sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
NAME
sh, jsh, rsh - shell, the standard, job control, and res-
tricted command interpreter
SYNOPSIS
sh [ -acefhiknprstuvx ] [ args ]
jsh [ -acefhiknprstuvx ] [ args ]
rsh [ -acefhiknprstuvx ] [ args ]
DESCRIPTION
sh is a command programming language that executes commands
read from a terminal or a file. The command jsh is an
interface to the shell which provides all of the functional-
ity of sh and enables Job Control (see ``Job Control,''
below). rsh is a restricted version of the standard command
interpreter sh; It is used to restrict logins to execution
environments whose capabilities are more controlled than
those of the standard shell. See ``Invocation,'' below for
the meaning of arguments to the shell.
Definitions
A blank is a tab or a space. A name is a sequence of ASCII
letters, digits, or underscores, beginning with a letter or
an underscore. A parameter is a name, a digit, or any of
the characters *, @, #, ?, -, $, and !\^.
Commands
A simple-command is a sequence of non-blank words separated
by blanks. The first word specifies the name of the command
to be executed. Except as specified below, the remaining
words are passed as arguments to the invoked command. The
command name is passed as argument 0 [see exec(2)]. The
value of a simple-command is its exit status if it ter-
minates normally, or (octal) 200+status if it terminates
abnormally; see signal(5) for a list of status values.
A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated
by |. The standard output of each command but the last is
connected by a pipe(2) to the standard input of the next
command. Each command is run as a separate process; the
shell waits for the last command to terminate. The exit
status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command
in the pipeline.
A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by
;, &, &&, or ||, and optionally terminated by ; or &. Of
these four symbols, ; and & have equal precedence, which is
lower than that of && and ||. The symbols && and || also
have equal precedence. A semicolon (;) causes sequential
execution of the preceding pipeline (i.e., the shell waits
for the pipeline to finish before executing any commands
following the semicolon); an ampersand (&) causes
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
asynchronous execution of the preceding pipeline (i.e., the
shell does not wait for that pipeline to finish). The sym-
bol && (||) causes the list following it to be executed only
if the preceding pipeline returns a zero (non-zero) exit
status. An arbitrary number of new-lines may appear in a
list, instead of semicolons, to delimit commands.
A command is either a simple-command or one of the follow-
ing. Unless otherwise stated, the value returned by a com-
mand is that of the last simple-command executed in the com-
mand.
for name [ in word ... ] do list done
Each time a for command is executed, name is set to the
next word taken from the in word list. If in word ...
is omitted, then the for command executes the do list
once for each positional parameter that is set (see
``Parameter Substitution,'' below). Execution ends
when there are no more words in the list.
case word in [ pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac
A case command executes the list associated with the
first pattern that matches word. The form of the pat-
terns is the same as that used for file-name generation
(see ``File Name Generation'') except that a slash, a
leading dot, or a dot immediately following a slash
need not be matched explicitly.
if list then list [ elif list then list ] ... [ else list ] fi
The list following if is executed and, if it returns a
zero exit status, the list following the first then is
executed. Otherwise, the list following elif is exe-
cuted and, if its value is zero, the list following the
next then is executed. Failing that, the else list is
executed. If no else list or then list is executed,
then the if command returns a zero exit status.
while list do list done
A while command repeatedly executes the while list and,
if the exit status of the last command in the list is
zero, executes the do list; otherwise the loop ter-
minates. If no commands in the do list are executed,
then the while command returns a zero exit status;
until may be used in place of while to negate the loop
termination test.
(list)
Execute list in a sub-shell.
{ list;}
list is executed in the current (that is, parent)
shell. The { must be followed by a space.
name () { list;}
Define a function which is referenced by name. The body
of the function is the list of commands between { and
}. The { must be followed by a space. Execution of
functions is described below (see ``Execution''). The
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
{ and } are unnecessary if the body of the function is
a command as defined above, under ``Commands.''
The following words are only recognized as the first word of
a command and when not quoted:
if then else elif fi case esac for while until do done { }
Comments
A word beginning with # causes that word and all the follow-
ing characters up to a new-line to be ignored.
Command Substitution
The shell reads commands from the string between two grave
accents (``) and the standard output from these commands may
be used as all or part of a word. Trailing new-lines from
the standard output are removed. No interpretation is done
on the string before the string is read, except to remove
backslashes (\) used to escape other characters.
Backslashes may be used to escape a grave accent (`) or
another backslash (\) and are removed before the command
string is read. Escaping grave accents allows nested com-
mand substitution. If the command substitution lies within
a pair of double quotes (" ...` ...` ... "), a backslash
used to escape a double quote (\") will be removed; other-
wise, it will be left intact. If a backslash is used to
escape a new-line character (\new-line), both the backslash
and the new-line are removed (see the later section on
``Quoting''). In addition, backslashes used to escape dol-
lar signs (\$) are removed. Since no parameter substitution
is done on the command string before it is read, inserting a
backslash to escape a dollar sign has no effect.
Backslashes that precede characters other than \, `, ",
new-line, and $ are left intact when the command string is
read.
Parameter Substitution
The character $ is used to introduce substitutable parame-
ters. There are two types of parameters, positional and
keyword. If parameter is a digit, it is a positional param-
eter. Positional parameters may be assigned values by set.
Keyword parameters (also known as variables) may be assigned
values by writing:
name=value [ name=value ] ...
Pattern-matching is not performed on value. There cannot be
a function and a variable with the same name.
${parameter}
The value, if any, of the parameter is substituted.
The braces are required only when parameter is followed
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
by a letter, digit, or underscore that is not to be
interpreted as part of its name. If parameter is * or
@, all the positional parameters, starting with $1, are
substituted (separated by spaces). Parameter $0 is set
from argument zero when the shell is invoked.
${parameter:-word}
If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute its
value; otherwise substitute word.
${parameter:=word}
If parameter is not set or is null set it to word; the
value of the parameter is substituted. Positional
parameters may not be assigned in this way.
${parameter:?word}
If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute its
value; otherwise, print word and exit from the shell.
If word is omitted, the message ``parameter null or not
set'' is printed.
${parameter:+word}
If parameter is set and is non-null, substitute word;
otherwise substitute nothing.
In the above, word is not evaluated unless it is to be used
as the substituted string, so that, in the following exam-
ple, pwd is executed only if d is not set or is null:
echo ${d:-`pwd`}
If the colon (:) is omitted from the above expressions, the
shell only checks whether parameter is set or not.
The following parameters are automatically set by the shell.
# The number of positional parameters in decimal.
- Flags supplied to the shell on invocation or by
the set command.
? The decimal value returned by the last synchro-
nously executed command.
$ The process number of this shell.
! The process number of the last background command
invoked.
The following parameters are used by the shell. The parame-
ters in this section are also referred to as environment
variables.
HOME The default argument (home directory) for the cd
command, set to the user's login directory by
login(1) from the password file [see passwd(4)].
PATH The search path for commands (see ``Execution,''
below). The user may not change PATH if executing
under rsh.
CDPATH
The search path for the cd command.
MAIL If this parameter is set to the name of a mail
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
file and the MAILPATH parameter is not set, the
shell informs the user of the arrival of mail in
the specified file.
MAILCHECK
This parameter specifies how often (in seconds)
the shell will check for the arrival of mail in
the files specified by the MAILPATH or MAIL param-
eters. The default value is 600 seconds (10
minutes). If set to 0, the shell will check
before each prompt.
MAILPATH
A colon (:) separated list of file names. If
this parameter is set, the shell informs the user
of the arrival of mail in any of the specified
files. Each file name can be followed by % and a
message that will be printed when the modification
time changes. The default message is you have
mail.
PS1 Primary prompt string, by default ``$ ''.
PS2 Secondary prompt string, by default ``> ''.
IFS Internal field separators, normally space, tab,
and new-line (see ``Blank Interpretation'').
LANG If this parameter is set, the shell will use it to
determine the current locale; see environ(5),
setlocale(3C).
SHACCT
If this parameter is set to the name of a file
writable by the user, the shell will write an
accounting record in the file for each shell pro-
cedure executed.
SHELL
When the shell is invoked, it scans the environ-
ment (see ``Environment,'' below) for this name.
If it is found and rsh is the file name part of
its value, the shell becomes a restricted shell.
The shell gives default values to PATH, PS1, PS2, MAILCHECK,
and IFS. HOME and MAIL are set by login(1).
Blank Interpretation
After parameter and command substitution, the results of
substitution are scanned for internal field separator char-
acters (those found in IFS) and split into distinct argu-
ments where such characters are found. Explicit null argu-
ments ("" or '') are retained. Implicit null arguments
(those resulting from parameters that have no values) are
removed.
Input/Output
A command's input and output may be redirected using a spe-
cial notation interpreted by the shell. The following may
appear anywhere in a simple-command or may precede or follow
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
a command and are not passed on as arguments to the invoked
command. Note that parameter and command substitution
occurs before word or digit is used.
<word Use file word as standard input (file descrip-
tor 0).
>word Use file word as standard output (file
descriptor 1). If the file does not exist, it
is created; otherwise, it is truncated to zero
length.
>>word Use file word as standard output. If the file
exists, output is appended to it (by first
seeking to the end-of-file); otherwise, the
file is created.
<<[-]word After parameter and command substitution is
done on word, the shell input is read up to
the first line that literally matches the
resulting word, or to an end-of-file. If,
however, - is appended to <<:
1) leading tabs are stripped from word before
the shell input is read (but after parame-
ter and command substitution is done on
word),
2) leading tabs are stripped from the shell
input as it is read and before each line
is compared with word, and
3) shell input is read up to the first line
that literally matches the resulting word,
or to an end-of-file.
If any character of word is quoted (see
``Quoting,'' later), no additional processing
is done to the shell input. If no characters
of word are quoted:
1) parameter and command substitution occurs,
2) (escaped) \new-lines are removed, and
3) \ must be used to quote the characters \,
$, and `.
The resulting document becomes the standard
input.
<&digit Use the file associated with file descriptor
digit as standard input. Similarly for the
standard output using >&digit.
<&- The standard input is closed. Similarly for
the standard output using >&-.
If any of the above is preceded by a digit, the file
descriptor which will be associated with the file is that
specified by the digit (instead of the default 0 or 1). For
example:
... 2>&1
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
associates file descriptor 2 with the file currently associ-
ated with file descriptor 1.
The order in which redirections are specified is signifi-
cant. The shell evaluates redirections left-to-right. For
example:
... 1>xxx 2>&1
first associates file descriptor 1 with file xxx. It asso-
ciates file descriptor 2 with the file associated with file
descriptor 1 (i.e., xxx). If the order of redirections were
reversed, file descriptor 2 would be associated with the
terminal (assuming file descriptor 1 had been) and file
descriptor 1 would be associated with file xxx.
Using the terminology introduced on the first page, under
``Commands,'' if a command is composed of several simple
commands, redirection will be evaluated for the entire com-
mand before it is evaluated for each simple command. That
is, the shell evaluates redirection for the entire list,
then each pipeline within the list, then each command within
each pipeline, then each list within each command.
If a command is followed by & the default standard input for
the command is the empty file /dev/null. Otherwise, the
environment for the execution of a command contains the file
descriptors of the invoking shell as modified by
input/output specifications.
Redirection of output is not allowed in the restricted
shell.
File Name Generation
Before a command is executed, each command word is scanned
for the characters *, ?, and [. If one of these characters
appears the word is regarded as a pattern. The word is
replaced with alphabetically sorted file names that match
the pattern. If no file name is found that matches the pat-
tern, the word is left unchanged. The character . at the
start of a file name or immediately following a /, as well
as the character / itself, must be matched explicitly.
* Matches any string, including the null string.
? Matches any single character.
[...]
Matches any one of the enclosed characters. A
pair of characters separated by - matches any
character lexically between the pair, inclusive.
If the first character following the opening [ is
a !, any character not enclosed is matched.
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
Note that all quoted characters (see below) must be
matched explicitly in a filename.
Quoting
The following characters have a special meaning to the shell
and cause termination of a word unless quoted:
; & ( ) | ^ < > new-line space tab
A character may be quoted (i.e., made to stand for itself)
by preceding it with a backslash (\) or inserting it between
a pair of quote marks ('' or ""). During processing, the
shell may quote certain characters to prevent them from tak-
ing on a special meaning. Backslashes used to quote a sin-
gle character are removed from the word before the command
is executed. The pair \new-line is removed from a word
before command and parameter substitution.
All characters enclosed between a pair of single quote marks
(''), except a single quote, are quoted by the shell.
Backslash has no special meaning inside a pair of single
quotes. A single quote may be quoted inside a pair of dou-
ble quote marks (for example, "'"), but a single quote can
not be quoted inside a pair of single quotes.
Inside a pair of double quote marks (""), parameter and com-
mand substitution occurs and the shell quotes the results to
avoid blank interpretation and file name generation. If $*
is within a pair of double quotes, the positional parameters
are substituted and quoted, separated by quoted spaces ("$1
$2 ..."); however, if $@ is within a pair of double quotes,
the positional parameters are substituted and quoted,
separated by unquoted spaces ("$1" "$2" ... ). \ quotes the
characters \, `, ", and $. The pair \new-line is removed
before parameter and command substitution. If a backslash
precedes characters other than \, `, ", $, and new-line,
then the backslash itself is quoted by the shell.
Prompting
When used interactively, the shell prompts with the value of
PS1 before reading a command. If at any time a new-line is
typed and further input is needed to complete a command, the
secondary prompt (i.e., the value of PS2) is issued.
Environment
The environment [see environ(5)] is a list of name-value
pairs that is passed to an executed program in the same way
as a normal argument list. The shell interacts with the
environment in several ways. On invocation, the shell scans
the environment and creates a parameter for each name found,
giving it the corresponding value. If the user modifies the
value of any of these parameters or creates new parameters,
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
none of these affects the environment unless the export com-
mand is used to bind the shell's parameter to the environ-
ment (see also set -a). A parameter may be removed from the
environment with the unset command. The environment seen by
any executed command is thus composed of any unmodified
name-value pairs originally inherited by the shell, minus
any pairs removed by unset, plus any modifications or addi-
tions, all of which must be noted in export commands.
The environment for any simple-command may be augmented by
prefixing it with one or more assignments to parameters.
Thus:
TERM=450 cmd and
(export TERM; TERM=450; cmd)
are equivalent as far as the execution of cmd is concerned
if cmd is not a Special Command. If cmd is a Special Com-
mand, then
TERM=450 cmd
will modify the TERM variable in the current shell.
If the -k flag is set, all keyword arguments are placed in
the environment, even if they occur after the command name.
The following first prints a=b c and c:
echo a=b c
set -k
echo a=b c
Signals
The INTERRUPT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are
ignored if the command is followed by &; otherwise signals
have the values inherited by the shell from its parent, with
the exception of signal 11 (but see also the trap command
below).
Execution
Each time a command is executed, the command substitution,
parameter substitution, blank interpretation, input/output
redirection, and filename generation listed above are car-
ried out. If the command name matches the name of a defined
function, the function is executed in the shell process
(note how this differs from the execution of shell pro-
cedures). If the command name does not match the name of a
defined function, but matches one of the Special Commands
listed below, it is executed in the shell process. The
positional parameters $1, $2, .... are set to the arguments
of the function. If the command name matches neither a Spe-
cial Command nor the name of a defined function, a new pro-
cess is created and an attempt is made to execute the com-
mand via exec(2).
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
The shell parameter PATH defines the search path for the
directory containing the command. Alternative directory
names are separated by a colon (:). The default path is
/usr/bin. The current directory is specified by a null path
name, which can appear immediately after the equal sign,
between two colon delimiters anywhere in the path list, or
at the end of the path list. If the command name contains a
/ the search path is not used; such commands will not be
executed by the restricted shell. Otherwise, each directory
in the path is searched for an executable file. If the file
has execute permission but is not an a.out file, it is
assumed to be a file containing shell commands. A sub-shell
is spawned to read it. A parenthesized command is also exe-
cuted in a sub-shell.
The location in the search path where a command was found is
remembered by the shell (to help avoid unnecessary execs
later). If the command was found in a relative directory,
its location must be re-determined whenever the current
directory changes. The shell forgets all remembered loca-
tions whenever the PATH variable is changed or the hash -r
command is executed (see below).
Special Commands
Input/output redirection is now permitted for these com-
mands. File descriptor 1 is the default output location.
When Job Control is enabled, additional Special Commands are
added to the shell's environment (see ``Job Control'').
: No effect; the command does nothing. A zero exit code
is returned.
. file
Read and execute commands from file and return. The
search path specified by PATH is used to find the
directory containing file.
break [ n ]
Exit from the enclosing for or while loop, if any. If
n is specified, break n levels.
continue [ n ]
Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for or while
loop. If n is specified, resume at the n-th enclosing
loop.
cd [ arg ]
Change the current directory to arg. The shell parame-
ter HOME is the default arg. The shell parameter
CDPATH defines the search path for the directory con-
taining arg. Alternative directory names are separated
by a colon (:). The default path is <null> (specifying
the current directory). Note that the current direc-
tory is specified by a null path name, which can appear
immediately after the equal sign or between the colon
delimiters anywhere else in the path list. If arg
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
begins with a / the search path is not used. Other-
wise, each directory in the path is searched for arg.
The cd command may not be executed by rsh.
echo [ arg ... ]
Echo arguments. See echo(1) for usage and description.
eval [ arg ... ]
The arguments are read as input to the shell and the
resulting command(s) executed.
exec [ arg ... ]
The command specified by the arguments is executed in
place of this shell without creating a new process.
Input/output arguments may appear and, if no other
arguments are given, cause the shell input/output to be
modified.
exit [ n ]
Causes a shell to exit with the exit status specified
by n. If n is omitted the exit status is that of the
last command executed (an end-of-file will also cause
the shell to exit.)
export [ name ... ]
The given names are marked for automatic export to the
environment of subsequently executed commands. If no
arguments are given, variable names that have been
marked for export during the current shell's execution
are listed. (Variable names exported from a parent
shell are listed only if they have been exported again
during the current shell's execution.) Function names
are not exported.
getopts
Use in shell scripts to support command syntax stan-
dards [see intro(1)]; it parses positional parameters
and checks for legal options. See getopts(1) for usage
and description.
hash [ -r ] [ name ... ]
For each name, the location in the search path of the
command specified by name is determined and remembered
by the shell. The -r option causes the shell to forget
all remembered locations. If no arguments are given,
information about remembered commands is presented.
Hits is the number of times a command has been invoked
by the shell process. Cost is a measure of the work
required to locate a command in the search path. If a
command is found in a "relative" directory in the
search path, after changing to that directory, the
stored location of that command is recalculated. Com-
mands for which this will be done are indicated by an
asterisk (*) adjacent to the hits information. Cost
will be incremented when the recalculation is done.
newgrp [ arg ]
Equivalent to exec newgrp arg. See newgrp(1M) for
usage and description.
pwd Print the current working directory. See pwd(1) for
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
usage and description.
read name ...
One line is read from the standard input and, using the
internal field separator, IFS (normally space or tab),
to delimit word boundaries, the first word is assigned
to the first name, the second word to the second name,
etc., with leftover words assigned to the last name.
Lines can be continued using \new-line. Characters
other than new-line can be quoted by preceding them
with a backslash. These backslashes are removed before
words are assigned to names, and no interpretation is
done on the character that follows the backslash. The
return code is 0, unless an end-of-file is encountered.
readonly [ name ... ]
The given names are marked readonly and the values of
the these names may not be changed by subsequent
assignment. If no arguments are given, a list of all
readonly names is printed.
return [ n ]
Causes a function to exit with the return value speci-
fied by n. If n is omitted, the return status is that
of the last command executed.
set [ --aefhkntuvx [ arg ... ] ]
-a Mark variables which are modified or created for
export.
-e Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-
zero exit status.
-f Disable file name generation
-h Locate and remember function commands as functions
are defined (function commands are normally
located when the function is executed).
-k All keyword arguments are placed in the environ-
ment for a command, not just those that precede
the command name.
-n Read commands but do not execute them.
-t Exit after reading and executing one command.
-u Treat unset variables as an error when substitut-
ing.
-v Print shell input lines as they are read.
-x Print commands and their arguments as they are
executed.
-- Do not change any of the flags; useful in setting
$1 to -.
Using + rather than - causes these flags to be turned
off. These flags can also be used upon invocation of
the shell. The current set of flags may be found in
$-. The remaining arguments are positional parameters
and are assigned, in order, to $1, $2, .... If no
arguments are given the values of all names are
printed.
shift [ n ]
The positional parameters from $n+1 ... are renamed $1
12
sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
... . If n is not given, it is assumed to be 1.
test
Evaluate conditional expressions. See test(1) for
usage and description.
times
Print the accumulated user and system times for
processes run from the shell.
trap [ arg ] [ n ] ...
The command arg is to be read and executed when the
shell receives numeric or symbolic signal(s) (n).
(Note that arg is scanned once when the trap is set and
once when the trap is taken.) Trap commands are exe-
cuted in order of signal number or corresponding sym-
bolic names. Any attempt to set a trap on a signal
that was ignored on entry to the current shell is inef-
fective. An attempt to trap on signal 11 (memory
fault) produces an error. If arg is absent all trap(s)
n are reset to their original values. If arg is the
null string this signal is ignored by the shell and by
the commands it invokes. If n is 0 the command arg is
executed on exit from the shell. The trap command with
no arguments prints a list of commands associated with
each signal number.
type [ name ... ]
For each name, indicate how it would be interpreted if
used as a command name.
ulimit [ -[HS][a | cdfnstv] ]
ulimit [ -[HS][c | d | f | n | s | t | v] ] limit
ulimit prints or sets hard or soft resource limits.
These limits are described in getrlimit(2).
If limit is not present, ulimit prints the specified
limits. Any number of limits may be printed at one
time. The -a option prints all limits.
If limit is present, ulimit sets the specified limit to
limit. The string unlimited requests the largest valid
limit. Limits may be set for only one resource at a
time. Any user may set a soft limit to any value below
the hard limit. Any user may lower a hard limit. Only
a super-user may raise a hard limit; see su(1).
The -H option specifies a hard limit. The -S option
specifies a soft limit. If neither option is speci-
fied, ulimit will set both limits and print the soft
limit.
The following options specify the resource whose limits
are to be printed or set. If no option is specified,
the file size limit is printed or set.
-c maximum core file size (in 512-byte blocks)
-d maximum size of data segment or heap (in
kbytes)
-f maximum file size (in 512-byte blocks)
-n maximum file descriptor plus 1
-s maximum size of stack segment (in kbytes)
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sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
-t maximum CPU time (in seconds)
-v maximum size of virtual memory (in kbytes)
umask [ nnn ]
The user file-creation mask is set to nnn [see
umask(1)]. If nnn is omitted, the current value of the
mask is printed.
unset [ name ... ]
For each name, remove the corresponding variable or
function value. The variables PATH, PS1, PS2, MAIL-
CHECK, and IFS cannot be unset.
wait [ n ]
Wait for your background process whose process id is n
and report its termination status. If n is omitted,
all your shell's currently active background processes
are waited for and the return code will be zero.
Invocation
If the shell is invoked through exec(2) and the first char-
acter of argument zero is -, commands are initially read
from /etc/profile and from $HOME/.profile, if such files
exist. Thereafter, commands are read as described below,
which is also the case when the shell is invoked as
/usr/bin/sh. The flags below are interpreted by the shell
on invocation only. Note that unless the -c or -s flag is
specified, the first argument is assumed to be the name of a
file containing commands, and the remaining arguments are
passed as positional parameters to that command file:
-c string If the -c flag is present commands are read from
string.
-i If the -i flag is present or if the shell input
and output are attached to a terminal, this shell
is interactive. In this case TERMINATE is ignored
(so that kill 0 does not kill an interactive
shell) and INTERRUPT is caught and ignored (so
that wait is interruptible). In all cases, QUIT
is ignored by the shell.
-p If the -p flag is present, the shell will not set
the effective user and group IDs to the real user
and group IDs.
-r If the -r flag is present the shell is a res-
tricted shell.
-s If the -s flag is present or if no arguments
remain, commands are read from the standard input.
Any remaining arguments specify the positional
parameters. Shell output (except for Special Com-
mands) is written to file descriptor 2.
The remaining flags and arguments are described under the
set command above.
14
sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
Job Control (jsh)
When the shell is invoked as jsh, Job Control is enabled in
addition to all of the functionality described previously
for sh. Typically Job Control is enabled for the interac-
tive shell only. Non-interactive shells typically do not
benefit from the added functionality of Job Control. With
Job Control enabled every command or pipeline the user
enters at the terminal is called a job. All jobs exist in
one of the following states: foreground, background or
stopped. These terms are defined as follows: 1) a job in
the foreground has read and write access to the controlling
terminal; 2) a job in the background is denied read access
and has conditional write access to the controlling terminal
[see stty(1)]; 3) a stopped job is a job that has been
placed in a suspended state, usually as a result of a
SIGTSTP signal [see signal(5)]. Every job that the shell
starts is assigned a positive integer, called a job number
which is tracked by the shell and will be used as an iden-
tifier to indicate a specific job. Additionally the shell
keeps track of the current and previous jobs. The current
job is the most recent job to be started or restarted. The
previous job is the first non-current job. The acceptable
syntax for a Job Identifier is of the form:
%jobid
where, jobid may be specified in any of the following for-
mats:
% or + for the current job
- for the previous job
?<string> specify the job for which the command line
uniquely contains string.
n for job number n, where n is a job number
pref where pref is a unique prefix of the command
name (for example, if the command ls -l foo
were running in the background, it could be
referred to as %ls); pref cannot contain
blanks unless it is quoted.
When Job Control is enabled, the following commands are
added to the user's environment to manipulate jobs:
bg [%jobid ...]
Resumes the execution of a stopped job in the back-
ground. If %jobid is omitted the current job is
assumed.
fg [%jobid ...]
15
sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
Resumes the execution of a stopped job in the fore-
ground, also moves an executing background job into the
foreground. If %jobid is omitted the current job is
assumed.
jobs [-p|-l] [%jobid ...]
jobs -x command [arguments]
Reports all jobs that are stopped or executing in the
background. If %jobid is omitted, all jobs that are
stopped or running in the background will be reported.
The following options will modify/enhance the output of
jobs:
-l Report the process group ID and working directory
of the jobs.
-p Report only the process group ID of the jobs.
-x Replace any jobid found in command or arguments
with the corresponding process group ID, and then
execute command passing it arguments.
kill [-signal] %jobid
Builtin version of kill to provide the functionality of
the kill command for processes identified with a jobid.
stop %jobid ...
Stops the execution of a background job(s).
suspend
Stops the execution of the current shell (but not if it
is the login shell).
wait [%jobid ...]
wait builtin accepts a job identifier. If %jobid is
omitted wait behaves as described above under Special
Commands.
Restricted Shell (rsh) Only
rsh is used to set up login names and execution environments
whose capabilities are more controlled than those of the
standard shell. The actions of rsh are identical to those
of sh, except that the following are disallowed:
changing directory [see cd(1)],
setting the value of $PATH,
specifying path or command names containing /,
redirecting output (> and >>).
The restrictions above are enforced after .profile is inter-
preted.
16
sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
A restricted shell can be invoked in one of the following
ways: (1) rsh is the file name part of the last entry in
the /etc/passwd file [see passwd(4)]; (2) the environment
variable SHELL exists and rsh is the file name part of its
value; (3) the shell is invoked and rsh is the file name
part of argument 0; (4) the shell is invoke with the -r
option.
When a command to be executed is found to be a shell pro-
cedure, rsh invokes sh to execute it. Thus, it is possible
to provide to the end-user shell procedures that have access
to the full power of the standard shell, while imposing a
limited menu of commands; this scheme assumes that the end-
user does not have write and execute permissions in the same
directory.
The net effect of these rules is that the writer of the
.profile [see profile(4)] has complete control over user
actions by performing guaranteed setup actions and leaving
the user in an appropriate directory (probably not the login
directory).
The system administrator often sets up a directory of com-
mands (i.e., /usr/rbin) that can be safely invoked by a res-
tricted shell. Some systems also provide a restricted edi-
tor, red.
EXIT STATUS
Errors detected by the shell, such as syntax errors, cause
the shell to return a non-zero exit status. If the shell is
being used non-interactively execution of the shell file is
abandoned. Otherwise, the shell returns the exit status of
the last command executed (see also the exit command above).
jsh Only
If the shell is invoked as jsh and an attempt is made to
exit the shell while there are stopped jobs, the shell
issues one warning:
There are stopped jobs.
This is the only message. If another exit attempt is made,
and there are still stopped jobs they will be sent a SIGHUP
signal from the kernel and the shell is exited.
FILES
/etc/profile
$HOME/.profile
/tmp/sh*
/dev/null
17
sh(1) USER COMMANDS sh(1)
SEE ALSO
cd(1), echo(1), getopts(1), intro(1), login(1), pwd(1),
stty(1), test(1), umask(1), wait(1).
dup(2), exec(2), fork(2), getrlimit(2), pipe(2), ulimit(2),
setlocale(3C) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
newgrp(1M), profile(4), environ(5), signal(5) in the System
Administrator's Reference Manual.
NOTES
Words used for filenames in input/output redirection are not
interpreted for filename generation (see ``File Name Genera-
tion,'' above). For example, cat file1 >a* will create a
file named a*.
Because commands in pipelines are run as separate processes,
variables set in a pipeline have no effect on the parent
shell.
If you get the error message cannot fork, too many
processes, try using the wait(1) command to clean up your
background processes. If this doesn't help, the system pro-
cess table is probably full or you have too many active
foreground processes. (There is a limit to the number of
process ids associated with your login, and to the number
the system can keep track of.)
Only the last process in a pipeline can be waited for.
If a command is executed, and a command with the same name
is installed in a directory in the search path before the
directory where the original command was found, the shell
will continue to exec the original command. Use the hash
command to correct this situation.
18