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(bashref.info)Basic Shell Features

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Basic Shell Features
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   Bash is an acronym for `Bourne-Again SHell'.  The Bourne shell is
the traditional Unix shell originally written by Stephen Bourne.  All
of the Bourne shell builtin commands are available in Bash, and the
rules for evaluation and quoting are taken from the POSIX 1003.2
specification for the `standard' Unix shell.

   This chapter briefly summarizes the shell's `building blocks':
commands, control structures, shell functions, shell parameters, shell
expansions, redirections, which are a way to direct input and output
from and to named files, and how the shell executes commands.

Shell Syntax

What your input means to the shell.

Shell Commands

The types of commands you can use.

Shell Functions

Grouping commands by name.

Shell Parameters

Special shell variables.

Shell Expansions

How Bash expands variables and the various

expansions available.

Redirections

A way to control where input and output go.

Executing Commands

What happens when you run a command.

Shell Scripts

Executing files of shell commands.