Bash Reference Manual

Introduction What is a shell? , What is Bash? Definitions Basic Features Syntax Operation Quoting Single ' Double "      $ ,  ` , and  \ are special ANSI-C \n newline Escape Character \ Locale-Specific Translation Comments # Commands Simple Pipelines | Lists of ; & && || Looping for i in 3 2 1 ; do echo $i ; done for (( i=1 ; $i < 3 ; i++ )) ; do echo $i ; done until i -gt 3 ; … while i -lt 3 ; … Conditional if [ 01 == 1 ]; then echo 1; else echo no; fi s==s, !=, < , > n -eq m, -ne, -lt, -le, -gt -d name directory,  -e exists, -r -w -x Grouping Functions Parameters Positional , Special Expansions Brace { } Tilde ~ Parameter Command Substitution Arithmetic           echo $(($COLUMNS-40)) Process Substitution       <(list)   or       >(list) Word Splitting Filename Pattern Matching Quote Removal	Redirecting I/O STDIN cmd < f STDOUT cmd > f Appending Output >> STDERR with STDOUT  >f 2>&1  Here Documents << stop Duplicating File Descriptors Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing Executing Commands Simple Command Expansion Command Search and Execution Command Execution Environment Environment name=value Exit Status if [ $RC -ne 0 ]; then echo … Signals Scripts Features Builtins Variables Other Bourne Features Major Differences SVR4.2 Bourne Implementation Differences SVR4.2 Bash Features Invoking Startup Files /etc/profile, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, or ~/.profile Is This Interactive? Builtin Commands The Set Builtin Conditional Expressions Variables Arithmetic Aliases Alias Builtins Arrays The Directory Stack Controlling the Prompt The Restricted POSIX Mode	Job Control Basics Builtins Variables Using History Interactively Facilities Builtins Expansion Event Designators Word Designators Modifiers
Command Line Editing Intro Readline Interaction Readline Init File Syntax Conditional Init Constructs Sample Init File Bindable Readline Commands Moving Manipulating The History Changing Text Killing And Yanking Specifying Numeric Arguments Letting Readline Type For You Keyboard Macros Some Miscellaneous Commands Readline vi Mode

Builtin Commands

Reserved Words

Parameter and Variable

Functions

Concepts

Installing Bash

Basic Installation	Compilers and Options	Compiling For Multiple Architectures	Installation Names
Specifying the System Type	Sharing Defaults	Operation Controls	Optional Features

DGG made this nice stuff from, what is now, and old version of the docs.

The truth is out there gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html

GNU bash, version 3.2.25(1)-release-(i686-redhat-linux-gnu) sh [GNU long option] [option] script-file ... --debug --debugger --dump-po-strings --dump-strings --help --init-file --login --noediting --noprofile --norc --posix --protected --rcfile --rpm-requires --restricted --verbose --version --wordexp Shell options: -irsD or -c command or -O shopt_option (invocation only) -abefhkmnptuvxBCHP or -o option following rearranged, i.e. not exactly as displayed > sh -c "help set" set: set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCHP] [-o option] [arg ...] -o option-name Set the variable corresponding to option-name: allexport -a Mark variables which are modified or created for export. braceexpand -B the shell will perform brace expansion errexit -e Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-zero status. errtrace -E ERR trap is inherited by shell functions. functrace -T If set, the DEBUG trap is inherited by shell functions. hashall -h Remember the location of commands as they are looked up. history enable command history histexpand -H Enable ! style history substitution. default on when shell is interactive. ignoreeof the shell will not exit upon reading EOF keyword -k All assignment arguments are placed in the environment for a command, not just those that precede the command name. noclobber -C disallow existing regular files to be overwritten by redirection of output. noglob -f Disable file name generation (globbing). monitor -m Job control is enabled. notify -b Notify of job termination immediately. nounset -u Treat unset variables as an error when substituting. onecmd -t Exit after reading and executing one command. physical -P do not follow symbolic links when executing commands such as cd which change the current directory. pipefail the return value of a pipeline is the status of the last command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if no command exited with a non-zero status privilege -p Turned on whenever the real and effective user ids do not match. Disables processing of the $ENV file and importing of shell functions. Turning this option off causes the effective uid and gid to be set to the real uid and gid. vi use a vi-style line editing interface emacs use an emacs-style line editing interface noexec -n Read commands but do not execute them. verbose -v display shell input lines as they are read. xtrace -x display commands and arguments as they are executed. posix operate as 1003.2 standard interactive-comments allow comments to appear in interactive commands - Assign any remaining arguments to the positional parameters. The -x and -v options are turned off. Using + rather than - causes flags to be turned off. The flags can be used at invocation of the shell. The current set of flags may be found in $-. echo $- himBH (hashall, jobcontrol, Braceexpand, HistExpand ) The remaining n ARGs are positional parameters and are assigned, in order, to $1, $2, .. $n. If no ARGs are given, all shell variables are printed. Type `sh -c help' for more information about shell builtin commands.

cygwin 2.05b.0(8)-release BASH_VERSION=1.14.7(1) @real-World-systems.com
BASH_VERSION=1.14.2(1) @HICOM.NET

This document was (taken from a document) generated on 7 November 1998 using the texi2html translator version 1.52.

And severly hacked by Dennis G German 12/18/01