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KSH(1) General Commands Manual KSH(1)
NAME
ksh, rksh, pfksh - KornShell, a standard/restricted command and programming language
SYNOPSIS
ksh [ +-abcefhiknoprstuvxBCDP ] [ -R file ] [ +-o option ] ... [ - ] [ arg ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Ksh is a command and programming language that executes commands read from a terminal or a
file. Rksh is a restricted version of the command interpreter ksh; it is used to set up
login names and execution environments whose capabilities are more controlled than those
of the standard shell. Rpfksh is a profile shell version of the command interpreter ksh;
it is used to to execute commands with the attributes specified by the user's profiles
(see pfexec(1)). See Invocation below for the meaning of arguments to the shell.
Definitions.
A metacharacter is one of the following characters:
; & ( ) | < > new-line space tab
A blank is a tab or a space. An identifier is a sequence of letters, digits, or under-
scores starting with a letter or underscore. Identifiers are used as components of vari-
able names. A vname is a sequence of one or more identifiers separated by a . and option-
ally preceded by a .. Vnames are used as function and variable names. A word is a
sequence of characters from the character set defined by the current locale, excluding
non-quoted metacharacters.
A command is a sequence of characters in the syntax of the shell language. The shell
reads each command and carries out the desired action either directly or by invoking sepa-
rate utilities. A built-in command is a command that is carried out by the shell itself
without creating a separate process. Some commands are built-in purely for convenience
and are not documented here. Built-ins that cause side effects in the shell environment
and built-ins that are found before performing a path search (see Execution below) are
documented here. For historical reasons, some of these built-ins behave differently than
other built-ins and are called special built-ins.
Commands.
A simple-command is a list of variable assignments (see Variable Assignments below) or a
sequence of blank separated words which may be preceded by a list of variable assignments
(see Environment below). The first word specifies the name of the command to be executed.
Except as specified below, the remaining words are passed as arguments to the invoked com-
mand. The command name is passed as argument 0 (see exec(2)). The value of a simple-com-
mand is its exit status; 0-255 if it terminates normally; 256+signum if it terminates
abnormally (the name of the signal corresponding to the exit status can be obtained via
the -l option of the kill built-in utility).
A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated by |. The standard output of
each command but the last is connected by a pipe(2) to the standard input of the next com-
mand. Each command, except possibly the last, is run as a separate process; the shell
waits for the last command to terminate. The exit status of a pipeline is the exit status
of the last command unless the pipefail option is enabled. Each pipeline can be preceded
by the reserved word ! which causes the exit status of the pipeline to become 0 if the
exit status of the last command is non-zero, and 1 if the exit status of the last command
is 0.
A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by ;, &, |&, &&, or ||, and
optionally terminated by ;, &, or |&. Of these five symbols, ;, &, and |& have equal
precedence, which is lower than that of && and ||. The symbols && and || also have equal
precedence. A semicolon (;) causes sequential execution of the preceding pipeline; an
ampersand (&) causes asynchronous execution of the preceding pipeline (i.e., the shell
does not wait for that pipeline to finish). The symbol |& causes asynchronous execution
of the preceding pipeline with a two-way pipe established to the parent shell; the stan-
dard input and output of the spawned pipeline can be written to and read from by the par-
ent shell by applying the redirection operators <& and >& with arg p to commands and by
using -p option of the built-in commands read and print described later. The symbol &&
(||) causes the list following it to be executed only if the preceding pipeline returns a
zero (non-zero) value. One or more new-lines may appear in a list instead of a semicolon,
to delimit a command. The first item of the first pipeline of a list that is a simple
command not beginning with a redirection, and not occurring within a while, until, or if
list, can be preceded by a semicolon. This semicolon is ignored unless the showme option
is enabled as described with the set built-in below.
A command is either a simple-command or one of the following. Unless otherwise stated,
the value returned by a command is that of the last simple-command executed in the com-
mand.
for vname [ in word ... ] ;do list ;done
Each time a for command is executed, vname is set to the next word taken from the
in word list. If in word ... is omitted, then the for command executes the do
list once for each positional parameter that is set starting from 1 (see Parameter
Expansion below). Execution ends when there are no more words in the list.
for (( [expr1] ; [expr2] ; [expr3] )) ;do list ;done
The arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated first (see Arithmetic evaluation
below). The arithmetic expression expr2 is repeatedly evaluated until it evaluates
to zero and when non-zero, list is executed and the arithmetic expression expr3
evaluated. If any expression is omitted, then it behaves as if it evaluated to 1.
select vname [ in word ... ] ;do list ;done
A select command prints on standard error (file descriptor 2) the set of words,
each preceded by a number. If in word ... is omitted, then the positional parame-
ters starting from 1 are used instead (see Parameter Expansion below). The PS3
prompt is printed and a line is read from the standard input. If this line con-
sists of the number of one of the listed words, then the value of the variable
vname is set to the word corresponding to this number. If this line is empty, the
selection list is printed again. Otherwise the value of the variable vname is set
to null. The contents of the line read from standard input is saved in the vari-
able REPLY. The list is executed for each selection until a break or end-of-file
is encountered. If the REPLY variable is set to null by the execution of list,
then the selection list is printed before displaying the PS3 prompt for the next
selection.
case word in [ [(]pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac
A case command executes the list associated with the first pattern that matches
word. The form of the patterns is the same as that used for file-name generation
(see File Name Generation below). The ;; operator causes execution of case to ter-
minate. If ;& is used in place of ;; the next subsequent list, if any, is exe-
cuted.
if list ;then list [ ;elif list ;then list ] ... [ ;else list ] ;fi
The list following if is executed and, if it returns a zero exit status, the list
following the first then is executed. Otherwise, the list following elif is exe-
cuted and, if its value is zero, the list following the next then is executed.
Failing each successive elif list, the else list is executed. If the if list has
non-zero exit status and there is no else list, then the if command returns a zero
exit status.
while list ;do list ;done
until list ;do list ;done
A while command repeatedly executes the while list and, if the exit status of the
last command in the list is zero, executes the do list; otherwise the loop termi-
nates. If no commands in the do list are executed, then the while command returns
a zero exit status; until may be used in place of while to negate the loop termina-
tion test.
((expression))
The expression is evaluated using the rules for arithmetic evaluation described
below. If the value of the arithmetic expression is non-zero, the exit status is
0, otherwise the exit status is 1.
(list)
Execute list in a separate environment. Note, that if two adjacent open parenthe-
ses are needed for nesting, a space must be inserted to avoid evaluation as an
arithmetic command as described above.
{ list;}
list is simply executed. Note that unlike the metacharacters ( and ), { and } are
reserved words and must occur at the beginning of a line or after a ; in order to
be recognized.
[[ expression ]]
Evaluates expression and returns a zero exit status when expression is true. See
Conditional Expressions below, for a description of expression.
function varname { list ;}
varname () { list ;}
Define a function which is referenced by varname. A function whose varname con-
tains a . is called a discipline function and the portion of the varname preceding
the last . must refer to an existing variable. The body of the function is the
list of commands between { and }. A function defined with the function varname
syntax can also be used as an argument to the . special built-in command to get
the equivalent behavior as if the varname() syntax were used to define it. (See
Functions below.)
namespace identifier { list ;}
Defines or uses the name space identifier and runs the commands in list in this
name space. (See Name Spaces below.)
& [ name [ arg... ] ]
Causes subsequent list commands terminated by & to be placed in the background job
pool name. If name is omitted a default unnamed pool is used. Commands in a named
background pool may be executed remotely.
time [ pipeline ]
If pipeline is omitted the user and system time for the current shell and completed
child processes is printed on standard error. Otherwise, pipeline is executed and
the elapsed time as well as the user and system time are printed on standard error.
The TIMEFORMAT variable may be set to a format string that specifies how the timing
information should be displayed. See Shell Variables below for a description of
the TIMEFORMAT variable.
The following reserved words are recognized as reserved only when they are the first word
of a command and are not quoted:
if then else elif fi case esac for while until do done { } function select time [[ ]] !
Variable Assignments.
One or more variable assignments can start a simple command or can be arguments to the
typeset, enum, export, or readonly special built-in commands as well as to other declara-
tion commands created as types. The syntax for an assignment is of the form:
varname=word
varname[word]=word
No space is permitted between varname and the = or between = and word.
varname=(assign_list)
No space is permitted between varname and the =. The variable varname is unset
before the assignment. An assign_list can be one of the following:
word ...
Indexed array assignment.
[word]=word ...
Associative array assignment. If preceded by typeset -a this will
create an indexed array instead.
assignment ...
Compound variable assignment. This creates a compound variable var-
name with sub-variables of the form varname.name, where name is the
name portion of assignment. The value of varname will contain all
the assignment elements. Additional assignments made to sub-vari-
ables of varname will also be displayed as part of the value of var-
name. If no assignments are specified, varname will be a compound
variable allowing subsequence child elements to be defined.
typeset [options] assignment ...
Nested variable assignment. Multiple assignments can be specified
by separating each of them with a ;. The previous value is unset
before the assignment. Other declaration commands such as readonly,
enum, and other declaration commands can be used in place of type-
set.
. filename
Include the assignment commands contained in filename.
In addition, a += can be used in place of the = to signify adding to or appending to the
previous value. When += is applied to an arithmetic type, word is evaluated as an arith-
metic expression and added to the current value. When applied to a string variable, the
value defined by word is appended to the value. For compound assignments, the previous
value is not unset and the new values are appended to the current ones provided that the
types are compatible.
The right hand side of a variable assignment undergoes all the expansion listed below
except word splitting, brace expansion, and file name generation. When the left hand side
is an assignment is a compound variable and the right hand is the name of a compound vari-
able, the compound variable on the right will be copied or appended to the compound vari-
able on the left.
Comments.
A word beginning with # causes that word and all the following characters up to a new-line
to be ignored.
Aliasing.
The first word of each command is replaced by the text of an alias if an alias for this
word has been defined. An alias name consists of any number of characters excluding
metacharacters, quoting characters, file expansion characters, parameter expansion and
command substitution characters, the characters / and =. The replacement string can con-
tain any valid shell script including the metacharacters listed above. The first word of
each command in the replaced text, other than any that are in the process of being
replaced, will be tested for aliases. If the last character of the alias value is a blank
then the word following the alias will also be checked for alias substitution. Aliases
can be used to redefine built-in commands but cannot be used to redefine the reserved
words listed above. Aliases can be created and listed with the alias command and can be
removed with the unalias command.
Aliasing is performed when scripts are read, not while they are executed. Therefore, for
an alias to take effect, the alias definition command has to be executed before the com-
mand which references the alias is read.
The following aliases are compiled into the shell but can be unset or redefined:
autoload='typeset -fu'
command='command '
compound='typeset -C'
fc=hist
float='typeset -lE'
functions='typeset -f'
hash='alias -t --'
history='hist -l'
integer='typeset -li'
nameref='typeset -n'
nohup='nohup '
r='hist -s'
redirect='command exec'
source='command .'
stop='kill -s STOP'
suspend='kill -s STOP $$'
times='{ { time;} 2>&1;}'
type='whence -v'
Tilde Substitution.
After alias substitution is performed, each word is checked to see if it begins with an
unquoted ~. For tilde substitution, word also refers to the word portion of parameter
expansion (see Parameter Expansion below). If it does, then the word up to a / is checked
to see if it matches a user name in the password database (See getpwname(3).) If a match
is found, the ~ and the matched login name are replaced by the login directory of the
matched user. If no match is found, the original text is left unchanged. A ~ by itself,
or in front of a /, is replaced by $HOME. A ~ followed by a + or - is replaced by the
value of $PWD and $OLDPWD respectively.
In addition, when expanding a variable assignment, tilde substitution is attempted when
the value of the assignment begins with a ~, and when a ~ appears after a :. The : also
terminates a ~ login name.
Command Substitution.
The standard output from a command list enclosed in parentheses preceded by a dollar sign
( $(list) ), or in a brace group preceded by a dollar sign ( ${ list;} ), or in a pair of
grave accents (``) may be used as part or all of a word; trailing new-lines are removed.
In the second case, the { and } are treated as a reserved words so that { must be followed
by a blank and } must appear at the beginning of the line or follow a ;. In the third
(obsolete) form, the string between the quotes is processed for special quoting characters
before the command is executed (see Quoting below). The command substitution $(cat file)
can be replaced by the equivalent but faster $(<file). The command substitution $(n<#)
will expand to the current byte offset for file descriptor n. Except for the second form,
the command list is run in a subshell so that no side effects are possible. For the sec-
ond form, the final } will be recognized as a reserved word after any token.
Arithmetic Substitution.
An arithmetic expression enclosed in double parentheses preceded by a dollar sign ( $(())
) is replaced by the value of the arithmetic expression within the double parentheses.
Process Substitution.
Each command argument of the form <(list) or >(list) will run process list asynchronously
connected to some file in /dev/fd if this directory exists, or else a fifo a temporary
directory. The name of this file will become the argument to the command. If the form
with > is selected then writing on this file will provide input for list. If < is used,
then the file passed as an argument will contain the output of the list process. For
example,
paste <(cut -f1 file1) <(cut -f3 file2) | tee >(process1) >(process2)
cuts fields 1 and 3 from the files file1 and file2 respectively, pastes the results
together, and sends it to the processes process1 and process2, as well as putting it onto
the standard output. Note that the file, which is passed as an argument to the command,
is a UNIX pipe(2) so programs that expect to lseek(2) on the file will not work.
Process substitution of the form <(list) can also be used with the < redirection operator
which causes the output of list to be standard input or the input for whatever file
descriptor is specified.
Parameter Expansion.
A parameter is a variable, one or more digits, or any of the characters *, @, #, ?, -, $,
and !. A variable is denoted by a vname. To create a variable whose vname contains a .,
a variable whose vname consists of everything before the last . must already exist. A
variable has a value and zero or more attributes. Variables can be assigned values and
attributes by using the typeset special built-in command. The attributes supported by the
shell are described later with the typeset special built-in command. Exported variables
pass values and attributes to the environment.
The shell supports both indexed and associative arrays. An element of an array variable
is referenced by a subscript. A subscript for an indexed array is denoted by an arith-
metic expression (see Arithmetic evaluation below) between a [ and a ]. To assign values
to an indexed array, use vname=(value ...) or set -A vname value ... . The value of all
non-negative subscripts must be in the range of 0 through 4,194,303. A negative subscript
is treated as an offset from the maximum current index +1 so that -1 refers to the last
element. Indexed arrays can be declared with the -a option to typeset. Indexed arrays
need not be declared. Any reference to a variable with a valid subscript is legal and an
array will be created if necessary.
An associative array is created with the -A option to typeset. A subscript for an asso-
ciative array is denoted by a string enclosed between [ and ].
Referencing any array without a subscript is equivalent to referencing the array with sub-
script 0.
The value of a variable may be assigned by writing:
vname=value [ vname=value ] ...
or
vname[subscript]=value [ vname[subscript]=value ] ...
Note that no space is allowed before or after the =.
Attributes assigned by the typeset special built-in command apply to all elements of the
array. An array element can be a simple variable, a compound variable or an array vari-
able. An element of an indexed array can be either an indexed array or an associative
array. An element of an associative array can also be either. To refer to an array ele-
ment that is part of an array element, concatenate the subscript in brackets. For exam-
ple, to refer to the foobar element of an associative array that is defined as the third
element of the indexed array, use ${vname[3][foobar]}
A nameref is a variable that is a reference to another variable. A nameref is created
with the -n attribute of typeset. The value of the variable at the time of the typeset
command becomes the variable that will be referenced whenever the nameref variable is
used. The name of a nameref cannot contain a .. When a variable or function name con-
tains a ., and the portion of the name up to the first . matches the name of a nameref,
the variable referred to is obtained by replacing the nameref portion with the name of the
variable referenced by the nameref. If a nameref is used as the index of a for loop, a
name reference is established for each item in the list. A nameref provides a convenient
way to refer to the variable inside a function whose name is passed as an argument to a
function. For example, if the name of a variable is passed as the first argument to a
function, the command
typeset -n var=$1
inside the function causes references and assignments to var to be references and assign-
ments to the variable whose name has been passed to the function.
If any of the floating point attributes, -E, -F, or -X, or the integer attribute, -i, is
set for vname, then the value is subject to arithmetic evaluation as described below.
Positional parameters, parameters denoted by a number, may be assigned values with the set
special built-in command. Parameter $0 is set from argument zero when the shell is
invoked.
The character $ is used to introduce substitutable parameters.
${parameter}
The shell reads all the characters from ${ to the matching } as part of the same
word even if it contains braces or metacharacters. The value, if any, of the
parameter is substituted. The braces are required when parameter is followed by a
letter, digit, or underscore that is not to be interpreted as part of its name,
when the variable name contains a .. The braces are also required when a variable
is subscripted unless it is part of an Arithmetic Expression or a Conditional
Expression. If parameter is one or more digits then it is a positional parameter.
A positional parameter of more than one digit must be enclosed in braces. If
parameter is * or @, then all the positional parameters, starting with $1, are sub-
stituted (separated by a field separator character). If an array vname with last
subscript * @, or for index arrays of the form sub1 .. sub2. is used, then the
value for each of the elements between sub1 and sub2 inclusive (or all elements for
* and @) is substituted, separated by the first character of the value of IFS.
${#parameter}
If parameter is * or @, the number of positional parameters is substituted. Other-
wise, the length of the value of the parameter is substituted.
${#vname[*]}
${#vname[@]}
The number of elements in the array vname is substituted.
${@vname}
Expands to the type name (See Type Variables below) or attributes of the variable
referred to by vname.
${!vname}
Expands to the name of the variable referred to by vname. This will be vname
except when vname is a name reference.
${!vname[subscript]}
Expands to name of the subscript unless subscript is *, @. or of the form sub1 ..
sub2. When subscript is *, the list of array subscripts for vname is generated.
For a variable that is not an array, the value is 0 if the variable is set. Other-
wise it is null. When subscript is @, same as above, except that when used in dou-
ble quotes, each array subscript yields a separate argument. When subscript is of
the form sub1 .. sub2 it expands to the list of subscripts between sub1 and sub2
inclusive using the same quoting rules as @.
${!prefix*}
Expands to the names of the variables whose names begin with prefix.
${parameter:-word}
If parameter is set and is non-null then substitute its value; otherwise substitute
word.
${parameter:=word}
If parameter is not set or is null then set it to word; the value of the parameter
is then substituted. Positional parameters may not be assigned to in this way.
${parameter:?word}
If parameter is set and is non-null then substitute its value; otherwise, print
word and exit from the shell (if not interactive). If word is omitted then a stan-
dard message is printed.
${parameter:+word}
If parameter is set and is non-null then substitute word; otherwise substitute
nothing.
In the above, word is not evaluated unless it is to be used as the substituted string, so
that, in the following example, pwd is executed only if d is not set or is null:
print ${d:-$(pwd)}
If the colon ( : ) is omitted from the above expressions, then the shell only checks
whether parameter is set or not.
${parameter:offset:length}
${parameter:offset}
Expands to the portion of the value of parameter starting at the character (count-
ing from 0) determined by expanding offset as an arithmetic expression and consist-
ing of the number of characters determined by the arithmetic expression defined by
length. In the second form, the remainder of the value is used. If A negative
offset counts backwards from the end of parameter. Note that one or more blanks is
required in front of a minus sign to prevent the shell from interpreting the opera-
tor as :-. If parameter is * or @, or is an array name indexed by * or @, then
offset and length refer to the array index and number of elements respectively. A
negative offset is taken relative to one greater than the highest subscript for
indexed arrays. The order for associate arrays is unspecified.
${parameter#pattern}
${parameter##pattern}
If the shell pattern matches the beginning of the value of parameter, then the
value of this expansion is the value of the parameter with the matched portion
deleted; otherwise the value of this parameter is substituted. In the first form
the smallest matching pattern is deleted and in the second form the largest match-
ing pattern is deleted. When parameter is @, *, or an array variable with sub-
script @ or *, the substring operation is applied to each element in turn.
${parameter%pattern}
${parameter%%pattern}
If the shell pattern matches the end of the value of parameter, then the value of
this expansion is the value of the parameter with the matched part deleted; other-
wise substitute the value of parameter. In the first form the smallest matching
pattern is deleted and in the second form the largest matching pattern is deleted.
When parameter is @, *, or an array variable with subscript @ or *, the substring
operation is applied to each element in turn.
${parameter/pattern/string}
${parameter//pattern/string}
${parameter/#pattern/string}
${parameter/%pattern/string}
Expands parameter and replaces the longest match of pattern with the given string.
Each occurrence of \n in string is replaced by the portion of parameter that
matches the n-th sub-pattern. In the first form, only the first occurrence of pat-
tern is replaced. In the second form, each match for pattern is replaced by the
given string. The third form restricts the pattern match to the beginning of the
string while the fourth form restricts the pattern match to the end of the string.
When string is null, the pattern will be deleted and the / in front of string may
be omitted. When parameter is @, *, or an array variable with subscript @ or *,
the substitution operation is applied to each element in turn. In this case, the
string portion of word will be re-evaluated for each element.
The following parameters are automatically set by the shell:
# The number of positional parameters in decimal.
- Options supplied to the shell on invocation or by the set command.
? The decimal value returned by the last executed command.
$ The process number of this shell.
_ Initially, the value of _ is an absolute pathname of the shell or script
being executed as passed in the environment. Subsequently it is assigned
the last argument of the previous command. This parameter is not set for
commands which are asynchronous. This parameter is also used to hold the
name of the matching MAIL file when checking for mail. While defining a
compound variable or a type, _ is initialized as a reference to the compound
variable or type. When a discipline function is invoked, _ is initialized
as a reference to the variable associated with the call to this function.
Finally when _ is used as the name of the first variable of a type defini-
tion, the new type is derived from the type of the first variable (See Type
Variables below.).
! The process id or the pool name and job number of the last background com-
mand invoked or the most recent job put in the background with the bg built-
in command. Background jobs started in a named pool will be in the form
pool.number where pool is the pool name and number is the job number within
that pool.
.sh.command
When processing a DEBUG trap, this variable contains the current command
line that is about to run.
.sh.edchar
This variable contains the value of the keyboard character (or sequence of
characters if the first character is an ESC, ascii 033) that has been
entered when processing a KEYBD trap (see Key Bindings below). If the value
is changed as part of the trap action, then the new value replaces the key
(or key sequence) that caused the trap.
.sh.edcol
The character position of the cursor at the time of the most recent KEYBD
trap.
.sh.edmode
The value is set to ESC when processing a KEYBD trap while in vi insert
mode. (See Vi Editing Mode below.) Otherwise, .sh.edmode is null when
processing a KEYBD trap.
.sh.edtext
The characters in the input buffer at the time of the most recent KEYBD
trap. The value is null when not processing a KEYBD trap.
.sh.file
The pathname of the file than contains the current command.
.sh.fun
The name of the current function that is being executed.
.sh.level
Set to the current function depth. This can be changed inside a DEBUG trap
and will set the context to the specified level.
.sh.lineno
Set during a DEBUG trap to the line number for the caller of each function.
.sh.match
An indexed array which stores the most recent match and sub-pattern matches
after conditional pattern matches that match and after variables expansions
using the operators #, %, or /. The 0-th element stores the complete match
and the i-th. element stores the i-th submatch. The .sh.match variable
becomes unset when the variable that has expanded is assigned a new value.
.sh.math
Used for defining arithmetic functions (see Arithmetic evaluation below).
and stores the list of user defined arithmetic functions.
.sh.name
Set to the name of the variable at the time that a discipline function is
invoked.
.sh.subscript
Set to the name subscript of the variable at the time that a discipline
function is invoked.
.sh.subshell
The current depth for subshells and command substitution.
.sh.value
Set to the value of the variable at the time that the set or append disci-
pline function is invoked. When a user defined arithmetic function is
invoked, the value of .sh.value is saved and .sh.value is set to long double
precision floating point. .sh.value is restored when the function returns.
.sh.version
Set to a value that identifies the version of this shell.
KSH_VERSION
A name reference to .sh.version.
LINENO The current line number within the script or function being executed.
OLDPWD The previous working directory set by the cd command.
OPTARG The value of the last option argument processed by the getopts built-in com-
mand.
OPTIND The index of the last option argument processed by the getopts built-in com-
mand.
PPID The process number of the parent of the shell.
PWD The present working directory set by the cd command.
RANDOM Each time this variable is referenced, a random integer, uniformly distrib-
uted between 0 and 32767, is generated. The sequence of random numbers can
be initialized by assigning a numeric value to RANDOM.
REPLY This variable is set by the select statement and by the read built-in com-
mand when no arguments are supplied.
SECONDS
Each time this variable is referenced, the number of seconds since shell
invocation is returned. If this variable is assigned a value, then the
value returned upon reference will be the value that was assigned plus the
number of seconds since the assignment.
SHLVL An integer variable the is incremented each time the shell is invoked and is
exported. If SHLVL is not in the environment when the shell is invoked, it
is set to 1.
The following variables are used by the shell:
CDPATH The search path for the cd command.
COLUMNS
If this variable is set, the value is used to define the width of the edit
window for the shell edit modes and for printing select lists.
EDITOR If the VISUAL variable is not set, the value of this variable will be
checked for the patterns as described with VISUAL below and the correspond-
ing editing option (see Special Command set below) will be turned on.
ENV If this variable is set, then parameter expansion, command substitution, and
arithmetic substitution are performed on the value to generate the pathname
of the script that will be executed when the shell is invoked interactively
(see Invocation below). This file is typically used for alias and function
definitions. The default value is $HOME/.kshrc. On systems that support a
system wide /etc/ksh.kshrc initialization file, if the filename generated
by the expansion of ENV begins with /./ or ././ the system wide initializa-
tion file will not be executed.
FCEDIT Obsolete name for the default editor name for the hist command. FCEDIT is
not used when HISTEDIT is set.
FIGNORE
A pattern that defines the set of filenames that will be ignored when per-
forming filename matching.
FPATH The search path for function definitions. The directories in this path are
searched for a file with the same name as the function or command when a
function with the -u attribute is referenced and when a command is not
found. If an executable file with the name of that command is found, then
it is read and executed in the current environment. Unlike PATH, the cur-
rent directory must be represented explicitly by . rather than by adjacent
: characters or a beginning or ending :.
HISTCMD
Number of the current command in the history file.
HISTEDIT
Name for the default editor name for the hist command.
HISTFILE
If this variable is set when the shell is invoked, then the value is the
pathname of the file that will be used to store the command history (see
Command Re-entry below).
HISTSIZE
If this variable is set when the shell is invoked, then the number of previ-
ously entered commands that are accessible by this shell will be greater
than or equal to this number. The default is 512.
HOME The default argument (home directory) for the cd command.
IFS Internal field separators, normally space, tab, and new-line that are used
to separate the results of command substitution or parameter expansion and
to separate fields with the built-in command read. The first character of
the IFS variable is used to separate arguments for the "$*" substitution
(see Quoting below). Each single occurrence of an IFS character in the
string to be split, that is not in the isspace character class, and any
adjacent characters in IFS that are in the isspace character class, delimit
a field. One or more characters in IFS that belong to the isspace character
class, delimit a field. In addition, if the same isspace character appears
consecutively inside IFS, this character is treated as if it were not in the
isspace class, so that if IFS consists of two tab characters, then two adja-
cent tab characters delimit a null field.
JOBMAX This variable defines the maximum number running background jobs that can
run at a time. When this limit is reached, the shell will wait for a job to
complete before staring a new job.
LANG This variable determines the locale category for any category not specifi-
cally selected with a variable starting with LC_ or LANG.
LC_ALL This variable overrides the value of the LANG variable and any other LC_
variable.
LC_COLLATE
This variable determines the locale category for character collation infor-
mation.
LC_CTYPE
This variable determines the locale category for character handling func-
tions. It determines the character classes for pattern matching (see File
Name Generation below).
LC_NUMERIC
This variable determines the locale category for the decimal point charac-
ter.
LINES If this variable is set, the value is used to determine the column length
for printing select lists. Select lists will print vertically until about
two-thirds of LINES lines are filled.
MAIL If this variable is set to the name of a mail file and the MAILPATH variable
is not set, then the shell informs the user of arrival of mail in the speci-
fied file.
MAILCHECK
This variable specifies how often (in seconds) the shell will check for
changes in the modification time of any of the files specified by the MAIL-
PATH or MAIL variables. The default value is 600 seconds. When the time
has elapsed the shell will check before issuing the next prompt.
MAILPATH
A colon ( : ) separated list of file names. If this variable is set, then
the shell informs the user of any modifications to the specified files that
have occurred within the last MAILCHECK seconds. Each file name can be fol-
lowed by a ? and a message that will be printed. The message will undergo
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic substitution with
the variable $_ defined as the name of the file that has changed. The
default message is you have mail in $_.
PATH The search path for commands (see Execution below). The user may not change
PATH if executing under rksh (except in .profile).
PS1 The value of this variable is expanded for parameter expansion, command sub-
stitution, and arithmetic substitution to define the primary prompt string
which by default is ``$''. The character ! in the primary prompt string is
replaced by the command number (see Command Re-entry below). Two successive
occurrences of ! will produce a single ! when the prompt string is
printed.
PS2 Secondary prompt string, by default ``> ''.
PS3 Selection prompt string used within a select loop, by default ``#? ''.
PS4 The value of this variable is expanded for parameter evaluation, command
substitution, and arithmetic substitution and precedes each line of an exe-
cution trace. By default, PS4 is ``+ ''. In addition when PS4 is unset,
the execution trace prompt is also ``+ ''.
SHELL The pathname of the shell is kept in the environment. At invocation, if the
basename of this variable is rsh, rksh, or krsh, then the shell becomes
restricted. If it is pfsh or pfksh, then the shell becomes a profile shell
(see pfexec(1)).
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 a format sequence that is expanded
to a time value or other information. The format sequences and their mean-
ings are as follows.
%% A literal %.
%[p][l]R The elapsed time in seconds.
%[p][l]U The number of CPU seconds spent in user mode.
%[p][l]S The number of CPU seconds spent in system mode.
%P The CPU percentage, computed as (U + S) / R.
The brackets denote optional portions. 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 can be displayed; values of p greater than 3
are treated as 3. If p is not specified, the value 3 is used.
The optional l specifies a longer format, including hours if greater than
zero, minutes, and seconds of the form HHhMMmSS.FFs. The value of p deter-
mines whether or not the fraction is included.
All other characters are output without change and a trailing newline is
added. If unset, the default value, $'\nreal\t%2lR\nuser\t%2lU\nsys%2lS',
is used. If the value is null, no timing information is displayed.
TMOUT If set to a value greater than zero, TMOUT will be the default timeout value
for the read built-in command. The select compound command terminates after
TMOUT seconds when input is from a terminal. Otherwise, the shell will ter-
minate if a line is not entered within the prescribed number of seconds
while reading from a terminal. (Note that the shell can be compiled with a
maximum bound for this value which cannot be exceeded.)
VISUAL If the value of this variable matches the pattern *[Vv][Ii]*, then the vi
option (see Special Command set below) is turned on. If the value matches
the pattern *gmacs* , the gmacs option is turned on. If the value matches
the pattern *macs*, then the emacs option will be turned on. The value of
VISUAL overrides the value of EDITOR.
The shell gives default values to PATH, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, MAILCHECK, FCEDIT, TMOUT and
IFS, while HOME, SHELL, ENV, and MAIL are not set at all by the shell (although HOME is
set by login(1)). On some systems MAIL and SHELL are also set by login(1).
Field Splitting.
After parameter expansion and command substitution, the results of substitutions are
scanned for the field separator characters (those found in IFS) and split into distinct
fields where such characters are found. Explicit null fields ("" or '') are retained.
Implicit null fields (those resulting from parameters that have no values or command sub-
stitutions with no output) are removed.
If the braceexpand (-B) option is set then each of the fields resulting from IFS are
checked to see if they contain one or more of the brace patterns {*,*}, {l1..l2} ,
{n1..n2} , {n1..n2% fmt} , {n1..n2 ..n3} , or {n1..n2 ..n3%fmt} , where * represents any
character, l1,l2 are letters and n1,n2,n3 are signed numbers and fmt is a format specified
as used by printf. In each case, fields are created by prepending the characters before
the { and appending the characters after the } to each of the strings generated by the
characters between the { and }. The resulting fields are checked to see if they have any
brace patterns.
In the first form, a field is created for each string between { and ,, between , and ,,
and between , and }. The string represented by * can contain embedded matching { and }
without quoting. Otherwise, each { and } with * must be quoted.
In the seconds form, l1 and l2 must both be either upper case or both be lower case char-
acters in the C locale. In this case a field is created for each character from l1 thru
l2.
In the remaining forms, a field is created for each number starting at n1 and continuing
until it reaches n2 incrementing n1 by n3. The cases where n3 is not specified behave as
if n3 where 1 if n1<=n2 and -1 otherwise. If forms which specify %fmt any format flags,
widths and precisions can be specified and fmt can end in any of the specifiers cdiouxX.
For example, {a,z}{1..5..3%02d}{b..c}x expands to the 8 fields, a01bx, a01cx, a04bx,
a04cx, z01bx, z01cx, z04bx and z4cx.
File Name Generation.
Following splitting, each field is scanned for the characters *, ?, (, and [ unless the -f
option has been set. If one of these characters appears, then the word is regarded as a
pattern. Each file name component that contains any pattern character is replaced with a
lexicographically sorted set of names that matches the pattern from that directory. If no
file name is found that matches the pattern, then that component of the filename is left
unchanged unless the pattern is prefixed with ~(N) in which case it is removed as
described below. If FIGNORE is set, then each file name component that matches the pat-
tern defined by the value of FIGNORE is ignored when generating the matching filenames.
The names . and .. are also ignored. If FIGNORE is not set, the character . at the
start of each file name component will be ignored unless the first character of the pat-
tern corresponding to this component is the character . itself. Note, that for other
uses of pattern matching the / and . are not treated specially.
* Matches any string, including the null string. When used for filename
expansion, if the globstar option is on, two adjacent *'s by itself will
match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories. If fol-
lowed by a / then only directories and subdirectories will match.
? Matches any single character.
[...] Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A pair of characters separated
by - matches any character lexically between the pair, inclusive. If the
first character following the opening [ is a ! or ^ then any character not
enclosed is matched. A - can be included in the character set by putting it
as the first or last character.
Within [ and ], character classes can be specified with the syntax [:class:]
where class is one of the following classes defined in the ANSI-C standard:
(Note that word is equivalent to alnum plus the character _.)
alnum alpha blank cntrl digit graph lower print punct space upper word
xdigit
Within [ and ], an equivalence class can be specified with the syntax [=c=]
which matches all characters with the same primary collation weight (as
defined by the current locale) as the character c. Within [ and ], [.sym-
bol.] matches the collating symbol symbol.
A pattern-list is a list of one or more patterns separated from each other with a & or |.
A & signifies that all patterns must be matched whereas | requires that only one pattern
be matched. Composite patterns can be formed with one or more of the following sub-pat-
terns:
?(pattern-list)
Optionally matches any one 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.
{n}(pattern-list)
Matches n occurrences of the given patterns.
{m,n}(pattern-list)
Matches from m to n occurrences of the given patterns. If m is omitted, 0
will be used. If n is omitted at least m occurrences will be matched.
@(pattern-list)
Matches exactly one of the given patterns.
!(pattern-list)
Matches anything except one of the given patterns.
By default, each pattern, or sub-pattern will match the longest string possible consistent
with generating the longest overall match. If more than one match is possible, the one
starting closest to the beginning of the string will be chosen. However, for each of the
above compound patterns a - can be inserted in front of the ( to cause the shortest match
to the specified pattern-list to be used.
When pattern-list is contained within parentheses, the backslash character \ is treated
specially even when inside a character class. All ANSI-C character escapes are recog-
nized and match the specified character. In addition the following escape sequences are
recognized:
\d Matches any character in the digit class.
\D Matches any character not in the digit class.
\s Matches any character in the space class.
\S Matches any character not in the space class.
\w Matches any character in the word class.
\W Matches any character not in the word class.
A pattern of the form %(pattern-pair(s)) is a sub-pattern that can be used to match nested
character expressions. Each pattern-pair is a two character sequence which cannot contain
& or |. The first pattern-pair specifies the starting and ending characters for the
match. Each subsequent pattern-pair represents the beginning and ending characters of a
nested group that will be skipped over when counting starting and ending character
matches. The behavior is unspecified when the first character of a pattern-pair is alpha-
numeric except for the following:
D Causes the ending character to terminate the search for this pattern without
finding a match.
E Causes the ending character to be interpreted as an escape character.
L Causes the ending character to be interpreted as a quote character causing
all characters to be ignored when looking for a match.
Q Causes the ending character to be interpreted as a quote character causing
all characters other than any escape character to be ignored when looking
for a match.
Thus, %({}Q"E\), matches characters starting at { until the matching } is found not count-
ing any { or } that is inside a double quoted string or preceded by the escape character
\. Without the {} this pattern matches any C language string.
Each sub-pattern in a composite pattern is numbered, starting at 1, by the location of the
( within the pattern. The sequence \n, where n is a single digit and \n comes after the
n-th. sub-pattern, matches the same string as the sub-pattern itself.
Finally a pattern can contain sub-patterns of the form ~(options:pattern-list), where
either options or :pattern-list can be omitted. Unlike the other compound patterns, these
sub-patterns are not counted in the numbered sub-patterns. :pattern-list must be omitted
for options F, G, N , and V below. If options is present, it can consist of one or more
of the following:
+ Enable the following options. This is the default.
- Disable the following options.
E The remainder of the pattern uses extended regular expression syntax like
the egrep(1) command.
F The remainder of the pattern uses fgrep(1) expression syntax.
G The remainder of the pattern uses basic regular expression syntax like the
grep(1) command.
K The remainder of the pattern uses shell pattern syntax. This is the
default.
N This is ignored. However, when it is the first letter and is used with file
name generation, and no matches occur, the file pattern expands to the empty
string.
X The remainder of the pattern uses augmented regular expression syntax like
the xgrep(1) command.
P The remainder of the pattern uses perl(1) regular expression syntax. Not
all perl regular expression syntax is currently implemented.
V The remainder of the pattern uses System V regular expression syntax.
i Treat the match as case insensitive.
g File the longest match (greedy). This is the default.
l Left anchor the pattern. This is the default for K style patterns.
r Right anchor the pattern. This is the default for K style patterns.
If both options and :pattern-list are specified, then the options apply only to pattern-
list. Otherwise, these options remain in effect until they are disabled by a subsequent
~(...) or at the end of the sub-pattern containing ~(...).
Quoting.
Each of the metacharacters listed earlier (see Definitions above) has a special meaning to
the shell and causes termination of a word unless quoted. A character may be quoted
(i.e., made to stand for itself) by preceding it with a \. The pair \new-line is removed.
All characters enclosed between a pair of single quote marks ('') that is not preceded by
a $ are quoted. A single quote cannot appear within the single quotes. A single quoted
string preceded by an unquoted $ is processed as an ANSI-C string except for the follow-
ing:
\0 Causes the remainder of the string to be ignored.
\E Equivalent to the escape character (ascii 033),
\e Equivalent to the escape character (ascii 033),
\cx Expands to the character control-x.
\C[.name.]
Expands to the collating element name.
Inside double quote marks (""), parameter and command substitution occur and \ quotes the
characters \, `, ", and $. A $ in front of a double quoted string will be ignored in the
"C" or "POSIX" locale, and may cause the string to be replaced by a locale specific string
otherwise. The meaning of $* and $@ is identical when not quoted or when used as a vari-
able assignment value or as a file name. However, when used as a command argument, "$*"
is equivalent to "$1d$2d...", where d is the first character of the IFS variable, whereas
"$@" is equivalent to "$1" "$2" .... Inside grave quote marks (``), \ quotes the charac-
ters \, `, and $. If the grave quotes occur within double quotes, then \ also quotes the
character ".
The special meaning of reserved words or aliases can be removed by quoting any character
of the reserved word. The recognition of function names or built-in command names listed
below cannot be altered by quoting them.
Arithmetic Evaluation.
The shell performs arithmetic evaluation for arithmetic substitution, to evaluate an
arithmetic command, to evaluate an indexed array subscript, and to evaluate arguments to
the built-in commands shift and let. Evaluations are performed using double precision
floating point arithmetic or long double precision floating point for systems that provide
this data type. Floating point constants follow the ANSI-C programming language floating
point conventions. The floating point constants Nan and Inf can be use to represent "not
a number" and infinity respectively. Integer constants follow the ANSI-C programming lan-
guage integer constant conventions although only single byte character constants are rec-
ognized and character casts are not recognized. In addition constants can be of the form
[base#]n where base is a decimal number between two and sixty-four representing the arith-
metic base and n is a number in that base. The digits above 9 are represented by the
lower case letters, the upper case letters, @, and _ respectively. For bases less than or
equal to 36, upper and lower case characters can be used interchangeably.
An arithmetic expression uses the same syntax, precedence, and associativity of expression
as the C language. All the C language operators that apply to floating point quantities
can be used. In addition, the operator ** can be used for exponentiation. It has higher
precedence than multiplication and is left associative. In addition, when the value of an
arithmetic variable or sub-expression can be represented as a long integer, all C language
integer arithmetic operations can be performed. Variables can be referenced by name
within an arithmetic expression without using the parameter expansion syntax. When a
variable is referenced, its value is evaluated as an arithmetic expression.
Any of the following math library functions that are in the C math library can be used
within an arithmetic expression:
abs acos acosh asin asinh atan atan2 atanh cbrt ceil copysign cos cosh erf erfc exp exp2
expm1 fabs fpclassify fdim finite floor fma fmax fmin fmod hypot ilogb int isfinite sinf
isnan isnormal issubnormal issubordered iszero j0 j1 jn lgamma log log10 log2 logb near-
byint nextafter nexttoward pow remainder rint round scanb signbit sin sinh sqrt tan tanh
tgamma trunc y0 y1 yn In addition, arithmetic functions can be define as shell functions
with a variant of the function name syntax,
function .sh.math.name ident ... { list ;}
where name is the function name used in the arithmetic expression and each identi-
fier, ident is a name reference to the long double precision floating point argu-
ment. The value of .sh.value when the function returns is the value of this func-
tion. User defined functions can take up to 3 arguments and override C math
library functions.
An internal representation of a variable as a double precision floating point can be spec-
ified with the -E [n], -F [n], or -X [n] option of the typeset special built-in command.
The -E option causes the expansion of the value to be represented using scientific nota-
tion when it is expanded. The optional option argument n defines the number of signifi-
cant figures. The -F option causes the expansion to be represented as a floating decimal
number when it is expanded. The -X option cause the expansion to be represented using the
%a format defined by ISO C-99. The optional option argument n defines the number of
places after the decimal (or radix) point in this case.
An internal integer representation of a variable can be specified with the -i [n] option
of the typeset special built-in command. The optional option argument n specifies an
arithmetic base to be used when expanding the variable. If you do not specify an arith-
metic base, base 10 will be used.
Arithmetic evaluation is performed on the value of each assignment to a variable with the
-E, -F, -X, or -i attribute. Assigning a floating point number to a variable whose type
is an integer causes the fractional part to be truncated.
Prompting.
When used interactively, the shell prompts with the value of PS1 after expanding it for
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic substitution, before reading a
command. In addition, each single ! in the prompt is replaced by the command number. A
!! is required to place ! in the prompt. If at any time a new-line is typed and further
input is needed to complete a command, then the secondary prompt (i.e., the value of PS2)
is issued.
Conditional Expressions.
A conditional expression is used with the [[ compound command to test attributes of files
and to compare strings. Field splitting and file name generation are not performed on the
words between [[ and ]]. Each expression can be constructed from one or more of the fol-
lowing unary or binary expressions:
string True, if string is not null.
-a file
Same as -e below. This is obsolete.
-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 an ordinary file.
-g file
True, if file exists and it has its setgid bit set.
-k file
True, if file exists and it has its sticky bit set.
-n string
True, if length of string is non-zero.
-o ?option
True, if option named option is a valid option name.
-o option
True, if option named option is on.
-p file
True, if file exists and is a fifo special file or a pipe.
-r file
True, if file exists and is readable by current process.
-s file
True, if file exists and has size greater than zero.
-t fildes
True, if file descriptor number fildes is open and associated with a terminal
device.
-u file
True, if file exists and it has its setuid bit set.
-v name
True, if variable name is a valid variable name and is set.
-w file
True, if file exists and is writable by current process.
-x file
True, if file exists and is executable by current process. If file exists and is a
directory, then true if the current process has permission to search in the direc-
tory.
-z string
True, if length of string is zero.
-L file
True, if file exists and is a symbolic link.
-h file
True, if file exists and is a symbolic link.
-N file
True, if file exists and the modification time is greater than the last access
time.
-O file
True, if file exists and is owned by the effective user id of this process.
-G file
True, if file exists and its group matches the effective group id of this process.
-R name
True if variable name is a name reference.
-S file
True, if file exists and is a socket.
file1 -nt file2
True, if file1 exists and file2 does not, or file1 is newer than file2.
file1 -ot file2
True, if file2 exists and file1 does not, or file1 is older than file2.
file1 -ef file2
True, if file1 and file2 exist and refer to the same file.
string == pattern
True, if string matches pattern. Any part of pattern can be quoted to cause it to
be matched as a string. With a successful match to a pattern, the .sh.match array
variable will contain the match and sub-pattern matches.
string = pattern
Same as == above, but is obsolete.
string != pattern
True, if string does not match pattern. When the string matches the pattern the
.sh.match array variable will contain the match and sub-pattern matches.
string =~ ere
True if string matches the pattern ~(E)ere where ere is an extended regular expres-
sion.
string1 < string2
True, if string1 comes before string2 based on ASCII value of their characters.
string1 > string2
True, if string1 comes after string2 based on ASCII value of their characters.
The following obsolete arithmetic comparisons are also permitted:
exp1 -eq exp2
True, if exp1 is equal to exp2.
exp1 -ne exp2
True, if exp1 is not equal to exp2.
exp1 -lt exp2
True, if exp1 is less than exp2.
exp1 -gt exp2
True, if exp1 is greater than exp2.
exp1 -le exp2
True, if exp1 is less than or equal to exp2.
exp1 -ge exp2
True, if exp1 is greater than or equal to exp2.
In each of the above expressions, if file is of the form /dev/fd/n, where n is an integer,
then the test is applied to the open file whose descriptor number is n.
A compound expression can be constructed from these primitives by using any of the follow-
ing, listed in decreasing order of precedence.
(expression)
True, if expression is true. Used to group expressions.
! expression
True if expression is false.
expression1 && expression2
True, if expression1 and expression2 are both true.
expression1 || expression2
True, if either expression1 or expression2 is true.
Input/Output.
Before a command is executed, its input and output may be redirected using a special nota-
tion interpreted by the shell. The following may appear anywhere in a simple-command or
may precede or follow a command and are not passed on to the invoked command. Command
substitution, parameter expansion, and arithmetic substitution occur before word or digit
is used except as noted below. File name generation occurs only if the shell is interac-
tive and the pattern matches a single file. Field splitting is not performed.
In each of the following redirections, if file is of the form /dev/sctp/host/port,
/dev/tcp/host/port, or /dev/udp/host/port, where host is a hostname or host address, and
port is a service given by name or an integer port number, then the redirection attempts
to make a tcp, sctp or udp connection to the corresponding socket.
No intervening space is allowed between the characters of redirection operators.
<word Use file word as standard input (file descriptor 0).
>word Use file word as standard output (file descriptor 1). If the file does not
exist then it is created. If the file exists, and the noclobber option is
on, this causes an error; otherwise, it is truncated to zero length.
>|word Same as >, except that it overrides the noclobber option.
>;word Write output to a temporary file. If the command completes successfully
rename it to word, otherwise, delete the temporary file. >;word cannot be
used with the exec(2). built-in.
>>word Use file word as standard output. If the file exists, then output is
appended to it (by first seeking to the end-of-file); otherwise, the file is
created.
<>word Open file word for reading and writing as standard output.
<>;word The same as <>word except that if the command completes successfully, word
is truncated to the offset at command completion. <>;word cannot be used
with the exec(2). built-in.
<<[-]word The shell input is read up to a line that is the same as word after any
quoting has been removed, or to an end-of-file. No parameter substitution,
command substitution, arithmetic substitution or file name generation is
performed on word. The resulting document, called a here-document, becomes
the standard input. If any character of word is quoted, then no interpreta-
tion is placed upon the characters of the document; otherwise, parameter
expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic substitution occur, \new-
line is ignored, and \ must be used to quote the characters \, $, `. If -
is appended to <<, then all leading tabs are stripped from word and from the
document. If # is appended to <<, then leading spaces and tabs will be
stripped off the first line of the document and up to an equivalent indenta-
tion will be stripped from the remaining lines and from word. A tab stop is
assumed to occur at every 8 columns for the purposes of determining the
indentation.
<<<word A short form of here document in which word becomes the contents of the
here-document after any parameter expansion, command substitution, and
arithmetic substitution occur.
<&digit The standard input is duplicated from file descriptor digit (see dup(2)).
Similarly for the standard output using >&digit.
<&digit- The file descriptor given by digit is moved to standard input. Similarly
for the standard output using >&digit-.
<&- The standard input is closed. Similarly for the standard output using >&-.
<&p The input from the co-process is moved to standard input.
>&p The output to the co-process is moved to standard output.
<#((expr)) Evaluate arithmetic expression expr and position file descriptor 0 to the
resulting value bytes from the start of the file. The variables CUR and EOF
evaluate to the current offset and end-of-file offset respectively when
evaluating expr.
>#((offset)) The same as <# except applies to file descriptor 1.
<#pattern Seeks forward to the beginning of the next line containing pattern.
<##pattern The same as <# except that the portion of the file that is skipped is copied
to standard output.
If one of the above is preceded by a digit, with no intervening space, then the file
descriptor number referred to is that specified by the digit (instead of the default 0 or
1). If one of the above, other than >&- and the ># and <# forms, is preceded by {varname}
with no intervening space, then a file descriptor number > 10 will be selected by the
shell and stored in the variable varname. If >&- or the any of the ># and <# forms is
preceded by {varname} the value of varname defines the file descriptor to close or posi-
tion. For example:
... 2>&1
means file descriptor 2 is to be opened for writing as a duplicate of file descriptor 1
and
exec {n}<file
means open file named file for reading and store the file descriptor number in variable n.
The order in which redirections are specified is significant. The shell evaluates each
redirection in terms of the (file descriptor, file) association at the time of evaluation.
For example:
... 1>fname 2>&1
first associates file descriptor 1 with file fname. It then associates file descriptor 2
with the file associated with file descriptor 1 (i.e. fname). If the order of redirec-
tions were reversed, file descriptor 2 would be associated with the terminal (assuming
file descriptor 1 had been) and then file descriptor 1 would be associated with file
fname.
If a command is followed by & and job control is not active, then the default standard
input for the command is the empty file /dev/null. Otherwise, the environment for the
execution of a command contains the file descriptors of the invoking shell as modified by
input/output specifications.
Environment.
The environment (see environ(7)) is a list of name-value pairs that is passed to an exe-
cuted program in the same way as a normal argument list. The names must be identifiers
and the values are character strings. The shell interacts with the environment in several
ways. On invocation, the shell scans the environment and creates a variable for each name
found, giving it the corresponding value and attributes and marking it export. Executed
commands inherit the environment. If the user modifies the values of these variables or
creates new ones, using the export or typeset -x commands, they become part of the envi-
ronment. The environment seen by any executed command is thus composed of any name-value
pairs originally inherited by the shell, whose values may be modified by the current
shell, plus any additions which must be noted in export or typeset -x commands.
The environment for any simple-command or function may be augmented by prefixing it with
one or more variable assignments. A variable assignment argument is a word of the form
identifier=value. Thus:
TERM=450 cmd args and
(export TERM; TERM=450; cmd args)
are equivalent (as far as the above execution of cmd is concerned except for special
built-in commands listed below - those that are preceded with a dagger).
If the obsolete -k option is set, all variable assignment arguments are placed in the
environment, even if they occur after the command name. The following first prints a=b c
and then c:
echo a=b c
set -k
echo a=b c
This feature is intended for use with scripts written for early versions of the shell and
its use in new scripts is strongly discouraged. It is likely to disappear someday.
Functions.
For historical reasons, there are two ways to define functions, the name() syntax and the
function name syntax, described in the Commands section above. Shell functions are read
in and stored internally. Alias names are resolved when the function is read. Functions
are executed like commands with the arguments passed as positional parameters. (See Exe-
cution below.)
Functions defined by the function name syntax and called by name execute in the same
process as the caller and share all files and present working directory with the caller.
Traps caught by the caller are reset to their default action inside the function. A trap
condition that is not caught or ignored by the function causes the function to terminate
and the condition to be passed on to the caller. A trap on EXIT set inside a function is
executed in the environment of the caller after the function completes. Ordinarily, vari-
ables are shared between the calling program and the function. However, the typeset spe-
cial built-in command used within a function defines local variables whose scope includes
the current function. They can be passed to functions that they call in the variable
assignment list that precedes the call or as arguments passed as name references. Errors
within functions return control to the caller.
Functions defined with the name() syntax and functions defined with the function name syn-
tax that are invoked with the . special built-in are executed in the caller's environment
and share all variables and traps with the caller. Errors within these function execu-
tions cause the script that contains them to abort.
The special built-in command return is used to return from function calls.
Function names can be listed with the -f or +f option of the typeset special built-in com-
mand. The text of functions, when available, will also be listed with -f. Functions can
be undefined with the -f option of the unset special built-in command.
Ordinarily, functions are unset when the shell executes a shell script. Functions that
need to be defined across separate invocations of the shell should be placed in a direc-
tory and the FPATH variable should contain the name of this directory. They may also be
specified in the ENV file.
Discipline Functions.
Each variable can have zero or more discipline functions associated with it. The shell
initially understands the discipline names get, set, append, and unset but can be added
when defining new types. On most systems others can be added at run time via the C pro-
gramming interface extension provided by the builtin built-in utility. If the get disci-
pline is defined for a variable, it is invoked whenever the given variable is referenced.
If the variable .sh.value is assigned a value inside the discipline function, the refer-
enced variable will evaluate to this value instead. If the set discipline is defined for
a variable, it is invoked whenever the given variable is assigned a value. If the append
discipline is defined for a variable, it is invoked whenever a value is appended to the
given variable. The variable .sh.value is given the value of the variable before invoking
the discipline, and the variable will be assigned the value of .sh.value after the disci-
pline completes. If .sh.value is unset inside the discipline, then that value is
unchanged. If the unset discipline is defined for a variable, it is invoked whenever the
given variable is unset. The variable will not be unset unless it is unset explicitly
from within this discipline function.
The variable .sh.name contains the name of the variable for which the discipline function
is called, .sh.subscript is the subscript of the variable, and .sh.value will contain the
value being assigned inside the set discipline function. The variable _ is a reference to
the variable including the subscript if any. For the set discipline, changing .sh.value
will change the value that gets assigned. Finally, the expansion ${var.name}, when name
is the name of a discipline, and there is no variable of this name, is equivalent to the
command substitution ${ var.name;}.
Name Spaces.
Commands and functions that are executed as part of the list of a namespace command that
modify variables or create new ones, create a new variable whose name is the name of the
name space as given by identifier preceded by .. When a variable whose name is name is
referenced, it is first searched for using .identifier.name. Similarly, a function
defined by a command in the namespace list is created using the name space name preceded
by a ..
When the list of a namespace command contains a namespace command, the names of variables
and functions that are created consist of the variable or function name preceded by the
list of identifiers each preceded by ..
Outside of a name space, a variable or function created inside a name space can be refer-
enced by preceding it with the name space name.
By default, variables staring with .sh are in the sh name space.
Type Variables.
Typed variables provide a way to create data structure and objects. A type can be defined
either by a shared library, by the enum built-in command described below, or by using the
new -T option of the typeset built-in command. With the -T option of typeset, the type
name, specified as an option argument to -T, is set with a compound variable assignment
that defines the type. Function definitions can appear inside the compound variable
assignment and these become discipline functions for this type and can be invoked or rede-
fined by each instance of the type. The function name create is treated specially. It is
invoked for each instance of the type that is created but is not inherited and cannot be
redefined for each instance.
When a type is defined a special built-in command of that name is added. These built-ins
are declaration commands and follow the same expansion rules as all the special built-in
commands defined below that are preceded by --. These commands can subsequently be used
inside further type definitions. The man page for these commands can be generated by
using the --man option or any of the other -- options described with getopts. The -r, -a,
-A, -h, and -S options of typeset are permitted with each of these new built-ins.
An instance of a type is created by invoking the type name followed by one or more
instance names. Each instance of the type is initialized with a copy of the sub-variables
except for sub-variables that are defined with the -S option. Variables defined with the
-S are shared by all instances of the type. Each instance can change the value of any
sub-variable and can also define new discipline functions of the same names as those
defined by the type definition as well as any standard discipline names. No additional
sub-variables can be defined for any instance.
When defining a type, if the value of a sub-variable is not set and the -r attribute is
specified, it causes the sub-variable to be a required sub-variable. Whenever an instance
of a type is created, all required sub-variables must be specified. These sub-variables
become readonly in each instance.
When unset is invoked on a sub-variable within a type, and the -r attribute has not been
specified for this field, the value is reset to the default value associative with the
type. Invoking unset on a type instance not contained within another type deletes all
sub-variables and the variable itself.
A type definition can be derived from another type definition by defining the first sub-
variable name as _ and defining its type as the base type. Any remaining definitions will
be additions and modifications that apply to the new type. If the new type name is the
same is that of the base type, the type will be replaced and the original type will no
longer be accessible.
The typeset command with the -T and no option argument or operands will write all the type
definitions to standard output in a form that that can be read in to create all they
types.
Jobs.
If the monitor option of the set command is turned on, an interactive shell associates a
job with each pipeline. It keeps a table of current jobs, printed by the jobs command,
and assigns them small integer numbers. When a job is started asynchronously with &, the
shell prints a line which looks like:
[1] 1234
indicating that the job which was started asynchronously was job number 1 and had one
(top-level) process, whose process id was 1234.
This paragraph and the next require features that are not in all versions of UNIX and may
not apply. If you are running a job and wish to do something else you may hit the key ^Z
(control-Z) which sends a STOP signal to the current job. The shell will then normally
indicate that the job has been `Stopped', and print another prompt. You can then manipu-
late the state of this job, putting it in the background with the bg command, or run some
other commands and then eventually bring the job back into the foreground with the fore-
ground command fg. A ^Z takes effect immediately and is like an interrupt in that pending
output and unread input are discarded when it is typed.
A job being run in the background will stop if it tries to read from the terminal. Back-
ground jobs are normally allowed to produce output, but this can be disabled by giving the
command stty tostop. If you set this tty option, then background jobs will stop when they
try to produce output like they do when they try to read input.
A job pool is a collection of jobs started with list & associated with a name.
There are several ways to refer to jobs in the shell. A job can be referred to by the
process id of any process of the job or by one of the following:
%number
The job with the given number.
pool All the jobs in the job pool named by pool.
pool.number
The job number number in the job pool named by pool.
%string
Any job whose command line begins with string.
%?string
Any job whose command line contains string.
%% Current job.
%+ Equivalent to %%.
%- Previous job. In addition, unless noted otherwise, wherever a job can be speci-
fied, the name of a background job pool can be used to represent all the jobs in
that pool.
The shell learns immediately whenever a process changes state. It normally informs you
whenever a job becomes blocked so that no further progress is possible, but only just
before it prints a prompt. This is done so that it does not otherwise disturb your work.
The notify option of the set command causes the shell to print these job change messages
as soon as they occur.
When the monitor option is on, each background job that completes triggers any trap set
for CHLD.
When you try to leave the shell while jobs are running or stopped, you will be warned that
`You have stopped(running) jobs.' You may use the jobs command to see what they are. If
you immediately try to exit again, the shell will not warn you a second time, and the
stopped jobs will be terminated. When a login shell receives a HUP signal, it sends a HUP
signal to each job that has not been disowned with the disown built-in command described
below.
Signals.
The INT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored if the command is followed by
& and the monitor option is active. Otherwise, signals have the values inherited by the
shell from its parent (but see also the trap built-in command below).
Execution.
Each time a command is read, the above substitutions are carried out. If the command name
matches one of the Special Built-in Commands listed below, it is executed within the cur-
rent shell process. Next, the command name is checked to see if it matches a user defined
function. If it does, the positional parameters are saved and then reset to the arguments
of the function call. A function is also executed in the current shell process. When the
function completes or issues a return, the positional parameter list is restored. For
functions defined with the function name syntax, any trap set on EXIT within the function
is executed. The exit value of a function is the value of the last command executed. If
a command name is not a special built-in command or a user defined function, but it is one
of the built-in commands listed below, it is executed in the current shell process.
The shell variables PATH followed by the variable FPATH defines the list of directories to
search for the command name. Alternative directory names are separated by a colon (:).
The default path is equal to getconf PATH output. The current directory can be specified
by two or more adjacent colons, or by a colon at the beginning or end of the path list.
If the command name contains a /, then the search path is not used. Otherwise, each
directory in the list of directories defined by PATH and FPATH is checked in order. If
the directory being searched is contained in FPATH and contains a file whose name matches
the command being searched, then this file is loaded into the current shell environment as
if it were the argument to the . command except that only preset aliases are expanded, and
a function of the given name is executed as described above.
If this directory is not in FPATH the shell first determines whether there is a built-in
version of a command corresponding to a given pathname and if so it is invoked in the cur-
rent process. If no built-in is found, the shell checks for a file named .paths in this
directory. If found and there is a line of the form FPATH=path where path names an exist-
ing directory then that directory is searched after immediately after the current direc-
tory as if it were found in the FPATH variable. If path does not begin with /, it is
checked for relative to the directory being searched.
The .paths file is then checked for a line of the form PLUGIN_LIB=libname [ : libname ]
... . Each library named by libname will be searched for as if it were an option argument
to builtin -f, and if it contains a built-in of the specified name this will be executed
instead of a command by this name. Any built-in loaded from a library found this way will
be associated with the directory containing the .paths file so it will only execute if not
found in an earlier directory.
Finally, the directory will be checked for a file of the given name. If the file has exe-
cute permission but is not an a.out file, it is assumed to be a file containing shell com-
mands. A separate shell is spawned to read it. All non-exported variables are removed in
this case. If the shell command file doesn't have read permission, or if the setuid
and/or setgid bits are set on the file, then the shell executes an agent whose job it is
to set up the permissions and execute the shell with the shell command file passed down as
an open file. If the .paths contains a line of the form name=value in the first or second
line, then the environment variable name is modified by prepending the directory specified
by value to the directory list. If value is not an absolute directory, then it specifies
a directory relative to the directory that the executable was found. If the environment
variable name does not already exist it will be added to the environment list for the
specified command. A parenthesized command is executed in a sub-shell without removing
non-exported variables.
Command Re-entry.
The text of the last HISTSIZE (default 512) commands entered from a terminal device is
saved in a history file. The file $HOME/.sh_history is used if the HISTFILE variable is
not set or if the file it names is not writable. A shell can access the commands of all
interactive shells which use the same named HISTFILE. The built-in command hist is used
to list or edit a portion of this file. The portion of the file to be edited or listed
can be selected by number or by giving the first character or characters of the command.
A single command or range of commands can be specified. If you do not specify an editor
program as an argument to hist then the value of the variable HISTEDIT is used. If HISTE-
DIT is unset, the obsolete variable FCEDIT is used. If FCEDIT is not defined, then
/bin/ed is used. The edited command(s) is printed and re-executed upon leaving the editor
unless you quit without writing. The -s option (and in obsolete versions, the editor name
-) is used to skip the editing phase and to re-execute the command. In this case a sub-
stitution parameter of the form old=new can be used to modify the command before execu-
tion. For example, with the preset alias r, which is aliased to 'hist -s', typing `r
bad=good c' will re-execute the most recent command which starts with the letter c,
replacing the first occurrence of the string bad with the string good.
In-line Editing Options.
Normally, each command line entered from a terminal device is simply typed followed by a
new-line (`RETURN' or `LINE FEED'). If either the emacs, gmacs, or vi option is active,
the user can edit the command line. To be in either of these edit modes set the corre-
sponding option. An editing option is automatically selected each time the VISUAL or EDI-
TOR variable is assigned a value ending in either of these option names.
The editing features require that the user's terminal accept `RETURN' as carriage return
without line feed and that a space (` ') must overwrite the current character on the
screen.
Unless the multiline option is on, the editing modes implement a concept where the user is
looking through a window at the current line. The window width is the value of COLUMNS if
it is defined, otherwise 80. If the window width is too small to display the prompt and
leave at least 8 columns to enter input, the prompt is truncated from the left. If the
line is longer than the window width minus two, a mark is displayed at the end of the win-
dow to notify the user. As the cursor moves and reaches the window boundaries the window
will be centered about the cursor. The mark is a > (<, *) if the line extends on the
right (left, both) side(s) of the window.
The search commands in each edit mode provide access to the history file. Only strings
are matched, not patterns, although a leading ^ in the string restricts the match to begin
at the first character in the line.
Each of the edit modes has an operation to list the files or commands that match a par-
tially entered word. When applied to the first word on the line, or the first word after
a ;, |, &, or (, and the word does not begin with ~ or contain a /, the list of aliases,
functions, and executable commands defined by the PATH variable that could match the par-
tial word is displayed. Otherwise, the list of files that match the given word is dis-
played. If the partially entered word does not contain any file expansion characters, a *
is appended before generating these lists. After displaying the generated list, the input
line is redrawn. These operations are called command name listing and file name listing,
respectively. There are additional operations, referred to as command name completion and
file name completion, which compute the list of matching commands or files, but instead of
printing the list, replace the current word with a complete or partial match. For file
name completion, if the match is unique, a / is appended if the file is a directory and a
space is appended if the file is not a directory. Otherwise, the longest common prefix
for all the matching files replaces the word. For command name completion, only the por-
tion of the file names after the last / are used to find the longest command prefix. If
only a single name matches this prefix, then the word is replaced with the command name
followed by a space. When using a tab for completion that does not yield a unique match,
a subsequent tab will provide a numbered list of matching alternatives. A specific selec-
tion can be made by entering the selection number followed by a tab.
Key Bindings.
The KEYBD trap can be used to intercept keys as they are typed and change the characters
that are actually seen by the shell. This trap is executed after each character (or
sequence of characters when the first character is ESC) is entered while reading from a
terminal. The variable .sh.edchar contains the character or character sequence which gen-
erated the trap. Changing the value of .sh.edchar in the trap action causes the shell to
behave as if the new value were entered from the keyboard rather than the original value.
The variable .sh.edcol is set to the input column number of the cursor at the time of the
input. The variable .sh.edmode is set to ESC when in vi insert mode (see below) and is
null otherwise. By prepending ${.sh.editmode} to a value assigned to .sh.edchar it will
cause the shell to change to control mode if it is not already in this mode.
This trap is not invoked for characters entered as arguments to editing directives, or
while reading input for a character search.
Emacs Editing Mode.
This mode is entered by enabling either the emacs or gmacs option. The only difference
between these two modes is the way they handle ^T. To edit, the user moves the cursor to
the point needing correction and then inserts or deletes characters or words as needed.
All the editing commands are control characters or escape sequences. The notation for
control characters is caret (^) followed by the character. For example, ^F is the nota-
tion for control F. This is entered by depressing `f' while holding down the `CTRL' (con-
trol) key. The `SHIFT' key is not depressed. (The notation ^? indicates the DEL
(delete) key.)
The notation for escape sequences is M- followed by a character. For example, M-f (pro-
nounced Meta f) is entered by depressing ESC (ascii 033) followed by `f'. (M-F would be
the notation for ESC followed by `SHIFT' (capital) `F'.)
All edit commands operate from any place on the line (not just at the beginning). Neither
the `RETURN' nor the `LINE FEED' key is entered after edit commands except when noted.
^F Move cursor forward (right) one character.
M-[C Move cursor forward (right) one character.
M-f Move cursor forward one word. (The emacs editor's idea of a word is a string of
characters consisting of only letters, digits and underscores.)
^B Move cursor backward (left) one character.
M-[D Move cursor backward (left) one character.
M-b Move cursor backward one word.
^A Move cursor to start of line.
M-[H Move cursor to start of line.
^E Move cursor to end of line.
M-[Y Move cursor to end of line.
^]char Move cursor forward to character char on current line.
M-^]char Move cursor backward to character char on current line.
^X^X Interchange the cursor and mark.
erase (User defined erase character as defined by the stty(1) command, usually ^H or
#.) Delete previous character.
lnext (User defined literal next character as defined by the stty(1) command, or ^V if
not defined.) Removes the next character's editing features (if any).
^D Delete current character.
M-d Delete current word.
M-^H (Meta-backspace) Delete previous word.
M-h Delete previous word.
M-^? (Meta-DEL) Delete previous word (if your interrupt character is ^? (DEL, the
default) then this command will not work).
^T Transpose current character with previous character and advance the cursor in
emacs mode. Transpose two previous characters in gmacs mode.
^C Capitalize current character.
M-c Capitalize current word.
M-l Change the current word to lower case.
^K Delete from the cursor to the end of the line. If preceded by a numerical
parameter whose value is less than the current cursor position, then delete from
given position up to the cursor. If preceded by a numerical parameter whose
value is greater than the current cursor position, then delete from cursor up to
given cursor position.
^W Kill from the cursor to the mark.
M-p Push the region from the cursor to the mark on the stack.
kill (User defined kill character as defined by the stty command, usually ^G or @.)
Kill the entire current line. If two kill characters are entered in succession,
all kill characters from then on cause a line feed (useful when using paper ter-
minals).
^Y Restore last item removed from line. (Yank item back to the line.)
^L Line feed and print current line.
M-^L Clear the screen.
^@ (Null character) Set mark.
M-space (Meta space) Set mark.
^J (New line) Execute the current line.
^M (Return) Execute the current line.
eof End-of-file character, normally ^D, is processed as an End-of-file only if the
current line is null.
^P Fetch previous command. Each time ^P is entered the previous command back in
time is accessed. Moves back one line when not on the first line of a multi-
line command.
M-[A If the cursor is at the end of the line, it is equivalent to ^R with string set
to the contents of the current line. Otherwise, it is equivalent to ^P.
M-< Fetch the least recent (oldest) history line.
M-> Fetch the most recent (youngest) history line.
^N Fetch next command line. Each time ^N is entered the next command line forward
in time is accessed.
M-[B Equivalent to ^N.
^Rstring Reverse search history for a previous command line containing string. If a
parameter of zero is given, the search is forward. String is terminated by a
`RETURN' or `NEW LINE'. If string is preceded by a ^, the matched line must
begin with string. If string is omitted, then the next command line containing
the most recent string is accessed. In this case a parameter of zero reverses
the direction of the search.
^O Operate - Execute the current line and fetch the next line relative to current
line from the history file.
M-digits (Escape) Define numeric parameter, the digits are taken as a parameter to the
next command. The commands that accept a parameter are ^F, ^B, erase, ^C, ^D,
^K, ^R, ^P, ^N, ^], M-., M-^], M-_, M-=, M-b, M-c, M-d, M-f, M-h, M-l and M-^H.
M-letter Soft-key - Your alias list is searched for an alias by the name _letter and if
an alias of this name is defined, its value will be inserted on the input queue.
The letter must not be one of the above meta-functions.
M-[letter Soft-key - Your alias list is searched for an alias by the name __letter and if
an alias of this name is defined, its value will be inserted on the input queue.
This can be used to program function keys on many terminals.
M-. The last word of the previous command is inserted on the line. If preceded by a
numeric parameter, the value of this parameter determines which word to insert
rather than the last word.
M-_ Same as M-..
M-* Attempt file name generation on the current word. An asterisk is appended if
the word doesn't match any file or contain any special pattern characters.
M-ESC Command or file name completion as described above.
^I tab Attempts command or file name completion as described above. If a partial com-
pletion occurs, repeating this will behave as if M-= were entered. If no match
is found or entered after space, a tab is inserted.
M-= If not preceded by a numeric parameter, it generates the list of matching com-
mands or file names as described above. Otherwise, the word under the cursor is
replaced by the item corresponding to the value of the numeric parameter from
the most recently generated command or file list. If the cursor is not on a
word, it is inserted instead.
^U Multiply parameter of next command by 4.
\ Escape next character. Editing characters, the user's erase, kill and interrupt
(normally ^?) characters may be entered in a command line or in a search string
if preceded by a \. The \ removes the next character's editing features (if
any).
M-^V Display version of the shell.
M-# If the line does not begin with a #, a # is inserted at the beginning of the
line and after each new-line, and the line is entered. This causes a comment to
be inserted in the history file. If the line begins with a #, the # is deleted
and one # after each new-line is also deleted.
Vi Editing Mode.
There are two typing modes. Initially, when you enter a command you are in the input
mode. To edit, the user enters control mode by typing ESC (033) and moves the cursor to
the point needing correction and then inserts or deletes characters or words as needed.
Most control commands accept an optional repeat count prior to the command.
When in vi mode on most systems, canonical processing is initially enabled and the command
will be echoed again if the speed is 1200 baud or greater and it contains any control
characters or less than one second has elapsed since the prompt was printed. The ESC
character terminates canonical processing for the remainder of the command and the user
can then modify the command line. This scheme has the advantages of canonical processing
with the type-ahead echoing of raw mode.
If the option viraw is also set, the terminal will always have canonical processing dis-
abled. This mode is implicit for systems that do not support two alternate end of line
delimiters, and may be helpful for certain terminals.
Input Edit Commands
By default the editor is in input mode.
erase (User defined erase character as defined by the stty command, usually ^H
or #.) Delete previous character.
^W Delete the previous blank separated word. On some systems the viraw
option may be required for this to work.
eof As the first character of the line causes the shell to terminate unless
the ignoreeof option is set. Otherwise this character is ignored.
lnext (User defined literal next character as defined by the stty(1) or ^V if
not defined.) Removes the next character's editing features (if any).
On some systems the viraw option may be required for this to work.
\ Escape the next erase or kill character.
^I tab Attempts command or file name completion as described above and returns
to input mode. If a partial completion occurs, repeating this will
behave as if = were entered from control mode. If no match is found or
entered after space, a tab is inserted.
Motion Edit Commands
These commands will move the cursor.
[count]l Cursor forward (right) one character.
[count][C Cursor forward (right) one character.
[count]w Cursor forward one alpha-numeric word.
[count]W Cursor to the beginning of the next word that follows a blank.
[count]e Cursor to end of word.
[count]E Cursor to end of the current blank delimited word.
[count]h Cursor backward (left) one character.
[count][D Cursor backward (left) one character.
[count]b Cursor backward one word.
[count]B Cursor to preceding blank separated word.
[count]| Cursor to column count.
[count]fc Find the next character c in the current line.
[count]Fc Find the previous character c in the current line.
[count]tc Equivalent to f followed by h.
[count]Tc Equivalent to F followed by l.
[count]; Repeats count times, the last single character find command, f, F, t, or
T.
[count], Reverses the last single character find command count times.
0 Cursor to start of line.
^ Cursor to start of line.
[H Cursor to first non-blank character in line.
$ Cursor to end of line.
[Y Cursor to end of line.
% Moves to balancing (, ), {, }, [, or ]. If cursor is not on one of the
above characters, the remainder of the line is searched for the first
occurrence of one of the above characters first.
Search Edit Commands
These commands access your command history.
[count]k Fetch previous command. Each time k is entered the previous command back
in time is accessed.
[count]- Equivalent to k.
[count][A If cursor is at the end of the line it is equivalent to / with string^set
to the contents of the current line. Otherwise, it is equivalent to k.
[count]j Fetch next command. Each time j is entered the next command forward in
time is accessed.
[count]+ Equivalent to j.
[count][B Equivalent to j.
[count]G The command number count is fetched. The default is the least recent
history command.
/string Search backward through history for a previous command containing string.
String is terminated by a `RETURN' or `NEW LINE'. If string is preceded
by a ^, the matched line must begin with string. If string is null, the
previous string will be used.
?string Same as / except that search will be in the forward direction.
n Search for next match of the last pattern to / or ? commands.
N Search for next match of the last pattern to / or ?, but in reverse
direction.
Text Modification Edit Commands
These commands will modify the line.
a Enter input mode and enter text after the current character.
A Append text to the end of the line. Equivalent to $a.
[count]cmotion
c[count]motion
Delete current character through the character that motion would move the
cursor to and enter input mode. If motion is c, the entire line will be
deleted and input mode entered.
C Delete the current character through the end of line and enter input
mode. Equivalent to c$.
S Equivalent to cc.
[count]s Replace characters under the cursor in input mode.
D Delete the current character through the end of line. Equivalent to d$.
[count]dmotion
d[count]motion
Delete current character through the character that motion would move to.
If motion is d , the entire line will be deleted.
i Enter input mode and insert text before the current character.
I Insert text before the beginning of the line. Equivalent to 0i.
[count]P Place the previous text modification before the cursor.
[count]p Place the previous text modification after the cursor.
R Enter input mode and replace characters on the screen with characters you
type overlay fashion.
[count]rc Replace the count character(s) starting at the current cursor position
with c, and advance the cursor.
[count]x Delete current character.
[count]X Delete preceding character.
[count]. Repeat the previous text modification command.
[count]~ Invert the case of the count character(s) starting at the current cursor
position and advance the cursor.
[count]_ Causes the count word of the previous command to be appended and input
mode entered. The last word is used if count is omitted.
* Causes an * to be appended to the current word and file name generation
attempted. If no match is found, it rings the bell. Otherwise, the word
is replaced by the matching pattern and input mode is entered.
\ Command or file name completion as described above.
Other Edit Commands
Miscellaneous commands.
[count]ymotion
y[count]motion
Yank current character through character that motion would move the cur-
sor to and puts them into the delete buffer. The text and cursor are
unchanged.
yy Yanks the entire line.
Y Yanks from current position to end of line. Equivalent to y$.
u Undo the last text modifying command.
U Undo all the text modifying commands performed on the line.
[count]v Returns the command hist -e ${VISUAL:-${EDITOR:-vi}} count in the input
buffer. If count is omitted, then the current line is used.
^L Line feed and print current line. Has effect only in control mode.
^J (New line) Execute the current line, regardless of mode.
^M (Return) Execute the current line, regardless of mode.
# If the first character of the command is a #, then this command deletes
this # and each # that follows a newline. Otherwise, sends the line
after inserting a # in front of each line in the command. Useful for
causing the current line to be inserted in the history as a comment and
uncommenting previously commented commands in the history file.
[count]= If count is not specified, it generates the list of matching commands or
file names as described above. Otherwise, the word under the the cursor
is replaced by the count item from the most recently generated command or
file list. If the cursor is not on a word, it is inserted instead.
@letter Your alias list is searched for an alias by the name _letter and if an
alias of this name is defined, its value will be inserted on the input
queue for processing.
^V Display version of the shell.
Built-in Commands.
The following simple-commands are executed in the shell process. Input/Output redirection
is permitted. Unless otherwise indicated, the output is written on file descriptor 1 and
the exit status, when there is no syntax error, is zero. Except for :, true, false, echo,
newgrp, and login, all built-in commands accept -- to indicate end of options. They also
interpret the option --man as a request to display the man page onto standard error and -?
as a help request which prints a usage message on standard error. Commands that are pre-
ceded by one or two - symbols are special built-in commands and are treated specially in
the following ways:
1. Variable assignment lists preceding the command remain in effect when the command
completes.
2. I/O redirections are processed after variable assignments.
3. Errors cause a script that contains them to abort.
4. They are not valid function names.
5. Words following a command preceded by -- that are in the format of a variable
assignment are expanded with the same rules as a variable assignment. This means
that tilde substitution is performed after the = sign and field splitting and file
name generation are not performed. These are called declaration built-ins.
- : [ arg ... ]
The command only expands parameters.
- . name [ arg ... ]
If name is a function defined with the function name reserved word syntax, the
function is executed in the current environment (as if it had been defined with the
name() syntax.) Otherwise if name refers to a file, the file is read in its
entirety and the commands are executed in the current shell environment. The
search path specified by PATH is used to find the directory containing the file.
If any arguments arg are given, they become the positional parameters while pro-
cessing the . command and the original positional parameters are restored upon
completion. Otherwise the positional parameters are unchanged. The exit status is
the exit status of the last command executed.
-- alias [ -ptx ] [ name[ =value ] ] ...
alias with no arguments prints the list of aliases in the form name=value on stan-
dard output. The -p option causes the word alias to be inserted before each one.
When one or more arguments are given, an alias is defined for each name whose value
is given. A trailing space in value causes the next word to be checked for alias
substitution. The obsolete -t option is used to set and list tracked aliases. The
value of a tracked alias is the full pathname corresponding to the given name. The
value becomes undefined when the value of PATH is reset but the alias remains
tracked. Without the -t option, for each name in the argument list for which no
value is given, the name and value of the alias is printed. The obsolete -x option
has no effect. The exit status is non-zero if a name is given, but no value, and
no alias has been defined for the name.
bg [ job... ]
This command is only on systems that support job control. Puts each specified job
into the background. The current job is put in the background if job is not speci-
fied. See Jobs for a description of the format of job.
- break [ n ]
Exit from the enclosing for, while, until, or select loop, if any. If n is speci-
fied, then break n levels.
builtin [ -ds ] [ -f file ] [ name ... ]
If name is not specified, and no -f option is specified, the built-ins are printed
on standard output. The -s option prints only the special built-ins. Otherwise,
each name represents the pathname whose basename is the name of the built-in. The
entry point function name is determined by prepending b_ to the built-in name. A
built-in specified by a pathname will only be executed when that pathname would be
found during the path search. Built-ins found in libraries loaded via the .paths
file will be associate with the pathname of the directory containing the .paths
file.
The ISO C/C++ prototype is b_mycommand(int argc, char *argv[], void *context) for the
builtin command mycommand where argv is array an of argc elements and context is an
optional pointer to a Shell_t structure as described in <ast/shell.h>.
Special built-ins cannot be bound to a pathname or deleted. The -d option deletes each of
the given built-ins. On systems that support dynamic loading, the -f option names a
shared library containing the code for built-ins. The shared library prefix and/or suf-
fix, which depend on the system, can be omitted. Once a library is loaded, its symbols
become available for subsequent invocations of builtin. Multiple libraries can be speci-
fied with separate invocations of the builtin command. Libraries are searched in the
reverse order in which they are specified. When a library is loaded, it looks for a func-
tion in the library whose name is lib_init() and invokes this function with an argument of
0.
cd [ -LP ] [ arg ]
cd [ -LP ] old new
This command can be in either of two forms. In the first form it changes the cur-
rent directory to arg. If arg is - the directory is changed to the previous direc-
tory. The shell variable HOME is the default arg. The variable PWD is set to the
current directory. The shell variable CDPATH defines the search path for the
directory containing arg. Alternative directory names are separated by a colon
(:). The default path is <null> (specifying the current directory). Note that the
current directory is specified by a null path name, which can appear immediately
after the equal sign or between the colon delimiters anywhere else in the path
list. If arg begins with a / then the search path is not used. Otherwise, each
directory in the path is searched for arg.
The second form of cd substitutes the string new for the string old in the current
directory name, PWD, and tries to change to this new directory.
By default, symbolic link names are treated literally when finding the directory
name. This is equivalent to the -L option. The -P option causes symbolic links to
be resolved when determining the directory. The last instance of -L or -P on the
command line determines which method is used.
The cd command may not be executed by rksh. rksh93.
command [ -pvxV ] name [ arg ... ]
Without the -v or -V options, command executes name with the arguments given by
arg. The -p option causes a default path to be searched rather than the one
defined by the value of PATH. Functions will not be searched for when finding
name. In addition, if name refers to a special built-in, none of the special prop-
erties associated with the leading daggers will be honored. (For example, the pre-
defined alias redirect='command exec' prevents a script from terminating when an
invalid redirection is given.) With the -x option, if command execution would
result in a failure because there are too many arguments, errno E2BIG, the shell
will invoke command name multiple times with a subset of the arguments on each
invocation. Arguments that occur prior to the first word that expands to multiple
arguments and after the last word that expands to multiple arguments will be passed
on each invocation. The exit status will be the maximum invocation exit status.
With the -v option, command is equivalent to the built-in whence command described
below. The -V option causes command to act like whence -v.
- continue [ n ]
Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for, while, until, or select loop. If n
is specified, then resume at the n-th enclosing loop.
disown [ job... ]
Causes the shell not to send a HUP signal to each given job, or all active jobs if
job is omitted, when a login shell terminates.
echo [ arg ... ]
When the first arg does not begin with a -, and none of the arguments contain a \,
then echo prints each of its arguments separated by a space and terminated by a
new-line. Otherwise, the behavior of echo is system dependent and print or printf
described below should be used. See echo(1) for usage and description.
-- enum [ -i ] type[=(value ...) ]
Creates a declaration command named type that is an integer type that allows one of
the specified values as enumeration names. If =(value ...) is omitted, then type
must be an indexed array variable with at least two elements and the values are
taken from this array variable. If -i is specified the values are case insensi-
tive.
- eval [ arg ... ]
The arguments are read as input to the shell and the resulting command(s) executed.
- exec [ -c ] [ -a name ] [ arg ... ]
If arg is given, the command specified by the arguments is executed in place of
this shell without creating a new process. The -c option causes the environment to
be cleared before applying variable assignments associated with the exec invoca-
tion. The -a option causes name rather than the first arg, to become argv[0] for
the new process. Input/output arguments may appear and affect the current process.
If arg is not given, the effect of this command is to modify file descriptors as
prescribed by the input/output redirection list. In this case, any file descriptor
numbers greater than 2 that are opened with this mechanism are closed when invoking
another program.
- exit [ n ]
Causes the shell to exit with the exit status specified by n. The value will be
the least significant 8 bits of the specified status. If n is omitted, then the
exit status is that of the last command executed. An end-of-file will also cause
the shell to exit except for a shell which has the ignoreeof option (see set below)
turned on.
-- export [ -p ] [ name[=value] ] ...
If name is not given, the names and values of each variable with the export
attribute are printed with the values quoted in a manner that allows them to be re-
input. The export command is the same as typeset -x except that if you use export
within a function, no local variable is created. The -p option causes the word
export to be inserted before each one. Otherwise, the given names are marked for
automatic export to the environment of subsequently-executed commands.
false Does nothing, and exits 1. Used with until for infinite loops.
fg [ job... ]
This command is only on systems that support job control. Each job specified is
brought to the foreground and waited for in the specified order. Otherwise, the
current job is brought into the foreground. See Jobs for a description of the for-
mat of job.
getconf [ name [ pathname ] ]
Prints the current value of the configuration parameter given by name. The config-
uration parameters are defined by the IEEE POSIX 1003.1 and IEEE POSIX 1003.2 stan-
dards. (See pathconf(2) and sysconf(2).) The pathname argument is required for
parameters whose value depends on the location in the file system. If no arguments
are given, getconf prints the names and values of the current configuration parame-
ters. The pathname / is used for each of the parameters that requires pathname.
getopts [ -a name ] optstring vname [ arg ... ]
Checks arg for legal options. If arg is omitted, the positional parameters are
used. An option argument begins with a + or a -. An option not beginning with +
or - or the argument -- ends the options. Options beginning with + are only recog-
nized when optstring begins with a +. optstring contains the letters that getopts
recognizes. If a letter is followed by a :, that option is expected to have an
argument. The options can be separated from the argument by blanks. The option -?
causes getopts to generate a usage message on standard error. The -a argument can
be used to specify the name to use for the usage message, which defaults to $0.
getopts places the next option letter it finds inside variable vname each time it
is invoked. The option letter will be prepended with a + when arg begins with a +.
The index of the next arg is stored in OPTIND. The option argument, if any, gets
stored in OPTARG.
A leading : in optstring causes getopts to store the letter of an invalid option in
OPTARG, and to set vname to ? for an unknown option and to : when a required
option argument is missing. Otherwise, getopts prints an error message. The exit
status is non-zero when there are no more options.
There is no way to specify any of the options :, +, -, ?, [, and ]. The option #
can only be specified as the first option.
hist [ -e ename ] [ -nlr ] [ first [ last ] ]
hist -s [ old=new ] [ command ]
In the first form, a range of commands from first to last is selected from the last
HISTSIZE commands that were typed at the terminal. The arguments first and last
may be specified as a number or as a string. A string is used to locate the most
recent command starting with the given string. A negative number is used as an
offset to the current command number. If the -l option is selected, the commands
are listed on standard output. Otherwise, the editor program ename is invoked on a
file containing these keyboard commands. If ename is not supplied, then the value
of the variable HISTEDIT is used. If HISTEDIT is not set, then FCEDIT (default
/bin/ed) is used as the editor. When editing is complete, the edited command(s) is
executed if the changes have been saved. If last is not specified, then it will be
set to first. If first is not specified, the default is the previous command for
editing and -16 for listing. The option -r reverses the order of the commands and
the option -n suppresses command numbers when listing. In the second form, command
is interpreted as first described above and defaults to the last command executed.
The resulting command is executed after the optional substitution old=new is per-
formed.
jobs [ -lnp ] [ job ... ]
Lists information about each given job; or all active jobs if job is omitted. The
-l option lists process ids in addition to the normal information. The -n option
only displays jobs that have stopped or exited since last notified. The -p option
causes only the process group to be listed. See Jobs for a description of the for-
mat of job.
kill [ -s signame ] job ...
kill [ -n signum ] job ...
kill -Ll [ sig ... ]
Sends either the TERM (terminate) signal or the specified signal to the specified
jobs or processes. Signals are either given by number with the -n option or by
name with the -s option (as given in <signal.h>, stripped of the prefix ``SIG''
with the exception that SIGCLD is named CHLD). For backward compatibility, the n
and s can be omitted and the number or name placed immediately after the -. If the
signal being sent is TERM (terminate) or HUP (hangup), then the job or process will
be sent a CONT (continue) signal if it is stopped. The argument job can be the
process id of a process that is not a member of one of the active jobs. See Jobs
for a description of the format of job. In the third form, kill -l, or kill -L, if
sig is not specified, the signal names are listed. The -l option list only the
signal names. -L options lists each signal name and corresponding number. Other-
wise, for each sig that is a name, the corresponding signal number is listed. For
each sig that is a number, the signal name corresponding to the least significant 8
bits of sig is listed.
let arg ...
Each arg is a separate arithmetic expression to be evaluated. let only recognizes
octal constants starting with 0 when the set option letoctal is on. See Arithmetic
Evaluation above, for a description of arithmetic expression evaluation.
The exit status is 0 if the value of the last expression is non-zero, and 1 other-
wise.
- newgrp [ arg ... ]
Equivalent to exec /bin/newgrp arg ....
print [ -CRenprsv ] [ -u unit] [ -f format ] [ arg ... ]
With no options or with option - or --, each arg is printed on standard output.
The -f option causes the arguments to be printed as described by printf. In this
case, any e, n, r, R options are ignored. Otherwise, unless the -C, -R, -r, or -v
are specified, the following escape conventions will be applied:
\a The alert character (ascii 07).
\b The backspace character (ascii 010).
\c Causes print to end without processing more arguments and not adding a new-
line.
\f The formfeed character (ascii 014).
\n The new-line character (ascii 012).
\r The carriage return character (ascii 015).
\t The tab character (ascii 011).
\v The vertical tab character (ascii 013).
\E The escape character (ascii 033).
\\ The backslash character \.
\0x The character defined by the 1, 2, or 3-digit octal string given by x.
The -R option will print all subsequent arguments and options other than -n. The
-e causes the above escape conventions to be applied. This is the default behav-
ior. It reverses the effect of an earlier -r. The -p option causes the arguments
to be written onto the pipe of the process spawned with |& instead of standard out-
put. The -v option treats each arg as a variable name and writes the value in the
printf %B format. The -C option treats each arg as a variable name and writes the
value in the printf %#B format. The -s option causes the arguments to be written
onto the history file instead of standard output. The -u option can be used to
specify a one digit file descriptor unit number unit on which the output will be
placed. The default is 1. If the option -n is used, no new-line is added to the
output.
printf format [ arg ... ]
The arguments arg are printed on standard output in accordance with the ANSI-C for-
matting rules associated with the format string format. If the number of arguments
exceeds the number of format specifications, the format string is reused to format
remaining arguments. The following extensions can also be used:
%b A %b format can be used instead of %s to cause escape sequences in the cor-
responding arg to be expanded as described in print.
%B A %B option causes each of the arguments to be treated as variable names and
the binary value of variable will be printed. The alternate flag # causes a
compound variable to be output on a single line. This is most useful for
compound variables and variables whose attribute is -b.
%H A %H format can be used instead of %s to cause characters in arg that are
special in HTML and XML to be output as their entity name. The alternate
flag # formats the output for use as a URI.
%P A %P format can be used instead of %s to cause arg to be interpreted as an
extended regular expression and be printed as a shell pattern.
%R A %R format can be used instead of %s to cause arg to be interpreted as a
shell pattern and to be printed as an extended regular expression.
%q A %q format can be used instead of %s to cause the resulting string to be
quoted in a manner than can be reinput to the shell. When q is preceded by
the alternative format specifier, #, the string is quoted in manner suitable
as a field in a .csv format file.
%(date-format)T
A %(date-format)T format can be use to treat an argument as a date/time
string and to format the date/time according to the date-format as defined
for the date(1) command.
%Z A %Z format will output a byte whose value is 0.
%d The precision field of the %d format can be followed by a . and the output
base. In this case, the # flag character causes base# to be prepended.
# The # flag, when used with the %d format without an output base, displays
the output in powers of 1000 indicated by one of the following suffixes: k M
G T P E, and when used with the %i format displays the output in powers of
1024 indicated by one of the following suffixes: Ki Mi Gi Ti Pi Ei.
= The = flag centers the output within the specified field width.
L The L flag, when used with the %c or %s formats, treats precision as charac-
ter width instead of byte count.
, The , flag, when used with the %d or %f formats, separates groups of digits
with the grouping delimiter (, on groups of 3 in the C locale.)
pwd [ -LP ]
Outputs the value of the current working directory. The -L option is the default;
it prints the logical name of the current directory. If the -P option is given,
all symbolic links are resolved from the name. The last instance of -L or -P on
the command line determines which method is used.
read [ -ACSprsv ] [ -d delim] [ -n n] [ [ -N n] [ [ -t timeout] [ -u unit] [ vname?prompt
] [ vname ... ]
The shell input mechanism. One line is read and is broken up into fields using the
characters in IFS as separators. The escape character, \, is used to remove any
special meaning for the next character and for line continuation. The -d option
causes the read to continue to the first character of delim rather than new-line.
The -n option causes at most n bytes to read rather a full line but will return
when reading from a slow device as soon as any characters have been read. The -N
option causes exactly n to be read unless an end-of-file has been encountered or
the read times out because of the -t option. In raw mode, -r, the \ character is
not treated specially. The first field is assigned to the first vname, the second
field to the second vname, etc., with leftover fields assigned to the last vname.
When vname has the binary attribute and -n or -N is specified, the bytes that are
read are stored directly into the variable. If the -v is specified, then the value
of the first vname will be used as a default value when reading from a terminal
device. The -A option causes the variable vname to be unset and each field that is
read to be stored in successive elements of the indexed array vname. The -C option
causes the variable vname to be read as a compound variable. Blanks will be
ignored when finding the beginning open parenthesis. The -S option causes the line
to be treated like a record in a .csv format file so that double quotes can be used
to allow the delimiter character and the new-line character to appear within a
field. The -p option causes the input line to be taken from the input pipe of a
process spawned by the shell using |&. If the -s option is present, the input will
be saved as a command in the history file. The option -u can be used to specify a
one digit file descriptor unit unit to read from. The file descriptor can be
opened with the exec special built-in command. The default value of unit n is 0.
The option -t is used to specify a timeout in seconds when reading from a terminal
or pipe. If vname is omitted, then REPLY is used as the default vname. An end-of-
file with the -p option causes cleanup for this process so that another can be
spawned. If the first argument contains a ?, the remainder of this word is used as
a prompt on standard error when the shell is interactive. The exit status is 0
unless an end-of-file is encountered or read has timed out.
-- readonly [ -p ] [ vname[=value] ] ...
If vname is not given, the names and values of each variable with the readonly
attribute is printed with the values quoted in a manner that allows them to be re-
inputted. The -p option causes the word readonly to be inserted before each one.
Otherwise, the given vnames are marked readonly and these names cannot be changed
by subsequent assignment. When defining a type, if the value of a readonly sub-
variable is not defined the value is required when creating each instance.
- return [ n ]
Causes a shell function or . script to return to the invoking script with the exit
status specified by n. The value will be the least significant 8 bits of the spec-
ified status. If n is omitted, then the return status is that of the last command
executed. If return is invoked while not in a function or a . script, then it
behaves the same as exit.
- set [ +-BCGabefhkmnoprstuvx ] [ +-o [ option ] ] ... [ +-A vname ] [ arg ... ]
The options for this command have meaning as follows:
-A Array assignment. Unset the variable vname and assign values sequentially
from the arg list. If +A is used, the variable vname is not unset first.
-B Enable brace pattern field generation. This is the default behavior.
-B Enable brace group expansion. On by default.
-C Prevents redirection > from truncating existing files. Files that are cre-
ated are opened with the O_EXCL mode. Requires >| to truncate a file when
turned on.
-G Causes the pattern ** by itself to match files and zero or more directories
and sub-directories when used for file name generation. If followed by a /
only directories and sub-directories are matched.
-a All subsequent variables that are defined are automatically exported.
-b Prints job completion messages as soon as a background job changes state
rather than waiting for the next prompt.
-e Unless contained in a || or && command, or the command following an if
while or until command or in the pipeline following !, if a command has a
non-zero exit status, execute the ERR trap, if set, and exit. This mode is
disabled while reading profiles.
-f Disables file name generation.
-h Each command becomes a tracked alias when first encountered.
-k (Obsolete). All variable assignment arguments are placed in the environment
for a command, not just those that precede the command name.
-m Background jobs will run in a separate process group and a line will print
upon completion. The exit status of background jobs is reported in a com-
pletion message. On systems with job control, this option is turned on
automatically for interactive shells.
-n Read commands and check them for syntax errors, but do not execute them.
Ignored for interactive shells.
-o The following argument can be one of the following option names:
allexport
Same as -a.
errexit Same as -e.
bgnice All background jobs are run at a lower priority. This is the
default mode.
braceexpand
Same as -B.
emacs Puts you in an emacs style in-line editor for command entry.
globstar
Same as -G.
gmacs Puts you in a gmacs style in-line editor for command entry.
ignoreeof
The shell will not exit on end-of-file. The command exit must be
used.
keyword Same as -k.
letoctal
The let command allows octal constants starting with 0.
markdirs
All directory names resulting from file name generation have a
trailing / appended.
monitor Same as -m.
multiline
The built-in editors will use multiple lines on the screen for
lines that are longer than the width of the screen. This may not
work for all terminals.
noclobber
Same as -C.
noexec Same as -n.
noglob Same as -f.
nolog Do not save function definitions in the history file.
notify Same as -b.
nounset Same as -u.
pipefail
A pipeline will not complete until all components of the pipeline
have completed, and the return value will be the value of the last
non-zero command to fail or zero if no command has failed.
showme When enabled, simple commands or pipelines preceded by a semicolon
(;) will be displayed as if the xtrace option were enabled but will
not be executed. Otherwise, the leading ; will be ignored.
privileged
Same as -p.
verbose Same as -v.
trackall
Same as -h.
vi Puts you in insert mode of a vi style in-line editor until you hit
the escape character 033. This puts you in control mode. A return
sends the line.
viraw Each character is processed as it is typed in vi mode.
xtrace Same as -x.
If no option name is supplied, then the current option settings are
printed.
-p Disables processing of the $HOME/.profile file and uses the file
/etc/suid_profile instead of the ENV file. This mode is on whenever the
effective uid (gid) is not equal to the real uid (gid). Turning this off
causes the effective uid and gid to be set to the real uid and gid.
-r Enables the restricted shell. This option cannot be unset once set.
-s Sort the positional parameters lexicographically.
-t (Obsolete). Exit after reading and executing one command.
-u Treat unset parameters as an error when substituting.
-v Print shell input lines as they are read.
-x Print commands and their arguments as they are executed.
-- Do not change any of the options; useful in setting $1 to a value beginning
with -. If no arguments follow this option then the positional parameters
are unset.
As an obsolete feature, if the first arg is - then the -x and -v options are turned
off and the next arg is treated as the first argument. Using + rather than -
causes these options to be turned off. These options can also be used upon invoca-
tion of the shell. The current set of options may be found in $-. Unless -A is
specified, the remaining arguments are positional parameters and are assigned, in
order, to $1 $2 .... If no arguments are given, then the names and values of all
variables are printed on the standard output.
- shift [ n ]
The positional parameters from $n+1 ... are renamed $1 ... , default n is 1. The
parameter n can be any arithmetic expression that evaluates to a non-negative num-
ber less than or equal to $#.
sleep seconds
Suspends execution for the number of decimal seconds or fractions of a second given
by seconds.
- trap [ -p ] [ action ] [ sig ] ...
The -p option causes the trap action associated with each trap as specified by the
arguments to be printed with appropriate quoting. Otherwise, action will be pro-
cessed as if it were an argument to eval when the shell receives signal(s) sig.
Each sig can be given as a number or as the name of the signal. Trap commands are
executed in order of signal number. Any attempt to set a trap on a signal that was
ignored on entry to the current shell is ineffective. If action is omitted and the
first sig is a number, or if action is -, then the trap(s) for each sig are reset
to their original values. If action is the null string then this signal is ignored
by the shell and by the commands it invokes. If sig is ERR then action will be
executed whenever a command has a non-zero exit status. If sig is DEBUG then
action will be executed before each command. The variable .sh.command will contain
the contents of the current command line when action is running. If the exit sta-
tus of the trap is 2 the command will not be executed. If the exit status of the
trap is 255 and inside a function or a dot script, the function or dot script will
return. If sig is 0 or EXIT and the trap statement is executed inside the body of
a function defined with the function name syntax, then the command action is exe-
cuted after the function completes. If sig is 0 or EXIT for a trap set outside any
function then the command action is executed on exit from the shell. If sig is
KEYBD, then action will be executed whenever a key is read while in emacs, gmacs,
or vi mode. The trap command with no arguments prints a list of commands associ-
ated with each signal number.
An exit or return without an argument in a trap action will preserve the exit status of
the command that invoked the trap.
true Does nothing, and exits 0. Used with while for infinite loops.
-- typeset [ +-ACHSfblmnprtux ] [ +-EFLRXZi[n] ] [ +-M [ mapname ] ] [ -T [
tname=(assign_list) ] ] [ -h str ] [ -a [type] ] [ vname[=value ] ] ...
Sets attributes and values for shell variables and functions. When invoked inside
a function defined with the function name syntax, a new instance of the variable
vname is created, and the variable's value and type are restored when the function
completes. The following list of attributes may be specified:
-A Declares vname to be an associative array. Subscripts are strings rather
than arithmetic expressions.
-C causes each vname to be a compound variable. value names a compound vari-
able it is copied into vname. Otherwise, it unsets each vname.
-a Declares vname to be an indexed array. If type is specified, it must be the
name of an enumeration type created with the enum command and it allows enu-
meration constants to be used as subscripts.
-E Declares vname to be a double precision floating point number. If n is non-
zero, it defines the number of significant figures that are used when
expanding vname. Otherwise, ten significant figures will be used.
-F Declares vname to be a double precision floating point number. If n is non-
zero, it defines the number of places after the decimal point that are used
when expanding vname. Otherwise ten places after the decimal point will be
used.
-H This option provides UNIX to host-name file mapping on non-UNIX machines.
-L Left justify and remove leading blanks from value. If n is non-zero, it
defines the width of the field, otherwise it is determined by the width of
the value of first assignment. When the variable is assigned to, it is
filled on the right with blanks or truncated, if necessary, to fit into the
field. The -R option is turned off.
-M Use the character mapping mapping defined by wctrans(3). such as tolower
and toupper when assigning a value to each of the specified operands. When
mapping is specified and there are not operands, all variables that use this
mapping are written to standard output. When mapping is omitted and there
are no operands, all mapped variables are written to standard output.
-R Right justify and fill with leading blanks. If n is non-zero, it defines
the width of the field, otherwise it is determined by the width of the value
of first assignment. The field is left filled with blanks or truncated from
the end if the variable is reassigned. The -L option is turned off.
-S When used within the assign_list of a type definition, it causes the speci-
fied sub-variable to be shared by all instances of the type. When used
inside a function defined with the function reserved word, the specified
variables will have function static scope. Otherwise, the variable is unset
prior to processing the assignment list.
-T If followed by tname, it creates a type named by tname using the compound
assignment assign_list to tname. Otherwise, it writes all the type defini-
tions to standard output.
-X Declares vname to be a double precision floating point number and expands
using the %a format of ISO-C99. If n is non-zero, it defines the number of
hex digits after the radix point that is used when expanding vname. The
default is 10.
-Z Right justify and fill with leading zeros if the first non-blank character
is a digit and the -L option has not been set. Remove leading zeros if the
-L option is also set. If n is non-zero, it defines the width of the field,
otherwise it is determined by the width of the value of first assignment.
-f The names refer to function names rather than variable names. No assign-
ments can be made and the only other valid options are -S, -t, -u and -x.
The -S can be used with discipline functions defined in a type to indicate
that the function is static. For a static function, the same method will be
used by all instances of that type no matter which instance references it.
In addition, it can only use value of variables from the original type defi-
nition. These discipline functions cannot be redefined in any type
instance. The -t option turns on execution tracing for this function. The
-u option causes this function to be marked undefined. The FPATH variable
will be searched to find the function definition when the function is refer-
enced. If no options other than -f is specified, then the function defini-
tion will be displayed on standard output. If +f is specified, then a line
containing the function name followed by a shell comment containing the line
number and path name of the file where this function was defined, if any, is
displayed. The exit status can be used to determine whether the function is
defined so that typeset -f .sh.math.name will return 0 when math function
name is defined and non-zero otherwise.
-b The variable can hold any number of bytes of data. The data can be text or
binary. The value is represented by the base64 encoding of the data. If -Z
is also specified, the size in bytes of the data in the buffer will be
determined by the size associated with the -Z. If the base64 string
assigned results in more data, it will be truncated. Otherwise, it will be
filled with bytes whose value is zero. The printf format %B can be used to
output the actual data in this buffer instead of the base64 encoding of the
data.
-h Used within type definitions to add information when generating information
about the sub-variable on the man page. It is ignored when used outside of
a type definition. When used with -f the information is associated with the
corresponding discipline function.
-i Declares vname to be represented internally as integer. The right hand side
of an assignment is evaluated as an arithmetic expression when assigning to
an integer. If n is non-zero, it defines the output arithmetic base, other-
wise the output base will be ten.
-l Used with -i, -E or -F, to indicate long integer, or long float. Otherwise,
all upper-case characters are converted to lower-case. The upper-case
option, -u, is turned off. Equivalent to -M tolower .
-m moves or renames the variable. The value is the name of a variable whose
value will be moved to vname. The original variable will be unset. Cannot
be used with any other options.
-n Declares vname to be a reference to the variable whose name is defined by
the value of variable vname. This is usually used to reference a variable
inside a function whose name has been passed as an argument. Cannot be used
with any other options.
-p The name, attributes and values for the given vnames are written on standard
output in a form that can be used as shell input. If +p is specified, then
the values are not displayed.
-r The given vnames are marked readonly and these names cannot be changed by
subsequent assignment.
-t Tags the variables. Tags are user definable and have no special meaning to
the shell.
-u When given along with -i, specifies unsigned integer. Otherwise, all lower-
case characters are converted to upper-case. The lower-case option, -l, is
turned off. Equivalent to -M toupper .
-x The given vnames are marked for automatic export to the environment of sub-
sequently-executed commands. Variables whose names contain a . cannot be
exported.
The -i attribute cannot be specified along with -R, -L, -Z, or -f.
Using + rather than - causes these options to be turned off. If no vname arguments
are given, a list of vnames (and optionally the values) of the variables is
printed. (Using + rather than - keeps the values from being printed.) The -p
option causes typeset followed by the option letters to be printed before each name
rather than the names of the options. If any option other than -p is given, only
those variables which have all of the given options are printed. Otherwise, the
vnames and attributes of all variables that have attributes are printed.
ulimit [ -HSacdfmnpstv ] [ limit ]
Set or display a resource limit. The available resource limits are listed below.
Many systems do not support one or more of these limits. The limit for a specified
resource is set when limit is specified. The value of limit can be a number in the
unit specified below with each resource, or the value unlimited. The -H and -S
options specify whether the hard limit or the soft limit for the given resource is
set. A hard limit cannot be increased once it is set. A soft limit can be
increased up to the value of the hard limit. If neither the H nor S option is
specified, the limit applies to both. The current resource limit is printed when
limit is omitted. In this case, the soft limit is printed unless H is specified.
When more than one resource is specified, then the limit name and unit is printed
before the value.
-a Lists all of the current resource limits.
-c The number of 512-byte blocks on the size of core dumps.
-d The number of K-bytes on the size of the data area.
-f The number of 512-byte blocks on files that can be written by the current
process or by child processes (files of any size may be read).
-m The number of K-bytes on the size of physical memory.
-n The number of file descriptors plus 1.
-p The number of 512-byte blocks for pipe buffering.
-s The number of K-bytes on the size of the stack area.
-t The number of CPU seconds to be used by each process.
-v The number of K-bytes for virtual memory.
If no option is given, -f is assumed.
umask [ -S ] [ mask ]
The user file-creation mask is set to mask (see umask(2)). mask can either be an
octal number or a symbolic value as described in chmod(1). If a symbolic value is
given, the new umask value is the complement of the result of applying mask to the
complement of the previous umask value. If mask is omitted, the current value of
the mask is printed. The -S option causes the mode to be printed as a symbolic
value. Otherwise, the mask is printed in octal.
- unalias [ -a ] name ...
The aliases given by the list of names are removed from the alias list. The -a
option causes all the aliases to be unset.
-unset [ -fnv ] vname ...
The variables given by the list of vnames are unassigned, i.e., except for sub-
variables within a type, their values and attributes are erased. For sub-variables
of a type, the values are reset to the default value from the type definition.
Readonly variables cannot be unset. If the -f option is set, then the names refer
to function names. If the -v option is set, then the names refer to variable
names. The -f option overrides -v. If -n is set and name is a name reference,
then name will be unset rather than the variable that it references. The default
is equivalent to -v. Unsetting LINENO, MAILCHECK, OPTARG, OPTIND, RANDOM, SECONDS,
TMOUT, and _ removes their special meaning even if they are subsequently assigned
to.
wait [ job ... ]
Wait for the specified job and report its termination status. If job is not given,
then all currently active child processes are waited for. The exit status from
this command is that of the last process waited for if job is specified; otherwise
it is zero. See Jobs for a description of the format of job.
whence [ -afpv ] name ...
For each name, indicate how it would be interpreted if used as a command name.
The -v option produces a more verbose report. The -f option skips the search for
functions. The -p option does a path search for name even if name is an alias, a
function, or a reserved word. The -p option turns off the -v option. The -a
option is similar to the -v option but causes all interpretations of the given name
to be reported.
Invocation.
If the shell is invoked by exec(2), and the first character of argument zero ($0) is -,
then the shell is assumed to be a login shell and commands are read from /etc/profile and
then from either .profile in the current directory or $HOME/.profile, if either file
exists. Next, for interactive shells, commands are read from the file named by performing
parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic substitution on the value of the
environment variable ENV if the file exists. If the -s option is not present and arg and
a file by the name of arg exists, then it reads and executes this script. Otherwise, if
the first arg does not contain a /, a path search is performed on the first arg to deter-
mine the name of the script to execute. The script arg must have execute permission and
any setuid and setgid settings will be ignored. If the script is not found on the path,
arg is processed as if it named a built-in command or function. Commands are then read as
described below; the following options are interpreted by the shell when it is invoked:
-D Do not execute the script, but output the set of double quoted strings preceded by
a $. These strings are needed for localization of the script to different
locales.
-E Reads the file named by the ENV variable or by $HOME/.kshrc if not defined after
the profiles.
-c If the -c option is present, then commands are read from the first arg. Any
remaining arguments become positional parameters starting at 0.
-s If the -s option is present or if no arguments remain, then commands are read
from the standard input. Shell output, except for the output of the Special
Commands listed above, is written to file descriptor 2.
-i If the -i option is present or if the shell input and error output are attached
to a terminal (as told by tcgetattr(2)), then this shell is interactive. In
this case TERM is ignored (so that kill 0 does not kill an interactive shell)
and INTR is caught and ignored (so that wait is ). In all cases, QUIT is
ignored by the shell.
-r If the -r option is present, the shell is a restricted shell.
-D A list of all double quoted strings that are preceded by a $ will be printed on
standard output and the shell will exit. This set of strings will be subject to
language translation when the locale is not C or POSIX. No commands will be
executed.
-P If -P or -o profile is present, the shell is a profile shell (see pfexec(1)).
-R filename
The -R filename option is used to generate a cross reference database that can
be used by a separate utility to find definitions and references for variables
and commands. The filename argument specifies the generated database. A script
file must be provided on the command line as well.
The remaining options and arguments are described under the set command above. An
optional - as the first argument is ignored.
Rksh Only.
Rksh is used to set up login names and execution environments whose capabilities are more
controlled than those of the standard shell. The actions of rksh are identical to those
of ksh, except that the following are disallowed:
Unsetting the restricted option.
changing directory (see cd(1)),
setting or unsetting the value or attributes of SHELL, ENV, FPATH, or PATH,
specifying path or command names containing /,
redirecting output (>, >|, <>, and >>).
adding or deleting built-in commands.
using command -p to invoke a command.
The restrictions above are enforced after .profile and the ENV files are interpreted.
When a command to be executed is found to be a shell procedure, rksh invokes ksh to exe-
cute it. Thus, it is possible to provide to the end-user shell procedures that have
access to the full power of the standard shell, while imposing a limited menu of commands;
this scheme assumes that the end-user does not have write and execute permissions in the
same directory.
The net effect of these rules is that the writer of the .profile has complete control over
user actions, by performing guaranteed setup actions and leaving the user in an appropri-
ate directory (probably not the login directory).
The system administrator often sets up a directory of commands (e.g., /usr/rbin) that can
be safely invoked by rksh.
EXIT STATUS
Errors detected by the shell, such as syntax errors, cause the shell to return a non-zero
exit status. If the shell is being used non-interactively, then execution of the shell
file is abandoned unless the error occurs inside a subshell in which case the subshell is
abandoned. Otherwise, the shell returns the exit status of the last command executed (see
also the exit command above). Run time errors detected by the shell are reported by
printing the command or function name and the error condition. If the line number that
the error occurred on is greater than one, then the line number is also printed in square
brackets ([]) after the command or function name.
FILES
/etc/profile
The system wide initialization file, executed for login shells.
$HOME/.profile
The personal initialization file, executed for login shells after /etc/profile.
$HOME/..kshrc
Default personal initialization file, executed for interactive shells when ENV is
not set.
/etc/suid_profile
Alternative initialization file, executed instead of the personal initialization
file when the real and effective user or group id do not match.
/dev/null
NULL device
SEE ALSO
cat(1), cd(1), chmod(1), cut(1), egrep(1), echo(1), emacs(1), env(1), fgrep(1), gmacs(1),
grep(1), newgrp(1), pfexec(1), stty(1), test(1), umask(1), vi(1), dup(2), exec(2),
fork(2), getpwnam(3), ioctl(2), lseek(2), paste(1), pathconf(2), pipe(2), sysconf(2),
umask(2), ulimit(2), wait(2), wctrans(3), rand(3), a.out(5), profile(5), environ(7).
Morris I. Bolsky and David G. Korn, The New KornShell Command and Programming Language,
Prentice Hall, 1995.
POSIX - Part 2: Shell and Utilities, IEEE Std 1003.2-1992, ISO/IEC 9945-2, IEEE, 1993.
CAVEATS
If a command is executed, and then a command with the same name is installed in a direc-
tory in the search path before the directory where the original command was found, the
shell will continue to exec the original command. Use the -t option of the alias command
to correct this situation.
Some very old shell scripts contain a ^ as a synonym for the pipe character |.
Using the hist built-in command within a compound command will cause the whole command to
disappear from the history file.
The built-in command . file reads the whole file before any commands are executed. There-
fore, alias and unalias commands in the file will not apply to any commands defined in the
file.
Traps are not processed while a job is waiting for a foreground process. Thus, a trap on
CHLD won't be executed until the foreground job terminates.
It is a good idea to leave a space after the comma operator in arithmetic expressions to
prevent the comma from being interpreted as the decimal point character in certain
locales.
KSH(1)
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