This text is a brief description of the features that are present in the Bash shell.
This is Edition 2.5a, last updated 13 November 2001,
of The GNU Bash Reference Manual,
for Bash, Version 2.05a.
Copyright (C) 1997, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Bash contains features that appear in other popular shells, and some features that only appear in Bash. Some of the shells that Bash has borrowed concepts from are the Bourne Shell (`sh'), the Korn Shell (`ksh'), and the C-shell (`csh' and its successor, `tcsh'). The following menu breaks the features up into categories based upon which one of these other shells inspired the feature.
This manual is meant as a brief introduction to features found in Bash. The Bash manual page should be used as the definitive reference on shell behavior.
1. Introduction An introduction to the shell.
2. Definitions Some definitions used in the rest of this manual.
3. Basic Shell Features The shell "building blocks".
4. Shell Builtin Commands Commands that are a part of the shell.
5. Shell Variables Variables used or set by Bash.
6. Bash Features Features found only in Bash.
7. Job Control A chapter describing what job control is and how Bash allows you to use it.
9. Using History Interactively Chapter dealing with history expansion rules.
8. Command Line Editing Chapter describing the command line editing features.
10. Installing Bash How to build and install Bash on your system.
A. Reporting Bugs How to report bugs in Bash.
B. Major Differences From The Bourne Shell A terse list of the differences between Bash and historical versions of /bin/sh.
Index of Shell Builtin Commands Index of Bash builtin commands.
Index of Shell Reserved Words Index of Bash reserved words.
Parameter and Variable Index Quick reference helps you find the variable you want.
Function Index Index of bindable Readline functions.
Concept Index General index for concepts described in this manual.