xref: /freebsd/bin/sh/sh.1 (revision 105fd928b0b5b35ab529e5f6914788dc49582901)
1.\"-
2.\" Copyright (c) 1991, 1993
3.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
4.\"
5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
6.\" Kenneth Almquist.
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9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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19.\"
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31.\"
32.\"	from: @(#)sh.1	8.6 (Berkeley) 5/4/95
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd May 10, 2021
36.Dt SH 1
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm sh
40.Nd command interpreter (shell)
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Nm
43.Op Fl /+abCEefhIimnPpTuVvx
44.Op Fl /+o Ar longname
45.Oo
46.Ar script
47.Op Ar arg ...
48.Oc
49.Nm
50.Op Fl /+abCEefhIimnPpTuVvx
51.Op Fl /+o Ar longname
52.Fl c Ar string
53.Oo
54.Ar name
55.Op Ar arg ...
56.Oc
57.Nm
58.Op Fl /+abCEefhIimnPpTuVvx
59.Op Fl /+o Ar longname
60.Fl s
61.Op Ar arg ...
62.Sh DESCRIPTION
63The
64.Nm
65utility is the standard command interpreter for the system.
66The current version of
67.Nm
68is close to the
69.St -p1003.1
70specification for the shell.
71It only supports features
72designated by POSIX,
73plus a few Berkeley extensions.
74This man page is not intended to be a tutorial nor a complete
75specification of the shell.
76.Ss Overview
77The shell is a command that reads lines from
78either a file or the terminal, interprets them, and
79generally executes other commands.
80It is the program that is started when a user logs into the system,
81although a user can select a different shell with the
82.Xr chsh 1
83command.
84The shell
85implements a language that has flow control constructs,
86a macro facility that provides a variety of features in
87addition to data storage, along with built-in history and line
88editing capabilities.
89It incorporates many features to
90aid interactive use and has the advantage that the interpretative
91language is common to both interactive and non-interactive
92use (shell scripts).
93That is, commands can be typed directly
94to the running shell or can be put into a file,
95which can be executed directly by the shell.
96.Ss Invocation
97.\"
98.\" XXX This next sentence is incredibly confusing.
99.\"
100If no arguments are present and if the standard input of the shell
101is connected to a terminal
102(or if the
103.Fl i
104option is set),
105the shell is considered an interactive shell.
106An interactive shell
107generally prompts before each command and handles programming
108and command errors differently (as described below).
109When first starting, the shell inspects argument 0, and
110if it begins with a dash
111.Pq Ql - ,
112the shell is also considered a login shell.
113This is normally done automatically by the system
114when the user first logs in.
115A login shell first reads commands
116from the files
117.Pa /etc/profile
118and then
119.Pa .profile
120in a user's home directory,
121if they exist.
122If the environment variable
123.Ev ENV
124is set on entry to a shell, or is set in the
125.Pa .profile
126of a login shell, the shell then subjects its value to parameter expansion
127and arithmetic expansion and reads commands from the named file.
128Therefore, a user should place commands that are to be executed only
129at login time in the
130.Pa .profile
131file, and commands that are executed for every shell inside the
132.Ev ENV
133file.
134The user can set the
135.Ev ENV
136variable to some file by placing the following line in the file
137.Pa .profile
138in the home directory,
139substituting for
140.Pa .shrc
141the filename desired:
142.Pp
143.Dl "ENV=$HOME/.shrc; export ENV"
144.Pp
145The first non-option argument specified on the command line
146will be treated as the
147name of a file from which to read commands (a shell script), and
148the remaining arguments are set as the positional parameters
149of the shell
150.Li ( $1 , $2 ,
151etc.).
152Otherwise, the shell reads commands
153from its standard input.
154.Pp
155Unlike older versions of
156.Nm
157the
158.Ev ENV
159script is only sourced on invocation of interactive shells.
160This
161closes a well-known, and sometimes easily exploitable security
162hole related to poorly thought out
163.Ev ENV
164scripts.
165.Ss Argument List Processing
166All of the single letter options to
167.Nm
168have a corresponding long name,
169with the exception of
170.Fl c
171and
172.Fl /+o .
173These long names are provided next to the single letter options
174in the descriptions below.
175The long name for an option may be specified as an argument to the
176.Fl /+o
177option of
178.Nm .
179Once the shell is running,
180the long name for an option may be specified as an argument to the
181.Fl /+o
182option of the
183.Ic set
184built-in command
185(described later in the section called
186.Sx Built-in Commands ) .
187Introducing an option with a dash
188.Pq Ql -
189enables the option,
190while using a plus
191.Pq Ql +
192disables the option.
193A
194.Dq Li --
195or plain
196.Ql -
197will stop option processing and will force the remaining
198words on the command line to be treated as arguments.
199The
200.Fl /+o
201and
202.Fl c
203options do not have long names.
204They take arguments and are described after the single letter options.
205.Bl -tag -width indent
206.It Fl a Li allexport
207Flag variables for export when assignments are made to them.
208.It Fl b Li notify
209Enable asynchronous notification of background job
210completion.
211(UNIMPLEMENTED)
212.It Fl C Li noclobber
213Do not overwrite existing files with
214.Ql > .
215.It Fl E Li emacs
216Enable the built-in
217.Xr emacs 1
218command line editor (disables the
219.Fl V
220option if it has been set;
221set automatically when interactive on terminals).
222.It Fl e Li errexit
223Exit immediately if any untested command fails in non-interactive mode.
224The exit status of a command is considered to be
225explicitly tested if the command is part of the list used to control
226an
227.Ic if , elif , while ,
228or
229.Ic until ;
230if the command is the left
231hand operand of an
232.Dq Li &&
233or
234.Dq Li ||
235operator; or if the command is a pipeline preceded by the
236.Ic !\&
237keyword.
238If a shell function is executed and its exit status is explicitly
239tested, all commands of the function are considered to be tested as
240well.
241.Pp
242It is recommended to check for failures explicitly
243instead of relying on
244.Fl e
245because it tends to behave in unexpected ways,
246particularly in larger scripts.
247.It Fl f Li noglob
248Disable pathname expansion.
249.It Fl h Li trackall
250A do-nothing option for POSIX compliance.
251.It Fl I Li ignoreeof
252Ignore
253.Dv EOF Ap s
254from input when in interactive mode.
255.It Fl i Li interactive
256Force the shell to behave interactively.
257.It Fl m Li monitor
258Turn on job control (set automatically when interactive).
259A new process group is created for each pipeline (called a job).
260It is possible to suspend jobs or to have them run in the foreground or
261in the background.
262In a non-interactive shell,
263this option can be set even if no terminal is available
264and is useful to place processes in separate process groups.
265.It Fl n Li noexec
266If not interactive, read commands but do not
267execute them.
268This is useful for checking the
269syntax of shell scripts.
270.It Fl P Li physical
271Change the default for the
272.Ic cd
273and
274.Ic pwd
275commands from
276.Fl L
277(logical directory layout)
278to
279.Fl P
280(physical directory layout).
281.It Fl p Li privileged
282Turn on privileged mode.
283This mode is enabled on startup
284if either the effective user or group ID is not equal to the
285real user or group ID.
286Turning this mode off sets the
287effective user and group IDs to the real user and group IDs.
288When this mode is enabled for interactive shells, the file
289.Pa /etc/suid_profile
290is sourced instead of
291.Pa ~/.profile
292after
293.Pa /etc/profile
294is sourced, and the contents of the
295.Ev ENV
296variable are ignored.
297.It Fl s Li stdin
298Read commands from standard input (set automatically
299if no file arguments are present).
300This option has
301no effect when set after the shell has already started
302running (i.e., when set with the
303.Ic set
304command).
305.It Fl T Li trapsasync
306When waiting for a child, execute traps immediately.
307If this option is not set,
308traps are executed after the child exits,
309as specified in
310.St -p1003.2 .
311This nonstandard option is useful for putting guarding shells around
312children that block signals.
313The surrounding shell may kill the child
314or it may just return control to the tty and leave the child alone,
315like this:
316.Bd -literal -offset indent
317sh -T -c "trap 'exit 1' 2 ; some-blocking-program"
318.Ed
319.It Fl u Li nounset
320Write a message to standard error when attempting
321to expand a variable, a positional parameter or
322the special parameter
323.Va \&!
324that is not set, and if the
325shell is not interactive, exit immediately.
326.It Fl V Li vi
327Enable the built-in
328.Xr vi 1
329command line editor (disables
330.Fl E
331if it has been set).
332.It Fl v Li verbose
333The shell writes its input to standard error
334as it is read.
335Useful for debugging.
336.It Fl x Li xtrace
337Write each command
338(preceded by the value of the
339.Va PS4
340variable subjected to parameter expansion and arithmetic expansion)
341to standard error before it is executed.
342Useful for debugging.
343.It Li nolog
344Another do-nothing option for POSIX compliance.
345It only has a long name.
346.It Li pipefail
347Change the exit status of a pipeline to the last non-zero exit status of
348any command in the pipeline, if any.
349Since an exit due to
350.Dv SIGPIPE
351counts as a non-zero exit status,
352this option may cause non-zero exit status for successful pipelines
353if a command such as
354.Xr head 1
355in the pipeline terminates with status 0 without reading its
356input completely.
357This option only has a long name.
358.It Li verify
359Set
360.Dv O_VERIFY
361when sourcing files or loading profiles. See also
362.Xr mac_veriexec 4 .
363.El
364.Pp
365The
366.Fl c
367option causes the commands to be read from the
368.Ar string
369operand instead of from the standard input.
370Keep in mind that this option only accepts a single string as its
371argument, hence multi-word strings must be quoted.
372.Pp
373The
374.Fl /+o
375option takes as its only argument the long name of an option
376to be enabled or disabled.
377For example, the following two invocations of
378.Nm
379both enable the built-in
380.Xr emacs 1
381command line editor:
382.Bd -literal -offset indent
383set -E
384set -o emacs
385.Ed
386.Pp
387If used without an argument, the
388.Fl o
389option displays the current option settings in a human-readable format.
390If
391.Cm +o
392is used without an argument, the current option settings are output
393in a format suitable for re-input into the shell.
394.Ss Lexical Structure
395The shell reads input in terms of lines from a file and breaks
396it up into words at whitespace (blanks and tabs), and at
397certain sequences of
398characters called
399.Dq operators ,
400which are special to the shell.
401There are two types of operators: control operators and
402redirection operators (their meaning is discussed later).
403The following is a list of valid operators:
404.Bl -tag -width indent
405.It Control operators:
406.Bl -column "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" -offset center -compact
407.It Li & Ta Li && Ta Li \&( Ta Li \&) Ta Li \en
408.It Li ;; Ta Li ;& Ta Li \&; Ta Li \&| Ta Li ||
409.El
410.It Redirection operators:
411.Bl -column "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" -offset center -compact
412.It Li < Ta Li > Ta Li << Ta Li >> Ta Li <>
413.It Li <& Ta Li >& Ta Li <<- Ta Li >| Ta \&
414.El
415.El
416.Pp
417The character
418.Ql #
419introduces a comment if used at the beginning of a word.
420The word starting with
421.Ql #
422and the rest of the line are ignored.
423.Pp
424ASCII
425.Dv NUL
426characters (character code 0) are not allowed in shell input.
427.Ss Quoting
428Quoting is used to remove the special meaning of certain characters
429or words to the shell, such as operators, whitespace, keywords,
430or alias names.
431.Pp
432There are four types of quoting: matched single quotes,
433dollar-single quotes,
434matched double quotes, and backslash.
435.Bl -tag -width indent
436.It Single Quotes
437Enclosing characters in single quotes preserves the literal
438meaning of all the characters (except single quotes, making
439it impossible to put single-quotes in a single-quoted string).
440.It Dollar-Single Quotes
441Enclosing characters between
442.Li $'
443and
444.Li '
445preserves the literal meaning of all characters
446except backslashes and single quotes.
447A backslash introduces a C-style escape sequence:
448.Bl -tag -width xUnnnnnnnn
449.It \ea
450Alert (ring the terminal bell)
451.It \eb
452Backspace
453.It \ec Ns Ar c
454The control character denoted by
455.Li ^ Ns Ar c
456in
457.Xr stty 1 .
458If
459.Ar c
460is a backslash, it must be doubled.
461.It \ee
462The ESC character (ASCII 0x1b)
463.It \ef
464Formfeed
465.It \en
466Newline
467.It \er
468Carriage return
469.It \et
470Horizontal tab
471.It \ev
472Vertical tab
473.It \e\e
474Literal backslash
475.It \e\&'
476Literal single-quote
477.It \e\&"
478Literal double-quote
479.It \e Ns Ar nnn
480The byte whose octal value is
481.Ar nnn
482(one to three digits)
483.It \ex Ns Ar nn
484The byte whose hexadecimal value is
485.Ar nn
486(one or more digits only the last two of which are used)
487.It \eu Ns Ar nnnn
488The Unicode code point
489.Ar nnnn
490(four hexadecimal digits)
491.It \eU Ns Ar nnnnnnnn
492The Unicode code point
493.Ar nnnnnnnn
494(eight hexadecimal digits)
495.El
496.Pp
497The sequences for Unicode code points are currently only useful with
498UTF-8 locales.
499They reject code point 0 and UTF-16 surrogates.
500.Pp
501If an escape sequence would produce a byte with value 0,
502that byte and the rest of the string until the matching single-quote
503are ignored.
504.Pp
505Any other string starting with a backslash is an error.
506.It Double Quotes
507Enclosing characters within double quotes preserves the literal
508meaning of all characters except dollar sign
509.Pq Ql $ ,
510backquote
511.Pq Ql ` ,
512and backslash
513.Pq Ql \e .
514The backslash inside double quotes is historically weird.
515It remains literal unless it precedes the following characters,
516which it serves to quote:
517.Pp
518.Bl -column "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" "XXX" -offset center -compact
519.It Li $ Ta Li ` Ta Li \&" Ta Li \e Ta Li \en
520.El
521.It Backslash
522A backslash preserves the literal meaning of the following
523character, with the exception of the newline character
524.Pq Ql \en .
525A backslash preceding a newline is treated as a line continuation.
526.El
527.Ss Keywords
528Keywords or reserved words are words that have special meaning to the
529shell and are recognized at the beginning of a line and
530after a control operator.
531The following are keywords:
532.Bl -column "doneXX" "elifXX" "elseXX" "untilXX" "whileX" -offset center
533.It Li \&! Ta { Ta } Ta Ic case Ta Ic do
534.It Ic done Ta Ic elif Ta Ic else Ta Ic esac Ta Ic fi
535.It Ic for Ta Ic if Ta Ic then Ta Ic until Ta Ic while
536.El
537.Ss Aliases
538An alias is a name and corresponding value set using the
539.Ic alias
540built-in command.
541Wherever the command word of a simple command may occur,
542and after checking for keywords if a keyword may occur, the shell
543checks the word to see if it matches an alias.
544If it does, it replaces it in the input stream with its value.
545For example, if there is an alias called
546.Dq Li lf
547with the value
548.Dq Li "ls -F" ,
549then the input
550.Pp
551.Dl "lf foobar"
552.Pp
553would become
554.Pp
555.Dl "ls -F foobar"
556.Pp
557Aliases are also recognized after an alias
558whose value ends with a space or tab.
559For example, if there is also an alias called
560.Dq Li nohup
561with the value
562.Dq Li "nohup " ,
563then the input
564.Pp
565.Dl "nohup lf foobar"
566.Pp
567would become
568.Pp
569.Dl "nohup ls -F foobar"
570.Pp
571Aliases provide a convenient way for naive users to
572create shorthands for commands without having to learn how
573to create functions with arguments.
574Using aliases in scripts is discouraged
575because the command that defines them must be executed
576before the code that uses them is parsed.
577This is fragile and not portable.
578.Pp
579An alias name may be escaped in a command line, so that it is not
580replaced by its alias value, by using quoting characters within or
581adjacent to the alias name.
582This is most often done by prefixing
583an alias name with a backslash to execute a function, built-in, or
584normal program with the same name.
585See the
586.Sx Quoting
587subsection.
588.Ss Commands
589The shell interprets the words it reads according to a
590language, the specification of which is outside the scope
591of this man page (refer to the BNF in the
592.St -p1003.2
593document).
594Essentially though, a line is read and if
595the first word of the line (or after a control operator)
596is not a keyword, then the shell has recognized a
597simple command.
598Otherwise, a complex command or some
599other special construct may have been recognized.
600.Ss Simple Commands
601If a simple command has been recognized, the shell performs
602the following actions:
603.Bl -enum
604.It
605Leading words of the form
606.Dq Li name=value
607are stripped off and assigned to the environment of
608the simple command
609(they do not affect expansions).
610Redirection operators and
611their arguments (as described below) are stripped
612off and saved for processing.
613.It
614The remaining words are expanded as described in
615the section called
616.Sx Word Expansions ,
617and the first remaining word is considered the command
618name and the command is located.
619The remaining
620words are considered the arguments of the command.
621If no command name resulted, then the
622.Dq Li name=value
623variable assignments recognized in 1) affect the
624current shell.
625.It
626Redirections are performed as described in
627the next section.
628.El
629.Ss Redirections
630Redirections are used to change where a command reads its input
631or sends its output.
632In general, redirections open, close, or
633duplicate an existing reference to a file.
634The overall format
635used for redirection is:
636.Pp
637.D1 Oo Ar n Oc Ar redir-op file
638.Pp
639The
640.Ar redir-op
641is one of the redirection operators mentioned
642previously.
643The following gives some examples of how these
644operators can be used.
645Note that stdin and stdout are commonly used abbreviations
646for standard input and standard output respectively.
647.Bl -tag -width "1234567890XX" -offset indent
648.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li > Ar file
649redirect stdout (or file descriptor
650.Ar n )
651to
652.Ar file
653.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li >| Ar file
654same as above, but override the
655.Fl C
656option
657.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li >> Ar file
658append stdout (or file descriptor
659.Ar n )
660to
661.Ar file
662.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li < Ar file
663redirect stdin (or file descriptor
664.Ar n )
665from
666.Ar file
667.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li <> Ar file
668redirect stdin (or file descriptor
669.Ar n )
670to and from
671.Ar file
672.It Oo Ar n1 Oc Ns Li <& Ns Ar n2
673duplicate stdin (or file descriptor
674.Ar n1 )
675from file descriptor
676.Ar n2
677.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li <&-
678close stdin (or file descriptor
679.Ar n )
680.It Oo Ar n1 Oc Ns Li >& Ns Ar n2
681duplicate stdout (or file descriptor
682.Ar n1 )
683to file descriptor
684.Ar n2
685.It Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li >&-
686close stdout (or file descriptor
687.Ar n )
688.El
689.Pp
690The following redirection is often called a
691.Dq here-document .
692.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
693.Oo Ar n Oc Ns Li << Ar delimiter
694.Ar here-doc-text
695.Ar ...
696.Ar delimiter
697.Ed
698.Pp
699All the text on successive lines up to the delimiter is
700saved away and made available to the command on standard
701input, or file descriptor
702.Ar n
703if it is specified.
704If the
705.Ar delimiter
706as specified on the initial line is quoted, then the
707.Ar here-doc-text
708is treated literally, otherwise the text is subjected to
709parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic
710expansion (as described in the section on
711.Sx Word Expansions ) .
712If the operator is
713.Dq Li <<-
714instead of
715.Dq Li << ,
716then leading tabs
717in the
718.Ar here-doc-text
719are stripped.
720.Ss Search and Execution
721There are three types of commands: shell functions,
722built-in commands, and normal programs.
723The command is searched for (by name) in that order.
724The three types of commands are all executed in a different way.
725.Pp
726When a shell function is executed, all of the shell positional
727parameters (except
728.Li $0 ,
729which remains unchanged) are
730set to the arguments of the shell function.
731The variables which are explicitly placed in the environment of
732the command (by placing assignments to them before the
733function name) are made local to the function and are set
734to the values given.
735Then the command given in the function definition is executed.
736The positional parameters are restored to their original values
737when the command completes.
738This all occurs within the current shell.
739.Pp
740Shell built-in commands are executed internally to the shell, without
741spawning a new process.
742There are two kinds of built-in commands: regular and special.
743Assignments before special builtins persist after they finish
744executing and assignment errors, redirection errors and certain
745operand errors cause a script to be aborted.
746Special builtins cannot be overridden with a function.
747Both regular and special builtins can affect the shell in ways
748normal programs cannot.
749.Pp
750Otherwise, if the command name does not match a function
751or built-in command, the command is searched for as a normal
752program in the file system (as described in the next section).
753When a normal program is executed, the shell runs the program,
754passing the arguments and the environment to the program.
755If the program is not a normal executable file
756(i.e., if it does not begin with the
757.Dq "magic number"
758whose ASCII representation is
759.Dq Li #! ,
760resulting in an
761.Er ENOEXEC
762return value from
763.Xr execve 2 )
764but appears to be a text file,
765the shell will run a new instance of
766.Nm
767to interpret it.
768.Pp
769Note that previous versions of this document
770and the source code itself misleadingly and sporadically
771refer to a shell script without a magic number
772as a
773.Dq "shell procedure" .
774.Ss Path Search
775When locating a command, the shell first looks to see if
776it has a shell function by that name.
777Then it looks for a
778built-in command by that name.
779If a built-in command is not found,
780one of two things happen:
781.Bl -enum
782.It
783Command names containing a slash are simply executed without
784performing any searches.
785.It
786The shell searches each entry in the
787.Va PATH
788variable
789in turn for the command.
790The value of the
791.Va PATH
792variable should be a series of
793entries separated by colons.
794Each entry consists of a
795directory name.
796The current directory
797may be indicated implicitly by an empty directory name,
798or explicitly by a single period.
799.El
800.Ss Command Exit Status
801Each command has an exit status that can influence the behavior
802of other shell commands.
803The paradigm is that a command exits
804with zero for normal or success, and non-zero for failure,
805error, or a false indication.
806The man page for each command
807should indicate the various exit codes and what they mean.
808Additionally, the built-in commands return exit codes, as does
809an executed shell function.
810.Pp
811If a command is terminated by a signal, its exit status is greater than 128.
812The signal name can be found by passing the exit status to
813.Li kill -l .
814.Pp
815If there is no command word,
816the exit status is the exit status of the last command substitution executed,
817or zero if the command does not contain any command substitutions.
818.Ss Complex Commands
819Complex commands are combinations of simple commands
820with control operators or keywords, together creating a larger complex
821command.
822More generally, a command is one of the following:
823.Bl -item -offset indent
824.It
825simple command
826.It
827pipeline
828.It
829list or compound-list
830.It
831compound command
832.It
833function definition
834.El
835.Pp
836Unless otherwise stated, the exit status of a command is
837that of the last simple command executed by the command,
838or zero if no simple command was executed.
839.Ss Pipelines
840A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated
841by the control operator
842.Ql \&| .
843The standard output of all but
844the last command is connected to the standard input
845of the next command.
846The standard output of the last
847command is inherited from the shell, as usual.
848.Pp
849The format for a pipeline is:
850.Pp
851.D1 Oo Li \&! Oc Ar command1 Op Li \&| Ar command2 ...
852.Pp
853The standard output of
854.Ar command1
855is connected to the standard input of
856.Ar command2 .
857The standard input, standard output, or
858both of a command is considered to be assigned by the
859pipeline before any redirection specified by redirection
860operators that are part of the command.
861.Pp
862Note that unlike some other shells,
863.Nm
864executes each process in a pipeline with more than one command
865in a subshell environment and as a child of the
866.Nm
867process.
868.Pp
869If the pipeline is not in the background (discussed later),
870the shell waits for all commands to complete.
871.Pp
872If the keyword
873.Ic !\&
874does not precede the pipeline, the
875exit status is the exit status of the last command specified
876in the pipeline if the
877.Cm pipefail
878option is not set or all commands returned zero,
879or the last non-zero exit status of any command in the pipeline otherwise.
880Otherwise, the exit status is the logical
881NOT of that exit status.
882That is, if
883that status is zero, the exit status is 1; if
884that status is greater than zero, the exit status
885is zero.
886.Pp
887Because pipeline assignment of standard input or standard
888output or both takes place before redirection, it can be
889modified by redirection.
890For example:
891.Pp
892.Dl "command1 2>&1 | command2"
893.Pp
894sends both the standard output and standard error of
895.Ar command1
896to the standard input of
897.Ar command2 .
898.Pp
899A
900.Ql \&;
901or newline terminator causes the preceding
902AND-OR-list
903(described below in the section called
904.Sx Short-Circuit List Operators )
905to be executed sequentially;
906an
907.Ql &
908causes asynchronous execution of the preceding AND-OR-list.
909.Ss Background Commands (&)
910If a command is terminated by the control operator ampersand
911.Pq Ql & ,
912the shell executes the command in a subshell environment (see
913.Sx Grouping Commands Together
914below) and asynchronously;
915the shell does not wait for the command to finish
916before executing the next command.
917.Pp
918The format for running a command in background is:
919.Pp
920.D1 Ar command1 Li & Op Ar command2 Li & Ar ...
921.Pp
922If the shell is not interactive, the standard input of an
923asynchronous command is set to
924.Pa /dev/null .
925.Pp
926The exit status is zero.
927.Ss Lists (Generally Speaking)
928A list is a sequence of zero or more commands separated by
929newlines, semicolons, or ampersands,
930and optionally terminated by one of these three characters.
931The commands in a
932list are executed in the order they are written.
933If command is followed by an ampersand, the shell starts the
934command and immediately proceeds onto the next command;
935otherwise it waits for the command to terminate before
936proceeding to the next one.
937.Ss Short-Circuit List Operators
938.Dq Li &&
939and
940.Dq Li ||
941are AND-OR list operators.
942.Dq Li &&
943executes the first command, and then executes the second command
944if the exit status of the first command is zero.
945.Dq Li ||
946is similar, but executes the second command if the exit
947status of the first command is nonzero.
948.Dq Li &&
949and
950.Dq Li ||
951both have the same priority.
952.Ss Flow-Control Constructs (if, while, for, case)
953The syntax of the
954.Ic if
955command is:
956.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
957.Ic if Ar list
958.Ic then Ar list
959.Oo Ic elif Ar list
960.Ic then Ar list Oc Ar ...
961.Op Ic else Ar list
962.Ic fi
963.Ed
964.Pp
965The exit status is that of selected
966.Ic then
967or
968.Ic else
969list,
970or zero if no list was selected.
971.Pp
972The syntax of the
973.Ic while
974command is:
975.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
976.Ic while Ar list
977.Ic do Ar list
978.Ic done
979.Ed
980.Pp
981The two lists are executed repeatedly while the exit status of the
982first list is zero.
983The
984.Ic until
985command is similar, but has the word
986.Ic until
987in place of
988.Ic while ,
989which causes it to
990repeat until the exit status of the first list is zero.
991.Pp
992The exit status is that of the last execution of the second list,
993or zero if it was never executed.
994.Pp
995The syntax of the
996.Ic for
997command is:
998.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
999.Ic for Ar variable Op Ic in Ar word ...
1000.Ic do Ar list
1001.Ic done
1002.Ed
1003.Pp
1004If
1005.Ic in
1006and the following words are omitted,
1007.Ic in Li \&"$@\&"
1008is used instead.
1009The words are expanded, and then the list is executed
1010repeatedly with the variable set to each word in turn.
1011The
1012.Ic do
1013and
1014.Ic done
1015commands may be replaced with
1016.Ql {
1017and
1018.Ql } .
1019.Pp
1020The syntax of the
1021.Ic break
1022and
1023.Ic continue
1024commands is:
1025.D1 Ic break Op Ar num
1026.D1 Ic continue Op Ar num
1027.Pp
1028The
1029.Ic break
1030command terminates the
1031.Ar num
1032innermost
1033.Ic for
1034or
1035.Ic while
1036loops.
1037The
1038.Ic continue
1039command continues with the next iteration of the innermost loop.
1040These are implemented as special built-in commands.
1041.Pp
1042The syntax of the
1043.Ic case
1044command is:
1045.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
1046.Ic case Ar word Ic in
1047.Ar pattern ) Ar list Li ;;
1048.Ar ...
1049.Ic esac
1050.Ed
1051.Pp
1052The pattern can actually be one or more patterns
1053(see
1054.Sx Shell Patterns
1055described later),
1056separated by
1057.Ql \&|
1058characters.
1059Tilde expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution,
1060arithmetic expansion and quote removal are applied to the word.
1061Then, each pattern is expanded in turn using tilde expansion,
1062parameter expansion, command substitution and arithmetic expansion and
1063the expanded form of the word is checked against it.
1064If a match is found, the corresponding list is executed.
1065If the selected list is terminated by the control operator
1066.Ql ;&
1067instead of
1068.Ql ;; ,
1069execution continues with the next list,
1070continuing until a list terminated with
1071.Ql ;;
1072or the end of the
1073.Ic case
1074command.
1075.Ss Grouping Commands Together
1076Commands may be grouped by writing either
1077.Pp
1078.Sm off
1079.Bd -literal -offset -ident
1080.Po Ar list Pc
1081.Ed
1082.Sm on
1083.Pp
1084or
1085.Bd -literal -offset -ident
1086.No { Ar list ; }
1087.Ed
1088.Pp
1089The first form executes the commands in a subshell environment.
1090A subshell environment has its own copy of:
1091.Bl -enum
1092.It
1093The current working directory as set by
1094.Ic cd .
1095.It
1096The file creation mask as set by
1097.Ic umask .
1098.It
1099Resource limits as set by
1100.Ic ulimit .
1101.It
1102References to open files.
1103.It
1104Traps as set by
1105.Ic trap .
1106.It
1107Known jobs.
1108.It
1109Positional parameters and variables.
1110.It
1111Shell options.
1112.It
1113Shell functions.
1114.It
1115Shell aliases.
1116.El
1117.Pp
1118These are copied from the parent shell environment,
1119except that trapped (but not ignored) signals are reset to the default action
1120and known jobs are cleared.
1121Any changes do not affect the parent shell environment.
1122.Pp
1123A subshell environment may be implemented as a child process or differently.
1124If job control is enabled in an interactive shell,
1125commands grouped in parentheses can be suspended and continued as a unit.
1126.Pp
1127For compatibility with other shells,
1128two open parentheses in sequence should be separated by whitespace.
1129.Pp
1130The second form never forks another shell,
1131so it is slightly more efficient.
1132Grouping commands together this way allows the user to
1133redirect their output as though they were one program:
1134.Bd -literal -offset indent
1135{ echo -n "hello"; echo " world"; } > greeting
1136.Ed
1137.Ss Functions
1138The syntax of a function definition is
1139.Pp
1140.D1 Ar name Li \&( \&) Ar command
1141.Pp
1142A function definition is an executable statement; when
1143executed it installs a function named
1144.Ar name
1145and returns an
1146exit status of zero.
1147The
1148.Ar command
1149is normally a list
1150enclosed between
1151.Ql {
1152and
1153.Ql } .
1154.Pp
1155Variables may be declared to be local to a function by
1156using the
1157.Ic local
1158command.
1159This should appear as the first statement of a function,
1160and the syntax is:
1161.Pp
1162.D1 Ic local Oo Ar variable ... Oc Op Fl
1163.Pp
1164The
1165.Ic local
1166command is implemented as a built-in command.
1167The exit status is zero
1168unless the command is not in a function or a variable name is invalid.
1169.Pp
1170When a variable is made local, it inherits the initial
1171value and exported and readonly flags from the variable
1172with the same name in the surrounding scope, if there is
1173one.
1174Otherwise, the variable is initially unset.
1175The shell
1176uses dynamic scoping, so that if the variable
1177.Va x
1178is made local to function
1179.Em f ,
1180which then calls function
1181.Em g ,
1182references to the variable
1183.Va x
1184made inside
1185.Em g
1186will refer to the variable
1187.Va x
1188declared inside
1189.Em f ,
1190not to the global variable named
1191.Va x .
1192.Pp
1193The only special parameter that can be made local is
1194.Ql - .
1195Making
1196.Ql -
1197local causes any shell options
1198(including those that only have long names)
1199that are
1200changed via the
1201.Ic set
1202command inside the function to be
1203restored to their original values when the function
1204returns.
1205.Pp
1206The syntax of the
1207.Ic return
1208command is
1209.Pp
1210.D1 Ic return Op Ar exitstatus
1211.Pp
1212It terminates the current executional scope, returning from the closest
1213nested function or sourced script;
1214if no function or sourced script is being executed,
1215it exits the shell instance.
1216The
1217.Ic return
1218command is implemented as a special built-in command.
1219.Ss Variables and Parameters
1220The shell maintains a set of parameters.
1221A parameter
1222denoted by a name
1223(consisting solely
1224of alphabetics, numerics, and underscores,
1225and starting with an alphabetic or an underscore)
1226is called a variable.
1227When starting up,
1228the shell turns all environment variables with valid names into shell
1229variables.
1230New variables can be set using the form
1231.Pp
1232.D1 Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
1233.Pp
1234A parameter can also be denoted by a number
1235or a special character as explained below.
1236.Pp
1237Assignments are expanded differently from other words:
1238tilde expansion is also performed after the equals sign and after any colon
1239and usernames are also terminated by colons,
1240and field splitting and pathname expansion are not performed.
1241.Pp
1242This special expansion applies not only to assignments that form a simple
1243command by themselves or precede a command word,
1244but also to words passed to the
1245.Ic export ,
1246.Ic local
1247or
1248.Ic readonly
1249built-in commands that have this form.
1250For this, the builtin's name must be literal
1251(not the result of an expansion)
1252and may optionally be preceded by one or more literal instances of
1253.Ic command
1254without options.
1255.Ss Positional Parameters
1256A positional parameter is a parameter denoted by a number greater than zero.
1257The shell sets these initially to the values of its command line
1258arguments that follow the name of the shell script.
1259The
1260.Ic set
1261built-in command can also be used to set or reset them.
1262.Ss Special Parameters
1263Special parameters are parameters denoted by a single special character
1264or the digit zero.
1265They are shown in the following list, exactly as they would appear in input
1266typed by the user or in the source of a shell script.
1267.Bl -hang
1268.It Li $*
1269Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one.
1270When
1271the expansion occurs within a double-quoted string
1272it expands to a single field with the value of each parameter
1273separated by the first character of the
1274.Va IFS
1275variable,
1276or by a space if
1277.Va IFS
1278is unset.
1279.It Li $@
1280Expands to the positional parameters, starting from one.
1281When
1282the expansion occurs within double-quotes, each positional
1283parameter expands as a separate argument.
1284If there are no positional parameters, the
1285expansion of
1286.Li @
1287generates zero arguments, even when
1288.Li @
1289is double-quoted.
1290What this basically means, for example, is
1291if
1292.Li $1
1293is
1294.Dq Li abc
1295and
1296.Li $2
1297is
1298.Dq Li "def ghi" ,
1299then
1300.Li \&"$@\&"
1301expands to
1302the two arguments:
1303.Bd -literal -offset indent
1304"abc"   "def ghi"
1305.Ed
1306.It Li $#
1307Expands to the number of positional parameters.
1308.It Li $?
1309Expands to the exit status of the most recent pipeline.
1310.It Li $-
1311(hyphen) Expands to the current option flags (the single-letter
1312option names concatenated into a string) as specified on
1313invocation, by the
1314.Ic set
1315built-in command, or implicitly
1316by the shell.
1317.It Li $$
1318Expands to the process ID of the invoked shell.
1319A subshell
1320retains the same value of
1321.Va $
1322as its parent.
1323.It Li $!
1324Expands to the process ID of the most recent background
1325command executed from the current shell.
1326For a
1327pipeline, the process ID is that of the last command in the
1328pipeline.
1329If this parameter is referenced, the shell will remember
1330the process ID and its exit status until the
1331.Ic wait
1332built-in command reports completion of the process.
1333.It Li $0
1334(zero) Expands to the name of the shell script if passed on the command line,
1335the
1336.Ar name
1337operand if given (with
1338.Fl c )
1339or otherwise argument 0 passed to the shell.
1340.El
1341.Ss Special Variables
1342The following variables are set by the shell or
1343have special meaning to it:
1344.Bl -tag -width ".Va HISTSIZE"
1345.It Va CDPATH
1346The search path used with the
1347.Ic cd
1348built-in.
1349.It Va EDITOR
1350The fallback editor used with the
1351.Ic fc
1352built-in.
1353If not set, the default editor is
1354.Xr ed 1 .
1355.It Va FCEDIT
1356The default editor used with the
1357.Ic fc
1358built-in.
1359.It Va HISTFILE
1360File used for persistent history storage.
1361If unset
1362.Pa ~/.sh_history
1363will be used.
1364If set but empty or
1365.Va HISTSIZE
1366is set to 0
1367the shell will not load and save the history.
1368.It Va HISTSIZE
1369The number of previous commands that are accessible.
1370.It Va HOME
1371The user's home directory,
1372used in tilde expansion and as a default directory for the
1373.Ic cd
1374built-in.
1375.It Va IFS
1376Input Field Separators.
1377This is initialized at startup to
1378.Aq space ,
1379.Aq tab ,
1380and
1381.Aq newline
1382in that order.
1383This value also applies if
1384.Va IFS
1385is unset, but not if it is set to the empty string.
1386See the
1387.Sx White Space Splitting
1388section for more details.
1389.It Va LINENO
1390The current line number in the script or function.
1391.It Va MAIL
1392The name of a mail file, that will be checked for the arrival of new
1393mail.
1394Overridden by
1395.Va MAILPATH .
1396.It Va MAILPATH
1397A colon
1398.Pq Ql \&:
1399separated list of file names, for the shell to check for incoming
1400mail.
1401This variable overrides the
1402.Va MAIL
1403setting.
1404There is a maximum of 10 mailboxes that can be monitored at once.
1405.It Va OPTIND
1406The index of the next argument to be processed by
1407.Ic getopts .
1408This is initialized to 1 at startup.
1409.It Va PATH
1410The default search path for executables.
1411See the
1412.Sx Path Search
1413section for details.
1414.It Va PPID
1415The parent process ID of the invoked shell.
1416This is set at startup
1417unless this variable is in the environment.
1418A later change of parent process ID is not reflected.
1419A subshell retains the same value of
1420.Va PPID .
1421.It Va PS1
1422The primary prompt string, which defaults to
1423.Dq Li "$ " ,
1424unless you are the superuser, in which case it defaults to
1425.Dq Li "# " .
1426.Va PS1
1427may include any of the following formatting sequences,
1428which are replaced by the given information:
1429.Bl -tag -width indent
1430.It Li \eH
1431This system's fully-qualified hostname (FQDN).
1432.It Li \eh
1433This system's hostname.
1434.It Li \eu
1435User name.
1436.It Li \eW
1437The final component of the current working directory.
1438.It Li \ew
1439The entire path of the current working directory.
1440.It Li \e$
1441Superuser status.
1442.Dq Li "$"
1443for normal users and
1444.Dq Li "#"
1445for superusers.
1446.It Li \e\e
1447A literal backslash.
1448.El
1449.It Va PS2
1450The secondary prompt string, which defaults to
1451.Dq Li "> " .
1452.Va PS2
1453may include any of the formatting sequences from
1454.Va PS1 .
1455.It Va PS4
1456The prefix for the trace output (if
1457.Fl x
1458is active).
1459The default is
1460.Dq Li "+ " .
1461.El
1462.Ss Word Expansions
1463This clause describes the various expansions that are
1464performed on words.
1465Not all expansions are performed on
1466every word, as explained later.
1467.Pp
1468Tilde expansions, parameter expansions, command substitutions,
1469arithmetic expansions, and quote removals that occur within
1470a single word expand to a single field.
1471It is only field
1472splitting or pathname expansion that can create multiple
1473fields from a single word.
1474The single exception to this rule is
1475the expansion of the special parameter
1476.Va @
1477within double-quotes,
1478as was described above.
1479.Pp
1480The order of word expansion is:
1481.Bl -enum
1482.It
1483Tilde Expansion, Parameter Expansion, Command Substitution,
1484Arithmetic Expansion (these all occur at the same time).
1485.It
1486Field Splitting is performed on fields generated by step (1)
1487unless the
1488.Va IFS
1489variable is null.
1490.It
1491Pathname Expansion (unless the
1492.Fl f
1493option is in effect).
1494.It
1495Quote Removal.
1496.El
1497.Pp
1498The
1499.Ql $
1500character is used to introduce parameter expansion, command
1501substitution, or arithmetic expansion.
1502.Ss Tilde Expansion (substituting a user's home directory)
1503A word beginning with an unquoted tilde character
1504.Pq Ql ~
1505is
1506subjected to tilde expansion.
1507All the characters up to a slash
1508.Pq Ql /
1509or the end of the word are treated as a username
1510and are replaced with the user's home directory.
1511If the
1512username is missing (as in
1513.Pa ~/foobar ) ,
1514the tilde is replaced with the value of the
1515.Va HOME
1516variable (the current user's home directory).
1517.Ss Parameter Expansion
1518The format for parameter expansion is as follows:
1519.Pp
1520.D1 Li ${ Ns Ar expression Ns Li }
1521.Pp
1522where
1523.Ar expression
1524consists of all characters until the matching
1525.Ql } .
1526Any
1527.Ql }
1528escaped by a backslash or within a single-quoted or double-quoted
1529string, and characters in
1530embedded arithmetic expansions, command substitutions, and variable
1531expansions, are not examined in determining the matching
1532.Ql } .
1533If the variants with
1534.Ql + ,
1535.Ql - ,
1536.Ql =
1537or
1538.Ql ?\&
1539occur within a double-quoted string,
1540as an extension there may be unquoted parts
1541(via double-quotes inside the expansion);
1542.Ql }
1543within such parts are also not examined in determining the matching
1544.Ql } .
1545.Pp
1546The simplest form for parameter expansion is:
1547.Pp
1548.D1 Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li }
1549.Pp
1550The value, if any, of
1551.Ar parameter
1552is substituted.
1553.Pp
1554The parameter name or symbol can be enclosed in braces, which are
1555optional except for positional parameters with more than one digit or
1556when parameter is followed by a character that could be interpreted as
1557part of the name.
1558If a parameter expansion occurs inside double-quotes:
1559.Bl -enum
1560.It
1561Field splitting is not performed on the results of the
1562expansion, with the exception of the special parameter
1563.Va @ .
1564.It
1565Pathname expansion is not performed on the results of the
1566expansion.
1567.El
1568.Pp
1569In addition, a parameter expansion can be modified by using one of the
1570following formats.
1571.Bl -tag -width indent
1572.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li :- Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1573Use Default Values.
1574If
1575.Ar parameter
1576is unset or null, the expansion of
1577.Ar word
1578is substituted; otherwise, the value of
1579.Ar parameter
1580is substituted.
1581.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li := Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1582Assign Default Values.
1583If
1584.Ar parameter
1585is unset or null, the expansion of
1586.Ar word
1587is assigned to
1588.Ar parameter .
1589In all cases, the
1590final value of
1591.Ar parameter
1592is substituted.
1593Quoting inside
1594.Ar word
1595does not prevent field splitting or pathname expansion.
1596Only variables, not positional
1597parameters or special parameters, can be
1598assigned in this way.
1599.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li :? Ns Oo Ar word Oc Ns Li }
1600Indicate Error if Null or Unset.
1601If
1602.Ar parameter
1603is unset or null, the expansion of
1604.Ar word
1605(or a message indicating it is unset if
1606.Ar word
1607is omitted) is written to standard
1608error and the shell exits with a nonzero
1609exit status.
1610Otherwise, the value of
1611.Ar parameter
1612is substituted.
1613An
1614interactive shell need not exit.
1615.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li :+ Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1616Use Alternate Value.
1617If
1618.Ar parameter
1619is unset or null, null is substituted;
1620otherwise, the expansion of
1621.Ar word
1622is substituted.
1623.El
1624.Pp
1625In the parameter expansions shown previously, use of the colon in the
1626format results in a test for a parameter that is unset or null; omission
1627of the colon results in a test for a parameter that is only unset.
1628.Pp
1629The
1630.Ar word
1631inherits the type of quoting
1632(unquoted, double-quoted or here-document)
1633from the surroundings,
1634with the exception that a backslash that quotes a closing brace is removed
1635during quote removal.
1636.Bl -tag -width indent
1637.It Li ${# Ns Ar parameter Ns Li }
1638String Length.
1639The length in characters of
1640the value of
1641.Ar parameter .
1642.El
1643.Pp
1644The following four varieties of parameter expansion provide for substring
1645processing.
1646In each case, pattern matching notation
1647(see
1648.Sx Shell Patterns ) ,
1649rather than regular expression notation,
1650is used to evaluate the patterns.
1651If parameter is one of the special parameters
1652.Va *
1653or
1654.Va @ ,
1655the result of the expansion is unspecified.
1656Enclosing the full parameter expansion string in double-quotes does not
1657cause the following four varieties of pattern characters to be quoted,
1658whereas quoting characters within the braces has this effect.
1659.Bl -tag -width indent
1660.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li % Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1661Remove Smallest Suffix Pattern.
1662The
1663.Ar word
1664is expanded to produce a pattern.
1665The
1666parameter expansion then results in
1667.Ar parameter ,
1668with the smallest portion of the
1669suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
1670.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li %% Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1671Remove Largest Suffix Pattern.
1672The
1673.Ar word
1674is expanded to produce a pattern.
1675The
1676parameter expansion then results in
1677.Ar parameter ,
1678with the largest portion of the
1679suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
1680.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li # Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1681Remove Smallest Prefix Pattern.
1682The
1683.Ar word
1684is expanded to produce a pattern.
1685The
1686parameter expansion then results in
1687.Ar parameter ,
1688with the smallest portion of the
1689prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
1690.It Li ${ Ns Ar parameter Ns Li ## Ns Ar word Ns Li }
1691Remove Largest Prefix Pattern.
1692The
1693.Ar word
1694is expanded to produce a pattern.
1695The
1696parameter expansion then results in
1697.Ar parameter ,
1698with the largest portion of the
1699prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
1700.El
1701.Ss Command Substitution
1702Command substitution allows the output of a command to be substituted in
1703place of the command name itself.
1704Command substitution occurs when
1705the command is enclosed as follows:
1706.Pp
1707.D1 Li $( Ns Ar command Ns Li )\&
1708.Pp
1709or the backquoted version:
1710.Pp
1711.D1 Li ` Ns Ar command Ns Li `
1712.Pp
1713The shell expands the command substitution by executing command
1714and replacing the command substitution
1715with the standard output of the command,
1716removing sequences of one or more newlines at the end of the substitution.
1717Embedded newlines before the end of the output are not removed;
1718however, during field splitting, they may be translated into spaces
1719depending on the value of
1720.Va IFS
1721and the quoting that is in effect.
1722The command is executed in a subshell environment,
1723except that the built-in commands
1724.Ic jobid ,
1725.Ic jobs ,
1726and
1727.Ic trap
1728return information about the parent shell environment
1729and
1730.Ic times
1731returns information about the same process
1732if they are the only command in a command substitution.
1733.Pp
1734If a command substitution of the
1735.Li $(
1736form begins with a subshell,
1737the
1738.Li $(
1739and
1740.Li (\&
1741must be separated by whitespace
1742to avoid ambiguity with arithmetic expansion.
1743.Ss Arithmetic Expansion
1744Arithmetic expansion provides a mechanism for evaluating an arithmetic
1745expression and substituting its value.
1746The format for arithmetic expansion is as follows:
1747.Pp
1748.D1 Li $(( Ns Ar expression Ns Li ))
1749.Pp
1750The
1751.Ar expression
1752is treated as if it were in double-quotes, except
1753that a double-quote inside the expression is not treated specially.
1754The
1755shell expands all tokens in the
1756.Ar expression
1757for parameter expansion,
1758command substitution,
1759arithmetic expansion
1760and quote removal.
1761.Pp
1762The allowed expressions are a subset of C expressions,
1763summarized below.
1764.Bl -tag -width "Variables" -offset indent
1765.It Values
1766All values are of type
1767.Ft intmax_t .
1768.It Constants
1769Decimal, octal (starting with
1770.Li 0 )
1771and hexadecimal (starting with
1772.Li 0x )
1773integer constants.
1774.It Variables
1775Shell variables can be read and written
1776and contain integer constants.
1777.It Unary operators
1778.Li "! ~ + -"
1779.It Binary operators
1780.Li "* / % + - << >> < <= > >= == != & ^ | && ||"\&
1781.It Assignment operators
1782.Li "= += -= *= /= %= <<= >>= &= ^= |="
1783.It Conditional operator
1784.Li "? :"\&
1785.El
1786.Pp
1787The result of the expression is substituted in decimal.
1788.Ss White Space Splitting (Field Splitting)
1789In certain contexts,
1790after parameter expansion, command substitution, and
1791arithmetic expansion the shell scans the results of
1792expansions and substitutions that did not occur in double-quotes for
1793field splitting and multiple fields can result.
1794.Pp
1795Characters in
1796.Va IFS
1797that are whitespace
1798.Po
1799.Aq space ,
1800.Aq tab ,
1801and
1802.Aq newline
1803.Pc
1804are treated differently from other characters in
1805.Va IFS .
1806.Pp
1807Whitespace in
1808.Va IFS
1809at the beginning or end of a word is discarded.
1810.Pp
1811Subsequently, a field is delimited by either
1812.Bl -enum
1813.It
1814a non-whitespace character in
1815.Va IFS
1816with any whitespace in
1817.Va IFS
1818surrounding it, or
1819.It
1820one or more whitespace characters in
1821.Va IFS .
1822.El
1823.Pp
1824If a word ends with a non-whitespace character in
1825.Va IFS ,
1826there is no empty field after this character.
1827.Pp
1828If no field is delimited, the word is discarded.
1829In particular, if a word consists solely of an unquoted substitution
1830and the result of the substitution is null,
1831it is removed by field splitting even if
1832.Va IFS
1833is null.
1834.Ss Pathname Expansion (File Name Generation)
1835Unless the
1836.Fl f
1837option is set,
1838file name generation is performed
1839after word splitting is complete.
1840Each word is
1841viewed as a series of patterns, separated by slashes.
1842The
1843process of expansion replaces the word with the names of
1844all existing files whose names can be formed by replacing
1845each pattern with a string that matches the specified pattern.
1846There are two restrictions on this: first, a pattern cannot match
1847a string containing a slash, and second,
1848a pattern cannot match a string starting with a period
1849unless the first character of the pattern is a period.
1850The next section describes the patterns used for
1851Pathname Expansion,
1852the four varieties of parameter expansion for substring processing and the
1853.Ic case
1854command.
1855.Ss Shell Patterns
1856A pattern consists of normal characters, which match themselves,
1857and meta-characters.
1858The meta-characters are
1859.Ql * ,
1860.Ql \&? ,
1861and
1862.Ql \&[ .
1863These characters lose their special meanings if they are quoted.
1864When command or variable substitution is performed and the dollar sign
1865or back quotes are not double-quoted, the value of the
1866variable or the output of the command is scanned for these
1867characters and they are turned into meta-characters.
1868.Pp
1869An asterisk
1870.Pq Ql *
1871matches any string of characters.
1872A question mark
1873.Pq Ql \&?
1874matches any single character.
1875A left bracket
1876.Pq Ql \&[
1877introduces a character class.
1878The end of the character class is indicated by a
1879.Ql \&] ;
1880if the
1881.Ql \&]
1882is missing then the
1883.Ql \&[
1884matches a
1885.Ql \&[
1886rather than introducing a character class.
1887A character class matches any of the characters between the square brackets.
1888A locale-dependent range of characters may be specified using a minus sign.
1889A named class of characters (see
1890.Xr wctype 3 )
1891may be specified by surrounding the name with
1892.Ql \&[:\&
1893and
1894.Ql :\&] .
1895For example,
1896.Ql \&[\&[:alpha:\&]\&]
1897is a shell pattern that matches a single letter.
1898The character class may be complemented by making an exclamation point
1899.Pq Ql !\&
1900the first character of the character class.
1901A caret
1902.Pq Ql ^
1903has the same effect but is non-standard.
1904.Pp
1905To include a
1906.Ql \&]
1907in a character class, make it the first character listed
1908(after the
1909.Ql \&!
1910or
1911.Ql ^ ,
1912if any).
1913To include a
1914.Ql - ,
1915make it the first or last character listed.
1916.Ss Built-in Commands
1917This section lists the built-in commands.
1918.Bl -tag -width indent
1919.It Ic \&:
1920A null command that returns a 0 (true) exit value.
1921.It Ic \&. Ar file
1922The commands in the specified file are read and executed by the shell.
1923The
1924.Ic return
1925command may be used to return to the
1926.Ic \&.
1927command's caller.
1928If
1929.Ar file
1930contains any
1931.Ql /
1932characters, it is used as is.
1933Otherwise, the shell searches the
1934.Va PATH
1935for the file.
1936If it is not found in the
1937.Va PATH ,
1938it is sought in the current working directory.
1939.It Ic \&[
1940A built-in equivalent of
1941.Xr test 1 .
1942.It Ic alias Oo Ar name Ns Oo = Ns Ar string Oc ... Oc
1943If
1944.Ar name Ns = Ns Ar string
1945is specified, the shell defines the alias
1946.Ar name
1947with value
1948.Ar string .
1949If just
1950.Ar name
1951is specified, the value of the alias
1952.Ar name
1953is printed.
1954With no arguments, the
1955.Ic alias
1956built-in command prints the names and values of all defined aliases
1957(see
1958.Ic unalias ) .
1959Alias values are written with appropriate quoting so that they are
1960suitable for re-input to the shell.
1961Also see the
1962.Sx Aliases
1963subsection.
1964.It Ic bg Op Ar job ...
1965Continue the specified jobs
1966(or the current job if no jobs are given)
1967in the background.
1968.It Ic bind Oo Fl aeklrsv Oc Oo Ar key Oo Ar command Oc Oc
1969List or alter key bindings for the line editor.
1970This command is documented in
1971.Xr editrc 5 .
1972.It Ic break Op Ar num
1973See the
1974.Sx Flow-Control Constructs
1975subsection.
1976.It Ic builtin Ar cmd Op Ar arg ...
1977Execute the specified built-in command,
1978.Ar cmd .
1979This is useful when the user wishes to override a shell function
1980with the same name as a built-in command.
1981.It Ic cd Oo Fl L | P Oc Oo Fl e Oc Op Ar directory
1982.It Ic cd Fl
1983Switch to the specified
1984.Ar directory ,
1985to the directory specified in the
1986.Va HOME
1987environment variable if no
1988.Ar directory
1989is specified or
1990to the directory specified in the
1991.Va OLDPWD
1992environment variable if
1993.Ar directory
1994is
1995.Fl .
1996If
1997.Ar directory
1998does not begin with
1999.Pa / , \&. ,
2000or
2001.Pa .. ,
2002then the directories listed in the
2003.Va CDPATH
2004variable will be
2005searched for the specified
2006.Ar directory .
2007If
2008.Va CDPATH
2009is unset, the current directory is searched.
2010The format of
2011.Va CDPATH
2012is the same as that of
2013.Va PATH .
2014In an interactive shell,
2015the
2016.Ic cd
2017command will print out the name of the directory
2018that it actually switched to
2019if the
2020.Va CDPATH
2021mechanism was used or if
2022.Ar directory
2023was
2024.Fl .
2025.Pp
2026If the
2027.Fl P
2028option is specified,
2029.Pa ..
2030is handled physically and symbolic links are resolved before
2031.Pa ..
2032components are processed.
2033If the
2034.Fl L
2035option is specified,
2036.Pa ..
2037is handled logically.
2038This is the default.
2039.Pp
2040The
2041.Fl e
2042option causes
2043.Ic cd
2044to return exit status 1 if the full pathname of the new directory
2045cannot be determined reliably or at all.
2046Normally this is not considered an error,
2047although a warning is printed.
2048.Pp
2049If changing the directory fails, the exit status is greater than 1.
2050If the directory is changed, the exit status is 0, or also 1 if
2051.Fl e
2052was given.
2053.It Ic chdir
2054A synonym for the
2055.Ic cd
2056built-in command.
2057.It Ic command Oo Fl p Oc Op Ar utility Op Ar argument ...
2058.It Ic command Oo Fl p Oc Fl v Ar utility
2059.It Ic command Oo Fl p Oc Fl V Ar utility
2060The first form of invocation executes the specified
2061.Ar utility ,
2062ignoring shell functions in the search.
2063If
2064.Ar utility
2065is a special builtin,
2066it is executed as if it were a regular builtin.
2067.Pp
2068If the
2069.Fl p
2070option is specified, the command search is performed using a
2071default value of
2072.Va PATH
2073that is guaranteed to find all of the standard utilities.
2074.Pp
2075If the
2076.Fl v
2077option is specified,
2078.Ar utility
2079is not executed but a description of its interpretation by the shell is
2080printed.
2081For ordinary commands the output is the path name; for shell built-in
2082commands, shell functions and keywords only the name is written.
2083Aliases are printed as
2084.Dq Ic alias Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value .
2085.Pp
2086The
2087.Fl V
2088option is identical to
2089.Fl v
2090except for the output.
2091It prints
2092.Dq Ar utility Ic is Ar description
2093where
2094.Ar description
2095is either
2096the path name to
2097.Ar utility ,
2098a special shell builtin,
2099a shell builtin,
2100a shell function,
2101a shell keyword
2102or
2103an alias for
2104.Ar value .
2105.It Ic continue Op Ar num
2106See the
2107.Sx Flow-Control Constructs
2108subsection.
2109.It Ic echo Oo Fl e | n Oc Op Ar string ...
2110Print a space-separated list of the arguments to the standard output
2111and append a newline character.
2112.Bl -tag -width indent
2113.It Fl n
2114Suppress the output of the trailing newline.
2115.It Fl e
2116Process C-style backslash escape sequences.
2117The
2118.Ic echo
2119command understands the following character escapes:
2120.Bl -tag -width indent
2121.It \ea
2122Alert (ring the terminal bell)
2123.It \eb
2124Backspace
2125.It \ec
2126Suppress the trailing newline (this has the side-effect of truncating the
2127line if it is not the last character)
2128.It \ee
2129The ESC character (ASCII 0x1b)
2130.It \ef
2131Formfeed
2132.It \en
2133Newline
2134.It \er
2135Carriage return
2136.It \et
2137Horizontal tab
2138.It \ev
2139Vertical tab
2140.It \e\e
2141Literal backslash
2142.It \e0nnn
2143(Zero) The character whose octal value is
2144.Ar nnn
2145.El
2146.Pp
2147If
2148.Ar string
2149is not enclosed in quotes then the backslash itself must be escaped
2150with a backslash to protect it from the shell.
2151For example
2152.Bd -literal -offset indent
2153$ echo -e "a\evb"
2154a
2155 b
2156$ echo -e a\e\evb
2157a
2158 b
2159$ echo -e "a\e\eb"
2160a\eb
2161$ echo -e a\e\e\e\eb
2162a\eb
2163.Ed
2164.El
2165.Pp
2166Only one of the
2167.Fl e
2168and
2169.Fl n
2170options may be specified.
2171.It Ic eval Ar string ...
2172Concatenate all the arguments with spaces.
2173Then re-parse and execute the command.
2174.It Ic exec Op Ar command Op arg ...
2175Unless
2176.Ar command
2177is omitted,
2178the shell process is replaced with the specified program
2179(which must be a real program, not a shell built-in command or function).
2180Any redirections on the
2181.Ic exec
2182command are marked as permanent,
2183so that they are not undone when the
2184.Ic exec
2185command finishes.
2186.It Ic exit Op Ar exitstatus
2187Terminate the shell process.
2188If
2189.Ar exitstatus
2190is given
2191it is used as the exit status of the shell.
2192Otherwise, if the shell is executing an
2193.Cm EXIT
2194trap, the exit status of the last command before the trap is used;
2195if the shell is executing a trap for a signal,
2196the shell exits by resending the signal to itself.
2197Otherwise, the exit status of the preceding command is used.
2198The exit status should be an integer between 0 and 255.
2199.It Ic export Ar name ...
2200.It Ic export Op Fl p
2201The specified names are exported so that they will
2202appear in the environment of subsequent commands.
2203The only way to un-export a variable is to
2204.Ic unset
2205it.
2206The shell allows the value of a variable to be set
2207at the same time as it is exported by writing
2208.Pp
2209.D1 Ic export Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
2210.Pp
2211With no arguments the
2212.Ic export
2213command lists the names
2214of all exported variables.
2215If the
2216.Fl p
2217option is specified, the exported variables are printed as
2218.Dq Ic export Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
2219lines, suitable for re-input to the shell.
2220.It Ic false
2221A null command that returns a non-zero (false) exit value.
2222.It Ic fc Oo Fl e Ar editor Oc Op Ar first Op Ar last
2223.It Ic fc Fl l Oo Fl nr Oc Op Ar first Op Ar last
2224.It Ic fc Fl s Oo Ar old Ns = Ns Ar new Oc Op Ar first
2225The
2226.Ic fc
2227built-in command lists, or edits and re-executes,
2228commands previously entered to an interactive shell.
2229.Bl -tag -width indent
2230.It Fl e Ar editor
2231Use the editor named by
2232.Ar editor
2233to edit the commands.
2234The
2235.Ar editor
2236string is a command name,
2237subject to search via the
2238.Va PATH
2239variable.
2240The value in the
2241.Va FCEDIT
2242variable is used as a default when
2243.Fl e
2244is not specified.
2245If
2246.Va FCEDIT
2247is null or unset, the value of the
2248.Va EDITOR
2249variable is used.
2250If
2251.Va EDITOR
2252is null or unset,
2253.Xr ed 1
2254is used as the editor.
2255.It Fl l No (ell)
2256List the commands rather than invoking
2257an editor on them.
2258The commands are written in the
2259sequence indicated by the
2260.Ar first
2261and
2262.Ar last
2263operands, as affected by
2264.Fl r ,
2265with each command preceded by the command number.
2266.It Fl n
2267Suppress command numbers when listing with
2268.Fl l .
2269.It Fl r
2270Reverse the order of the commands listed
2271(with
2272.Fl l )
2273or edited
2274(with neither
2275.Fl l
2276nor
2277.Fl s ) .
2278.It Fl s
2279Re-execute the command without invoking an editor.
2280.It Ar first
2281.It Ar last
2282Select the commands to list or edit.
2283The number of previous commands that can be accessed
2284are determined by the value of the
2285.Va HISTSIZE
2286variable.
2287The value of
2288.Ar first
2289or
2290.Ar last
2291or both are one of the following:
2292.Bl -tag -width indent
2293.It Oo Cm + Oc Ns Ar num
2294A positive number representing a command number;
2295command numbers can be displayed with the
2296.Fl l
2297option.
2298.It Fl Ar num
2299A negative decimal number representing the
2300command that was executed
2301.Ar num
2302of
2303commands previously.
2304For example, \-1 is the immediately previous command.
2305.It Ar string
2306A string indicating the most recently entered command
2307that begins with that string.
2308If the
2309.Ar old Ns = Ns Ar new
2310operand is not also specified with
2311.Fl s ,
2312the string form of the first operand cannot contain an embedded equal sign.
2313.El
2314.El
2315.Pp
2316The following variables affect the execution of
2317.Ic fc :
2318.Bl -tag -width ".Va HISTSIZE"
2319.It Va FCEDIT
2320Name of the editor to use for history editing.
2321.It Va HISTSIZE
2322The number of previous commands that are accessible.
2323.El
2324.It Ic fg Op Ar job
2325Move the specified
2326.Ar job
2327or the current job to the foreground.
2328.It Ic getopts Ar optstring var
2329The POSIX
2330.Ic getopts
2331command.
2332The
2333.Ic getopts
2334command deprecates the older
2335.Xr getopt 1
2336command.
2337The first argument should be a series of letters, each possibly
2338followed by a colon which indicates that the option takes an argument.
2339The specified variable is set to the parsed option.
2340The index of
2341the next argument is placed into the shell variable
2342.Va OPTIND .
2343If an option takes an argument, it is placed into the shell variable
2344.Va OPTARG .
2345If an invalid option is encountered,
2346.Ar var
2347is set to
2348.Ql \&? .
2349It returns a false value (1) when it encounters the end of the options.
2350A new set of arguments may be parsed by assigning
2351.Li OPTIND=1 .
2352.It Ic hash Oo Fl rv Oc Op Ar command ...
2353The shell maintains a hash table which remembers the locations of commands.
2354With no arguments whatsoever, the
2355.Ic hash
2356command prints out the contents of this table.
2357.Pp
2358With arguments, the
2359.Ic hash
2360command removes each specified
2361.Ar command
2362from the hash table (unless they are functions) and then locates it.
2363With the
2364.Fl v
2365option,
2366.Ic hash
2367prints the locations of the commands as it finds them.
2368The
2369.Fl r
2370option causes the
2371.Ic hash
2372command to delete all the entries in the hash table except for functions.
2373.It Ic jobid Op Ar job
2374Print the process IDs of the processes in the specified
2375.Ar job .
2376If the
2377.Ar job
2378argument is omitted, use the current job.
2379.It Ic jobs Oo Fl lps Oc Op Ar job ...
2380Print information about the specified jobs, or all jobs if no
2381.Ar job
2382argument is given.
2383The information printed includes job ID, status and command name.
2384.Pp
2385If the
2386.Fl l
2387option is specified, the PID of each job is also printed.
2388If the
2389.Fl p
2390option is specified, only the process IDs for the process group leaders
2391are printed, one per line.
2392If the
2393.Fl s
2394option is specified, only the PIDs of the job commands are printed, one per
2395line.
2396.It Ic kill
2397A built-in equivalent of
2398.Xr kill 1
2399that additionally supports sending signals to jobs.
2400.It Ic local Oo Ar variable ... Oc Op Fl
2401See the
2402.Sx Functions
2403subsection.
2404.It Ic printf
2405A built-in equivalent of
2406.Xr printf 1 .
2407.It Ic pwd Op Fl L | P
2408Print the path of the current directory.
2409The built-in command may
2410differ from the program of the same name because the
2411built-in command remembers what the current directory
2412is rather than recomputing it each time.
2413This makes
2414it faster.
2415However, if the current directory is
2416renamed,
2417the built-in version of
2418.Xr pwd 1
2419will continue to print the old name for the directory.
2420.Pp
2421If the
2422.Fl P
2423option is specified, symbolic links are resolved.
2424If the
2425.Fl L
2426option is specified, the shell's notion of the current directory
2427is printed (symbolic links are not resolved).
2428This is the default.
2429.It Ic read Oo Fl p Ar prompt Oc Oo
2430.Fl t Ar timeout Oc Oo Fl er Oc Ar variable ...
2431The
2432.Ar prompt
2433is printed if the
2434.Fl p
2435option is specified
2436and the standard input is a terminal.
2437Then a line is
2438read from the standard input.
2439The trailing newline
2440is deleted from the line and the line is split as
2441described in the section on
2442.Sx White Space Splitting (Field Splitting)\&
2443above, and
2444the pieces are assigned to the variables in order.
2445If there are more pieces than variables, the remaining
2446pieces (along with the characters in
2447.Va IFS
2448that separated them)
2449are assigned to the last variable.
2450If there are more variables than pieces, the remaining
2451variables are assigned the null string.
2452.Pp
2453Backslashes are treated specially, unless the
2454.Fl r
2455option is
2456specified.
2457If a backslash is followed by
2458a newline, the backslash and the newline will be
2459deleted.
2460If a backslash is followed by any other
2461character, the backslash will be deleted and the following
2462character will be treated as though it were not in
2463.Va IFS ,
2464even if it is.
2465.Pp
2466If the
2467.Fl t
2468option is specified and the
2469.Ar timeout
2470elapses before a complete line of input is supplied,
2471the
2472.Ic read
2473command will return an exit status as if terminated by
2474.Dv SIGALRM
2475without assigning any values.
2476The
2477.Ar timeout
2478value may optionally be followed by one of
2479.Ql s ,
2480.Ql m
2481or
2482.Ql h
2483to explicitly specify seconds, minutes or hours.
2484If none is supplied,
2485.Ql s
2486is assumed.
2487.Pp
2488The
2489.Fl e
2490option exists only for backward compatibility with older scripts.
2491.Pp
2492The exit status is 0 on success, 1 on end of file,
2493between 2 and 128 if an error occurs
2494and greater than 128 if a trapped signal interrupts
2495.Ic read .
2496.It Ic readonly Oo Fl p Oc Op Ar name ...
2497Each specified
2498.Ar name
2499is marked as read only,
2500so that it cannot be subsequently modified or unset.
2501The shell allows the value of a variable to be set
2502at the same time as it is marked read only
2503by using the following form:
2504.Pp
2505.D1 Ic readonly Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
2506.Pp
2507With no arguments the
2508.Ic readonly
2509command lists the names of all read only variables.
2510If the
2511.Fl p
2512option is specified, the read-only variables are printed as
2513.Dq Ic readonly Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
2514lines, suitable for re-input to the shell.
2515.It Ic return Op Ar exitstatus
2516See the
2517.Sx Functions
2518subsection.
2519.It Ic set Oo Fl /+abCEefIimnpTuVvx Oc Oo Fl /+o Ar longname
2520.Oc Op Fl - Ar arg ...
2521The
2522.Ic set
2523command performs three different functions:
2524.Bl -item
2525.It
2526With no arguments, it lists the values of all shell variables.
2527.It
2528If options are given,
2529either in short form or using the long
2530.Dq Fl /+o Ar longname
2531form,
2532it sets or clears the specified options as described in the section called
2533.Sx Argument List Processing .
2534.It
2535If the
2536.Dq Fl -
2537option is specified,
2538.Ic set
2539will replace the shell's positional parameters with the subsequent
2540arguments.
2541If no arguments follow the
2542.Dq Fl -
2543option,
2544all the positional parameters will be cleared,
2545which is equivalent to executing the command
2546.Dq Li "shift $#" .
2547The
2548.Dq Fl -
2549flag may be omitted when specifying arguments to be used
2550as positional replacement parameters.
2551This is not recommended,
2552because the first argument may begin with a dash
2553.Pq Ql -
2554or a plus
2555.Pq Ql + ,
2556which the
2557.Ic set
2558command will interpret as a request to enable or disable options.
2559.El
2560.It Ic setvar Ar variable value
2561Assigns the specified
2562.Ar value
2563to the specified
2564.Ar variable .
2565The
2566.Ic setvar
2567command is intended to be used in functions that
2568assign values to variables whose names are passed as parameters.
2569In general it is better to write
2570.Dq Ar variable Ns = Ns Ar value
2571rather than using
2572.Ic setvar .
2573.It Ic shift Op Ar n
2574Shift the positional parameters
2575.Ar n
2576times, or once if
2577.Ar n
2578is not specified.
2579A shift sets the value of
2580.Li $1
2581to the value of
2582.Li $2 ,
2583the value of
2584.Li $2
2585to the value of
2586.Li $3 ,
2587and so on,
2588decreasing the value of
2589.Li $#
2590by one.
2591For portability, shifting if there are zero positional parameters
2592should be avoided, since the shell may abort.
2593.It Ic test
2594A built-in equivalent of
2595.Xr test 1 .
2596.It Ic times
2597Print the amount of time spent executing the shell process and its children.
2598The first output line shows the user and system times for the shell process
2599itself, the second one contains the user and system times for the
2600children.
2601.It Ic trap Oo Ar action Oc Ar signal ...
2602.It Ic trap Fl l
2603Cause the shell to parse and execute
2604.Ar action
2605when any specified
2606.Ar signal
2607is received.
2608The signals are specified by name or number.
2609In addition, the pseudo-signal
2610.Cm EXIT
2611may be used to specify an
2612.Ar action
2613that is performed when the shell terminates.
2614The
2615.Ar action
2616may be an empty string or a dash
2617.Pq Ql - ;
2618the former causes the specified signal to be ignored
2619and the latter causes the default action to be taken.
2620Omitting the
2621.Ar action
2622and using only signal numbers is another way to request the default action.
2623In a subshell or utility environment,
2624the shell resets trapped (but not ignored) signals to the default action.
2625The
2626.Ic trap
2627command has no effect on signals that were ignored on entry to the shell.
2628.Pp
2629Option
2630.Fl l
2631causes the
2632.Ic trap
2633command to display a list of valid signal names.
2634.It Ic true
2635A null command that returns a 0 (true) exit value.
2636.It Ic type Op Ar name ...
2637Interpret each
2638.Ar name
2639as a command and print the resolution of the command search.
2640Possible resolutions are:
2641shell keyword, alias, special shell builtin, shell builtin, command,
2642tracked alias
2643and not found.
2644For aliases the alias expansion is printed;
2645for commands and tracked aliases
2646the complete pathname of the command is printed.
2647.It Ic ulimit Oo Fl HSabcdfklmnopstuvw Oc Op Ar limit
2648Set or display resource limits (see
2649.Xr getrlimit 2 ) .
2650If
2651.Ar limit
2652is specified, the named resource will be set;
2653otherwise the current resource value will be displayed.
2654.Pp
2655If
2656.Fl H
2657is specified, the hard limits will be set or displayed.
2658While everybody is allowed to reduce a hard limit,
2659only the superuser can increase it.
2660The
2661.Fl S
2662option
2663specifies the soft limits instead.
2664When displaying limits,
2665only one of
2666.Fl S
2667or
2668.Fl H
2669can be given.
2670The default is to display the soft limits,
2671and to set both the hard and the soft limits.
2672.Pp
2673Option
2674.Fl a
2675causes the
2676.Ic ulimit
2677command to display all resources.
2678The parameter
2679.Ar limit
2680is not acceptable in this mode.
2681.Pp
2682The remaining options specify which resource value is to be
2683displayed or modified.
2684They are mutually exclusive.
2685.Bl -tag -width indent
2686.It Fl b Ar sbsize
2687The maximum size of socket buffer usage, in bytes.
2688.It Fl c Ar coredumpsize
2689The maximal size of core dump files, in 512-byte blocks.
2690Setting
2691.Ar coredumpsize
2692to 0 prevents core dump files from being created.
2693.It Fl d Ar datasize
2694The maximal size of the data segment of a process, in kilobytes.
2695.It Fl f Ar filesize
2696The maximal size of a file, in 512-byte blocks.
2697.It Fl k Ar kqueues
2698The maximal number of kqueues
2699(see
2700.Xr kqueue 2 )
2701for this user ID.
2702.It Fl l Ar lockedmem
2703The maximal size of memory that can be locked by a process, in
2704kilobytes.
2705.It Fl m Ar memoryuse
2706The maximal resident set size of a process, in kilobytes.
2707.It Fl n Ar nofiles
2708The maximal number of descriptors that could be opened by a process.
2709.It Fl o Ar umtxp
2710The maximal number of process-shared locks
2711(see
2712.Xr pthread 3 )
2713for this user ID.
2714.It Fl p Ar pseudoterminals
2715The maximal number of pseudo-terminals for this user ID.
2716.It Fl s Ar stacksize
2717The maximal size of the stack segment, in kilobytes.
2718.It Fl t Ar time
2719The maximal amount of CPU time to be used by each process, in seconds.
2720.It Fl u Ar userproc
2721The maximal number of simultaneous processes for this user ID.
2722.It Fl v Ar virtualmem
2723The maximal virtual size of a process, in kilobytes.
2724.It Fl w Ar swapuse
2725The maximum amount of swap space reserved or used for this user ID,
2726in kilobytes.
2727.El
2728.It Ic umask Oo Fl S Oc Op Ar mask
2729Set the file creation mask (see
2730.Xr umask 2 )
2731to the octal or symbolic (see
2732.Xr chmod 1 )
2733value specified by
2734.Ar mask .
2735If the argument is omitted, the current mask value is printed.
2736If the
2737.Fl S
2738option is specified, the output is symbolic, otherwise the output is octal.
2739.It Ic unalias Oo Fl a Oc Op Ar name ...
2740The specified alias names are removed.
2741If
2742.Fl a
2743is specified, all aliases are removed.
2744.It Ic unset Oo Fl fv Oc Ar name ...
2745The specified variables or functions are unset and unexported.
2746If the
2747.Fl v
2748option is specified or no options are given, the
2749.Ar name
2750arguments are treated as variable names.
2751If the
2752.Fl f
2753option is specified, the
2754.Ar name
2755arguments are treated as function names.
2756.It Ic wait Op Ar job ...
2757Wait for each specified
2758.Ar job
2759to complete and return the exit status of the last process in the
2760last specified
2761.Ar job .
2762If any
2763.Ar job
2764specified is unknown to the shell, it is treated as if it
2765were a known job that exited with exit status 127.
2766If no operands are given, wait for all jobs to complete
2767and return an exit status of zero.
2768.El
2769.Ss Command Line Editing
2770When
2771.Nm
2772is being used interactively from a terminal, the current command
2773and the command history
2774(see
2775.Ic fc
2776in
2777.Sx Built-in Commands )
2778can be edited using
2779.Nm vi Ns -mode
2780command line editing.
2781This mode uses commands similar
2782to a subset of those described in the
2783.Xr vi 1
2784man page.
2785The command
2786.Dq Li "set -o vi"
2787(or
2788.Dq Li "set -V" )
2789enables
2790.Nm vi Ns -mode
2791editing and places
2792.Nm
2793into
2794.Nm vi
2795insert mode.
2796With
2797.Nm vi Ns -mode
2798enabled,
2799.Nm
2800can be switched between insert mode and command mode by typing
2801.Aq ESC .
2802Hitting
2803.Aq return
2804while in command mode will pass the line to the shell.
2805.Pp
2806Similarly, the
2807.Dq Li "set -o emacs"
2808(or
2809.Dq Li "set -E" )
2810command can be used to enable a subset of
2811.Nm emacs Ns -style
2812command line editing features.
2813.Sh ENVIRONMENT
2814The following environment variables affect the execution of
2815.Nm :
2816.Bl -tag -width ".Ev LANGXXXXXX"
2817.It Ev ENV
2818Initialization file for interactive shells.
2819.It Ev LANG , Ev LC_*
2820Locale settings.
2821These are inherited by children of the shell,
2822and is used in a limited manner by the shell itself.
2823.It Ev OLDPWD
2824The previous current directory.
2825This is used and updated by
2826.Ic cd .
2827.It Ev PWD
2828An absolute pathname for the current directory,
2829possibly containing symbolic links.
2830This is used and updated by the shell.
2831.It Ev TERM
2832The default terminal setting for the shell.
2833This is inherited by children of the shell, and is used in the history
2834editing modes.
2835.El
2836.Pp
2837Additionally, environment variables are turned into shell variables
2838at startup,
2839which may affect the shell as described under
2840.Sx Special Variables .
2841.Sh FILES
2842.Bl -tag -width "/etc/suid_profileXX" -compact
2843.It Pa ~/.profile
2844User's login profile.
2845.It Pa /etc/profile
2846System login profile.
2847.It Pa /etc/shells
2848Shell database.
2849.It Pa /etc/suid_profile
2850Privileged shell profile.
2851.El
2852.Sh EXIT STATUS
2853If the
2854.Ar script
2855cannot be found, the exit status will be 127;
2856if it cannot be opened for another reason, the exit status will be 126.
2857Other errors that are detected by the shell, such as a syntax error, will
2858cause the shell to exit with a non-zero exit status.
2859If the shell is not an interactive shell, the execution of the shell
2860file will be aborted.
2861Otherwise the shell will return the exit status of the last command
2862executed, or if the
2863.Ic exit
2864builtin is used with a numeric argument, it
2865will return the argument.
2866.Sh SEE ALSO
2867.Xr builtin 1 ,
2868.Xr chsh 1 ,
2869.Xr echo 1 ,
2870.Xr ed 1 ,
2871.Xr emacs 1 ,
2872.Xr kill 1 ,
2873.Xr printf 1 ,
2874.Xr pwd 1 ,
2875.Xr test 1 ,
2876.Xr vi 1 ,
2877.Xr execve 2 ,
2878.Xr getrlimit 2 ,
2879.Xr umask 2 ,
2880.Xr wctype 3 ,
2881.Xr editrc 5 ,
2882.Xr shells 5
2883.Sh HISTORY
2884A
2885.Nm
2886command, the Thompson shell, appeared in
2887.At v1 .
2888It was superseded in
2889.At v7
2890by the Bourne shell, which inherited the name
2891.Nm .
2892.Pp
2893This version of
2894.Nm
2895was rewritten in 1989 under the
2896.Bx
2897license after the Bourne shell from
2898.At V.4 .
2899.Sh AUTHORS
2900This version of
2901.Nm
2902was originally written by
2903.An Kenneth Almquist .
2904.Sh BUGS
2905The
2906.Nm
2907utility does not recognize multibyte characters other than UTF-8.
2908Splitting using
2909.Va IFS
2910does not recognize multibyte characters.
2911