise.

If either the -V or -v option is supplied, a description of command is printed. The -

v option causes a single word indicating the command or file name used to invoke
command to be displayed; the -V option produces a more verbose description. In
this case, the return status is zero if command is found, and non-zero if not.

declare

declare [-aAfFgiIlnrtux] [-p] [name[=value] …]

Declare variables and give them attributes. If no names are given, then display the
values of variables instead.

The -p option will display the attributes and values of each name. When -p is used
with name arguments, additional options, other than -f and -F, are ignored.

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

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

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

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

The following options can be used to restrict output to variables with the specified
attributes or to give variables attributes:

-a

Each name is an indexed array variable (see Arrays).

-A

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Each name is an associative array variable (see Arrays).

-f

Use function names only.

-i

The variable is to be treated as an integer; arithmetic evaluation (see Shell

Arithmetic) is performed when the variable is assigned a value.

-l

When the variable is assigned a value, all upper-case characters are

converted to lower-case. The upper-case attribute is disabled.

-n

Give each name the nameref attribute, making it a name reference to another
variable. That other variable is defined by the value of name. All references,
assignments, and attribute modifications to name, except for those using or
changing the -n attribute itself, are performed on the variable referenced by
name’s value. The nameref attribute cannot be applied to array variables.

-r

Make names readonly. These names cannot then be assigned values by

subsequent assignment statements or unset.

-t

Give each name the trace attribute. Traced functions inherit the DEBUG and
RETURN traps from the calling shell. The trace attribute has no special meaning
for variables.

-u

When the variable is assigned a value, all lower-case characters are

converted to upper-case. The lower-case attribute is disabled.

-x

Mark each name for export to subsequent commands via the environment.

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

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followed by =value, the value of the variable is set to value.

When using -a or -A and the compound assignment syntax to create array

variables, additional attributes do not take effect until subsequent assignments.

The return status is zero unless an invalid option is encountered, an attempt is

made to define a function using ‘-f foo=bar’, an attempt is made to assign a value
to a readonly variable, an attempt is made to assign a value to an array variable
without using the compound assignment syntax (see Arrays), one of the names is
not a valid shell variable name, an attempt is made to turn off readonly status for a
readonly variable, an attempt is made to turn off array status for an array variable,
or an attempt is made to display a non-existent function with -f.

echo

echo [-neE] [arg …]

Output the args, separated by spaces, terminated with a newline. The return
status is 0 unless a write error occurs. If -n is specified, the trailing newline is
suppressed. If the -e option is given, interpretation of the following backslash-
escaped characters is enabled. The -E option disables the interpretation of these
escape characters, even on systems where they are interpreted by default. The
xpg_echo shell option may be used to dynamically determine whether or not echo
expands these escape characters by default. echo does not interpret -- to mean
the end of options.

echo interprets the following escape sequences:

\a

alert (bell)

\b

backspace

\c

suppress further output

\e

\E

escape

\f

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form feed

\n

new line

\r

carriage return

\t

horizontal tab

\v

vertical tab

\\

backslash

\0nnn

the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn (zero to three octal
digits)

\xHH

the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH (one or two
hex digits)

\uHHHH

the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal

value HHHH (one to four hex digits)

\UHHHHHHHH

the Unicode (ISO/IEC 10646) character whose value is the hexadecimal

value HHHHHHHH (one to eight hex digits)

enable

enable [-a] [-dnps] [-f filename] [name …]

Enable and disable builtin shell commands. Disabling a builtin allows a disk
command which has the same name as a shell builtin to be executed without
specifying a full pathname, even though the shell normally searches for builtins

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before disk commands. If -n is used, the names become disabled. Otherwise

names are enabled. For example, to use the test binary found via $PATH instead
of the shell builtin version, type ‘enable -n test’.

If the -p option is supplied, or no name arguments appear, a list of shell builtins is

printed. With no other arguments, the list consists of all enabled shell builtins. The
-aoption means to list each builtin with an indication of whether or not it is
enabled.

The -f option means to load the new builtin command name from shared object
filename, on systems that support dynamic loading. Bash will use the value of the
BASH_LOADABLES_PATH variable as a colon-separated list of directories in which to
search for filename. The default is system-dependent. The -d option will delete a
builtin loaded with -f.

If there are no options, a list of the shell builtins is displayed. The -s option
restricts enable to the POSIX special builtins. If -s is used with -f, the new builtin
becomes a special builtin (see Special Builtins).

If no options are supplied and a name is not a shell builtin, enable will attempt to
load name from a shared object named name, as if the command were ‘enable -f
name name’.

The return status is zero unless a name is not a shell builtin or there is an error
loading a new builtin from a shared object.

help

help [-dms] [pattern]

Display helpful information about builtin commands. If pattern is specified, help

gives detailed help on all commands matching pattern, otherwise a list of the
builtins is printed.

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-d

Display a short description of each pattern

-m

Display the description of each pattern in a manpage-like format

-s

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Display only a short usage synopsis for each pattern

The return status is zero unless no command matches pattern.

let

let expression [expression …]

The let builtin allows arithmetic to be performed on shell variables. Each

expression is evaluated according to the rules given below in Shell Arithmetic. If
the last expression evaluates to 0, let returns 1; otherwise 0 is returned.

local

local [option] name[=value] …

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

logout

logout [n]

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

mapfile

mapfile [-d delim] [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count]

[-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [-c quantum] [array]

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

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array. Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-d

The first character of delim is used to terminate each input line, rather than
newline. If delim is the empty string, mapfile will terminate a line when it
reads a NUL character.

-n

Copy at most count lines. If count is 0, all lines are copied.

-O

Begin assigning to array at index origin. The default index is 0.

-s

Discard the first count lines read.

-t

Remove a trailing delim (default newline) from each line read.

-u

Read lines from file descriptor fd instead of the standard input.

-C

Evaluate callback each time quantum lines are read. The -c option specifies
quantum.

-c

Specify the number of lines read between each call to callback.

If -C is specified without -c, the default quantum is 5000. When callback is

evaluated, it is supplied the index of the next array element to be assigned and the
line to be assigned to that element as additional arguments. callback is evaluated
after the line is read but before the array element is assigned.

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

mapfile returns successfully unless an invalid option or option argument is

supplied, array is invalid or unassignable, or array is not an indexed array.

printf

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printf [-v var] format [arguments]

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

The format is a character string which contains three types of objects: plain
characters, which are simply copied to standard output, character escape
sequences, which are converted and copied to the standard output, and format
specifications, each of which causes printing of the next successive argument. In
addition to the standard printf(1) formats, printf interprets the following
extensions:

%b

Causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences in the corresponding

argument in the same way as echo -e (see Bash Builtin Commands).

%q

Causes printf to output the corresponding argument in a format that can be

reused as shell input.

%Q

like %q, but applies any supplied precision to the argument before quoting it.

%(datefmt)T

Causes printf to output the date-time string resulting from using datefmt as
a format string for strftime(3). The corresponding argument is an integer
representing the number of seconds since the epoch. Two special argument
values may be used: -1 represents the current time, and -2 represents the
time the shell was invoked. If no argument is specified, conversion behaves
as if -1 had been given. This is an exception to the usual printf behavior.

The %b, %q, and %T directives all use the field width and precision arguments
from the format specification and write that many bytes from (or use that wide a
field for) the expanded argument, which usually contains more characters than the
original.
Arguments to non-string format specifiers are treated as C language constants,
except that a leading plus or minus sign is allowed, and if the leading character is
a single or double quote, the value is the ASCII value of the following character.

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The format is reused as necessary to consume all of the arguments. If the format
requires more arguments than are supplied, the extra format specifications
behave as if a zero value or null string, as appropriate, had been supplied. The
return value is zero on success, non-zero on failure.

read

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

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

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-a aname

The words are assigned to sequential indices of the array variable aname,
starting at 0. All elements are removed from aname before the assignment.
Other name arguments are ignored.

-d delim

The first character of delim is used to terminate the input line, rather than
newline. If delim is the empty string, read will terminate a line when it reads a
NUL character.

-e

Readline (see Command Line Editing) is used to obtain the line. Readline
uses the current (or default, if line editing was not previously active) editing
settings, but uses Readline’s default filename completion.

-i text

If Readline is being used to read the line, text is placed into the editing buffer

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before editing begins.

-n nchars

read returns after reading nchars characters rather than waiting for a
complete line of input, but honors a delimiter if fewer than nchars characters
are read before the delimiter.

-N nchars

read returns after reading exactly nchars characters rather than waiting for a
complete line of input, unless EOF is encountered or read times out. Delimiter
characters encountered in the input are not treated specially and do not
cause read to return until nchars characters are read. The result is not split
on the characters in IFS; the intent is that the variable is assigned exactly the
characters read (with the exception of backslash; see the -r option below).

-p prompt

Display prompt, without a trailing newline, before attempting to read any

input. The prompt is displayed only if input is coming from a terminal.

-r

If this option is given, backslash does not act as an escape character. The
backslash is considered to be part of the line. In particular, a backslash-
newline pair may not then be used as a line continuation.

-s

Silent mode. If input is coming from a terminal, characters are not echoed.

-t timeout

Cause read to time out and return failure if a complete line of input (or a
specified number of characters) is not read within timeout seconds. timeout
may be a decimal number with a fractional portion following the decimal
point. This option is only effective if read is reading input from a terminal,
pipe, or other special file; it has no effect when reading from regular files. If
read times out, read saves any partial input read into the specified variable
name. If timeout is 0, read returns immediately, without trying to read any
data. The exit status is 0 if input is available on the specified file descriptor, or
the read will return EOF, non-zero otherwise. The exit status is greater than
128 if the timeout is exceeded.

-u fd

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Read input from file descriptor fd.

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

readarray

readarray [-d delim] [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count]

[-t] [-u fd] [-C callback] [-c quantum] [array]

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

A synonym for mapfile.

source

source filename

A synonym for . (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

type

type [-afptP] [name …]

For each name, indicate how it would be interpreted if used as a command name.

If the -t option is used, type prints a single word which is one of ‘alias’,
‘function’, ‘builtin’, ‘file’ or ‘keyword’, if name is an alias, shell function, shell
builtin, disk file, or shell reserved word, respectively. If the name is not found, then
nothing is printed, and type returns a failure status.

If the -p option is used, type either returns the name of the disk file that would be
executed, or nothing if -t would not return ‘file’.

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

If a command is hashed, -p and -P print the hashed value, which is not

necessarily the file that appears first in $PATH.

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If the -a option is used, type returns all of the places that contain an executable
named file. This includes aliases and functions, if and only if the -p option is not
also used.

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

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

typeset

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

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

ulimit

ulimit [-HS] -a
ulimit [-HS] [-bcdefiklmnpqrstuvxPRT] [limit]

ulimit provides control over the resources available to processes started by the
shell, on systems that allow such control. If an option is given, it is interpreted as
follows:

-S

Change and report the soft limit associated with a resource.

-H

Change and report the hard limit associated with a resource.

-a

All current limits are reported; no limits are set.

-b

The maximum socket buffer size.

-c

The maximum size of core files created.

-d

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The maximum size of a process’s data segment.

-e

The maximum scheduling priority ("nice").

-f

The maximum size of files written by the shell and its children.

-i

The maximum number of pending signals.

-k

The maximum number of kqueues that may be allocated.

-l

The maximum size that may be locked into memory.

-m

The maximum resident set size (many systems do not honor this limit).

-n

The maximum number of open file descriptors (most systems do not allow
this value to be set).

-p

The pipe buffer size.

-q

The maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues.

-r

The maximum real-time scheduling priority.

-s

The maximum stack size.

-t

The maximum amount of cpu time in seconds.

-u

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The maximum number of processes available to a single user.

-v

The maximum amount of virtual memory available to the shell, and, on some
systems, to its children.

-x

The maximum number of file locks.

-P

The maximum number of pseudoterminals.

-R

The maximum time a real-time process can run before blocking, in

microseconds.

-T

The maximum number of threads.

If limit is given, and the -a option is not used, limit is the new value of the specified
resource. The special limit values hard, soft, and unlimited stand for the current
hard limit, the current soft limit, and no limit, respectively. A hard limit cannot be
increased by a non-root user once it is set; a soft limit may be increased up to the
value of the hard limit. Otherwise, the current value of the soft limit for the
specified resource is printed, unless the -H option is supplied. When more than
one resource is specified, the limit name and unit, if appropriate, are printed
before the value. When setting new limits, if neither -H nor -S is supplied, both the
hard and soft limits are set. If no option is given, then -f is assumed. Values are in
1024-byte increments, except for -t, which is in seconds; -R, which is in
microseconds; -p, which is in units of 512-byte blocks; -P, -T, -b, -k, -n and -u,
which are unscaled values; and, when in POSIX Mode (see Bash POSIX Mode), -
c and -f, which are in 512-byte increments.

The return status is zero unless an invalid option or argument is supplied, or an

error occurs while setting a new limit.

unalias

unalias [-a] [name … ]

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

Next: Special Builtins, Previous: Bash Builtin Commands, Up: Shell Builtin Commands [Contents]

[Index]

4.3 Modifying Shell Behavior

▪ The Set Builtin

▪ The Shopt Builtin

Next: The Shopt Builtin, Up: Modifying Shell Behavior [Contents][Index]

4.3.1 The Set Builtin

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

set

set [-abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [-o option-name] [--] [-] [argument …]

set [+abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [+o option-name] [--] [-] [argument …]

If no options or arguments are supplied, set displays the names and values of all
shell variables and functions, sorted according to the current locale, in a format
that may be reused as input for setting or resetting the currently-set variables.
Read-only variables cannot be reset. In POSIX mode, only shell variables are
listed.

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

-a

Each variable or function that is created or modified is given the export

attribute and marked for export to the environment of subsequent commands.

-b

Cause the status of terminated background jobs to be reported immediately,

rather than before printing the next primary prompt.

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-e

Exit immediately if a pipeline (see Pipelines), which may consist of a single

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

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

If a compound command or shell function executes in a context where -e is

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

-f

Disable filename expansion (globbing).

-h

Locate and remember (hash) commands as they are looked up for execution.
This option is enabled by default.

-k

All arguments in the form of assignment statements are placed in the

environment for a command, not just those that precede the command name.

-m

Job control is enabled (see Job Control). All processes run in a separate
process group. When a background job completes, the shell prints a line
containing its exit status.

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-n

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

-o option-name

Set the option corresponding to option-name:

allexport

Same as -a.

braceexpand

Same as -B.

emacs

Use an emacs-style line editing interface (see Command Line Editing).

This also affects the editing interface used for read -e.

errexit

Same as -e.

errtrace

Same as -E.

functrace

Same as -T.

hashall

Same as -h.

histexpand

Same as -H.

history

Enable command history, as described in Bash History Facilities. This

option is on by default in interactive shells.

ignoreeof

An interactive shell will not exit upon reading EOF.

keyword

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Same as -k.

monitor

Same as -m.

noclobber

Same as -C.

noexec

Same as -n.

noglob

Same as -f.

nolog

Currently ignored.

notify

Same as -b.

nounset

Same as -u.

onecmd

Same as -t.

physical

Same as -P.

pipefail

If set, the return value of a pipeline is the value of the last (rightmost)
command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands in the
pipeline exit successfully. This option is disabled by default.

posix

Change the behavior of Bash where the default operation differs from
the POSIX standard to match the standard (see Bash POSIX Mode). This
is intended to make Bash behave as a strict superset of that standard.

privileged

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Same as -p.

verbose

Same as -v.

vi

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

xtrace

Same as -x.

-p

Turn on privileged mode. In this mode, the $BASH_ENV and $ENV files are not
processed, shell functions are not inherited from the environment, and the
SHELLOPTS, BASHOPTS, CDPATH and GLOBIGNORE variables, if they appear in the
environment, are ignored. If the shell is started with the effective user (group)
id not equal to the real user (group) id, and the -p option is not supplied,
these actions are taken and the effective user id is set to the real user id. If
the -p option is supplied at startup, the effective user id is not reset. Turning
this option off causes the effective user and group ids to be set to the real
user and group ids.

-r

Enable restricted shell mode. This option cannot be unset once it has been
set.

-t

Exit after reading and executing one command.

-u

Treat unset variables and parameters other than the special parameters ‘@’ or
‘*’, or array variables subscripted with ‘@’ or ‘*’, as an error when performing
parameter expansion. An error message will be written to the standard error,
and a non-interactive shell will exit.

-v

Print shell input lines as they are read.

-x

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Print a trace of simple commands, for commands, case commands, select

commands, and arithmetic for commands and their arguments or associated
word lists after they are expanded and before they are executed. The value
of the PS4 variable is expanded and the resultant value is printed before the
command and its expanded arguments.

-B

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

-C

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

-E

If set, any trap on ERR is inherited by shell functions, command substitutions,

and commands executed in a subshell environment. The ERR trap is normally
not inherited in such cases.

-H

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

-P

If set, do not resolve symbolic links when performing commands such as cd

which change the current directory. The physical directory is used instead. By
default, Bash follows the logical chain of directories when performing
commands which change the current directory.

For example, if /usr/sys is a symbolic link to /usr/local/sys then:

$ cd /usr/sys; echo $PWD

/usr/sys
$ cd ..; pwd
/usr

If set -P is on, then:

$ cd /usr/sys; echo $PWD

/usr/local/sys
$ cd ..; pwd

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/usr/local

-T

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

--

If no arguments follow this option, then the positional parameters are unset.
Otherwise, the positional parameters are set to the arguments, even if some
of them begin with a ‘-’.

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

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

Using ‘+’ rather than ‘-’ causes these options to be turned off. The options can
also be used upon invocation of the shell. The current set of options may be found
in $-.

The remaining N arguments are positional parameters and are assigned, in order,
to $1, $2, … $N. The special parameter # is set to N.

The return status is always zero unless an invalid option is supplied.

Previous: The Set Builtin, Up: Modifying Shell Behavior [Contents][Index]

4.3.2 The Shopt Builtin

This builtin allows you to change additional shell optional behavior.

shopt

shopt [-pqsu] [-o] [optname …]

Toggle the values of settings controlling optional shell behavior. The settings can
be either those listed below, or, if the -o option is used, those available with the -o
option to the set builtin command (see The Set Builtin). With no options, or with
the -p option, a list of all settable options is displayed, with an indication of
whether or not each is set; if optnames are supplied, the output is restricted to

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those options. The -p option causes output to be displayed in a form that may be
reused as input. Other options have the following meanings:

-s

Enable (set) each optname.

-u

Disable (unset) each optname.

-q

Suppresses normal output; the return status indicates whether the optname
is set or unset. If multiple optname arguments are given with -q, the return
status is zero if all optnames are enabled; non-zero otherwise.

-o

Restricts the values of optname to be those defined for the -o option to the
set builtin (see The Set Builtin).

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

options which are set or unset, respectively.

Unless otherwise noted, the shopt options are disabled (off) by default.

The return status when listing options is zero if all optnames are enabled, non-
zero otherwise. When setting or unsetting options, the return status is zero unless
an optname is not a valid shell option.

The list of shopt options is:

assoc_expand_once

If set, the shell suppresses multiple evaluation of associative array subscripts

during arithmetic expression evaluation, while executing builtins that can
perform variable assignments, and while executing builtins that perform array
dereferencing.

autocd

If set, a command name that is the name of a directory is executed as if it

were the argument to the cd command. This option is only used by interactive
shells.

cdable_vars

If this is set, an argument to the cd builtin command that is not a directory is

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assumed to be the name of a variable whose value is the directory to change

to.

cdspell

If set, minor errors in the spelling of a directory component in a cd command

will be corrected. The errors checked for are transposed characters, a
missing character, and a character too many. If a correction is found, the
corrected path is printed, and the command proceeds. This option is only
used by interactive shells.

checkhash

If this is set, Bash checks that a command found in the hash table exists
before trying to execute it. If a hashed command no longer exists, a normal
path search is performed.

checkjobs

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

checkwinsize

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

cmdhist

If set, Bash attempts to save all lines of a multiple-line command in the same
history entry. This allows easy re-editing of multi-line commands. This option
is enabled by default, but only has an effect if command history is enabled
(see Bash History Facilities).

compat31

compat32

compat40

compat41

compat42

compat43

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compat44

These control aspects of the shell’s compatibility mode (see Shell

Compatibility Mode).

complete_fullquote

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

direxpand

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

dirspell

If set, Bash attempts spelling correction on directory names during word

completion if the directory name initially supplied does not exist.

dotglob

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

execfail

If this is set, a non-interactive shell will not exit if it cannot execute the file
specified as an argument to the exec builtin command. An interactive shell
does not exit if exec fails.

expand_aliases

If set, aliases are expanded as described below under Aliases, Aliases. This
option is enabled by default for interactive shells.

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extdebug

If set at shell invocation, or in a shell startup file, arrange to execute the

debugger profile before the shell starts, identical to the --debugger option. If
set after invocation, behavior intended for use by debuggers is enabled:

1. The -F option to the declare builtin (see Bash Builtin Commands)

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), the shell simulates a call to
return.

4. BASH_ARGC and BASH_ARGV are updated as described in their

descriptions (see Bash Variables).

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 (see Pattern
Matching) are enabled.

extquote

If set, $'string' and $"string" quoting is performed within ${parameter}

expansions enclosed in double quotes. This option is enabled by default.

failglob

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

force_fignore

If set, the suffixes specified by the FIGNORE shell variable cause words to be

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ignored when performing word completion even if the ignored words are the
only possible completions. See Bash Variables, for a description of FIGNORE.
This option is enabled by default.

globasciiranges

If set, range expressions used in pattern matching bracket expressions (see

Pattern Matching) behave as if in the traditional C locale when performing
comparisons. That is, the current locale’s collating sequence is not taken into
account, so ‘b’ will not collate between ‘A’ and ‘B’, and upper-case and lower-
case ASCII characters will collate together.

globskipdots

If set, filename expansion will never match the filenames ‘.’ and ‘..’, even if
the pattern begins with a ‘.’. This option is enabled by default.

globstar

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

gnu_errfmt

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

histappend

If set, the history list is appended to the file named by the value of the
HISTFILE variable when the shell exits, rather than overwriting the file.

histreedit

If set, and Readline is being used, a user is given the opportunity to re-edit a
failed history substitution.

histverify

If set, and Readline is being used, the results of history substitution are not
immediately passed to the shell parser. Instead, the resulting line is loaded
into the Readline editing buffer, allowing further modification.

hostcomplete

If set, and Readline is being used, Bash will attempt to perform hostname

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completion when a word containing a ‘@’ is being completed (see Letting

Readline Type For You). This option is enabled by default.

huponexit

If set, Bash will send SIGHUP to all jobs when an interactive login shell exits
(see Signals).

inherit_errexit

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

interactive_comments

Allow a word beginning with ‘#’ to cause that word and all remaining
characters on that line to be ignored in an interactive shell. This option is
enabled by default.

lastpipe

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

lithist

If enabled, and the cmdhist option is enabled, multi-line commands are saved
to the history with embedded newlines rather than using semicolon
separators where possible.

localvar_inherit

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

localvar_unset

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

login_shell

The shell sets this option if it is started as a login shell (see Invoking Bash).

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The value may not be changed.

mailwarn

If set, and a file that Bash is checking for mail has been accessed since the
last time it was checked, the message "The mail in mailfile has been
read" is displayed.

no_empty_cmd_completion

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

nocaseglob

If set, Bash matches filenames in a case-insensitive fashion when performing

filename expansion.

nocasematch

If set, Bash matches patterns in a case-insensitive fashion when performing

matching while executing case or [[ conditional commands (see Conditional
Constructs, when performing pattern substitution word expansions, or when
filtering possible completions as part of programmable completion.

noexpand_translation

If set, Bash encloses the translated results of $"..." quoting in single quotes
instead of double quotes. If the string is not translated, this has no effect.

nullglob

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

patsub_replacement

If set, Bash expands occurrences of ‘&’ in the replacement string of pattern

substitution to the text matched by the pattern, as described above (see Shell
Parameter Expansion). This option is enabled by default.

progcomp

If set, the programmable completion facilities (see Programmable

Completion) are enabled. This option is enabled by default.

progcomp_alias

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If set, and programmable completion is enabled, Bash treats a command

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

promptvars

If set, prompt strings undergo parameter expansion, command substitution,

arithmetic expansion, and quote removal after being expanded as described
below (see Controlling the Prompt). This option is enabled by default.

restricted_shell

The shell sets this option if it is started in restricted mode (see The Restricted
Shell). The value may not be changed. This is not reset when the startup files
are executed, allowing the startup files to discover whether or not a shell is
restricted.

shift_verbose

If this is set, the shift builtin prints an error message when the shift count
exceeds the number of positional parameters.

sourcepath

If set, the . (source) builtin uses the value of PATH to find the directory
containing the file supplied as an argument. This option is enabled by default.

varredir_close

If set, the shell automatically closes file descriptors assigned using the
{varname} redirection syntax (see Redirections) instead of leaving them open
when the command completes.

xpg_echo

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

Previous: Modifying Shell Behavior, Up: Shell Builtin Commands [Contents][Index]

4.4 Special Builtins

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

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1. Special builtins are found before shell functions during command lookup.

2. If a special builtin returns an error status, a non-interactive shell exits.

3. Assignment statements preceding the command stay in effect in the shell

environment after the command completes.

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

These are the POSIX special builtins:

break : . continue eval exec exit export readonly return set

shift trap unset

Next: Bash Features, Previous: Shell Builtin Commands, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

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

▪ Bourne Shell Variables

▪ Bash Variables

Next: Bash Variables, Up: Shell Variables [Contents][Index]

5.1 Bourne Shell Variables

Bash uses certain shell variables in the same way as the Bourne shell. In some cases,
Bash assigns a default value to the variable.

CDPATH

A colon-separated list of directories used as a search path for the cd builtin

command.

HOME

The current user’s home directory; the default for the cd builtin command. The
value of this variable is also used by tilde expansion (see Tilde Expansion).

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IFS

A list of characters that separate fields; used when the shell splits words as part of
expansion.

MAIL

If this parameter is set to a filename or directory name and the MAILPATH variable is
not set, Bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in the specified file or Maildir-
format directory.

MAILPATH

A colon-separated list of filenames which the shell periodically checks for new
mail. Each list entry can specify the message that is printed when new mail arrives
in the mail file by separating the filename from the message with a ‘?’. When used
in the text of the message, $_ expands to the name of the current mail file.

OPTARG

The value of the last option argument processed by the getopts builtin.

OPTIND

The index of the last option argument processed by the getopts builtin.

PATH

A colon-separated list of directories in which the shell looks for commands. A

zero-length (null) directory name in the value of PATH indicates the current
directory. A null directory name may appear as two adjacent colons, or as an initial
or trailing colon.

PS1

The primary prompt string. The default value is ‘\s-\v\$ ’. See Controlling the
Prompt, for the complete list of escape sequences that are expanded before PS1 is
displayed.

PS2

The secondary prompt string. The default value is ‘> ’. PS2 is expanded in the
same way as PS1 before being displayed.

Previous: Bourne Shell Variables, Up: Shell Variables [Contents][Index]

5.2 Bash Variables

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

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

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

BASH

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

BASHOPTS

A colon-separated list of enabled shell options. Each word in the list is a valid
argument for the -s option to the shopt builtin command (see The Shopt Builtin).
The options appearing in BASHOPTS are those reported as ‘on’ by ‘shopt’. If this
variable is in the environment when Bash starts up, each shell option in the list will
be enabled before reading any startup files. This variable is readonly.

BASHPID

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

BASH_ALIASES

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

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

BASH_ARGC

An array variable whose values are the number of parameters in each frame of
the current bash execution call stack. The number of parameters to the current

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

BASH_ARGV

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

BASH_ARGV0

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

BASH_CMDS

An associative array variable whose members correspond to the internal hash

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

BASH_COMMAND

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

BASH_COMPAT

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

BASH_ENV

If this variable is set when Bash is invoked to execute a shell script, its value is
expanded and used as the name of a startup file to read before executing the
script. See Bash Startup Files.

BASH_EXECUTION_STRING

The command argument to the -c invocation option.

BASH_LINENO

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

BASH_LOADABLES_PATH

A colon-separated list of directories in which the shell looks for dynamically

loadable builtins specified by the enable command.

BASH_REMATCH

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

BASH_SOURCE

An array variable whose members are the source filenames where the

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

BASH_SUBSHELL

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

BASH_VERSINFO

A readonly array variable (see Arrays) whose members hold version information
for this instance of Bash. The values assigned to the array members are as
follows:

BASH_VERSINFO[0]

The major version number (the release).

BASH_VERSINFO[1]

The minor version number (the version).

BASH_VERSINFO[2]

The patch level.

BASH_VERSINFO[3]

The build version.

BASH_VERSINFO[4]

The release status (e.g., beta1).

BASH_VERSINFO[5]

The value of MACHTYPE.

BASH_VERSION

The version number of the current instance of Bash.

BASH_XTRACEFD

If set to an integer corresponding to a valid file descriptor, Bash will write the trace
output generated when ‘set -x’ is enabled to that file descriptor. This allows
tracing output to be separated from diagnostic and error messages. The file

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descriptor is closed when BASH_XTRACEFD is unset or assigned a new value.

Unsetting BASH_XTRACEFD or assigning it the empty string causes the trace output to
be sent to the standard error. Note that setting BASH_XTRACEFD to 2 (the standard
error file descriptor) and then unsetting it will result in the standard error being
closed.

CHILD_MAX

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

COLUMNS

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

COMP_CWORD

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

COMP_LINE

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

COMP_POINT

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

COMP_TYPE

Set to an integer value corresponding to the type of completion attempted that

caused a completion function to be called: TAB, for normal completion, ‘?’, for
listing completions after successive tabs, ‘!’, for listing alternatives on partial word
completion, ‘@’, to list completions if the word is not unmodified, or ‘%’, for menu

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completion. This variable is available only in shell functions and external

commands invoked by the programmable completion facilities (see Programmable
Completion).

COMP_KEY

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

COMP_WORDBREAKS

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

COMP_WORDS

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

COMPREPLY

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

COPROC

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

DIRSTACK

An array variable containing the current contents of the directory stack. Directories
appear in the stack in the order they are displayed by the dirs builtin. Assigning to
members of this array variable may be used to modify directories already in the
stack, but the pushd and popd builtins must be used to add and remove directories.
Assignment to this variable will not change the current directory. If DIRSTACK is
unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

EMACS

If Bash finds this variable in the environment when the shell starts with value ‘t’, it

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assumes that the shell is running in an Emacs shell buffer and disables line
editing.

ENV

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

EPOCHREALTIME

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

EPOCHSECONDS

Each time this parameter is referenced, it expands to the number of seconds since
the Unix Epoch (see the documentation for the C library function time for the
definition of Epoch). Assignments to EPOCHSECONDS are ignored. If EPOCHSECONDS is
unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

EUID

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

EXECIGNORE

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

FCEDIT

The editor used as a default by the -e option to the fc builtin command.

FIGNORE

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

A filename whose suffix matches one of the entries in FIGNORE is excluded from

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the list of matched filenames. A sample value is ‘.o:~’

FUNCNAME

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

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

FUNCNEST

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

GLOBIGNORE

A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of file names to be ignored by

filename expansion. If a file name matched by a filename expansion pattern also
matches one of the patterns in GLOBIGNORE, it is removed from the list of matches.
The pattern matching honors the setting of the extglob shell option.

GROUPS

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

histchars

Up to three characters which control history expansion, quick substitution, and

tokenization (see History Expansion). The first character is the history expansion
character, that is, the character which signifies the start of a history expansion,
normally ‘!’. The second character is the character which signifies ‘quick
substitution’ when seen as the first character on a line, normally ‘^’. The optional
third character is the character which indicates that the remainder of the line is a
comment when found as the first character of a word, usually ‘#’. The history

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comment character causes history substitution to be skipped for the remaining

words on the line. It does not necessarily cause the shell parser to treat the rest of
the line as a comment.

HISTCMD

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

HISTCONTROL

A colon-separated list of values controlling how commands are saved on the

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

HISTFILE

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

HISTFILESIZE

The maximum number of lines contained in the history file. When this variable is
assigned a value, the history file is truncated, if necessary, to contain no more
than that number of lines by removing the oldest entries. The history file is also
truncated to this size after writing it when a shell exits. If the value is 0, the history
file is truncated to zero size. Non-numeric values and numeric values less than
zero inhibit truncation. The shell sets the default value to the value of HISTSIZE
after reading any startup files.

HISTIGNORE

A colon-separated list of patterns used to decide which command lines should be

saved on the history list. Each pattern is anchored at the beginning of the line and
must match the complete line (no implicit ‘*’ is appended). Each pattern is tested

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against the line after the checks specified by HISTCONTROL are applied. In addition
to the normal shell pattern matching characters, ‘&’ matches the previous history
line. ‘&’ may be escaped using a backslash; the backslash is removed before
attempting a match. The second and subsequent lines of a multi-line compound
command are not tested, and are added to the history regardless of the value of
HISTIGNORE. The pattern matching honors the setting of the extglob shell option.

HISTIGNORE subsumes the function of HISTCONTROL. A pattern of ‘&’ is identical to

ignoredups, and a pattern of ‘[ ]*’ is identical to ignorespace. Combining these
two patterns, separating them with a colon, provides the functionality of
ignoreboth.

HISTSIZE

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

HISTTIMEFORMAT

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

HOSTFILE

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

HOSTNAME

The name of the current host.

HOSTTYPE

A string describing the machine Bash is running on.

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IGNOREEOF

Controls the action of the shell on receipt of an EOF character as the sole input. If
set, the value denotes the number of consecutive EOF characters that can be read
as the first character on an input line before the shell will exit. If the variable exists
but does not have a numeric value, or has no value, then the default is 10. If the
variable does not exist, then EOF signifies the end of input to the shell. This is only
in effect for interactive shells.

INPUTRC

The name of the Readline initialization file, overriding the default of ~/.inputrc.

INSIDE_EMACS

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

LANG

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

LC_ALL

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

LC_COLLATE

This variable determines the collation order used when sorting the results of
filename expansion, and determines the behavior of range expressions,
equivalence classes, and collating sequences within filename expansion and
pattern matching (see Filename Expansion).

LC_CTYPE

This variable determines the interpretation of characters and the behavior of

character classes within filename expansion and pattern matching (see Filename
Expansion).

LC_MESSAGES

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

preceded by a ‘$’ (see Locale-Specific Translation).

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LC_NUMERIC

This variable determines the locale category used for number formatting.

LC_TIME

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

LINENO

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

LINES

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

MACHTYPE

A string that fully describes the system type on which Bash is executing, in the
standard GNU cpu-company-system format.

MAILCHECK

How often (in seconds) that the shell should check for mail in the files specified in
the MAILPATH or MAIL variables. The default is 60 seconds. When it is time to check
for mail, the shell does so before displaying the primary prompt. If this variable is
unset, or set to a value that is not a number greater than or equal to zero, the shell
disables mail checking.

MAPFILE

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

OLDPWD

The previous working directory as set by the cd builtin.

OPTERR

If set to the value 1, Bash displays error messages generated by the getopts
builtin command.

OSTYPE

A string describing the operating system Bash is running on.

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PIPESTATUS

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

POSIXLY_CORRECT

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

set -o posix

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

PPID

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

PROMPT_COMMAND

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

PROMPT_DIRTRIM

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

PS0

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

PS3

The value of this variable is used as the prompt for the select command. If this
variable is not set, the select command prompts with ‘#? ’

PS4

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The value of this parameter is expanded like PS1 and the expanded value is the
prompt printed before the command line is echoed when the -x option is set (see
The Set Builtin). The first character of the expanded value is replicated multiple
times, as necessary, to indicate multiple levels of indirection. The default is ‘+ ’.

PWD

The current working directory as set by the cd builtin.

RANDOM

Each time this parameter is referenced, it expands to a random integer between 0

and 32767. Assigning a value to this variable seeds the random number
generator. If RANDOM is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is
subsequently reset.

READLINE_ARGUMENT

Any numeric argument given to a Readline command that was defined using ‘bind
-x’ (see Bash Builtin Commands when it was invoked.

READLINE_LINE

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

READLINE_MARK

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

READLINE_POINT

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

REPLY

The default variable for the read builtin.

SECONDS

This variable expands to the number of seconds since the shell was started.
Assignment to this variable resets the count to the value assigned, and the
expanded value becomes the value assigned plus the number of seconds since
the assignment. The number of seconds at shell invocation and the current time

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are always determined by querying the system clock. If SECONDS is unset, it loses
its special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

SHELL

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

SHELLOPTS

A colon-separated list of enabled shell options. Each word in the list is a valid
argument for the -o option to the set builtin command (see The Set Builtin). The
options appearing in SHELLOPTS are those reported as ‘on’ by ‘set -o’. If this
variable is in the environment when Bash starts up, each shell option in the list will
be enabled before reading any startup files. This variable is readonly.

SHLVL

Incremented by one each time a new instance of Bash is started. This is intended
to be a count of how deeply your Bash shells are nested.

SRANDOM

This variable expands to a 32-bit pseudo-random number each time it is

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

TIMEFORMAT

The value of this parameter is used as a format string specifying how the timing
information for pipelines prefixed with the time reserved word should be displayed.
The ‘%’ character introduces an escape sequence that is expanded to a time value
or other information. The escape sequences and their meanings are as follows;
the braces denote optional portions.

%%

A literal ‘%’.

%[p][l]R

The elapsed time in seconds.

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%[p][l]U

The number of CPU seconds spent in user mode.

%[p][l]S

The number of CPU seconds spent in system mode.

%P

The CPU percentage, computed as (%U + %S) / %R.

The optional p is a digit specifying the precision, the number of fractional digits
after a decimal point. A value of 0 causes no decimal point or fraction to be output.
At most three places after the decimal point may be specified; values of p greater
than 3 are changed to 3. If p is not specified, the value 3 is used.

The optional l specifies a longer format, including minutes, of the form

MMmSS.FFs. The value of p determines whether or not the fraction is included.

If this variable is not set, Bash acts as if it had the value

$'\nreal\t%3lR\nuser\t%3lU\nsys\t%3lS'

If the value is null, no timing information is displayed. A trailing newline is added

when the format string is displayed.

TMOUT

If set to a value greater than zero, TMOUT is treated as the default timeout for the
read builtin (see Bash Builtin Commands). The select command (see Conditional
Constructs) terminates if input does not arrive after TMOUT seconds when input is
coming from a terminal.

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

TMPDIR

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

UID

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

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Next: Job Control, Previous: Shell Variables, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6 Bash Features
This chapter describes features unique to Bash.

▪ Invoking Bash

▪ Bash Startup Files

▪ Interactive Shells

▪ Bash Conditional Expressions

▪ Shell Arithmetic

▪ Aliases

▪ Arrays

▪ The Directory Stack

▪ Controlling the Prompt

▪ The Restricted Shell

▪ Bash POSIX Mode

▪ Shell Compatibility Mode

Next: Bash Startup Files, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.1 Invoking Bash

bash [long-opt] [-ir] [-abefhkmnptuvxdBCDHP] [-o option]

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

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

--debugger

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Arrange for the debugger profile to be executed before the shell starts. Turns on
extended debugging mode (see The Shopt Builtin for a description of the extdebug
option to the shopt builtin).

--dump-po-strings

A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by ‘$’ is printed on the standard output
in the GNU gettext PO (portable object) file format. Equivalent to -D except for the
output format.

--dump-strings

Equivalent to -D.

--help

Display a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

--init-file filename

--rcfile filename

Execute commands from filename (instead of ~/.bashrc) in an interactive shell.

--login

Equivalent to -l.

--noediting

Do not use the GNU Readline library (see Command Line Editing) to read
command lines when the shell is interactive.

--noprofile

Don’t load the system-wide startup file /etc/profile or any of the personal
initialization files ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, or ~/.profile when Bash is
invoked as a login shell.

--norc

Don’t read the ~/.bashrc initialization file in an interactive shell. This is on by

default if the shell is invoked as sh.

--posix

Change the behavior of Bash where the default operation differs from the POSIX
standard to match the standard. This is intended to make Bash behave as a strict
superset of that standard. See Bash POSIX Mode, for a description of the Bash

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POSIX mode.

--restricted

Make the shell a restricted shell (see The Restricted Shell).

--verbose

Equivalent to -v. Print shell input lines as they’re read.

--version

Show version information for this instance of Bash on the standard output and exit
successfully.

There are several single-character options that may be supplied at invocation which are
not available with the set builtin.

-c

Read and execute commands from the first non-option argument

command_string, then exit. If there are arguments after the command_string, the
first argument is assigned to $0 and any remaining arguments are assigned to the
positional parameters. The assignment to $0 sets the name of the shell, which is
used in warning and error messages.

-i

Force the shell to run interactively. Interactive shells are described in Interactive
Shells.

-l

Make this shell act as if it had been directly invoked by login. When the shell is
interactive, this is equivalent to starting a login shell with ‘exec -l bash’. When the
shell is not interactive, the login shell startup files will be executed. ‘exec bash -l’
or ‘exec bash --login’ will replace the current shell with a Bash login shell. See
Bash Startup Files, for a description of the special behavior of a login shell.

-r

Make the shell a restricted shell (see The Restricted Shell).

-s

If this option is present, or if no arguments remain after option processing, then

commands are read from the standard input. This option allows the positional
parameters to be set when invoking an interactive shell or when reading input

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through a pipe.

-D

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

[-+]O [shopt_option]

shopt_option is one of the shell options accepted by the shopt builtin (see The
Shopt Builtin). If shopt_option is present, -O sets the value of that option; +O unsets
it. If shopt_option is not supplied, the names and values of the shell options
accepted by shopt are printed on the standard output. If the invocation option is
+O, the output is displayed in a format that may be reused as input.

--

A -- signals the end of options and disables further option processing. Any
arguments after the -- are treated as filenames and arguments.

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

An interactive shell is one started without non-option arguments, unless -s is specified,

without specifying the -c option, and whose input and output are both connected to
terminals (as determined by isatty(3)), or one started with the -i option. See
Interactive Shells, for more information.

If arguments remain after option processing, and neither the -c nor the -s option has
been supplied, the first argument is assumed to be the name of a file containing shell
commands (see Shell Scripts). When Bash is invoked in this fashion, $0 is set to the
name of the file, and the positional parameters are set to the remaining arguments.
Bash reads and executes commands from this file, then exits. Bash’s exit status is the
exit status of the last command executed in the script. If no commands are executed,
the exit status is 0.

Next: Interactive Shells, Previous: Invoking Bash, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.2 Bash Startup Files

This section describes how Bash executes its startup files. If any of the files exist but

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cannot be read, Bash reports an error. Tildes are expanded in filenames as described
above under Tilde Expansion (see Tilde Expansion).

Interactive shells are described in Interactive Shells.

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

When Bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-interactive shell with the
--login option, it first reads and executes commands from the file /etc/profile, if that
file exists. After reading that file, it looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and
~/.profile, in that order, and reads and executes commands from the first one that
exists and is readable. The --noprofile option may be used when the shell is started to
inhibit this behavior.

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

Invoked as an interactive non-login shell

When an interactive shell that is not a login shell is started, Bash reads and executes
commands from ~/.bashrc, if that file exists. This may be inhibited by using the --norc
option. The --rcfile file option will force Bash to read and execute commands from
file instead of ~/.bashrc.

So, typically, your ~/.bash_profile contains the line

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then . ~/.bashrc; fi

after (or before) any login-specific initializations.

Invoked non-interactively

When Bash is started non-interactively, to run a shell script, for example, it looks for the
variable BASH_ENV in the environment, expands its value if it appears there, and uses the
expanded value as the name of a file to read and execute. Bash behaves as if the
following command were executed:

if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi

but the value of the PATH variable is not used to search for the filename.

As noted above, if a non-interactive shell is invoked with the --login option, Bash

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attempts to read and execute commands from the login shell startup files.

Invoked with name sh

If Bash is invoked with the name sh, it tries to mimic the startup behavior of historical
versions of sh as closely as possible, while conforming to the POSIX standard as well.

When invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-interactive shell with the --

login option, it first attempts to read and execute commands from /etc/profile and
~/.profile, in that order. The --noprofile option may be used to inhibit this behavior.
When invoked as an interactive shell with the name sh, Bash looks for the variable ENV,
expands its value if it is defined, and uses the expanded value as the name of a file to
read and execute. Since a shell invoked as sh does not attempt to read and execute
commands from any other startup files, the --rcfile option has no effect. A non-
interactive shell invoked with the name sh does not attempt to read any other startup
files.

When invoked as sh, Bash enters POSIX mode after the startup files are read.

Invoked in POSIX mode

When Bash is started in POSIX mode, as with the --posix command line option, it
follows the POSIX standard for startup files. In this mode, interactive shells expand the
ENVvariable and commands are read and executed from the file whose name is the
expanded value. No other startup files are read.

Invoked by remote shell daemon

Bash attempts to determine when it is being run with its standard input connected to a
network connection, as when executed by the historical remote shell daemon, usually
rshd, or the secure shell daemon sshd. If Bash determines it is being run non-
interactively in this fashion, it reads and executes commands from ~/.bashrc, if that file
exists and is readable. It will not do this if invoked as sh. The --norc option may be
used to inhibit this behavior, and the --rcfile option may be used to force another file
to be read, but neither rshd nor sshd generally invoke the shell with those options or
allow them to be specified.

Invoked with unequal effective and real UID/GIDs

If Bash is started with the effective user (group) id not equal to the real user (group) id,
and the -p option is not supplied, no startup files are read, shell functions are not
inherited from the environment, the SHELLOPTS, BASHOPTS, CDPATH, and GLOBIGNORE
variables, if they appear in the environment, are ignored, and the effective user id is set

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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.

Next: Bash Conditional Expressions, Previous: Bash Startup Files, Up: Bash Features [Contents]

[Index]

6.3 Interactive Shells

▪ What is an Interactive Shell?

▪ Is this Shell Interactive?

▪ Interactive Shell Behavior

Next: Is this Shell Interactive?, Up: Interactive Shells [Contents][Index]

6.3.1 What is an Interactive Shell?

An interactive shell is one started without non-option arguments (unless -s is specified)

and without specifying the -c option, whose input and error output are both connected
to terminals (as determined by isatty(3)), or one started with the -i option.

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

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

Next: Interactive Shell Behavior, Previous: What is an Interactive Shell?, Up: Interactive Shells

[Contents][Index]

6.3.2 Is this Shell Interactive?

To determine within a startup script whether or not Bash is running interactively, test the
value of the ‘-’ special parameter. It contains i when the shell is interactive. For
example:

case "$-" in
*i*) echo This shell is interactive ;;
*) echo This shell is not interactive ;;
esac

Alternatively, startup scripts may examine the variable PS1; it is unset in non-interactive

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shells, and set in interactive shells. Thus:

if [ -z "$PS1" ]; then
echo This shell is not interactive
else
echo This shell is interactive
fi

Previous: Is this Shell Interactive?, Up: Interactive Shells [Contents][Index]

6.3.3 Interactive Shell Behavior

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

1. Startup files are read and executed as described in Bash Startup Files.

2. Job Control (see Job Control) is enabled by default. When job control is in effect,
Bash ignores the keyboard-generated job control signals SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and
SIGTSTP.

3. Bash expands and displays PS1 before reading the first line of a command, and
expands and displays PS2 before reading the second and subsequent lines of a
multi-line command. Bash expands and displays PS0 after it reads a command
but before executing it. See Controlling the Prompt, for a complete list of prompt
string escape sequences.

4. Bash executes the values of the set elements of the PROMPT_COMMAND array
variable as commands before printing the primary prompt, $PS1 (see Bash
Variables).

5. Readline (see Command Line Editing) is used to read commands from the
user’s terminal.

6. Bash inspects the value of the ignoreeof option to set -o instead of exiting
immediately when it receives an EOF on its standard input when reading a
command (see The Set Builtin).

7. Command history (see Bash History Facilities) and history expansion (see
History Expansion) are enabled by default. Bash will save the command history
to the file named by $HISTFILE when a shell with history enabled exits.

8. Alias expansion (see Aliases) is performed by default.

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9. In the absence of any traps, Bash ignores SIGTERM (see Signals).

10. In the absence of any traps, SIGINT is caught and handled (see Signals). SIGINT
will interrupt some shell builtins.

11. An interactive login shell sends a SIGHUP to all jobs on exit if the huponexit shell
option has been enabled (see Signals).

12. The -n invocation option is ignored, and ‘set -n’ has no effect (see The Set
Builtin).

13. Bash will check for mail periodically, depending on the values of the MAIL,
MAILPATH, and MAILCHECK shell variables (see Bash Variables).

14. Expansion errors due to references to unbound shell variables after ‘set -u’ has
been enabled will not cause the shell to exit (see The Set Builtin).

15. The shell will not exit on expansion errors caused by var being unset or null in
${var:?word} expansions (see Shell Parameter Expansion).

16. Redirection errors encountered by shell builtins will not cause the shell to exit.

17. When running in POSIX mode, a special builtin returning an error status will not
cause the shell to exit (see Bash POSIX Mode).

18. A failed exec will not cause the shell to exit (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

19. Parser syntax errors will not cause the shell to exit.

20. If the cdspell shell option is enabled, the shell will attempt simple spelling
correction for directory arguments to the cd builtin (see the description of the
cdspell option to the shopt builtin in The Shopt Builtin). The cdspell option is
only effective in interactive shells.

21. The shell will check the value of the TMOUT variable and exit if a command is not
read within the specified number of seconds after printing $PS1 (see Bash
Variables).

Next: Shell Arithmetic, Previous: Interactive Shells, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.4 Bash Conditional Expressions

Conditional expressions are used by the [[ compound command (see Conditional

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Constructs) and the test and [ builtin commands (see Bourne Shell Builtins). The test
and [ commands determine their behavior based on the number of arguments; see the
descriptions of those commands for any other command-specific actions.

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

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

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

-a file

True if file exists.

-b file

True if file exists and is a block special file.

-c file

True if file exists and is a character special file.

-d file

True if file exists and is a directory.

-e file

True if file exists.

-f file

True if file exists and is a regular file.

-g file

True if file exists and its set-group-id bit is set.

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-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

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True if file exists and is a socket.

file1 -ef file2

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

file1 -nt file2

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

file1 -ot file2

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

-o optname

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

-v varname

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

-R varname

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

-z string

True if the length of string is zero.

-n string

string

True if the length of string is non-zero.

string1 == string2

string1 = string2

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

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

string1 != string2

True if the strings are not equal.

string1 < string2

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True if string1 sorts before string2 lexicographically.

string1 > string2

True if string1 sorts after string2 lexicographically.

arg1 OP arg2

OP is one of ‘-eq’, ‘-ne’, ‘-lt’, ‘-le’, ‘-gt’, or ‘-ge’. These arithmetic binary operators
return true if arg1 is equal to, not equal to, less than, less than or equal to, greater
than, or greater than or equal to arg2, respectively. Arg1 and arg2 may be positive
or negative integers. When used with the [[ command, Arg1 and Arg2 are
evaluated as arithmetic expressions (see Shell Arithmetic).

Next: Aliases, Previous: Bash Conditional Expressions, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.5 Shell Arithmetic

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

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

id++ id--

variable post-increment and post-decrement

++id --id

variable pre-increment and pre-decrement

- +

unary minus and plus

! ~

logical and bitwise negation

**

exponentiation

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* / %

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

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expression is evaluated. Within an expression, shell variables may also be referenced

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

Integer constants follow the C language definition, without suffixes or character

constants. Constants with a leading 0 are interpreted as octal numbers. A leading ‘0x’
or ‘0X’ denotes hexadecimal. Otherwise, numbers take the form [base#]n, where the
optional base is a decimal number between 2 and 64 representing the arithmetic base,
and n is a number in that base. If base# is omitted, then base 10 is used. When
specifying n, if a non-digit is required, the digits greater than 9 are represented by the
lowercase letters, the uppercase letters, ‘@’, and ‘_’, in that order. If base is less than or
equal to 36, lowercase and uppercase letters may be used interchangeably to
represent numbers between 10 and 35.

Operators are evaluated in order of precedence. Sub-expressions in parentheses are

evaluated first and may override the precedence rules above.

Next: Arrays, Previous: Shell Arithmetic, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.6 Aliases
Aliases allow a string to be substituted for a word when it is used as the first word of a
simple command. The shell maintains a list of aliases that may be set and unset with
the alias and unalias builtin commands.

The first word of each simple command, if unquoted, is checked to see if it has an alias.
If so, that word is replaced by the text of the alias. The characters ‘/’, ‘$’, ‘`’, ‘=’ and any
of the shell metacharacters or quoting characters listed above may not appear in an
alias name. The replacement text may contain any valid shell input, including shell
metacharacters. The first word of the replacement text is tested for aliases, but a word
that is identical to an alias being expanded is not expanded a second time. This means
that one may alias ls to "ls -F", for instance, and Bash does not try to recursively
expand the replacement text. If the last character of the alias value is a blank, then the
next command word following the alias is also checked for alias expansion.

Aliases are created and listed with the alias command, and removed with the unalias
command.

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There is no mechanism for using arguments in the replacement text, as in csh. If

arguments are needed, use a shell function (see Shell Functions).

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

The rules concerning the definition and use of aliases are somewhat confusing. Bash
always reads at least one complete line of input, and all lines that make up a compound
command, before executing any of the commands on that line or the compound
command. Aliases are expanded when a command is read, not when it is executed.
Therefore, an alias definition appearing on the same line as another command does not
take effect until the next line of input is read. The commands following the alias
definition on that line are not affected by the new alias. This behavior is also an issue
when functions are executed. Aliases are expanded when a function definition is read,
not when the function is executed, because a function definition is itself a command. As
a consequence, aliases defined in a function are not available until after that function is
executed. To be safe, always put alias definitions on a separate line, and do not use
alias in compound commands.

For almost every purpose, shell functions are preferred over aliases.

Next: The Directory Stack, Previous: Aliases, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.7 Arrays
Bash provides one-dimensional indexed and associative array variables. Any variable
may be used as an indexed array; the declare builtin will explicitly declare an array.
There is no maximum limit on the size of an array, nor any requirement that members
be indexed or assigned contiguously. Indexed arrays are referenced using integers
(including arithmetic expressions (see Shell Arithmetic)) and are zero-based;
associative arrays use arbitrary strings. Unless otherwise noted, indexed array indices
must be non-negative integers.

An indexed array is created automatically if any variable is assigned to using the syntax

name[subscript]=value

The subscript is treated as an arithmetic expression that must evaluate to a number. To

explicitly declare an array, use

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declare -a name

The syntax

declare -a name[subscript]

is also accepted; the subscript is ignored.

Associative arrays are created using

declare -A name

Attributes may be specified for an array variable using the declare and readonly
builtins. Each attribute applies to all members of an array.

Arrays are assigned to using compound assignments of the form

name=(value1 value2 … )

where each value may be of the form [subscript]=string. Indexed array assignments
do not require anything but string. When assigning to indexed arrays, if the optional
subscript is supplied, that index is assigned to; otherwise the index of the element
assigned is the last index assigned to by the statement plus one. Indexing starts at
zero.

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

When assigning to an associative array, the words in a compound assignment may be

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

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

When assigning to an indexed array, if name is subscripted by a negative number, that

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number is interpreted as relative to one greater than the maximum index of name, so
negative indices count back from the end of the array, and an index of -1 references the
last element.

The ‘+=’ operator will append to an array variable when assigning using the compound
assignment syntax; see Shell Parameters above.

Any element of an array may be referenced using ${name[subscript]}. The braces are
required to avoid conflicts with the shell’s filename expansion operators. If the subscript
is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the word expands to all members of the array name. These subscripts differ
only when the word appears within double quotes. If the word is double-quoted,
${name[*]} expands to a single word with the value of each array member separated by
the first character of the IFS variable, and ${name[@]} expands each element of name to
a separate word. When there are no array members, ${name[@]} expands to nothing. If
the double-quoted expansion occurs within a word, the expansion of the first parameter
is joined with the beginning part of the original word, and the expansion of the last
parameter is joined with the last part of the original word. This is analogous to the
expansion of the special parameters ‘@’ and ‘*’. ${#name[subscript]} expands to the
length of ${name[subscript]}. If subscript is ‘@’ or ‘*’, the expansion is the number of
elements in the array. If the subscript used to reference an element of an indexed array
evaluates to a number less than zero, it is interpreted as relative to one greater than the
maximum index of the array, so negative indices count back from the end of the array,
and an index of -1 refers to the last element.

Referencing an array variable without a subscript is equivalent to referencing with a

subscript of 0. Any reference to a variable using a valid subscript is legal, and bash will
create an array if necessary.

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

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

The unset builtin is used to destroy arrays. unset name[subscript] destroys the array
element at index subscript. Negative subscripts to indexed arrays are interpreted as
described above. Unsetting the last element of an array variable does not unset the
variable. unset name, where name is an array, removes the entire array. unset
name[subscript] behaves differently depending on the array type when given a

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subscript of ‘*’ or ‘@’. When name is an associative array, it removes the element with
key ‘*’ or ‘@’. If name is an indexed array, unset removes all of the elements, but does
not remove the array itself.

When using a variable name with a subscript as an argument to a command, such as

with unset, without using the word expansion syntax described above, the argument is
subject to the shell’s filename expansion. If filename expansion is not desired, the
argument should be quoted.

The declare, local, and readonly builtins each accept a -a option to specify an indexed
array and a -A option to specify an associative array. If both options are supplied, -A
takes precedence. The read builtin accepts a -a option to assign a list of words read
from the standard input to an array, and can read values from the standard input into
individual array elements. The set and declare builtins display array values in a way
that allows them to be reused as input.

Next: Controlling the Prompt, Previous: Arrays, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.8 The Directory Stack

The directory stack is a list of recently-visited directories. The pushd builtin adds
directories to the stack as it changes the current directory, and the popd builtin removes
specified directories from the stack and changes the current directory to the directory
removed. The dirs builtin displays the contents of the directory stack. The current
directory is always the "top" of the directory stack.

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

▪ Directory Stack Builtins

Up: The Directory Stack [Contents][Index]

6.8.1 Directory Stack Builtins

dirs

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

Display the list of currently remembered directories. Directories are added to the
list with the pushd command; the popd command removes directories from the list.

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

-c

Clears the directory stack by deleting all of the elements.

-l

Produces a listing using full pathnames; the default listing format uses a tilde
to denote the home directory.

-p

Causes dirs to print the directory stack with one entry per line.

-v

Causes dirs to print the directory stack with one entry per line, prefixing each
entry with its index in the stack.

+N

Displays the Nth directory (counting from the left of the list printed by dirs
when invoked without options), starting with zero.

-N

Displays the Nth directory (counting from the right of the list printed by dirs
when invoked without options), starting with zero.

popd

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

Removes elements from the directory stack. The elements are numbered from 0
starting at the first directory listed by dirs; that is, popd is equivalent to popd +0.

When no arguments are given, popd removes the top directory from the stack and
changes 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

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Removes the Nth directory (counting from the left of the list printed by dirs),
starting with zero, from the stack.

-N

Removes the Nth directory (counting from the right of the list printed by dirs),
starting with zero, from the stack.

If the top element of the directory stack is modified, and the -n option was not
supplied, popd uses the cd builtin to change to the directory at the top of the stack.
If the cd fails, popd returns a non-zero value.

Otherwise, popd returns an unsuccessful status if an invalid option is encountered,

the directory stack is empty, or a non-existent directory stack entry is specified.

If the popd command is successful, Bash runs dirs to show the final contents of
the directory stack, and the return status is 0.

pushd

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

Adds a directory to the top of the directory stack, or rotates the stack, making the
new top of the stack the current working directory. With no arguments, pushd
exchanges the top two elements of the directory stack.

Arguments, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-n

Suppresses the normal change of directory when rotating or adding

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

+N

Brings the Nth directory (counting from the left of the list printed by dirs,
starting with zero) to the top of the list by rotating the stack.

-N

Brings the Nth directory (counting from the right of the list printed by dirs,
starting with zero) to the top of the list by rotating the stack.

dir

Makes dir be the top of the stack.

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After the stack has been modified, if the -n option was not supplied, pushd uses
the cd builtin to change to the directory at the top of the stack. If the cd fails, pushd
returns a non-zero value.

Otherwise, if no arguments are supplied, pushd returns 0 unless the directory stack
is empty. When rotating the directory stack, pushd returns 0 unless the directory
stack is empty or a non-existent directory stack element is specified.

If the pushd command is successful, Bash runs dirs to show the final contents of
the directory stack.

Next: The Restricted Shell, Previous: The Directory Stack, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.9 Controlling the Prompt

Bash examines the value of the array variable PROMPT_COMMAND just before printing each
primary prompt. If any elements in PROMPT_COMMAND are set and non-null, Bash executes
each value, in numeric order, just as if it had been typed on the command line.

In addition, the following table describes the special characters which can appear in the
prompt variables PS0, PS1, PS2, and PS4:

\a

A bell character.

\d

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

\D{format}

The format is passed to strftime(3) and the result is inserted into the prompt
string; an empty format results in a locale-specific time representation. The braces
are required.

\e

An escape character.

\h

The hostname, up to the first ‘.’.

\H

The hostname.

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\j

The number of jobs currently managed by the shell.

\l

The basename of the shell’s terminal device name.

\n

A newline.

\r

A carriage return.

\s

The name of the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion following the final slash).

\t

The time, in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format.

\T

The time, in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format.

\@

The time, in 12-hour am/pm format.

\A

The time, in 24-hour HH:MM format.

\u

The username of the current user.

\v

The version of Bash (e.g., 2.00)

\V

The release of Bash, version + patchlevel (e.g., 2.00.0)

\w

The value of the PWD shell variable ($PWD), with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde (uses
the $PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable).

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\W

The basename of $PWD, with $HOME abbreviated with a tilde.

\!

The history number of this command.

\#

The command number of this command.

\$

If the effective uid is 0, #, otherwise $.

\nnn

The character whose ASCII code is the octal value nnn.

\\

A backslash.

\[

Begin a sequence of non-printing characters. This could be used to embed a

terminal control sequence into the prompt.

\]

End a sequence of non-printing characters.

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

After the string is decoded, it is expanded via parameter expansion, command

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

Next: Bash POSIX Mode, Previous: Controlling the Prompt, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.10 The Restricted Shell

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If Bash is started with the name rbash, or the --restricted or -r option is supplied at
invocation, the shell becomes restricted. A restricted shell is used to set up an
environment more controlled than the standard shell. A restricted shell behaves
identically to bash with the exception that the following are disallowed or not performed:

▪ Changing directories with the cd builtin.

▪ Setting or unsetting the values of the SHELL, PATH, HISTFILE, ENV, or BASH_ENV
variables.

▪ Specifying command names containing slashes.

▪ Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the . builtin

command.

▪ Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the history builtin

command.

▪ Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument to the -p option to the

hash builtin command.

▪ Importing function definitions from the shell environment at startup.

▪ Parsing the value of SHELLOPTS from the shell environment at startup.

▪ Redirecting output using the ‘>’, ‘>|’, ‘<>’, ‘>&’, ‘&>’, and ‘>>’ redirection operators.

▪ Using the exec builtin to replace the shell with another command.

▪ Adding or deleting builtin commands with the -f and -d options to the enable
builtin.

▪ Using the enable builtin command to enable disabled shell builtins.

▪ Specifying the -p option to the command builtin.

▪ Turning off restricted mode with ‘set +r’ or ‘shopt -u restricted_shell’.

These restrictions are enforced after any startup files are read.

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

The restricted shell mode is only one component of a useful restricted environment. It
should be accompanied by setting PATH to a value that allows execution of only a few
verified commands (commands that allow shell escapes are particularly vulnerable),
changing the current directory to a non-writable directory other than $HOME after login,
not allowing the restricted shell to execute shell scripts, and cleaning the environment

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of variables that cause some commands to modify their behavior (e.g., VISUAL or
PAGER).

Modern systems provide more secure ways to implement a restricted environment,

such as jails, zones, or containers.

Next: Shell Compatibility Mode, Previous: The Restricted Shell, Up: Bash Features [Contents]

[Index]

6.11 Bash POSIX Mode

Starting Bash with the --posix command-line option or executing ‘set -o posix’ while
Bash is running will cause Bash to conform more closely to the POSIX standard by
changing the behavior to match that specified by POSIX in areas where the Bash
default differs.

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

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

1. Bash ensures that the POSIXLY_CORRECT variable is set.

2. When a command in the hash table no longer exists, Bash will re-search $PATH
to find the new location. This is also available with ‘shopt -s checkhash’.

3. Bash will not insert a command without the execute bit set into the command
hash table, even if it returns it as a (last-ditch) result from a $PATH search.

4. The message printed by the job control code and builtins when a job exits with a
non-zero status is ‘Done(status)’.

5. The message printed by the job control code and builtins when a job is stopped
is ‘Stopped(signame)’, where signame is, for example, SIGTSTP.

6. Alias expansion is always enabled, even in non-interactive shells.

7. Reserved words appearing in a context where reserved words are recognized

do not undergo alias expansion.

8. Alias expansion is performed when initially parsing a command substitution. The

default mode generally defers it, when enabled, until the command substitution
is executed. This means that command substitution will not expand aliases that
are defined after the command substitution is initially parsed (e.g., as part of a

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function definition).

9. The POSIX PS1 and PS2 expansions of ‘!’ to the history number and ‘!!’ to ‘!’ are
enabled, and parameter expansion is performed on the values of PS1 and PS2
regardless of the setting of the promptvars option.

10. The POSIX startup files are executed ($ENV) rather than the normal Bash files.

11. Tilde expansion is only performed on assignments preceding a command name,

rather than on all assignment statements on the line.

12. The default history file is ~/.sh_history (this is the default value of $HISTFILE).

13. Redirection operators do not perform filename expansion on the word in the
redirection unless the shell is interactive.

14. Redirection operators do not perform word splitting on the word in the
redirection.

15. Function names must be valid shell names. That is, they may not contain
characters other than letters, digits, and underscores, and may not start with a
digit. Declaring a function with an invalid name causes a fatal syntax error in
non-interactive shells.

16. Function names may not be the same as one of the POSIX special builtins.

17. POSIX special builtins are found before shell functions during command lookup.

18. When printing shell function definitions (e.g., by type), Bash does not print the
function keyword.

19. Literal tildes that appear as the first character in elements of the PATH variable
are not expanded as described above under Tilde Expansion.

20. The time reserved word may be used by itself as a command. When used in this
way, it displays timing statistics for the shell and its completed children. The
TIMEFORMAT variable controls the format of the timing information.

21. When parsing and expanding a ${…} expansion that appears within double
quotes, single quotes are no longer special and cannot be used to quote a
closing brace or other special character, unless the operator is one of those
defined to perform pattern removal. In this case, they do not have to appear as
matched pairs.

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22. The parser does not recognize time as a reserved word if the next token begins
with a ‘-’.

23. The ‘!’ character does not introduce history expansion within a double-quoted
string, even if the histexpand option is enabled.

24. If a POSIX special builtin returns an error status, a non-interactive shell exits.
The fatal errors are those listed in the POSIX standard, and include things like
passing incorrect options, redirection errors, variable assignment errors for
assignments preceding the command name, and so on.

25. A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if a variable assignment error
occurs when no command name follows the assignment statements. A variable
assignment error occurs, for example, when trying to assign a value to a
readonly variable.

26. A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if a variable assignment error
occurs in an assignment statement preceding a special builtin, but not with any
other simple command. For any other simple command, the shell aborts
execution of that command, and execution continues at the top level ("the shell
shall not perform any further processing of the command in which the error
occurred").

27. A non-interactive shell exits with an error status if the iteration variable in a for
statement or the selection variable in a select statement is a readonly variable.

28. Non-interactive shells exit if filename in . filename is not found.

29. Non-interactive shells exit if a syntax error in an arithmetic expansion results in

an invalid expression.

30. Non-interactive shells exit if a parameter expansion error occurs.

31. Non-interactive shells exit if there is a syntax error in a script read with the . or
source builtins, or in a string processed by the eval builtin.

32. While variable indirection is available, it may not be applied to the ‘#’ and ‘?’
special parameters.

33. Expanding the ‘*’ special parameter in a pattern context where the expansion is
double-quoted does not treat the $* as if it were double-quoted.

34. Assignment statements preceding POSIX special builtins persist in the shell

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environment after the builtin completes.

35. The command builtin does not prevent builtins that take assignment statements as
arguments from expanding them as assignment statements; when not in POSIX
mode, assignment builtins lose their assignment statement expansion properties
when preceded by command.

36. The bg builtin uses the required format to describe each job placed in the
background, which does not include an indication of whether the job is the
current or previous job.

37. The output of ‘kill -l’ prints all the signal names on a single line, separated by
spaces, without the ‘SIG’ prefix.

38. The kill builtin does not accept signal names with a ‘SIG’ prefix.

39. The export and readonly builtin commands display their output in the format
required by POSIX.

40. The trap builtin displays signal names without the leading SIG.

41. The trap builtin doesn’t check the first argument for a possible signal
specification and revert the signal handling to the original disposition if it is,
unless that argument consists solely of digits and is a valid signal number. If
users want to reset the handler for a given signal to the original disposition, they
should use ‘-’ as the first argument.

42. trap -p displays signals whose dispositions are set to SIG_DFL and those that
were ignored when the shell started.

43. The . and source builtins do not search the current directory for the filename
argument if it is not found by searching PATH.

44. Enabling POSIX mode has the effect of setting the inherit_errexit option, so
subshells spawned to execute command substitutions inherit the value of the -e
option from the parent shell. When the inherit_errexit option is not enabled,
Bash clears the -e option in such subshells.

45. Enabling POSIX mode has the effect of setting the shift_verbose option, so
numeric arguments to shift that exceed the number of positional parameters
will result in an error message.

46. When the alias builtin displays alias definitions, it does not display them with a

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leading ‘alias ’ unless the -p option is supplied.

47. When the set builtin is invoked without options, it does not display shell function
names and definitions.

48. When the set builtin is invoked without options, it displays variable values
without quotes, unless they contain shell metacharacters, even if the result
contains nonprinting characters.

49. When the cd builtin is invoked in logical mode, and the pathname constructed
from $PWD and the directory name supplied as an argument does not refer to an
existing directory, cd will fail instead of falling back to physical mode.

50. When the cd builtin cannot change a directory because the length of the
pathname constructed from $PWD and the directory name supplied as an
argument exceeds PATH_MAX when all symbolic links are expanded, cd will fail
instead of attempting to use only the supplied directory name.

51. The pwd builtin verifies that the value it prints is the same as the current
directory, even if it is not asked to check the file system with the -P option.

52. When listing the history, the fc builtin does not include an indication of whether
or not a history entry has been modified.

53. The default editor used by fc is ed.

54. The type and command builtins will not report a non-executable file as having
been found, though the shell will attempt to execute such a file if it is the only so-
named file found in $PATH.

55. The vi editing mode will invoke the vi editor directly when the ‘v’ command is
run, instead of checking $VISUAL and $EDITOR.

56. When the xpg_echo option is enabled, Bash does not attempt to interpret any
arguments to echo as options. Each argument is displayed, after escape
characters are converted.

57. The ulimit builtin uses a block size of 512 bytes for the -c and -f options.

58. The arrival of SIGCHLD when a trap is set on SIGCHLD does not interrupt the wait
builtin and cause it to return immediately. The trap command is run once for
each child that exits.

59. The read builtin may be interrupted by a signal for which a trap has been set. If

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Bash receives a trapped signal while executing read, the trap handler executes
and read returns an exit status greater than 128.

60. The printf builtin uses double (via strtod) to convert arguments corresponding
to floating point conversion specifiers, instead of long double if it’s available.
The ‘L’ length modifier forces printf to use long double if it’s available.

61. Bash removes an exited background process’s status from the list of such
statuses after the wait builtin is used to obtain it.

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

1. The fc builtin checks $EDITOR as a program to edit history entries if FCEDIT is

unset, rather than defaulting directly to ed. fc uses ed if EDITOR is unset.

2. As noted above, Bash requires the xpg_echo option to be enabled for the echo
builtin to be fully conformant.

Bash can be configured to be POSIX-conformant by default, by specifying the --enable-

strict-posix-default to configure when building (see Optional Features).

Previous: Bash POSIX Mode, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

6.12 Shell Compatibility Mode

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

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

If a user enables, say, compat32, it may affect the behavior of other compatibility levels
up to and including the current compatibility level. The idea is that each compatibility
level controls behavior that changed in that version of Bash, but that behavior may have
been present in earlier versions. For instance, the change to use locale-based

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comparisons with the [[ command came in bash-4.1, and earlier versions used ASCII-
based comparisons, so enabling compat32 will enable ASCII-based comparisons as
well. That granularity may not be sufficient for all uses, and as a result users should
employ compatibility levels carefully. Read the documentation for a particular feature to
find out the current behavior.

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

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

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

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

compat31

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

compat32

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

compat40

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

compat41

▪ in posix mode, time may be followed by options and still be recognized as

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a reserved word (this is POSIX interpretation 267)

▪ in posix mode, the parser requires that an even number of single quotes
occur in the word portion of a double-quoted ${…} parameter expansion
and treats them specially, so that characters within the single quotes are
considered quoted (this is POSIX interpretation 221)

compat42

▪ the replacement string in double-quoted pattern substitution does not

undergo quote removal, as it does in versions after bash-4.2

▪ in posix mode, single quotes are considered special when expanding the
word portion of a double-quoted ${…} parameter expansion and can be
used to quote a closing brace or other special character (this is part of
POSIX interpretation 221); in later versions, single quotes are not special
within double-quoted word expansions

compat43

▪ the shell does not print a warning message if an attempt is made to use a
quoted compound assignment as an argument to declare (e.g., declare -a
foo=’(1 2)’). Later versions warn that this usage is deprecated

▪ word expansion errors are considered non-fatal errors that cause the
current command to fail, even in posix mode (the default behavior is to
make them fatal errors that cause the shell to exit)

▪ when executing a shell function, the loop state (while/until/etc.) is not reset,
so break or continue in that function will break or continue loops in the
calling context. Bash-4.4 and later reset the loop state to prevent this

compat44

▪ the shell sets up the values used by BASH_ARGV and BASH_ARGC so they can
expand to the shell’s positional parameters even if extended debugging
mode is not enabled

▪ a subshell inherits loops from its parent context, so break or continue will
cause the subshell to exit. Bash-5.0 and later reset the loop state to
prevent the exit

▪ variable assignments preceding builtins like export and readonly that set
attributes continue to affect variables with the same name in the calling
environment even if the shell is not in posix mode

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compat50 (set using BASH_COMPAT)

▪ Bash-5.1 changed the way $RANDOM is generated to introduce slightly more

randomness. If the shell compatibility level is set to 50 or lower, it reverts to
the method from bash-5.0 and previous versions, so seeding the random
number generator by assigning a value to RANDOM will produce the same
sequence as in bash-5.0

▪ If the command hash table is empty, Bash versions prior to bash-5.1

printed an informational message to that effect, even when producing
output that can be reused as input. Bash-5.1 suppresses that message
when the -l option is supplied.

compat51 (set using BASH_COMPAT)

▪ The unset builtin will unset the array a given an argument like ‘a[@]’.
Bash-5.2 will unset an element with key ‘@’ (associative arrays) or remove
all the elements without unsetting the array (indexed arrays)

▪ arithmetic commands ( ((...)) ) and the expressions in an arithmetic for

statement can be expanded more than once

▪ expressions used as arguments to arithmetic operators in the [[ conditional

command can be expanded more than once

▪ the expressions in substring parameter brace expansion can be expanded

more than once

▪ the expressions in the $(( ... )) word expansion can be expanded more than
once

▪ arithmetic expressions used as indexed array subscripts can be expanded

more than once

▪ test -v, when given an argument of ‘A[@]’, where A is an existing

associative array, will return true if the array has any set elements.
Bash-5.2 will look for and report on a key named ‘@’

▪ the ${parameter[:]=value} word expansion will return value, before any

variable-specific transformations have been performed (e.g., converting to
lowercase). Bash-5.2 will return the final value assigned to the variable.

▪ Parsing command substitutions will behave as if extended glob (see The

Shopt Builtin) is enabled, so that parsing a command substitution
containing an extglob pattern (say, as part of a shell function) will not fail.
This assumes the intent is to enable extglob before the command is

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executed and word expansions are performed. It will fail at word expansion
time if extglob hasn’t been enabled by the time the command is executed.

Next: Command Line Editing, Previous: Bash Features, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

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

▪ Job Control Basics

▪ Job Control Builtins

▪ Job Control Variables

Next: Job Control Builtins, Up: Job Control [Contents][Index]

7.1 Job Control Basics

Job control refers to the ability to selectively stop (suspend) the execution of processes
and continue (resume) their execution at a later point. A user typically employs this
facility via an interactive interface supplied jointly by the operating system kernel’s
terminal driver and Bash.

The shell associates a job with each pipeline. It keeps a table of currently executing
jobs, which may be listed with the jobs command. When Bash starts a job
asynchronously, it prints a line that looks like:

[1] 25647

indicating that this job is job number 1 and that the process ID of the last process in the
pipeline associated with this job is 25647. All of the processes in a single pipeline are
members of the same job. Bash uses the job abstraction as the basis for job control.

To facilitate the implementation of the user interface to job control, the operating system
maintains the notion of a current terminal process group ID. Members of this process
group (processes whose process group ID is equal to the current terminal process
group ID) receive keyboard-generated signals such as SIGINT. These processes are
said to be in the foreground. Background processes are those whose process group ID
differs from the terminal’s; such processes are immune to keyboard-generated signals.

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Only foreground processes are allowed to read from or, if the user so specifies with
stty tostop, write to the terminal. Background processes which attempt to read from
(write to when stty tostop is in effect) the terminal are sent a SIGTTIN (SIGTTOU) signal
by the kernel’s terminal driver, which, unless caught, suspends the process.

If the operating system on which Bash is running supports job control, Bash contains
facilities to use it. Typing the suspend character (typically ‘^Z’, Control-Z) while a
process is running causes that process to be stopped and returns control to Bash.
Typing the delayed suspend character (typically ‘^Y’, Control-Y) causes the process to
be stopped when it attempts to read input from the terminal, and control to be returned
to Bash. The user then manipulates the state of this job, using the bg command to
continue it in the background, the fg command to continue it in the foreground, or the
kill command to kill it. A ‘^Z’ takes effect immediately, and has the additional side
effect of causing pending output and typeahead to be discarded.

There are a number of ways to refer to a job in the shell. The character ‘%’ introduces a
job specification (jobspec).

Job number n may be referred to as ‘%n’. The symbols ‘%%’ and ‘%+’ refer to the shell’s
notion of the current job, which is the last job stopped while it was in the foreground or
started in the background. A single ‘%’ (with no accompanying job specification) also
refers to the current job. The previous job may be referenced using ‘%-’. If there is only
a single job, ‘%+’ and ‘%-’ can both be used to refer to that job. In output pertaining to
jobs (e.g., the output of the jobs command), the current job is always flagged with a ‘+’,
and the previous job with a ‘-’.

A job may also be referred to using a prefix of the name used to start it, or using a
substring that appears in its command line. For example, ‘%ce’ refers to a stopped job
whose command name begins with ‘ce’. Using ‘%?ce’, on the other hand, refers to any
job containing the string ‘ce’ in its command line. If the prefix or substring matches more
than one job, Bash reports an error.

Simply naming a job can be used to bring it into the foreground: ‘%1’ is a synonym for ‘fg
%1’, bringing job 1 from the background into the foreground. Similarly, ‘%1 &’ resumes
job 1 in the background, equivalent to ‘bg %1’

The shell learns immediately whenever a job changes state. Normally, Bash waits until
it is about to print a prompt before reporting changes in a job’s status so as to not
interrupt any other output. If the -b option to the set builtin is enabled, Bash reports
such changes immediately (see The Set Builtin). Any trap on SIGCHLD is executed for
each child process that exits.

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If an attempt to exit Bash is made while jobs are stopped, (or running, if the checkjobs
option is enabled – see The Shopt Builtin), the shell prints a warning message, and if
the checkjobs option is enabled, lists the jobs and their statuses. The jobs command
may then be used to inspect their status. If a second attempt to exit is made without an
intervening command, Bash does not print another warning, and any stopped jobs are
terminated.

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

Next: Job Control Variables, Previous: Job Control Basics, Up: Job Control [Contents][Index]

7.2 Job Control Builtins

bg

bg [jobspec …]

Resume each suspended job jobspec in the background, as if it had been started
with ‘&’. If jobspec is not supplied, the current job is used. The return status is zero
unless it is run when job control is not enabled, or, when run with job control
enabled, any jobspec was not found or specifies a job that was started without job
control.

fg

fg [jobspec]

Resume the job jobspec in the foreground and make it the current job. If jobspec
is not supplied, the current job is used. The return status is that of the command
placed into the foreground, or non-zero if run when job control is disabled or, when
run with job control enabled, jobspec does not specify a valid job or jobspec
specifies a job that was started without job control.

jobs

jobs [-lnprs] [jobspec]

jobs -x command [arguments]

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The first form lists the active jobs. The options have the following meanings:

-l

List process IDs in addition to the normal information.

-n

Display information only about jobs that have changed status since the user
was last notified of their status.

-p

List only the process ID of the job’s process group leader.

-r

Display only running jobs.

-s

Display only stopped jobs.

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

not supplied, the status of all jobs is listed.

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

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

kill

kill [-s sigspec] [-n signum] [-sigspec] jobspec or pid

kill -l|-L [exit_status]

Send a signal specified by sigspec or signum to the process named by job

specification jobspec or process ID pid. sigspec is either a case-insensitive signal
name such as SIGINT (with or without the SIG prefix) or a signal number; signum is
a signal number. If sigspec and signum are not present, SIGTERM is used. The -l
option lists the signal names. If any arguments are supplied when -l is given, the
names of the signals corresponding to the arguments are listed, and the return
status is zero. exit_status is a number specifying a signal number or the exit status
of a process terminated by a signal. The -L option is equivalent to -l. The return
status is zero if at least one signal was successfully sent, or non-zero if an error
occurs or an invalid option is encountered.

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wait

wait [-fn] [-p varname] [jobspec or pid …]

Wait until the child process specified by each process ID pid or job specification
jobspec exits and return the exit status of the last command waited for. If a job
spec is given, all processes in the job are waited for. If no arguments are given,
wait waits for all running background jobs and the last-executed process
substitution, if its process id is the same as $!, and the return status is zero. If the
-n option is supplied, wait waits for a single job from the list of pids or jobspecs or,
if no arguments are supplied, any job, to complete and returns its exit status. If
none of the supplied arguments is a child of the shell, or if no arguments are
supplied and the shell has no unwaited-for children, the exit status is 127. If the -p
option is supplied, the process or job identifier of the job for which the exit status is
returned is assigned to the variable varname named by the option argument. The
variable will be unset initially, before any assignment. This is useful only when the
-n option is supplied. Supplying the -f option, when job control is enabled, forces
wait to wait for each pid or jobspec to terminate before returning its status, instead
of returning when it changes status. If neither jobspec nor pid specifies an active
child process of the shell, the return status is 127. If wait is interrupted by a signal,
the return status will be greater than 128, as described above (see Signals).
Otherwise, the return status is the exit status of the last process or job waited for.

disown

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

Without options, remove each jobspec from the table of active jobs. If the -h
option is given, the job is not removed from the table, but is marked so that SIGHUP
is not sent to the job if the shell receives a SIGHUP. If jobspec is not present, and
neither the -a nor the -r option is supplied, the current job is used. If no jobspec is
supplied, the -a option means to remove or mark all jobs; the -r option without a
jobspec argument restricts operation to running jobs.

suspend

suspend [-f]

Suspend the execution of this shell until it receives a SIGCONT signal. A login shell,

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or a shell without job control enabled, cannot be suspended; the -f option can be
used to override this and force the suspension. The return status is 0 unless the
shell is a login shell or job control is not enabled and -f is not supplied.

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

Previous: Job Control Builtins, Up: Job Control [Contents][Index]

7.3 Job Control Variables

auto_resume

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

Next: Using History Interactively, Previous: Job Control, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

8 Command Line Editing

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

▪ Introduction to Line Editing

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▪ Readline Interaction

▪ Readline Init File

▪ Bindable Readline Commands

▪ Readline vi Mode

▪ Programmable Completion

▪ Programmable Completion Builtins

▪ A Programmable Completion Example

Next: Readline Interaction, Up: Command Line Editing [Contents][Index]

8.1 Introduction to Line Editing

The following paragraphs describe the notation used to represent keystrokes.

The text C-k is read as ‘Control-K’ and describes the character produced when the k
key is pressed while the Control key is depressed.

The text M-k is read as ‘Meta-K’ and describes the character produced when the Meta
key (if you have one) is depressed, and the k key is pressed. The Meta key is labeled
ALT on many keyboards. On keyboards with two keys labeled ALT (usually to either side
of the space bar), the ALT on the left side is generally set to work as a Meta key. The
ALT key on the right may also be configured to work as a Meta key or may be
configured as some other modifier, such as a Compose key for typing accented
characters.

If you do not have a Meta or ALT key, or another key working as a Meta key, the
identical keystroke can be generated by typing ESC first, and then typing k. Either
process is known as metafying the k key.

The text M-C-k is read as ‘Meta-Control-k’ and describes the character produced by
metafying C-k.

In addition, several keys have their own names. Specifically, DEL, ESC, LFD, SPC, RET, and
TAB all stand for themselves when seen in this text, or in an init file (see Readline Init
File). If your keyboard lacks a LFD key, typing C-j will produce the desired character.
The RET key may be labeled Return or Enter on some keyboards.

Next: Readline Init File, Previous: Introduction to Line Editing, Up: Command Line Editing

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[Contents][Index]

8.2 Readline Interaction

Often during an interactive session you type in a long line of text, only to notice that the
first word on the line is misspelled. The Readline library gives you a set of commands
for manipulating the text as you type it in, allowing you to just fix your typo, and not
forcing you to retype the majority of the line. Using these editing commands, you move
the cursor to the place that needs correction, and delete or insert the text of the
corrections. Then, when you are satisfied with the line, you simply press RET. You do
not have to be at the end of the line to press RET; the entire line is accepted regardless
of the location of the cursor within the line.

▪ Readline Bare Essentials

▪ Readline Movement Commands

▪ Readline Killing Commands

▪ Readline Arguments

▪ Searching for Commands in the History

Next: Readline Movement Commands, Up: Readline Interaction [Contents][Index]

8.2.1 Readline Bare Essentials

In order to enter characters into the line, simply type them. The typed character
appears where the cursor was, and then the cursor moves one space to the right. If you
mistype a character, you can use your erase character to back up and delete the
mistyped character.

Sometimes you may mistype a character, and not notice the error until you have typed
several other characters. In that case, you can type C-b to move the cursor to the left,
and then correct your mistake. Afterwards, you can move the cursor to the right with C-
f.

When you add text in the middle of a line, you will notice that characters to the right of
the cursor are ‘pushed over’ to make room for the text that you have inserted. Likewise,
when you delete text behind the cursor, characters to the right of the cursor are ‘pulled
back’ to fill in the blank space created by the removal of the text. A list of the bare
essentials for editing the text of an input line follows.

C-b

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Move back one character.

C-f

Move forward one character.

DEL or Backspace

Delete the character to the left of the cursor.

C-d

Delete the character underneath the cursor.

Printing characters

Insert the character into the line at the cursor.

C-_ or C-x C-u

Undo the last editing command. You can undo all the way back to an empty line.

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

Next: Readline Killing Commands, Previous: Readline Bare Essentials, Up: Readline Interaction

[Contents][Index]

8.2.2 Readline Movement Commands

The above table describes the most basic keystrokes that you need in order to do
editing of the input line. For your convenience, many other commands have been
added in addition to C-b, C-f, C-d, and DEL. Here are some commands for moving more
rapidly about the line.

C-a

Move to the start of the line.

C-e

Move to the end of the line.

M-f

Move forward a word, where a word is composed of letters and digits.

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M-b

Move backward a word.

C-l

Clear the screen, reprinting the current line at the top.

Notice how C-f moves forward a character, while M-f moves forward a word. It is a
loose convention that control keystrokes operate on characters while meta keystrokes
operate on words.

Next: Readline Arguments, Previous: Readline Movement Commands, Up: Readline Interaction

[Contents][Index]

8.2.3 Readline Killing Commands

Killing text means to delete the text from the line, but to save it away for later use,
usually by yanking (re-inserting) it back into the line. (‘Cut’ and ‘paste’ are more recent
jargon for ‘kill’ and ‘yank’.)

If the description for a command says that it ‘kills’ text, then you can be sure that you
can get the text back in a different (or the same) place later.

When you use a kill command, the text is saved in a kill-ring. Any number of
consecutive kills save all of the killed text together, so that when you yank it back, you
get it all. The kill ring is not line specific; the text that you killed on a previously typed
line is available to be yanked back later, when you are typing another line.

Here is the list of commands for killing text.

C-k

Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the line.

M-d

Kill from the cursor to the end of the current word, or, if between words, to the end
of the next word. Word boundaries are the same as those used by M-f.

M-DEL

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

C-w

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Kill from the cursor to the previous whitespace. This is different than M-DEL
because the word boundaries differ.

Here is how to yank the text back into the line. Yanking means to copy the most-
recently-killed text from the kill buffer.

C-y

Yank the most recently killed text back into the buffer at the cursor.

M-y

Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top. You can only do this if the prior
command is C-y or M-y.

Next: Searching for Commands in the History, Previous: Readline Killing Commands, Up: Readline

Interaction [Contents][Index]

8.2.4 Readline Arguments

You can pass numeric arguments to Readline commands. Sometimes the argument
acts as a repeat count, other times it is the sign of the argument that is significant. If
you pass a negative argument to a command which normally acts in a forward
direction, that command will act in a backward direction. For example, to kill text back to
the start of the line, you might type ‘M-- C-k’.

The general way to pass numeric arguments to a command is to type meta digits
before the command. If the first ‘digit’ typed is a minus sign (‘-’), then the sign of the
argument will be negative. Once you have typed one meta digit to get the argument
started, you can type the remainder of the digits, and then the command. For example,
to give the C-d command an argument of 10, you could type ‘M-1 0 C-d’, which will
delete the next ten characters on the input line.

Previous: Readline Arguments, Up: Readline Interaction [Contents][Index]

8.2.5 Searching for Commands in the History

Readline provides commands for searching through the command history (see Bash
History Facilities) for lines containing a specified string. There are two search modes:
incremental and non-incremental.

Incremental searches begin before the user has finished typing the search string. As
each character of the search string is typed, Readline displays the next entry from the

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history matching the string typed so far. An incremental search requires only as many
characters as needed to find the desired history entry. To search backward in the
history for a particular string, type C-r. Typing C-s searches forward through the history.
The characters present in the value of the isearch-terminators variable are used to
terminate an incremental search. If that variable has not been assigned a value, the ESC
and C-J characters will terminate an incremental search. C-g will abort an incremental
search and restore the original line. When the search is terminated, the history entry
containing the search string becomes the current line.

To find other matching entries in the history list, type C-r or C-s as appropriate. This will
search backward or forward in the history for the next entry matching the search string
typed so far. Any other key sequence bound to a Readline command will terminate the
search and execute that command. For instance, a RET will terminate the search and
accept the line, thereby executing the command from the history list. A movement
command will terminate the search, make the last line found the current line, and begin
editing.

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

Non-incremental searches read the entire search string before starting to search for
matching history lines. The search string may be typed by the user or be part of the
contents of the current line.

Next: Bindable Readline Commands, Previous: Readline Interaction, Up: Command Line Editing

[Contents][Index]

8.3 Readline Init File

Although the Readline library comes with a set of Emacs-like keybindings installed by
default, it is possible to use a different set of keybindings. Any user can customize
programs that use Readline by putting commands in an inputrc file, conventionally in
their home directory. The name of this file is taken from the value of the shell variable
INPUTRC. If that variable is unset, the default is ~/.inputrc. If that file does not exist or
cannot be read, the ultimate default is /etc/inputrc. The bind builtin command can
also be used to set Readline keybindings and variables. See Bash Builtin Commands.

When a program which uses the Readline library starts up, the init file is read, and the
key bindings are set.

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In addition, the C-x C-r command re-reads this init file, thus incorporating any changes
that you might have made to it.

▪ Readline Init File Syntax

▪ Conditional Init Constructs

▪ Sample Init File

Next: Conditional Init Constructs, Up: Readline Init File [Contents][Index]

8.3.1 Readline Init File Syntax

There are only a few basic constructs allowed in the Readline init file. Blank lines are
ignored. Lines beginning with a ‘#’ are comments. Lines beginning with a ‘$’ indicate
conditional constructs (see Conditional Init Constructs). Other lines denote variable
settings and key bindings.

Variable Settings

You can modify the run-time behavior of Readline by altering the values of
variables in Readline using the set command within the init file. The syntax is
simple:

set variable value

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

set editing-mode vi

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

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

The bind -V command lists the current Readline variable names and values. See
Bash Builtin Commands.
A great deal of run-time behavior is changeable with the following variables.

active-region-start-color

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A string variable that controls the text color and background when displaying
the text in the active region (see the description of enable-active-region
below). This string must not take up any physical character positions on the
display, so it should consist only of terminal escape sequences. It is output to
the terminal before displaying the text in the active region. This variable is
reset to the default value whenever the terminal type changes. The default
value is the string that puts the terminal in standout mode, as obtained from
the terminal’s terminfo description. A sample value might be ‘\e[01;33m’.

active-region-end-color

A string variable that "undoes" the effects of active-region-start-color and

restores "normal" terminal display appearance after displaying text in the
active region. This string must not take up any physical character positions
on the display, so it should consist only of terminal escape sequences. It is
output to the terminal after displaying the text in the active region. This
variable is reset to the default value whenever the terminal type changes.
The default value is the string that restores the terminal from standout mode,
as obtained from the terminal’s terminfo description. A sample value might be
‘\e[0m’.

bell-style

Controls what happens when Readline wants to ring the terminal bell. If set to
‘none’, Readline never rings the bell. If set to ‘visible’, Readline uses a
visible bell if one is available. If set to ‘audible’ (the default), Readline
attempts to ring the terminal’s bell.

bind-tty-special-chars

If set to ‘on’ (the default), Readline attempts to bind the control characters
treated specially by the kernel’s terminal driver to their Readline equivalents.

blink-matching-paren

If set to ‘on’, Readline attempts to briefly move the cursor to an opening

parenthesis when a closing parenthesis is inserted. The default is ‘off’.

colored-completion-prefix

If set to ‘on’, when listing completions, Readline displays the common prefix
of the set of possible completions using a different color. The color definitions
are taken from the value of the LS_COLORS environment variable. If there is a
color definition in LS_COLORS for the custom suffix ‘readline-colored-

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completion-prefix’, Readline uses this color for the common prefix instead of
its default. The default is ‘off’.

colored-stats

If set to ‘on’, Readline displays possible completions using different colors to

indicate their file type. The color definitions are taken from the value of the
LS_COLORS environment variable. The default is ‘off’.

comment-begin

The string to insert at the beginning of the line when the insert-comment
command is executed. The default value is "#".

completion-display-width

The number of screen columns used to display possible matches when

performing completion. The value is ignored if it is less than 0 or greater than
the terminal screen width. A value of 0 will cause matches to be displayed
one per line. The default value is -1.

completion-ignore-case

If set to ‘on’, Readline performs filename matching and completion in a case-

insensitive fashion. The default value is ‘off’.

completion-map-case

If set to ‘on’, and completion-ignore-case is enabled, Readline treats hyphens

(‘-’) and underscores (‘_’) as equivalent when performing case-insensitive
filename matching and completion. The default value is ‘off’.

completion-prefix-display-length

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

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

completion-query-items

The number of possible completions that determines when the user is asked
whether the list of possibilities should be displayed. If the number of possible
completions is greater than or equal to this value, Readline will ask whether
or not the user wishes to view them; otherwise, they are simply listed. This
variable must be set to an integer value greater than or equal to zero. A zero

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value means Readline should never ask; negative values are treated as zero.
The default limit is 100.

convert-meta

If set to ‘on’, Readline will convert characters with the eighth bit set to an
ASCII key sequence by stripping the eighth bit and prefixing an ESC character,
converting them to a meta-prefixed key sequence. The default value is ‘on’,
but will be set to ‘off’ if the locale is one that contains eight-bit characters.
This variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category, and may change
if the locale is changed.

disable-completion

If set to ‘On’, Readline will inhibit word completion. Completion characters will
be inserted into the line as if they had been mapped to self-insert. The
default is ‘off’.

echo-control-characters

When set to ‘on’, on operating systems that indicate they support it, Readline
echoes a character corresponding to a signal generated from the keyboard.
The default is ‘on’.

editing-mode

The editing-mode variable controls which default set of key bindings is used.
By default, Readline starts up in Emacs editing mode, where the keystrokes
are most similar to Emacs. This variable can be set to either ‘emacs’ or ‘vi’.

emacs-mode-string

If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, this string is displayed

immediately before the last line of the primary prompt when emacs editing
mode is active. The value is expanded like a key binding, so the standard set
of meta- and control prefixes and backslash escape sequences is available.
Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end sequences of non-printing
characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control sequence into the
mode string. The default is ‘@’.

enable-active-region

The point is the current cursor position, and mark refers to a saved cursor
position (see Commands For Moving). The text between the point and mark
is referred to as the region. When this variable is set to ‘On’, Readline allows

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certain commands to designate the region as active. When the region is

active, Readline highlights the text in the region using the value of the
active-region-start-color, which defaults to the string that enables the
terminal’s standout mode. The active region shows the text inserted by
bracketed-paste and any matching text found by incremental and non-
incremental history searches. The default is ‘On’.

enable-bracketed-paste

When set to ‘On’, Readline configures the terminal to insert each paste into
the editing buffer as a single string of characters, instead of treating each
character as if it had been read from the keyboard. This is called putting the
terminal into bracketed paste mode; it prevents Readline from executing any
editing commands bound to key sequences appearing in the pasted text. The
default is ‘On’.

enable-keypad

When set to ‘on’, Readline will try to enable the application keypad when it is
called. Some systems need this to enable the arrow keys. The default is ‘off’.

enable-meta-key

When set to ‘on’, Readline will try to enable any meta modifier key the
terminal claims to support when it is called. On many terminals, the meta key
is used to send eight-bit characters. The default is ‘on’.

expand-tilde

If set to ‘on’, tilde expansion is performed when Readline attempts word

completion. The default is ‘off’.

history-preserve-point

If set to ‘on’, the history code attempts to place the point (the current cursor
position) at the same location on each history line retrieved with previous-
history or next-history. The default is ‘off’.

history-size

Set the maximum number of history entries saved in the history list. If set to
zero, any existing history entries are deleted and no new entries are saved. If
set to a value less than zero, the number of history entries is not limited. By
default, the number of history entries is not limited. If an attempt is made to
set history-size to a non-numeric value, the maximum number of history

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entries will be set to 500.

horizontal-scroll-mode

This variable can be set to either ‘on’ or ‘off’. Setting it to ‘on’ means that the
text of the lines being edited will scroll horizontally on a single screen line
when they are longer than the width of the screen, instead of wrapping onto a
new screen line. This variable is automatically set to ‘on’ for terminals of
height 1. By default, this variable is set to ‘off’.

input-meta

If set to ‘on’, Readline will enable eight-bit input (it will not clear the eighth bit
in the characters it reads), regardless of what the terminal claims it can
support. The default value is ‘off’, but Readline will set it to ‘on’ if the locale
contains eight-bit characters. The name meta-flag is a synonym for this
variable. This variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category, and may
change if the locale is changed.

isearch-terminators

The string of characters that should terminate an incremental search without

subsequently executing the character as a command (see Searching for
Commands in the History). If this variable has not been given a value, the
characters ESC and C-J will terminate an incremental search.

keymap

Sets Readline’s idea of the current keymap for key binding commands. Built-
in keymap names are emacs, emacs-standard, emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-
move, vi-command, and vi-insert. vi is equivalent to vi-command (vi-move is
also a synonym); emacs is equivalent to emacs-standard. Applications may
add additional names. The default value is emacs. The value of the editing-
mode variable also affects the default keymap.

keyseq-timeout

Specifies the duration Readline will wait for a character when reading an
ambiguous key sequence (one that can form a complete key sequence using
the input read so far, or can take additional input to complete a longer key
sequence). If no input is received within the timeout, Readline will use the
shorter but complete key sequence. Readline uses this value to determine
whether or not input is available on the current input source (rl_instream by
default). The value is specified in milliseconds, so a value of 1000 means that

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Readline will wait one second for additional input. If this variable is set to a
value less than or equal to zero, or to a non-numeric value, Readline will wait
until another key is pressed to decide which key sequence to complete. The
default value is 500.

mark-directories

If set to ‘on’, completed directory names have a slash appended. The default
is ‘on’.

mark-modified-lines

This variable, when set to ‘on’, causes Readline to display an asterisk (‘*’) at
the start of history lines which have been modified. This variable is ‘off’ by
default.

mark-symlinked-directories

If set to ‘on’, completed names which are symbolic links to directories have a
slash appended (subject to the value of mark-directories). The default is
‘off’.

match-hidden-files

This variable, when set to ‘on’, causes Readline to match files whose names
begin with a ‘.’ (hidden files) when performing filename completion. If set to
‘off’, the leading ‘.’ must be supplied by the user in the filename to be
completed. This variable is ‘on’ by default.

menu-complete-display-prefix

If set to ‘on’, menu completion displays the common prefix of the list of
possible completions (which may be empty) before cycling through the list.
The default is ‘off’.

output-meta

If set to ‘on’, Readline will display characters with the eighth bit set directly
rather than as a meta-prefixed escape sequence. The default is ‘off’, but
Readline will set it to ‘on’ if the locale contains eight-bit characters. This
variable is dependent on the LC_CTYPE locale category, and may change if the
locale is changed.

page-completions

If set to ‘on’, Readline uses an internal more-like pager to display a screenful

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of possible completions at a time. This variable is ‘on’ by default.

print-completions-horizontally

If set to ‘on’, Readline will display completions with matches sorted

horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down the screen. The default is
‘off’.

revert-all-at-newline

If set to ‘on’, Readline will undo all changes to history lines before returning
when accept-line is executed. By default, history lines may be modified and
retain individual undo lists across calls to readline(). The default is ‘off’.

show-all-if-ambiguous

This alters the default behavior of the completion functions. If set to ‘on’,
words which have more than one possible completion cause the matches to
be listed immediately instead of ringing the bell. The default value is ‘off’.

show-all-if-unmodified

This alters the default behavior of the completion functions in a fashion

similar to show-all-if-ambiguous. If set to ‘on’, words which have more than
one possible completion without any possible partial completion (the possible
completions don’t share a common prefix) cause the matches to be listed
immediately instead of ringing the bell. The default value is ‘off’.

show-mode-in-prompt

If set to ‘on’, add a string to the beginning of the prompt indicating the editing
mode: emacs, vi command, or vi insertion. The mode strings are user-
settable (e.g., emacs-mode-string). The default value is ‘off’.

skip-completed-text

If set to ‘on’, this alters the default completion behavior when inserting a
single match into the line. It’s only active when performing completion in the
middle of a word. If enabled, Readline does not insert characters from the
completion that match characters after point in the word being completed, so
portions of the word following the cursor are not duplicated. For instance, if
this is enabled, attempting completion when the cursor is after the ‘e’ in
‘Makefile’ will result in ‘Makefile’ rather than ‘Makefilefile’, assuming there
is a single possible completion. The default value is ‘off’.

vi-cmd-mode-string

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If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, this string is displayed

immediately before the last line of the primary prompt when vi editing mode is
active and in command mode. The value is expanded like a key binding, so
the standard set of meta- and control prefixes and backslash escape
sequences is available. Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end
sequences of non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a
terminal control sequence into the mode string. The default is ‘(cmd)’.

vi-ins-mode-string

If the show-mode-in-prompt variable is enabled, this string is displayed

immediately before the last line of the primary prompt when vi editing mode is
active and in insertion mode. The value is expanded like a key binding, so the
standard set of meta- and control prefixes and backslash escape sequences
is available. Use the ‘\1’ and ‘\2’ escapes to begin and end sequences of
non-printing characters, which can be used to embed a terminal control
sequence into the mode string. The default is ‘(ins)’.

visible-stats

If set to ‘on’, a character denoting a file’s type is appended to the filename

when listing possible completions. The default is ‘off’.

Key Bindings

The syntax for controlling key bindings in the init file is simple. First you need to
find the name of the command that you want to change. The following sections
contain tables of the command name, the default keybinding, if any, and a short
description of what the command does.

Once you know the name of the command, simply place on a line in the init file the
name of the key you wish to bind the command to, a colon, and then the name of
the command. There can be no space between the key name and the colon – that
will be interpreted as part of the key name. The name of the key can be expressed
in different ways, depending on what you find most comfortable.

In addition to command names, Readline allows keys to be bound to a string that

is inserted when the key is pressed (a macro).

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

keyname: function-name or macro

keyname is the name of a key spelled out in English. For example:

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Control-u: universal-argument
Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
Control-o: "> output"

In the example above, C-u is bound to the function universal-argument, M-DEL

is bound to the function backward-kill-word, and C-o is bound to run the
macro expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert the text ‘> output’
into the line).

A number of symbolic character names are recognized while processing this

key binding syntax: DEL, ESC, ESCAPE, LFD, NEWLINE, RET, RETURN,
RUBOUT, SPACE, SPC, and TAB.

"keyseq": function-name or macro

keyseq differs from keyname above in that strings denoting an entire key
sequence can be specified, by placing the key sequence in double quotes.
Some GNU Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following
example, but the special character names are not recognized.

"\C-u": universal-argument
"\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
"\e[11~": "Function Key 1"

In the above example, C-u is again bound to the function universal-argument

(just as it was in the first example), ‘C-x C-r’ is bound to the function re-read-
init-file, and ‘ESC [ 1 1 ~’ is bound to insert the text ‘Function Key 1’.

The following GNU Emacs style escape sequences are available when specifying
key sequences:

\C-

control prefix

\M-

meta prefix

\e

an escape character

\\

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backslash

\"

", a double quotation mark

\'

', a single quote or apostrophe

In addition to the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second set of backslash
escapes is available:

\a

alert (bell)

\b

backspace

\d

delete

\f

form feed

\n

newline

\r

carriage return

\t

horizontal tab

\v

vertical tab

\nnn

the eight-bit character whose value is the octal value nnn (one to three digits)

\xHH

the eight-bit character whose value is the hexadecimal value HH (one or two

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hex digits)

When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must be used to
indicate a macro definition. Unquoted text is assumed to be a function name. In
the macro body, the backslash escapes described above are expanded.
Backslash will quote any other character in the macro text, including ‘"’ and ‘'’. For
example, the following binding will make ‘C-x \’ insert a single ‘\’ into the line:

"\C-x\\": "\\"

Next: Sample Init File, Previous: Readline Init File Syntax, Up: Readline Init File [Contents][Index]

8.3.2 Conditional Init Constructs

Readline implements a facility similar in spirit to the conditional compilation features of

the C preprocessor which allows key bindings and variable settings to be performed as
the result of tests. There are four parser directives used.

$if

The $if construct allows bindings to be made based on the editing mode, the
terminal being used, or the application using Readline. The text of the test, after
any comparison operator, extends to the end of the line; unless otherwise noted,
no characters are required to isolate it.

mode

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

term

The term= form may be used to include terminal-specific key bindings,

perhaps to bind the key sequences output by the terminal’s function keys.
The word on the right side of the ‘=’ is tested against both the full name of the
terminal and the portion of the terminal name before the first ‘-’. This allows
sun to match both sun and sun-cmd, for instance.

version

The version test may be used to perform comparisons against specific

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

$if version >= 7.0

set show-mode-in-prompt on
$endif

application

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

Each program using the Readline library sets the application name, and you
can test for a particular value. This could be used to bind key sequences to
functions useful for a specific program. For instance, the following command
adds a key sequence that quotes the current or previous word in Bash:

$if Bash
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
$endif

variable

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

$if editing-mode == emacs

set show-mode-in-prompt on
$endif

$endif

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This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an $if command.

$else

Commands in this branch of the $if directive are executed if the test fails.

$include

This directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads commands and
bindings from that file. For example, the following directive reads from /etc/
inputrc:

$include /etc/inputrc

Previous: Conditional Init Constructs, Up: Readline Init File [Contents][Index]

8.3.3 Sample Init File

Here is an example of an inputrc file. This illustrates key binding, variable assignment,
and conditional syntax.

# This file controls the behaviour of line input editing for

# programs that use the GNU Readline library. Existing
# programs include FTP, Bash, and GDB.
#
# You can re-read the inputrc file with C-x C-r.
# Lines beginning with '#' are comments.
#
# First, include any system-wide bindings and variable
# assignments from /etc/Inputrc
$include /etc/Inputrc

#
# Set various bindings for emacs mode.

set editing-mode emacs

$if mode=emacs

Meta-Control-h: backward-kill-word Text after the function name is ignored

#
# Arrow keys in keypad mode
#
#"\M-OD": backward-char
#"\M-OC": forward-char

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#"\M-OA": previous-history
#"\M-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in ANSI mode
#
"\M-[D": backward-char
"\M-[C": forward-char
"\M-[A": previous-history
"\M-[B": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit keypad mode
#
#"\M-\C-OD": backward-char
#"\M-\C-OC": forward-char
#"\M-\C-OA": previous-history
#"\M-\C-OB": next-history
#
# Arrow keys in 8 bit ANSI mode
#
#"\M-\C-[D": backward-char
#"\M-\C-[C": forward-char
#"\M-\C-[A": previous-history
#"\M-\C-[B": next-history

C-q: quoted-insert

$endif

# An old-style binding. This happens to be the default.

TAB: complete

# Macros that are convenient for shell interaction

$if Bash
# edit the path
"\C-xp": "PATH=${PATH}\e\C-e\C-a\ef\C-f"
# prepare to type a quoted word --
# insert open and close double quotes
# and move to just after the open quote
"\C-x\"": "\"\"\C-b"
# insert a backslash (testing backslash escapes
# in sequences and macros)
"\C-x\\": "\\"
# Quote the current or previous word
"\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
# Add a binding to refresh the line, which is unbound
"\C-xr": redraw-current-line
# Edit variable on current line.
"\M-\C-v": "\C-a\C-k$\C-y\M-\C-e\C-a\C-y="
$endif

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# use a visible bell if one is available

set bell-style visible

# don't strip characters to 7 bits when reading

set input-meta on

# allow iso-latin1 characters to be inserted rather

# than converted to prefix-meta sequences
set convert-meta off

# display characters with the eighth bit set directly

# rather than as meta-prefixed characters
set output-meta on

# if there are 150 or more possible completions for a word,

# ask whether or not the user wants to see all of them
set completion-query-items 150

# For FTP
$if Ftp
"\C-xg": "get \M-?"
"\C-xt": "put \M-?"
"\M-.": yank-last-arg
$endif

Next: Readline vi Mode, Previous: Readline Init File, Up: Command Line Editing [Contents][Index]

8.4 Bindable Readline Commands

This section describes Readline commands that may be bound to key sequences. You
can list your key bindings by executing bind -P or, for a more terse format, suitable for
an inputrc file, bind -p. (See Bash Builtin Commands.) 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

▪ Commands For Manipulating The History

▪ Commands For Changing Text

▪ Killing And Yanking

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▪ Specifying Numeric Arguments

▪ Letting Readline Type For You

▪ Keyboard Macros

▪ Some Miscellaneous Commands

Next: Commands For Manipulating The History, Up: Bindable Readline Commands [Contents]

[Index]

8.4.1 Commands For Moving

beginning-of-line (C-a)

Move to the start of the current line.

end-of-line (C-e)

Move to the end of the line.

forward-char (C-f)

Move forward a character.

backward-char (C-b)

Move back a character.

forward-word (M-f)

Move forward to the end of the next word. Words are composed of letters and
digits.

backward-word (M-b)

Move back to the start of the current or previous word. Words are composed of
letters and digits.

shell-forward-word (M-C-f)

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

shell-backward-word (M-C-b)

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

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previous-screen-line ()

Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the previous
physical screen line. This will not have the desired effect if the current Readline
line does not take up more than one physical line or if point is not greater than the
length of the prompt plus the screen width.

next-screen-line ()

Attempt to move point to the same physical screen column on the next physical
screen line. This will not have the desired effect if the current Readline line does
not take up more than one physical line or if the length of the current Readline line
is not greater than the length of the prompt plus the screen width.

clear-display (M-C-l)

Clear the screen and, if possible, the terminal’s scrollback buffer, then redraw the
current line, leaving the current line at the top of the screen.

clear-screen (C-l)

Clear the screen, then redraw the current line, leaving the current line at the top of
the screen.

redraw-current-line ()

Refresh the current line. By default, this is unbound.

Next: Commands For Changing Text, Previous: Commands For Moving, Up: Bindable Readline

Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.2 Commands For Manipulating The History

accept-line (Newline or Return)

Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is. If this line is non-empty, add it to
the history list according to the setting of the HISTCONTROL and HISTIGNORE
variables. If this line is a modified history line, then restore the history line to its
original state.

previous-history (C-p)

Move ‘back’ through the history list, fetching the previous command.

next-history (C-n)

Move ‘forward’ through the history list, fetching the next command.

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beginning-of-history (M-<)

Move to the first line in the history.

end-of-history (M->)

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

reverse-search-history (C-r)

Search backward starting at the current line and moving ‘up’ through the history as
necessary. This is an incremental search. This command sets the region to the
matched text and activates the mark.

forward-search-history (C-s)

Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ through the history
as necessary. This is an incremental search. This command sets the region to the
matched text and activates the mark.

non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)

Search backward starting at the current line and moving ‘up’ through the history as
necessary using a non-incremental search for a string supplied by the user. The
search string may match anywhere in a history line.

non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)

Search forward starting at the current line and moving ‘down’ through the history
as necessary using a non-incremental search for a string supplied by the user.
The search string may match anywhere in a history line.

history-search-forward ()

Search forward through the history for the string of characters between the start of
the current line and the point. The search string must match at the beginning of a
history line. This is a non-incremental search. By default, this command is
unbound.

history-search-backward ()

Search backward through the history for the string of characters between the start
of the current line and the point. The search string must match at the beginning of
a history line. This is a non-incremental search. By default, this command is
unbound.

history-substring-search-forward ()

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Search forward through the history for the string of characters between the start of
the current line and the point. The search string may match anywhere in a history
line. This is a non-incremental search. By default, this command is unbound.

history-substring-search-backward ()

Search backward through the history for the string of characters between the start
of the current line and the point. The search string may match anywhere in a
history line. This is a non-incremental search. By default, this command is
unbound.

yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)

Insert the first argument to the previous command (usually the second word on the
previous line) at point. With an argument n, insert the nth word from the previous
command (the words in the previous command begin with word 0). A negative
argument inserts the nth word from the end of the previous command. Once the
argument n is computed, the argument is extracted as if the ‘!n’ history expansion
had been specified.

yank-last-arg (M-. or M-_)

Insert last argument to the previous command (the last word of the previous
history entry). With a numeric argument, behave exactly like yank-nth-arg.
Successive calls to yank-last-arg move back through the history list, inserting the
last word (or the word specified by the argument to the first call) of each line in
turn. Any numeric argument supplied to these successive calls determines the
direction to move through the history. A negative argument switches the direction
through the history (back or forward). The history expansion facilities are used to
extract the last argument, as if the ‘!$’ history expansion had been specified.

operate-and-get-next (C-o)

Accept the current line for return to the calling application as if a newline had been
entered, and fetch the next line relative to the current line from the history for
editing. A numeric argument, if supplied, specifies the history entry to use instead
of the current line.

fetch-history ()

With a numeric argument, fetch that entry from the history list and make it the
current line. Without an argument, move back to the first entry in the history list.

Next: Killing And Yanking, Previous: Commands For Manipulating The History, Up: Bindable

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Readline Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.3 Commands For Changing Text

end-of-file (usually C-d)

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

delete-char (C-d)

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

backward-delete-char (Rubout)

Delete the character behind the cursor. A numeric argument means to kill the
characters instead of deleting them.

forward-backward-delete-char ()

Delete the character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at the end of the line, in
which case the character behind the cursor is deleted. By default, this is not bound
to a key.

quoted-insert (C-q or C-v)

Add the next character typed to the line verbatim. This is how to insert key
sequences like C-q, for example.

self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, …)

Insert yourself.

bracketed-paste-begin ()

This function is intended to be bound to the "bracketed paste" escape sequence

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

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

transpose-chars (C-t)

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Drag the character before the cursor forward over the character at the cursor,
moving the cursor forward as well. If the insertion point is at the end of the line,
then this transposes the last two characters of the line. Negative arguments have
no effect.

transpose-words (M-t)

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

upcase-word (M-u)

Uppercase the current (or following) word. With a negative argument, uppercase
the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

downcase-word (M-l)

Lowercase the current (or following) word. With a negative argument, lowercase
the previous word, but do not move the cursor.

capitalize-word (M-c)

Capitalize the current (or following) word. With a negative argument, capitalize the
previous word, but do not move the cursor.

overwrite-mode ()

Toggle overwrite mode. With an explicit positive numeric argument, switches to

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

In overwrite mode, characters bound to self-insert replace the text at point

rather than pushing the text to the right. Characters bound to backward-delete-
char replace the character before point with a space.

By default, this command is unbound.

Next: Specifying Numeric Arguments, Previous: Commands For Changing Text, Up: Bindable

Readline Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.4 Killing And Yanking

kill-line (C-k)

Kill the text from point to the end of the line. With a negative numeric argument, kill

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backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)

Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line. With a negative
numeric argument, kill forward from the cursor to the end of the current line.

unix-line-discard (C-u)

Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

kill-whole-line ()

Kill all characters on the current line, no matter where point is. By default, this is
unbound.

kill-word (M-d)

Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between words, to the end of the
next word. Word boundaries are the same as forward-word.

backward-kill-word (M-DEL)

Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as backward-word.

shell-kill-word (M-C-d)

Kill from point to the end of the current word, or if between words, to the end of the
next word. Word boundaries are the same as shell-forward-word.

shell-backward-kill-word ()

Kill the word behind point. Word boundaries are the same as shell-backward-
word.

shell-transpose-words (M-C-t)

Drag the word before point past the word after point, moving point past that word
as well. If the insertion point is at the end of the line, this transposes the last two
words on the line. Word boundaries are the same as shell-forward-word and
shell-backward-word.

unix-word-rubout (C-w)

Kill the word behind point, using white space as a word boundary. The killed text is
saved on the kill-ring.

unix-filename-rubout ()

Kill the word behind point, using white space and the slash character as the word

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boundaries. The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.

delete-horizontal-space ()

Delete all spaces and tabs around point. By default, this is unbound.

kill-region ()

Kill the text in the current region. By default, this command is unbound.

copy-region-as-kill ()

Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer, so it can be yanked right away. By
default, this command is unbound.

copy-backward-word ()

Copy the word before point to the kill buffer. The word boundaries are the same as
backward-word. By default, this command is unbound.

copy-forward-word ()

Copy the word following point to the kill buffer. The word boundaries are the same
as forward-word. By default, this command is unbound.

yank (C-y)

Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.

yank-pop (M-y)

Rotate the kill-ring, and yank the new top. You can only do this if the prior
command is yank or yank-pop.

Next: Letting Readline Type For You, Previous: Killing And Yanking, Up: Bindable Readline

Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.5 Specifying Numeric Arguments

digit-argument (M-0, M-1, … M--)

Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start a new argument. M--
starts a negative argument.

universal-argument ()

This is another way to specify an argument. If this command is followed by one or

more digits, optionally with a leading minus sign, those digits define the argument.

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If the command is followed by digits, executing universal-argument again ends

the numeric argument, but is otherwise ignored. As a special case, if this
command is immediately followed by a character that is neither a digit nor minus
sign, the argument count for the next command is multiplied by four. The
argument count is initially one, so executing this function the first time makes the
argument count four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen, and so on.
By default, this is not bound to a key.

Next: Keyboard Macros, Previous: Specifying Numeric Arguments, Up: Bindable Readline

Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.6 Letting Readline Type For You

complete (TAB)

Attempt to perform completion on the text before point. The actual completion
performed is application-specific. Bash attempts completion treating the text as a
variable (if the text begins with ‘$’), username (if the text begins with ‘~’), hostname
(if the text begins with ‘@’), or command (including aliases and functions) in turn. If
none of these produces a match, filename completion is attempted.

possible-completions (M-?)

List the possible completions of the text before point. When displaying
completions, Readline sets the number of columns used for display to the value of
completion-display-width, the value of the environment variable COLUMNS, or the
screen width, in that order.

insert-completions (M-*)

Insert all completions of the text before point that would have been generated by
possible-completions.

menu-complete ()

Similar to complete, but replaces the word to be completed with a single match
from the list of possible completions. Repeated execution of menu-complete steps
through the list of possible completions, inserting each match in turn. At the end of
the list of completions, the bell is rung (subject to the setting of bell-style) and
the original text is restored. An argument of n moves n positions forward in the list
of matches; a negative argument may be used to move backward through the list.
This command is intended to be bound to TAB, but is unbound by default.

menu-complete-backward ()

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Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the list of possible

completions, as if menu-complete had been given a negative argument.

delete-char-or-list ()

Deletes the character under the cursor if not at the beginning or end of the line
(like delete-char). If at the end of the line, behaves identically to possible-
completions. This command is unbound by default.

complete-filename (M-/)

Attempt filename completion on the text before point.

possible-filename-completions (C-x /)

List the possible completions of the text before point, treating it as a filename.

complete-username (M-~)

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

possible-username-completions (C-x ~)

List the possible completions of the text before point, treating it as a username.

complete-variable (M-$)

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

possible-variable-completions (C-x $)

List the possible completions of the text before point, treating it as a shell variable.

complete-hostname (M-@)

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

possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)

List the possible completions of the text before point, treating it as a hostname.

complete-command (M-!)

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

Command completion attempts to match the text against aliases, reserved words,
shell functions, shell builtins, and finally executable filenames, in that order.

possible-command-completions (C-x !)

List the possible completions of the text before point, treating it as a command
name.

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dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)

Attempt completion on the text before point, comparing the text against lines from
the history list for possible completion matches.

dabbrev-expand ()

Attempt menu completion on the text before point, comparing the text against lines
from the history list for possible completion matches.

complete-into-braces (M-{)

Perform filename completion and insert the list of possible completions enclosed
within braces so the list is available to the shell (see Brace Expansion).

Next: Some Miscellaneous Commands, Previous: Letting Readline Type For You, Up: Bindable

Readline Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.7 Keyboard Macros

start-kbd-macro (C-x ()

Begin saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro.

end-kbd-macro (C-x ))

Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro and save the
definition.

call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)

Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the characters in the
macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

print-last-kbd-macro ()

Print the last keyboard macro defined in a format suitable for the inputrc file.

Previous: Keyboard Macros, Up: Bindable Readline Commands [Contents][Index]

8.4.8 Some Miscellaneous Commands

re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)

Read in the contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any bindings or variable
assignments found there.

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abort (C-g)

Abort the current editing command and ring the terminal’s bell (subject to the
setting of bell-style).

do-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-x, …)

If the metafied character x is upper case, run the command that is bound to the
corresponding metafied lower case character. The behavior is undefined if x is
already lower case.

prefix-meta (ESC)

Metafy the next character typed. This is for keyboards without a meta key. Typing
‘ESC f’ is equivalent to typing M-f.

undo (C-_ or C-x C-u)

Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.

revert-line (M-r)

Undo all changes made to this line. This is like executing the undo command
enough times to get back to the beginning.

tilde-expand (M-&)

Perform tilde expansion on the current word.

set-mark (C-@)

Set the mark to the point. If a numeric argument is supplied, the mark is set to that
position.

exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)

Swap the point with the mark. The current cursor position is set to the saved
position, and the old cursor position is saved as the mark.

character-search (C-])

A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of that character. A
negative argument searches for previous occurrences.

character-search-backward (M-C-])

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

character. A negative argument searches for subsequent occurrences.

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skip-csi-sequence ()

Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence such as those defined

for keys like Home and End. Such sequences begin with a Control Sequence
Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[. If this sequence is bound to "\e[", keys producing
such sequences will have no effect unless explicitly bound to a Readline
command, instead of inserting stray characters into the editing buffer. This is
unbound by default, but usually bound to ESC-[.

insert-comment (M-#)

Without a numeric argument, the value of the comment-begin variable is inserted at

the beginning of the current line. If a numeric argument is supplied, this command
acts as a toggle: if the characters at the beginning of the line do not match the
value of comment-begin, the value is inserted, otherwise the characters in comment-
begin are deleted from the beginning of the line. In either case, the line is
accepted as if a newline had been typed. The default value of comment-begin
causes this command to make the current line a shell comment. If a numeric
argument causes the comment character to be removed, the line will be executed
by the shell.

dump-functions ()

Print all of the functions and their key bindings to the Readline output stream. If a
numeric argument is supplied, the output is formatted in such a way that it can be
made part of an inputrc file. This command is unbound by default.

dump-variables ()

Print all of the settable variables and their values to the Readline output stream. If
a numeric argument is supplied, the output is formatted in such a way that it can
be made part of an inputrc file. This command is unbound by default.

dump-macros ()

Print all of the Readline key sequences bound to macros and the strings they
output. If a numeric argument is supplied, the output is formatted in such a way
that it can be made part of an inputrc file. This command is unbound by default.

spell-correct-word (C-x s)

Perform spelling correction on the current word, treating it as a directory or

filename, in the same way as the cdspell shell option. Word boundaries are the
same as those used by shell-forward-word.

glob-complete-word (M-g)

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The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname expansion, with an
asterisk implicitly appended. This pattern is used to generate a list of matching file
names for possible completions.

glob-expand-word (C-x *)

The word before point is treated as a pattern for pathname expansion, and the list
of matching file names is inserted, replacing the word. If a numeric argument is
supplied, a ‘*’ is appended before pathname expansion.

glob-list-expansions (C-x g)

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

displayed, and the line is redrawn. If a numeric argument is supplied, a ‘*’ is
appended before pathname expansion.

display-shell-version (C-x C-v)

Display version information about the current instance of Bash.

shell-expand-line (M-C-e)

Expand the line as the shell does. This performs alias and history expansion as
well as all of the shell word expansions (see Shell Expansions).

history-expand-line (M-^)

Perform history expansion on the current line.

magic-space ()

Perform history expansion on the current line and insert a space (see History
Expansion).

alias-expand-line ()

Perform alias expansion on the current line (see Aliases).

history-and-alias-expand-line ()

Perform history and alias expansion on the current line.

insert-last-argument (M-. or M-_)

A synonym for yank-last-arg.

edit-and-execute-command (C-x C-e)

Invoke an editor on the current command line, and execute the result as shell

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commands. Bash attempts to invoke $VISUAL, $EDITOR, and emacs as the editor, in
that order.

Next: Programmable Completion, Previous: Bindable Readline Commands, Up: Command Line

Editing [Contents][Index]

8.5 Readline vi Mode

While the Readline library does not have a full set of vi editing functions, it does
contain enough to allow simple editing of the line. The Readline vi mode behaves as
specified in the POSIX standard.

In order to switch interactively between emacs and vi editing modes, use the ‘set -o
emacs’ and ‘set -o vi’ commands (see The Set Builtin). The Readline default is emacs
mode.

When you enter a line in vi mode, you are already placed in ‘insertion’ mode, as if you
had typed an ‘i’. Pressing ESC switches you into ‘command’ mode, where you can edit
the text of the line with the standard vi movement keys, move to previous history lines
with ‘k’ and subsequent lines with ‘j’, and so forth.

Next: Programmable Completion Builtins, Previous: Readline vi Mode, Up: Command Line Editing

[Contents][Index]

8.6 Programmable Completion

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

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

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as a final resort, and attempts to find a compspec for the command word from any
successful expansion

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

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

Any completions specified by a filename expansion pattern to the -G option are

generated next. The words generated by the pattern need not match the word being
completed. The GLOBIGNORE shell variable is not used to filter the matches, but the
FIGNORE shell variable is used.

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

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

Any function specified with -F is invoked first. The function may use any of the shell
facilities, including the compgen and compopt builtins described below (see

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Programmable Completion Builtins), to generate the matches. It must put the possible
completions in the COMPREPLY array variable, one per array element.

Next, any command specified with the -C option is invoked in an environment

equivalent to command substitution. It should print a list of completions, one per line, to
the standard output. Backslash may be used to escape a newline, if necessary.

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

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

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

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

By default, if a compspec is found, whatever it generates is returned to the completion

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

When a compspec indicates that directory name completion is desired, the

programmable completion functions force Readline to append a slash to completed
names which are symbolic links to directories, subject to the value of the mark-
directories Readline variable, regardless of the setting of the mark-symlinked-
directories Readline variable.

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

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

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

Next: A Programmable Completion Example, Previous: Programmable Completion, Up: Command

Line Editing [Contents][Index]

8.7 Programmable Completion Builtins

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

compgen

compgen [option] [word]

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

The matches will be generated in the same way as if the programmable

completion code had generated them directly from a completion specification with

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the same flags. If word is specified, only those completions matching word will be
displayed.

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

complete

complete [-abcdefgjksuv] [-o comp-option] [-DEI] [-A action] [-G globpat

[-W wordlist] [-F function] [-C command] [-X filterpat]
[-P prefix] [-S suffix] name [name …]
complete -pr [-DEI] [name …]

Specify how arguments to each name should be completed. If the -p option is

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

The process of applying these completion specifications when word completion is

attempted is described above (see Programmable Completion).

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

-o comp-option

The comp-option controls several aspects of the compspec’s behavior

beyond the simple generation of completions. comp-option may be one of:

bashdefault

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Perform the rest of the default Bash completions if the compspec

generates no matches.

default

Use Readline’s default filename completion if the compspec generates

no matches.

dirnames

Perform directory name completion if the compspec generates no

matches.

filenames

Tell Readline that the compspec generates filenames, so it can perform

any filename-specific processing (like adding a slash to directory names,
quoting special characters, or suppressing trailing spaces). This option is
intended to be used with shell functions specified with -F.

noquote

Tell Readline not to quote the completed words if they are filenames
(quoting filenames is the default).

nosort

Tell Readline not to sort the list of possible completions alphabetically.

nospace

Tell Readline not to append a space (the default) to words completed at

the end of the line.

plusdirs

After any matches defined by the compspec are generated, directory

name completion is attempted and any matches are added to the results
of the other actions.

-A action

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

completions:

alias

Alias names. May also be specified as -a.

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arrayvar

Array variable names.

binding

Readline key binding names (see Bindable Readline Commands).

builtin

Names of shell builtin commands. May also be specified as -b.

command

Command names. May also be specified as -c.

directory

Directory names. May also be specified as -d.

disabled

Names of disabled shell builtins.

enabled

Names of enabled shell builtins.

export

Names of exported shell variables. May also be specified as -e.

file

File names. May also be specified as -f.

function

Names of shell functions.

group

Group names. May also be specified as -g.

helptopic

Help topics as accepted by the help builtin (see Bash Builtin

Commands).

hostname

Hostnames, as taken from the file specified by the HOSTFILE shell

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variable (see Bash Variables).

job

Job names, if job control is active. May also be specified as -j.

keyword

Shell reserved words. May also be specified as -k.

running

Names of running jobs, if job control is active.

service

Service names. May also be specified as -s.

setopt

Valid arguments for the -o option to the set builtin (see The Set Builtin).

shopt

Shell option names as accepted by the shopt builtin (see Bash Builtin
Commands).

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. Arguments are passed as with the -F option.

-F function

The shell function function is executed in the current shell environment.

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When it is executed, $1 is the name of the command whose arguments are

being completed, $2 is the word being completed, and $3 is the word
preceding the word being completed, as described above (see
Programmable Completion). When it finishes, the possible completions are
retrieved from the value of the COMPREPLY array variable.

-G globpat

The filename expansion pattern globpat is expanded to generate the possible

completions.

-P prefix

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

-S suffix

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

-W wordlist

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

-X filterpat

filterpat is a pattern as used for filename expansion. It is applied to the list of

possible completions generated by the preceding options and arguments,
and each completion matching filterpat is removed from the list. A leading ‘!’
in filterpat negates the pattern; in this case, any completion not matching
filterpat is removed.

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

compopt

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

Modify completion options for each name according to the options, or for the

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currently-executing completion if no names are supplied. If no options are given,

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

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

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

Previous: Programmable Completion Builtins, Up: Command Line Editing [Contents][Index]

8.8 A Programmable Completion Example

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

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

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

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

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when the function returns.

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# A completion function for the cd builtin

# based on the cd completion function from the bash_completion package
_comp_cd()
{
local IFS=$' \t\n' # normalize IFS
local cur _skipdot _cdpath
local i j k

# Tilde expansion, which also expands tilde to full pathname

case "$2" in
\~*) eval cur="$2" ;;
*) cur=$2 ;;
esac

# no cdpath or absolute pathname -- straight directory completion

if [[ -z "${CDPATH:-}" ]] || [[ "$cur" == @(./*|../*|/*) ]]; then
# compgen prints paths one per line; could also use while loop
IFS=$'\n'
COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -d -- "$cur") )
IFS=$' \t\n'
# CDPATH+directories in the current directory if not in CDPATH
else
IFS=$'\n'
_skipdot=false
# preprocess CDPATH to convert null directory names to .
_cdpath=${CDPATH/#:/.:}
_cdpath=${_cdpath//::/:.:}
_cdpath=${_cdpath/%:/:.}
for i in ${_cdpath//:/$'\n'}; do
if [[ $i -ef . ]]; then _skipdot=true; fi
k="${#COMPREPLY[@]}"
for j in $( compgen -d -- "$i/$cur" ); do
COMPREPLY[k++]=${j#$i/} # cut off directory
done
done
$_skipdot || COMPREPLY+=( $(compgen -d -- "$cur") )
IFS=$' \t\n'
fi

# variable names if appropriate shell option set and no completions

if shopt -q cdable_vars && [[ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -v -- "$cur") )
fi

return 0
}

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

# Tell readline to quote appropriate and append slashes to directories;

# use the bash default completion for other arguments
complete -o filenames -o nospace -o bashdefault -F _comp_cd cd

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

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

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

An older version of the bash_completion package is distributed with bash in the

examples/complete subdirectory.

Next: Installing Bash, Previous: Command Line Editing, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

9 Using History Interactively

This chapter describes how to use the GNU History Library interactively, from a user’s
standpoint. It should be considered a user’s guide. For information on using the GNU
History Library in other programs, see the GNU Readline Library Manual.

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▪ Bash History Facilities

▪ Bash History Builtins

▪ History Expansion

Next: Bash History Builtins, Up: Using History Interactively [Contents][Index]

9.1 Bash History Facilities

When the -o history option to the set builtin is enabled (see The Set Builtin), the shell
provides access to the command history, the list of commands previously typed. The
value of the HISTSIZE shell variable is used as the number of commands to save in a
history list. The text of the last $HISTSIZE commands (default 500) is saved. The shell
stores each command in the history list prior to parameter and variable expansion but
after history expansion is performed, subject to the values of the shell variables
HISTIGNORE and HISTCONTROL.

When the shell starts up, the history is initialized from the file named by the HISTFILE
variable (default ~/.bash_history). The file named by the value of HISTFILE is
truncated, if necessary, to contain no more than the number of lines specified by the
value of the HISTFILESIZE variable. When a shell with history enabled exits, the last
$HISTSIZE lines are copied from the history list to the file named by $HISTFILE. If the
histappend shell option is set (see Bash Builtin Commands), the lines are appended to
the history file, otherwise the history file is overwritten. If HISTFILE is unset, or if the
history file is unwritable, the history is not saved. After saving the history, the history file
is truncated to contain no more than $HISTFILESIZE lines. If HISTFILESIZE is unset, or
set to null, a non-numeric value, or a numeric value less than zero, the history file is not
truncated.

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

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

The shell allows control over which commands are saved on the history list. The

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HISTCONTROL and HISTIGNORE variables may be set to cause the shell to save only a
subset of the commands entered. The cmdhist shell option, if enabled, causes the shell
to attempt to save each line of a multi-line command in the same history entry, adding
semicolons where necessary to preserve syntactic correctness. The lithist shell
option causes the shell to save the command with embedded newlines instead of
semicolons. The shopt builtin is used to set these options. See The Shopt Builtin, for a
description of shopt.

Next: History Expansion, Previous: Bash History Facilities, Up: Using History Interactively

[Contents][Index]

9.2 Bash History Builtins

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

fc

fc [-e ename] [-lnr] [first] [last]

fc -s [pat=rep] [command]

The first form selects a range of commands from first to last from the history list
and displays or edits and re-executes them. Both first and last may be specified as
a string (to locate the most recent command beginning with that string) or as a
number (an index into the history list, where a negative number is used as an
offset from the current command number).

When listing, a first or last of 0 is equivalent to -1 and -0 is equivalent to the

current command (usually the fc command); otherwise 0 is equivalent to -1 and -0
is invalid.

If last is not specified, it is set to first. If first is not specified, it is set to the previous
command for editing and -16 for listing. If the -l flag is given, the commands are
listed on standard output. The -n flag suppresses the command numbers when
listing. The -r flag reverses the order of the listing. Otherwise, the editor given by
ename is invoked on a file containing those commands. If ename is not given, the
value of the following variable expansion is used: ${FCEDIT:-${EDITOR:-vi}}. This
says to use the value of the FCEDIT variable if set, or the value of the EDITOR
variable if that is set, or vi if neither is set. When editing is complete, the edited
commands are echoed and executed.

In the second form, command is re-executed after each instance of pat in the
selected command is replaced by rep. command is interpreted the same as first

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above.

A useful alias to use with the fc command is r='fc -s', so that typing ‘r cc’ runs
the last command beginning with cc and typing ‘r’ re-executes the last command
(see Aliases).

history

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

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

Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

-c

Clear the history list. This may be combined with the other options to replace
the history list completely.

-d offset

Delete the history entry at position offset. If offset is positive, it should be

specified as it appears when the history is displayed. If offset is negative, it is
interpreted as relative to one greater than the last history position, so
negative indices count back from the end of the history, and an index of ‘-1’
refers to the current history -d command.

-d start-end

Delete the range of history entries between positions start and end, inclusive.
Positive and negative values for start and end are interpreted as described
above.

-a

Append the new history lines to the history file. These are history lines
entered since the beginning of the current Bash session, but not already

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appended to the history file.

-n

Append the history lines not already read from the history file to the current
history list. These are lines appended to the history file since the beginning of
the current Bash session.

-r

Read the history file and append its contents to the history list.

-w

Write out the current history list to the history file.

-p

Perform history substitution on the args and display the result on the
standard output, without storing the results in the history list.

-s

The args are added to the end of the history list as a single entry.

If a filename argument is supplied when any of the -w, -r, -a, or -n options is
used, Bash uses filename as the history file. If not, then the value of the HISTFILE
variable is used.

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

Previous: Bash History Builtins, Up: Using History Interactively [Contents][Index]

9.3 History Expansion

The History library provides a history expansion feature that is similar to the history
expansion provided by csh. This section describes the syntax used to manipulate the
history information.

History expansions introduce words from the history list into the input stream, making it
easy to repeat commands, insert the arguments to a previous command into the current
input line, or fix errors in previous commands quickly.

History expansion is performed immediately after a complete line is read, before the

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shell breaks it into words, and is performed on each line individually. Bash attempts to
inform the history expansion functions about quoting still in effect from previous lines.

History expansion takes place in two parts. The first is to determine which line from the
history list should be used during substitution. The second is to select portions of that
line for inclusion into the current one. The line selected from the history is called the
event, and the portions of that line that are acted upon are called words. Various
modifiers are available to manipulate the selected words. The line is broken into words
in the same fashion that Bash does, so that several words surrounded by quotes are
considered one word. History expansions are introduced by the appearance of the
history expansion character, which is ‘!’ by default.

History expansion implements shell-like quoting conventions: a backslash can be used

to remove the special handling for the next character; single quotes enclose verbatim
sequences of characters, and can be used to inhibit history expansion; and characters
enclosed within double quotes may be subject to history expansion, since backslash
can escape the history expansion character, but single quotes may not, since they are
not treated specially within double quotes.

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

Several shell options settable with the shopt builtin (see The Shopt Builtin) may be used
to tailor the behavior of history expansion. If the histverify shell option is enabled, and
Readline is being used, history substitutions are not immediately passed to the shell
parser. Instead, the expanded line is reloaded into the Readline editing buffer for further
modification. If Readline is being used, and the histreedit shell option is enabled, a
failed history expansion will be reloaded into the Readline editing buffer for correction.
The -p option to the history builtin command may be used to see what a history
expansion will do before using it. The -s option to the history builtin may be used to
add commands to the end of the history list without actually executing them, so that
they are available for subsequent recall. This is most useful in conjunction with
Readline.

The shell allows control of the various characters used by the history expansion
mechanism with the histchars variable, as explained above (see Bash Variables). The
shell uses the history comment character to mark history timestamps when writing the
history file.

▪ Event Designators

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▪ Word Designators

▪ Modifiers

Next: Word Designators, Up: History Expansion [Contents][Index]

9.3.1 Event Designators

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

Start a history substitution, except when followed by a space, tab, the end of the
line, ‘=’ or ‘(’ (when the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin).

!n

Refer to command line n.

!-n

Refer to the command n lines back.

!!

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

!string

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

!?string[?]

Refer to the most recent command preceding the current position in the history list
containing string. The trailing ‘?’ may be omitted if the string is followed
immediately by a newline. If string is missing, the string from the most recent
search is used; it is an error if there is no previous search string.

^string1^string2^

Quick Substitution. Repeat the last command, replacing string1 with string2.
Equivalent to !!:s^string1^string2^.

!#

The entire command line typed so far.

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Next: Modifiers, Previous: Event Designators, Up: History Expansion [Contents][Index]

9.3.2 Word Designators

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

For example,

!!

designates the preceding command. When you type this, the preceding command
is repeated in toto.

!!:$

designates the last argument of the preceding command. This may be shortened
to !$.

!fi:2

designates the second argument of the most recent command starting with the
letters fi.

Here are the word designators:

0 (zero)

The 0th word. For many applications, this is the command word.

The nth word.

The first argument; that is, word 1.

The last argument.

The first word matched by the most recent ‘?string?’ search, if the search string

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begins with a character that is part of a word.

x-y

A range of words; ‘-y’ abbreviates ‘0-y’.

All of the words, except the 0th. This is a synonym for ‘1-$’. It is not an error to use
‘*’ if there is just one word in the event; the empty string is returned in that case.

x*

Abbreviates ‘x-$’

x-

Abbreviates ‘x-$’ like ‘x*’, but omits the last word. If ‘x’ is missing, it defaults to 0.

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

used as the event.

Previous: Word Designators, Up: History Expansion [Contents][Index]

9.3.3 Modifiers

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

Remove a trailing pathname component, leaving only the head.

Remove all leading pathname components, leaving the tail.

Remove a trailing suffix of the form ‘.suffix’, leaving the basename.

Remove all but the trailing suffix.

Print the new command but do not execute it.

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Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions.

Quote the substituted words as with ‘q’, but break into words at spaces, tabs, and
newlines. The ‘q’ and ‘x’ modifiers are mutually exclusive; the last one supplied is
used.

s/old/new/

Substitute new for the first occurrence of old in the event line. Any character may
be used as the delimiter in place of ‘/’. The delimiter may be quoted in old and
new with a single backslash. If ‘&’ appears in new, it is replaced by old. A single
backslash will quote the ‘&’. If old is null, it is set to the last old substituted, or, if no
previous history substitutions took place, the last string in a !?string[?] search. If
new is null, each matching old is deleted. The final delimiter is optional if it is the
last character on the input line.

&

Repeat the previous substitution.

Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line. Used in conjunction with
‘s’, as in gs/old/new/, or with ‘&’.

Apply the following ‘s’ or ‘&’ modifier once to each word in the event.

Next: Reporting Bugs, Previous: Using History Interactively, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

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

▪ Basic Installation

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▪ Compilers and Options

▪ Compiling For Multiple Architectures

▪ Installation Names

▪ Specifying the System Type

▪ Sharing Defaults

▪ Operation Controls

▪ Optional Features

Next: Compilers and Options, Up: Installing Bash [Contents][Index]

10.1 Basic Installation

These are installation instructions for Bash.

The simplest way to compile Bash is:

1. cd to the directory containing the source code and type ‘./configure’ to

configure Bash for your system. If you’re using csh on an old version of System
V, you might need to type ‘sh ./configure’ instead to prevent csh from trying to
execute configure itself.

Running configure takes some time. While running, it prints messages telling
which features it is checking for.

2. Type ‘make’ to compile Bash and build the bashbug bug reporting script.

3. Optionally, type ‘make tests’ to run the Bash test suite.

4. Type ‘make install’ to install bash and bashbug. This will also install the manual
pages and Info file, message translation files, some supplemental
documentation, a number of example loadable builtin commands, and a set of
header files for developing loadable builtins. You may need additional privileges
to install bash to your desired destination, so ‘sudo make install’ might be
required. More information about controlling the locations where bash and other
files are installed is below (see Installation Names).

The configure shell script attempts to guess correct values for various system-
dependent variables used during compilation. It uses those values to create a Makefile
in each directory of the package (the top directory, the builtins, doc, po, and support

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directories, each directory under lib, and several others). It also creates a config.h file
containing system-dependent definitions. Finally, it creates a shell script named
config.status that you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a file
config.cache that saves the results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring, and a file
config.log containing compiler output (useful mainly for debugging configure). If at
some point config.cache contains results you don’t want to keep, you may remove or
edit it.

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

bash-4.2$ ./configure --help

at the Bash prompt in your Bash source directory.

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

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

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

If you need to do unusual things to compile Bash, please try to figure out how configure
could check whether or not to do them, and mail diffs or instructions to bash-
[email protected] so they can be considered for the next release.

The file configure.ac is used to create configure by a program called Autoconf. You
only need configure.ac if you want to change it or regenerate configure using a newer
version of Autoconf. If you do this, make sure you are using Autoconf version 2.69 or
newer.

You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source code directory by
typing ‘make clean’. To also remove the files that configure created (so you can compile
Bash for a different kind of computer), type ‘make distclean’.

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Next: Compiling For Multiple Architectures, Previous: Basic Installation, Up: Installing Bash

[Contents][Index]

10.2 Compilers and Options

Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that the configure
script does not know about. You can give configure initial values for variables by
setting them in the environment. Using a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on
the command line like this:

CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

On systems that have the env program, you can do it like this:

env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

The configuration process uses GCC to build Bash if it is available.

Next: Installation Names, Previous: Compilers and Options, Up: Installing Bash [Contents][Index]

10.3 Compiling For Multiple Architectures

You can compile Bash for more than one kind of computer at the same time, by placing
the object files for each architecture in their own directory. To do this, you must use a
version of make that supports the VPATH variable, such as GNU make. cd to the directory
where you want the object files and executables to go and run the configure script from
the source directory (see Basic Installation). You may need to supply the --srcdir=PATH
argument to tell configure where the source files are. configure automatically checks
for the source code in the directory that configure is in and in ‘..’.

If you have to use a make that does not support the VPATH variable, you can compile
Bash for one architecture at a time in the source code directory. After you have installed
Bash for one architecture, use ‘make distclean’ before reconfiguring for another
architecture.

Alternatively, if your system supports symbolic links, you can use the support/mkclone
script to create a build tree which has symbolic links back to each file in the source
directory. Here’s an example that creates a build directory in the current directory from a
source directory /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0:

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bash /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0/support/mkclone -s /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0 .

The mkclone script requires Bash, so you must have already built Bash for at least one
architecture before you can create build directories for other architectures.

Next: Specifying the System Type, Previous: Compiling For Multiple Architectures, Up: Installing

Bash [Contents][Index]

10.4 Installation Names

By default, ‘make install’ will install into /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/man, etc.; that is,
the installation prefix defaults to /usr/local. You can specify an installation prefix other
than /usr/local by giving configure the option --prefix=PATH, or by specifying a value
for the prefix ‘make’ variable when running ‘make install’ (e.g., ‘make install
prefix=PATH’).The prefix variable provides a default for exec_prefix and other
variables used when installing bash.

You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture-specific files and
architecture-independent files. If you give configure the option --exec-prefix=PATH,
‘make install’ will use PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

If you would like to change the installation locations for a single run, you can specify
these variables as arguments to make: ‘make install exec_prefix=/’ will install bash and
bashbug into /bin instead of the default /usr/local/bin.

If you want to see the files bash will install and where it will install them without
changing anything on your system, specify the variable DESTDIR as an argument to
make. Its value should be the absolute directory path you’d like to use as the root of your
sample installation tree. For example,

mkdir /fs1/bash-install
make install DESTDIR=/fs1/bash-install

will install bash into /fs1/bash-install/usr/local/bin/bash, the documentation into

directories within /fs1/bash-install/usr/local/share, the example loadable builtins
into /fs1/bash-install/usr/local/lib/bash, and so on. You can use the usual
exec_prefix and prefix variables to alter the directory paths beneath the value of
DESTDIR.

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The GNU Makefile standards provide a more complete description of these variables
and their effects.

Next: Sharing Defaults, Previous: Installation Names, Up: Installing Bash [Contents][Index]

10.5 Specifying the System Type

There may be some features configure can not figure out automatically, but needs to
determine by the type of host Bash will run on. Usually configure can figure that out,
but if it prints a message saying it can not guess the host type, give it the --host=TYPE
option. ‘TYPE’ can either be a short name for the system type, such as ‘sun4’, or a
canonical name with three fields: ‘CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM’ (e.g., ‘i386-unknown-
freebsd4.2’).

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

Next: Operation Controls, Previous: Specifying the System Type, Up: Installing Bash [Contents]

[Index]

10.6 Sharing Defaults

If you want to set default values for configure scripts to share, you can create a site
shell script called config.site that gives default values for variables like CC, cache_file,
and prefix. configure looks for PREFIX/share/config.site if it exists, then PREFIX/etc/
config.site if it exists. Or, you can set the CONFIG_SITE environment variable to the
location of the site script. A warning: the Bash configure looks for a site script, but not
all configure scripts do.

Next: Optional Features, Previous: Sharing Defaults, Up: Installing Bash [Contents][Index]

10.7 Operation Controls

configure recognizes the following options to control how it operates.

--cache-file=file

Use and save the results of the tests in file instead of ./config.cache. Set file to /
dev/null to disable caching, for debugging configure.

--help

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Print a summary of the options to configure, and exit.

--quiet

--silent

-q

Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.

--srcdir=dir

Look for the Bash source code in directory dir. Usually configure can determine
that directory automatically.

--version

Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the configure script, and exit.

configure also accepts some other, not widely used, boilerplate options. ‘configure --
help’ prints the complete list.

Previous: Operation Controls, Up: Installing Bash [Contents][Index]

10.8 Optional Features

The Bash configure has a number of --enable-feature options, where feature
indicates an optional part of Bash. There are also several --with-package options,
where package is something like ‘bash-malloc’ or ‘purify’. To turn off the default use of
a package, use --without-package. To configure Bash without a feature that is enabled
by default, use --disable-feature.

Here is a complete list of the --enable- and --with- options that the Bash configure
recognizes.

--with-afs

Define if you are using the Andrew File System from Transarc.

--with-bash-malloc

Use the Bash version of malloc in the directory lib/malloc. This is not the same
malloc that appears in GNU libc, but an older version originally derived from the
4.2 BSD malloc. This malloc is very fast, but wastes some space on each
allocation. This option is enabled by default. The NOTES file contains a list of
systems for which this should be turned off, and configure disables this option

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automatically for a number of systems.

--with-curses

Use the curses library instead of the termcap library. This should be supplied if
your system has an inadequate or incomplete termcap database.

--with-gnu-malloc

A synonym for --with-bash-malloc.

--with-installed-readline[=PREFIX]

Define this to make Bash link with a locally-installed version of Readline rather
than the version in lib/readline. This works only with Readline 5.0 and later
versions. If PREFIX is yes or not supplied, configure uses the values of the make
variables includedir and libdir, which are subdirectories of prefix by default, to
find the installed version of Readline if it is not in the standard system include and
library directories. If PREFIX is no, Bash links with the version in lib/readline. If
PREFIX is set to any other value, configure treats it as a directory pathname and
looks for the installed version of Readline in subdirectories of that directory
(include files in PREFIX/include and the library in PREFIX/lib).

--with-libintl-prefix[=PREFIX]

Define this to make Bash link with a locally-installed version of the libintl library
instead of the version in lib/intl.

--with-libiconv-prefix[=PREFIX]

Define this to make Bash look for libiconv in PREFIX instead of the standard
system locations. There is no version included with Bash.

--enable-minimal-config

This produces a shell with minimal features, close to the historical Bourne shell.

There are several --enable- options that alter how Bash is compiled, linked, and
installed, rather than changing run-time features.

--enable-largefile

Enable support for large files if the operating system requires special compiler
options to build programs which can access large files. This is enabled by default,
if the operating system provides large file support.

--enable-profiling

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This builds a Bash binary that produces profiling information to be processed by

gprof each time it is executed.

--enable-separate-helpfiles

Use external files for the documentation displayed by the help builtin instead of
storing the text internally.

--enable-static-link

This causes Bash to be linked statically, if gcc is being used. This could be used to
build a version to use as root’s shell.

The ‘minimal-config’ option can be used to disable all of the following options, but it is
processed first, so individual options may be enabled using ‘enable-feature’.

All of the following options except for ‘alt-array-implementation’, ‘disabled-builtins’,

‘direxpand-default’, ‘strict-posix-default’, and ‘xpg-echo-default’ are enabled by
default, unless the operating system does not provide the necessary support.

--enable-alias

Allow alias expansion and include the alias and unalias builtins (see Aliases).

--enable-alt-array-implementation

This builds bash using an alternate implementation of arrays (see Arrays) that
provides faster access at the expense of using more memory (sometimes many
times more, depending on how sparse an array is).

--enable-arith-for-command

Include support for the alternate form of the for command that behaves like the C
language for statement (see Looping Constructs).

--enable-array-variables

Include support for one-dimensional array shell variables (see Arrays).

--enable-bang-history

Include support for csh-like history substitution (see History Expansion).

--enable-brace-expansion

Include csh-like brace expansion ( b{a,b}c → bac bbc ). See Brace Expansion, for
a complete description.

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--enable-casemod-attributes

Include support for case-modifying attributes in the declare builtin and assignment
statements. Variables with the uppercase attribute, for example, will have their
values converted to uppercase upon assignment.

--enable-casemod-expansion

Include support for case-modifying word expansions.

--enable-command-timing

Include support for recognizing time as a reserved word and for displaying timing
statistics for the pipeline following time (see Pipelines). This allows pipelines as
well as shell builtins and functions to be timed.

--enable-cond-command

Include support for the [[ conditional command. (see Conditional Constructs).

--enable-cond-regexp

Include support for matching POSIX regular expressions using the ‘=~’ binary
operator in the [[ conditional command. (see Conditional Constructs).

--enable-coprocesses

Include support for coprocesses and the coproc reserved word (see Pipelines).

--enable-debugger

Include support for the bash debugger (distributed separately).

--enable-dev-fd-stat-broken

If calling stat on /dev/fd/N returns different results than calling fstat on file
descriptor N, supply this option to enable a workaround. This has implications for
conditional commands that test file attributes.

--enable-direxpand-default

Cause the direxpand shell option (see The Shopt Builtin) to be enabled by default
when the shell starts. It is normally disabled by default.

--enable-directory-stack

Include support for a csh-like directory stack and the pushd, popd, and dirs builtins
(see The Directory Stack).

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--enable-disabled-builtins

Allow builtin commands to be invoked via ‘builtin xxx’ even after xxx has been
disabled using ‘enable -n xxx’. See Bash Builtin Commands, for details of the
builtin and enable builtin commands.

--enable-dparen-arithmetic

Include support for the ((…)) command (see Conditional Constructs).

--enable-extended-glob

Include support for the extended pattern matching features described above under
Pattern Matching.

--enable-extended-glob-default

Set the default value of the extglob shell option described above under The Shopt
Builtin to be enabled.

--enable-function-import

Include support for importing function definitions exported by another instance of

the shell from the environment. This option is enabled by default.

--enable-glob-asciirange-default

Set the default value of the globasciiranges shell option described above under
The Shopt Builtin to be enabled. This controls the behavior of character ranges
when used in pattern matching bracket expressions.

--enable-help-builtin

Include the help builtin, which displays help on shell builtins and variables (see
Bash Builtin Commands).

--enable-history

Include command history and the fc and history builtin commands (see Bash
History Facilities).

--enable-job-control

This enables the job control features (see Job Control), if the operating system
supports them.

--enable-multibyte

This enables support for multibyte characters if the operating system provides the

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necessary support.

--enable-net-redirections

This enables the special handling of filenames of the form /dev/tcp/host/port

and /dev/udp/host/port when used in redirections (see Redirections).

--enable-process-substitution

This enables process substitution (see Process Substitution) if the operating

system provides the necessary support.

--enable-progcomp

Enable the programmable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion). If

Readline is not enabled, this option has no effect.

--enable-prompt-string-decoding

Turn on the interpretation of a number of backslash-escaped characters in the

$PS0, $PS1, $PS2, and $PS4 prompt strings. See Controlling the Prompt, for a
complete list of prompt string escape sequences.

--enable-readline

Include support for command-line editing and history with the Bash version of the
Readline library (see Command Line Editing).

--enable-restricted

Include support for a restricted shell. If this is enabled, Bash, when called as
rbash, enters a restricted mode. See The Restricted Shell, for a description of
restricted mode.

--enable-select

Include the select compound command, which allows the generation of simple
menus (see Conditional Constructs).

--enable-single-help-strings

Store the text displayed by the help builtin as a single string for each help topic.
This aids in translating the text to different languages. You may need to disable
this if your compiler cannot handle very long string literals.

--enable-strict-posix-default

Make Bash POSIX-conformant by default (see Bash POSIX Mode).

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--enable-translatable-strings

Enable support for $"string" translatable strings (see Locale-Specific

Translation).

--enable-usg-echo-default

A synonym for --enable-xpg-echo-default.

--enable-xpg-echo-default

Make the echo builtin expand backslash-escaped characters by default, without

requiring the -e option. This sets the default value of the xpg_echo shell option to
on, which makes the Bash echo behave more like the version specified in the
Single Unix Specification, version 3. See Bash Builtin Commands, for a
description of the escape sequences that echo recognizes.

The file config-top.h contains C Preprocessor ‘#define’ statements for options which
are not settable from configure. Some of these are not meant to be changed; beware
of the consequences if you do. Read the comments associated with each definition for
more information about its effect.

Next: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell, Previous: Installing Bash, Up: Bash Features

[Contents][Index]

Appendix A Reporting Bugs

Please report all bugs you find in Bash. But first, you should make sure that it really is a
bug, and that it appears in the latest version of Bash. The latest version of Bash is
always available for FTP from ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bash/ and from http://
git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/bash.git/snapshot/bash-master.tar.gz.

Once you have determined that a bug actually exists, use the bashbug command to
submit a bug report. If you have a fix, you are encouraged to mail that as well!
Suggestions and ‘philosophical’ bug reports may be mailed to [email protected] or
posted to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug.

All bug reports should include:

▪ The version number of Bash.

▪ The hardware and operating system.

▪ The compiler used to compile Bash.

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▪ A description of the bug behaviour.

▪ A short script or ‘recipe’ which exercises the bug and may be used to reproduce
it.

bashbug inserts the first three items automatically into the template it provides for filing a
bug report.

Please send all reports concerning this manual to [email protected].

Next: GNU Free Documentation License, Previous: Reporting Bugs, Up: Bash Features [Contents]

[Index]

Appendix B Major Differences From The Bourne Shell

Bash implements essentially the same grammar, parameter and variable expansion,
redirection, and quoting as the Bourne Shell. Bash uses the POSIX standard as the
specification of how these features are to be implemented. There are some differences
between the traditional Bourne shell and Bash; this section quickly details the
differences of significance. A number of these differences are explained in greater
depth in previous sections. This section uses the version of sh included in SVR4.2 (the
last version of the historical Bourne shell) as the baseline reference.

▪ Bash is POSIX-conformant, even where the POSIX specification differs from

traditional sh behavior (see Bash POSIX Mode).

▪ Bash has multi-character invocation options (see Invoking Bash).

▪ Bash has command-line editing (see Command Line Editing) and the bind
builtin.

▪ Bash provides a programmable word completion mechanism (see

Programmable Completion), and builtin commands complete, compgen, and
compopt, to manipulate it.

▪ Bash has command history (see Bash History Facilities) and the history and fc
builtins to manipulate it. The Bash history list maintains timestamp information
and uses the value of the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable to display it.

▪ Bash implements csh-like history expansion (see History Expansion).

▪ Bash has one-dimensional array variables (see Arrays), and the appropriate
variable expansions and assignment syntax to use them. Several of the Bash
builtins take options to act on arrays. Bash provides a number of built-in array

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variables.

▪ The $'…' quoting syntax, which expands ANSI-C backslash-escaped characters

in the text between the single quotes, is supported (see ANSI-C Quoting).

▪ Bash supports the $"…" quoting syntax to do locale-specific translation of the

characters between the double quotes. The -D, --dump-strings, and --dump-po-
strings invocation options list the translatable strings found in a script (see
Locale-Specific Translation).

▪ Bash implements the ! keyword to negate the return value of a pipeline (see
Pipelines). Very useful when an if statement needs to act only if a test fails. The
Bash ‘-o pipefail’ option to set will cause a pipeline to return a failure status if
any command fails.

▪ Bash has the time reserved word and command timing (see Pipelines). The
display of the timing statistics may be controlled with the TIMEFORMAT variable.

▪ Bash implements the for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) arithmetic for

command, similar to the C language (see Looping Constructs).

▪ Bash includes the select compound command, which allows the generation of
simple menus (see Conditional Constructs).

▪ Bash includes the [[ compound command, which makes conditional testing part
of the shell grammar (see Conditional Constructs), including optional regular
expression matching.

▪ Bash provides optional case-insensitive matching for the case and [[ constructs.

▪ Bash includes brace expansion (see Brace Expansion) and tilde expansion (see
Tilde Expansion).

▪ Bash implements command aliases and the alias and unalias builtins (see
Aliases).

▪ Bash provides shell arithmetic, the (( compound command (see Conditional

Constructs), and arithmetic expansion (see Shell Arithmetic).

▪ Variables present in the shell’s initial environment are automatically exported to

child processes. The Bourne shell does not normally do this unless the variables
are explicitly marked using the export command.

▪ Bash supports the ‘+=’ assignment operator, which appends to the value of the
variable named on the left hand side.

▪ Bash includes the POSIX pattern removal ‘%’, ‘#’, ‘%%’ and ‘##’ expansions to
remove leading or trailing substrings from variable values (see Shell Parameter

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Expansion).

▪ The expansion ${#xx}, which returns the length of ${xx}, is supported (see Shell
Parameter Expansion).

▪ The expansion ${var:offset[:length]}, which expands to the substring of var’s

value of length length, beginning at offset, is present (see Shell Parameter
Expansion).

▪ The expansion ${var/[/]pattern[/replacement]}, which matches pattern and

replaces it with replacement in the value of var, is available (see Shell
Parameter Expansion).

▪ The expansion ${!prefix*} expansion, which expands to the names of all shell
variables whose names begin with prefix, is available (see Shell Parameter
Expansion).

▪ Bash has indirect variable expansion using ${!word} (see Shell Parameter
Expansion).

▪ Bash can expand positional parameters beyond $9 using ${num}.

▪ The POSIX $() form of command substitution is implemented (see Command

Substitution), and preferred to the Bourne shell’s `` (which is also implemented
for backwards compatibility).

▪ Bash has process substitution (see Process Substitution).

▪ Bash automatically assigns variables that provide information about the current
user (UID, EUID, and GROUPS), the current host (HOSTTYPE, OSTYPE, MACHTYPE, and
HOSTNAME), and the instance of Bash that is running (BASH, BASH_VERSION, and
BASH_VERSINFO). See Bash Variables, for details.

▪ The IFS variable is used to split only the results of expansion, not all words (see
Word Splitting). This closes a longstanding shell security hole.

▪ The filename expansion bracket expression code uses ‘!’ and ‘^’ to negate the
set of characters between the brackets. The Bourne shell uses only ‘!’.

▪ Bash implements the full set of POSIX filename expansion operators, including
character classes, equivalence classes, and collating symbols (see Filename
Expansion).

▪ Bash implements extended pattern matching features when the extglob shell
option is enabled (see Pattern Matching).

▪ It is possible to have a variable and a function with the same name; sh does not
separate the two name spaces.

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▪ Bash functions are permitted to have local variables using the local builtin, and
thus useful recursive functions may be written (see Bash Builtin Commands).

▪ Variable assignments preceding commands affect only that command, even

builtins and functions (see Environment). In sh, all variable assignments
preceding commands are global unless the command is executed from the file
system.

▪ Bash performs filename expansion on filenames specified as operands to input

and output redirection operators (see Redirections).

▪ Bash contains the ‘<>’ redirection operator, allowing a file to be opened for both
reading and writing, and the ‘&>’ redirection operator, for directing standard
output and standard error to the same file (see Redirections).

▪ Bash includes the ‘<<<’ redirection operator, allowing a string to be used as the
standard input to a command.

▪ Bash implements the ‘[n]<&word’ and ‘[n]>&word’ redirection operators, which

move one file descriptor to another.

▪ Bash treats a number of filenames specially when they are used in redirection
operators (see Redirections).

▪ Bash can open network connections to arbitrary machines and services with the
redirection operators (see Redirections).

▪ The noclobber option is available to avoid overwriting existing files with output
redirection (see The Set Builtin). The ‘>|’ redirection operator may be used to
override noclobber.

▪ The Bash cd and pwd builtins (see Bourne Shell Builtins) each take -L and -P
options to switch between logical and physical modes.

▪ Bash allows a function to override a builtin with the same name, and provides
access to that builtin’s functionality within the function via the builtin and
command builtins (see Bash Builtin Commands).

▪ The command builtin allows selective disabling of functions when command

lookup is performed (see Bash Builtin Commands).

▪ Individual builtins may be enabled or disabled using the enable builtin (see Bash
Builtin Commands).

▪ The Bash exec builtin takes additional options that allow users to control the
contents of the environment passed to the executed command, and what the
zeroth argument to the command is to be (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

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▪ Shell functions may be exported to children via the environment using export -f
(see Shell Functions).

▪ The Bash export, readonly, and declare builtins can take a -f option to act on
shell functions, a -p option to display variables with various attributes set in a
format that can be used as shell input, a -n option to remove various variable
attributes, and ‘name=value’ arguments to set variable attributes and values
simultaneously.

▪ The Bash hash builtin allows a name to be associated with an arbitrary filename,
even when that filename cannot be found by searching the $PATH, using ‘hash -
p’ (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

▪ Bash includes a help builtin for quick reference to shell facilities (see Bash
Builtin Commands).

▪ The printf builtin is available to display formatted output (see Bash Builtin
Commands).

▪ The Bash read builtin (see Bash Builtin Commands) will read a line ending in ‘\’
with the -r option, and will use the REPLY variable as a default if no non-option
arguments are supplied. The Bash read builtin also accepts a prompt string with
the -p option and will use Readline to obtain the line when given the -e option.
The read builtin also has additional options to control input: the -s option will turn
off echoing of input characters as they are read, the -t option will allow read to
time out if input does not arrive within a specified number of seconds, the -n
option will allow reading only a specified number of characters rather than a full
line, and the -d option will read until a particular character rather than newline.

▪ The return builtin may be used to abort execution of scripts executed with the .
or source builtins (see Bourne Shell Builtins).

▪ Bash includes the shopt builtin, for finer control of shell optional capabilities (see
The Shopt Builtin), and allows these options to be set and unset at shell
invocation (see Invoking Bash).

▪ Bash has much more optional behavior controllable with the set builtin (see The
Set Builtin).

▪ The ‘-x’ (xtrace) option displays commands other than simple commands when
performing an execution trace (see The Set Builtin).

▪ The test builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) is slightly different, as it implements
the POSIX algorithm, which specifies the behavior based on the number of
arguments.

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▪ Bash includes the caller builtin, which displays the context of any active
subroutine call (a shell function or a script executed with the . or source builtins).
This supports the Bash debugger.

▪ The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows a DEBUG pseudo-signal
specification, similar to EXIT. Commands specified with a DEBUG trap are
executed before every simple command, for command, case command, select
command, every arithmetic for command, and before the first command
executes in a shell function. The DEBUG trap is not inherited by shell functions
unless the function has been given the trace attribute or the functrace option
has been enabled using the shopt builtin. The extdebug shell option has
additional effects on the DEBUG trap.
The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows an ERR pseudo-signal
specification, similar to EXIT and DEBUG. Commands specified with an ERR trap
are executed after a simple command fails, with a few exceptions. The ERR trap
is not inherited by shell functions unless the -o errtrace option to the set builtin
is enabled.
The trap builtin (see Bourne Shell Builtins) allows a RETURN pseudo-signal
specification, similar to EXIT and DEBUG. Commands specified with a RETURN trap
are executed before execution resumes after a shell function or a shell script
executed with . or source returns. The RETURN trap is not inherited by shell
functions unless the function has been given the trace attribute or the functrace
option has been enabled using the shopt builtin.

▪ The Bash type builtin is more extensive and gives more information about the
names it finds (see Bash Builtin Commands).

▪ The Bash umask builtin permits a -p option to cause the output to be displayed in
the form of a umask command that may be reused as input (see Bourne Shell
Builtins).

▪ Bash implements a csh-like directory stack, and provides the pushd, popd, and
dirs builtins to manipulate it (see The Directory Stack). Bash also makes the
directory stack visible as the value of the DIRSTACK shell variable.

▪ Bash interprets special backslash-escaped characters in the prompt strings

when interactive (see Controlling the Prompt).

▪ The Bash restricted mode is more useful (see The Restricted Shell); the SVR4.2
shell restricted mode is too limited.

▪ The disown builtin can remove a job from the internal shell job table (see Job
Control Builtins) or suppress the sending of SIGHUP to a job when the shell exits

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as the result of a SIGHUP.

▪ Bash includes a number of features to support a separate debugger for shell

scripts.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell has two privilege-related builtins (mldmode and priv) not
present in Bash.

▪ Bash does not have the stop or newgrp builtins.

▪ Bash does not use the SHACCT variable or perform shell accounting.

▪ The SVR4.2 sh uses a TIMEOUT variable like Bash uses TMOUT.

More features unique to Bash may be found in Bash Features.

▪ Implementation Differences From The SVR4.2 Shell

B.1 Implementation Differences From The SVR4.2 Shell

Since Bash is a completely new implementation, it does not suffer from many of the
limitations of the SVR4.2 shell. For instance:

▪ Bash does not fork a subshell when redirecting into or out of a shell control
structure such as an if or while statement.

▪ Bash does not allow unbalanced quotes. The SVR4.2 shell will silently insert a
needed closing quote at EOF under certain circumstances. This can be the cause
of some hard-to-find errors.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell uses a baroque memory management scheme based on

trapping SIGSEGV. If the shell is started from a process with SIGSEGV blocked
(e.g., by using the system() C library function call), it misbehaves badly.

▪ In a questionable attempt at security, the SVR4.2 shell, when invoked without

the -p option, will alter its real and effective UID and GID if they are less than
some magic threshold value, commonly 100. This can lead to unexpected
results.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell does not allow users to trap SIGSEGV, SIGALRM, or SIGCHLD.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell does not allow the IFS, MAILCHECK, PATH, PS1, or PS2 variables
to be unset.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell treats ‘^’ as the undocumented equivalent of ‘|’.

▪ Bash allows multiple option arguments when it is invoked (-x -v); the SVR4.2
shell allows only one option argument (-xv). In fact, some versions of the shell

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dump core if the second argument begins with a ‘-’.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell exits a script if any builtin fails; Bash exits a script only if one
of the POSIX special builtins fails, and only for certain failures, as enumerated in
the POSIX standard.

▪ The SVR4.2 shell behaves differently when invoked as jsh (it turns on job
control).

Next: Indexes, Previous: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell, Up: Bash Features [Contents]

[Index]

Appendix C GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
http://fsf.org/

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies

of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

0. PREAMBLE

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional

and useful document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the
effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either
commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the
author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being
considered responsible for modifications made by others.

This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the
document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU
General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software,
because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come
with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this
License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work,
regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We
recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or
reference.

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1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains
a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the
terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license,
unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The
“Document”, below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the
public is a licensee, and is addressed as “you”. You accept the license if you
copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright
law.

A “Modified Version” of the Document means any work containing the Document
or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated
into another language.

A “Secondary Section” is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the

Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or
authors of the Document to the Document’s overall subject (or to related
matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject.
(Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary
Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of
historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal,
commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.

The “Invariant Sections” are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are
designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the
Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above
definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The
Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not
identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

The “Cover Texts” are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-
Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is
released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a
Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.

A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,

represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public,
that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text
editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for
drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to
text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for

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input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format

whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or
discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image
format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that
is not “Transparent” is called “Opaque”.

Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without
markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly
available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF
designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats
include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that
can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for
which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and the
machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word
processors for output purposes only.

The “Title Page” means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such
following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires
to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page
as such, “Title Page” means the text near the most prominent appearance of the
work’s title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.

The “publisher” means any person or entity that distributes copies of the
Document to the public.

A section “Entitled XYZ” means a named subunit of the Document whose title
either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that
translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section
name mentioned below, such as “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”,
“Endorsements”, or “History”.) To “Preserve the Title” of such a section when you
modify the Document means that it remains a section “Entitled XYZ” according
to this definition.

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states
that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are
considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards
disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers
may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

2. VERBATIM COPYING

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially

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or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the
license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all
copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this
License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading
or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may
accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough
number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you
may publicly display copies.

3. COPYING IN QUANTITY

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed
covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s
license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that
carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front
cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly
and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must
present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You
may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited
to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy
these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should
put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and
continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more

than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along
with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-
network location from which the general network-using public has access to
download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy
of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must
take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in
quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the
stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque
copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document
well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to
provide you with an updated version of the Document.

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4. MODIFICATIONS

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the
conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified
Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of
the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified
Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things
in the Modified Version:

1. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of
the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if
there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You
may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of
that version gives permission.

2. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities

responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version,
together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of
its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you
from this requirement.

3. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version,
as the publisher.

4. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.

5. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the

other copyright notices.

6. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving

the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this
License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.

7. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and
required Cover Texts given in the Document’s license notice.

8. Include an unaltered copy of this License.

9. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an
item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the
Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled
“History” in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and
publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item

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describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.

10. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public
access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network
locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on.
These may be placed in the “History” section. You may omit a network
location for a work that was published at least four years before the
Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives
permission.

11. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve

the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and
tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications
given therein.

12. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their
text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not
considered part of the section titles.

13. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be
included in the Modified Version.

14. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to

conflict in title with any Invariant Section.

15. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that

qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the
Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as
invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the
Modified Version’s license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other
section titles.

You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but
endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example,
statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization
as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a

passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover
Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of
Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one

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entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover,
previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are
acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one,
on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give
permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement
of any Modified Version.

5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this
License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions,
provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of
the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of
your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty
Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple
identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are
multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the
title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the
name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique
number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant
Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the
various original documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise
combine any sections Entitled “Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled
“Dedications”. You must delete all sections Entitled “Endorsements.”

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents
released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in
the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection,
provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of
the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it
individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into
the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding

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verbatim copying of that document.

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and

independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution
medium, is called an “aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation
is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the
individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this
License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not
themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the

Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate,
the Document’s Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the
Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the
Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers
that bracket the whole aggregate.

8. TRANSLATION

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute

translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant
Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright
holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in
addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any
Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version
of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In
case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this
License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or

“History”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically
require changing the actual title.

9. TERMINATION

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as
expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify,
sublicense, or distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights
under this License.

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However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a
particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the
copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b)
permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some
reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated

permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some
reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of
this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation
prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of
parties who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your
rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of
some or all of the same material does not give you any rights to use it.

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU
Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be
similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new
problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the

Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any
later version” applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and
conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been
published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document
does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version
ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the
Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this
License can be used, that proxy’s public statement of acceptance of a version
permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.

11. RELICENSING

“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide
Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent
facilities for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is
an example of such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”)
contained in the site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on

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the MMC site.

“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license

published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a
principal place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future
copyleft versions of that license published by that same organization.

“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as

part of another Document.

An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all
works that were first published under this License somewhere other than this
MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had
no cover texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to
November 1, 2008.

The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under
CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the
MMC is eligible for relicensing.

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

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

Copyright (C) year your name.

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

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

with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with

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If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend

releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as
the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.

Previous: GNU Free Documentation License, Up: Bash Features [Contents][Index]

Appendix D Indexes
▪ Index of Shell Builtin Commands

▪ Index of Shell Reserved Words

▪ Parameter and Variable Index

▪ Function Index

▪ Concept Index

Next: Index of Shell Reserved Words, Up: Indexes [Contents][Index]

D.1 Index of Shell Builtin Commands

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

Index Entry Section

.: Bourne Shell Builtins

:: Bourne Shell Builtins

[: Bourne Shell Builtins

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alias: Bash Builtins

bg: Job Control Builtins

bind: Bash Builtins
break: Bourne Shell Builtins
builtin: Bash Builtins

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

declare: Bash Builtins

dirs: Directory Stack Builtins
disown: Job Control Builtins

echo: Bash Builtins

enable: Bash Builtins
eval: Bourne Shell Builtins
exec: Bourne Shell Builtins
exit: Bourne Shell Builtins

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export: Bourne Shell Builtins

fc: Bash History Builtins

fg: Job Control Builtins

getopts: Bourne Shell Builtins

hash: Bourne Shell Builtins

help: Bash Builtins
history: Bash History Builtins

jobs: Job Control Builtins

kill: Job Control Builtins

let: Bash Builtins

local: Bash Builtins
logout: Bash Builtins

mapfile: Bash Builtins

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popd: Directory Stack Builtins

printf: Bash Builtins
pushd: Directory Stack Builtins
pwd: Bourne Shell Builtins

read: Bash Builtins

readarray: Bash Builtins
readonly: Bourne Shell Builtins
return: Bourne Shell Builtins

set: The Set Builtin

shift: Bourne Shell Builtins
shopt: The Shopt Builtin
source: Bash Builtins
suspend: Job Control Builtins

test: Bourne Shell Builtins

times: Bourne Shell Builtins
trap: Bourne Shell Builtins
type: Bash Builtins
typeset: Bash Builtins

ulimit: Bash Builtins

umask: Bourne Shell Builtins

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unalias: Bash Builtins

unset: Bourne Shell Builtins

wait: Job Control Builtins

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

Next: Parameter and Variable Index, Previous: Index of Shell Builtin Commands, Up: Indexes

[Contents][Index]

D.2 Index of Shell Reserved Words

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

Index Entry Section

!: Pipelines

[[: Conditional Constructs

]]: Conditional Constructs

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{: Command Grouping

}: Command Grouping

case: Conditional Constructs

D
do: Looping Constructs
done: Looping Constructs

elif: Conditional Constructs

else: Conditional Constructs
esac: Conditional Constructs

fi: Conditional Constructs

for: Looping Constructs
function: Shell Functions

if: Conditional Constructs

in: Conditional Constructs

select: Conditional Constructs

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then: Conditional Constructs

time: Pipelines

until: Looping Constructs

W
while: Looping Constructs

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

Next: Function Index, Previous: Index of Shell Reserved Words, Up: Indexes [Contents][Index]

D.3 Parameter and Variable Index

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

Index Entry Section

!: Special Parameters

#
#: Special Parameters

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

*: Special Parameters

-: Special Parameters

0: Special Parameters

?: Special Parameters

@: Special Parameters

_: Bash Variables

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active-region-end-color: Readline Init File Syntax

active-region-start-color: Readline Init File Syntax
auto_resume: Job Control Variables

BASH: Bash Variables

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

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CDPATH: Bourne Shell Variables

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

DIRSTACK: Bash Variables

disable-completion: Readline Init File Syntax

echo-control-characters: Readline Init File Syntax

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editing-mode: Readline Init File Syntax

EMACS: Bash Variables
emacs-mode-string: Readline Init File Syntax
enable-active-region: Readline Init File Syntax
enable-bracketed-paste: Readline Init File Syntax
enable-keypad: Readline Init File Syntax
ENV: Bash Variables
EPOCHREALTIME: Bash Variables
EPOCHSECONDS: Bash Variables
EUID: Bash Variables
EXECIGNORE: Bash Variables
expand-tilde: Readline Init File Syntax

FCEDIT: Bash Variables

FIGNORE: Bash Variables
FUNCNAME: Bash Variables
FUNCNEST: Bash Variables

GLOBIGNORE: Bash Variables

GROUPS: Bash Variables

histchars: Bash Variables

HISTCMD: Bash Variables
HISTCONTROL: Bash Variables
HISTFILE: Bash Variables
HISTFILESIZE: Bash Variables
HISTIGNORE: Bash Variables

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history-preserve-point: Readline Init File Syntax

history-size: Readline Init File Syntax
HISTSIZE: Bash Variables
HISTTIMEFORMAT: Bash Variables
HOME: Bourne Shell Variables
horizontal-scroll-mode: Readline Init File Syntax
HOSTFILE: Bash Variables
HOSTNAME: Bash Variables
HOSTTYPE: Bash Variables

IFS: Bourne Shell Variables

IGNOREEOF: Bash Variables
input-meta: Readline Init File Syntax
INPUTRC: Bash Variables
INSIDE_EMACS: Bash Variables
isearch-terminators: Readline Init File Syntax

keymap: Readline Init File Syntax

LANG: Creating Internationalized Scripts

LANG: Bash Variables
LC_ALL: Bash Variables
LC_COLLATE: Bash Variables
LC_CTYPE: Bash Variables
LC_MESSAGES: Creating Internationalized Scripts
LC_MESSAGES: Bash Variables
LC_NUMERIC: Bash Variables

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LC_TIME: Bash Variables

LINENO: Bash Variables
LINES: Bash Variables

MACHTYPE: Bash Variables

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

OLDPWD: Bash Variables

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

page-completions: Readline Init File Syntax

PATH: Bourne Shell Variables
PIPESTATUS: Bash Variables
POSIXLY_CORRECT: Bash Variables
PPID: Bash Variables

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PROMPT_COMMAND: Bash Variables

PROMPT_DIRTRIM: Bash Variables
PS0: Bash Variables
PS1: Bourne Shell Variables
PS2: Bourne Shell Variables
PS3: Bash Variables
PS4: Bash Variables
PWD: Bash Variables

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

SECONDS: Bash Variables

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

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TEXTDOMAIN: Creating Internationalized Scripts

TEXTDOMAINDIR: Creating Internationalized Scripts
TIMEFORMAT: Bash Variables
TMOUT: Bash Variables
TMPDIR: Bash Variables

UID: Bash Variables

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

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

Next: Concept Index, Previous: Parameter and Variable Index, Up: Indexes [Contents][Index]

D.4 Function Index

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

Index Entry Section

abort (C-g): Miscellaneous Commands

accept-line (Newline or Return): Commands For History
alias-expand-line (): Miscellaneous Commands

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backward-char (C-b): Commands For Moving

backward-delete-char (Rubout): Commands For Text
backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout): Commands For Killing
backward-kill-word (M-DEL): Commands For Killing
backward-word (M-b): Commands For Moving
beginning-of-history (M-<): Commands For History
beginning-of-line (C-a): Commands For Moving
bracketed-paste-begin (): Commands For Text

call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e): Keyboard Macros

capitalize-word (M-c): Commands For Text
character-search (C-]): Miscellaneous Commands
character-search-backward (M-C-]): Miscellaneous Commands
clear-display (M-C-l): Commands For Moving
clear-screen (C-l): Commands For Moving
complete (TAB): Commands For
Completion
complete-command (M-!): Commands For
Completion
complete-filename (M-/): Commands For
Completion
complete-hostname (M-@): Commands For
Completion
complete-into-braces (M-{): Commands For
Completion
complete-username (M-~): Commands For
Completion
complete-variable (M-$): Commands For
Completion

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copy-backward-word (): Commands For Killing

copy-forward-word (): Commands For Killing
copy-region-as-kill (): Commands For Killing

dabbrev-expand (): Commands For

Completion
delete-char (C-d): Commands For Text
delete-char-or-list (): Commands For
Completion
delete-horizontal-space (): Commands For Killing
digit-argument (M-0, M-1, … M--): Numeric Arguments
display-shell-version (C-x C-v): Miscellaneous Commands
do-lowercase-version (M-A, M-B, M-x, …): Miscellaneous Commands
downcase-word (M-l): Commands For Text
dump-functions (): Miscellaneous Commands
dump-macros (): Miscellaneous Commands
dump-variables (): Miscellaneous Commands
dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB): Commands For
Completion

edit-and-execute-command (C-x C-e): Miscellaneous Commands

end-kbd-macro (C-x )): Keyboard Macros
end-of-file (usually C-d): Commands For Text
end-of-history (M->): Commands For History
end-of-line (C-e): Commands For Moving
exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x): Miscellaneous Commands

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fetch-history (): Commands For History

forward-backward-delete-char (): Commands For Text
forward-char (C-f): Commands For Moving
forward-search-history (C-s): Commands For History
forward-word (M-f): Commands For Moving

glob-complete-word (M-g): Miscellaneous Commands

glob-expand-word (C-x *): Miscellaneous Commands
glob-list-expansions (C-x g): Miscellaneous Commands

history-and-alias-expand-line (): Miscellaneous Commands

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

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

kill-line (C-k): Commands For Killing

kill-region (): Commands For Killing
kill-whole-line (): Commands For Killing
kill-word (M-d): Commands For Killing

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magic-space (): Miscellaneous Commands

menu-complete (): Commands For
Completion
menu-complete-backward (): Commands For
Completion

next-history (C-n): Commands For History

next-screen-line (): Commands For Moving
non-incremental-forward-search-history (M- Commands For History
n):

non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M- Commands For History

p):

operate-and-get-next (C-o): Commands For History

overwrite-mode (): Commands For Text

possible-command-completions (C-x !): Commands For

Completion
possible-completions (M-?): Commands For
Completion
possible-filename-completions (C-x /): Commands For
Completion
possible-hostname-completions (C-x @): Commands For
Completion
possible-username-completions (C-x ~): Commands For
Completion

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possible-variable-completions (C-x $): Commands For

Completion
prefix-meta (ESC): Miscellaneous Commands
previous-history (C-p): Commands For History
previous-screen-line (): Commands For Moving
print-last-kbd-macro (): Keyboard Macros

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

re-read-init-file (C-x C-r): Miscellaneous Commands

redraw-current-line (): Commands For Moving
reverse-search-history (C-r): Commands For History
revert-line (M-r): Miscellaneous Commands

self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, …): Commands For Text

set-mark (C-@): Miscellaneous Commands
shell-backward-kill-word (): Commands For Killing
shell-backward-word (M-C-b): Commands For Moving
shell-expand-line (M-C-e): Miscellaneous Commands
shell-forward-word (M-C-f): Commands For Moving
shell-kill-word (M-C-d): Commands For Killing
shell-transpose-words (M-C-t): Commands For Killing
skip-csi-sequence (): Miscellaneous Commands
spell-correct-word (C-x s): Miscellaneous Commands
start-kbd-macro (C-x (): Keyboard Macros

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tilde-expand (M-&): Miscellaneous Commands

transpose-chars (C-t): Commands For Text
transpose-words (M-t): Commands For Text

undo (C-_ or C-x C-u): Miscellaneous Commands

universal-argument (): Numeric Arguments
unix-filename-rubout (): Commands For Killing
unix-line-discard (C-u): Commands For Killing
unix-word-rubout (C-w): Commands For Killing
upcase-word (M-u): Commands For Text

yank (C-y): Commands For Killing

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

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

Previous: Function Index, Up: Indexes [Contents][Index]

D.5 Concept Index

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

Index Entry Section

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alias expansion: Aliases

arithmetic evaluation: Shell Arithmetic
arithmetic expansion: Arithmetic Expansion
arithmetic, shell: Shell Arithmetic
arrays: Arrays

background: Job Control Basics

Bash configuration: Basic Installation
Bash installation: Basic Installation
Bourne shell: Basic Shell Features
brace expansion: Brace Expansion
builtin: Definitions

command editing: Readline Bare Essentials

command execution: Command Search and Execution
command expansion: Simple Command Expansion
command history: Bash History Facilities
command search: Command Search and Execution
command substitution: Command Substitution
command timing: Pipelines
commands, compound: Compound Commands
commands, conditional: Conditional Constructs
commands, grouping: Command Grouping
commands, lists: Lists
commands, looping: Looping Constructs
commands, pipelines: Pipelines
commands, shell: Shell Commands

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commands, simple: Simple Commands

comments, shell: Comments
Compatibility Level: Shell Compatibility Mode
Compatibility Mode: Shell Compatibility Mode
completion builtins: Programmable Completion Builtins
configuration: Basic Installation
control operator: Definitions
coprocess: Coprocesses

D
directory stack: The Directory Stack

editing command lines: Readline Bare Essentials

environment: Environment
evaluation, arithmetic: Shell Arithmetic
event designators: Event Designators
execution environment: Command Execution Environment
exit status: Definitions
exit status: Exit Status
expansion: Shell Expansions
expansion, arithmetic: Arithmetic Expansion
expansion, brace: Brace Expansion
expansion, filename: Filename Expansion
expansion, parameter: Shell Parameter Expansion
expansion, pathname: Filename Expansion
expansion, tilde: Tilde Expansion
expressions, arithmetic: Shell Arithmetic
expressions, conditional: Bash Conditional Expressions

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

history builtins: Bash History Builtins

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

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

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

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kill ring: Readline Killing Commands

killing text: Readline Killing Commands

localization: Locale Translation

login shell: Invoking Bash

matching, pattern: Pattern Matching

metacharacter: Definitions

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

operator, shell: Definitions

parameter expansion: Shell Parameter Expansion

parameters: Shell Parameters
parameters, positional: Positional Parameters
parameters, special: Special Parameters
pathname expansion: Filename Expansion
pattern matching: Pattern Matching
pipeline: Pipelines
POSIX: Definitions

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POSIX Mode: Bash POSIX Mode

process group: Definitions
process group ID: Definitions
process substitution: Process Substitution
programmable completion: Programmable Completion
prompting: Controlling the Prompt

quoting: Quoting
quoting, ANSI: ANSI-C Quoting

Readline, how to use: Job Control Variables

redirection: Redirections
reserved word: Definitions
reserved words: Reserved Words
restricted shell: The Restricted Shell
return status: Definitions

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

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string translations: Creating Internationalized Scripts

suspending jobs: Job Control Basics

tilde expansion: Tilde Expansion

token: Definitions
translation, native languages: Locale Translation

variable, shell: Shell Parameters

variables, readline: Readline Init File Syntax

word: Definitions
word splitting: Word Splitting

yanking text: Readline Killing Commands

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

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