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(bashref.info)What is an Interactive Shell?

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What is an Interactive Shell?
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   An interactive shell is one started without non-option arguments,
unless `-s' is specified, without specifiying the `-c' option, and
whose input and output are both connected to terminals (as determined
by `isatty(3)'), or one started with the `-i' option.

   An interactive shell generally reads from and writes to a user's
terminal.

   The `-s' invocation option may be used to set the positional
parameters when an interactive shell is started.