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.TH SH 1

.SH NAME

sh, ., break, case, cd, continue, eval, exec, exit, export, for, if, read, readonly, set, shift, trap, umask, wait, while \- shell

.SH SYNOPSIS

\fBsh\fR [\fB\-eiknqstvxu\fR] [\fB\-c \fIstr\fR] \fB[\fIfile\fR]\fR

.br

.de FL

.TP

\\fB\\$1\\fR

\\$2

..

.de EX

.TP 20

\\fB\\$1\\fR

# \\$2

..

.SH OPTIONS

.FL "\-c" "Execute the commands in \fIstr\fR"

.FL "\-e" "Quit on error"

.FL "\-i" "Interactive mode; ignore QUIT, TERMINATE, INTERRUPT"

.FL "\-k" "Look for name=value everywhere on command line"

.FL "\-n" "Do not execute commands"

.FL "\-q" "Change qflag from sig_ign to sig_del"

.FL "\-s" "Read commands from standard input"

.FL "\-t" "Exit after reading and executing one command"

.FL "\-v" "Echo input lines as they are read"

.FL "\-x" "Trace"

.FL "\-u" "Unset variables"

.SH EXAMPLES

.EX "sh script" "Run a shell script"

.SH DESCRIPTION

.PP

.I Sh

is the shell, which forms the user's main interface with the system.

On startup, the shell reads /etc/profile and $HOME/.profile, if they exist,

and executes any commands they contain.  The Minix shell has most of the

features of the V7 (Bourne) shell, including redirection of input and output,

pipes, magic characters, background processes, and shell scripts.  A brief

summary follows, but whole books have been written on shell programming alone.

.LP

Some of the more common notations are:

.PP

.in +2.45i

.ta 2i 2.2i

.ti -2.2i

date    #       Regular command

.ti -2.2i

sort 

.ti -2.2i

sort file2      #       Redirect \fIstdin\fR and \fIstdout\fR

.ti -2.2i

cc file.c  2>error      #       Redirect \fIstderr\fR

.ti -2.2i

a.out >f  2>&1  #       Combine standard output and standard error

.ti -2.2i

sort >file2     #       Append output to \fIfile2\fR

.ti -2.2i

sort file2 &    #       Background job

.ti -2.2i

(ls \-l; a.out) &       #       Run two background commands sequentially

.ti -2.2i

sort 

.ti -2.2i

sort 

.ti -2.2i

ls \-l *.c      #       List all files ending in \fI.c\fR

.ti -2.2i

ls \-l [\fIa-c\fR]*     #       List all files beginning with \fIa\fR, \fIb\fR, or \fIc\fR

.ti -2.2i

ls \-l ?        #       List all one-character file names

.ti -2.2i

ls \e?  #       List the file whose name is question mark

.ti -2.2i

ls \(fm???\(fm  #       List the file whose name is three question marks

.ti -2.2i

v=/usr/ast      #       Set shell variable \fIv\fR

.ti -2.2i

ls \-l $v       #       Use shell variable \fIv\fR

.ti -2.2i

PS1=\(fmHi! \(fm        #       Change the primary prompt to \fIHi!\fR

.ti -2.2i

PS2=\(fmMore: \(fm      #       Change the secondary prompt to \fIMore:\fR

.ti -2.2i

ls \-l $HOME    #       List the home directory

.ti -2.2i

echo $PATH      #       Echo the search path

.ti -2.2i

echo $? #       Echo exit status of previous command in decimal

.ti -2.2i

echo $$ #       Echo shell's pid in decimal

.ti -2.2i

echo $! #       Echo PID of last background process

.ti -2.2i

echo $# #       Echo number of parameters (shell script)

.ti -2.2i

echo $2 #       Echo second parameter (shell script)

.ti -2.2i

echo "$2"       #       Echo second parameter without expanding spaces

.ti -2.2i

echo $* #       Echo all parameters (shell script)

.ti -2.2i

echo $@ #       Echo all parameters (shell script)

.ti -2.2i

echo "$@"       #       Echo all parameters without expanding spaces

.in -2.45i

.LP

The shell uses the following variables for specific purposes:

.PP

.in +2.25i

.ta 2i

.ti -2i

SHELL   the path of the current shell

.ti -2i

HOME    the default value for the cd(1) command

.ti -2i

PATH    the directories to be searched to find commands

.ti -2i

IFS     the internal field separators for command strings

.ti -2i

PS1     the primary shell prompt

.ti -2i

PS2     the secondary shell prompt

.in -2.25i

.LP

There are various forms of substitution on the shell command line:

.PP

.in +2.25i

.ta 2i

.ti -2i

`...`   Command string between back-quotes is replaced by its output

.ti -2i

"..."   Permits variable substitution between quotes

.ti -2i

\&'...' Inhibits variable substitution between quotes

.ti -2i

$VAR    Replaced by contents of variable VAR

.ti -2i

${VAR}  Delimits variable VAR from any following string

.in -2.25i

.LP

The expressions below depend on whether or not VAR has ever been set.

If VAR has been set, they give:

.PP

.in +2.25i

.ta 2i

.ti -2i

${VAR-str}      Replace expression by VAR, else by str

.ti -2i

${VAR=str}      Replace expression by VAR, else by str and set VAR to str

.ti -2i

${VAR?str}      Replace expression by VAR, else print str and exit shell

.ti -2i

${VAR+str}      Replace expression by str, else by null string

.in -2.25i

.LP

If a colon is placed after VAR, the expressions depend on whether or not

VAR is currently set and non-null.

.LP

The shell has a number of built-in commands:

.PP

.in +2.25i

.ta 2i

.ti -2i

:       return true status

.ti -2i

\&. fn  execute shell script fn on current path

.ti -2i

break [n]       break from a for, until or while loop; exit n levels

.ti -2i

continue [n]    continue a for, until or while loop; resume nth loop

.ti -2i

cd [dir]        change current working directory; move to $HOME

.ti -2i

eval cmd        rescan cmd, performing substitutions

.ti -2i

eval    rescan the current command line

.ti -2i

exec cmd        execute cmd without creating a new process

.ti -2i

exec <|>   with no command name, modify shell I/O

.ti -2i

exit [n]        exit a shell program, with exit value n

.ti -2i

export [var]    export var to shell's children; list exported variables

.ti -2i

pwd     print the name of the current working directory

.ti -2i

read var        read a line from stdin and assign to var

.ti -2i

readonly [var]  make var readonly; list readonly variables

.ti -2i

set -f  set shell flag (+f unsets flag)

.ti -2i

set str set positional parameter to str

.ti -2i

set     show the current shell variables

.ti -2i

shift   reassign positional parameters (except ${0}) one left

.ti -2i

times   print accumulated user and system times for processes

.ti -2i

trap arg sigs   trap signals sigs and run arg on receipt

.ti -2i

trap    list trapped signals

.ti -2i

umask [n]       set the user file creation mask; show the current umask

.ti -2i

wait [n]        wait for process pid n; wait for all processes

.in -2.25i

.LP

The shell also contains a programming language, which has the following

operators and flow control statements:

.PP

.in +3.50i

.ta 2i 3.25i

.ti -3.25i

#       Comment The rest of the line is ignored

.ti -3.25i

=       Assignment      Set a shell variable

.ti -3.25i

&&       Logical AND     Execute second command only if first succeeds

.ti -3.25i

||      Logical OR      Execute second command only if first fails

.ti -3.25i

(...)   Group   Execute enclosed commands before continuing

.in -3.50i

.PP

.in +2.25i

.ta 2i

.ti -2i

for     For loop (for ... in ... do ... done)

.ti -2i

case    Case statement ((case ... ) ... ;; ... esac)

.ti -2i

esac    Case statement end

.ti -2i

while   While loop (while ... do ... done)

.ti -2i

do      Do/For/While loop start (do ... until ...)

.ti -2i

done    For/While loop end

.ti -2i

if      Conditional statement (if ... else ... elif ... fi)

.ti -2i

in      For loop selection

.ti -2i

then    Conditional statement start

.ti -2i

else    Conditional statement alternative

.ti -2i

elif    Conditional statement end

.ti -2i

until   Do loop end

.ti -2i

fi      Conditional statement end

.in -2.25i

.SH "SEE ALSO"

.BR echo (1),

.BR expr (1),

.BR pwd (1),

.BR true (1).