ARG_MAX
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vs )
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Update: see also a collection of 8th ed manual pages.
User Commands SH(1) NAME sh, cd, wait - shell, the standard command programming language SYNOPSIS sh [ -acefiknpstuvx ] [ args ] DESCRIPTION Sh is a command programming language that executes commands read from a terminal or a file. See Invocation below for the meaning of arguments to the shell. Definitions A blank is a tab or a space. A name is a sequence of letters, digits, or underscores beginning with a letter or underscore. A parameter is a name, a digit, or any of the characters *, @, #, ?, -, $, and !. A word is a sequence of characters and quoted strings, surrounded by blanks or new- lines. Commands A simple-command is a sequence of words separated by blanks. The first word specifies the name of the command to be exe- cuted. Except as specified below, the remaining words are passed as arguments to the invoked command. The command name is passed as argument 0 (see exec(2)). The value of a simple-command is its exit status if it terminates normally, or (octal) 200+status if it terminates abnormally (see sig- nal(2) for a list of status values). A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated by |. The standard output of each command but the last is connected by a pipe(2) to the standard input of the next command. Each command is run as a separate process; the shell waits for the last command to terminate. The exit status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command. A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by ;, &, &&, or ||, and optionally terminated by ; or &. Of these four symbols, ; and & have equal precedence, which is lower than that of && and ||. The symbols && and || also have equal precedence. A semicolon (;) causes sequential execution of the preceding pipeline; an ampersand (&) causes asynchronous execution of the preceding pipeline (i.e., the shell does not wait for that pipeline to finish). The sym- bol && (||) causes the list following it to be executed only if the preceding pipeline returns a zero (non-zero) exit status. An arbitrary number of new-lines may appear in a list, instead of semicolons, to delimit commands. A command is either a simple-command or one of the follow- ing. Unless otherwise stated, the value returned by a com- mand is that of the last simple-command executed in the com- mand. for name [ in word ... ; ] do list done Each time a for command is executed, name is set to the next word taken from the in word list. If in word ... ; is omitted, then the for command executes the do list once for each positional parameter that is set (see Parameter Substitution below). Execution ends when there are no more words in the list. case word in [ pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac A case command executes the list associated with the first pattern that matches word. The form of the pat- terns is the same as that used for file-name generation (see File Name Generation) except that a slash, a lead- ing dot, or a dot immediately following a slash need not be matched explicitly. if list then list [ elif list then list ] ... [ else list ] fi The list following if is executed and, if it returns a zero exit status, the list following the first then is executed. Otherwise, the list following elif is exe- cuted and, if its value is zero, the list following the next then is executed. Failing that, the else list is executed. If no else list or then list is executed, then the if command returns a zero exit status. while list do list done A while command repeatedly executes the while list and, if the exit status of the last command in the list is zero, executes the do list; otherwise the loop ter- minates. If no commands in the do list are executed, then the while command returns a zero exit status; until may be used in place of while to negate the loop termination test. (list) Execute list in a sub-shell. {list} list is simply executed. name () command Define a function which is referenced by name. The body of the function is the command. The most useful form of command is a sequence of commands enclosed by { and }. Execution of functions is described below (see Exe- cution). The following words are only recognized as the first word of a command and when not quoted: if then else elif fi case esac for while until do done Comments A word beginning with # causes that word and all the follow- ing characters up to a new-line to be ignored. Command Substitution The standard output from a command enclosed in a pair of grave accents (``) may be used as part or all of a word; trailing new-lines are removed. Parameter Substitution The character $ is used to introduce substitutable parame- ters. There are two types of parameters, positional and keyword. If parameter is a digit, it is a positional param- eter. Positional parameters may be assigned values by set. Keyword parameters (also known as variables) may be assigned values by writing: name=value [ name=value ] ... Pattern-matching is not performed on value. There cannot be a function and a variable with the same name. ${parameter} The value, if any, of the parameter is substituted. The braces are required only when parameter is followed by a letter, digit, or underscore that is not to be interpreted as part of its name. If parameter is * or @, all the positional parameters, starting with $1, are substituted (separated by spaces). Parameter $0 is set from argument zero when the shell is invoked. ${parameter:-word} If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute its value; otherwise substitute word. ${parameter:=word} If parameter is not set or is null set it to word; the value of the parameter is substituted. Positional parameters may not be assigned to in this way. ${parameter:?word} If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute its value; otherwise, print word and exit from the shell. If word is omitted, the message ``parameter null or not set'' is printed. ${parameter:+word} If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute word; otherwise substitute nothing. In the above, word is not evaluated unless it is to be used as the substituted string, so that, in the following exam- ple, pwd is executed only if d is not set or is null: echo ${d:-`pwd`} If the colon (:) is omitted from the above expressions, the shell only checks whether parameter is set or not. The following parameters are automatically set by the shell: # The number of positional parameters in decimal. - Flags supplied to the shell on invocation or by the set command. ? The decimal value returned by the last synchro- nously executed command. $ The process number of this shell. ! The process number of the last background command invoked. The following parameters are used by the shell: HOME The default argument (home directory) for the cd command. PATH The search path for commands (see Execution below). CDPATH The search path for the cd command. MAIL If this parameter is set to the name of a mail file the shell informs the user of the arrival of mail in the specified file. The file is inspected every three minutes. HISTORY If this parameter is set to the name of a writable file, the shell appends interactive input to the file, for use by the = command (=(1)). PS1 Primary prompt string, by default ``$ ''. PS2 Secondary prompt string, by default ``> ''. IFS Internal field separators, normally space, tab, and new-line. The shell gives default values to PATH, PS1, PS2 and IFS. HOME is set by login(8). Blank Interpretation After parameter and command substitution, the results of substitution are scanned for internal field separator char- acters (those found in IFS) and split into distinct argu- ments where such characters are found. Explicit null argu- ments ("" or '') are retained. Implicit null arguments (those resulting from parameters that have no values) are removed. File Name Generation Following substitution, each command word is scanned for the characters *, ?, and [. If one of these characters appears the word is regarded as a pattern. The word is replaced with alphabetically sorted file names that match the pat- tern. If no file name is found that matches the pattern, the word is left unchanged. The directories . and .. (ini- tially or after a /) are only matched by patterns beginning with an explicit period. The character / itself must be matched explicitly. * Matches any string, including the null string. ? Matches any single character. [...] Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A pair of characters separated by - matches any character lexically between the pair, inclusive. If the first character following the opening ``['' is a ``^'' any character not enclosed is matched. Quoting The following characters have a special meaning to the shell and cause termination of a word unless quoted: ; & ( ) | < > new-line space tab { } (The characters { and } need not be quoted inside a ${} con- struction.) A character may be quoted (i.e., made to stand for itself) by preceding it with a \. The pair \new-line is ignored. All characters enclosed between a pair of single quote marks (''), except a single quote, are quoted. Inside double quote marks (""), parameter and command substitution occurs and \ quotes the characters \, `, ", and $. "$*" is equivalent to "$1 $2 ...", whereas "$@" is equivalent to "$1" "$2" .... Prompting When used interactively, the shell prompts with the value of PS1 before reading a command. If at any time a new-line is typed and further input is needed to complete a command, the secondary prompt (i.e., the value of PS2) is issued. Input/Output Before a command is executed, its input and output may be redirected using a special notation interpreted by the shell. The following may appear anywhere in a simple- command or may precede or follow a command and are not passed on to the invoked command; substitution occurs before word or digit is used: <word Use file word as standard input (file descrip- tor 0). >word Use file word as standard output (file descriptor 1). If the file does not exist it is created; otherwise, it is truncated to zero length. >>word Use file word as standard output. If the file exists output is appended to it (by first seeking to the end-of-file); otherwise, the file is created. <<word The shell input is read up to a line that is the same as word, or to an end-of-file. The resulting document becomes the standard input. If any character of word is quoted, no interpretation is placed upon the characters of the document; otherwise, parameter and com- mand substitution occurs, (unescaped) \new- line is ignored, and \ must be used to quote the characters \, $, `, and the first charac- ter of word. <&digit Use the file associated with file descriptor digit as standard input. Similarly for the standard output using >&digit. <&- The standard input is closed. Similarly for the standard output using >&-. If any of the above is preceded by a digit, the file descriptor which will be associated with the file is that specified by the digit (instead of the default 0 or 1). For example: ... 2>&1 associates file descriptor 2 with the file currently associ- ated with file descriptor 1. The order in which redirections are specified is signifi- cant. The shell evaluates redirections left-to-right. For example: ... 1>xxx 2>&1 first associates file descriptor 1 with file xxx. It asso- ciates file descriptor 2 with the file associated with file descriptor 1 (i.e. xxx). If the order of redirections were reversed, file descriptor 2 would be associated with the terminal (assuming file descriptor 1 had been) and file descriptor 1 would be associated with file xxx. If a command is followed by & the default standard input for the command is the empty file /dev/null. Otherwise, the environment for the execution of a command contains the file descriptors of the invoking shell as modified by input/output specifications. Environment The environment (see environ(5)) is a list of name-value pairs that is passed to an executed program in the same way as a normal argument list. The shell interacts with the environment in several ways. On invocation, the shell scans the environment and creates a parameter or function for each name found, giving it the corresponding value. If the user modifies the value of any of these parameters or creates new parameters, none of these affects the environment unless the export command is used to bind the shell's parameter to the environment (see also set -a). A parameter may be removed from the environment with the unset command. The environ- ment seen by any executed command is thus composed of any unmodified name-value pairs originally inherited by the shell, minus any pairs removed by unset, plus any modifica- tions or additions, all of which must be noted in export commands. The environment for any simple-command may be augmented by prefixing it with one or more assignments to parameters (but not functions). Thus: TERM=450 cmd and (export TERM; TERM=450; cmd) are equivalent (as far as the execution of cmd is con- cerned). If the -k flag is set, all keyword arguments are placed in the environment, even if they occur after the command name. The following first prints a=b c then c: echo a=b c set -k echo a=b c Signals The INTERRUPT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored if the command is followed by &; otherwise signals have the values inherited by the shell from its parent, with the exception of signal 11 (but see also the trap command below). Execution Each time a command is executed, the above substitutions are carried out. If the command name matches one of the Special Commands listed below, it is executed in the shell process. If the command name does not match a Special Command, but matches the name of a defined function, the function is exe- cuted in the shell process (note how this differs from the execution of shell procedures). The positional parameters $1, $2, .... are set to the arguments of the function. If the command name matches neither a Special Command nor the name of a defined function, a new process is created and an attempt is made to execute the command via exec(2). The shell parameter PATH defines the search path for the directory containing the command. Alternative directory names are separated by a colon (:). The default path is :/bin:/usr/bin (specifying the current directory, /bin, and /usr/bin, in that order). Note that the current directory is specified by a null path name, which can appear immedi- ately after the equal sign or between the colon delimiters anywhere else in the path list. If the command name con- tains a / the search path is not used. Otherwise, each directory in the path is searched for an executable file. If the file has execute permission but is not an a.out file, it is assumed to be a file containing shell commands. A sub-shell is spawned to read it. A parenthesized command is also executed in a sub-shell. Special Commands Input/output redirection is permitted for these commands. File descriptor 1 is the default output location. : No effect; the command does nothing. A zero exit code is returned. . file Read and execute commands from file and return. The search path specified by PATH is used to find the directory containing file. builtin [ command ] Execute the built-in special command (such as break) regardless of functions defined with the same name. break [ n ] Exit from the enclosing for or while loop, if any. If n is specified break n levels. continue [ n ] Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for or while loop. If n is specified resume at the n-th enclosing loop. cd [ arg ] Change the current directory to arg. The shell parame- ter HOME is the default arg. The shell parameter CDPATH defines the search path for the directory con- taining arg. Alternative directory names are separated by a colon (:). The default path is <null> (specifying the current directory). Note that the current direc- tory is specified by a null path name, which can appear immediately after the equal sign or between the colon delimiters anywhere else in the path list. If arg begins with a / the search path is not used. Other- wise, each directory in the path is searched for arg. eval [ arg ... ] The arguments are read as input to the shell and the resulting command(s) executed. exec [ arg ... ] The command specified by the arguments is executed in place of this shell without creating a new process. Input/output arguments may appear and, if no other arguments are given, cause the shell input/output to be modified. exit [ n ] Causes a shell to exit with the exit status specified by n. If n is omitted the exit status is that of the last command executed (an end-of-file will also cause the shell to exit.) export [ name ... ] The given names are marked for automatic export to the environment of subsequently-executed commands. If no arguments are given, a list of all names that are exported in this shell is printed. newgrp [ arg ... ] Equivalent to exec newgrp arg .... See newgrp(1) for usage and description. read [ name ... ] One line is read from the standard input and the first word is assigned to the first name, the second word to the second name, etc., with leftover words assigned to the last name. The return code is 0 unless an end-of- file is encountered. return [ n ] Causes a function to exit with the return value speci- fied by n. If n is omitted, the return status is that of the last command executed. set [ --aehknptuvx [ arg ... ] ] -a Mark variables which are modified or created for export. -e Exit immediately if a command exits with a non- zero exit status. -f Disable file name generation -k All keyword arguments are placed in the environ- ment for a command, not just those that precede the command name. -n Read commands but do not execute them. -p Remove the definitions for all functions imported from the environment, and set IFS to blank, tab and newline. -t Exit after reading and executing one command. -u Treat unset variables as an error when substitut- ing. -v Print shell input lines as they are read. -x Print commands and their arguments as they are executed. -- Do not change any of the flags; useful in setting $1 to -. Using + rather than - causes these flags to be turned off. These flags can also be used upon invocation of the shell. The current set of flags may be found in $-. The remaining arguments are positional parameters and are assigned, in order, to $1, $2, .... If no arguments are given the values of all names are printed. shift [ n ] The positional parameters from $n+1 ... are renamed $1 .... If n is not given, it is assumed to be 1. times Print the accumulated user and system times for processes run from the shell. trap [ arg ] [ n ] ... The command arg is to be read and executed when the shell receives signal(s) n. (Note that arg is scanned once when the trap is set and once when the trap is taken.) Trap commands are executed in order of signal number. Any attempt to set a trap on a signal that was ignored on entry to the current shell is ineffective. An attempt to trap on signal 11 (memory fault) produces an error. If arg is absent all trap(s) n are reset to their original values. If arg is the null string this signal is ignored by the shell and by the commands it invokes. If n is 0 the command arg is executed on exit from the shell. The trap command with no arguments prints a list of commands associated with each signal number. umask [ nnn ] The user file-creation mask is set to nnn (see umask(2)). If nnn is omitted, the current value of the mask is printed. unset [ name ... ] For each name, remove the corresponding variable or function. The variables PATH, PS1, PS2 and IFS cannot be unset. wait [ n ] Wait for the specified process and report its termina- tion status. If n is not given all currently active child processes are waited for and the return code is zero. whatis [ name ... ] For each name, print the associated value as a parame- ter, function, builtin or executable binary as appropriate. In each case, the value is printed in a form that would yield the same value if typed as input to the shell itself: parameters are printed as assign- ments, functions as their definitions, builtins as calls to builtin, and binaries as their full pathnames. Invocation If the shell is invoked through exec(2) and the first char- acter of argument zero is -, commands are initially read from $HOME/.profile, if it exists. Thereafter, commands are read as described below, which is also the case when the shell is invoked as /bin/sh. The flags below are inter- preted by the shell on invocation only; Note that unless the -c or -s flag is specified, the first argument is assumed to be the name of a file containing commands, and the remaining arguments are passed as positional parameters to that com- mand file: -c string If the -c flag is present commands are read from string. -s If the -s flag is present or if no arguments remain commands are read from the standard input. Any remaining arguments specify the positional parameters. Shell output (except for Special Com- mands) is written to file descriptor 2. -i If the -i flag is present or if the shell input and output are attached to a terminal, this shell is interactive. In this case TERMINATE is ignored (so that kill 0 does not kill an interactive shell) and INTERRUPT is caught and ignored (so that wait is interruptible). In all cases, QUIT is ignored by the shell. The remaining flags and arguments are described under the set command above. EXIT STATUS Errors detected by the shell, such as syntax errors, cause the shell to return a non-zero exit status. If the shell is being used non-interactively execution of the shell file is abandoned. Otherwise, the shell returns the exit status of the last command executed (see also the exit command above). FILES $HOME/.profile /tmp/sh* /dev/null SEE ALSO =(1), cd(1), echo(1), newgrp(1), test(1) dup(2), exec(2), fork(2), pipe(2), signal(2), umask(2), wait(2), a.out(5), environ(5) BUGS A function invocation overwrites the arguments of the invok- ing shell.