Bash Wiki

Introduction to BASH

Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in the GNU operating system. Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). It is intended to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard. It offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive use. In addition, most sh scripts can be run by Bash without modification.

The improvements offered by BASH include:

• Command line editing
• Unlimited size command history
• Job Control
• Shell Functions and Aliases
• Indexed arrays of unlimited size
• Integer arithmetic in any base from two to sixty-four

The manual is available online at www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/

The author also has a page which includes Frequently-Asked-Questions.

Downloading BASH

BASH can be found on http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/ or one of the mirrors. You can also order a CD-ROM from the FSF or use other methods to obtain a copy

Return to GNU's home page.

Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org . There are also other ways to contact the FSF.

Please send comments on these web pages to webmasters@www.gnu.org , send other questions to gnu@gnu.org .

Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Updated: $Date: 2006/11/20 09:03:24