--- /dev/null
+This is the Bash FAQ, version 3.24, for Bash version 2.05b.
+
+This document contains a set of frequently-asked questions concerning
+Bash, the GNU Bourne-Again Shell. Bash is a freely-available command
+interpreter with advanced features for both interactive use and shell
+programming.
+
+Another good source of basic information about shells is the collection
+of FAQ articles periodically posted to comp.unix.shell.
+
+Questions and comments concerning this document should be sent to
+chet@po.cwru.edu.
+
+This document is available for anonymous FTP with the URL
+
+ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/FAQ
+
+The Bash home page is http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/bash/bashtop.html
+
+----------
+Contents:
+
+Section A: The Basics
+
+A1) What is it?
+A2) What's the latest version?
+A3) Where can I get it?
+A4) On what machines will bash run?
+A5) Will bash run on operating systems other than Unix?
+A6) How can I build bash with gcc?
+A7) How can I make bash my login shell?
+A8) I just changed my login shell to bash, and now I can't FTP into my
+ machine. Why not?
+A9) What's the `POSIX 1003.2 standard'?
+A10) What is the bash `posix mode'?
+
+Section B: The latest version
+
+B1) What's new in version 2.05b?
+B2) Are there any user-visible incompatibilities between bash-2.05b and
+ bash-1.14.7?
+
+Section C: Differences from other Unix shells
+
+C1) How does bash differ from sh, the Bourne shell?
+C2) How does bash differ from the Korn shell, version ksh88?
+C3) Which new features in ksh-93 are not in bash, and which are?
+
+Section D: Why does bash do some things differently than other Unix shells?
+
+D1) Why does bash run a different version of `command' than
+ `which command' says it will?
+D2) Why doesn't bash treat brace expansions exactly like csh?
+D3) Why doesn't bash have csh variable modifiers?
+D4) How can I make my csh aliases work when I convert to bash?
+D5) How can I pipe standard output and standard error from one command to
+ another, like csh does with `|&'?
+D6) Now that I've converted from ksh to bash, are there equivalents to
+ ksh features like autoloaded functions and the `whence' command?
+
+Section E: Why does bash do certain things the way it does?
+
+E1) Why is the bash builtin `test' slightly different from /bin/test?
+E2) Why does bash sometimes say `Broken pipe'?
+E3) When I have terminal escape sequences in my prompt, why does bash
+ wrap lines at the wrong column?
+E4) If I pipe the output of a command into `read variable', why doesn't
+ the output show up in $variable when the read command finishes?
+E5) I have a bunch of shell scripts that use backslash-escaped characters
+ in arguments to `echo'. Bash doesn't interpret these characters. Why
+ not, and how can I make it understand them?
+E6) Why doesn't a while or for loop get suspended when I type ^Z?
+E7) What about empty for loops in Makefiles?
+E8) Why does the arithmetic evaluation code complain about `08'?
+E9) Why does the pattern matching expression [A-Z]* match files beginning
+ with every letter except `z'?
+E10) Why does `cd //' leave $PWD as `//'?
+E11) If I resize my xterm while another program is running, why doesn't bash
+ notice the change?
+
+Section F: Things to watch out for on certain Unix versions
+
+F1) Why can't I use command line editing in my `cmdtool'?
+F2) I built bash on Solaris 2. Why do globbing expansions and filename
+ completion chop off the first few characters of each filename?
+F3) Why does bash dump core after I interrupt username completion or
+ `~user' tilde expansion on a machine running NIS?
+F4) I'm running SVR4.2. Why is the line erased every time I type `@'?
+F5) Why does bash report syntax errors when my C News scripts use a
+ redirection before a subshell command?
+F6) Why can't I use vi-mode editing on Red Hat Linux 6.1?
+F7) Why do bash-2.05a and bash-2.05b fail to compile `printf.def' on
+ HP/UX 11.x?
+
+Section G: How can I get bash to do certain common things?
+
+G1) How can I get bash to read and display eight-bit characters?
+G2) How do I write a function `x' to replace builtin command `x', but
+ still invoke the command from within the function?
+G3) How can I find the value of a shell variable whose name is the value
+ of another shell variable?
+G4) How can I make the bash `time' reserved word print timing output that
+ looks like the output from my system's /usr/bin/time?
+G5) How do I get the current directory into my prompt?
+G6) How can I rename "*.foo" to "*.bar"?
+G7) How can I translate a filename from uppercase to lowercase?
+G8) How can I write a filename expansion (globbing) pattern that will match
+ all files in the current directory except "." and ".."?
+
+Section H: Where do I go from here?
+
+H1) How do I report bugs in bash, and where should I look for fixes and
+ advice?
+H2) What kind of bash documentation is there?
+H3) What's coming in future versions?
+H4) What's on the bash `wish list'?
+H5) When will the next release appear?
+
+----------
+Section A: The Basics
+
+A1) What is it?
+
+Bash is a Unix command interpreter (shell). It is an implementation of
+the Posix 1003.2 shell standard, and resembles the Korn and System V
+shells.
+
+Bash contains a number of enhancements over those shells, both
+for interactive use and shell programming. Features geared
+toward interactive use include command line editing, command
+history, job control, aliases, and prompt expansion. Programming
+features include additional variable expansions, shell
+arithmetic, and a number of variables and options to control
+shell behavior.
+
+Bash was originally written by Brian Fox of the Free Software
+Foundation. The current developer and maintainer is Chet Ramey
+of Case Western Reserve University.
+
+A2) What's the latest version?
+
+The latest version is 2.05b, first made available on Wednesday, 17
+July, 2002.
+
+A3) Where can I get it?
+
+Bash is the GNU project's shell, and so is available from the
+master GNU archive site, ftp.gnu.org, and its mirrors. The
+latest version is also available for FTP from ftp.cwru.edu.
+The following URLs tell how to get version 2.05b:
+
+ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bash/bash-2.05b.tar.gz
+ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/bash-2.05b.tar.gz
+
+Formatted versions of the documentation are available with the URLs:
+
+ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/bash/bash-doc-2.05b.tar.gz
+ftp://ftp.cwru.edu/pub/bash/bash-doc-2.05b.tar.gz
+
+A4) On what machines will bash run?
+
+Bash has been ported to nearly every version of UNIX. All you
+should have to do to build it on a machine for which a port
+exists is to type `configure' and then `make'. The build process
+will attempt to discover the version of UNIX you have and tailor
+itself accordingly, using a script created by GNU autoconf.
+
+More information appears in the file `INSTALL' in the distribution.
+
+The Bash web page (http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/bash/bashtop.html)
+explains how to obtain binary versions of bash for most of the major
+commercial Unix systems.
+
+A5) Will bash run on operating systems other than Unix?
+
+Configuration specifics for Unix-like systems such as QNX and
+LynxOS are included in the distribution. Bash-2.05 and later
+versions should compile and run on Minix 2.0 (patches were
+contributed), but I don't believe anyone has built bash-2.x on
+earlier Minix versions yet.
+
+Bash has been ported to versions of Windows implementing the Win32
+programming interface. This includes Windows 95 and Windows NT.
+The port was done by Cygnus Solutions as part of their CYGWIN
+project. For more information about the project, look at the URLs
+
+http://www.cygwin.com/
+http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin
+
+Cygnus originally ported bash-1.14.7, and that port was part of their
+early GNU-Win32 (the original name) releases. Cygnus has also done a
+port of bash-2.05 to the CYGWIN environment, and it is available as
+part of their current release.
+
+Bash-2.05b should require no local Cygnus changes to build and run under
+CYGWIN.
+
+The Cygnus port works only on Intel machines. There is a port of bash
+(I don't know which version) to the alpha/NT environment available from
+
+ftp://ftp.gnustep.org//pub/win32/bash-alpha-nt-1.01.tar.gz
+
+DJ Delorie has a port of bash-2.x which runs under MS-DOS, as part
+of the DJGPP project. For more information on the project, see
+
+http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/
+
+I have been told that the original DJGPP port was done by Daisuke Aoyama.
+
+Mark Elbrecht <snowball3@bigfoot.com> has sent me notice that bash-2.04
+is available for DJGPP V2. The files are available as:
+
+ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/bsh204b.zip binary
+ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/bsh204d.zip documentation
+ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/bsh204s.zip source
+
+Mark has begun to work with bash-2.05, but I don't know the status.
+
+Ports of bash-1.12 and bash-2.0 are available for OS/2 from
+
+ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/shell/bash_112.zip
+ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/shell/bash-2.0(253).zip
+
+I haven't looked at either, but the second appears to be a binary-only
+distribution. Beware.
+
+I have received word that Bash (I'm not sure which version, but I
+believe that it's at least bash-2.02.1) is the standard shell on
+BeOS.
+
+A6) How can I build bash with gcc?
+
+Bash configures to use gcc by default if it is available. Read the
+file INSTALL in the distribution for more information.
+
+A7) How can I make bash my login shell?
+
+Some machines let you use `chsh' to change your login shell. Other
+systems use `passwd -s' or `passwd -e'. If one of these works for
+you, that's all you need. Note that many systems require the full
+pathname to a shell to appear in /etc/shells before you can make it
+your login shell. For this, you may need the assistance of your
+friendly local system administrator.
+
+If you cannot do this, you can still use bash as your login shell, but
+you need to perform some tricks. The basic idea is to add a command
+to your login shell's startup file to replace your login shell with
+bash.
+
+For example, if your login shell is csh or tcsh, and you have installed
+bash in /usr/gnu/bin/bash, add the following line to ~/.login:
+
+ if ( -f /usr/gnu/bin/bash ) exec /usr/gnu/bin/bash --login
+
+(the `--login' tells bash that it is a login shell).
+
+It's not a good idea to put this command into ~/.cshrc, because every
+csh you run without the `-f' option, even ones started to run csh scripts,
+reads that file. If you must put the command in ~/.cshrc, use something
+like
+
+ if ( $?prompt ) exec /usr/gnu/bin/bash --login
+
+to ensure that bash is exec'd only when the csh is interactive.
+
+If your login shell is sh or ksh, you have to do two things.
+
+First, create an empty file in your home directory named `.bash_profile'.
+The existence of this file will prevent the exec'd bash from trying to
+read ~/.profile, and re-execing itself over and over again. ~/.bash_profile
+is the first file bash tries to read initialization commands from when
+it is invoked as a login shell.
+
+Next, add a line similar to the above to ~/.profile:
+
+ [ -f /usr/gnu/bin/bash ] && [ -x /usr/gnu/bin/bash ] && \
+ exec /usr/gnu/bin/bash --login
+
+This will cause login shells to replace themselves with bash running as
+a login shell. Once you have this working, you can copy your initialization
+code from ~/.profile to ~/.bash_profile.
+
+I have received word that the recipe supplied above is insufficient for
+machines running CDE. CDE has a maze of twisty little startup files, all
+slightly different.
+
+If you cannot change your login shell in the password file to bash, you
+will have to (apparently) live with CDE using the shell in the password
+file to run its startup scripts. If you have changed your shell to bash,
+there is code in the CDE startup files (on Solaris, at least) that attempts
+to do the right thing. It is, however, often broken, and may require that
+you use the $BASH_ENV trick described below.
+
+`dtterm' claims to use $SHELL as the default program to start, so if you
+can change $SHELL in the CDE startup files, you should be able to use bash
+in your terminal windows.
+
+Setting DTSOURCEPROFILE in ~/.dtprofile will cause the `Xsession' program
+to read your login shell's startup files. You may be able to use bash for
+the rest of the CDE programs by setting SHELL to bash in ~/.dtprofile as
+well, but I have not tried this.
+
+You can use the above `exec' recipe to start bash when not logging in with
+CDE by testing the value of the DT variable:
+
+ if [ -n "$DT" ]; then
+ [ -f /usr/gnu/bin/bash ] && exec /usr/gnu/bin/bash --login
+ fi
+
+If CDE starts its shells non-interactively during login, the login shell
+startup files (~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile) will not be sourced at login.
+To get around this problem, append a line similar to the following to your
+~/.dtprofile:
+
+ BASH_ENV=${HOME}/.bash_profile ; export BASH_ENV
+
+and add the following line to the beginning of ~/.bash_profile:
+
+ unset BASH_ENV
+
+A8) I just changed my login shell to bash, and now I can't FTP into my
+ machine. Why not?
+
+You must add the full pathname to bash to the file /etc/shells. As
+noted in the answer to the previous question, many systems require
+this before you can make bash your login shell.
+
+Most versions of ftpd use this file to prohibit `special' users
+such as `uucp' and `news' from using FTP.
+
+A9) What's the `POSIX 1003.2 standard'?
+
+POSIX is a name originally coined by Richard Stallman for a
+family of open system standards based on UNIX. There are a
+number of aspects of UNIX under consideration for
+standardization, from the basic system services at the system
+call and C library level to applications and tools to system
+administration and management. Each area of standardization is
+assigned to a working group in the 1003 series.
+
+The POSIX Shell and Utilities standard has been developed by IEEE
+Working Group 1003.2 (POSIX.2). It concentrates on the command
+interpreter interface and utility programs commonly executed from
+the command line or by other programs. An initial version of the
+standard has been approved and published by the IEEE, and work is
+currently underway to update it.
+
+Bash is concerned with the aspects of the shell's behavior
+defined by POSIX.2. The shell command language has of course
+been standardized, including the basic flow control and program
+execution constructs, I/O redirection and pipelining, argument
+handling, variable expansion, and quoting.
+
+The `special' builtins, which must be implemented as part of the
+shell to provide the desired functionality, are specified as
+being part of the shell; examples of these are `eval' and
+`export'. Other utilities appear in the sections of POSIX.2 not
+devoted to the shell which are commonly (and in some cases must
+be) implemented as builtin commands, such as `read' and `test'.
+POSIX.2 also specifies aspects of the shell's interactive
+behavior as part of the UPE, including job control and command
+line editing. Only vi-style line editing commands have been
+standardized; emacs editing commands were left out due to
+objections.
+
+The Open Group has made an older version of its Single Unix
+Specification (version 2), which is very similar to POSIX.2,
+available on the web at
+
+http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007908799/
+
+The Single Unix Specification, version 3, is available on the web at
+
+http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/
+
+A10) What is the bash `posix mode'?
+
+Although bash is an implementation of the POSIX.2 shell
+specification, there are areas where the bash default behavior
+differs from that spec. The bash `posix mode' changes the bash
+behavior in these areas so that it obeys the spec more closely.
+
+Posix mode is entered by starting bash with the --posix or
+'-o posix' option or executing `set -o posix' after bash is running.
+
+The specific aspects of bash which change when posix mode is
+active are listed in the file POSIX in the bash distribution.
+They are also listed in a section in the Bash Reference Manual
+(from which that file is generated).
+
+Section B: The latest version
+
+B1) What's new in version 2.05b?
+
+The raison d'etre for bash-2.05b is to make a second intermediate
+release containing the first of the new features to be available
+in bash-3.0 and get feedback on those features before proceeding.
+The major new feature is multibyte character support in both Bash
+and Readline.
+
+Bash-2.05b contains the following new features (see the manual page for
+complete descriptions and the CHANGES and NEWS files in the bash-2.05b
+distribution):
+
+o support for multibyte characters has been added to both bash and readline
+
+o the DEBUG trap is now run *before* simple commands, ((...)) commands,
+ [[...]] conditional commands, and for ((...)) loops
+
+o the shell now performs arithmetic in the largest integer size the machine
+ supports (intmax_t)
+
+o there is a new \D{...} prompt expansion; passes the `...' to strftime(3)
+ and inserts the result into the expanded prompt
+
+o there is a new `here-string' redirection operator: <<< word
+
+o when displaying variables, function attributes and definitions are shown
+ separately, allowing them to be re-used as input (attempting to re-use
+ the old output would result in syntax errors).
+
+o `read' has a new `-u fd' option to read from a specified file descriptor
+
+o the bash debugger in examples/bashdb has been modified to work with the
+ new DEBUG trap semantics, the command set has been made more gdb-like,
+ and the changes to $LINENO make debugging functions work better
+
+o the expansion of $LINENO inside a shell function is only relative to the
+ function start if the shell is interactive -- if the shell is running a
+ script, $LINENO expands to the line number in the script. This is as
+ POSIX-2001 requires
+
+
+A short feature history dating from Bash-2.0:
+
+Bash-2.05a introduced the following new features:
+
+o The `printf' builtin has undergone major work
+
+o There is a new read-only `shopt' option: login_shell, which is set by
+ login shells and unset otherwise
+
+o New `\A' prompt string escape sequence; expanding to time in 24-hour
+ HH:MM format
+
+o New `-A group/-g' option to complete and compgen; goes group name
+ completion
+
+o New [+-]O invocation option to set and unset `shopt' options at startup
+
+o ksh-like `ERR' trap
+
+o `for' loops now allow empty word lists after the `in' reserved word
+
+o new `hard' and `soft' arguments for the `ulimit' builtin
+
+o Readline can be configured to place the user at the same point on the line
+ when retrieving commands from the history list
+
+o Readline can be configured to skip `hidden' files (filenames with a leading
+ `.' on Unix) when performing completion
+
+Bash-2.05 introduced the following new features:
+
+o This version has once again reverted to using locales and strcoll(3) when
+ processing pattern matching bracket expressions, as POSIX requires.
+o Added a new `--init-file' invocation argument as a synonym for `--rcfile',
+ per the new GNU coding standards.
+o The /dev/tcp and /dev/udp redirections now accept service names as well as
+ port numbers.
+o `complete' and `compgen' now take a `-o value' option, which controls some
+ of the aspects of that compspec. Valid values are:
+
+ default - perform bash default completion if programmable
+ completion produces no matches
+ dirnames - perform directory name completion if programmable
+ completion produces no matches
+ filenames - tell readline that the compspec produces filenames,
+ so it can do things like append slashes to
+ directory names and suppress trailing spaces
+o A new loadable builtin, realpath, which canonicalizes and expands symlinks
+ in pathname arguments.
+o When `set' is called without options, it prints function defintions in a
+ way that allows them to be reused as input. This affects `declare' and
+ `declare -p' as well. This only happens when the shell is not in POSIX
+ mode, since POSIX.2 forbids this behavior.
+
+Bash-2.04 introduced the following new features:
+
+o Programmable word completion with the new `complete' and `compgen' builtins;
+ examples are provided in examples/complete/complete-examples
+o `history' has a new `-d' option to delete a history entry
+o `bind' has a new `-x' option to bind key sequences to shell commands
+o The prompt expansion code has new `\j' and `\l' escape sequences
+o The `no_empty_cmd_completion' shell option, if enabled, inhibits
+ command completion when TAB is typed on an empty line
+o `help' has a new `-s' option to print a usage synopsis
+o New arithmetic operators: var++, var--, ++var, --var, expr1,expr2 (comma)
+o New ksh93-style arithmetic for command:
+ for ((expr1 ; expr2; expr3 )); do list; done
+o `read' has new options: `-t', `-n', `-d', `-s'
+o The redirection code handles several filenames specially: /dev/fd/N,
+ /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, /dev/stderr
+o The redirection code now recognizes /dev/tcp/HOST/PORT and
+ /dev/udp/HOST/PORT and tries to open a TCP or UDP socket, respectively,
+ to the specified port on the specified host
+o The ${!prefix*} expansion has been implemented
+o A new FUNCNAME variable, which expands to the name of a currently-executing
+ function
+o The GROUPS variable is no longer readonly
+o A new shopt `xpg_echo' variable, to control the behavior of echo with
+ respect to backslash-escape sequences at runtime
+o The NON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS #define has returned
+
+The version of Readline released with Bash-2.04, Readline-4.1, had several
+new features as well:
+
+o Parentheses matching is always compiled into readline, and controllable
+ with the new `blink-matching-paren' variable
+o The history-search-forward and history-search-backward functions now leave
+ point at the end of the line when the search string is empty, like
+ reverse-search-history, and forward-search-history
+o A new function for applications: rl_on_new_line_with_prompt()
+o New variables for applications: rl_already_prompted, and rl_gnu_readline_p
+
+
+Bash-2.03 had very few new features, in keeping with the convention
+that odd-numbered releases provide mainly bug fixes. A number of new
+features were added to Readline, mostly at the request of the Cygnus
+folks.
+
+A new shopt option, `restricted_shell', so that startup files can test
+ whether or not the shell was started in restricted mode
+Filename generation is now performed on the words between ( and ) in
+ compound array assignments (this is really a bug fix)
+OLDPWD is now auto-exported, as POSIX.2 requires
+ENV and BASH_ENV are read-only variables in a restricted shell
+Bash may now be linked against an already-installed Readline library,
+ as long as the Readline library is version 4 or newer
+All shells begun with the `--login' option will source the login shell
+ startup files, even if the shell is not interactive
+
+There were lots of changes to the version of the Readline library released
+along with Bash-2.03. For a complete list of the changes, read the file
+CHANGES in the Bash-2.03 distribution.
+
+Bash-2.02 contained the following new features:
+
+a new version of malloc (based on the old GNU malloc code in previous
+ bash versions) that is more page-oriented, more conservative
+ with memory usage, does not `orphan' large blocks when they
+ are freed, is usable on 64-bit machines, and has allocation
+ checking turned on unconditionally
+POSIX.2-style globbing character classes ([:alpha:], [:alnum:], etc.)
+POSIX.2-style globbing equivalence classes
+POSIX.2-style globbing collating symbols
+the ksh [[...]] extended conditional command
+the ksh egrep-style extended pattern matching operators
+a new `printf' builtin
+the ksh-like $(<filename) command substitution, which is equivalent to
+ $(cat filename)
+new tilde prefixes that expand to directories from the directory stack
+new `**' arithmetic operator to do exponentiation
+case-insensitive globbing (filename expansion)
+menu completion a la tcsh
+`magic-space' history expansion function like tcsh
+the readline inputrc `language' has a new file inclusion directive ($include)
+
+Bash-2.01 contained only a few new features:
+
+new `GROUPS' builtin array variable containing the user's group list
+new bindable readline commands: history-and-alias-expand-line and
+ alias-expand-line
+
+Bash-2.0 contained extensive changes and new features from bash-1.14.7.
+Here's a short list:
+
+new `time' reserved word to time pipelines, shell builtins, and
+ shell functions
+one-dimensional arrays with a new compound assignment statement,
+ appropriate expansion constructs and modifications to some
+ of the builtins (read, declare, etc.) to use them
+new quoting syntaxes for ANSI-C string expansion and locale-specific
+ string translation
+new expansions to do substring extraction, pattern replacement, and
+ indirect variable expansion
+new builtins: `disown' and `shopt'
+new variables: HISTIGNORE, SHELLOPTS, PIPESTATUS, DIRSTACK, GLOBIGNORE,
+ MACHTYPE, BASH_VERSINFO
+special handling of many unused or redundant variables removed
+ (e.g., $notify, $glob_dot_filenames, $no_exit_on_failed_exec)
+dynamic loading of new builtin commands; many loadable examples provided
+new prompt expansions: \a, \e, \n, \H, \T, \@, \v, \V
+history and aliases available in shell scripts
+new readline variables: enable-keypad, mark-directories, input-meta,
+ visible-stats, disable-completion, comment-begin
+new readline commands to manipulate the mark and operate on the region
+new readline emacs mode commands and bindings for ksh-88 compatibility
+updated and extended builtins
+new DEBUG trap
+expanded (and now documented) restricted shell mode
+
+implementation stuff:
+autoconf-based configuration
+nearly all of the bugs reported since version 1.14 have been fixed
+most builtins converted to use builtin `getopt' for consistency
+most builtins use -p option to display output in a reusable form
+ (for consistency)
+grammar tighter and smaller (66 reduce-reduce conflicts gone)
+lots of code now smaller and faster
+test suite greatly expanded
+
+B2) Are there any user-visible incompatibilities between bash-2.05b and
+ bash-1.14.7?
+
+There are a few incompatibilities between version 1.14.7 and version 2.05b.
+They are detailed in the file COMPAT in the bash distribution. That file
+is not meant to be all-encompassing; send mail to bash-maintainers@gnu.org
+if if you find something that's not mentioned there.
+
+Section C: Differences from other Unix shells
+
+C1) How does bash differ from sh, the Bourne shell?
+
+This is a non-comprehensive list of features that differentiate bash
+from the SVR4.2 shell. The bash manual page explains these more
+completely.
+
+Things bash has that sh does not:
+ long invocation options
+ [+-]O invocation option
+ -l invocation option
+ `!' reserved word to invert pipeline return value
+ `time' reserved word to time pipelines and shell builtins
+ the `function' reserved word
+ the `select' compound command and reserved word
+ arithmetic for command: for ((expr1 ; expr2; expr3 )); do list; done
+ new $'...' and $"..." quoting
+ the $(...) form of command substitution
+ the $(<filename) form of command substitution, equivalent to
+ $(cat filename)
+ the ${#param} parameter value length operator
+ the ${!param} indirect parameter expansion operator
+ the ${!param*} prefix expansion operator
+ the ${param:offset[:length]} parameter substring operator
+ the ${param/pat[/string]} parameter pattern substitution operator
+ expansions to perform substring removal (${p%[%]w}, ${p#[#]w})
+ expansion of positional parameters beyond $9 with ${num}
+ variables: BASH, BASH_VERSION, BASH_VERSINFO, UID, EUID, REPLY,
+ TIMEFORMAT, PPID, PWD, OLDPWD, SHLVL, RANDOM, SECONDS,
+ LINENO, HISTCMD, HOSTTYPE, OSTYPE, MACHTYPE, HOSTNAME,
+ ENV, PS3, PS4, DIRSTACK, PIPESTATUS, HISTSIZE, HISTFILE,
+ HISTFILESIZE, HISTCONTROL, HISTIGNORE, GLOBIGNORE, GROUPS,
+ PROMPT_COMMAND, FCEDIT, FIGNORE, IGNOREEOF, INPUTRC,
+ SHELLOPTS, OPTERR, HOSTFILE, TMOUT, FUNCNAME, histchars,
+ auto_resume
+ DEBUG trap
+ ERR trap
+ variable arrays with new compound assignment syntax
+ redirections: <>, &>, >|, <<<, [n]<&word-, [n]>&word-
+ prompt string special char translation and variable expansion
+ auto-export of variables in initial environment
+ command search finds functions before builtins
+ bash return builtin will exit a file sourced with `.'
+ builtins: cd -/-L/-P, exec -l/-c/-a, echo -e/-E, hash -d/-l/-p/-t.
+ export -n/-f/-p/name=value, pwd -L/-P,
+ read -e/-p/-a/-t/-n/-d/-s/-u,
+ readonly -a/-f/name=value, trap -l, set +o,
+ set -b/-m/-o option/-h/-p/-B/-C/-H/-P,
+ unset -f/-v, ulimit -m/-p/-u,
+ type -a/-p/-t/-f/-P, suspend -f, kill -n,
+ test -o optname/s1 == s2/s1 < s2/s1 > s2/-nt/-ot/-ef/-O/-G/-S
+ bash reads ~/.bashrc for interactive shells, $ENV for non-interactive
+ bash restricted shell mode is more extensive
+ bash allows functions and variables with the same name
+ brace expansion
+ tilde expansion
+ arithmetic expansion with $((...)) and `let' builtin
+ the `[[...]]' extended conditional command
+ process substitution
+ aliases and alias/unalias builtins
+ local variables in functions and `local' builtin
+ readline and command-line editing with programmable completion
+ command history and history/fc builtins
+ csh-like history expansion
+ other new bash builtins: bind, command, compgen, complete, builtin,
+ declare/typeset, dirs, enable, fc, help,
+ history, logout, popd, pushd, disown, shopt,
+ printf
+ exported functions
+ filename generation when using output redirection (command >a*)
+ POSIX.2-style globbing character classes
+ POSIX.2-style globbing equivalence classes
+ POSIX.2-style globbing collating symbols
+ egrep-like extended pattern matching operators
+ case-insensitive pattern matching and globbing
+ variable assignments preceding commands affect only that command,
+ even for builtins and functions
+ posix mode
+ redirection to /dev/fd/N, /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, /dev/stderr,
+ /dev/tcp/host/port, /dev/udp/host/port
+
+Things sh has that bash does not:
+ uses variable SHACCT to do shell accounting
+ includes `stop' builtin (bash can use alias stop='kill -s STOP')
+ `newgrp' builtin
+ turns on job control if called as `jsh'
+ $TIMEOUT (like bash $TMOUT)
+ `^' is a synonym for `|'
+ new SVR4.2 sh builtins: mldmode, priv
+
+Implementation differences:
+ redirection to/from compound commands causes sh to create a subshell
+ bash does not allow unbalanced quotes; sh silently inserts them at EOF
+ bash does not mess with signal 11
+ sh sets (euid, egid) to (uid, gid) if -p not supplied and uid < 100
+ bash splits only the results of expansions on IFS, using POSIX.2
+ field splitting rules; sh splits all words on IFS
+ sh does not allow MAILCHECK to be unset (?)
+ sh does not allow traps on SIGALRM or SIGCHLD
+ bash allows multiple option arguments when invoked (e.g. -x -v);
+ sh allows only a single option argument (`sh -x -v' attempts
+ to open a file named `-v', and, on SunOS 4.1.4, dumps core.
+ On Solaris 2.4 and earlier versions, sh goes into an infinite
+ loop.)
+ sh exits a script if any builtin fails; bash exits only if one of
+ the POSIX.2 `special' builtins fails
+
+C2) How does bash differ from the Korn shell, version ksh88?
+
+Things bash has or uses that ksh88 does not:
+ long invocation options
+ [-+]O invocation option
+ -l invocation option
+ `!' reserved word
+ arithmetic for command: for ((expr1 ; expr2; expr3 )); do list; done
+ arithmetic in largest machine-supported size (intmax_t)
+ posix mode and posix conformance
+ command hashing
+ tilde expansion for assignment statements that look like $PATH
+ process substitution with named pipes if /dev/fd is not available
+ the ${!param} indirect parameter expansion operator
+ the ${!param*} prefix expansion operator
+ the ${param:offset[:length]} parameter substring operator
+ the ${param/pat[/string]} parameter pattern substitution operator
+ variables: BASH, BASH_VERSION, BASH_VERSINFO, UID, EUID, SHLVL,
+ TIMEFORMAT, HISTCMD, HOSTTYPE, OSTYPE, MACHTYPE,
+ HISTFILESIZE, HISTIGNORE, HISTCONTROL, PROMPT_COMMAND,
+ IGNOREEOF, FIGNORE, INPUTRC, HOSTFILE, DIRSTACK,
+ PIPESTATUS, HOSTNAME, OPTERR, SHELLOPTS, GLOBIGNORE,
+ GROUPS, FUNCNAME, histchars, auto_resume
+ prompt expansion with backslash escapes and command substitution
+ redirection: &> (stdout and stderr), <<<, [n]<&word-, [n]>&word-
+ more extensive and extensible editing and programmable completion
+ builtins: bind, builtin, command, declare, dirs, echo -e/-E, enable,
+ exec -l/-c/-a, fc -s, export -n/-f/-p, hash, help, history,
+ jobs -x/-r/-s, kill -s/-n/-l, local, logout, popd, pushd,
+ read -e/-p/-a/-t/-n/-d/-s, readonly -a/-n/-f/-p,
+ set -o braceexpand/-o histexpand/-o interactive-comments/
+ -o notify/-o physical/-o posix/-o hashall/-o onecmd/
+ -h/-B/-C/-b/-H/-P, set +o, suspend, trap -l, type,
+ typeset -a/-F/-p, ulimit -u, umask -S, alias -p, shopt,
+ disown, printf, complete, compgen
+ `!' csh-style history expansion
+ POSIX.2-style globbing character classes
+ POSIX.2-style globbing equivalence classes
+ POSIX.2-style globbing collating symbols
+ egrep-like extended pattern matching operators
+ case-insensitive pattern matching and globbing
+ `**' arithmetic operator to do exponentiation
+ redirection to /dev/fd/N, /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, /dev/stderr
+ arrays of unlimited size
+ TMOUT is default timeout for `read' and `select'
+
+Things ksh88 has or uses that bash does not:
+ tracked aliases (alias -t)
+ variables: ERRNO, FPATH, EDITOR, VISUAL
+ co-processes (|&, >&p, <&p)
+ weirdly-scoped functions
+ typeset +f to list all function names without definitions
+ text of command history kept in a file, not memory
+ builtins: alias -x, cd old new, fc -e -, newgrp, print,
+ read -p/-s/var?prompt, set -A/-o gmacs/
+ -o bgnice/-o markdirs/-o nolog/-o trackall/-o viraw/-s,
+ typeset -H/-L/-R/-Z/-A/-ft/-fu/-fx/-l/-u/-t, whence
+ using environment to pass attributes of exported variables
+ arithmetic evaluation done on arguments to some builtins
+ reads .profile from $PWD when invoked as login shell
+
+Implementation differences:
+ ksh runs last command of a pipeline in parent shell context
+ bash has brace expansion by default (ksh88 compile-time option)
+ bash has fixed startup file for all interactive shells; ksh reads $ENV
+ bash has exported functions
+ bash command search finds functions before builtins
+ bash waits for all commands in pipeline to exit before returning status
+ emacs-mode editing has some slightly different key bindings
+
+C3) Which new features in ksh-93 are not in bash, and which are?
+
+New things in ksh-93 not in bash-2.05b:
+ associative arrays
+ floating point arithmetic and variables
+ math library functions
+ ${!name[sub]} name of subscript for associative array
+ `.' is allowed in variable names to create a hierarchical namespace
+ more extensive compound assignment syntax
+ discipline functions
+ `sleep' and `getconf' builtins (bash has loadable versions)
+ typeset -n and `nameref' variables
+ KEYBD trap
+ variables: .sh.edchar, .sh.edmode, .sh.edcol, .sh.edtext, .sh.version,
+ .sh.name, .sh.subscript, .sh.value, .sh.match, HISTEDIT
+ backreferences in pattern matching (\N)
+ `&' operator in pattern lists for matching
+ print -f (bash uses printf)
+ `fc' has been renamed to `hist'
+ `.' can execute shell functions
+ exit statuses between 0 and 255
+ set -o pipefail
+ `+=' variable assignment operator
+ FPATH and PATH mixing
+ getopts -a
+ -I invocation option
+ DEBUG trap now executed before each simple command, instead of after
+ printf %H, %P, %T, %Z modifiers, output base for %d
+ lexical scoping for local variables in `ksh' functions
+ no scoping for local variables in `POSIX' functions
+
+New things in ksh-93 present in bash-2.05b:
+ [n]<&word- and [n]>&word- redirections (combination dup and close)
+ for (( expr1; expr2; expr3 )) ; do list; done - arithmetic for command
+ ?:, ++, --, `expr1 , expr2' arithmetic operators
+ expansions: ${!param}, ${param:offset[:len]}, ${param/pat[/str]},
+ ${!param*}
+ compound array assignment
+ the `!' reserved word
+ loadable builtins -- but ksh uses `builtin' while bash uses `enable'
+ `command', `builtin', `disown' builtins
+ new $'...' and $"..." quoting
+ FIGNORE (but bash uses GLOBIGNORE), HISTCMD
+ set -o notify/-C
+ changes to kill builtin
+ read -A (bash uses read -a)
+ read -t/-d
+ trap -p
+ exec -c/-a
+ `.' restores the positional parameters when it completes
+ POSIX.2 `test'
+ umask -S
+ unalias -a
+ command and arithmetic substitution performed on PS1, PS4, and ENV
+ command name completion
+ ENV processed only for interactive shells
+
+Section D: Why does bash do some things differently than other Unix shells?
+
+D1) Why does bash run a different version of `command' than
+ `which command' says it will?
+
+On many systems, `which' is actually a csh script that assumes
+you're running csh. In tcsh, `which' and its cousin `where'
+are builtins. On other Unix systems, `which' is a perl script
+that uses the PATH environment variable.
+
+The csh script version reads the csh startup files from your
+home directory and uses those to determine which `command' will
+be invoked. Since bash doesn't use any of those startup files,
+there's a good chance that your bash environment differs from
+your csh environment. The bash `type' builtin does everything
+`which' does, and will report correct results for the running
+shell. If you're really wedded to the name `which', try adding
+the following function definition to your .bashrc:
+
+ which()
+ {
+ builtin type "$@"
+ }
+
+If you're moving from tcsh and would like to bring `where' along
+as well, use this function:
+
+ where()
+ {
+ builtin type -a "$@"
+ }
+
+D2) Why doesn't bash treat brace expansions exactly like csh?
+
+The only difference between bash and csh brace expansion is that
+bash requires a brace expression to contain at least one unquoted
+comma if it is to be expanded. Any brace-surrounded word not
+containing an unquoted comma is left unchanged by the brace
+expansion code. This affords the greatest degree of sh
+compatibility.
+
+Bash, ksh, zsh, and pd-ksh all implement brace expansion this way.
+
+D3) Why doesn't bash have csh variable modifiers?
+
+Posix has specified a more powerful, albeit somewhat more cryptic,
+mechanism cribbed from ksh, and bash implements it.
+
+${parameter%word}
+ Remove smallest suffix pattern. The WORD is expanded to produce
+ a pattern. It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+ smallest portion of the suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+ x=file.c
+ echo ${x%.c}.o
+ -->file.o
+
+${parameter%%word}
+
+ Remove largest suffix pattern. The WORD is expanded to produce
+ a pattern. It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+ largest portion of the suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+ x=posix/src/std
+ echo ${x%%/*}
+ -->posix
+
+${parameter#word}
+ Remove smallest prefix pattern. The WORD is expanded to produce
+ a pattern. It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+ smallest portion of the prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+ x=$HOME/src/cmd
+ echo ${x#$HOME}
+ -->/src/cmd
+
+${parameter##word}
+ Remove largest prefix pattern. The WORD is expanded to produce
+ a pattern. It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+ largest portion of the prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+ x=/one/two/three
+ echo ${x##*/}
+ -->three
+
+
+Given
+ a=/a/b/c/d
+ b=b.xxx
+
+ csh bash result
+ --- ---- ------
+ $a:h ${a%/*} /a/b/c
+ $a:t ${a##*/} d
+ $b:r ${b%.*} b
+ $b:e ${b##*.} xxx
+
+
+D4) How can I make my csh aliases work when I convert to bash?
+
+Bash uses a different syntax to support aliases than csh does.
+The details can be found in the documentation. We have provided
+a shell script which does most of the work of conversion for you;
+this script can be found in ./examples/misc/aliasconv.sh. Here is
+how you use it:
+
+Start csh in the normal way for you. (e.g., `csh')
+
+Pipe the output of `alias' through `aliasconv.sh', saving the
+results into `bash_aliases':
+
+ alias | bash aliasconv.sh >bash_aliases
+
+Edit `bash_aliases', carefully reading through any created
+functions. You will need to change the names of some csh specific
+variables to the bash equivalents. The script converts $cwd to
+$PWD, $term to $TERM, $home to $HOME, $user to $USER, and $prompt
+to $PS1. You may also have to add quotes to avoid unwanted
+expansion.
+
+For example, the csh alias:
+
+ alias cd 'cd \!*; echo $cwd'
+
+is converted to the bash function:
+
+ cd () { command cd "$@"; echo $PWD ; }
+
+The only thing that needs to be done is to quote $PWD:
+
+ cd () { command cd "$@"; echo "$PWD" ; }
+
+Merge the edited file into your ~/.bashrc.
+
+There is an additional, more ambitious, script in
+examples/misc/cshtobash that attempts to convert your entire csh
+environment to its bash equivalent. This script can be run as
+simply `cshtobash' to convert your normal interactive
+environment, or as `cshtobash ~/.login' to convert your login
+environment.
+
+D5) How can I pipe standard output and standard error from one command to
+ another, like csh does with `|&'?
+
+Use
+ command 2>&1 | command2
+
+The key is to remember that piping is performed before redirection, so
+file descriptor 1 points to the pipe when it is duplicated onto file
+descriptor 2.
+
+D6) Now that I've converted from ksh to bash, are there equivalents to
+ ksh features like autoloaded functions and the `whence' command?
+
+There are features in ksh-88 and ksh-93 that do not have direct bash
+equivalents. Most, however, can be emulated with very little trouble.
+
+ksh-88 feature Bash equivalent
+-------------- ---------------
+compiled-in aliases set up aliases in .bashrc; some ksh aliases are
+ bash builtins (hash, history, type)
+coprocesses named pipe pairs (one for read, one for write)
+typeset +f declare -F
+cd, print, whence function substitutes in examples/functions/kshenv
+autoloaded functions examples/functions/autoload is the same as typeset -fu
+read var?prompt read -p prompt var
+
+ksh-93 feature Bash equivalent
+-------------- ---------------
+sleep, getconf Bash has loadable versions in examples/loadables
+${.sh.version} $BASH_VERSION
+print -f printf
+hist alias hist=fc
+$HISTEDIT $FCEDIT
+
+Section E: How can I get bash to do certain things, and why does bash do
+ things the way it does?
+
+E1) Why is the bash builtin `test' slightly different from /bin/test?
+
+The specific example used here is [ ! x -o x ], which is false.
+
+Bash's builtin `test' implements the Posix.2 spec, which can be
+summarized as follows (the wording is due to David Korn):
+
+Here is the set of rules for processing test arguments.
+
+ 0 Args: False
+ 1 Arg: True iff argument is not null.
+ 2 Args: If first arg is !, True iff second argument is null.
+ If first argument is unary, then true if unary test is true
+ Otherwise error.
+ 3 Args: If second argument is a binary operator, do binary test of $1 $3
+ If first argument is !, negate two argument test of $2 $3
+ If first argument is `(' and third argument is `)', do the
+ one-argument test of the second argument.
+ Otherwise error.
+ 4 Args: If first argument is !, negate three argument test of $2 $3 $4.
+ Otherwise unspecified
+ 5 or more Args: unspecified. (Historical shells would use their
+ current algorithm).
+
+The operators -a and -o are considered binary operators for the purpose
+of the 3 Arg case.
+
+As you can see, the test becomes (not (x or x)), which is false.
+
+E2) Why does bash sometimes say `Broken pipe'?
+
+If a sequence of commands appears in a pipeline, and one of the
+reading commands finishes before the writer has finished, the
+writer receives a SIGPIPE signal. Many other shells special-case
+SIGPIPE as an exit status in the pipeline and do not report it.
+For example, in:
+
+ ps -aux | head
+
+`head' can finish before `ps' writes all of its output, and ps
+will try to write on a pipe without a reader. In that case, bash
+will print `Broken pipe' to stderr when ps is killed by a
+SIGPIPE.
+
+You can build a version of bash that will not report SIGPIPE errors
+by uncommenting the definition of DONT_REPORT_SIGPIPE in the file
+config-top.h.
+
+E3) When I have terminal escape sequences in my prompt, why does bash
+ wrap lines at the wrong column?
+
+Readline, the line editing library that bash uses, does not know
+that the terminal escape sequences do not take up space on the
+screen. The redisplay code assumes, unless told otherwise, that
+each character in the prompt is a `printable' character that
+takes up one character position on the screen.
+
+You can use the bash prompt expansion facility (see the PROMPTING
+section in the manual page) to tell readline that sequences of
+characters in the prompt strings take up no screen space.
+
+Use the \[ escape to begin a sequence of non-printing characters,
+and the \] escape to signal the end of such a sequence.
+
+E4) If I pipe the output of a command into `read variable', why doesn't
+ the output show up in $variable when the read command finishes?
+
+This has to do with the parent-child relationship between Unix
+processes. It affects all commands run in pipelines, not just
+simple calls to `read'. For example, piping a command's output
+into a `while' loop that repeatedly calls `read' will result in
+the same behavior.
+
+Each element of a pipeline runs in a separate process, a child of
+the shell running the pipeline. A subprocess cannot affect its
+parent's environment. When the `read' command sets the variable
+to the input, that variable is set only in the subshell, not the
+parent shell. When the subshell exits, the value of the variable
+is lost.
+
+Many pipelines that end with `read variable' can be converted
+into command substitutions, which will capture the output of
+a specified command. The output can then be assigned to a
+variable:
+
+ grep ^gnu /usr/lib/news/active | wc -l | read ngroup
+
+can be converted into
+
+ ngroup=$(grep ^gnu /usr/lib/news/active | wc -l)
+
+This does not, unfortunately, work to split the text among
+multiple variables, as read does when given multiple variable
+arguments. If you need to do this, you can either use the
+command substitution above to read the output into a variable
+and chop up the variable using the bash pattern removal
+expansion operators or use some variant of the following
+approach.
+
+Say /usr/local/bin/ipaddr is the following shell script:
+
+#! /bin/sh
+host `hostname` | awk '/address/ {print $NF}'
+
+Instead of using
+
+ /usr/local/bin/ipaddr | read A B C D
+
+to break the local machine's IP address into separate octets, use
+
+ OIFS="$IFS"
+ IFS=.
+ set -- $(/usr/local/bin/ipaddr)
+ IFS="$OIFS"
+ A="$1" B="$2" C="$3" D="$4"
+
+Beware, however, that this will change the shell's positional
+parameters. If you need them, you should save them before doing
+this.
+
+This is the general approach -- in most cases you will not need to
+set $IFS to a different value.
+
+Some other user-supplied alternatives include:
+
+read A B C D << HERE
+ $(IFS=.; echo $(/usr/local/bin/ipaddr))
+HERE
+
+and, where process substitution is available,
+
+read A B C D < <(IFS=.; echo $(/usr/local/bin/ipaddr))
+
+E5) I have a bunch of shell scripts that use backslash-escaped characters
+ in arguments to `echo'. Bash doesn't interpret these characters. Why
+ not, and how can I make it understand them?
+
+This is the behavior of echo on most Unix System V machines.
+
+The bash builtin `echo' is modeled after the 9th Edition
+Research Unix version of `echo'. It does not interpret
+backslash-escaped characters in its argument strings by default;
+it requires the use of the -e option to enable the
+interpretation. The System V echo provides no way to disable the
+special characters; the bash echo has a -E option to disable
+them.
+
+There is a configuration option that will make bash behave like
+the System V echo and interpret things like `\t' by default. Run
+configure with the --enable-xpg-echo-default option to turn this
+on. Be aware that this will cause some of the tests run when you
+type `make tests' to fail.
+
+There is a shell option, `xpg_echo', settable with `shopt', that will
+change the behavior of echo at runtime. Enabling this option turns
+on expansion of backslash-escape sequences.
+
+E6) Why doesn't a while or for loop get suspended when I type ^Z?
+
+This is a consequence of how job control works on Unix. The only
+thing that can be suspended is the process group. This is a single
+command or pipeline of commands that the shell forks and executes.
+
+When you run a while or for loop, the only thing that the shell forks
+and executes are any commands in the while loop test and commands in
+the loop bodies. These, therefore, are the only things that can be
+suspended when you type ^Z.
+
+If you want to be able to stop the entire loop, you need to put it
+within parentheses, which will force the loop into a subshell that
+may be stopped (and subsequently restarted) as a single unit.
+
+E7) What about empty for loops in Makefiles?
+
+It's fairly common to see constructs like this in automatically-generated
+Makefiles:
+
+SUBDIRS = @SUBDIRS@
+
+ ...
+
+subdirs-clean:
+ for d in ${SUBDIRS}; do \
+ ( cd $$d && ${MAKE} ${MFLAGS} clean ) \
+ done
+
+When SUBDIRS is empty, this results in a command like this being passed to
+bash:
+
+ for d in ; do
+ ( cd $d && ${MAKE} ${MFLAGS} clean )
+ done
+
+In versions of bash before bash-2.05a, this was a syntax error. If the
+reserved word `in' was present, a word must follow it before the semicolon
+or newline. The language in the manual page referring to the list of words
+being empty referred to the list after it is expanded. These versions of
+bash required that there be at least one word following the `in' when the
+construct was parsed.
+
+The idiomatic Makefile solution is something like:
+
+SUBDIRS = @SUBDIRS@
+
+subdirs-clean:
+ subdirs=$SUBDIRS ; for d in $$subdirs; do \
+ ( cd $$d && ${MAKE} ${MFLAGS} clean ) \
+ done
+
+The latest drafts of the updated POSIX standard have changed this: the
+word list is no longer required. Bash versions 2.05a and later accept
+the new syntax.
+
+E8) Why does the arithmetic evaluation code complain about `08'?
+
+The bash arithmetic evaluation code (used for `let', $(()), (()), and in
+other places), interprets a leading `0' in numeric constants as denoting
+an octal number, and a leading `0x' as denoting hexadecimal. This is
+in accordance with the POSIX.2 spec, section 2.9.2.1, which states that
+arithmetic constants should be handled as signed long integers as defined
+by the ANSI/ISO C standard.
+
+The POSIX.2 interpretation committee has confirmed this:
+
+http://www.pasc.org/interps/unofficial/db/p1003.2/pasc-1003.2-173.html
+
+E9) Why does the pattern matching expression [A-Z]* match files beginning
+ with every letter except `z'?
+
+Bash-2.03, Bash-2.05 and later versions honor the current locale setting
+when processing ranges within pattern matching bracket expressions ([A-Z]).
+This is what POSIX.2 and SUSv3/XPG6 specify.
+
+The behavior of the matcher in bash-2.05 and later versions depends on the
+current LC_COLLATE setting. Setting this variable to `C' or `POSIX' will
+result in the traditional behavior ([A-Z] matches all uppercase ASCII
+characters). Many other locales, including the en_US locale (the default
+on many US versions of Linux) collate the upper and lower case letters like
+this:
+
+ AaBb...Zz
+
+which means that [A-Z] matches every letter except `z'. Others collate like
+
+ aAbBcC...zZ
+
+which means that [A-Z] matches every letter except `a'.
+
+The portable way to specify upper case letters is [:upper:] instead of
+A-Z; lower case may be specified as [:lower:] instead of a-z.
+
+Look at the manual pages for setlocale(3), strcoll(3), and, if it is
+present, locale(1). If you have locale(1), you can use it to find
+your current locale information even if you do not have any of the
+LC_ variables set.
+
+My advice is to put
+
+ export LC_COLLATE=C
+
+into /etc/profile and inspect any shell scripts run from cron for
+constructs like [A-Z]. This will prevent things like
+
+ rm [A-Z]*
+
+from removing every file in the current directory except those beginning
+with `z' and still allow individual users to change the collation order.
+Users may put the above command into their own profiles as well, of course.
+
+E10) Why does `cd //' leave $PWD as `//'?
+
+POSIX.2, in its description of `cd', says that *three* or more leading
+slashes may be replaced with a single slash when canonicalizing the
+current working directory.
+
+This is, I presume, for historical compatibility. Certain versions of
+Unix, and early network file systems, used paths of the form
+//hostname/path to access `path' on server `hostname'.
+
+E11) If I resize my xterm while another program is running, why doesn't bash
+ notice the change?
+
+This is another issue that deals with job control.
+
+The kernel maintains a notion of a current terminal process group. Members
+of this process group (processes whose process group ID is equal to the
+current terminal process group ID) receive terminal-generated signals like
+SIGWINCH. (For more details, see the JOB CONTROL section of the bash
+man page.)
+
+If a terminal is resized, the kernel sends SIGWINCH to each member of
+the terminal's current process group (the `foreground' process group).
+
+When bash is running with job control enabled, each pipeline (which may be
+a single command) is run in its own process group, different from bash's
+process group. This foreground process group receives the SIGWINCH; bash
+does not. Bash has no way of knowing that the terminal has been resized.
+
+There is a `checkwinsize' option, settable with the `shopt' builtin, that
+will cause bash to check the window size and adjust its idea of the
+terminal's dimensions each time a process stops or exits and returns control
+of the terminal to bash. Enable it with `shopt -s checkwinsize'.
+
+Section F: Things to watch out for on certain Unix versions
+
+F1) Why can't I use command line editing in my `cmdtool'?
+
+The problem is `cmdtool' and bash fighting over the input. When
+scrolling is enabled in a cmdtool window, cmdtool puts the tty in
+`raw mode' to permit command-line editing using the mouse for
+applications that cannot do it themselves. As a result, bash and
+cmdtool each try to read keyboard input immediately, with neither
+getting enough of it to be useful.
+
+This mode also causes cmdtool to not implement many of the
+terminal functions and control sequences appearing in the
+`sun-cmd' termcap entry. For a more complete explanation, see
+that file examples/suncmd.termcap in the bash distribution.
+
+`xterm' is a better choice, and gets along with bash much more
+smoothly.
+
+If you must use cmdtool, you can use the termcap description in
+examples/suncmd.termcap. Set the TERMCAP variable to the terminal
+description contained in that file, i.e.
+
+TERMCAP='Mu|sun-cmd:am:bs:km:pt:li#34:co#80:cl=^L:ce=\E[K:cd=\E[J:rs=\E[s:'
+
+Then export TERMCAP and start a new cmdtool window from that shell.
+The bash command-line editing should behave better in the new
+cmdtool. If this works, you can put the assignment to TERMCAP
+in your bashrc file.
+
+F2) I built bash on Solaris 2. Why do globbing expansions and filename
+ completion chop off the first few characters of each filename?
+
+This is the consequence of building bash on SunOS 5 and linking
+with the libraries in /usr/ucblib, but using the definitions
+and structures from files in /usr/include.
+
+The actual conflict is between the dirent structure in
+/usr/include/dirent.h and the struct returned by the version of
+`readdir' in libucb.a (a 4.3-BSD style `struct direct').
+
+Make sure you've got /usr/ccs/bin ahead of /usr/ucb in your $PATH
+when configuring and building bash. This will ensure that you
+use /usr/ccs/bin/cc or acc instead of /usr/ucb/cc and that you
+link with libc before libucb.
+
+If you have installed the Sun C compiler, you may also need to
+put /usr/ccs/bin and /opt/SUNWspro/bin into your $PATH before
+/usr/ucb.
+
+F3) Why does bash dump core after I interrupt username completion or
+ `~user' tilde expansion on a machine running NIS?
+
+This is a famous and long-standing bug in the SunOS YP (sorry, NIS)
+client library, which is part of libc.
+
+The YP library code keeps static state -- a pointer into the data
+returned from the server. When YP initializes itself (setpwent),
+it looks at this pointer and calls free on it if it's non-null.
+So far, so good.
+
+If one of the YP functions is interrupted during getpwent (the
+exact function is interpretwithsave()), and returns NULL, the
+pointer is freed without being reset to NULL, and the function
+returns. The next time getpwent is called, it sees that this
+pointer is non-null, calls free, and the bash free() blows up
+because it's being asked to free freed memory.
+
+The traditional Unix mallocs allow memory to be freed multiple
+times; that's probably why this has never been fixed. You can
+run configure with the `--without-gnu-malloc' option to use
+the C library malloc and avoid the problem.
+
+F4) I'm running SVR4.2. Why is the line erased every time I type `@'?
+
+The `@' character is the default `line kill' character in most
+versions of System V, including SVR4.2. You can change this
+character to whatever you want using `stty'. For example, to
+change the line kill character to control-u, type
+
+ stty kill ^U
+
+where the `^' and `U' can be two separate characters.
+
+F5) Why does bash report syntax errors when my C News scripts use a
+ redirection before a subshell command?
+
+The actual command in question is something like
+
+ < file ( command )
+
+According to the grammar given in the POSIX.2 standard, this construct
+is, in fact, a syntax error. Redirections may only precede `simple
+commands'. A subshell construct such as the above is one of the shell's
+`compound commands'. A redirection may only follow a compound command.
+
+This affects the mechanical transformation of commands that use `cat'
+to pipe a file into a command (a favorite Useless-Use-Of-Cat topic on
+comp.unix.shell). While most commands of the form
+
+ cat file | command
+
+can be converted to `< file command', shell control structures such as
+loops and subshells require `command < file'.
+
+The file CWRU/sh-redir-hack in the bash-2.05a distribution is an
+(unofficial) patch to parse.y that will modify the grammar to
+support this construct. It will not apply with `patch'; you must
+modify parse.y by hand. Note that if you apply this, you must
+recompile with -DREDIRECTION_HACK. This introduces a large
+number of reduce/reduce conflicts into the shell grammar.
+
+F6) Why can't I use vi-mode editing on Red Hat Linux 6.1?
+
+The short answer is that Red Hat screwed up.
+
+The long answer is that they shipped an /etc/inputrc that only works
+for emacs mode editing, and then screwed all the vi users by setting
+INPUTRC to /etc/inputrc in /etc/profile.
+
+The short fix is to do one of the following: remove or rename
+/etc/inputrc, set INPUTRC=~/.inputrc in ~/.bashrc (or .bash_profile,
+but make sure you export it if you do), remove the assignment to
+INPUTRC from /etc/profile, add
+
+ set keymap emacs
+
+to the beginning of /etc/inputrc, or bracket the key bindings in
+/etc/inputrc with these lines
+
+ $if mode=emacs
+ [...]
+ $endif
+
+F7) Why do bash-2.05a and bash-2.05b fail to compile `printf.def' on
+ HP/UX 11.x?
+
+HP/UX's support for long double is imperfect at best.
+
+GCC will support it without problems, but the HP C library functions
+like strtold(3) and printf(3) don't actually work with long doubles.
+HP implemented a `long_double' type as a 4-element array of 32-bit
+ints, and that is what the library functions use. The ANSI C
+`long double' type is a 128-bit floating point scalar.
+
+The easiest fix, until HP fixes things up, is to edit the generated
+config.h and #undef the HAVE_LONG_DOUBLE line. After doing that,
+the compilation should complete successfully.
+
+Section G: How can I get bash to do certain common things?
+
+G1) How can I get bash to read and display eight-bit characters?
+
+This is a process requiring several steps.
+
+First, you must ensure that the `physical' data path is a full eight
+bits. For xterms, for example, the `vt100' resources `eightBitInput'
+and `eightBitOutput' should be set to `true'.
+
+Once you have set up an eight-bit path, you must tell the kernel and
+tty driver to leave the eighth bit of characters alone when processing
+keyboard input. Use `stty' to do this:
+
+ stty cs8 -istrip -parenb
+
+For old BSD-style systems, you can use
+
+ stty pass8
+
+You may also need
+
+ stty even odd
+
+Finally, you need to tell readline that you will be inputting and
+displaying eight-bit characters. You use readline variables to do
+this. These variables can be set in your .inputrc or using the bash
+`bind' builtin. Here's an example using `bind':
+
+ bash$ bind 'set convert-meta off'
+ bash$ bind 'set meta-flag on'
+ bash$ bind 'set output-meta on'
+
+The `set' commands between the single quotes may also be placed
+in ~/.inputrc.
+
+G2) How do I write a function `x' to replace builtin command `x', but
+ still invoke the command from within the function?
+
+This is why the `command' and `builtin' builtins exist. The
+`command' builtin executes the command supplied as its first
+argument, skipping over any function defined with that name. The
+`builtin' builtin executes the builtin command given as its first
+argument directly.
+
+For example, to write a function to replace `cd' that writes the
+hostname and current directory to an xterm title bar, use
+something like the following:
+
+ cd()
+ {
+ builtin cd "$@" && xtitle "$HOST: $PWD"
+ }
+
+This could also be written using `command' instead of `builtin';
+the version above is marginally more efficient.
+
+G3) How can I find the value of a shell variable whose name is the value
+ of another shell variable?
+
+Versions of Bash newer than Bash-2.0 support this directly. You can use
+
+ ${!var}
+
+For example, the following sequence of commands will echo `z':
+
+ var1=var2
+ var2=z
+ echo ${!var1}
+
+For sh compatibility, use the `eval' builtin. The important
+thing to remember is that `eval' expands the arguments you give
+it again, so you need to quote the parts of the arguments that
+you want `eval' to act on.
+
+For example, this expression prints the value of the last positional
+parameter:
+
+ eval echo \"\$\{$#\}\"
+
+The expansion of the quoted portions of this expression will be
+deferred until `eval' runs, while the `$#' will be expanded
+before `eval' is executed. In versions of bash later than bash-2.0,
+
+ echo ${!#}
+
+does the same thing.
+
+This is not the same thing as ksh93 `nameref' variables, though the syntax
+is similar. I may add namerefs in a future bash version.
+
+G4) How can I make the bash `time' reserved word print timing output that
+ looks like the output from my system's /usr/bin/time?
+
+The bash command timing code looks for a variable `TIMEFORMAT' and
+uses its value as a format string to decide how to display the
+timing statistics.
+
+The value of TIMEFORMAT is a string with `%' escapes expanded in a
+fashion similar in spirit to printf(3). The manual page explains
+the meanings of the escape sequences in the format string.
+
+If TIMEFORMAT is not set, bash acts as if the following assignment had
+been performed:
+
+ TIMEFORMAT=$'\nreal\t%3lR\nuser\t%3lU\nsys\t%3lS'
+
+The POSIX.2 default time format (used by `time -p command') is
+
+ TIMEFORMAT=$'real %2R\nuser %2U\nsys %2S'
+
+The BSD /usr/bin/time format can be emulated with:
+
+ TIMEFORMAT=$'\t%1R real\t%1U user\t%1S sys'
+
+The System V /usr/bin/time format can be emulated with:
+
+ TIMEFORMAT=$'\nreal\t%1R\nuser\t%1U\nsys\t%1S'
+
+The ksh format can be emulated with:
+
+ TIMEFORMAT=$'\nreal\t%2lR\nuser\t%2lU\nsys\t%2lS'
+
+G5) How do I get the current directory into my prompt?
+
+Bash provides a number of backslash-escape sequences which are expanded
+when the prompt string (PS1 or PS2) is displayed. The full list is in
+the manual page.
+
+The \w expansion gives the full pathname of the current directory, with
+a tilde (`~') substituted for the current value of $HOME. The \W
+expansion gives the basename of the current directory. To put the full
+pathname of the current directory into the path without any tilde
+subsitution, use $PWD. Here are some examples:
+
+ PS1='\w$ ' # current directory with tilde
+ PS1='\W$ ' # basename of current directory
+ PS1='$PWD$ ' # full pathname of current directory
+
+The single quotes are important in the final example to prevent $PWD from
+being expanded when the assignment to PS1 is performed.
+
+G6) How can I rename "*.foo" to "*.bar"?
+
+Use the pattern removal functionality described in D3. The following `for'
+loop will do the trick:
+
+ for f in *.foo; do
+ mv $f ${f%foo}bar
+ done
+
+G7) How can I translate a filename from uppercase to lowercase?
+
+The script examples/functions/lowercase, originally written by John DuBois,
+will do the trick. The converse is left as an exercise.
+
+G8) How can I write a filename expansion (globbing) pattern that will match
+ all files in the current directory except "." and ".."?
+
+You must have set the `extglob' shell option using `shopt -s extglob' to use
+this:
+
+ echo .!(.|) *
+
+A solution that works without extended globbing is given in the Unix Shell
+FAQ, posted periodically to comp.unix.shell.
+
+Section H: Where do I go from here?
+
+H1) How do I report bugs in bash, and where should I look for fixes and
+ advice?
+
+Use the `bashbug' script to report bugs. It is built and
+installed at the same time as bash. It provides a standard
+template for reporting a problem and automatically includes
+information about your configuration and build environment.
+
+`bashbug' sends its reports to bug-bash@gnu.org, which
+is a large mailing list gatewayed to the usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug.
+
+Bug fixes, answers to questions, and announcements of new releases
+are all posted to gnu.bash.bug. Discussions concerning bash features
+and problems also take place there.
+
+To reach the bash maintainers directly, send mail to
+bash-maintainers@gnu.org.
+
+H2) What kind of bash documentation is there?
+
+First, look in the doc directory in the bash distribution. It should
+contain at least the following files:
+
+bash.1 an extensive, thorough Unix-style manual page
+builtins.1 a manual page covering just bash builtin commands
+bashref.texi a reference manual in GNU tex`info format
+bashref.info an info version of the reference manual
+FAQ this file
+article.ms text of an article written for The Linux Journal
+readline.3 a man page describing readline
+
+Postscript, HTML, and ASCII files created from the above source are
+available in the documentation distribution.
+
+There is additional documentation available for anonymous FTP from host
+ftp.cwru.edu in the `pub/bash' directory.
+
+Cameron Newham and Bill Rosenblatt have written a book on bash, published
+by O'Reilly and Associates. The book is based on Bill Rosenblatt's Korn
+Shell book. The title is ``Learning the Bash Shell'', and the ISBN number
+is 1-56592-147-X. Look for it in fine bookstores near you. This book
+covers bash-1.14, but has an appendix describing some of the new features
+in bash-2.0.
+
+A second edition of this book is available, published in January, 1998.
+The ISBN number is 1-56592-347-2. Look for it in the same fine bookstores
+or on the web.
+
+The GNU Bash Reference Manual has been published as a printed book by
+Network Theory Ltd (Paperback, ISBN: 0-9541617-7-7, Feb 2003). It covers
+bash-2.0 and is available from most online bookstores (see
+http://www.network-theory.co.uk/bash/manual/ for details). The publisher
+will donate $1 to the Free Software Foundation for each copy sold.
+
+H3) What's coming in future versions?
+
+These are features I hope to include in a future version of bash.
+
+a better bash debugger (a minimally-tested version is included with bash-2.05b)
+associative arrays
+co-processes, but with a new-style syntax that looks like function declaration
+
+H4) What's on the bash `wish list' for future versions?
+
+These are features that may or may not appear in a future version of bash.
+
+breaking some of the shell functionality into embeddable libraries
+a module system like zsh's, using dynamic loading like builtins
+better internationalization using GNU `gettext'
+date-stamped command history
+a bash programmer's guide with a chapter on creating loadable builtins
+a better loadable interface to perl with access to the shell builtins and
+ variables (contributions gratefully accepted)
+ksh93-like `nameref' variables
+ksh93-like `+=' variable assignment operator
+ksh93-like `xx.yy' variables (including some of the .sh.* variables) and
+ associated disipline functions
+Some of the new ksh93 pattern matching operators, like backreferencing
+
+H5) When will the next release appear?
+
+The next version will appear sometime in 2002. Never make predictions.
+
+
+This document is Copyright 1995-2003 by Chester Ramey.
+
+Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and
+without license or royalty fees, to use, copy, and distribute
+this document for any purpose, provided that the above copyright
+notice appears in all copies of this document and that the
+contents of this document remain unaltered.
projects / thirdparty / bash.git / commitdiff
