Chapter 7

Shell Basics

What is the shell?

A shell is an interactive program that serves as a command line interpreter It is separate from the operating system A shells job is to allow you to type in your command, perform several functions, and pass the interpreted command to the operating system (kernel) for execution.

Commonly Used Shells

/usr/bin/sh /usr/bin/ksh /usr/bin/csh /bin/bash /usr/old/bin/sh POSIX shell Korn shell C shell Bourne (Again) SHell Bourne shell

POSIX shell
The POSIX shell is a POSIX-compliant command programming language and commands interpreter. It can execute commands read from a terminal or a file. It contains a history mechanism, supports job control, and provides various other useful features.

Korn Shell
The Korn shell is a command programming language and commands interpreter. It can execute commands read from a terminal or a file. Like the POSIX shell, it contains a history mechanism, supports job control and provides various other useful features. The Korn shell was developed by David Korn of AT&T Bell Labs.

Bourne shell
Lacks many features contained in the POSIX and Korn shells. Developed by Stephen R. Bourne It was the original shell available on the AT&T releases of UNIX

C Shell
A command language interpreter that incorporates a command history buffer C-language-like syntax, and job control facilities developed by William Joy of the University of California at Berkeley

Comparison of Shell Features

Features
Command History
Line Editing

Description
A feature allowing commands to be stored in a buffer, then modified and reused
The ability to modify the current or previous command lines with a text editor

Posix

Bour ne

Kor n

Yes
Yes

No
No

Yes
Yes

Yes
No

File name completion

Alias command

The ability to automatically finish typing file names in command lines

A feature allowing users to rename commands, automatically include command options, or abbreviate long command line

Yes
Yes

No
No

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Restricted shells
Job control

A security feature providing a controlled environment with limited capabilities

Tools for tracking and accessing processes that run in the background

Yes
Yes

Yes
No

Yes
Yes

No
Yes

Aliasing
An alias is a new name for a command Syntax: $ alias [name[=string]] Example: $ alias dir=ls $ alias d=ls l $ alias mroe=more alias - displays aliases currently defined $ alias

Command History
The shell keeps a history file of commands that you enter. The history command displays the last 16 commands. You can recall, edit, and re-enter previously entered commands Syntax: $ history [-n| a z]

Example: $ history 2 $ history 3 5

Re-entering commands
Type r c to re-enter command number c
Example: $ history 3 5 $ r 4

Recalling Commands
Uses the history mechanism Must have the EDITOR environment variable set. $ EDITOR=vi $ export EDITOR -At $, press ESC and use normal vi commands to scroll through previous commands. k -scrolls backwards j -scrolls forward -Press RETURN to execute the command.

Command line editing

Provides the ability to modify text entered on current or previous press ESC to enter command mode. To recall press k, until the command appears To position the cursor Use l or space to move right Use h or backspace to move left

Command line editing cont.

To modify text: -press x to delete a character -press i to insert or append -press ESC to stop adding characters -press return to execute the modified command

The User Environment

Your environment describes your session to the programs you run Syntax: $ env

Setting Shell Variables

A shell variable is a name that represents a value Some shell variables are defined during the login process A user can define new shell variable Syntax: $ name=value $ PATH=/usr/bin/X11:/usr/bin $ PS1=Jess$ No space before and after the = sign

Looking for commands

whereis [-b| -m| -s] command
- Searches a list of directories for command

Examples: $ whereis if $ whereis ls $ whereis cd