bash man page on OpenBSD

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

NAME
       bash - GNU Bourne-Again SHell

SYNOPSIS
       bash [options] [file]

COPYRIGHT
       Bash is Copyright (C) 1989-2009 by the Free Software Foundation, Inc.

DESCRIPTION
       Bash  is	 an  sh-compatible  command language interpreter that executes
       commands read from the standard input or from a file.  Bash also incor-
       porates useful features from the Korn and C shells (ksh and csh).

       Bash  is	 intended  to  be a conformant implementation of the Shell and
       Utilities portion  of  the  IEEE	 POSIX	specification  (IEEE  Standard
       1003.1).	 Bash can be configured to be POSIX-conformant by default.

OPTIONS
       In  addition  to	 the  single-character shell options documented in the
       description of the set builtin command, bash interprets	the  following
       options when it is invoked:

       -c string If  the  -c  option  is  present, then commands are read from
		 string.  If there are arguments after the  string,  they  are
		 assigned to the positional parameters, starting with $0.
       -i	 If the -i option is present, the shell is interactive.
       -l	 Make bash act as if it had been invoked as a login shell (see
		 INVOCATION below).
       -r	 If the -r option is present,  the  shell  becomes  restricted
		 (see RESTRICTED SHELL below).
       -s	 If  the -s option is present, or if no arguments remain after
		 option processing, then commands are read from	 the  standard
		 input.	  This	option	allows the positional parameters to be
		 set when invoking an interactive shell.
       -D	 A list of all double-quoted strings preceded by $ is  printed
		 on  the standard output.  These are the strings that are sub-
		 ject to language translation when the current locale is not C
		 or  POSIX.   This  implies the -n option; no commands will be
		 executed.
       [-+]O [shopt_option]
		 shopt_option is one of the  shell  options  accepted  by  the
		 shopt	 builtin  (see	SHELL  BUILTIN	COMMANDS  below).   If
		 shopt_option is present, -O sets the value of that option; +O
		 unsets	 it.   If  shopt_option is not supplied, the names and
		 values of the shell options accepted by shopt are printed  on
		 the  standard	output.	  If  the invocation option is +O, the
		 output is displayed in a format that may be reused as	input.
       --	 A  --	signals the end of options and disables further option
		 processing.  Any arguments after the -- are treated as	 file-
		 names and arguments.  An argument of - is equivalent to --.

       Bash  also  interprets  a  number  of  multi-character  options.	 These
       options must appear on the command  line	 before	 the  single-character

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       options to be recognized.

       --debugger
	      Arrange for the debugger profile to be executed before the shell
	      starts.  Turns on extended debugging mode (see  the  description
	      of  the  extdebug	 option	 to the shopt builtin below) and shell
	      function tracing (see the description of the -o functrace option
	      to the set builtin below).
       --dump-po-strings
	      Equivalent  to  -D,  but	the  output  is	 in the GNU gettext po
	      (portable object) file format.
       --dump-strings
	      Equivalent to -D.
       --help Display a usage message on standard  output  and	exit  success-
	      fully.
       --init-file file
       --rcfile file
	      Execute commands from file instead of the standard personal ini-
	      tialization file ~/.bashrc if  the  shell	 is  interactive  (see
	      INVOCATION below).

       --login
	      Equivalent to -l.

       --noediting
	      Do  not  use the GNU readline library to read command lines when
	      the shell is interactive.

       --noprofile
	      Do not read either the system-wide startup file /etc/profile  or
	      any   of	the  personal  initialization  files  ~/.bash_profile,
	      ~/.bash_login, or ~/.profile.   By  default,  bash  reads	 these
	      files  when  it  is  invoked  as	a  login shell (see INVOCATION
	      below).

       --norc Do  not  read  and  execute  the	personal  initialization  file
	      ~/.bashrc	 if  the  shell	 is interactive.  This option is on by
	      default if the shell is invoked as sh.

       --posix
	      Change the behavior of bash where the default operation  differs
	      from the POSIX standard to match the standard (posix mode).

       --restricted
	      The shell becomes restricted (see RESTRICTED SHELL below).

       --verbose
	      Equivalent to  -v.

       --version
	      Show  version information for this instance of bash on the stan-
	      dard output and exit successfully.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

ARGUMENTS
       If arguments remain after option processing, and neither the -c nor the
       -s  option  has	been supplied, the first argument is assumed to be the
       name of a file containing shell commands.  If bash is invoked  in  this
       fashion,	 $0 is set to the name of the file, and the positional parame-
       ters are set to the remaining arguments.	 Bash reads and executes  com-
       mands  from this file, then exits.  Bash's exit status is the exit sta-
       tus of the last command executed in the script.	 If  no	 commands  are
       executed,  the  exit status is 0.  An attempt is first made to open the
       file in the current directory, and, if no file is found, then the shell
       searches the directories in PATH for the script.

INVOCATION
       A  login shell is one whose first character of argument zero is a -, or
       one started with the --login option.

       An interactive shell is one started without  non-option	arguments  and
       without the -c option whose standard input and error are both connected
       to terminals (as determined by isatty(3)), or one started with  the  -i
       option.	 PS1 is set and $- includes i if bash is interactive, allowing
       a shell script or a startup file to test this state.

       The following paragraphs describe how bash executes its startup	files.
       If  any	of  the files exist but cannot be read, bash reports an error.
       Tildes are expanded in file names as described below under Tilde Expan-
       sion in the EXPANSION section.

       When  bash is invoked as an interactive login shell, or as a non-inter-
       active shell with the --login option, it first reads and executes  com-
       mands  from  the file /etc/profile, if that file exists.	 After reading
       that file, it looks for ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile,
       in  that order, and reads and executes commands from the first one that
       exists and is readable.	The --noprofile option may be  used  when  the
       shell is started to inhibit this behavior.

       When  a	login  shell  exits, bash reads and executes commands from the
       file ~/.bash_logout, if it exists.

       When an interactive shell that is not a login shell  is	started,  bash
       reads  and executes commands from ~/.bashrc, if that file exists.  This
       may be inhibited by using the --norc option.  The --rcfile file	option
       will  force  bash  to  read  and	 execute commands from file instead of
       ~/.bashrc.

       When bash is started non-interactively, to  run	a  shell  script,  for
       example, it looks for the variable BASH_ENV in the environment, expands
       its value if it appears there, and uses the expanded value as the  name
       of  a  file to read and execute.	 Bash behaves as if the following com-
       mand were executed:
	      if [ -n "$BASH_ENV" ]; then . "$BASH_ENV"; fi
       but the value of the PATH variable is not used to search for  the  file
       name.

       If  bash	 is  invoked  with  the name sh, it tries to mimic the startup

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       behavior of historical versions of sh as	 closely  as  possible,	 while
       conforming  to the POSIX standard as well.  When invoked as an interac-
       tive login shell, or a non-interactive shell with the  --login  option,
       it  first  attempts  to read and execute commands from /etc/profile and
       ~/.profile, in that order.  The	--noprofile  option  may  be  used  to
       inhibit	this  behavior.	 When invoked as an interactive shell with the
       name sh, bash looks for the variable ENV, expands its value  if	it  is
       defined,	 and uses the expanded value as the name of a file to read and
       execute.	 Since a shell invoked as sh does not attempt to read and exe-
       cute  commands from any other startup files, the --rcfile option has no
       effect.	A non-interactive shell invoked with  the  name	 sh  does  not
       attempt	to  read  any  other  startup files.  When invoked as sh, bash
       enters posix mode after the startup files are read.

       When bash is started in posix mode, as with the	--posix	 command  line
       option, it follows the POSIX standard for startup files.	 In this mode,
       interactive shells expand the ENV variable and commands	are  read  and
       executed	 from  the  file  whose	 name is the expanded value.  No other
       startup files are read.

       Bash attempts to determine when it is being run with its standard input
       connected  to a a network connection, as if by the remote shell daemon,
       usually rshd, or the secure shell daemon sshd.  If bash	determines  it
       is  being  run  in  this	 fashion,  it reads and executes commands from
       ~/.bashrc, if that file exists and is readable.	It will not do this if
       invoked as sh.  The --norc option may be used to inhibit this behavior,
       and the --rcfile option may be used to force another file to  be	 read,
       but  rshd  does	not  generally	invoke the shell with those options or
       allow them to be specified.

       If the shell is started with the effective user (group) id not equal to
       the real user (group) id, and the -p option is not supplied, no startup
       files are read, shell functions are not inherited from the environment,
       the  SHELLOPTS,	BASHOPTS,  CDPATH,  and	 GLOBIGNORE variables, if they
       appear in the environment, are ignored, and the effective  user	id  is
       set  to	the real user id.  If the -p option is supplied at invocation,
       the startup behavior is the same, but the  effective  user  id  is  not
       reset.

DEFINITIONS
       The  following  definitions  are used throughout the rest of this docu-
       ment.
       blank  A space or tab.
       word   A sequence of characters considered as  a	 single	 unit  by  the
	      shell.  Also known as a token.
       name   A	 word  consisting  only	 of alphanumeric characters and under-
	      scores, and beginning with an alphabetic character or an	under-
	      score.  Also referred to as an identifier.
       metacharacter
	      A	 character  that,  when unquoted, separates words.  One of the
	      following:
	      |	 & ; ( ) < > space tab
       control operator
	      A token that performs a control function.	  It  is  one  of  the

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      following symbols:
	      || & && ; ;; ( ) | |& <newline>

RESERVED WORDS
       Reserved words are words that have a special meaning to the shell.  The
       following words are recognized as reserved when unquoted and either the
       first  word  of a simple command (see SHELL GRAMMAR below) or the third
       word of a case or for command:

       ! case  do done elif else esac fi for function if in select then	 until
       while { } time [[ ]]

SHELL GRAMMAR
   Simple Commands
       A  simple  command  is a sequence of optional variable assignments fol-
       lowed by blank-separated words and redirections, and  terminated	 by  a
       control operator.  The first word specifies the command to be executed,
       and is passed as argument zero.	The  remaining	words  are  passed  as
       arguments to the invoked command.

       The  return  value  of a simple command is its exit status, or 128+n if
       the command is terminated by signal n.

   Pipelines
       A pipeline is a sequence of one or more commands separated  by  one  of
       the control operators | or |&.  The format for a pipeline is:

	      [time [-p]] [ ! ] command [ [|||&] command2 ... ]

       The  standard output of command is connected via a pipe to the standard
       input of command2.  This connection is performed	 before	 any  redirec-
       tions specified by the command (see REDIRECTION below).	If |& is used,
       the standard error of command is connected to command2's standard input
       through	the  pipe; it is shorthand for 2>&1 |.	This implicit redirec-
       tion of the standard error is performed after any  redirections	speci-
       fied by the command.

       The return status of a pipeline is the exit status of the last command,
       unless the pipefail option is enabled.  If  pipefail  is	 enabled,  the
       pipeline's  return  status is the value of the last (rightmost) command
       to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands	exit  success-
       fully.  If the reserved word !  precedes a pipeline, the exit status of
       that pipeline is the logical negation of the exit status	 as  described
       above.	The  shell waits for all commands in the pipeline to terminate
       before returning a value.

       If the time reserved word precedes a pipeline, the elapsed as  well  as
       user  and  system  time consumed by its execution are reported when the
       pipeline terminates.  The -p option changes the output format  to  that
       specified  by  POSIX.   The  TIMEFORMAT variable may be set to a format
       string that specifies how the timing information should	be  displayed;
       see the description of TIMEFORMAT under Shell Variables below.

       Each  command in a pipeline is executed as a separate process (i.e., in

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       a subshell).

   Lists
       A list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by one  of  the
       operators ;, &, &&, or ||, and optionally terminated by one of ;, &, or
       <newline>.

       Of these list operators, && and || have equal precedence, followed by ;
       and &, which have equal precedence.

       A  sequence  of	one or more newlines may appear in a list instead of a
       semicolon to delimit commands.

       If a command is terminated by the control operator &,  the  shell  exe-
       cutes  the command in the background in a subshell.  The shell does not
       wait for the command to finish, and the return status is	 0.   Commands
       separated  by  a	 ; are executed sequentially; the shell waits for each
       command to terminate in turn.  The return status is the exit status  of
       the last command executed.

       AND  and	 OR  lists are sequences of one of more pipelines separated by
       the && and || control operators, respectively.  AND and	OR  lists  are
       executed with left associativity.  An AND list has the form

	      command1 && command2

       command2	 is  executed if, and only if, command1 returns an exit status
       of zero.

       An OR list has the form

	      command1 || command2

       command2 is executed if and only if command1 returns  a	non-zero  exit
       status.	 The  return  status of AND and OR lists is the exit status of
       the last command executed in the list.

   Compound Commands
       A compound command is one of the following:

       (list) list is executed in a subshell environment (see  COMMAND	EXECU-
	      TION  ENVIRONMENT below).	 Variable assignments and builtin com-
	      mands that affect the  shell's  environment  do  not  remain  in
	      effect  after  the  command completes.  The return status is the
	      exit status of list.

       { list; }
	      list is simply executed in the current shell environment.	  list
	      must  be	terminated with a newline or semicolon.	 This is known
	      as a group command.  The return status is	 the  exit  status  of
	      list.   Note that unlike the metacharacters ( and ), { and } are
	      reserved words and must occur where a reserved word is permitted
	      to  be  recognized.   Since they do not cause a word break, they

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      must be separated from  list  by	whitespace  or	another	 shell
	      metacharacter.

       ((expression))
	      The  expression  is  evaluated  according to the rules described
	      below under ARITHMETIC EVALUATION.  If the value of the  expres-
	      sion  is	non-zero, the return status is 0; otherwise the return
	      status is 1.  This is exactly equivalent to let "expression".

       [[ expression ]]
	      Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on  the  evaluation  of  the
	      conditional  expression expression.  Expressions are composed of
	      the primaries described  below  under  CONDITIONAL  EXPRESSIONS.
	      Word  splitting  and pathname expansion are not performed on the
	      words between the [[ and	]];  tilde  expansion,	parameter  and
	      variable	expansion, arithmetic expansion, command substitution,
	      process substitution, and quote removal are  performed.	Condi-
	      tional operators such as -f must be unquoted to be recognized as
	      primaries.

	      When used with [[, The < and > operators sort  lexicographically
	      using the current locale.

	      When  the	 == and != operators are used, the string to the right
	      of the operator is considered a pattern and matched according to
	      the  rules described below under Pattern Matching.  If the shell
	      option nocasematch is enabled, the match	is  performed  without
	      regard  to  the case of alphabetic characters.  The return value
	      is 0 if the string matches (==) or does not match (!=) the  pat-
	      tern, and 1 otherwise.  Any part of the pattern may be quoted to
	      force it to be matched as a string.

	      An additional binary operator, =~, is available, with  the  same
	      precedence  as  ==  and  !=.  When it is used, the string to the
	      right of the operator is considered an extended regular  expres-
	      sion and matched accordingly (as in regex(3)).  The return value
	      is 0 if the string matches the pattern, and 1 otherwise.	If the
	      regular  expression  is syntactically incorrect, the conditional
	      expression's return value is 2.  If the shell option nocasematch
	      is enabled, the match is performed without regard to the case of
	      alphabetic characters.  Any part of the pattern may be quoted to
	      force  it	 to  be	 matched  as  a string.	 Substrings matched by
	      parenthesized subexpressions within the regular  expression  are
	      saved  in	 the  array  variable  BASH_REMATCH.   The  element of
	      BASH_REMATCH with index 0 is the portion of the string  matching
	      the entire regular expression.  The element of BASH_REMATCH with
	      index n is the portion of the string matching the nth  parenthe-
	      sized subexpression.

	      Expressions  may	be  combined  using  the  following operators,
	      listed in decreasing order of precedence:

	      ( expression )
		     Returns the value of expression.  This  may  be  used  to

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		     override the normal precedence of operators.
	      ! expression
		     True if expression is false.
	      expression1 && expression2
		     True if both expression1 and expression2 are true.
	      expression1 || expression2
		     True if either expression1 or expression2 is true.

	      The && and || operators do not evaluate expression2 if the value
	      of expression1 is sufficient to determine the  return  value  of
	      the entire conditional expression.

       for name [ [ in [ word ... ] ] ; ] do list ; done
	      The list of words following in is expanded, generating a list of
	      items.  The variable name is set to each element of this list in
	      turn,  and  list is executed each time.  If the in word is omit-
	      ted, the for command executes  list  once	 for  each  positional
	      parameter that is set (see PARAMETERS below).  The return status
	      is the exit status of the last command that  executes.   If  the
	      expansion of the items following in results in an empty list, no
	      commands are executed, and the return status is 0.

       for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) ; do list ; done
	      First, the arithmetic expression expr1 is evaluated according to
	      the  rules  described  below  under  ARITHMETIC EVALUATION.  The
	      arithmetic expression expr2 is then evaluated  repeatedly	 until
	      it  evaluates  to zero.  Each time expr2 evaluates to a non-zero
	      value, list is executed and the arithmetic expression  expr3  is
	      evaluated.   If  any  expression is omitted, it behaves as if it
	      evaluates to 1.  The return value is the exit status of the last
	      command in list that is executed, or false if any of the expres-
	      sions is invalid.

       select name [ in word ] ; do list ; done
	      The list of words following in is expanded, generating a list of
	      items.   The  set	 of  expanded words is printed on the standard
	      error, each preceded by a number.	 If the in  word  is  omitted,
	      the  positional  parameters  are printed (see PARAMETERS below).
	      The PS3 prompt is then displayed and a line read from the	 stan-
	      dard  input.   If the line consists of a number corresponding to
	      one of the displayed words, then the value of  name  is  set  to
	      that  word.  If the line is empty, the words and prompt are dis-
	      played again.  If EOF is read, the command completes.  Any other
	      value  read  causes  name	 to  be set to null.  The line read is
	      saved in the variable REPLY.  The list is	 executed  after  each
	      selection until a break command is executed.  The exit status of
	      select is the exit status of the last command executed in	 list,
	      or zero if no commands were executed.

       case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac
	      A case command first expands word, and tries to match it against
	      each pattern in turn, using the same matching rules as for path-
	      name  expansion  (see  Pathname  Expansion  below).  The word is
	      expanded	using  tilde   expansion,   parameter	and   variable

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	      expansion,  arithmetic  substitution, command substitution, pro-
	      cess substitution and quote removal.  Each pattern  examined  is
	      expanded	using  tilde  expansion, parameter and variable expan-
	      sion, arithmetic substitution, command substitution, and process
	      substitution.   If  the shell option nocasematch is enabled, the
	      match is performed without regard	 to  the  case	of  alphabetic
	      characters.   When  a  match is found, the corresponding list is
	      executed.	 If the ;; operator is used, no subsequent matches are
	      attempted	 after	the first pattern match.  Using ;& in place of
	      ;; causes execution to continue with the	list  associated  with
	      the  next	 set of patterns.  Using ;;& in place of ;; causes the
	      shell to test the next pattern list in the  statement,  if  any,
	      and execute any associated list on a successful match.  The exit
	      status is zero if no pattern matches.  Otherwise, it is the exit
	      status of the last command executed in list.

       if list; then list; [ elif list; then list; ] ... [ else list; ] fi
	      The  if  list is executed.  If its exit status is zero, the then
	      list is executed.	 Otherwise, each  elif	list  is  executed  in
	      turn,  and  if  its  exit status is zero, the corresponding then
	      list is executed and the command completes.  Otherwise, the else
	      list  is executed, if present.  The exit status is the exit sta-
	      tus of the last command executed, or zero if no condition tested
	      true.

       while list; do list; done
       until list; do list; done
	      The  while  command continuously executes the do list as long as
	      the last command in list returns an exit status  of  zero.   The
	      until command is identical to the while command, except that the
	      test is negated; the do list is executed as  long	 as  the  last
	      command in list returns a non-zero exit status.  The exit status
	      of the while and until commands is the exit status of  the  last
	      do list command executed, or zero if none was executed.

   Coprocesses
       A coprocess is a shell command preceded by the coproc reserved word.  A
       coprocess is executed asynchronously in a subshell, as if  the  command
       had  been  terminated  with the & control operator, with a two-way pipe
       established between the executing shell and the coprocess.

       The format for a coprocess is:

	      coproc [NAME] command [redirections]

       This creates a coprocess named NAME.  If	 NAME  is  not	supplied,  the
       default name is COPROC.	NAME must not be supplied if command is a sim-
       ple command (see above); otherwise, it is interpreted as the first word
       of  the simple command.	When the coproc is executed, the shell creates
       an array variable (see Arrays below) named NAME in the context  of  the
       executing  shell.   The	standard  output of command is connected via a
       pipe to a file  descriptor  in  the  executing  shell,  and  that  file
       descriptor  is  assigned	 to NAME[0].  The standard input of command is
       connected via a pipe to a file descriptor in the executing  shell,  and

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       that  file descriptor is assigned to NAME[1].  This pipe is established
       before any redirections	specified  by  the  command  (see  REDIRECTION
       below).	 The  file  descriptors	 can be utilized as arguments to shell
       commands and redirections using standard word expansions.  The  process
       id  of  the  shell spawned to execute the coprocess is available as the
       value of the variable NAME_PID.	The wait builtin command may  be  used
       to wait for the coprocess to terminate.

       The return status of a coprocess is the exit status of command.

   Shell Function Definitions
       A  shell function is an object that is called like a simple command and
       executes a compound command with a new set  of  positional  parameters.
       Shell functions are declared as follows:

       [ function ] name () compound-command [redirection]
	      This  defines a function named name.  The reserved word function
	      is optional.  If the function reserved  word  is	supplied,  the
	      parentheses  are optional.  The body of the function is the com-
	      pound command compound-command (see  Compound  Commands  above).
	      That  command is usually a list of commands between { and }, but
	      may be any command listed under Compound Commands	 above.	  com-
	      pound-command is executed whenever name is specified as the name
	      of a simple command.  Any redirections (see  REDIRECTION	below)
	      specified	 when  a  function  is	defined are performed when the
	      function is executed.  The exit status of a function  definition
	      is zero unless a syntax error occurs or a readonly function with
	      the same name already exists.  When executed, the exit status of
	      a	 function  is  the exit status of the last command executed in
	      the body.	 (See FUNCTIONS below.)

COMMENTS
       In a non-interactive shell, or an interactive shell in which the inter-
       active_comments	option	to  the	 shopt	builtin	 is enabled (see SHELL
       BUILTIN COMMANDS below), a word beginning with # causes that  word  and
       all  remaining  characters  on that line to be ignored.	An interactive
       shell without the interactive_comments option enabled  does  not	 allow
       comments.  The interactive_comments option is on by default in interac-
       tive shells.

QUOTING
       Quoting is used to remove the special meaning of certain characters  or
       words  to  the shell.  Quoting can be used to disable special treatment
       for special characters, to prevent reserved words from being recognized
       as such, and to prevent parameter expansion.

       Each  of	 the metacharacters listed above under DEFINITIONS has special
       meaning to the shell and must be quoted if it is to represent itself.

       When the command history expansion facilities are being used (see  HIS-
       TORY EXPANSION below), the history expansion character, usually !, must
       be quoted to prevent history expansion.

       There are  three	 quoting  mechanisms:  the  escape  character,	single

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       10

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       quotes, and double quotes.

       A  non-quoted  backslash (\) is the escape character.  It preserves the
       literal value of the next character that follows, with the exception of
       <newline>.   If	a  \<newline>  pair  appears, and the backslash is not
       itself quoted, the \<newline> is treated as a line  continuation	 (that
       is, it is removed from the input stream and effectively ignored).

       Enclosing  characters  in  single quotes preserves the literal value of
       each character within the quotes.  A single quote may not occur between
       single quotes, even when preceded by a backslash.

       Enclosing  characters  in  double quotes preserves the literal value of
       all characters within the quotes, with the exception of $, `,  \,  and,
       when  history  expansion	 is enabled, !.	 The characters $ and ` retain
       their special meaning within double quotes.  The backslash retains  its
       special	meaning only when followed by one of the following characters:
       $, `, ", \, or <newline>.  A double quote may be quoted	within	double
       quotes by preceding it with a backslash.	 If enabled, history expansion
       will be performed unless an !  appearing in double  quotes  is  escaped
       using a backslash.  The backslash preceding the !  is not removed.

       The  special  parameters	 *  and	 @ have special meaning when in double
       quotes (see PARAMETERS below).

       Words of the form $'string' are treated specially.  The word expands to
       string,	with backslash-escaped characters replaced as specified by the
       ANSI C standard.	 Backslash escape sequences, if present,  are  decoded
       as follows:
	      \a     alert (bell)
	      \b     backspace
	      \e
	      \E     an escape character
	      \f     form feed
	      \n     new line
	      \r     carriage return
	      \t     horizontal tab
	      \v     vertical tab
	      \\     backslash
	      \'     single quote
	      \	     double quote
	      \nnn   the  eight-bit  character	whose value is the octal value
		     nnn (one to three digits)
	      \xHH   the eight-bit character whose value  is  the  hexadecimal
		     value HH (one or two hex digits)
	      \cx    a control-x character

       The  expanded  result  is  single-quoted, as if the dollar sign had not
       been present.

       A double-quoted string preceded by a dollar sign ($string)  will	 cause
       the  string  to	be translated according to the current locale.	If the
       current locale is C or POSIX, the  dollar  sign	is  ignored.   If  the
       string is translated and replaced, the replacement is double-quoted.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       11

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

PARAMETERS
       A  parameter is an entity that stores values.  It can be a name, a num-
       ber, or one of the special characters listed below under Special Param-
       eters.	A variable is a parameter denoted by a name.  A variable has a
       value and zero or more attributes.  Attributes are assigned  using  the
       declare	builtin command (see declare below in SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS).

       A parameter is set if it has been assigned a value.  The null string is
       a  valid	 value.	 Once a variable is set, it may be unset only by using
       the unset builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

       A variable may be assigned to by a statement of the form

	      name=[value]

       If value is not given, the variable is assigned the null	 string.   All
       values  undergo tilde expansion, parameter and variable expansion, com-
       mand substitution, arithmetic expansion, and quote removal (see	EXPAN-
       SION below).  If the variable has its integer attribute set, then value
       is evaluated as an arithmetic expression even if the $((...)) expansion
       is  not	used  (see Arithmetic Expansion below).	 Word splitting is not
       performed, with the exception of "$@" as explained below under  Special
       Parameters.   Pathname  expansion  is not performed.  Assignment state-
       ments may also appear as arguments  to  the  alias,  declare,  typeset,
       export, readonly, and local builtin commands.

       In  the context where an assignment statement is assigning a value to a
       shell variable or array index, the += operator can be used to append to
       or add to the variable's previous value.	 When += is applied to a vari-
       able for which the integer attribute has been set, value	 is  evaluated
       as  an arithmetic expression and added to the variable's current value,
       which is also evaluated.	 When += is applied to an array variable using
       compound	 assignment  (see  Arrays  below), the variable's value is not
       unset (as it is when using =), and new values are appended to the array
       beginning  at  one  greater than the array's maximum index (for indexed
       arrays) or added as additional key-value pairs in an associative array.
       When  applied  to  a  string-valued  variable,  value  is  expanded and
       appended to the variable's value.

   Positional Parameters
       A positional parameter is a parameter denoted by one  or	 more  digits,
       other than the single digit 0.  Positional parameters are assigned from
       the shell's arguments when it is invoked, and may be  reassigned	 using
       the  set builtin command.  Positional parameters may not be assigned to
       with assignment statements.  The positional parameters are  temporarily
       replaced when a shell function is executed (see FUNCTIONS below).

       When  a	positional parameter consisting of more than a single digit is
       expanded, it must be enclosed in braces (see EXPANSION below).

   Special Parameters
       The shell treats several parameters specially.	These  parameters  may
       only be referenced; assignment to them is not allowed.
       *      Expands  to  the positional parameters, starting from one.  When

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       12

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      the expansion occurs within double quotes, it expands to a  sin-
	      gle word with the value of each parameter separated by the first
	      character of the IFS special variable.  That is, "$*" is equiva-
	      lent to "$1c$2c...", where c is the first character of the value
	      of the IFS variable.  If IFS is unset, the parameters are	 sepa-
	      rated  by	 spaces.   If  IFS  is null, the parameters are joined
	      without intervening separators.
       @      Expands to the positional parameters, starting from  one.	  When
	      the  expansion  occurs  within  double  quotes,  each  parameter
	      expands to a separate word.  That is, "$@" is equivalent to "$1"
	      "$2"  ...	  If the double-quoted expansion occurs within a word,
	      the expansion of the first parameter is joined with  the	begin-
	      ning  part  of  the original word, and the expansion of the last
	      parameter is joined with the last part  of  the  original	 word.
	      When  there  are no positional parameters, "$@" and $@ expand to
	      nothing (i.e., they are removed).
       #      Expands to the number of positional parameters in decimal.
       ?      Expands to the exit status of the most recently  executed	 fore-
	      ground pipeline.
       -      Expands  to  the	current option flags as specified upon invoca-
	      tion, by the set builtin command, or  those  set	by  the	 shell
	      itself (such as the -i option).
       $      Expands  to  the	process ID of the shell.  In a () subshell, it
	      expands to the process ID of the current	shell,	not  the  sub-
	      shell.
       !      Expands  to  the	process ID of the most recently executed back-
	      ground (asynchronous) command.
       0      Expands to the name of the shell or shell script.	 This  is  set
	      at shell initialization.	If bash is invoked with a file of com-
	      mands, $0 is set to the name of that file.  If bash  is  started
	      with  the	 -c option, then $0 is set to the first argument after
	      the string to be executed, if one is present.  Otherwise, it  is
	      set  to  the file name used to invoke bash, as given by argument
	      zero.
       _      At shell startup, set to the absolute pathname  used  to	invoke
	      the  shell or shell script being executed as passed in the envi-
	      ronment or argument list.	 Subsequently,	expands	 to  the  last
	      argument	to the previous command, after expansion.  Also set to
	      the full pathname used  to  invoke  each	command	 executed  and
	      placed in the environment exported to that command.  When check-
	      ing mail, this parameter holds the name of the  mail  file  cur-
	      rently being checked.

   Shell Variables
       The following variables are set by the shell:

       BASH   Expands  to  the	full file name used to invoke this instance of
	      bash.
       BASHOPTS
	      A colon-separated list of enabled shell options.	Each  word  in
	      the  list	 is  a	valid  argument for the -s option to the shopt
	      builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).  The options
	      appearing	 in  BASHOPTS  are  those reported as on by shopt.  If
	      this variable is in the environment when bash  starts  up,  each

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       13

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      shell  option  in	 the  list  will be enabled before reading any
	      startup files.  This variable is read-only.
       BASHPID
	      Expands to the process id of the	current	 bash  process.	  This
	      differs  from  $$ under certain circumstances, such as subshells
	      that do not require bash to be re-initialized.
       BASH_ALIASES
	      An associative array variable whose members  correspond  to  the
	      internal list of aliases as maintained by the alias builtin Ele-
	      ments added to this array appear in the  alias  list;  unsetting
	      array  elements cause aliases to be removed from the alias list.
       BASH_ARGC
	      An array variable whose values are the number of	parameters  in
	      each frame of the current bash execution call stack.  The number
	      of parameters to	the  current  subroutine  (shell  function  or
	      script  executed	with  . or source) is at the top of the stack.
	      When a subroutine is executed, the number of  parameters	passed
	      is pushed onto BASH_ARGC.	 The shell sets BASH_ARGC only when in
	      extended debugging mode (see the	description  of	 the  extdebug
	      option to the shopt builtin below)
       BASH_ARGV
	      An  array	 variable containing all of the parameters in the cur-
	      rent bash execution call stack.  The final parameter of the last
	      subroutine  call is at the top of the stack; the first parameter
	      of the initial call is at the bottom.  When a subroutine is exe-
	      cuted,  the  parameters supplied are pushed onto BASH_ARGV.  The
	      shell sets BASH_ARGV only when in extended debugging  mode  (see
	      the  description	of  the	 extdebug  option to the shopt builtin
	      below)
       BASH_CMDS
	      An associative array variable whose members  correspond  to  the
	      internal	hash  table  of	 commands  as  maintained  by the hash
	      builtin.	Elements added to this array appear in the hash table;
	      unsetting	 array	elements cause commands to be removed from the
	      hash table.
       BASH_COMMAND
	      The command currently being executed or about  to	 be  executed,
	      unless the shell is executing a command as the result of a trap,
	      in which case it is the command executing at  the	 time  of  the
	      trap.
       BASH_EXECUTION_STRING
	      The command argument to the -c invocation option.
       BASH_LINENO
	      An  array	 variable whose members are the line numbers in source
	      files   corresponding    to    each    member    of    FUNCNAME.
	      ${BASH_LINENO[$i]}  is  the line number in the source file where
	      ${FUNCNAME[$i]} was called (or  ${BASH_LINENO[$i-1]}  if	refer-
	      enced  within another shell function).  The corresponding source
	      file name is ${BASH_SOURCE[$i]}.	Use LINENO to obtain the  cur-
	      rent line number.
       BASH_REMATCH
	      An  array	 variable  whose members are assigned by the =~ binary
	      operator to the [[ conditional command.  The element with	 index
	      0	 is  the  portion  of  the  string matching the entire regular

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       14

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      expression.  The element with index n  is	 the  portion  of  the
	      string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression.  This vari-
	      able is read-only.
       BASH_SOURCE
	      An array variable whose members are the source filenames	corre-
	      sponding to the elements in the FUNCNAME array variable.
       BASH_SUBSHELL
	      Incremented  by one each time a subshell or subshell environment
	      is spawned.  The initial value is 0.
       BASH_VERSINFO
	      A readonly array variable whose members hold version information
	      for  this	 instance  of  bash.  The values assigned to the array
	      members are as follows:
	      BASH_VERSINFO[0]	      The major version number (the  release).
	      BASH_VERSINFO[1]	      The  minor version number (the version).
	      BASH_VERSINFO[2]	      The patch level.
	      BASH_VERSINFO[3]	      The build version.
	      BASH_VERSINFO[4]	      The release status (e.g., beta1).
	      BASH_VERSINFO[5]	      The value of MACHTYPE.

       BASH_VERSION
	      Expands to a string describing the version of this  instance  of
	      bash.

       COMP_CWORD
	      An  index	 into ${COMP_WORDS} of the word containing the current
	      cursor position.	This variable is available only in shell func-
	      tions  invoked  by  the  programmable completion facilities (see
	      Programmable Completion below).

       COMP_KEY
	      The key (or final key of a key sequence) used to invoke the cur-
	      rent completion function.

       COMP_LINE
	      The  current  command  line.  This variable is available only in
	      shell functions  and  external  commands	invoked	 by  the  pro-
	      grammable	 completion  facilities	 (see  Programmable Completion
	      below).

       COMP_POINT
	      The index of the current cursor position relative to the	begin-
	      ning  of the current command.  If the current cursor position is
	      at the end of the current command, the value of this variable is
	      equal  to	 ${#COMP_LINE}.	  This	variable  is available only in
	      shell functions  and  external  commands	invoked	 by  the  pro-
	      grammable	 completion  facilities	 (see  Programmable Completion
	      below).

       COMP_TYPE
	      Set to an integer value corresponding to the type of  completion
	      attempted	 that  caused a completion function to be called: TAB,
	      for normal completion, ?, for listing completions after  succes-
	      sive   tabs,   !,	 for  listing  alternatives  on	 partial  word

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       15

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      completion, @, to list completions if the word  is  not  unmodi-
	      fied,  or	 %,  for  menu completion.  This variable is available
	      only in shell functions and external  commands  invoked  by  the
	      programmable  completion facilities (see Programmable Completion
	      below).

       COMP_WORDBREAKS
	      The set of characters that the readline library treats  as  word
	      separators  when performing word completion.  If COMP_WORDBREAKS
	      is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it is	subse-
	      quently reset.

       COMP_WORDS
	      An  array variable (see Arrays below) consisting of the individ-
	      ual words in the current command line.  The line is  split  into
	      words  as	 readline  would  split	 it,  using COMP_WORDBREAKS as
	      described above.	This variable is available only in shell func-
	      tions  invoked  by  the  programmable completion facilities (see
	      Programmable Completion below).

       DIRSTACK
	      An array variable (see Arrays below) containing the current con-
	      tents  of	 the directory stack.  Directories appear in the stack
	      in the order they are displayed by the dirs builtin.   Assigning
	      to members of this array variable may be used to modify directo-
	      ries already in the stack, but the pushd and popd builtins  must
	      be used to add and remove directories.  Assignment to this vari-
	      able will not change the	current	 directory.   If  DIRSTACK  is
	      unset,  it  loses	 its  special properties, even if it is subse-
	      quently reset.

       EUID   Expands to the effective user ID of the current  user,  initial-
	      ized at shell startup.  This variable is readonly.

       FUNCNAME
	      An  array	 variable  containing the names of all shell functions
	      currently in the execution call stack.  The element with index 0
	      is the name of any currently-executing shell function.  The bot-
	      tom-most element is "main".  This variable exists	 only  when  a
	      shell  function  is  executing.  Assignments to FUNCNAME have no
	      effect and return an error status.  If  FUNCNAME	is  unset,  it
	      loses  its special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

       GROUPS An array variable containing the list of	groups	of  which  the
	      current  user is a member.  Assignments to GROUPS have no effect
	      and return an error status.  If GROUPS is unset,	it  loses  its
	      special properties, even if it is subsequently reset.

       HISTCMD
	      The history number, or index in the history list, of the current
	      command.	If HISTCMD is unset, it loses its special  properties,
	      even if it is subsequently reset.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       16

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       HOSTNAME
	      Automatically set to the name of the current host.

       HOSTTYPE
	      Automatically  set  to a string that uniquely describes the type
	      of machine on which bash is executing.  The default  is  system-
	      dependent.

       LINENO Each  time this parameter is referenced, the shell substitutes a
	      decimal number representing the current sequential  line	number
	      (starting	 with  1)  within a script or function.	 When not in a
	      script or function, the value substituted is not	guaranteed  to
	      be meaningful.  If LINENO is unset, it loses its special proper-
	      ties, even if it is subsequently reset.

       MACHTYPE
	      Automatically set to a string that fully	describes  the	system
	      type  on	which  bash is executing, in the standard GNU cpu-com-
	      pany-system format.  The default is system-dependent.

       OLDPWD The previous working directory as set by the cd command.

       OPTARG The value of the last option argument processed by  the  getopts
	      builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

       OPTIND The  index  of  the next argument to be processed by the getopts
	      builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

       OSTYPE Automatically set to a string that describes the operating  sys-
	      tem  on  which  bash is executing.  The default is system-depen-
	      dent.

       PIPESTATUS
	      An array variable (see Arrays below) containing a list  of  exit
	      status  values  from the processes in the most-recently-executed
	      foreground pipeline (which may contain only a single command).

       PPID   The process ID of the shell's parent.  This  variable  is	 read-
	      only.

       PWD    The current working directory as set by the cd command.

       RANDOM Each time this parameter is referenced, a random integer between
	      0 and 32767 is generated.	 The sequence of random numbers may be
	      initialized by assigning a value to RANDOM.  If RANDOM is unset,
	      it loses its special properties,	even  if  it  is  subsequently
	      reset.

       REPLY  Set  to  the line of input read by the read builtin command when
	      no arguments are supplied.

       SECONDS
	      Each time this parameter is referenced, the  number  of  seconds
	      since  shell  invocation is returned.  If a value is assigned to

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       17

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      SECONDS, the value returned upon subsequent  references  is  the
	      number  of seconds since the assignment plus the value assigned.
	      If SECONDS is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it
	      is subsequently reset.

       SHELLOPTS
	      A	 colon-separated  list of enabled shell options.  Each word in
	      the list is a valid argument  for	 the  -o  option  to  the  set
	      builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).  The options
	      appearing in SHELLOPTS are those reported as on by set  -o.   If
	      this  variable  is  in the environment when bash starts up, each
	      shell option in the list will  be	 enabled  before  reading  any
	      startup files.  This variable is read-only.

       SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

       UID    Expands to the user ID of the current user, initialized at shell
	      startup.	This variable is readonly.

       The following variables are used by the shell.	In  some  cases,  bash
       assigns a default value to a variable; these cases are noted below.

       BASH_ENV
	      If  this parameter is set when bash is executing a shell script,
	      its value is interpreted as a filename  containing  commands  to
	      initialize the shell, as in ~/.bashrc.  The value of BASH_ENV is
	      subjected to  parameter  expansion,  command  substitution,  and
	      arithmetic  expansion  before  being interpreted as a file name.
	      PATH is not used to search for the resultant file name.
       CDPATH The search path for the cd command.  This is  a  colon-separated
	      list  of	directories  in	 which the shell looks for destination
	      directories specified by the cd  command.	  A  sample  value  is
	      ".:~:/usr".
       BASH_XTRACEFD
	      If  set  to an integer corresponding to a valid file descriptor,
	      bash will write the  trace  output  generated  when  set	-x  is
	      enabled  to that file descriptor.	 The file descriptor is closed
	      when BASH_XTRACEFD is unset or assigned a new value.   Unsetting
	      BASH_XTRACEFD  or assigning it the empty string causes the trace
	      output to be sent to the	standard  error.   Note	 that  setting
	      BASH_XTRACEFD to 2 (the standard error file descriptor) and then
	      unsetting it will result in the standard error being closed.
       COLUMNS
	      Used by the select builtin command  to  determine	 the  terminal
	      width  when  printing  selection	lists.	Automatically set upon
	      receipt of a SIGWINCH.
       COMPREPLY
	      An array variable from which bash reads the possible completions
	      generated	 by  a shell function invoked by the programmable com-
	      pletion facility (see Programmable Completion below).
       EMACS  If bash finds this variable in the environment  when  the	 shell
	      starts  with  value "t", it assumes that the shell is running in
	      an emacs shell buffer and disables line editing.
       FCEDIT The default editor for the fc builtin command.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       18

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       FIGNORE
	      A colon-separated list of suffixes  to  ignore  when  performing
	      filename completion (see READLINE below).	 A filename whose suf-
	      fix matches one of the entries in FIGNORE is excluded  from  the
	      list of matched filenames.  A sample value is ".o:~".
       GLOBIGNORE
	      A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of filenames
	      to be ignored by pathname expansion.  If a filename matched by a
	      pathname	expansion  pattern also matches one of the patterns in
	      GLOBIGNORE, it is removed from the list of matches.
       HISTCONTROL
	      A colon-separated list of values controlling  how	 commands  are
	      saved  on	 the  history  list.   If  the list of values includes
	      ignorespace, lines which begin with a space  character  are  not
	      saved  in	 the history list.  A value of ignoredups causes lines
	      matching the previous history entry to not be saved.  A value of
	      ignoreboth is shorthand for ignorespace and ignoredups.  A value
	      of erasedups causes all previous lines matching the current line
	      to  be  removed from the history list before that line is saved.
	      Any value not in the above list is ignored.  If  HISTCONTROL  is
	      unset,  or does not include a valid value, all lines read by the
	      shell parser are saved on the history list, subject to the value
	      of  HISTIGNORE.  The second and subsequent lines of a multi-line
	      compound command are not tested, and are added  to  the  history
	      regardless of the value of HISTCONTROL.
       HISTFILE
	      The name of the file in which command history is saved (see HIS-
	      TORY below).  The default value is ~/.bash_history.   If	unset,
	      the  command  history  is	 not  saved  when an interactive shell
	      exits.
       HISTFILESIZE
	      The maximum number of lines contained in the history file.  When
	      this  variable  is  assigned  a value, the history file is trun-
	      cated, if necessary, by removing the oldest entries, to  contain
	      no  more	than  that number of lines.  The default value is 500.
	      The history file is also truncated to this size after writing it
	      when an interactive shell exits.
       HISTIGNORE
	      A	 colon-separated list of patterns used to decide which command
	      lines should be saved on the  history  list.   Each  pattern  is
	      anchored	at  the	 beginning of the line and must match the com-
	      plete line (no implicit  `*'  is	appended).   Each  pattern  is
	      tested  against  the line after the checks specified by HISTCON-
	      TROL are applied.	 In  addition  to  the	normal	shell  pattern
	      matching characters, `&' matches the previous history line.  `&'
	      may be escaped using  a  backslash;  the	backslash  is  removed
	      before attempting a match.  The second and subsequent lines of a
	      multi-line compound command are not tested, and are added to the
	      history regardless of the value of HISTIGNORE.
       HISTSIZE
	      The  number  of commands to remember in the command history (see
	      HISTORY below).  The default value is 500.
       HISTTIMEFORMAT
	      If this variable is set and not null, its value  is  used	 as  a

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       19

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      format string for strftime(3) to print the time stamp associated
	      with each history entry displayed by the	history	 builtin.   If
	      this  variable  is  set,	time stamps are written to the history
	      file so they may be preserved across shell sessions.  This  uses
	      the  history  comment  character	to distinguish timestamps from
	      other history lines.
       HOME   The home directory of the current user; the default argument for
	      the cd builtin command.  The value of this variable is also used
	      when performing tilde expansion.
       HOSTFILE
	      Contains the name of a file in the  same	format	as  /etc/hosts
	      that should be read when the shell needs to complete a hostname.
	      The list of possible hostname completions may be	changed	 while
	      the  shell  is  running;	the  next  time hostname completion is
	      attempted after the value is changed, bash adds the contents  of
	      the  new file to the existing list.  If HOSTFILE is set, but has
	      no value, or does not name a readable  file,  bash  attempts  to
	      read  /etc/hosts to obtain the list of possible hostname comple-
	      tions.  When HOSTFILE is unset, the hostname list is cleared.
       IFS    The Internal Field Separator that is  used  for  word  splitting
	      after  expansion	and  to	 split	lines into words with the read
	      builtin  command.	  The  default	value  is  ``<space><tab><new-
	      line>''.
       IGNOREEOF
	      Controls the action of an interactive shell on receipt of an EOF
	      character as the sole input.  If set, the value is the number of
	      consecutive  EOF	characters  which  must	 be typed as the first
	      characters on an input line before bash exits.  If the  variable
	      exists  but  does not have a numeric value, or has no value, the
	      default value is 10.  If it does not exist,  EOF	signifies  the
	      end of input to the shell.
       INPUTRC
	      The  filename  for  the  readline	 startup  file, overriding the
	      default of ~/.inputrc (see READLINE below).
       LANG   Used to determine the  locale  category  for  any	 category  not
	      specifically selected with a variable starting with LC_.
       LC_ALL This  variable  overrides	 the  value  of LANG and any other LC_
	      variable specifying a locale category.
       LC_COLLATE
	      This variable determines the collation order used	 when  sorting
	      the  results  of pathname expansion, and determines the behavior
	      of  range	 expressions,  equivalence  classes,   and   collating
	      sequences within pathname expansion and pattern matching.
       LC_CTYPE
	      This  variable  determines  the interpretation of characters and
	      the behavior of character classes within pathname expansion  and
	      pattern matching.
       LC_MESSAGES
	      This  variable  determines  the locale used to translate double-
	      quoted strings preceded by a $.
       LC_NUMERIC
	      This variable determines the locale  category  used  for	number
	      formatting.
       LINES  Used  by	the  select  builtin  command  to determine the column

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       20

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      length for printing selection  lists.   Automatically  set  upon
	      receipt of a SIGWINCH.
       MAIL   If  this	parameter is set to a file name and the MAILPATH vari-
	      able is not set, bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in
	      the specified file.
       MAILCHECK
	      Specifies	 how  often  (in  seconds)  bash checks for mail.  The
	      default is 60 seconds.  When it is time to check for  mail,  the
	      shell  does  so  before  displaying the primary prompt.  If this
	      variable is unset, or set to  a  value  that  is	not  a	number
	      greater than or equal to zero, the shell disables mail checking.
       MAILPATH
	      A colon-separated list of file names to  be  checked  for	 mail.
	      The message to be printed when mail arrives in a particular file
	      may be specified by separating the file name  from  the  message
	      with a `?'.  When used in the text of the message, $_ expands to
	      the name of the current mailfile.	 Example:
	      MAILPATH='/var/mail/bfox?"You  have  mail":~/shell-mail?"$_  has
	      mail!"'
	      Bash  supplies  a default value for this variable, but the loca-
	      tion of the user mail files that it  uses	 is  system  dependent
	      (e.g., /var/mail/$USER).
       OPTERR If set to the value 1, bash displays error messages generated by
	      the getopts builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS  below).
	      OPTERR  is  initialized to 1 each time the shell is invoked or a
	      shell script is executed.
       PATH   The search path for commands.  It is a colon-separated  list  of
	      directories  in  which the shell looks for commands (see COMMAND
	      EXECUTION below).	 A zero-length (null) directory	 name  in  the
	      value of PATH indicates the current directory.  A null directory
	      name may appear as two adjacent colons,  or  as  an  initial  or
	      trailing	colon.	 The  default path is system-dependent, and is
	      set by the administrator who installs bash.  A common  value  is
	      ``/usr/gnu/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin''.
       POSIXLY_CORRECT
	      If  this	variable  is  in the environment when bash starts, the
	      shell enters posix mode before reading the startup files, as  if
	      the  --posix  invocation option had been supplied.  If it is set
	      while the shell is running, bash enables posix mode, as  if  the
	      command set -o posix had been executed.
       PROMPT_COMMAND
	      If set, the value is executed as a command prior to issuing each
	      primary prompt.
       PROMPT_DIRTRIM
	      If set to a number greater than zero, the value is used  as  the
	      number of trailing directory components to retain when expanding
	      the \w and \W  prompt  string  escapes  (see  PROMPTING  below).
	      Characters removed are replaced with an ellipsis.
       PS1    The  value  of  this parameter is expanded (see PROMPTING below)
	      and used as the primary prompt string.   The  default  value  is
	      ``\s-\v\$ ''.
       PS2    The  value of this parameter is expanded as with PS1 and used as
	      the secondary prompt string.  The default is ``> ''.
       PS3    The value of this parameter is used as the prompt for the select

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       21

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      command (see SHELL GRAMMAR above).
       PS4    The  value  of  this  parameter  is expanded as with PS1 and the
	      value is printed before each command  bash  displays  during  an
	      execution	 trace.	 The first character of PS4 is replicated mul-
	      tiple times, as necessary, to indicate multiple levels of	 indi-
	      rection.	The default is ``+ ''.
       SHELL  The full pathname to the shell is kept in this environment vari-
	      able.  If it is not set when the shell starts, bash  assigns  to
	      it the full pathname of the current user's login shell.
       TIMEFORMAT
	      The  value of this parameter is used as a format string specify-
	      ing how the timing information for pipelines prefixed  with  the
	      time  reserved word should be displayed.	The % character intro-
	      duces an escape sequence that is expanded to  a  time  value  or
	      other  information.  The escape sequences and their meanings are
	      as follows; the braces denote optional portions.
	      %%	A literal %.
	      %[p][l]R	The elapsed time in seconds.
	      %[p][l]U	The number of CPU seconds spent in user mode.
	      %[p][l]S	The number of CPU seconds spent in system mode.
	      %P	The CPU percentage, computed as (%U + %S) / %R.

	      The optional p is a digit specifying the precision,  the	number
	      of fractional digits after a decimal point.  A value of 0 causes
	      no decimal point or fraction to be output.  At most three places
	      after  the  decimal  point may be specified; values of p greater
	      than 3 are changed to 3.	If p is not specified, the value 3  is
	      used.

	      The  optional l specifies a longer format, including minutes, of
	      the form MMmSS.FFs.  The value of p determines  whether  or  not
	      the fraction is included.

	      If  this	variable  is not set, bash acts as if it had the value
	      $'\nreal\t%3lR\nuser\t%3lU\nsys%3lS'.  If the value is null,  no
	      timing  information  is  displayed.  A trailing newline is added
	      when the format string is displayed.

       TMOUT  If set to a value greater than zero, TMOUT  is  treated  as  the
	      default timeout for the read builtin.  The select command termi-
	      nates if input does not arrive after TMOUT seconds when input is
	      coming  from  a terminal.	 In an interactive shell, the value is
	      interpreted as the number of seconds to  wait  for  input	 after
	      issuing  the  primary prompt.  Bash terminates after waiting for
	      that number of seconds if input does not arrive.

       TMPDIR If set, Bash uses its value as the name of a directory in	 which
	      Bash creates temporary files for the shell's use.

       auto_resume
	      This variable controls how the shell interacts with the user and
	      job control.  If this variable is set, single word  simple  com-
	      mands without redirections are treated as candidates for resump-
	      tion of an existing stopped job.	There is no ambiguity allowed;

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       22

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      if  there	 is more than one job beginning with the string typed,
	      the job most recently accessed  is  selected.   The  name	 of  a
	      stopped  job, in this context, is the command line used to start
	      it.  If set to the value exact, the string supplied  must	 match
	      the  name	 of  a	stopped	 job exactly; if set to substring, the
	      string supplied needs to match a substring  of  the  name	 of  a
	      stopped  job.  The substring value provides functionality analo-
	      gous to the %?  job identifier (see JOB CONTROL below).  If  set
	      to  any  other  value, the supplied string must be a prefix of a
	      stopped job's name; this provides functionality analogous to the
	      %string job identifier.

       histchars
	      The  two or three characters which control history expansion and
	      tokenization (see HISTORY EXPANSION below).  The first character
	      is  the history expansion character, the character which signals
	      the start of a history  expansion,  normally  `!'.   The	second
	      character	 is the quick substitution character, which is used as
	      shorthand for re-running the previous command  entered,  substi-
	      tuting  one  string  for another in the command.	The default is
	      `^'.  The optional third character is the character which	 indi-
	      cates  that the remainder of the line is a comment when found as
	      the first character of a word, normally `#'.  The	 history  com-
	      ment character causes history substitution to be skipped for the
	      remaining words on the line.  It does not necessarily cause  the
	      shell parser to treat the rest of the line as a comment.

   Arrays
       Bash  provides one-dimensional indexed and associative array variables.
       Any variable may be used as an indexed array; the declare builtin  will
       explicitly  declare an array.  There is no maximum limit on the size of
       an array, nor any requirement that members be indexed or assigned  con-
       tiguously.   Indexed  arrays  are  referenced using integers (including
       arithmetic expressions)	and are	 zero-based;  associative  arrays  are
       referenced using arbitrary strings.

       An  indexed  array is created automatically if any variable is assigned
       to using the syntax name[subscript]=value.  The subscript is treated as
       an arithmetic expression that must evaluate to a number greater than or
       equal to zero.  To explicitly declare an indexed array, use declare  -a
       name (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).	 declare -a name[subscript] is
       also accepted; the subscript is ignored.

       Associative arrays are created using declare -A name.

       Attributes may be specified for an array variable using the declare and
       readonly	 builtins.  Each attribute applies to all members of an array.

       Arrays  are  assigned  to  using	 compound  assignments	of  the	  form
       name=(value1  ...  valuen),  where  each	 value	is  of	the form [sub-
       script]=string.	Indexed array assignments do not require  the  bracket
       and  subscript.	 When  assigning  to  indexed  arrays, if the optional
       brackets and subscript are supplied, that index is assigned to;	other-
       wise the index of the element assigned is the last index assigned to by

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       23

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       the statement plus one.	Indexing starts at zero.

       When assigning to an associative array, the subscript is required.

       This syntax is also accepted by the declare builtin.  Individual	 array
       elements	 may  be  assigned  to	using the name[subscript]=value syntax
       introduced above.

       Any element of an array may  be	referenced  using  ${name[subscript]}.
       The braces are required to avoid conflicts with pathname expansion.  If
       subscript is @ or *, the word expands to all members  of	 name.	 These
       subscripts  differ only when the word appears within double quotes.  If
       the word is double-quoted, ${name[*]} expands to a single word with the
       value  of each array member separated by the first character of the IFS
       special variable, and ${name[@]} expands each element of name to a sep-
       arate  word.   When  there  are no array members, ${name[@]} expands to
       nothing.	 If the double-quoted expansion	 occurs	 within	 a  word,  the
       expansion  of  the first parameter is joined with the beginning part of
       the original word, and the expansion of the last	 parameter  is	joined
       with  the  last	part  of  the original word.  This is analogous to the
       expansion of the special parameters * and  @  (see  Special  Parameters
       above).	 ${#name[subscript]}  expands  to  the	length	of ${name[sub-
       script]}.  If subscript is * or @, the expansion is the number of  ele-
       ments  in the array.  Referencing an array variable without a subscript
       is equivalent to referencing the array with a subscript of 0.

       An array variable is considered set if a subscript has been assigned  a
       value.  The null string is a valid value.

       The  unset  builtin  is	used to destroy arrays.	 unset name[subscript]
       destroys the array element at index subscript.  Care must be  taken  to
       avoid  unwanted side effects caused by pathname expansion.  unset name,
       where name is an array, or unset name[subscript], where subscript is  *
       or @, removes the entire array.

       The  declare,  local,  and readonly builtins each accept a -a option to
       specify an indexed array and a -A  option  to  specify  an  associative
       array.	The read builtin accepts a -a option to assign a list of words
       read from the standard input to an array.  The set and declare builtins
       display	array values in a way that allows them to be reused as assign-
       ments.

EXPANSION
       Expansion is performed on the command line after it has been split into
       words.	There are seven kinds of expansion performed: brace expansion,
       tilde expansion, parameter and variable	expansion,  command  substitu-
       tion, arithmetic expansion, word splitting, and pathname expansion.

       The  order  of expansions is: brace expansion, tilde expansion, parame-
       ter, variable and arithmetic expansion and command  substitution	 (done
       in a left-to-right fashion), word splitting, and pathname expansion.

       On systems that can support it, there is an additional expansion avail-
       able: process substitution.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       24

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       Only brace expansion, word splitting, and pathname expansion can change
       the  number of words of the expansion; other expansions expand a single
       word to a single word.  The only exceptions to this are the  expansions
       of "$@" and "${name[@]}" as explained above (see PARAMETERS).

   Brace Expansion
       Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be gener-
       ated.  This mechanism is similar to pathname expansion, but  the	 file-
       names generated need not exist.	Patterns to be brace expanded take the
       form of an optional preamble, followed by either a series of comma-sep-
       arated  strings or a sequence expression between a pair of braces, fol-
       lowed by an optional postscript.	 The  preamble	is  prefixed  to  each
       string contained within the braces, and the postscript is then appended
       to each resulting string, expanding left to right.

       Brace expansions may be nested.	The results of	each  expanded	string
       are  not	 sorted;  left	to  right  order  is  preserved.  For example,
       a{d,c,b}e expands into `ade ace abe'.

       A sequence expression takes the form {x..y[..incr]}, where x and y  are
       either  integers or single characters, and incr, an optional increment,
       is an integer.  When integers are supplied, the expression  expands  to
       each  number between x and y, inclusive.	 Supplied integers may be pre-
       fixed with 0 to force each term to have the same width.	When either  x
       or  y  begins  with  a  zero, the shell attempts to force all generated
       terms to contain the same number of digits, zero-padding	 where	neces-
       sary.   When  characters	 are  supplied, the expression expands to each
       character lexicographically between x and y, inclusive.	Note that both
       x  and  y must be of the same type.  When the increment is supplied, it
       is used as the difference between each term.  The default increment  is
       1 or -1 as appropriate.

       Brace expansion is performed before any other expansions, and any char-
       acters special to other expansions are preserved in the result.	It  is
       strictly	 textual.  Bash does not apply any syntactic interpretation to
       the context of the expansion or the text between the braces.

       A correctly-formed brace expansion must contain	unquoted  opening  and
       closing	braces,	 and  at  least one unquoted comma or a valid sequence
       expression.  Any incorrectly formed brace expansion is left  unchanged.
       A { or , may be quoted with a backslash to prevent its being considered
       part of a brace expression.  To avoid conflicts with  parameter	expan-
       sion, the string ${ is not considered eligible for brace expansion.

       This construct is typically used as shorthand when the common prefix of
       the strings to be generated is longer than in the above example:

	      mkdir /usr/local/src/bash/{old,new,dist,bugs}
       or
	      chown root /usr/{ucb/{ex,edit},lib/{ex?.?*,how_ex}}

       Brace expansion introduces a  slight  incompatibility  with  historical
       versions	 of sh.	 sh does not treat opening or closing braces specially
       when they appear as part of a word, and preserves them in  the  output.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       25

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       Bash  removes  braces  from  words as a consequence of brace expansion.
       For example, a word entered to sh as file{1,2} appears  identically  in
       the  output.  The same word is output as file1 file2 after expansion by
       bash.  If strict compatibility with sh is desired, start bash with  the
       +B option or disable brace expansion with the +B option to the set com-
       mand (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

   Tilde Expansion
       If a word begins with an unquoted tilde character  (`~'),  all  of  the
       characters  preceding  the  first unquoted slash (or all characters, if
       there is no unquoted slash) are considered a tilde-prefix.  If none  of
       the  characters	in  the tilde-prefix are quoted, the characters in the
       tilde-prefix following the tilde are treated as a possible login	 name.
       If  this	 login name is the null string, the tilde is replaced with the
       value of the shell parameter HOME.  If HOME is unset, the  home	direc-
       tory  of	 the  user executing the shell is substituted instead.	Other-
       wise, the tilde-prefix is replaced with the home	 directory  associated
       with the specified login name.

       If  the	tilde-prefix  is  a  `~+', the value of the shell variable PWD
       replaces the tilde-prefix.  If the tilde-prefix is a `~-', the value of
       the  shell variable OLDPWD, if it is set, is substituted.  If the char-
       acters following the tilde in the tilde-prefix consist of a  number  N,
       optionally  prefixed  by	 a  `+' or a `-', the tilde-prefix is replaced
       with the corresponding element from the directory stack, as it would be
       displayed by the dirs builtin invoked with the tilde-prefix as an argu-
       ment.  If the characters following the tilde in the  tilde-prefix  con-
       sist of a number without a leading `+' or `-', `+' is assumed.

       If the login name is invalid, or the tilde expansion fails, the word is
       unchanged.

       Each variable assignment is checked for unquoted tilde-prefixes immedi-
       ately following a : or the first =.  In these cases, tilde expansion is
       also performed.	Consequently, one may use file names  with  tildes  in
       assignments  to	PATH,  MAILPATH, and CDPATH, and the shell assigns the
       expanded value.

   Parameter Expansion
       The `$' character introduces parameter expansion, command substitution,
       or  arithmetic  expansion.  The parameter name or symbol to be expanded
       may be enclosed in braces, which are optional but serve to protect  the
       variable	 to be expanded from characters immediately following it which
       could be interpreted as part of the name.

       When braces are used, the matching ending brace is the  first  `}'  not
       escaped	by  a  backslash  or within a quoted string, and not within an
       embedded	 arithmetic  expansion,	 command  substitution,	 or  parameter
       expansion.

       ${parameter}
	      The  value of parameter is substituted.  The braces are required
	      when parameter is a positional  parameter	 with  more  than  one
	      digit, or when parameter is followed by a character which is not

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       26

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      to be interpreted as part of its name.

       If the first character of parameter is  an  exclamation	point  (!),  a
       level  of  variable  indirection is introduced.	Bash uses the value of
       the variable formed from the rest of parameter as the name of the vari-
       able; this variable is then expanded and that value is used in the rest
       of the substitution, rather than the value of parameter	itself.	  This
       is  known as indirect expansion.	 The exceptions to this are the expan-
       sions of ${!prefix*} and ${!name[@]} described below.  The  exclamation
       point  must  immediately	 follow	 the  left brace in order to introduce
       indirection.

       In each of the cases below, word is subject to tilde expansion, parame-
       ter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.

       When  not  performing  substring	 expansion, using the forms documented
       below, bash tests for a parameter that is unset or null.	 Omitting  the
       colon results in a test only for a parameter that is unset.

       ${parameter:-word}
	      Use  Default  Values.  If parameter is unset or null, the expan-
	      sion of word is substituted.  Otherwise, the value of  parameter
	      is substituted.
       ${parameter:=word}
	      Assign  Default  Values.	 If  parameter	is  unset or null, the
	      expansion of word is assigned to parameter.  The value of param-
	      eter  is	then  substituted.   Positional parameters and special
	      parameters may not be assigned to in this way.
       ${parameter:?word}
	      Display Error if Null or Unset.  If parameter is null or	unset,
	      the  expansion  of  word (or a message to that effect if word is
	      not present) is written to the standard error and the shell,  if
	      it is not interactive, exits.  Otherwise, the value of parameter
	      is substituted.
       ${parameter:+word}
	      Use Alternate Value.  If parameter is null or unset, nothing  is
	      substituted, otherwise the expansion of word is substituted.
       ${parameter:offset}
       ${parameter:offset:length}
	      Substring	 Expansion.   Expands  to  up  to length characters of
	      parameter starting at the character  specified  by  offset.   If
	      length  is omitted, expands to the substring of parameter start-
	      ing at the character specified by offset.	 length and offset are
	      arithmetic   expressions	 (see  ARITHMETIC  EVALUATION  below).
	      length must evaluate to a number greater than or equal to	 zero.
	      If  offset  evaluates  to	 a number less than zero, the value is
	      used as an offset from the end of the value  of  parameter.   If
	      parameter	 is  @,	 the  result  is  length positional parameters
	      beginning at offset.  If parameter is an indexed array name sub-
	      scripted	by  @  or  *,  the result is the length members of the
	      array beginning with ${parameter[offset]}.  A negative offset is
	      taken  relative  to  one	greater	 than the maximum index of the
	      specified array.	Substring expansion applied to an  associative
	      array  produces  undefined results.  Note that a negative offset

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       27

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      must be separated from the colon by at least one space to	 avoid
	      being  confused  with  the  :- expansion.	 Substring indexing is
	      zero-based unless the positional parameters are used,  in	 which
	      case  the	 indexing starts at 1 by default.  If offset is 0, and
	      the positional parameters are used, $0 is prefixed to the	 list.

       ${!prefix*}
       ${!prefix@}
	      Names  matching prefix.  Expands to the names of variables whose
	      names begin with prefix, separated by the first character of the
	      IFS  special variable.  When @ is used and the expansion appears
	      within double quotes, each variable name expands to  a  separate
	      word.

       ${!name[@]}
       ${!name[*]}
	      List  of	array  keys.  If name is an array variable, expands to
	      the list of array indices (keys) assigned in name.  If  name  is
	      not  an  array,  expands to 0 if name is set and null otherwise.
	      When @ is used and the expansion appears within  double  quotes,
	      each key expands to a separate word.

       ${#parameter}
	      Parameter	 length.   The	length	in  characters of the value of
	      parameter is substituted.	 If parameter is *  or	@,  the	 value
	      substituted  is the number of positional parameters.  If parame-
	      ter is an array name subscripted by * or @,  the	value  substi-
	      tuted is the number of elements in the array.

       ${parameter#word}
       ${parameter##word}
	      Remove matching prefix pattern.  The word is expanded to produce
	      a pattern just as in pathname expansion.	If the pattern matches
	      the  beginning of the value of parameter, then the result of the
	      expansion is the expanded value of parameter with	 the  shortest
	      matching	pattern	 (the ``#'' case) or the longest matching pat-
	      tern (the ``##'' case) deleted.  If parameter is	@  or  *,  the
	      pattern  removal operation is applied to each positional parame-
	      ter in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.  If param-
	      eter  is	an array variable subscripted with @ or *, the pattern
	      removal operation is applied to each  member  of	the  array  in
	      turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.

       ${parameter%word}
       ${parameter%%word}
	      Remove matching suffix pattern.  The word is expanded to produce
	      a pattern just as in pathname expansion.	If the pattern matches
	      a	 trailing portion of the expanded value of parameter, then the
	      result of the expansion is the expanded value of parameter  with
	      the  shortest  matching  pattern (the ``%'' case) or the longest
	      matching pattern (the ``%%'' case) deleted.  If parameter	 is  @
	      or  *,  the  pattern  removal operation is applied to each posi-
	      tional parameter in turn, and the	 expansion  is	the  resultant
	      list.   If  parameter is an array variable subscripted with @ or

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       28

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      *, the pattern removal operation is applied to  each  member  of
	      the array in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.

       ${parameter/pattern/string}
	      Pattern substitution.  The pattern is expanded to produce a pat-
	      tern just as in pathname expansion.  Parameter is	 expanded  and
	      the  longest match of pattern against its value is replaced with
	      string.  If pattern begins with /, all matches  of  pattern  are
	      replaced	 with  string.	 Normally  only	 the  first  match  is
	      replaced.	 If pattern begins with #, it must match at the begin-
	      ning of the expanded value of parameter.	If pattern begins with
	      %, it must match at the end of the expanded value of  parameter.
	      If string is null, matches of pattern are deleted and the / fol-
	      lowing pattern may be omitted.  If parameter is @ or *, the sub-
	      stitution	 operation  is applied to each positional parameter in
	      turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.  If parameter  is
	      an  array	 variable  subscripted	with  @ or *, the substitution
	      operation is applied to each member of the array	in  turn,  and
	      the expansion is the resultant list.

       ${parameter^pattern}
       ${parameter^^pattern}
       ${parameter,pattern}
       ${parameter,,pattern}
	      Case  modification.   This expansion modifies the case of alpha-
	      betic characters in parameter.  The pattern is expanded to  pro-
	      duce  a  pattern	just as in pathname expansion.	The ^ operator
	      converts lowercase letters matching pattern to uppercase; the  ,
	      operator	converts matching uppercase letters to lowercase.  The
	      ^^ and ,, expansions  convert  each  matched  character  in  the
	      expanded	value;	the  ^ and , expansions match and convert only
	      the first character in the expanded value..  If pattern is omit-
	      ted,  it is treated like a ?, which matches every character.  If
	      parameter is @ or *, the case modification operation is  applied
	      to  each	positional parameter in turn, and the expansion is the
	      resultant list.  If parameter is an array	 variable  subscripted
	      with  @ or *, the case modification operation is applied to each
	      member of the array in turn, and the expansion is the  resultant
	      list.

   Command Substitution
       Command substitution allows the output of a command to replace the com-
       mand name.  There are two forms:

	      $(command)
       or
	      `command`

       Bash performs the expansion by executing command and replacing the com-
       mand  substitution  with	 the  standard output of the command, with any
       trailing newlines deleted.  Embedded newlines are not deleted, but they
       may  be	removed during word splitting.	The command substitution $(cat
       file) can be replaced by the equivalent but faster $(< file).

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       29

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       When the old-style backquote form of substitution  is  used,  backslash
       retains	its  literal  meaning except when followed by $, `, or \.  The
       first backquote not preceded by a backslash terminates the command sub-
       stitution.   When using the $(command) form, all characters between the
       parentheses make up the command; none are treated specially.

       Command substitutions may be nested.  To nest when using the backquoted
       form, escape the inner backquotes with backslashes.

       If  the	substitution  appears within double quotes, word splitting and
       pathname expansion are not performed on the results.

   Arithmetic Expansion
       Arithmetic expansion allows the evaluation of an arithmetic  expression
       and  the	 substitution of the result.  The format for arithmetic expan-
       sion is:

	      $((expression))

       The expression is treated as if it were within  double  quotes,	but  a
       double  quote  inside  the  parentheses	is not treated specially.  All
       tokens in the expression undergo parameter expansion, string expansion,
       command	substitution, and quote removal.  Arithmetic expansions may be
       nested.

       The evaluation is performed according to the rules listed  below	 under
       ARITHMETIC EVALUATION.  If expression is invalid, bash prints a message
       indicating failure and no substitution occurs.

   Process Substitution
       Process substitution is supported on systems that support  named	 pipes
       (FIFOs)	or the /dev/fd method of naming open files.  It takes the form
       of <(list) or >(list).  The process list is run with its input or  out-
       put connected to a FIFO or some file in /dev/fd.	 The name of this file
       is passed as an argument to the current command as the  result  of  the
       expansion.   If the >(list) form is used, writing to the file will pro-
       vide input for list.  If the <(list) form is used, the file  passed  as
       an argument should be read to obtain the output of list.

       When  available,	 process substitution is performed simultaneously with
       parameter and variable expansion, command substitution, and  arithmetic
       expansion.

   Word Splitting
       The  shell  scans the results of parameter expansion, command substitu-
       tion, and arithmetic expansion that did not occur within double	quotes
       for word splitting.

       The  shell  treats each character of IFS as a delimiter, and splits the
       results of the other expansions into words on these characters.	If IFS
       is  unset,  or its value is exactly <space><tab><newline>, the default,
       then sequences of <space>, <tab>, and <newline> at  the	beginning  and
       end  of	the  results  of  the previous expansions are ignored, and any
       sequence of IFS characters not  at  the	beginning  or  end  serves  to

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       30

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       delimit	words.	 If  IFS  has  a  value	 other	than the default, then
       sequences of the whitespace characters space and tab are ignored at the
       beginning  and  end of the word, as long as the whitespace character is
       in the value of IFS (an IFS whitespace character).   Any	 character  in
       IFS  that is not IFS whitespace, along with any adjacent IFS whitespace
       characters, delimits a field.  A sequence of IFS whitespace  characters
       is  also	 treated as a delimiter.  If the value of IFS is null, no word
       splitting occurs.

       Explicit null arguments ("" or '')  are	retained.   Unquoted  implicit
       null arguments, resulting from the expansion of parameters that have no
       values, are removed.  If a parameter with no value is  expanded	within
       double quotes, a null argument results and is retained.

       Note that if no expansion occurs, no splitting is performed.

   Pathname Expansion
       After  word  splitting,	unless	the -f option has been set, bash scans
       each word for the characters *, ?, and [.  If one of  these  characters
       appears,	 then  the word is regarded as a pattern, and replaced with an
       alphabetically sorted list of file names matching the pattern.	If  no
       matching	 file  names  are  found, and the shell option nullglob is not
       enabled, the word is left unchanged.  If the nullglob  option  is  set,
       and  no	matches are found, the word is removed.	 If the failglob shell
       option is set, and no matches are found, an error  message  is  printed
       and  the	 command  is  not executed.  If the shell option nocaseglob is
       enabled, the match is performed without regard to the  case  of	alpha-
       betic  characters.   When a pattern is used for pathname expansion, the
       character ``.''	at the start of a  name	 or  immediately  following  a
       slash  must  be	matched explicitly, unless the shell option dotglob is
       set.  When matching a pathname, the  slash  character  must  always  be
       matched	explicitly.   In  other	 cases,	 the  ``.''   character is not
       treated specially.  See the description	of  shopt  below  under	 SHELL
       BUILTIN	COMMANDS  for a description of the nocaseglob, nullglob, fail-
       glob, and dotglob shell options.

       The GLOBIGNORE shell variable may be used to restrict the set  of  file
       names  matching	a  pattern.   If GLOBIGNORE is set, each matching file
       name that also matches one of the patterns  in  GLOBIGNORE  is  removed
       from the list of matches.  The file names ``.''	and ``..''  are always
       ignored when GLOBIGNORE is set and not null.  However, setting  GLOBIG-
       NORE  to	 a non-null value has the effect of enabling the dotglob shell
       option, so all other file names beginning with a ``.''  will match.  To
       get  the	 old  behavior	of ignoring file names beginning with a ``.'',
       make ``.*''  one of the patterns in GLOBIGNORE.	The dotglob option  is
       disabled when GLOBIGNORE is unset.

       Pattern Matching

       Any character that appears in a pattern, other than the special pattern
       characters described below, matches itself.  The NUL character may  not
       occur  in  a pattern.  A backslash escapes the following character; the
       escaping backslash is discarded when  matching.	 The  special  pattern
       characters must be quoted if they are to be matched literally.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       31

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       The special pattern characters have the following meanings:

       *      Matches  any  string, including the null string.	When the glob-
	      star shell option is enabled, and * is used in a pathname expan-
	      sion  context,  two  adjacent  *s	 used as a single pattern will
	      match all files and zero or more directories and subdirectories.
	      If  followed by a /, two adjacent *s will match only directories
	      and subdirectories.
       ?      Matches any single character.
       [...]  Matches any one of the enclosed characters.  A pair  of  charac-
	      ters separated by a hyphen denotes a range expression; any char-
	      acter that sorts between those two characters, inclusive,	 using
	      the  current  locale's  collating sequence and character set, is
	      matched.	If the first character following the [ is a !  or a  ^
	      then  any	 character not enclosed is matched.  The sorting order
	      of characters in range expressions is determined by the  current
	      locale  and  the value of the LC_COLLATE shell variable, if set.
	      A - may be matched by including it as the first or last  charac-
	      ter in the set.  A ] may be matched by including it as the first
	      character in the set.

	      Within [ and ], character classes can  be	 specified  using  the
	      syntax  [:class:],  where	 class is one of the following classes
	      defined in the POSIX standard:
	      alnum alpha ascii blank cntrl  digit  graph  lower  print	 punct
	      space upper word xdigit
	      A character class matches any character belonging to that class.
	      The word character class matches letters, digits, and the	 char-
	      acter _.

	      Within  [ and ], an equivalence class can be specified using the
	      syntax [=c=], which matches all characters with the same	colla-
	      tion  weight (as defined by the current locale) as the character
	      c.

	      Within [ and ], the syntax [.symbol.] matches the collating sym-
	      bol symbol.

       If the extglob shell option is enabled using the shopt builtin, several
       extended pattern matching operators are recognized.  In	the  following
       description, a pattern-list is a list of one or more patterns separated
       by a |.	Composite patterns may be formed using one or more of the fol-
       lowing sub-patterns:

	      ?(pattern-list)
		     Matches zero or one occurrence of the given patterns
	      *(pattern-list)
		     Matches zero or more occurrences of the given patterns
	      +(pattern-list)
		     Matches one or more occurrences of the given patterns
	      @(pattern-list)
		     Matches one of the given patterns
	      !(pattern-list)
		     Matches anything except one of the given patterns

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       32

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

   Quote Removal
       After the preceding expansions, all unquoted occurrences of the charac-
       ters \, ', and " that did not result from one of the  above  expansions
       are removed.

REDIRECTION
       Before  a  command  is executed, its input and output may be redirected
       using a special notation interpreted by	the  shell.   Redirection  may
       also  be	 used  to open and close files for the current shell execution
       environment.  The following redirection operators may precede or appear
       anywhere within a simple command or may follow a command.  Redirections
       are processed in the order they appear, from left to right.

       Each redirection that may be preceded by a file descriptor  number  may
       instead be preceded by a word of the form {varname}.  In this case, for
       each redirection operator except >&- and <&-, the shell will allocate a
       file  descriptor	 greater  than 10 and assign it to varname.  If >&- or
       <&- is preceded by {varname}, the value of  varname  defines  the  file
       descriptor to close.

       In  the	following descriptions, if the file descriptor number is omit-
       ted, and the first character of the  redirection	 operator  is  <,  the
       redirection  refers  to the standard input (file descriptor 0).	If the
       first character of the  redirection  operator  is  >,  the  redirection
       refers to the standard output (file descriptor 1).

       The  word  following the redirection operator in the following descrip-
       tions, unless otherwise noted, is subjected to brace  expansion,	 tilde
       expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expan-
       sion, quote removal, pathname expansion, and  word  splitting.	If  it
       expands to more than one word, bash reports an error.

       Note  that  the order of redirections is significant.  For example, the
       command

	      ls > dirlist 2>&1

       directs both standard output and standard error to  the	file  dirlist,
       while the command

	      ls 2>&1 > dirlist

       directs	only the standard output to file dirlist, because the standard
       error was duplicated from the standard output before the standard  out-
       put was redirected to dirlist.

       Bash handles several filenames specially when they are used in redirec-
       tions, as described in the following table:

	      /dev/fd/fd
		     If fd is a valid integer, file descriptor	fd  is	dupli-
		     cated.
	      /dev/stdin
		     File descriptor 0 is duplicated.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       33

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      /dev/stdout
		     File descriptor 1 is duplicated.
	      /dev/stderr
		     File descriptor 2 is duplicated.
	      /dev/tcp/host/port
		     If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port
		     is an integer port number or service name, bash  attempts
		     to open a TCP connection to the corresponding socket.
	      /dev/udp/host/port
		     If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port
		     is an integer port number or service name, bash  attempts
		     to open a UDP connection to the corresponding socket.

       A failure to open or create a file causes the redirection to fail.

       Redirections  using file descriptors greater than 9 should be used with
       care, as they may conflict with file descriptors the shell uses	inter-
       nally.

   Redirecting Input
       Redirection of input causes the file whose name results from the expan-
       sion of word to be opened for reading on	 file  descriptor  n,  or  the
       standard input (file descriptor 0) if n is not specified.

       The general format for redirecting input is:

	      [n]<word

   Redirecting Output
       Redirection  of	output	causes	the  file  whose name results from the
       expansion of word to be opened for writing on file descriptor n, or the
       standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified.  If the file
       does not exist it is created; if it does exist it is truncated to  zero
       size.

       The general format for redirecting output is:

	      [n]>word

       If  the	redirection operator is >, and the noclobber option to the set
       builtin has been enabled, the redirection will fail if the  file	 whose
       name  results  from the expansion of word exists and is a regular file.
       If the redirection operator is >|, or the redirection operator is > and
       the  noclobber  option  to  the set builtin command is not enabled, the
       redirection is attempted even if the file named by word exists.

   Appending Redirected Output
       Redirection of output in	 this  fashion	causes	the  file  whose  name
       results	from  the expansion of word to be opened for appending on file
       descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if  n  is  not
       specified.  If the file does not exist it is created.

       The general format for appending output is:

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       34

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      [n]>>word

   Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error
       This  construct allows both the standard output (file descriptor 1) and
       the standard error output (file descriptor 2) to be redirected  to  the
       file whose name is the expansion of word.

       There  are  two	formats	 for  redirecting standard output and standard
       error:

	      &>word
       and
	      >&word

       Of the two forms, the first is preferred.  This is semantically equiva-
       lent to

	      >word 2>&1

   Appending Standard Output and Standard Error
       This  construct allows both the standard output (file descriptor 1) and
       the standard error output (file descriptor 2) to	 be  appended  to  the
       file whose name is the expansion of word.

       The format for appending standard output and standard error is:

	      &>>word

       This is semantically equivalent to

	      >>word 2>&1

   Here Documents
       This  type  of  redirection  instructs the shell to read input from the
       current source until a line containing only delimiter (with no trailing
       blanks)	is seen.  All of the lines read up to that point are then used
       as the standard input for a command.

       The format of here-documents is:

	      <<[-]word
		      here-document
	      delimiter

       No parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion,  or
       pathname expansion is performed on word.	 If any characters in word are
       quoted, the delimiter is the result of quote removal on word,  and  the
       lines  in the here-document are not expanded.  If word is unquoted, all
       lines of the here-document are subjected to parameter  expansion,  com-
       mand  substitution,  and arithmetic expansion.  In the latter case, the
       character sequence \<newline> is ignored, and \ must be used  to	 quote
       the characters \, $, and `.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       35

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       If the redirection operator is <<-, then all leading tab characters are
       stripped from input lines and  the  line	 containing  delimiter.	  This
       allows  here-documents within shell scripts to be indented in a natural
       fashion.

   Here Strings
       A variant of here documents, the format is:

	      <<<word

       The word is expanded and supplied to the command on its standard input.

   Duplicating File Descriptors
       The redirection operator

	      [n]<&word

       is used to duplicate input file descriptors.  If word expands to one or
       more digits, the file descriptor denoted by n is made to be a  copy  of
       that  file  descriptor.	 If  the  digits in word do not specify a file
       descriptor open for input, a redirection error occurs.  If word	evalu-
       ates  to	 -,  file  descriptor n is closed.  If n is not specified, the
       standard input (file descriptor 0) is used.

       The operator

	      [n]>&word

       is used similarly to duplicate output file descriptors.	If  n  is  not
       specified,  the	standard  output  (file descriptor 1) is used.	If the
       digits in word do not specify a file  descriptor	 open  for  output,  a
       redirection error occurs.  As a special case, if n is omitted, and word
       does not expand to one or more digits, the standard output and standard
       error are redirected as described previously.

   Moving File Descriptors
       The redirection operator

	      [n]<&digit-

       moves  the  file descriptor digit to file descriptor n, or the standard
       input (file descriptor 0) if n is not specified.	 digit is closed after
       being duplicated to n.

       Similarly, the redirection operator

	      [n]>&digit-

       moves  the  file descriptor digit to file descriptor n, or the standard
       output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified.

   Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing
       The redirection operator

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       36

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      [n]<>word

       causes the file whose name is the expansion of word to  be  opened  for
       both  reading and writing on file descriptor n, or on file descriptor 0
       if n is not specified.  If the file does not exist, it is created.

ALIASES
       Aliases allow a string to be substituted for a word when it is used  as
       the  first  word	 of  a	simple command.	 The shell maintains a list of
       aliases that may be set and unset with the alias	 and  unalias  builtin
       commands	 (see  SHELL  BUILTIN COMMANDS below).	The first word of each
       simple command, if unquoted, is checked to see if it has an alias.   If
       so,  that word is replaced by the text of the alias.  The characters /,
       $, `, and = and any of the shell metacharacters or  quoting  characters
       listed above may not appear in an alias name.  The replacement text may
       contain any valid shell input,  including  shell	 metacharacters.   The
       first  word  of	the replacement text is tested for aliases, but a word
       that is identical to an alias being expanded is not expanded  a	second
       time.   This  means  that  one may alias ls to ls -F, for instance, and
       bash does not try to recursively expand the replacement text.   If  the
       last  character	of  the	 alias value is a blank, then the next command
       word following the alias is also checked for alias expansion.

       Aliases are created and listed with the alias command, and removed with
       the unalias command.

       There  is no mechanism for using arguments in the replacement text.  If
       arguments are needed, a shell function should be	 used  (see  FUNCTIONS
       below).

       Aliases	are not expanded when the shell is not interactive, unless the
       expand_aliases shell option is set using shopt (see the description  of
       shopt under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

       The  rules  concerning  the  definition and use of aliases are somewhat
       confusing.  Bash always reads at	 least	one  complete  line  of	 input
       before  executing  any  of  the	commands  on  that  line.  Aliases are
       expanded when a command is read, not when it is	executed.   Therefore,
       an  alias definition appearing on the same line as another command does
       not take effect until the next line of input  is	 read.	 The  commands
       following the alias definition on that line are not affected by the new
       alias.  This behavior is also an issue  when  functions	are  executed.
       Aliases	are  expanded when a function definition is read, not when the
       function is executed, because a function definition is  itself  a  com-
       pound command.  As a consequence, aliases defined in a function are not
       available until after that function is executed.	 To  be	 safe,	always
       put  alias definitions on a separate line, and do not use alias in com-
       pound commands.

       For almost every purpose, aliases are superseded by shell functions.

FUNCTIONS
       A shell function, defined  as  described	 above	under  SHELL  GRAMMAR,
       stores  a  series  of commands for later execution.  When the name of a

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       37

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       shell function is used as a simple command name, the list  of  commands
       associated with that function name is executed.	Functions are executed
       in the context of the current shell;  no	 new  process  is  created  to
       interpret  them	(contrast  this with the execution of a shell script).
       When a function is executed, the arguments to the function  become  the
       positional parameters during its execution.  The special parameter # is
       updated to reflect the change.  Special parameter 0 is unchanged.   The
       first  element of the FUNCNAME variable is set to the name of the func-
       tion while the function is executing.

       All other aspects of the	 shell	execution  environment	are  identical
       between a function and its caller with these exceptions:	 the DEBUG and
       RETURN traps (see the description  of  the  trap	 builtin  under	 SHELL
       BUILTIN	COMMANDS below) are not inherited unless the function has been
       given the trace attribute (see the description of the  declare  builtin
       below)  or  the -o functrace shell option has been enabled with the set
       builtin (in which case all  functions  inherit  the  DEBUG  and	RETURN
       traps),	and the ERR trap is not inherited unless the -o errtrace shell
       option has been enabled.

       Variables local to the function may be declared with the local  builtin
       command.	 Ordinarily, variables and their values are shared between the
       function and its caller.

       If the builtin command return is executed in a function,	 the  function
       completes  and  execution resumes with the next command after the func-
       tion call.  Any command associated with the  RETURN  trap  is  executed
       before execution resumes.  When a function completes, the values of the
       positional parameters and the special parameter # are restored  to  the
       values they had prior to the function's execution.

       Function	 names and definitions may be listed with the -f option to the
       declare or typeset builtin commands.  The -F option to declare or type-
       set  will  list the function names only (and optionally the source file
       and line number, if the extdebug shell option is	 enabled).   Functions
       may  be exported so that subshells automatically have them defined with
       the -f option to the export builtin.   A	 function  definition  may  be
       deleted	using  the  -f	option	to the unset builtin.  Note that shell
       functions and variables with the same name may result in multiple iden-
       tically-named  entries  in  the environment passed to the shell's chil-
       dren.  Care should be taken in cases where this may cause a problem.

       Functions may be recursive.  No limit  is  imposed  on  the  number  of
       recursive calls.

ARITHMETIC EVALUATION
       The  shell allows arithmetic expressions to be evaluated, under certain
       circumstances (see the let and declare builtin commands and  Arithmetic
       Expansion).   Evaluation	 is done in fixed-width integers with no check
       for overflow, though division by 0 is trapped and flagged as an	error.
       The  operators  and their precedence, associativity, and values are the
       same as in the C language.  The following list of operators is  grouped
       into  levels  of	 equal-precedence operators.  The levels are listed in
       order of decreasing precedence.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       38

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       id++ id--
	      variable post-increment and post-decrement
       ++id --id
	      variable pre-increment and pre-decrement
       - +    unary minus and plus
       ! ~    logical and bitwise negation
       **     exponentiation
       * / %  multiplication, division, remainder
       + -    addition, subtraction
       << >>  left and right bitwise shifts
       <= >= < >
	      comparison
       == !=  equality and inequality
       &      bitwise AND
       ^      bitwise exclusive OR
       |      bitwise OR
       &&     logical AND
       ||     logical OR
       expr?expr:expr
	      conditional operator
       = *= /= %= += -= <<= >>= &= ^= |=
	      assignment
       expr1 , expr2
	      comma

       Shell variables are allowed as operands; parameter  expansion  is  per-
       formed before the expression is evaluated.  Within an expression, shell
       variables may also be referenced by name without	 using	the  parameter
       expansion  syntax.  A shell variable that is null or unset evaluates to
       0 when referenced by name without using the parameter expansion syntax.
       The  value  of a variable is evaluated as an arithmetic expression when
       it is referenced, or when a variable which has been given  the  integer
       attribute using declare -i is assigned a value.	A null value evaluates
       to 0.  A shell variable need not have its integer attribute  turned  on
       to be used in an expression.

       Constants with a leading 0 are interpreted as octal numbers.  A leading
       0x or  0X  denotes  hexadecimal.	  Otherwise,  numbers  take  the  form
       [base#]n,  where base is a decimal number between 2 and 64 representing
       the arithmetic base, and n is a number in that base.  If base# is omit-
       ted,  then  base 10 is used.  The digits greater than 9 are represented
       by the lowercase letters, the uppercase letters,	 @,  and  _,  in  that
       order.	If  base  is less than or equal to 36, lowercase and uppercase
       letters may be used interchangeably to represent numbers between 10 and
       35.

       Operators  are  evaluated  in  order of precedence.  Sub-expressions in
       parentheses are evaluated first and may override the  precedence	 rules
       above.

CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS
       Conditional  expressions	 are  used  by the [[ compound command and the
       test and [ builtin commands to test file attributes and perform	string
       and  arithmetic comparisons.  Expressions are formed from the following

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       39

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       unary or binary primaries.  If any file argument to  one	 of  the  pri-
       maries is of the form /dev/fd/n, then file descriptor n is checked.  If
       the file argument to  one  of  the  primaries  is  one  of  /dev/stdin,
       /dev/stdout,  or /dev/stderr, file descriptor 0, 1, or 2, respectively,
       is checked.

       Unless otherwise specified, primaries that operate on files follow sym-
       bolic links and operate on the target of the link, rather than the link
       itself.

       When used with [[, The < and > operators sort  lexicographically	 using
       the current locale.

       -a file
	      True if file exists.
       -b file
	      True if file exists and is a block special file.
       -c file
	      True if file exists and is a character special file.
       -d file
	      True if file exists and is a directory.
       -e file
	      True if file exists.
       -f file
	      True if file exists and is a regular file.
       -g file
	      True if file exists and is set-group-id.
       -h file
	      True if file exists and is a symbolic link.
       -k file
	      True if file exists and its ``sticky'' bit is set.
       -p file
	      True if file exists and is a named pipe (FIFO).
       -r file
	      True if file exists and is readable.
       -s file
	      True if file exists and has a size greater than zero.
       -t fd  True if file descriptor fd is open and refers to a terminal.
       -u file
	      True if file exists and its set-user-id bit is set.
       -w file
	      True if file exists and is writable.
       -x file
	      True if file exists and is executable.
       -O file
	      True if file exists and is owned by the effective user id.
       -G file
	      True if file exists and is owned by the effective group id.
       -L file
	      True if file exists and is a symbolic link.
       -S file
	      True if file exists and is a socket.
       -N file
	      True  if	file  exists  and  has been modified since it was last

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       40

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      read.
       file1 -nt file2
	      True if file1 is newer (according	 to  modification  date)  than
	      file2, or if file1 exists and file2 does not.
       file1 -ot file2
	      True  if file1 is older than file2, or if file2 exists and file1
	      does not.
       file1 -ef file2
	      True if file1 and file2 refer to the same device and inode  num-
	      bers.
       -o optname
	      True  if	shell  option  optname	is  enabled.   See the list of
	      options under the description  of	 the  -o  option  to  the  set
	      builtin below.
       -z string
	      True if the length of string is zero.
       string
       -n string
	      True if the length of string is non-zero.

       string1 == string2
       string1 = string2
	      True  if	the strings are equal.	= should be used with the test
	      command for POSIX conformance.

       string1 != string2
	      True if the strings are not equal.

       string1 < string2
	      True if string1 sorts before string2 lexicographically.

       string1 > string2
	      True if string1 sorts after string2 lexicographically.

       arg1 OP arg2
	      OP is one of -eq, -ne, -lt, -le, -gt, or -ge.  These  arithmetic
	      binary  operators return true if arg1 is equal to, not equal to,
	      less than, less than or equal to, greater than, or greater  than
	      or  equal	 to arg2, respectively.	 Arg1 and arg2 may be positive
	      or negative integers.

SIMPLE COMMAND EXPANSION
       When a simple command is executed, the  shell  performs	the  following
       expansions, assignments, and redirections, from left to right.

       1.     The  words  that	the  parser has marked as variable assignments
	      (those preceding the command name) and  redirections  are	 saved
	      for later processing.

       2.     The  words that are not variable assignments or redirections are
	      expanded.	 If any words remain after expansion, the  first  word
	      is  taken	 to be the name of the command and the remaining words
	      are the arguments.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       41

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       3.     Redirections are performed as described above under REDIRECTION.

       4.     The text after the = in each variable assignment undergoes tilde
	      expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic
	      expansion,  and quote removal before being assigned to the vari-
	      able.

       If no command name results, the variable assignments affect the current
       shell  environment.  Otherwise, the variables are added to the environ-
       ment of the executed command and do not affect the current shell	 envi-
       ronment.	  If  any  of  the assignments attempts to assign a value to a
       readonly variable, an error occurs, and the command exits with  a  non-
       zero status.

       If  no  command	name  results,	redirections are performed, but do not
       affect the current shell environment.  A redirection error  causes  the
       command to exit with a non-zero status.

       If  there is a command name left after expansion, execution proceeds as
       described below.	 Otherwise, the command exits.	If one of  the	expan-
       sions  contained a command substitution, the exit status of the command
       is the exit status of the  last	command	 substitution  performed.   If
       there were no command substitutions, the command exits with a status of
       zero.

COMMAND EXECUTION
       After a command has been split into words, if it results	 in  a	simple
       command	and  an	 optional list of arguments, the following actions are
       taken.

       If the command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts  to	locate
       it.   If	 there	exists a shell function by that name, that function is
       invoked as described above in FUNCTIONS.	 If the name does not match  a
       function,  the shell searches for it in the list of shell builtins.  If
       a match is found, that builtin is invoked.

       If the name is neither a shell function nor a builtin, and contains  no
       slashes,	 bash  searches	 each element of the PATH for a directory con-
       taining an executable file by that name.	 Bash uses  a  hash  table  to
       remember	 the  full pathnames of executable files (see hash under SHELL
       BUILTIN COMMANDS below).	 A full search of the directories in  PATH  is
       performed  only	if the command is not found in the hash table.	If the
       search is unsuccessful, the shell searches for a defined shell function
       named command_not_found_handle.	If that function exists, it is invoked
       with the original command and the original command's arguments  as  its
       arguments,  and	the  function's exit status becomes the exit status of
       the shell.  If that function is not defined, the shell prints an	 error
       message and returns an exit status of 127.

       If  the	search	is  successful, or if the command name contains one or
       more slashes, the shell executes the named program in a separate execu-
       tion environment.  Argument 0 is set to the name given, and the remain-
       ing arguments to the command are set to the arguments given, if any.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       42

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       If this execution fails because the file is not in  executable  format,
       and  the file is not a directory, it is assumed to be a shell script, a
       file containing shell commands.	A subshell is spawned to  execute  it.
       This  subshell  reinitializes itself, so that the effect is as if a new
       shell had been invoked to handle the script, with  the  exception  that
       the  locations  of  commands  remembered	 by the parent (see hash below
       under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS) are retained by the child.

       If the program is a file beginning with #!, the remainder of the	 first
       line  specifies an interpreter for the program.	The shell executes the
       specified interpreter on operating systems that do not handle this exe-
       cutable format themselves.  The arguments to the interpreter consist of
       a single optional argument following the interpreter name on the	 first
       line  of	 the program, followed by the name of the program, followed by
       the command arguments, if any.

COMMAND EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT
       The shell has an execution environment, which consists of  the  follow-
       ing:

       o      open  files inherited by the shell at invocation, as modified by
	      redirections supplied to the exec builtin

       o      the current working directory as set by cd, pushd, or  popd,  or
	      inherited by the shell at invocation

       o      the  file	 creation  mode mask as set by umask or inherited from
	      the shell's parent

       o      current traps set by trap

       o      shell parameters that are set by variable assignment or with set
	      or inherited from the shell's parent in the environment

       o      shell  functions	defined during execution or inherited from the
	      shell's parent in the environment

       o      options enabled at invocation (either by default	or  with  com-
	      mand-line arguments) or by set

       o      options enabled by shopt

       o      shell aliases defined with alias

       o      various  process	IDs,  including	 those of background jobs, the
	      value of $$, and the value of PPID

       When a simple command other than a builtin or shell function is	to  be
       executed,  it  is invoked in a separate execution environment that con-
       sists of the following.	Unless otherwise noted, the values are	inher-
       ited from the shell.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       43

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       o      the  shell's  open  files,  plus any modifications and additions
	      specified by redirections to the command

       o      the current working directory

       o      the file creation mode mask

       o      shell variables and functions  marked  for  export,  along  with
	      variables exported for the command, passed in the environment

       o      traps caught by the shell are reset to the values inherited from
	      the shell's parent, and traps ignored by the shell are ignored

       A command invoked  in  this  separate  environment  cannot  affect  the
       shell's execution environment.

       Command	substitution,  commands	 grouped  with	parentheses, and asyn-
       chronous commands are invoked in	 a  subshell  environment  that	 is  a
       duplicate  of  the  shell  environment, except that traps caught by the
       shell are reset to the values that the shell inherited from its	parent
       at invocation.  Builtin commands that are invoked as part of a pipeline
       are also executed in a subshell environment.  Changes made to the  sub-
       shell environment cannot affect the shell's execution environment.

       Subshells spawned to execute command substitutions inherit the value of
       the -e option from the parent shell.  When  not	in  posix  mode,  Bash
       clears the -e option in such subshells.

       If  a  command  is  followed  by a & and job control is not active, the
       default standard input for the command is  the  empty  file  /dev/null.
       Otherwise,  the	invoked	 command  inherits the file descriptors of the
       calling shell as modified by redirections.

ENVIRONMENT
       When a program is invoked it is given an array of  strings  called  the
       environment.   This  is	a  list	 of  name-value	 pairs,	 of  the  form
       name=value.

       The shell provides several ways	to  manipulate	the  environment.   On
       invocation, the shell scans its own environment and creates a parameter
       for each name found, automatically marking it for export to child  pro-
       cesses.	 Executed  commands  inherit  the environment.	The export and
       declare -x commands allow parameters and functions to be added  to  and
       deleted from the environment.  If the value of a parameter in the envi-
       ronment is modified, the new value becomes  part	 of  the  environment,
       replacing  the  old.  The environment inherited by any executed command
       consists of the shell's initial environment, whose values may be	 modi-
       fied  in	 the  shell, less any pairs removed by the unset command, plus
       any additions via the export and declare -x commands.

       The environment for any simple command or  function  may	 be  augmented
       temporarily  by	prefixing  it with parameter assignments, as described
       above in PARAMETERS.  These assignment statements affect only the envi-
       ronment seen by that command.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       44

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       If  the	-k option is set (see the set builtin command below), then all
       parameter assignments are placed in the environment for a command,  not
       just those that precede the command name.

       When  bash  invokes  an	external command, the variable _ is set to the
       full file name of the command and passed to that command in  its	 envi-
       ronment.

EXIT STATUS
       The  exit  status  of  an executed command is the value returned by the
       waitpid system call or equivalent function.  Exit statuses fall between
       0  and  255, though, as explained below, the shell may use values above
       125 specially.  Exit statuses from shell builtins and compound commands
       are  also limited to this range. Under certain circumstances, the shell
       will use special values to indicate specific failure modes.

       For the shell's purposes, a command which exits with a zero exit status
       has  succeeded.	 An exit status of zero indicates success.  A non-zero
       exit status indicates failure.  When a command terminates  on  a	 fatal
       signal N, bash uses the value of 128+N as the exit status.

       If  a  command  is  not	found, the child process created to execute it
       returns a status of 127.	 If a command is found but is not  executable,
       the return status is 126.

       If a command fails because of an error during expansion or redirection,
       the exit status is greater than zero.

       Shell builtin commands return a status of 0 (true) if  successful,  and
       non-zero	 (false)  if an error occurs while they execute.  All builtins
       return an exit status of 2 to indicate incorrect usage.

       Bash itself returns the exit  status  of	 the  last  command  executed,
       unless  a  syntax  error occurs, in which case it exits with a non-zero
       value.  See also the exit builtin command below.

SIGNALS
       When bash is interactive, in the	 absence  of  any  traps,  it  ignores
       SIGTERM (so that kill 0 does not kill an interactive shell), and SIGINT
       is caught and handled (so that the wait builtin is interruptible).   In
       all  cases,  bash  ignores  SIGQUIT.  If job control is in effect, bash
       ignores SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP.

       Non-builtin commands run by bash have signal handlers set to the values
       inherited  by  the  shell  from its parent.  When job control is not in
       effect, asynchronous commands ignore SIGINT and SIGQUIT in addition  to
       these  inherited handlers.  Commands run as a result of command substi-
       tution ignore the keyboard-generated job control signals SIGTTIN, SIGT-
       TOU, and SIGTSTP.

       The  shell  exits by default upon receipt of a SIGHUP.  Before exiting,
       an interactive shell  resends  the  SIGHUP  to  all  jobs,  running  or
       stopped.	 Stopped jobs are sent SIGCONT to ensure that they receive the
       SIGHUP.	To prevent the shell from sending the signal to	 a  particular

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       45

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       job,  it	 should be removed from the jobs table with the disown builtin
       (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below) or  marked  to  not  receive	SIGHUP
       using disown -h.

       If  the	huponexit  shell  option has been set with shopt, bash sends a
       SIGHUP to all jobs when an interactive login shell exits.

       If bash is waiting for a command to complete and receives a signal  for
       which a trap has been set, the trap will not be executed until the com-
       mand completes.	When bash is waiting for an asynchronous  command  via
       the  wait  builtin, the reception of a signal for which a trap has been
       set will cause the wait builtin to return immediately with an exit sta-
       tus greater than 128, immediately after which the trap is executed.

JOB CONTROL
       Job  control  refers  to	 the ability to selectively stop (suspend) the
       execution of processes and continue (resume) their execution at a later
       point.	A  user	 typically  employs  this  facility via an interactive
       interface supplied jointly by the operating  system  kernel's  terminal
       driver and bash.

       The  shell  associates  a  job with each pipeline.  It keeps a table of
       currently executing jobs, which may be listed with  the	jobs  command.
       When  bash starts a job asynchronously (in the background), it prints a
       line that looks like:

	      [1] 25647

       indicating that this job is job number 1 and that the process ID of the
       last process in the pipeline associated with this job is 25647.	All of
       the processes in a single pipeline are members of the same  job.	  Bash
       uses the job abstraction as the basis for job control.

       To  facilitate the implementation of the user interface to job control,
       the operating system maintains the notion of a current terminal process
       group ID.  Members of this process group (processes whose process group
       ID is equal to the current terminal process group ID) receive keyboard-
       generated  signals  such	 as SIGINT.  These processes are said to be in
       the foreground.	Background processes are those whose process group  ID
       differs from the terminal's; such processes are immune to keyboard-gen-
       erated signals.	Only foreground processes are allowed to read from or,
       if  the	user  so  specifies  with  stty tostop, write to the terminal.
       Background processes which attempt to read from	(write	to  when  stty
       tostop  is  in effect) the terminal are sent a SIGTTIN (SIGTTOU) signal
       by the kernel's terminal driver, which,	unless	caught,	 suspends  the
       process.

       If  the operating system on which bash is running supports job control,
       bash contains facilities to use it.  Typing the suspend character (typ-
       ically ^Z, Control-Z) while a process is running causes that process to
       be stopped and returns control to bash.	 Typing	 the  delayed  suspend
       character  (typically  ^Y,  Control-Y) causes the process to be stopped
       when it attempts to read input from the terminal,  and  control	to  be
       returned	 to bash.  The user may then manipulate the state of this job,

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       46

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       using the bg command to continue it in the background, the  fg  command
       to continue it in the foreground, or the kill command to kill it.  A ^Z
       takes effect immediately, and has the additional side effect of causing
       pending output and typeahead to be discarded.

       There are a number of ways to refer to a job in the shell.  The charac-
       ter % introduces a job specification (jobspec).	Job number  n  may  be
       referred to as %n.  A job may also be referred to using a prefix of the
       name used to start it, or using a substring that appears in its command
       line.   For  example,  %ce  refers  to  a  stopped ce job.  If a prefix
       matches more than one job, bash reports an error.  Using %?ce,  on  the
       other  hand,  refers to any job containing the string ce in its command
       line.  If the substring matches more than  one  job,  bash  reports  an
       error.	The  symbols %% and %+ refer to the shell's notion of the cur-
       rent job, which is the last job stopped while it was in the  foreground
       or started in the background.  The previous job may be referenced using
       %-.  If there is only a single job, %+ and %- can both be used to refer
       to  that	 job.	In  output pertaining to jobs (e.g., the output of the
       jobs command), the current job is always flagged with a +, and the pre-
       vious  job  with	 a -.  A single % (with no accompanying job specifica-
       tion) also refers to the current job.

       Simply naming a job can be used to bring it into the foreground: %1  is
       a  synonym  for	``fg %1'', bringing job 1 from the background into the
       foreground.  Similarly, ``%1 &''	 resumes  job  1  in  the  background,
       equivalent to ``bg %1''.

       The  shell  learns immediately whenever a job changes state.  Normally,
       bash waits until it is about to print a prompt before reporting changes
       in  a  job's status so as to not interrupt any other output.  If the -b
       option to the set builtin command is enabled, bash reports such changes
       immediately.   Any  trap	 on  SIGCHLD  is  executed for each child that
       exits.

       If an attempt to exit bash is made while jobs are stopped (or,  if  the
       checkjobs  shell	 option has been enabled using the shopt builtin, run-
       ning), the shell prints a warning message, and, if the checkjobs option
       is  enabled,  lists  the jobs and their statuses.  The jobs command may
       then be used to inspect their status.  If a second attempt to  exit  is
       made  without  an intervening command, the shell does not print another
       warning, and any stopped jobs are terminated.

PROMPTING
       When executing interactively, bash displays the primary prompt PS1 when
       it  is  ready  to  read a command, and the secondary prompt PS2 when it
       needs more input to complete  a	command.   Bash	 allows	 these	prompt
       strings	to  be	customized  by inserting a number of backslash-escaped
       special characters that are decoded as follows:
	      \a     an ASCII bell character (07)
	      \d     the date in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g.,  "Tue  May
		     26")
	      \D{format}
		     the  format  is  passed  to strftime(3) and the result is
		     inserted into the prompt string; an empty format  results

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       47

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		     in a locale-specific time representation.	The braces are
		     required
	      \e     an ASCII escape character (033)
	      \h     the hostname up to the first `.'
	      \H     the hostname
	      \j     the number of jobs currently managed by the shell
	      \l     the basename of the shell's terminal device name
	      \n     newline
	      \r     carriage return
	      \s     the name of the shell, the basename of  $0	 (the  portion
		     following the final slash)
	      \t     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format
	      \T     the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format
	      \@     the current time in 12-hour am/pm format
	      \A     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM format
	      \u     the username of the current user
	      \v     the version of bash (e.g., 2.00)
	      \V     the release of bash, version + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)
	      \w     the current working  directory,  with  $HOME  abbreviated
		     with  a tilde (uses the value of the PROMPT_DIRTRIM vari-
		     able)
	      \W     the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME
		     abbreviated with a tilde
	      \!     the history number of this command
	      \#     the command number of this command
	      \$     if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
	      \nnn   the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
	      \\     a backslash
	      \[     begin  a sequence of non-printing characters, which could
		     be used to embed a terminal  control  sequence  into  the
		     prompt
	      \]     end a sequence of non-printing characters

       The  command  number  and the history number are usually different: the
       history number of a command is its position in the history list,	 which
       may  include  commands  restored	 from  the  history  file (see HISTORY
       below), while the command number is the position	 in  the  sequence  of
       commands	 executed  during the current shell session.  After the string
       is decoded, it is expanded via parameter expansion,  command  substitu-
       tion,  arithmetic expansion, and quote removal, subject to the value of
       the promptvars shell option (see the description of the	shopt  command
       under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

READLINE
       This  is	 the library that handles reading input when using an interac-
       tive shell, unless the --noediting option is given at shell invocation.
       Line editing is also used when using the -e option to the read builtin.
       By default, the line editing commands are similar to those of emacs.  A
       vi-style line editing interface is also available.  Line editing can be
       enabled at any time using the -o emacs or -o  vi	 options  to  the  set
       builtin	(see  SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).  To turn off line editing
       after the shell is running, use the +o emacs or +o vi  options  to  the
       set builtin.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       48

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

   Readline Notation
       In this section, the emacs-style notation is used to denote keystrokes.
       Control keys are denoted by C-key, e.g., C-n  means  Control-N.	 Simi-
       larly,  meta  keys are denoted by M-key, so M-x means Meta-X.  (On key-
       boards without a meta key, M-x means ESC x, i.e., press the Escape  key
       then the x key.	This makes ESC the meta prefix.	 The combination M-C-x
       means ESC-Control-x, or press the Escape key then hold the Control  key
       while pressing the x key.)

       Readline commands may be given numeric arguments, which normally act as
       a repeat count.	Sometimes, however, it is the  sign  of	 the  argument
       that  is	 significant.	Passing	 a negative argument to a command that
       acts in the forward direction (e.g., kill-line) causes that command  to
       act  in	a  backward direction.	Commands whose behavior with arguments
       deviates from this are noted below.

       When a command is described as killing text, the text deleted is	 saved
       for possible future retrieval (yanking).	 The killed text is saved in a
       kill ring.  Consecutive kills cause the text to be accumulated into one
       unit, which can be yanked all at once.  Commands which do not kill text
       separate the chunks of text on the kill ring.

   Readline Initialization
       Readline is customized by putting commands in  an  initialization  file
       (the  inputrc  file).  The name of this file is taken from the value of
       the INPUTRC variable.  If  that	variable  is  unset,  the  default  is
       ~/.inputrc.   When a program which uses the readline library starts up,
       the initialization file is read, and the key bindings and variables are
       set.   There  are  only	a few basic constructs allowed in the readline
       initialization file.  Blank lines are ignored.  Lines beginning with  a
       #  are  comments.   Lines  beginning with a $ indicate conditional con-
       structs.	 Other lines denote key bindings and variable settings.

       The default key-bindings may be changed with an	inputrc	 file.	 Other
       programs that use this library may add their own commands and bindings.

       For example, placing

	      M-Control-u: universal-argument
       or
	      C-Meta-u: universal-argument
       into the inputrc would make M-C-u execute the readline command  univer-
       sal-argument.

       The  following  symbolic	 character  names are recognized: RUBOUT, DEL,
       ESC, LFD, NEWLINE, RET, RETURN, SPC, SPACE, and TAB.

       In addition to command names, readline allows keys to  be  bound	 to  a
       string that is inserted when the key is pressed (a macro).

   Readline Key Bindings
       The  syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple.
       All that is required is the name of the command or the text of a	 macro
       and  a  key  sequence  to  which	 it  should  be bound. The name may be

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       49

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       specified in one of two ways: as a symbolic  key	 name,	possibly  with
       Meta- or Control- prefixes, or as a key sequence.

       When using the form keyname:function-name or macro, keyname is the name
       of a key spelled out in English.	 For example:

	      Control-u: universal-argument
	      Meta-Rubout: backward-kill-word
	      Control-o: "> output"

       In the above example, C-u is bound to the function  universal-argument,
       M-DEL  is bound to the function backward-kill-word, and C-o is bound to
       run the macro expressed on the right hand side (that is, to insert  the
       text ``> output'' into the line).

       In  the	second	form,  "keyseq":function-name or macro, keyseq differs
       from keyname above in that strings denoting an entire key sequence  may
       be  specified  by  placing the sequence within double quotes.  Some GNU
       Emacs style key escapes can be used, as in the following	 example,  but
       the symbolic character names are not recognized.

	      "\C-u": universal-argument
	      "\C-x\C-r": re-read-init-file
	      "\e[11~": "Function Key 1"

       In this example, C-u is again bound to the function universal-argument.
       C-x C-r is bound to the function re-read-init-file, and ESC [ 1 1 ~  is
       bound to insert the text ``Function Key 1''.

       The full set of GNU Emacs style escape sequences is
	      \C-    control prefix
	      \M-    meta prefix
	      \e     an escape character
	      \\     backslash
	      \"     literal "
	      \'     literal '

       In  addition  to	 the GNU Emacs style escape sequences, a second set of
       backslash escapes is available:
	      \a     alert (bell)
	      \b     backspace
	      \d     delete
	      \f     form feed
	      \n     newline
	      \r     carriage return
	      \t     horizontal tab
	      \v     vertical tab
	      \nnn   the eight-bit character whose value is  the  octal	 value
		     nnn (one to three digits)
	      \xHH   the  eight-bit  character	whose value is the hexadecimal
		     value HH (one or two hex digits)

       When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must be used
       to  indicate  a	macro  definition.   Unquoted  text is assumed to be a

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       50

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       function name.  In the macro  body,  the	 backslash  escapes  described
       above  are  expanded.   Backslash will quote any other character in the
       macro text, including " and '.

       Bash allows the current readline key bindings to be displayed or	 modi-
       fied  with  the bind builtin command.  The editing mode may be switched
       during interactive use by using the -o option to the set	 builtin  com-
       mand (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

   Readline Variables
       Readline has variables that can be used to further customize its behav-
       ior.  A variable may be set in the inputrc file with a statement of the
       form

	      set variable-name value

       Except  where  noted,  readline variables can take the values On or Off
       (without regard to case).  Unrecognized	variable  names	 are  ignored.
       When  a variable value is read, empty or null values, "on" (case-insen-
       sitive), and "1" are equivalent to On.  All other values are equivalent
       to Off.	The variables and their default values are:

       bell-style (audible)
	      Controls	what  happens when readline wants to ring the terminal
	      bell.  If set to none, readline never rings the bell.  If set to
	      visible,	readline  uses a visible bell if one is available.  If
	      set to audible, readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
       bind-tty-special-chars (On)
	      If set to On, readline attempts to bind the  control  characters
	      treated specially by the kernel's terminal driver to their read-
	      line equivalents.
       comment-begin (``#'')
	      The string that is inserted  when	 the  readline	insert-comment
	      command is executed.  This command is bound to M-# in emacs mode
	      and to # in vi command mode.
       completion-ignore-case (Off)
	      If set to On, readline performs filename matching and completion
	      in a case-insensitive fashion.
       completion-prefix-display-length (0)
	      The  length in characters of the common prefix of a list of pos-
	      sible completions that is displayed without modification.	  When
	      set  to  a  value greater than zero, common prefixes longer than
	      this value are replaced with an ellipsis when displaying	possi-
	      ble completions.
       completion-query-items (100)
	      This  determines when the user is queried about viewing the num-
	      ber of possible completions generated  by	 the  possible-comple-
	      tions  command.  It may be set to any integer value greater than
	      or equal to zero.	 If the	 number	 of  possible  completions  is
	      greater than or equal to the value of this variable, the user is
	      asked whether or not he wishes to view them; otherwise they  are
	      simply listed on the terminal.
       convert-meta (On)
	      If  set  to On, readline will convert characters with the eighth

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       51

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      bit set to an ASCII key sequence by stripping the eighth bit and
	      prefixing	 an  escape  character (in effect, using escape as the
	      meta prefix).
       disable-completion (Off)
	      If set to On, readline will inhibit word completion.  Completion
	      characters  will	be  inserted into the line as if they had been
	      mapped to self-insert.
       editing-mode (emacs)
	      Controls whether readline begins with a set of key bindings sim-
	      ilar to emacs or vi.  editing-mode can be set to either emacs or
	      vi.
       echo-control-characters (On)
	      When set to On, on operating systems that indicate they  support
	      it, readline echoes a character corresponding to a signal gener-
	      ated from the keyboard.
       enable-keypad (Off)
	      When set to On, readline will try to enable the application key-
	      pad  when	 it  is	 called.  Some systems need this to enable the
	      arrow keys.
       enable-meta-key (On)
	      When set to On, readline will try to enable  any	meta  modifier
	      key  the	terminal claims to support when it is called.  On many
	      terminals, the meta key is used to send eight-bit characters.
       expand-tilde (Off)
	      If set  to  on,  tilde  expansion	 is  performed	when  readline
	      attempts word completion.
       history-preserve-point (Off)
	      If  set  to  on, the history code attempts to place point at the
	      same location on each history line retrieved with	 previous-his-
	      tory or next-history.
       history-size (0)
	      Set  the	maximum number of history entries saved in the history
	      list.  If set to zero, the number of entries in the history list
	      is not limited.
       horizontal-scroll-mode (Off)
	      When  set	 to  On, makes readline use a single line for display,
	      scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen line when it
	      becomes  longer  than the screen width rather than wrapping to a
	      new line.
       input-meta (Off)
	      If set to On, readline will enable eight-bit input (that is,  it
	      will  not	 strip	the  high  bit	from the characters it reads),
	      regardless of what the terminal claims it can support.  The name
	      meta-flag is a synonym for this variable.
       isearch-terminators (``C-[C-J'')
	      The  string  of  characters that should terminate an incremental
	      search without subsequently executing the character  as  a  com-
	      mand.   If this variable has not been given a value, the charac-
	      ters ESC and C-J will terminate an incremental search.
       keymap (emacs)
	      Set the current readline keymap.	The set of valid keymap	 names
	      is  emacs,  emacs-standard,  emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-com-
	      mand, and vi-insert.  vi is equivalent to vi-command;  emacs  is
	      equivalent  to  emacs-standard.  The default value is emacs; the

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       52

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      value of editing-mode also affects the default keymap.
       mark-directories (On)
	      If set to On, completed directory names have a slash appended.
       mark-modified-lines (Off)
	      If set to On, history lines that have  been  modified  are  dis-
	      played with a preceding asterisk (*).
       mark-symlinked-directories (Off)
	      If set to On, completed names which are symbolic links to direc-
	      tories  have  a  slash  appended	(subject  to  the   value   of
	      mark-directories).
       match-hidden-files (On)
	      This  variable,  when  set to On, causes readline to match files
	      whose names begin with a	`.'  (hidden  files)  when  performing
	      filename	completion,  unless the leading `.' is supplied by the
	      user in the filename to be completed.
       output-meta (Off)
	      If set to On, readline will display characters with  the	eighth
	      bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape sequence.
       page-completions (On)
	      If set to On, readline uses an internal more-like pager to  dis-
	      play a screenful of possible completions at a time.
       print-completions-horizontally (Off)
	      If  set  to  On,	readline will display completions with matches
	      sorted horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down  the
	      screen.
       revert-all-at-newline (Off)
	      If  set  to  on, readline will undo all changes to history lines
	      before returning when accept-line is executed.  By default, his-
	      tory  lines  may	be  modified  and retain individual undo lists
	      across calls to readline.
       show-all-if-ambiguous (Off)
	      This alters the default behavior of  the	completion  functions.
	      If set to on, words which have more than one possible completion
	      cause the matches to be listed immediately  instead  of  ringing
	      the bell.
       show-all-if-unmodified (Off)
	      This  alters the default behavior of the completion functions in
	      a fashion similar to show-all-if-ambiguous.  If set to on, words
	      which  have more than one possible completion without any possi-
	      ble partial completion (the possible completions don't  share  a
	      common  prefix)  cause  the  matches  to	be  listed immediately
	      instead of ringing the bell.
       skip-completed-text (Off)
	      If set to On, this alters the default completion	behavior  when
	      inserting	 a  single match into the line.	 It's only active when
	      performing completion in the middle  of  a  word.	  If  enabled,
	      readline	does  not  insert  characters from the completion that
	      match characters after point in the  word	 being	completed,  so
	      portions of the word following the cursor are not duplicated.
       visible-stats (Off)
	      If  set to On, a character denoting a file's type as reported by
	      stat(2) is appended to the filename when listing	possible  com-
	      pletions.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       53

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

   Readline Conditional Constructs
       Readline	 implements  a	facility  similar in spirit to the conditional
       compilation features of the C preprocessor which	 allows	 key  bindings
       and  variable  settings	to be performed as the result of tests.	 There
       are four parser directives used.

       $if    The $if construct allows bindings to be made based on the	 edit-
	      ing  mode,  the  terminal	 being	used, or the application using
	      readline.	 The text of the test extends to the end of the	 line;
	      no characters are required to isolate it.

	      mode   The  mode=	 form  of  the	$if  directive is used to test
		     whether readline is in emacs or vi	 mode.	 This  may  be
		     used  in  conjunction  with  the  set keymap command, for
		     instance, to  set	bindings  in  the  emacs-standard  and
		     emacs-ctlx	 keymaps  only	if readline is starting out in
		     emacs mode.

	      term   The term= form may be used to  include  terminal-specific
		     key bindings, perhaps to bind the key sequences output by
		     the terminal's function keys.  The word on the right side
		     of the = is tested against the both full name of the ter-
		     minal and the portion of the  terminal  name  before  the
		     first  -.	This allows sun to match both sun and sun-cmd,
		     for instance.

	      application
		     The application construct is used to include application-
		     specific  settings.   Each	 program  using	 the  readline
		     library sets the application name, and an	initialization
		     file can test for a particular value.  This could be used
		     to bind key sequences to functions useful for a  specific
		     program.	For instance, the following command adds a key
		     sequence that quotes the  current	or  previous  word  in
		     Bash:

		     $if Bash
		     # Quote the current or previous word
		     "\C-xq": "\eb\"\ef\""
		     $endif

       $endif This command, as seen in the previous example, terminates an $if
	      command.

       $else  Commands in this branch of the $if directive are executed if the
	      test fails.

       $include
	      This  directive takes a single filename as an argument and reads
	      commands and bindings from that file.  For example, the  follow-
	      ing directive would read /etc/inputrc:

	      $include	/etc/inputrc

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       54

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

   Searching
       Readline	 provides  commands  for searching through the command history
       (see HISTORY below) for lines containing a specified string.  There are
       two search modes: incremental and non-incremental.

       Incremental  searches  begin  before  the  user has finished typing the
       search string.  As each character of the search string is typed,	 read-
       line displays the next entry from the history matching the string typed
       so far.	An incremental search requires	only  as  many	characters  as
       needed  to  find	 the desired history entry.  The characters present in
       the value of the isearch-terminators variable are used to terminate  an
       incremental search.  If that variable has not been assigned a value the
       Escape and Control-J characters will terminate an  incremental  search.
       Control-G  will	abort  an  incremental search and restore the original
       line.  When the search is terminated, the history entry containing  the
       search string becomes the current line.

       To  find	 other matching entries in the history list, type Control-S or
       Control-R as appropriate.  This will search backward or forward in  the
       history	for  the  next	entry matching the search string typed so far.
       Any other key sequence bound to a readline command will	terminate  the
       search  and  execute that command.  For instance, a newline will termi-
       nate the search and accept the line, thereby executing the command from
       the history list.

       Readline remembers the last incremental search string.  If two Control-
       Rs are typed without any intervening characters defining a  new	search
       string, any remembered search string is used.

       Non-incremental	searches read the entire search string before starting
       to search for matching history lines.  The search string may  be	 typed
       by the user or be part of the contents of the current line.

   Readline Command Names
       The  following  is  a list of the names of the commands and the default
       key sequences to which they are bound.  Command names without an accom-
       panying key sequence are unbound by default.  In the following descrip-
       tions, point refers to the current cursor position, and mark refers  to
       a  cursor position saved by the set-mark command.  The text between the
       point and mark is referred to as the region.

   Commands for Moving
       beginning-of-line (C-a)
	      Move to the start of the current line.
       end-of-line (C-e)
	      Move to the end of the line.
       forward-char (C-f)
	      Move forward a character.
       backward-char (C-b)
	      Move back a character.
       forward-word (M-f)
	      Move forward to the end of the next word.	 Words are composed of
	      alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       55

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       backward-word (M-b)
	      Move  back  to the start of the current or previous word.	 Words
	      are composed of alphanumeric characters (letters and digits).
       shell-forward-word
	      Move forward to the end of the next word.	 Words	are  delimited
	      by non-quoted shell metacharacters.
       shell-backward-word
	      Move  back  to the start of the current or previous word.	 Words
	      are delimited by non-quoted shell metacharacters.
       clear-screen (C-l)
	      Clear the screen leaving the current line	 at  the  top  of  the
	      screen.	With  an  argument,  refresh  the current line without
	      clearing the screen.
       redraw-current-line
	      Refresh the current line.

   Commands for Manipulating the History
       accept-line (Newline, Return)
	      Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.  If this line
	      is  non-empty, add it to the history list according to the state
	      of the HISTCONTROL variable.  If the line is a modified  history
	      line, then restore the history line to its original state.
       previous-history (C-p)
	      Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
	      the list.
       next-history (C-n)
	      Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward  in
	      the list.
       beginning-of-history (M-<)
	      Move to the first line in the history.
       end-of-history (M->)
	      Move  to	the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
	      being entered.
       reverse-search-history (C-r)
	      Search backward starting at the current  line  and  moving  `up'
	      through  the  history  as	 necessary.   This  is	an incremental
	      search.
       forward-search-history (C-s)
	      Search forward starting at the current line  and	moving	`down'
	      through  the  history  as	 necessary.   This  is	an incremental
	      search.
       non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)
	      Search backward through the history starting at the current line
	      using  a	non-incremental	 search	 for  a string supplied by the
	      user.
       non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)
	      Search forward  through  the  history  using  a  non-incremental
	      search for a string supplied by the user.
       history-search-forward
	      Search  forward through the history for the string of characters
	      between the start of the current line and the point.  This is  a
	      non-incremental search.
       history-search-backward
	      Search backward through the history for the string of characters

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       56

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      between the start of the current line and the point.  This is  a
	      non-incremental search.
       yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)
	      Insert  the  first argument to the previous command (usually the
	      second word on the previous line) at point.  With an argument n,
	      insert  the nth word from the previous command (the words in the
	      previous command	begin  with  word  0).	 A  negative  argument
	      inserts the nth word from the end of the previous command.  Once
	      the argument n is computed, the argument is extracted as if  the
	      "!n" history expansion had been specified.
       yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)
	      Insert  the last argument to the previous command (the last word
	      of the  previous	history	 entry).   With	 an  argument,	behave
	      exactly  like  yank-nth-arg.   Successive calls to yank-last-arg
	      move back through the history list, inserting the last  argument
	      of each line in turn.  The history expansion facilities are used
	      to extract the last argument, as if the "!$"  history  expansion
	      had been specified.
       shell-expand-line (M-C-e)
	      Expand the line as the shell does.  This performs alias and his-
	      tory expansion as well as all of the shell word expansions.  See
	      HISTORY  EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
       history-expand-line (M-^)
	      Perform history expansion on  the	 current  line.	  See  HISTORY
	      EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
       magic-space
	      Perform  history	expansion  on  the  current  line and insert a
	      space.  See HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history
	      expansion.
       alias-expand-line
	      Perform  alias expansion on the current line.  See ALIASES above
	      for a description of alias expansion.
       history-and-alias-expand-line
	      Perform history and alias expansion on the current line.
       insert-last-argument (M-., M-_)
	      A synonym for yank-last-arg.
       operate-and-get-next (C-o)
	      Accept the current line for execution and fetch  the  next  line
	      relative	to the current line from the history for editing.  Any
	      argument is ignored.
       edit-and-execute-command (C-xC-e)
	      Invoke an editor on the current command line,  and  execute  the
	      result  as  shell	 commands.   Bash  attempts to invoke $VISUAL,
	      $EDITOR, and emacs as the editor, in that order.

   Commands for Changing Text
       delete-char (C-d)
	      Delete the character at point.  If point is at the beginning  of
	      the  line,  there	 are  no  characters in the line, and the last
	      character typed was not bound to delete-char, then return EOF.
       backward-delete-char (Rubout)
	      Delete the character behind the cursor.  When  given  a  numeric
	      argument, save the deleted text on the kill ring.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       57

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       forward-backward-delete-char
	      Delete  the  character under the cursor, unless the cursor is at
	      the end of the line, in which case the character behind the cur-
	      sor is deleted.
       quoted-insert (C-q, C-v)
	      Add  the next character typed to the line verbatim.  This is how
	      to insert characters like C-q, for example.
       tab-insert (C-v TAB)
	      Insert a tab character.
       self-insert (a, b, A, 1, !, ...)
	      Insert the character typed.
       transpose-chars (C-t)
	      Drag the character before point forward over  the	 character  at
	      point,  moving point forward as well.  If point is at the end of
	      the line, then this transposes the two characters before	point.
	      Negative arguments have no effect.
       transpose-words (M-t)
	      Drag  the	 word  before  point past the word after point, moving
	      point over that word as well.  If point is at  the  end  of  the
	      line, this transposes the last two words on the line.
       upcase-word (M-u)
	      Uppercase	 the  current  (or  following)	word.  With a negative
	      argument, uppercase the previous word, but do not move point.
       downcase-word (M-l)
	      Lowercase the current (or	 following)  word.   With  a  negative
	      argument, lowercase the previous word, but do not move point.
       capitalize-word (M-c)
	      Capitalize  the  current	(or  following) word.  With a negative
	      argument, capitalize the previous word, but do not move point.
       overwrite-mode
	      Toggle overwrite mode.  With an explicit positive numeric	 argu-
	      ment, switches to overwrite mode.	 With an explicit non-positive
	      numeric argument, switches to insert mode.  This command affects
	      only  emacs mode; vi mode does overwrite differently.  Each call
	      to readline() starts in insert mode.  In overwrite mode, charac-
	      ters  bound to self-insert replace the text at point rather than
	      pushing the text	to  the	 right.	  Characters  bound  to	 back-
	      ward-delete-char	replace	 the  character	 before	 point	with a
	      space.  By default, this command is unbound.

   Killing and Yanking
       kill-line (C-k)
	      Kill the text from point to the end of the line.
       backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)
	      Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
       unix-line-discard (C-u)
	      Kill backward from point to the  beginning  of  the  line.   The
	      killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       kill-whole-line
	      Kill  all	 characters on the current line, no matter where point
	      is.
       kill-word (M-d)
	      Kill from point to the end of the current word,  or  if  between
	      words,  to  the  end  of the next word.  Word boundaries are the

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       58

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      same as those used by forward-word.
       backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
	      Kill the word behind point.  Word boundaries  are	 the  same  as
	      those used by backward-word.
       shell-kill-word (M-d)
	      Kill  from  point	 to the end of the current word, or if between
	      words, to the end of the next word.   Word  boundaries  are  the
	      same as those used by shell-forward-word.
       shell-backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
	      Kill  the	 word  behind  point.  Word boundaries are the same as
	      those used by shell-backward-word.
       unix-word-rubout (C-w)
	      Kill the word behind point, using white space as a  word	bound-
	      ary.  The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       unix-filename-rubout
	      Kill  the	 word  behind  point,  using white space and the slash
	      character as the word boundaries.	 The killed text is  saved  on
	      the kill-ring.
       delete-horizontal-space (M-\)
	      Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
       kill-region
	      Kill the text in the current region.
       copy-region-as-kill
	      Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.
       copy-backward-word
	      Copy  the word before point to the kill buffer.  The word bound-
	      aries are the same as backward-word.
       copy-forward-word
	      Copy the word following point to	the  kill  buffer.   The  word
	      boundaries are the same as forward-word.
       yank (C-y)
	      Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
       yank-pop (M-y)
	      Rotate  the kill ring, and yank the new top.  Only works follow-
	      ing yank or yank-pop.

   Numeric Arguments
       digit-argument (M-0, M-1, ..., M--)
	      Add this digit to the argument already accumulating, or start  a
	      new argument.  M-- starts a negative argument.
       universal-argument
	      This  is another way to specify an argument.  If this command is
	      followed by one or more digits, optionally with a leading	 minus
	      sign,  those digits define the argument.	If the command is fol-
	      lowed by digits, executing  universal-argument  again  ends  the
	      numeric  argument, but is otherwise ignored.  As a special case,
	      if this command is immediately followed by a character  that  is
	      neither  a  digit or minus sign, the argument count for the next
	      command is multiplied by four.  The argument count is  initially
	      one,  so	executing this function the first time makes the argu-
	      ment count four, a second time makes the argument count sixteen,
	      and so on.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       59

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

   Completing
       complete (TAB)
	      Attempt  to  perform  completion on the text before point.  Bash
	      attempts completion treating the text as a variable (if the text
	      begins  with  $), username (if the text begins with ~), hostname
	      (if the text begins with @), or command (including  aliases  and
	      functions) in turn.  If none of these produces a match, filename
	      completion is attempted.
       possible-completions (M-?)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point.
       insert-completions (M-*)
	      Insert all completions of the text before point that would  have
	      been generated by possible-completions.
       menu-complete
	      Similar  to complete, but replaces the word to be completed with
	      a single match from the list of possible completions.   Repeated
	      execution	 of  menu-complete  steps through the list of possible
	      completions, inserting each match in turn.  At the  end  of  the
	      list of completions, the bell is rung (subject to the setting of
	      bell-style) and the original text is restored.  An argument of n
	      moves  n	positions  forward  in the list of matches; a negative
	      argument may be used to move backward through  the  list.	  This
	      command  is  intended  to	 be  bound  to	TAB, but is unbound by
	      defaultc
       menu-complete-krd
	      Identical to menu-complete, but moves backward through the  list
	      of  possible  completions,  as if menu-complete had been given a
	      negative argument.  This command is unbound by default.
       delete-char-or-list
	      Deletes the character under the cursor if not at	the  beginning
	      or  end  of  the	line (like delete-char).  If at the end of the
	      line, behaves identically to possible-completions.  This command
	      is unbound by default.
       complete-filename (M-/)
	      Attempt filename completion on the text before point.
       possible-filename-completions (C-x /)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
	      it as a filename.
       complete-username (M-~)
	      Attempt completion on the text before point, treating  it	 as  a
	      username.
       possible-username-completions (C-x ~)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
	      it as a username.
       complete-variable (M-$)
	      Attempt completion on the text before point, treating  it	 as  a
	      shell variable.
       possible-variable-completions (C-x $)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
	      it as a shell variable.
       complete-hostname (M-@)
	      Attempt completion on the text before point, treating  it	 as  a
	      hostname.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
	      it as a hostname.
       complete-command (M-!)
	      Attempt completion on the text before point, treating  it	 as  a
	      command  name.   Command	completion  attempts to match the text
	      against  aliases,	 reserved  words,   shell   functions,	 shell
	      builtins, and finally executable filenames, in that order.
       possible-command-completions (C-x !)
	      List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
	      it as a command name.
       dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)
	      Attempt completion on the text before point, comparing the  text
	      against  lines  from  the	 history  list for possible completion
	      matches.
       dabbrev-expand
	      Attempt menu completion on the text before point, comparing  the
	      text against lines from the history list for possible completion
	      matches.
       complete-into-braces (M-{)
	      Perform filename completion and insert the list of possible com-
	      pletions	enclosed within braces so the list is available to the
	      shell (see Brace Expansion above).

   Keyboard Macros
       start-kbd-macro (C-x ()
	      Begin saving the characters  typed  into	the  current  keyboard
	      macro.
       end-kbd-macro (C-x ))
	      Stop saving the characters typed into the current keyboard macro
	      and store the definition.
       call-last-kbd-macro (C-x e)
	      Re-execute the last keyboard macro defined, by making the	 char-
	      acters in the macro appear as if typed at the keyboard.

   Miscellaneous
       re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)
	      Read  in	the  contents of the inputrc file, and incorporate any
	      bindings or variable assignments found there.
       abort (C-g)
	      Abort the current editing command and ring the  terminal's  bell
	      (subject to the setting of bell-style).
       do-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-x, ...)
	      If  the  metafied character x is lowercase, run the command that
	      is bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
       prefix-meta (ESC)
	      Metafy the next character typed.	ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.
       undo (C-_, C-x C-u)
	      Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
       revert-line (M-r)
	      Undo  all changes made to this line.  This is like executing the
	      undo command enough times to return  the	line  to  its  initial
	      state.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       tilde-expand (M-&)
	      Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
       set-mark (C-@, M-<space>)
	      Set  the	mark to the point.  If a numeric argument is supplied,
	      the mark is set to that position.
       exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)
	      Swap the point with the mark.  The current  cursor  position  is
	      set  to the saved position, and the old cursor position is saved
	      as the mark.
       character-search (C-])
	      A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of
	      that  character.	 A negative count searches for previous occur-
	      rences.
       character-search-backward (M-C-])
	      A character is read and point is moved to	 the  previous	occur-
	      rence  of	 that character.  A negative count searches for subse-
	      quent occurrences.
       skip-csi-sequence ()
	      Read enough characters to consume a multi-key sequence  such  as
	      those  defined for keys like Home and End.  Such sequences begin
	      with a Control Sequence Indicator (CSI), usually ESC-[.  If this
	      sequence	is  bound  to "\[", keys producing such sequences will
	      have no effect unless explicitly bound to	 a  readline  command,
	      instead  of  inserting stray characters into the editing buffer.
	      This is unbound by default, but usually bound to ESC-[.
       insert-comment (M-#)
	      Without a numeric argument,  the	value  of  the	readline  com-
	      ment-begin  variable is inserted at the beginning of the current
	      line.  If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a
	      toggle:	if  the characters at the beginning of the line do not
	      match the value of comment-begin, the value is inserted,	other-
	      wise the characters in comment-begin are deleted from the begin-
	      ning of the line.	 In either case, the line is accepted as if  a
	      newline  had  been  typed.   The	default value of comment-begin
	      causes this command to make the current line  a  shell  comment.
	      If  a  numeric  argument	causes	the  comment  character	 to be
	      removed, the line will be executed by the shell.
       glob-complete-word (M-g)
	      The word before point is	treated	 as  a	pattern	 for  pathname
	      expansion,  with	an asterisk implicitly appended.  This pattern
	      is used to generate a list of matching file names	 for  possible
	      completions.
       glob-expand-word (C-x *)
	      The  word	 before	 point	is  treated  as a pattern for pathname
	      expansion, and the list of  matching  file  names	 is  inserted,
	      replacing	 the  word.   If  a  numeric  argument is supplied, an
	      asterisk is appended before pathname expansion.
       glob-list-expansions (C-x g)
	      The list	of  expansions	that  would  have  been	 generated  by
	      glob-expand-word	is  displayed,	and the line is redrawn.  If a
	      numeric argument is supplied, an	asterisk  is  appended	before
	      pathname expansion.
       dump-functions
	      Print  all  of  the  functions  and  their  key  bindings to the

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      readline output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied,  the
	      output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
	      inputrc file.
       dump-variables
	      Print all of the settable readline variables and their values to
	      the  readline output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied,
	      the output is formatted in such a way that it can be  made  part
	      of an inputrc file.
       dump-macros
	      Print  all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
	      strings they output.  If a numeric  argument  is	supplied,  the
	      output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
	      inputrc file.
       display-shell-version (C-x C-v)
	      Display version information about the current instance of	 bash.

   Programmable Completion
       When  word  completion  is  attempted  for an argument to a command for
       which a completion specification (a compspec) has  been	defined	 using
       the  complete  builtin  (see  SHELL  BUILTIN  COMMANDS below), the pro-
       grammable completion facilities are invoked.

       First, the command name is identified.  If  the	command	 word  is  the
       empty  string (completion attempted at the beginning of an empty line),
       any compspec defined with the -E option to  complete  is	 used.	 If  a
       compspec	 has  been  defined  for that command, the compspec is used to
       generate the list of possible completions for the word.	If the command
       word  is	 a full pathname, a compspec for the full pathname is searched
       for first.  If no compspec is found for the full pathname,  an  attempt
       is  made	 to find a compspec for the portion following the final slash.
       If those searches to not result in a  compspec,	any  compspec  defined
       with the -D option to complete is used as the default.

       Once  a	compspec  has  been  found, it is used to generate the list of
       matching words.	If a compspec is not found, the default	 bash  comple-
       tion as described above under Completing is performed.

       First,  the  actions  specified by the compspec are used.  Only matches
       which are prefixed by the word being completed are returned.  When  the
       -f  or -d option is used for filename or directory name completion, the
       shell variable FIGNORE is used to filter the matches.

       Any completions specified by a pathname expansion  pattern  to  the  -G
       option are generated next.  The words generated by the pattern need not
       match the word being completed.	The GLOBIGNORE shell variable  is  not
       used to filter the matches, but the FIGNORE variable is used.

       Next,  the string specified as the argument to the -W option is consid-
       ered.  The string is first split using the characters in the  IFS  spe-
       cial  variable  as delimiters.  Shell quoting is honored.  Each word is
       then expanded using brace expansion,  tilde  expansion,	parameter  and
       variable	 expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion, as
       described above under EXPANSION.	 The results are split using the rules
       described above under Word Splitting.  The results of the expansion are

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       prefix-matched against the word being completed, and the matching words
       become the possible completions.

       After  these matches have been generated, any shell function or command
       specified with the -F and -C options is invoked.	 When the  command  or
       function is invoked, the COMP_LINE, COMP_POINT, COMP_KEY, and COMP_TYPE
       variables are assigned values as described above under Shell Variables.
       If  a  shell  function  is being invoked, the COMP_WORDS and COMP_CWORD
       variables are also set.	When the function or command is	 invoked,  the
       first  argument	is  the	 name of the command whose arguments are being
       completed, the second argument is the word  being  completed,  and  the
       third  argument	is  the word preceding the word being completed on the
       current command	line.	No  filtering  of  the	generated  completions
       against	the word being completed is performed; the function or command
       has complete freedom in generating the matches.

       Any function specified with -F is invoked first.	 The function may  use
       any  of	the  shell facilities, including the compgen builtin described
       below, to generate the matches.	It must put the	 possible  completions
       in the COMPREPLY array variable.

       Next,  any  command specified with the -C option is invoked in an envi-
       ronment equivalent to command substitution.  It should print a list  of
       completions,  one  per  line, to the standard output.  Backslash may be
       used to escape a newline, if necessary.

       After all of the possible completions are generated, any filter	speci-
       fied  with  the -X option is applied to the list.  The filter is a pat-
       tern as used for pathname expansion; a & in  the	 pattern  is  replaced
       with  the text of the word being completed.  A literal & may be escaped
       with a backslash; the backslash is removed before attempting  a	match.
       Any  completion that matches the pattern will be removed from the list.
       A leading ! negates the pattern; in this case any completion not match-
       ing the pattern will be removed.

       Finally, any prefix and suffix specified with the -P and -S options are
       added to each member of the completion list, and the result is returned
       to the readline completion code as the list of possible completions.

       If  the previously-applied actions do not generate any matches, and the
       -o dirnames option was supplied	to  complete  when  the	 compspec  was
       defined, directory name completion is attempted.

       If  the	-o  plusdirs option was supplied to complete when the compspec
       was defined, directory name completion is attempted and any matches are
       added to the results of the other actions.

       By  default,  if a compspec is found, whatever it generates is returned
       to the completion code as the full set of  possible  completions.   The
       default bash completions are not attempted, and the readline default of
       filename completion is disabled.	 If the -o bashdefault option was sup-
       plied  to complete when the compspec was defined, the bash default com-
       pletions are attempted if the compspec generates no matches.  If the -o
       default	option was supplied to complete when the compspec was defined,

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       readline's default completion will be performed if the  compspec	 (and,
       if attempted, the default bash completions) generate no matches.

       When  a	compspec  indicates that directory name completion is desired,
       the programmable completion functions force readline to append a	 slash
       to  completed names which are symbolic links to directories, subject to
       the value of the mark-directories readline variable, regardless of  the
       setting of the mark-symlinked-directories readline variable.

       There  is  some support for dynamically modifying completions.  This is
       most useful when used in combination with a default  completion	speci-
       fied  with  complete -D.	 It's possible for shell functions executed as
       completion handlers to indicate that completion should  be  retried  by
       returning  an exit status of 124.  If a shell function returns 124, and
       changes the compspec associated with the command on which completion is
       being  attempted	 (supplied  as the first argument when the function is
       executed), programmable completion restarts from the beginning, with an
       attempt to find a compspec for that command.  This allows a set of com-
       pletions to be built dynamically as  completion	is  attempted,	rather
       than being loaded all at once.

       For  instance, assuming that there is a library of compspecs, each kept
       in a file corresponding to the  name  of	 the  command,	the  following
       default completion function would load completions dynamically:

       _completion_loader()
       {
	    . "/etc/bash_completion.d/$1.sh" >/dev/null 2>&1 && return 124
       }
       complete -D -F _completion_loader

HISTORY
       When  the  -o  history  option to the set builtin is enabled, the shell
       provides access to the command history, the list of commands previously
       typed.	The  value  of	the HISTSIZE variable is used as the number of
       commands to save in a history list.  The text of the last HISTSIZE com-
       mands  (default	500)  is  saved.  The shell stores each command in the
       history list prior to parameter and variable expansion  (see  EXPANSION
       above)  but after history expansion is performed, subject to the values
       of the shell variables HISTIGNORE and HISTCONTROL.

       On startup, the history is initialized from the file named by the vari-
       able  HISTFILE  (default ~/.bash_history).  The file named by the value
       of HISTFILE is truncated, if necessary, to contain  no  more  than  the
       number  of lines specified by the value of HISTFILESIZE.	 When the his-
       tory file is read, lines beginning with the history  comment  character
       followed	 immediately  by a digit are interpreted as timestamps for the
       preceding history line.	 These	timestamps  are	 optionally  displayed
       depending  on the value of the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable.	When an inter-
       active shell exits, the last $HISTSIZE lines are copied from  the  his-
       tory list to $HISTFILE.	If the histappend shell option is enabled (see
       the description of shopt under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below), the lines
       are  appended  to  the  history	file,  otherwise  the  history file is

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       overwritten.   If  HISTFILE  is	unset,	or  if	the  history  file  is
       unwritable,  the	 history is not saved.	If the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable
       is set, time stamps are written to the history file,  marked  with  the
       history	comment	 character, so they may be preserved across shell ses-
       sions.  This uses the history comment character to  distinguish	times-
       tamps  from other history lines.	 After saving the history, the history
       file is truncated to contain no more than HISTFILESIZE lines.  If HIST-
       FILESIZE is not set, no truncation is performed.

       The  builtin  command fc (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below) may be used
       to list or edit and re-execute a portion of the history list.  The his-
       tory  builtin  may  be  used  to display or modify the history list and
       manipulate the history file.  When using command-line  editing,	search
       commands	 are available in each editing mode that provide access to the
       history list.

       The shell allows control over which commands are saved on  the  history
       list.  The HISTCONTROL and HISTIGNORE variables may be set to cause the
       shell to save only a subset of the commands entered.  The cmdhist shell
       option,	if enabled, causes the shell to attempt to save each line of a
       multi-line command in the same history entry, adding  semicolons	 where
       necessary  to preserve syntactic correctness.  The lithist shell option
       causes the shell to save the command with embedded newlines instead  of
       semicolons.  See the description of the shopt builtin below under SHELL
       BUILTIN	COMMANDS  for  information  on	setting	 and  unsetting	 shell
       options.

HISTORY EXPANSION
       The  shell  supports a history expansion feature that is similar to the
       history expansion in csh.  This section describes what syntax  features
       are  available.	 This  feature	is  enabled by default for interactive
       shells, and can be disabled using the +H option to the set builtin com-
       mand (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).	 Non-interactive shells do not
       perform history expansion by default.

       History expansions introduce words from the history list into the input
       stream,	making	it  easy to repeat commands, insert the arguments to a
       previous command into the current input line, or fix errors in previous
       commands quickly.

       History	expansion  is  performed  immediately after a complete line is
       read, before the shell breaks it into words.  It	 takes	place  in  two
       parts.	The  first is to determine which line from the history list to
       use during substitution.	 The second is to select portions of that line
       for inclusion into the current one.  The line selected from the history
       is the event, and the portions of that line that	 are  acted  upon  are
       words.	Various	 modifiers  are	 available  to manipulate the selected
       words.  The line is broken into words in the same fashion as when read-
       ing  input, so that several metacharacter-separated words surrounded by
       quotes are considered one word.	History expansions are	introduced  by
       the  appearance	of  the	 history  expansion  character,	 which is ! by
       default.	 Only backslash (\) and single quotes can  quote  the  history
       expansion character.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       Several	characters inhibit history expansion if found immediately fol-
       lowing the history expansion character, even if it is unquoted:	space,
       tab,  newline,  carriage return, and =.	If the extglob shell option is
       enabled, ( will also inhibit expansion.

       Several shell options settable with the shopt builtin may  be  used  to
       tailor  the  behavior  of  history  expansion.  If the histverify shell
       option is enabled (see the description of the shopt builtin below), and
       readline	 is  being  used,  history  substitutions  are not immediately
       passed to the shell parser.  Instead, the  expanded  line  is  reloaded
       into the readline editing buffer for further modification.  If readline
       is being used, and the histreedit shell option  is  enabled,  a	failed
       history	substitution will be reloaded into the readline editing buffer
       for correction.	The -p option to the history builtin  command  may  be
       used  to	 see what a history expansion will do before using it.	The -s
       option to the history builtin may be used to add commands to the end of
       the  history  list  without  actually  executing them, so that they are
       available for subsequent recall.

       The shell allows control of the various characters used by the  history
       expansion mechanism (see the description of histchars above under Shell
       Variables).  The shell uses the history comment character to mark  his-
       tory timestamps when writing the history file.

   Event Designators
       An  event designator is a reference to a command line entry in the his-
       tory list.

       !      Start a history substitution, except when followed by  a	blank,
	      newline,	carriage return, = or ( (when the extglob shell option
	      is enabled using the shopt builtin).
       !n     Refer to command line n.
       !-n    Refer to the current command line minus n.
       !!     Refer to the previous command.  This is a synonym for `!-1'.
       !string
	      Refer to the most recent command starting with string.
       !?string[?]
	      Refer to the most recent command containing string.  The	trail-
	      ing ? may be omitted if string is followed immediately by a new-
	      line.
       ^string1^string2^
	      Quick substitution.  Repeat the last command, replacing  string1
	      with string2.  Equivalent to ``!!:s/string1/string2/'' (see Mod-
	      ifiers below).
       !#     The entire command line typed so far.

   Word Designators
       Word designators are used to select desired words from the event.  A  :
       separates  the event specification from the word designator.  It may be
       omitted if the word designator begins with a ^, $, *, -, or  %.	 Words
       are  numbered from the beginning of the line, with the first word being
       denoted by 0 (zero).  Words are inserted into the  current  line	 sepa-
       rated by single spaces.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       0 (zero)
	      The zeroth word.	For the shell, this is the command word.
       n      The nth word.
       ^      The first argument.  That is, word 1.
       $      The last argument.
       %      The word matched by the most recent `?string?' search.
       x-y    A range of words; `-y' abbreviates `0-y'.
       *      All  of  the words but the zeroth.  This is a synonym for `1-$'.
	      It is not an error to use * if there is just  one	 word  in  the
	      event; the empty string is returned in that case.
       x*     Abbreviates x-$.
       x-     Abbreviates x-$ like x*, but omits the last word.

       If  a  word  designator is supplied without an event specification, the
       previous command is used as the event.

   Modifiers
       After the optional word designator, there may appear a sequence of  one
       or more of the following modifiers, each preceded by a `:'.

       h      Remove a trailing file name component, leaving only the head.
       t      Remove all leading file name components, leaving the tail.
       r      Remove a trailing suffix of the form .xxx, leaving the basename.
       e      Remove all but the trailing suffix.
       p      Print the new command but do not execute it.
       q      Quote the substituted words, escaping further substitutions.
       x      Quote the substituted words as with q, but break into  words  at
	      blanks and newlines.
       s/old/new/
	      Substitute  new  for  the	 first	occurrence of old in the event
	      line.  Any delimiter can be used	in  place  of  /.   The	 final
	      delimiter	 is  optional if it is the last character of the event
	      line.  The delimiter may be quoted in old and new with a	single
	      backslash.   If & appears in new, it is replaced by old.	A sin-
	      gle backslash will quote the &.  If old is null, it  is  set  to
	      the  last	 old substituted, or, if no previous history substitu-
	      tions took place, the last string in a !?string[?]  search.
       &      Repeat the previous substitution.
       g      Cause changes to be applied over the entire event line.  This is
	      used  in	conjunction  with `:s' (e.g., `:gs/old/new/') or `:&'.
	      If used with `:s', any delimiter can be used in place of /,  and
	      the  final  delimiter is optional if it is the last character of
	      the event line.  An a may be used as a synonym for g.
       G      Apply the following `s' modifier once to each word in the	 event
	      line.

SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS
       Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented in this section
       as accepting options preceded by - accepts -- to signify the end of the
       options.	  The  :, true, false, and test builtins do not accept options
       and do not treat -- specially.  The exit, logout, break, continue, let,
       and  shift builtins accept and process arguments beginning with - with-
       out requiring --.  Other builtins that accept  arguments	 but  are  not
       specified  as accepting options interpret arguments beginning with - as

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       invalid options and require -- to prevent this interpretation.
       : [arguments]
	      No effect; the command does nothing beyond  expanding  arguments
	      and  performing any specified redirections.  A zero exit code is
	      returned.

	.  filename [arguments]
       source filename [arguments]
	      Read and execute commands from filename  in  the	current	 shell
	      environment  and return the exit status of the last command exe-
	      cuted from filename.  If filename does not contain a slash, file
	      names  in	 PATH  are used to find the directory containing file-
	      name.  The file searched for in PATH  need  not  be  executable.
	      When  bash  is  not  in  posix  mode,  the  current directory is
	      searched if no file is found in PATH.  If the sourcepath	option
	      to  the  shopt  builtin  command	is turned off, the PATH is not
	      searched.	 If any arguments are supplied, they become the	 posi-
	      tional  parameters  when	filename  is  executed.	 Otherwise the
	      positional parameters are unchanged.  The return status  is  the
	      status  of  the  last  command exited within the script (0 if no
	      commands are executed), and false if filename is	not  found  or
	      cannot be read.

       alias [-p] [name[=value] ...]
	      Alias with no arguments or with the -p option prints the list of
	      aliases in the form alias name=value on standard	output.	  When
	      arguments	 are supplied, an alias is defined for each name whose
	      value is given.  A trailing space in  value causes the next word
	      to be checked for alias substitution when the alias is expanded.
	      For each name in the argument list for which no  value  is  sup-
	      plied,  the  name	 and  value  of	 the  alias is printed.	 Alias
	      returns true unless a name is given for which no alias has  been
	      defined.

       bg [jobspec ...]
	      Resume  each  suspended  job jobspec in the background, as if it
	      had been started with &.	If jobspec is not present, the shell's
	      notion  of the current job is used.  bg jobspec returns 0 unless
	      run when job control is disabled or, when run with  job  control
	      enabled,	any  specified	jobspec	 was  not found or was started
	      without job control.

       bind [-m keymap] [-lpsvPSV]
       bind [-m keymap] [-q function] [-u function] [-r keyseq]
       bind [-m keymap] -f filename
       bind [-m keymap] -x keyseq:shell-command
       bind [-m keymap] keyseq:function-name
       bind readline-command
	      Display current readline key and function bindings, bind	a  key
	      sequence	to  a  readline	 function  or macro, or set a readline
	      variable.	 Each non-option argument is a	command	 as  it	 would
	      appear  in  .inputrc, but each binding or command must be passed
	      as a separate argument; e.g.,  '"\C-x\C-r":  re-read-init-file'.
	      Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       69

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      -m keymap
		     Use keymap as the keymap to be affected by the subsequent
		     bindings.	Acceptable keymap names are emacs, emacs-stan-
		     dard,  emacs-meta,	 emacs-ctlx,  vi, vi-move, vi-command,
		     and vi-insert.  vi is equivalent to vi-command; emacs  is
		     equivalent to emacs-standard.
	      -l     List the names of all readline functions.
	      -p     Display  readline	function  names and bindings in such a
		     way that they can be re-read.
	      -P     List current readline function names and bindings.
	      -s     Display readline key sequences bound to  macros  and  the
		     strings  they  output  in such a way that they can be re-
		     read.
	      -S     Display readline key sequences bound to  macros  and  the
		     strings they output.
	      -v     Display  readline variable names and values in such a way
		     that they can be re-read.
	      -V     List current readline variable names and values.
	      -f filename
		     Read key bindings from filename.
	      -q function
		     Query about which keys invoke the named function.
	      -u function
		     Unbind all keys bound to the named function.
	      -r keyseq
		     Remove any current binding for keyseq.
	      -x keyseq:shell-command
		     Cause shell-command to be	executed  whenever  keyseq  is
		     entered.	When shell-command is executed, the shell sets
		     the READLINE_LINE variable to the contents of  the	 read-
		     line  line	 buffer and the READLINE_POINT variable to the
		     current location of the insertion point.  If the executed
		     command  changes  the  value  of  READLINE_LINE  or READ-
		     LINE_POINT, those new values will	be  reflected  in  the
		     editing state.

	      The  return value is 0 unless an unrecognized option is given or
	      an error occurred.

       break [n]
	      Exit from within a for, while, until, or select loop.  If	 n  is
	      specified,  break	 n  levels.   n must be >= 1.  If n is greater
	      than the number of enclosing  loops,  all	 enclosing  loops  are
	      exited.	The  return value is 0 unless n is not greater than or
	      equal to 1.

       builtin shell-builtin [arguments]
	      Execute the specified shell builtin, passing it  arguments,  and
	      return its exit status.  This is useful when defining a function
	      whose name is the same as a shell builtin, retaining  the	 func-
	      tionality of the builtin within the function.  The cd builtin is
	      commonly redefined this way.  The	 return	 status	 is  false  if
	      shell-builtin is not a shell builtin command.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       70

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       caller [expr]
	      Returns the context of any active subroutine call (a shell func-
	      tion or a script executed with the . or source builtins.	 With-
	      out expr, caller displays the line number and source filename of
	      the current subroutine call.  If a non-negative integer is  sup-
	      plied as expr, caller displays the line number, subroutine name,
	      and source file corresponding to that position  in  the  current
	      execution	 call  stack.  This extra information may be used, for
	      example, to print a stack trace.	The current frame is frame  0.
	      The  return  value is 0 unless the shell is not executing a sub-
	      routine call or expr does not correspond to a valid position  in
	      the call stack.

       cd [-L|-P] [dir]
	      Change  the  current directory to dir.  The variable HOME is the
	      default dir.  The variable CDPATH defines the  search  path  for
	      the  directory  containing  dir.	Alternative directory names in
	      CDPATH are separated by a colon (:).  A null directory  name  in
	      CDPATH  is  the  same as the current directory, i.e., ``.''.  If
	      dir begins with a slash (/), then CDPATH is  not	used.  The  -P
	      option  says  to use the physical directory structure instead of
	      following symbolic links (see also the  -P  option  to  the  set
	      builtin command); the -L option forces symbolic links to be fol-
	      lowed.  An argument of - is equivalent to $OLDPWD.   If  a  non-
	      empty  directory	name from CDPATH is used, or if - is the first
	      argument, and the directory change is successful,	 the  absolute
	      pathname of the new working directory is written to the standard
	      output.  The return value is true if the directory was  success-
	      fully changed; false otherwise.

       command [-pVv] command [arg ...]
	      Run  command  with  args	suppressing  the normal shell function
	      lookup. Only builtin commands or commands found in the PATH  are
	      executed.	  If the -p option is given, the search for command is
	      performed using a default value for PATH that is	guaranteed  to
	      find  all	 of  the  standard  utilities.	If either the -V or -v
	      option is supplied, a description of command is printed.	The -v
	      option  causes a single word indicating the command or file name
	      used to invoke command to be displayed; the -V option produces a
	      more  verbose  description.  If the -V or -v option is supplied,
	      the exit status is 0 if command was found, and  1	 if  not.   If
	      neither option is supplied and an error occurred or command can-
	      not be found, the exit status is 127.  Otherwise, the exit  sta-
	      tus of the command builtin is the exit status of command.

       compgen [option] [word]
	      Generate	possible  completion matches for word according to the
	      options, which may  be  any  option  accepted  by	 the  complete
	      builtin  with  the exception of -p and -r, and write the matches
	      to the standard output.  When using the -F or  -C	 options,  the
	      various  shell  variables	 set  by  the  programmable completion
	      facilities, while available, will not have useful values.

	      The matches will	be  generated  in  the	same  way  as  if  the

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       71

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      programmable  completion code had generated them directly from a
	      completion specification with the same flags.  If word is speci-
	      fied, only those completions matching word will be displayed.

	      The  return  value is true unless an invalid option is supplied,
	      or no matches were generated.

       complete [-abcdefgjksuv] [-o comp-option] [-DE] [-A action] [-G
       globpat]	 [-W wordlist] [-F function] [-C command]
	      [-X filterpat] [-P prefix] [-S suffix] name [name ...]
       complete -pr [-DE] [name ...]
	      Specify how arguments to each name should be completed.  If  the
	      -p  option  is supplied, or if no options are supplied, existing
	      completion specifications are printed in a way that allows  them
	      to be reused as input.  The -r option removes a completion spec-
	      ification for each name, or, if no names are supplied, all  com-
	      pletion  specifications.	 The  -D  option  indicates  that  the
	      remaining options and actions should apply  to  the  ``default''
	      command  completion;  that is, completion attempted on a command
	      for which no completion has previously  been  defined.   The  -E
	      option  indicates	 that the remaining options and actions should
	      apply to	``empty''  command  completion;	 that  is,  completion
	      attempted on a blank line.

	      The  process  of	applying  these completion specifications when
	      word completion is  attempted  is	 described  above  under  Pro-
	      grammable Completion.

	      Other  options,  if specified, have the following meanings.  The
	      arguments to the -G, -W, and -X options (and, if necessary,  the
	      -P  and -S options) should be quoted to protect them from expan-
	      sion before the complete builtin is invoked.
	      -o comp-option
		      The comp-option controls several aspects	of  the	 comp-
		      spec's  behavior beyond the simple generation of comple-
		      tions.  comp-option may be one of:
		      bashdefault
			      Perform the rest of the default bash completions
			      if the compspec generates no matches.
		      default Use  readline's  default	filename completion if
			      the compspec generates no matches.
		      dirnames
			      Perform directory name completion if  the	 comp-
			      spec generates no matches.
		      filenames
			      Tell  readline that the compspec generates file-
			      names, so it can perform	any  filename-specific
			      processing  (like	 adding	 a  slash to directory
			      names, quoting special characters, or  suppress-
			      ing  trailing spaces).  Intended to be used with
			      shell functions.
		      nospace Tell  readline  not  to  append  a  space	  (the
			      default)	to  words  completed at the end of the
			      line.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		      plusdirs
			      After any matches defined by  the	 compspec  are
			      generated,    directory	name   completion   is
			      attempted and  any  matches  are	added  to  the
			      results of the other actions.
	      -A action
		      The  action  may	be  one of the following to generate a
		      list of possible completions:
		      alias   Alias names.  May also be specified as -a.
		      arrayvar
			      Array variable names.
		      binding Readline key binding names.
		      builtin Names of shell builtin commands.	 May  also  be
			      specified as -b.
		      command Command names.  May also be specified as -c.
		      directory
			      Directory names.	May also be specified as -d.
		      disabled
			      Names of disabled shell builtins.
		      enabled Names of enabled shell builtins.
		      export  Names  of exported shell variables.  May also be
			      specified as -e.
		      file    File names.  May also be specified as -f.
		      function
			      Names of shell functions.
		      group   Group names.  May also be specified as -g.
		      helptopic
			      Help topics as accepted by the help builtin.
		      hostname
			      Hostnames, as taken from the file	 specified  by
			      the HOSTFILE shell variable.
		      job     Job  names,  if job control is active.  May also
			      be specified as -j.
		      keyword Shell reserved words.  May also be specified  as
			      -k.
		      running Names of running jobs, if job control is active.
		      service Service names.  May also be specified as -s.
		      setopt  Valid arguments for the -o  option  to  the  set
			      builtin.
		      shopt   Shell  option  names  as	accepted  by the shopt
			      builtin.
		      signal  Signal names.
		      stopped Names of stopped jobs, if job control is active.
		      user    User names.  May also be specified as -u.
		      variable
			      Names of all shell variables.  May also be spec-
			      ified as -v.
	      -G globpat
		      The pathname expansion pattern globpat  is  expanded  to
		      generate the possible completions.
	      -W wordlist
		      The  wordlist  is	 split using the characters in the IFS
		      special variable as delimiters, and each resultant  word
		      is  expanded.   The possible completions are the members

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       73

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		      of the resultant list which match the  word  being  com-
		      pleted.
	      -C command
		      command  is  executed in a subshell environment, and its
		      output is used as the possible completions.
	      -F function
		      The shell function function is executed in  the  current
		      shell  environment.  When it finishes, the possible com-
		      pletions are retrieved from the value of	the  COMPREPLY
		      array variable.
	      -X filterpat
		      filterpat	 is  a pattern as used for pathname expansion.
		      It is applied to the list of possible completions gener-
		      ated  by	the  preceding options and arguments, and each
		      completion matching filterpat is removed from the	 list.
		      A	 leading  !  in filterpat negates the pattern; in this
		      case, any completion not matching filterpat is  removed.
	      -P prefix
		      prefix  is  added at the beginning of each possible com-
		      pletion after all other options have been applied.
	      -S suffix
		      suffix is appended to each possible completion after all
		      other options have been applied.

	      The  return  value is true unless an invalid option is supplied,
	      an option other than -p or -r is supplied without a  name	 argu-
	      ment,  an	 attempt  is made to remove a completion specification
	      for a name for which no specification exists, or an error occurs
	      adding a completion specification.

       compopt [-o option] [-DE] [+o option] [name]
	      Modify  completion  options  for	each  name  according  to  the
	      options, or for the currently-execution completion if  no	 names
	      are  supplied.   If no options are given, display the completion
	      options for each name or the current completion.	 The  possible
	      values  of  option  are  those  valid  for  the complete builtin
	      described above.	The -D option  indicates  that	the  remaining
	      options should apply to the ``default'' command completion; that
	      is, completion attempted on a command for	 which	no  completion
	      has  previously  been defined.  The -E option indicates that the
	      remaining options should apply to ``empty'' command  completion;
	      that is, completion attempted on a blank line.

       The  return  value  is  true  unless  an invalid option is supplied, an
       attempt is made to modify the options for a name for which  no  comple-
       tion specification exists, or an output error occurs.

       continue [n]
	      Resume the next iteration of the enclosing for, while, until, or
	      select loop.  If n is specified, resume  at  the	nth  enclosing
	      loop.   n	 must  be  >=  1.   If n is greater than the number of
	      enclosing loops, the  last  enclosing  loop  (the	 ``top-level''
	      loop) is resumed.	 The return value is 0 unless n is not greater
	      than or equal to 1.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       declare [-aAfFilrtux] [-p] [name[=value] ...]
       typeset [-aAfFilrtux] [-p] [name[=value] ...]
	      Declare variables and/or give them attributes.  If no names  are
	      given  then display the values of variables.  The -p option will
	      display the attributes and values of each name.  When -p is used
	      with name arguments, additional options are ignored.  When -p is
	      supplied without name arguments, it will display the  attributes
	      and  values  of all variables having the attributes specified by
	      the additional options.  If no other options are	supplied  with
	      -p,  declare will display the attributes and values of all shell
	      variables.  The -f option will restrict  the  display  to	 shell
	      functions.  The -F option inhibits the display of function defi-
	      nitions; only the function name and attributes are printed.   If
	      the  extdebug  shell  option  is enabled using shopt, the source
	      file name and line number where the function is defined are dis-
	      played  as  well.	  The  -F  option  implies  -f.	 The following
	      options can be used to restrict output  to  variables  with  the
	      specified attribute or to give variables attributes:
	      -a     Each  name	 is  an	 indexed  array	 variable  (see Arrays
		     above).
	      -A     Each name is an associative array	variable  (see	Arrays
		     above).
	      -f     Use function names only.
	      -i     The variable is treated as an integer; arithmetic evalua-
		     tion (see ARITHMETIC EVALUATION above) is performed  when
		     the variable is assigned a value.
	      -l     When  the	variable  is  assigned a value, all upper-case
		     characters are converted to lower-case.   The  upper-case
		     attribute is disabled.
	      -r     Make names readonly.  These names cannot then be assigned
		     values by subsequent assignment statements or unset.
	      -t     Give each name the	 trace	attribute.   Traced  functions
		     inherit  the  DEBUG  and  RETURN  traps  from the calling
		     shell.  The trace attribute has no	 special  meaning  for
		     variables.
	      -u     When  the	variable  is  assigned a value, all lower-case
		     characters are converted to upper-case.   The  lower-case
		     attribute is disabled.
	      -x     Mark  names  for  export  to  subsequent commands via the
		     environment.

	      Using `+' instead of `-' turns off the attribute	instead,  with
	      the exceptions that +a may not be used to destroy an array vari-
	      able and +r will not remove the readonly attribute.   When  used
	      in a function, makes each name local, as with the local command.
	      If a variable name is followed by =value, the value of the vari-
	      able  is	set to value.  The return value is 0 unless an invalid
	      option is encountered, an attempt is made to define  a  function
	      using  ``-f foo=bar'', an attempt is made to assign a value to a
	      readonly variable, an attempt is made to assign a	 value	to  an
	      array variable without using the compound assignment syntax (see
	      Arrays above), one of the names is not a	valid  shell  variable
	      name, an attempt is made to turn off readonly status for a read-
	      only variable, an attempt is made to turn off array  status  for

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       75

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      an  array variable, or an attempt is made to display a non-exis-
	      tent function with -f.

       dirs [+n] [-n] [-cplv]
	      Without options,	displays  the  list  of	 currently  remembered
	      directories.   The  default  display  is	on  a single line with
	      directory names separated by spaces.  Directories are  added  to
	      the  list	 with  the  pushd  command;  the  popd command removes
	      entries from the list.
	      +n     Displays the nth entry counting from the left of the list
		     shown by dirs when invoked without options, starting with
		     zero.
	      -n     Displays the nth entry counting from  the	right  of  the
		     list shown by dirs when invoked without options, starting
		     with zero.
	      -c     Clears  the  directory  stack  by	deleting  all  of  the
		     entries.
	      -l     Produces  a  longer  listing;  the default listing format
		     uses a tilde to denote the home directory.
	      -p     Print the directory stack with one entry per line.
	      -v     Print the directory stack with one entry per  line,  pre-
		     fixing each entry with its index in the stack.

	      The  return value is 0 unless an invalid option is supplied or n
	      indexes beyond the end of the directory stack.

       disown [-ar] [-h] [jobspec ...]
	      Without options, each jobspec  is	 removed  from	the  table  of
	      active  jobs.   If jobspec is not present, and neither -a nor -r
	      is supplied, the shell's notion of the current job is used.   If
	      the  -h  option  is  given, each jobspec is not removed from the
	      table, but is marked so that SIGHUP is not sent to  the  job  if
	      the shell receives a SIGHUP.  If no jobspec is present, and nei-
	      ther the -a nor the -r option is supplied, the  current  job  is
	      used.   If no jobspec is supplied, the -a option means to remove
	      or mark all jobs; the  -r	 option	 without  a  jobspec  argument
	      restricts	 operation  to	running	 jobs.	 The return value is 0
	      unless a jobspec does not specify a valid job.

       echo [-neE] [arg ...]
	      Output the args, separated by spaces,  followed  by  a  newline.
	      The return status is always 0.  If -n is specified, the trailing
	      newline is suppressed.  If the -e option is  given,  interpreta-
	      tion  of	the following backslash-escaped characters is enabled.
	      The -E option disables the interpretation of these escape	 char-
	      acters,  even  on systems where they are interpreted by default.
	      The xpg_echo shell option may be used to	dynamically  determine
	      whether  or not echo expands these escape characters by default.
	      echo does not interpret -- to mean the  end  of  options.	  echo
	      interprets the following escape sequences:
	      \a     alert (bell)
	      \b     backspace
	      \c     suppress further output
	      \e     an escape character

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      \f     form feed
	      \n     new line
	      \r     carriage return
	      \t     horizontal tab
	      \v     vertical tab
	      \\     backslash
	      \0nnn  the  eight-bit  character	whose value is the octal value
		     nnn (zero to three octal digits)
	      \xHH   the eight-bit character whose value  is  the  hexadecimal
		     value HH (one or two hex digits)

       enable [-a] [-dnps] [-f filename] [name ...]
	      Enable  and disable builtin shell commands.  Disabling a builtin
	      allows a disk command which has the same name as a shell builtin
	      to  be  executed without specifying a full pathname, even though
	      the shell normally searches for builtins before  disk  commands.
	      If  -n  is  used,	 each  name  is disabled; otherwise, names are
	      enabled.	For example, to use the test binary found via the PATH
	      instead  of  the	shell builtin version, run ``enable -n test''.
	      The -f option means to load the new builtin  command  name  from
	      shared object filename, on systems that support dynamic loading.
	      The -d option will delete a builtin previously loaded  with  -f.
	      If no name arguments are given, or if the -p option is supplied,
	      a list of shell builtins is printed.  With no other option argu-
	      ments,  the  list consists of all enabled shell builtins.	 If -n
	      is supplied, only disabled builtins are printed.	If -a is  sup-
	      plied,  the  list printed includes all builtins, with an indica-
	      tion of whether or not each is enabled.  If -s is supplied,  the
	      output  is restricted to the POSIX special builtins.  The return
	      value is 0 unless a name is not a shell builtin or there	is  an
	      error loading a new builtin from a shared object.

       eval [arg ...]
	      The  args	 are read and concatenated together into a single com-
	      mand.  This command is then read and executed by the shell,  and
	      its  exit status is returned as the value of eval.  If there are
	      no args, or only null arguments, eval returns 0.

       exec [-cl] [-a name] [command [arguments]]
	      If command is specified, it replaces the shell.  No new  process
	      is  created.  The arguments become the arguments to command.  If
	      the -l option is supplied, the shell places a dash at the begin-
	      ning  of	the  zeroth  argument passed to command.  This is what
	      login(1) does.  The -c option causes command to be executed with
	      an  empty environment.  If -a is supplied, the shell passes name
	      as the zeroth argument to the executed command.  If command can-
	      not  be executed for some reason, a non-interactive shell exits,
	      unless the shell option execfail is enabled, in  which  case  it
	      returns  failure.	  An  interactive shell returns failure if the
	      file cannot be executed.	If command is not specified, any redi-
	      rections take effect in the current shell, and the return status
	      is 0.  If there is a redirection error, the return status is  1.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       exit [n]
	      Cause  the  shell	 to exit with a status of n.  If n is omitted,
	      the exit status is that of the last command executed.  A trap on
	      EXIT is executed before the shell terminates.

       export [-fn] [name[=word]] ...
       export -p
	      The  supplied names are marked for automatic export to the envi-
	      ronment of subsequently executed commands.  If the -f option  is
	      given,  the names refer to functions.  If no names are given, or
	      if the -p option is supplied, a  list  of	 all  names  that  are
	      exported	in  this  shell	 is printed.  The -n option causes the
	      export property to be removed from each  name.   If  a  variable
	      name  is	followed by =word, the value of the variable is set to
	      word.  export returns an exit status  of	0  unless  an  invalid
	      option  is  encountered,	one  of the names is not a valid shell
	      variable name, or -f is supplied with a name that is not a func-
	      tion.

       fc [-e ename] [-lnr] [first] [last]
       fc -s [pat=rep] [cmd]
	      Fix  Command.  In the first form, a range of commands from first
	      to last is selected from the history list.  First and  last  may
	      be  specified  as a string (to locate the last command beginning
	      with that string) or as a number	(an  index  into  the  history
	      list, where a negative number is used as an offset from the cur-
	      rent command number).  If last is not specified it is set to the
	      current  command	for  listing (so that ``fc -l -10'' prints the
	      last 10 commands) and to first otherwise.	 If first is not spec-
	      ified  it is set to the previous command for editing and -16 for
	      listing.

	      The -n option suppresses the command numbers when listing.   The
	      -r  option reverses the order of the commands.  If the -l option
	      is given, the commands are listed on  standard  output.	Other-
	      wise,  the editor given by ename is invoked on a file containing
	      those commands.  If ename is not given, the value of the	FCEDIT
	      variable	is used, and the value of EDITOR if FCEDIT is not set.
	      If neither variable is set, vi is used.  When  editing  is  com-
	      plete, the edited commands are echoed and executed.

	      In  the  second form, command is re-executed after each instance
	      of pat is replaced by rep.  A useful alias to use with  this  is
	      ``r="fc  -s"'',  so  that	 typing ``r cc'' runs the last command
	      beginning with ``cc'' and typing ``r'' re-executes the last com-
	      mand.

	      If  the  first  form  is	used,  the return value is 0 unless an
	      invalid option is encountered or first or last  specify  history
	      lines  out  of  range.  If the -e option is supplied, the return
	      value is the value of the last command executed or failure if an
	      error occurs with the temporary file of commands.	 If the second
	      form is used, the return status is that of the  command  re-exe-
	      cuted,  unless  cmd  does	 not  specify a valid history line, in

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       78

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      which case fc returns failure.

       fg [jobspec]
	      Resume jobspec in the foreground, and make it the	 current  job.
	      If jobspec is not present, the shell's notion of the current job
	      is used.	The return value is that of the	 command  placed  into
	      the  foreground,	or failure if run when job control is disabled
	      or, when run with job control enabled, if jobspec does not spec-
	      ify  a  valid  job  or  jobspec specifies a job that was started
	      without job control.

       getopts optstring name [args]
	      getopts is used by shell procedures to parse positional  parame-
	      ters.   optstring	 contains  the	option characters to be recog-
	      nized; if a character is followed by  a  colon,  the  option  is
	      expected	to have an argument, which should be separated from it
	      by white space.  The colon and question mark characters may  not
	      be  used as option characters.  Each time it is invoked, getopts
	      places the next option in the shell variable name,  initializing
	      name if it does not exist, and the index of the next argument to
	      be processed into the variable OPTIND.  OPTIND is initialized to
	      1	 each  time  the  shell or a shell script is invoked.  When an
	      option requires an argument, getopts places that	argument  into
	      the  variable OPTARG.  The shell does not reset OPTIND automati-
	      cally; it must be	 manually  reset  between  multiple  calls  to
	      getopts within the same shell invocation if a new set of parame-
	      ters is to be used.

	      When the end of options is encountered,  getopts	exits  with  a
	      return  value  greater than zero.	 OPTIND is set to the index of
	      the first non-option argument, and name is set to ?.

	      getopts normally parses the positional parameters, but  if  more
	      arguments are given in args, getopts parses those instead.

	      getopts  can  report errors in two ways.	If the first character
	      of optstring is a colon, silent error  reporting	is  used.   In
	      normal  operation	 diagnostic  messages are printed when invalid
	      options or missing option arguments  are	encountered.   If  the
	      variable	OPTERR	is  set	 to  0, no error messages will be dis-
	      played, even if the first character of optstring is not a colon.

	      If an invalid option is seen, getopts places ? into name and, if
	      not silent, prints an  error  message  and  unsets  OPTARG.   If
	      getopts  is  silent,  the	 option	 character  found is placed in
	      OPTARG and no diagnostic message is printed.

	      If a required argument is not found, and getopts is not  silent,
	      a	 question  mark	 (?) is placed in name, OPTARG is unset, and a
	      diagnostic message is printed.  If getopts  is  silent,  then  a
	      colon  (:)  is  placed  in  name and OPTARG is set to the option
	      character found.

	      getopts returns true if an option, specified or unspecified,  is

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       79

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      found.  It returns false if the end of options is encountered or
	      an error occurs.

       hash [-lr] [-p filename] [-dt] [name]
	      For each name, the full file name of the command	is  determined
	      by searching the directories in $PATH and remembered.  If the -p
	      option is supplied, no path search is performed, and filename is
	      used as the full file name of the command.  The -r option causes
	      the shell to forget all remembered  locations.   The  -d	option
	      causes the shell to forget the remembered location of each name.
	      If the -t option is supplied, the full pathname  to  which  each
	      name  corresponds	 is  printed.	If multiple name arguments are
	      supplied with -t, the name is printed  before  the  hashed  full
	      pathname.	 The -l option causes output to be displayed in a for-
	      mat that may be reused as input.	If no arguments are given,  or
	      if only -l is supplied, information about remembered commands is
	      printed.	The return status is true unless a name is  not	 found
	      or an invalid option is supplied.

       help [-dms] [pattern]
	      Display  helpful information about builtin commands.  If pattern
	      is specified, help gives detailed help on all commands  matching
	      pattern;	otherwise  help for all the builtins and shell control
	      structures is printed.
	      -d     Display a short description of each pattern
	      -m     Display the description of each pattern in a manpage-like
		     format
	      -s     Display only a short usage synopsis for each pattern
       The return status is 0 unless no command matches pattern.

       history [n]
       history -c
       history -d offset
       history -anrw [filename]
       history -p arg [arg ...]
       history -s arg [arg ...]
	      With no options, display the command history list with line num-
	      bers.  Lines listed with a * have been modified.	An argument of
	      n	 lists only the last n lines.  If the shell variable HISTTIME-
	      FORMAT is set and not null, it is used as a  format  string  for
	      strftime(3)  to display the time stamp associated with each dis-
	      played history entry.  No intervening blank is  printed  between
	      the  formatted  time stamp and the history line.	If filename is
	      supplied, it is used as the name of the history  file;  if  not,
	      the  value  of HISTFILE is used.	Options, if supplied, have the
	      following meanings:
	      -c     Clear the history list by deleting all the entries.
	      -d offset
		     Delete the history entry at position offset.
	      -a     Append the ``new'' history lines (history	lines  entered
		     since  the	 beginning of the current bash session) to the
		     history file.
	      -n     Read the history lines not already read from the  history
		     file  into	 the  current  history	list.  These are lines

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		     appended to the history file since the beginning  of  the
		     current bash session.
	      -r     Read the contents of the history file and use them as the
		     current history.
	      -w     Write the current history to the history file,  overwrit-
		     ing the history file's contents.
	      -p     Perform  history  substitution  on the following args and
		     display the result on  the	 standard  output.   Does  not
		     store  the results in the history list.  Each arg must be
		     quoted to disable normal history expansion.
	      -s     Store the args in the history list	 as  a	single	entry.
		     The  last	command	 in the history list is removed before
		     the args are added.

	      If the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable is set, the time  stamp  informa-
	      tion  associated	with each history entry is written to the his-
	      tory file, marked with the history comment character.  When  the
	      history  file  is read, lines beginning with the history comment
	      character followed immediately by a  digit  are  interpreted  as
	      timestamps for the previous history line.	 The return value is 0
	      unless an invalid option is encountered, an error	 occurs	 while
	      reading  or  writing the history file, an invalid offset is sup-
	      plied as an argument to -d, or the history expansion supplied as
	      an argument to -p fails.

       jobs [-lnprs] [ jobspec ... ]
       jobs -x command [ args ... ]
	      The first form lists the active jobs.  The options have the fol-
	      lowing meanings:
	      -l     List process IDs in addition to the normal information.
	      -p     List only the process  ID	of  the	 job's	process	 group
		     leader.
	      -n     Display  information  only	 about	jobs that have changed
		     status since the user was last notified of their  status.
	      -r     Restrict output to running jobs.
	      -s     Restrict output to stopped jobs.

	      If  jobspec  is given, output is restricted to information about
	      that job.	 The return status is 0 unless an  invalid  option  is
	      encountered or an invalid jobspec is supplied.

	      If the -x option is supplied, jobs replaces any jobspec found in
	      command or args with the corresponding  process  group  ID,  and
	      executes command passing it args, returning its exit status.

       kill [-s sigspec | -n signum | -sigspec] [pid | jobspec] ...
       kill -l [sigspec | exit_status]
	      Send  the	 signal	 named	by  sigspec or signum to the processes
	      named by pid or jobspec.	sigspec is either  a  case-insensitive
	      signal  name such as SIGKILL (with or without the SIG prefix) or
	      a signal number; signum is a signal number.  If sigspec  is  not
	      present,	then  SIGTERM is assumed.  An argument of -l lists the
	      signal names.  If any arguments are supplied when -l  is	given,
	      the  names  of  the  signals  corresponding to the arguments are

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      listed, and the return status is 0.  The exit_status argument to
	      -l  is  a	 number	 specifying either a signal number or the exit
	      status of a process terminated by a signal.  kill	 returns  true
	      if  at  least  one  signal was successfully sent, or false if an
	      error occurs or an invalid option is encountered.

       let arg [arg ...]
	      Each arg is an arithmetic expression to be evaluated (see ARITH-
	      METIC  EVALUATION	 above).   If the last arg evaluates to 0, let
	      returns 1; 0 is returned otherwise.

       local [option] [name[=value] ...]
	      For each argument, a local variable named name is	 created,  and
	      assigned	value.	 The option can be any of the options accepted
	      by declare.  When local is used within a function, it causes the
	      variable	name  to have a visible scope restricted to that func-
	      tion and its children.  With no operands, local writes a list of
	      local  variables	to the standard output.	 It is an error to use
	      local when not within a function.	 The return status is 0 unless
	      local  is	 used outside a function, an invalid name is supplied,
	      or name is a readonly variable.

       logout Exit a login shell.

       mapfile [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count] [-t] [-u fd] [-C callback]
       [-c quan- tum] [array]
       readarray [-n count] [-O origin] [-s count] [-t] [-u  fd]  [-C
       callback]  [-c quantum] [array]
	      Read lines from the standard input into the indexed array	 vari-
	      able  array, or from file descriptor fd if the -u option is sup-
	      plied.  The variable MAPFILE is the default array.  Options,  if
	      supplied, have the following meanings:
	      -n     Copy  at  most count lines.  If count is 0, all lines are
		     copied.
	      -O     Begin assigning to array at index	origin.	  The  default
		     index is 0.
	      -s     Discard the first count lines read.
	      -t     Remove a trailing newline from each line read.
	      -u     Read  lines  from file descriptor fd instead of the stan-
		     dard input.
	      -C     Evaluate callback each time quantum lines are read.   The
		     -c option specifies quantum.
	      -c     Specify  the  number  of  lines read between each call to
		     callback.

	      If -C is specified without -c,  the  default  quantum  is	 5000.
	      When callback is evaluated, it is supplied the index of the next
	      array element to be assigned as an additional  argument.	 call-
	      back  is	evaluated  after the line is read but before the array
	      element is assigned.

	      If not supplied with an  explicit	 origin,  mapfile  will	 clear
	      array before assigning to it.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      mapfile  returns successfully unless an invalid option or option
	      argument is supplied, array is invalid or	 unassignable,	or  if
	      array is not an indexed array.

       popd [-n] [+n] [-n]
	      Removes  entries	from  the directory stack.  With no arguments,
	      removes the top directory from the stack, and performs a	cd  to
	      the new top directory.  Arguments, if supplied, have the follow-
	      ing meanings:
	      -n     Suppresses the normal change of directory	when  removing
		     directories  from	the  stack,  so that only the stack is
		     manipulated.
	      +n     Removes the nth entry counting from the left of the  list
		     shown  by	dirs, starting with zero.  For example: ``popd
		     +0'' removes the first directory, ``popd +1'' the second.
	      -n     Removes the nth entry counting from the right of the list
		     shown by dirs, starting with zero.	 For  example:	``popd
		     -0''  removes the last directory, ``popd -1'' the next to
		     last.

	      If the popd command is successful, a dirs is performed as	 well,
	      and  the	return	status is 0.  popd returns false if an invalid
	      option is encountered, the directory stack is empty, a non-exis-
	      tent directory stack entry is specified, or the directory change
	      fails.

       printf [-v var] format [arguments]
	      Write the formatted arguments to the standard output  under  the
	      control  of  the format.	The format is a character string which
	      contains three types of objects:	plain  characters,  which  are
	      simply  copied  to  standard output, character escape sequences,
	      which are converted and copied to the standard output, and  for-
	      mat  specifications,  each  of which causes printing of the next
	      successive argument.  In addition to the standard printf(1) for-
	      mats,  %b	 causes printf to expand backslash escape sequences in
	      the corresponding argument (except that  \c  terminates  output,
	      backslashes in \', \", and \? are not removed, and octal escapes
	      beginning with \0 may contain up to four digits), and %q	causes
	      printf to output the corresponding argument in a format that can
	      be reused as shell input.

	      The -v option causes the output to be assigned to	 the  variable
	      var rather than being printed to the standard output.

	      The  format  is  reused as necessary to consume all of the argu-
	      ments.  If the format requires more arguments than are supplied,
	      the  extra  format  specifications  behave as if a zero value or
	      null string, as appropriate,  had	 been  supplied.   The	return
	      value is zero on success, non-zero on failure.

       pushd [-n] [+n] [-n]
       pushd [-n] [dir]
	      Adds  a  directory to the top of the directory stack, or rotates
	      the stack, making the new top of the stack the  current  working

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       83

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      directory.  With no arguments, exchanges the top two directories
	      and returns 0, unless the directory stack is empty.   Arguments,
	      if supplied, have the following meanings:
	      -n     Suppresses	 the  normal  change  of directory when adding
		     directories to the stack,	so  that  only	the  stack  is
		     manipulated.
	      +n     Rotates  the  stack  so  that the nth directory (counting
		     from the left of the list shown by	 dirs,	starting  with
		     zero) is at the top.
	      -n     Rotates  the  stack  so  that the nth directory (counting
		     from the right of the list shown by dirs,	starting  with
		     zero) is at the top.
	      dir    Adds dir to the directory stack at the top, making it the
		     new current working directory.

	      If the pushd command is successful, a dirs is performed as well.
	      If  the first form is used, pushd returns 0 unless the cd to dir
	      fails.  With the second form, pushd returns 0 unless the	direc-
	      tory  stack  is empty, a non-existent directory stack element is
	      specified, or the directory change to the specified new  current
	      directory fails.

       pwd [-LP]
	      Print  the  absolute  pathname of the current working directory.
	      The pathname printed contains no symbolic links if the -P option
	      is supplied or the -o physical option to the set builtin command
	      is enabled.  If the -L option is used, the pathname printed  may
	      contain  symbolic links.	The return status is 0 unless an error
	      occurs while reading the name of the  current  directory	or  an
	      invalid option is supplied.

       read  [-ers]  [-a  aname]  [-d  delim]  [-i  text] [-n nchars] [-N
       nchars] [-p prompt] [-t timeout] [-u fd] [name ...]
	      One  line	 is  read  from	 the  standard input, or from the file
	      descriptor fd supplied as an argument to the -u option, and  the
	      first word is assigned to the first name, the second word to the
	      second name, and so on, with leftover words and their  interven-
	      ing  separators  assigned	 to the last name.  If there are fewer
	      words read from the input stream than names, the remaining names
	      are  assigned  empty  values.  The characters in IFS are used to
	      split the line into words.  The backslash character (\)  may  be
	      used  to	remove any special meaning for the next character read
	      and for line continuation.  Options, if supplied, have the  fol-
	      lowing meanings:
	      -a aname
		     The words are assigned to sequential indices of the array
		     variable aname, starting at 0.  aname is unset before any
		     new  values  are  assigned.   Other  name	arguments  are
		     ignored.
	      -d delim
		     The first character of delim is  used  to	terminate  the
		     input line, rather than newline.
	      -e     If the standard input is coming from a terminal, readline
		     (see  READLINE  above)  is	 used  to  obtain  the	 line.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       84

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		     Readline  uses  the  current (or default, if line editing
		     was not previously active) editing settings.
	      -i text
		     If readline is being used	to  read  the  line,  text  is
		     placed into the editing buffer before editing begins.
	      -n nchars
		     read  returns after reading nchars characters rather than
		     waiting for a complete line of input, but honor a	delim-
		     iter  if fewer than nchars characters are read before the
		     delimiter.
	      -N nchars
		     read returns  after  reading  exactly  nchars  characters
		     rather  than waiting for a complete line of input, unless
		     EOF is encountered or read times out.  Delimiter  charac-
		     ters  encountered	in the input are not treated specially
		     and do not cause read to return until  nchars  characters
		     are read.
	      -p prompt
		     Display prompt on standard error, without a trailing new-
		     line, before attempting to read any input.	 The prompt is
		     displayed only if input is coming from a terminal.
	      -r     Backslash does not act as an escape character.  The back-
		     slash is considered to be part of the line.  In  particu-
		     lar,  a  backslash-newline pair may not be used as a line
		     continuation.
	      -s     Silent mode.  If input is coming from a terminal, charac-
		     ters are not echoed.
	      -t timeout
		     Cause  read  to time out and return failure if a complete
		     line of input is not read within timeout seconds.	 time-
		     out  may  be  a  decimal number with a fractional portion
		     following the decimal point.  This option is only	effec-
		     tive  if  read is reading input from a terminal, pipe, or
		     other special file; it has no effect  when	 reading  from
		     regular  files.  If timeout is 0, read returns success if
		     input is available	 on  the  specified  file  descriptor,
		     failure  otherwise.   The exit status is greater than 128
		     if the timeout is exceeded.
	      -u fd  Read input from file descriptor fd.

	      If no names are supplied, the line read is assigned to the vari-
	      able  REPLY.   The  return  code	is zero, unless end-of-file is
	      encountered, read times out (in which case the  return  code  is
	      greater  than 128), or an invalid file descriptor is supplied as
	      the argument to -u.

       readonly [-aApf] [name[=word] ...]
	      The given names are marked readonly; the values of  these	 names
	      may  not	be changed by subsequent assignment.  If the -f option
	      is supplied, the functions corresponding to  the	names  are  so
	      marked.	The  -a	 option	 restricts  the	 variables  to indexed
	      arrays; the -A option restricts  the  variables  to  associative
	      arrays.	If no name arguments are given, or if the -p option is
	      supplied, a list of all  readonly	 names	is  printed.   The  -p


GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       85

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      option  causes  output  to  be displayed in a format that may be
	      reused as input.	If a variable name is followed by  =word,  the
	      value  of	 the  variable is set to word.	The return status is 0
	      unless an invalid option is encountered, one of the names is not
	      a	 valid shell variable name, or -f is supplied with a name that
	      is not a function.

       return [n]
	      Causes a function to exit with the return value specified by  n.
	      If  n  is omitted, the return status is that of the last command
	      executed in the function body.  If used outside a function,  but
	      during  execution	 of  a	script	by the .  (source) command, it
	      causes the shell to stop executing that script and return either
	      n	 or  the  exit	status of the last command executed within the
	      script as the exit status of the	script.	  If  used  outside  a
	      function	and  not during execution of a script by ., the return
	      status is false.	Any command associated with the RETURN trap is
	      executed	before execution resumes after the function or script.

       set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [-o option] [arg ...]
       set [+abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [+o option] [arg ...]
	      Without options, the name and value of each shell	 variable  are
	      displayed in a format that can be reused as input for setting or
	      resetting the currently-set variables.  Read-only variables can-
	      not  be  reset.  In posix mode, only shell variables are listed.
	      The output is sorted according  to  the  current	locale.	  When
	      options  are specified, they set or unset shell attributes.  Any
	      arguments remaining after option processing are treated as  val-
	      ues for the positional parameters and are assigned, in order, to
	      $1, $2, ...  $n.	Options,  if  specified,  have	the  following
	      meanings:
	      -a      Automatically  mark  variables  and  functions which are
		      modified or created for export  to  the  environment  of
		      subsequent commands.
	      -b      Report  the status of terminated background jobs immedi-
		      ately, rather than before the next primary prompt.  This
		      is effective only when job control is enabled.
	      -e      Exit  immediately	 if a pipeline (which may consist of a
		      single simple command),  a subshell command enclosed  in
		      parentheses,  or one of the commands executed as part of
		      a command list enclosed by  braces  (see	SHELL  GRAMMAR
		      above) exits with a non-zero status.  The shell does not
		      exit if the command that fails is part  of  the  command
		      list  immediately	 following  a  while or until keyword,
		      part of the test	following  the	if  or	elif  reserved
		      words,  part  of any command executed in a && or || list
		      except the command following the final  &&  or  ||,  any
		      command  in a pipeline but the last, or if the command's
		      return value is being inverted with !.  A trap  on  ERR,
		      if set, is executed before the shell exits.  This option
		      applies to the shell environment and each subshell envi-
		      ronment  separately  (see	 COMMAND EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT
		      above), and may cause subshells to exit before executing
		      all the commands in the subshell.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      -f      Disable pathname expansion.
	      -h      Remember	the location of commands as they are looked up
		      for execution.  This is enabled by default.
	      -k      All arguments in the form of assignment  statements  are
		      placed  in the environment for a command, not just those
		      that precede the command name.
	      -m      Monitor mode.  Job control is enabled.  This  option  is
		      on  by  default  for  interactive shells on systems that
		      support it (see JOB  CONTROL  above).   Background  pro-
		      cesses  run  in a separate process group and a line con-
		      taining their exit status is printed upon their  comple-
		      tion.
	      -n      Read commands but do not execute them.  This may be used
		      to check a shell script  for  syntax  errors.   This  is
		      ignored by interactive shells.
	      -o option-name
		      The option-name can be one of the following:
		      allexport
			      Same as -a.
		      braceexpand
			      Same as -B.
		      emacs   Use  an  emacs-style command line editing inter-
			      face.  This is enabled by default when the shell
			      is interactive, unless the shell is started with
			      the --noediting option.  This also  affects  the
			      editing interface used for read -e.
		      errexit Same as -e.
		      errtrace
			      Same as -E.
		      functrace
			      Same as -T.
		      hashall Same as -h.
		      histexpand
			      Same as -H.
		      history Enable command history, as described above under
			      HISTORY.	This option is on by default in inter-
			      active shells.
		      ignoreeof
			      The   effect   is	  as   if  the	shell  command
			      ``IGNOREEOF=10'' had been	 executed  (see	 Shell
			      Variables above).
		      keyword Same as -k.
		      monitor Same as -m.
		      noclobber
			      Same as -C.
		      noexec  Same as -n.
		      noglob  Same as -f.
		      nolog   Currently ignored.
		      notify  Same as -b.
		      nounset Same as -u.
		      onecmd  Same as -t.
		      physical
			      Same as -P.


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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		      pipefail
			      If  set,	the  return value of a pipeline is the
			      value of the last (rightmost)  command  to  exit
			      with  a non-zero status, or zero if all commands
			      in the pipeline exit successfully.  This	option
			      is disabled by default.
		      posix   Change  the  behavior  of bash where the default
			      operation differs from  the  POSIX  standard  to
			      match the standard (posix mode).
		      privileged
			      Same as -p.
		      verbose Same as -v.
		      vi      Use  a  vi-style command line editing interface.
			      This also affects the editing interface used for
			      read -e.
		      xtrace  Same as -x.
		      If -o is supplied with no option-name, the values of the
		      current options are printed.  If +o is supplied with  no
		      option-name,  a  series  of set commands to recreate the
		      current option settings is  displayed  on	 the  standard
		      output.
	      -p      Turn  on	privileged  mode.   In this mode, the $ENV and
		      $BASH_ENV files are not processed, shell	functions  are
		      not  inherited  from the environment, and the SHELLOPTS,
		      BASHOPTS, CDPATH,	 and  GLOBIGNORE  variables,  if  they
		      appear in the environment, are ignored.  If the shell is
		      started with the effective user (group) id not equal  to
		      the  real user (group) id, and the -p option is not sup-
		      plied, these actions are taken and the effective user id
		      is  set  to  the real user id.  If the -p option is sup-
		      plied at startup, the effective user id  is  not	reset.
		      Turning  this  option  off causes the effective user and
		      group ids to be set to the real user and group ids.
	      -t      Exit after reading and executing one command.
	      -u      Treat unset variables and parameters other than the spe-
		      cial  parameters "@" and "*" as an error when performing
		      parameter expansion.  If expansion is  attempted	on  an
		      unset  variable  or parameter, the shell prints an error
		      message, and, if not interactive, exits with a  non-zero
		      status.
	      -v      Print shell input lines as they are read.
	      -x      After  expanding	each simple command, for command, case
		      command, select command, or arithmetic for command, dis-
		      play  the expanded value of PS4, followed by the command
		      and its expanded arguments or associated word list.
	      -B      The shell performs brace expansion (see Brace  Expansion
		      above).  This is on by default.
	      -C      If  set,	bash  does not overwrite an existing file with
		      the >, >&, and <> redirection operators.	 This  may  be
		      overridden when creating output files by using the redi-
		      rection operator >| instead of >.
	      -E      If set, any trap on ERR is inherited by shell functions,
		      command  substitutions,  and commands executed in a sub-
		      shell  environment.   The	 ERR  trap  is	normally   not

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		      inherited in such cases.
	      -H      Enable !	style history substitution.  This option is on
		      by default when the shell is interactive.
	      -P      If set, the shell does not follow	 symbolic  links  when
		      executing	 commands  such	 as cd that change the current
		      working  directory.   It	uses  the  physical  directory
		      structure instead.  By default, bash follows the logical
		      chain of	directories  when  performing  commands	 which
		      change the current directory.
	      -T      If  set,	any traps on DEBUG and RETURN are inherited by
		      shell functions,	command	 substitutions,	 and  commands
		      executed	in  a  subshell	 environment.	The  DEBUG and
		      RETURN traps are normally not inherited in such cases.
	      --      If no arguments follow this option, then the  positional
		      parameters are unset.  Otherwise, the positional parame-
		      ters are set to the args, even if	 some  of  them	 begin
		      with a -.
	      -	      Signal  the  end of options, cause all remaining args to
		      be assigned to the positional parameters.	 The -x and -v
		      options are turned off.  If there are no args, the posi-
		      tional parameters remain unchanged.

	      The options are off by default unless otherwise noted.  Using  +
	      rather  than  -  causes  these  options  to  be turned off.  The
	      options can also be specified as arguments to an	invocation  of
	      the  shell.  The current set of options may be found in $-.  The
	      return status is always true unless an invalid option is encoun-
	      tered.

       shift [n]
	      The  positional  parameters  from n+1 ... are renamed to $1 ....
	      Parameters represented by the numbers  $#	 down  to  $#-n+1  are
	      unset.   n  must	be a non-negative number less than or equal to
	      $#.  If n is 0, no parameters are changed.  If n is  not	given,
	      it  is assumed to be 1.  If n is greater than $#, the positional
	      parameters are not changed.  The return status is	 greater  than
	      zero if n is greater than $# or less than zero; otherwise 0.

       shopt [-pqsu] [-o] [optname ...]
	      Toggle the values of variables controlling optional shell behav-
	      ior.  With no options, or with the -p option, a list of all set-
	      table options is displayed, with an indication of whether or not
	      each is set.  The -p option causes output to be displayed	 in  a
	      form  that  may be reused as input.  Other options have the fol-
	      lowing meanings:
	      -s     Enable (set) each optname.
	      -u     Disable (unset) each optname.
	      -q     Suppresses normal output (quiet mode); the return	status
		     indicates whether the optname is set or unset.  If multi-
		     ple optname arguments are given with -q, the return  sta-
		     tus  is zero if all optnames are enabled; non-zero other-
		     wise.
	      -o     Restricts the values of optname to be those  defined  for
		     the -o option to the set builtin.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      If  either  -s or -u is used with no optname arguments, the dis-
	      play is limited to those options which are set or unset, respec-
	      tively.	Unless otherwise noted, the shopt options are disabled
	      (unset) by default.

	      The return status when listing options is zero if	 all  optnames
	      are  enabled,  non-zero  otherwise.   When  setting or unsetting
	      options, the return status is zero unless an optname  is	not  a
	      valid shell option.

	      The list of shopt options is:

	      autocd  If  set,	a command name that is the name of a directory
		      is executed as if it were the argument to	 the  cd  com-
		      mand.  This option is only used by interactive shells.
	      cdable_vars
		      If  set,	an  argument to the cd builtin command that is
		      not a directory is assumed to be the name of a  variable
		      whose value is the directory to change to.
	      cdspell If set, minor errors in the spelling of a directory com-
		      ponent in a cd command will be  corrected.   The	errors
		      checked for are transposed characters, a missing charac-
		      ter, and one character too many.	 If  a	correction  is
		      found,  the corrected file name is printed, and the com-
		      mand proceeds.  This option is only used by  interactive
		      shells.
	      checkhash
		      If  set,	bash  checks  that a command found in the hash
		      table exists before trying to execute it.	 If  a	hashed
		      command  no  longer exists, a normal path search is per-
		      formed.
	      checkjobs
		      If set, bash lists the status of any stopped and running
		      jobs  before  exiting an interactive shell.  If any jobs
		      are running, this causes the exit to be deferred until a
		      second  exit is attempted without an intervening command
		      (see JOB CONTROL above).	 The  shell  always  postpones
		      exiting if any jobs are stopped.
	      checkwinsize
		      If  set,	bash checks the window size after each command
		      and, if necessary,  updates  the	values	of  LINES  and
		      COLUMNS.
	      cmdhist If  set,	bash attempts to save all lines of a multiple-
		      line command in the same	history	 entry.	  This	allows
		      easy re-editing of multi-line commands.
	      compat31
		      If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 3.1
		      with respect to quoted arguments to the conditional com-
		      mand's =~ operator.
	      compat32
		      If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 3.2
		      with respect to locale-specific string  comparison  when
		      using the conditional command's < and > operators.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      compat40
		      If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 4.0
		      with respect to locale-specific string  comparison  when
		      using  the  conditional  command's < and > operators and
		      the effect of interrupting a command list.
	      dirspell
		      If set, bash attempts spelling correction	 on  directory
		      names  during word completion if the directory name ini-
		      tially supplied does not exist.
	      dotglob If set, bash includes filenames beginning with a `.'  in
		      the results of pathname expansion.
	      execfail
		      If set, a non-interactive shell will not exit if it can-
		      not execute the file specified as	 an  argument  to  the
		      exec  builtin  command.	An  interactive shell does not
		      exit if exec fails.
	      expand_aliases
		      If set, aliases are expanded as  described  above	 under
		      ALIASES.	This option is enabled by default for interac-
		      tive shells.
	      extdebug
		      If set,  behavior	 intended  for	use  by	 debuggers  is
		      enabled:
		      1.     The -F option to the declare builtin displays the
			     source file name and line number corresponding to
			     each function name supplied as an argument.
		      2.     If	 the  command  run by the DEBUG trap returns a
			     non-zero value, the next command is  skipped  and
			     not executed.
		      3.     If	 the  command  run by the DEBUG trap returns a
			     value of 2, and the shell is executing in a  sub-
			     routine  (a shell function or a shell script exe-
			     cuted by the . or source  builtins),  a  call  to
			     return is simulated.
		      4.     BASH_ARGC	and BASH_ARGV are updated as described
			     in their descriptions above.
		      5.     Function tracing is enabled:   command  substitu-
			     tion, shell functions, and subshells invoked with
			     ( command ) inherit the DEBUG and RETURN traps.
		      6.     Error tracing is enabled:	command	 substitution,
			     shell  functions,	and  subshells	invoked with (
			     command ) inherit the ERROR trap.
	      extglob If set, the extended pattern matching features described
		      above under Pathname Expansion are enabled.
	      extquote
		      If  set,	$'string'  and	$"string" quoting is performed
		      within  ${parameter}  expansions	enclosed   in	double
		      quotes.  This option is enabled by default.
	      failglob
		      If  set,	patterns  which fail to match filenames during
		      pathname expansion result in an expansion error.
	      force_fignore
		      If set, the suffixes  specified  by  the	FIGNORE	 shell
		      variable	cause words to be ignored when performing word

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

		      completion even if the ignored words are the only possi-
		      ble  completions.	  See  SHELL  VARIABLES	 above	for  a
		      description of  FIGNORE.	 This  option  is  enabled  by
		      default.
	      globstar
		      If set, the pattern ** used in a pathname expansion con-
		      text will match a files and zero or more directories and
		      subdirectories.  If the pattern is followed by a /, only
		      directories and subdirectories match.
	      gnu_errfmt
		      If set, shell error messages are written in the standard
		      GNU error message format.
	      histappend
		      If  set,	the history list is appended to the file named
		      by the value of the HISTFILE  variable  when  the	 shell
		      exits, rather than overwriting the file.
	      histreedit
		      If  set, and readline is being used, a user is given the
		      opportunity to re-edit a failed history substitution.
	      histverify
		      If set, and readline is being used, the results of  his-
		      tory  substitution  are  not  immediately	 passed to the
		      shell parser.  Instead, the  resulting  line  is	loaded
		      into the readline editing buffer, allowing further modi-
		      fication.
	      hostcomplete
		      If set, and readline is being used, bash will attempt to
		      perform  hostname	 completion when a word containing a @
		      is  being	 completed  (see  Completing  under   READLINE
		      above).  This is enabled by default.
	      huponexit
		      If set, bash will send SIGHUP to all jobs when an inter-
		      active login shell exits.
	      interactive_comments
		      If set, allow a word beginning with # to cause that word
		      and  all remaining characters on that line to be ignored
		      in an interactive	 shell	(see  COMMENTS	above).	  This
		      option is enabled by default.
	      lithist If  set,	and  the cmdhist option is enabled, multi-line
		      commands are saved to the history with embedded newlines
		      rather than using semicolon separators where possible.
	      login_shell
		      The  shell  sets this option if it is started as a login
		      shell (see INVOCATION above).   The  value  may  not  be
		      changed.
	      mailwarn
		      If  set,	and  a file that bash is checking for mail has
		      been accessed since the last time it  was	 checked,  the
		      message  ``The  mail in mailfile has been read'' is dis-
		      played.
	      no_empty_cmd_completion
		      If set, and  readline  is	 being	used,  bash  will  not
		      attempt to search the PATH for possible completions when
		      completion is attempted on an empty line.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      nocaseglob
		      If set, bash matches  filenames  in  a  case-insensitive
		      fashion when performing pathname expansion (see Pathname
		      Expansion above).
	      nocasematch
		      If set, bash  matches  patterns  in  a  case-insensitive
		      fashion when performing matching while executing case or
		      [[ conditional commands.
	      nullglob
		      If set, bash allows patterns which match no  files  (see
		      Pathname	Expansion  above)  to expand to a null string,
		      rather than themselves.
	      progcomp
		      If set, the programmable completion facilities (see Pro-
		      grammable Completion above) are enabled.	This option is
		      enabled by default.
	      promptvars
		      If set, prompt strings undergo parameter expansion, com-
		      mand   substitution,  arithmetic	expansion,  and	 quote
		      removal after being expanded as described	 in  PROMPTING
		      above.  This option is enabled by default.
	      restricted_shell
		      The   shell  sets	 this  option  if  it  is  started  in
		      restricted mode (see RESTRICTED SHELL below).  The value
		      may  not be changed.  This is not reset when the startup
		      files are executed, allowing the startup files  to  dis-
		      cover whether or not a shell is restricted.
	      shift_verbose
		      If  set,	the shift builtin prints an error message when
		      the shift count exceeds the number of positional parame-
		      ters.
	      sourcepath
		      If set, the source (.) builtin uses the value of PATH to
		      find the directory containing the file  supplied	as  an
		      argument.	 This option is enabled by default.
	      xpg_echo
		      If   set,	 the  echo  builtin  expands  backslash-escape
		      sequences by default.
       suspend [-f]
	      Suspend the execution of this shell until it receives a  SIGCONT
	      signal.  A login shell cannot be suspended; the -f option can be
	      used to override this and force the suspension.  The return sta-
	      tus  is  0  unless the shell is a login shell and -f is not sup-
	      plied, or if job control is not enabled.
       test expr
       [ expr ]
	      Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on  the  evaluation  of  the
	      conditional  expression expr.  Each operator and operand must be
	      a separate argument.  Expressions are composed of the  primaries
	      described	 above	under  CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS.	 test does not
	      accept any options, nor does it accept and ignore an argument of
	      -- as signifying the end of options.

	      Expressions  may	be  combined  using  the  following operators,

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       93

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      listed  in  decreasing  order  of	 precedence.   The  evaluation
	      depends on the number of arguments; see below.
	      ! expr True if expr is false.
	      ( expr )
		     Returns  the value of expr.  This may be used to override
		     the normal precedence of operators.
	      expr1 -a expr2
		     True if both expr1 and expr2 are true.
	      expr1 -o expr2
		     True if either expr1 or expr2 is true.

	      test and [ evaluate conditional expressions using a set of rules
	      based on the number of arguments.

	      0 arguments
		     The expression is false.
	      1 argument
		     The expression is true if and only if the argument is not
		     null.
	      2 arguments
		     If the first argument is !, the expression is true if and
		     only  if the second argument is null.  If the first argu-
		     ment is one of the	 unary	conditional  operators	listed
		     above  under  CONDITIONAL	EXPRESSIONS, the expression is
		     true if the unary test is true.  If the first argument is
		     not a valid unary conditional operator, the expression is
		     false.
	      3 arguments
		     If the second argument is one of the  binary  conditional
		     operators listed above under CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS, the
		     result of the expression is the result of the binary test
		     using  the first and third arguments as operands.	The -a
		     and -o operators are  considered  binary  operators  when
		     there  are	 three arguments.  If the first argument is !,
		     the value is the negation of the two-argument test	 using
		     the second and third arguments.  If the first argument is
		     exactly ( and the third argument is exactly ), the result
		     is	 the one-argument test of the second argument.	Other-
		     wise, the expression is false.
	      4 arguments
		     If the first argument is !, the result is the negation of
		     the  three-argument  expression composed of the remaining
		     arguments.	 Otherwise, the expression is parsed and eval-
		     uated  according  to  precedence  using  the rules listed
		     above.
	      5 or more arguments
		     The expression  is	 parsed	 and  evaluated	 according  to
		     precedence using the rules listed above.

       times  Print  the  accumulated  user and system times for the shell and
	      for processes run from the shell.	 The return status is 0.

       trap [-lp] [[arg] sigspec ...]
	      The command arg is to  be	 read  and  executed  when  the	 shell

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      receives	signal(s)  sigspec.   If arg is absent (and there is a
	      single sigspec) or -, each specified  signal  is	reset  to  its
	      original	disposition  (the  value  it  had upon entrance to the
	      shell).  If arg is the null string the signal specified by  each
	      sigspec  is ignored by the shell and by the commands it invokes.
	      If arg is not present and -p has been supplied,  then  the  trap
	      commands	associated  with  each	sigspec	 are displayed.	 If no
	      arguments are supplied or if only -p is given, trap  prints  the
	      list  of	commands  associated  with each signal.	 The -l option
	      causes the shell to print a list of signal names and their  cor-
	      responding  numbers.   Each  sigspec  is	either	a  signal name
	      defined in <signal.h>, or a signal  number.   Signal  names  are
	      case insensitive and the SIG prefix is optional.

	      If  a  sigspec  is  EXIT (0) the command arg is executed on exit
	      from the shell.  If a sigspec is DEBUG, the command arg is  exe-
	      cuted  before  every  simple command, for command, case command,
	      select command, every arithmetic for  command,  and  before  the
	      first  command  executes	in a shell function (see SHELL GRAMMAR
	      above).  Refer to the description of the extdebug option to  the
	      shopt builtin for details of its effect on the DEBUG trap.  If a
	      sigspec is RETURN, the command arg is executed each time a shell
	      function or a script executed with the

	      If a sigspec is ERR, the command arg is executed whenever a sim-
	      ple command has a non-zero exit status, subject to the following
	      conditions.   The ERR trap is not executed if the failed command
	      is part of the command list immediately  following  a  while  or
	      until  keyword,  part  of the test in an if statement, part of a
	      command executed in a && or || list, or if the command's	return
	      value  is	 being	inverted via !.	 These are the same conditions
	      obeyed by the errexit option.

	      Signals ignored upon entry to the shell  cannot  be  trapped  or
	      reset.   Trapped signals that are not being ignored are reset to
	      their original values in a subshell or subshell environment when
	      one  is  created.	  The return status is false if any sigspec is
	      invalid; otherwise trap returns true.

       type [-aftpP] name [name ...]
	      With no options, indicate how each name would be interpreted  if
	      used as a command name.  If the -t option is used, type prints a
	      string which is one of alias,  keyword,  function,  builtin,  or
	      file  if	name  is  an  alias,  shell  reserved  word, function,
	      builtin, or disk file, respectively.  If the name is not	found,
	      then  nothing  is	 printed,  and	an  exit  status  of  false is
	      returned.	 If the -p option is used,  type  either  returns  the
	      name of the disk file that would be executed if name were speci-
	      fied as a command name, or nothing if ``type -t name'' would not
	      return  file.  The -P option forces a PATH search for each name,
	      even if ``type -t name'' would not return file.  If a command is
	      hashed,  -p  and	-P print the hashed value, not necessarily the
	      file that appears first in PATH.	If the -a option is used, type
	      prints  all of the places that contain an executable named name.

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BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

	      This includes aliases and functions,  if	and  only  if  the  -p
	      option  is  not  also used.  The table of hashed commands is not
	      consulted when using -a.	The -f option suppresses  shell	 func-
	      tion  lookup, as with the command builtin.  type returns true if
	      all of the arguments are found, false if any are not found.

       ulimit [-HSTabcdefilmnpqrstuvx [limit]]
	      Provides control over the resources available to the  shell  and
	      to  processes started by it, on systems that allow such control.
	      The -H and -S options specify that the hard or soft limit is set
	      for  the	given resource.	 A hard limit cannot be increased by a
	      non-root user once it is set; a soft limit may be	 increased  up
	      to  the value of the hard limit.	If neither -H nor -S is speci-
	      fied, both the soft and hard limits are set.  The value of limit
	      can be a number in the unit specified for the resource or one of
	      the special values hard, soft, or unlimited, which stand for the
	      current  hard  limit,  the  current  soft	 limit,	 and no limit,
	      respectively.  If limit is omitted, the  current	value  of  the
	      soft  limit  of the resource is printed, unless the -H option is
	      given.  When more than one resource is specified, the limit name
	      and unit are printed before the value.  Other options are inter-
	      preted as follows:
	      -a     All current limits are reported
	      -b     The maximum socket buffer size
	      -c     The maximum size of core files created
	      -d     The maximum size of a process's data segment
	      -e     The maximum scheduling priority ("nice")
	      -f     The maximum size of files written by the  shell  and  its
		     children
	      -i     The maximum number of pending signals
	      -l     The maximum size that may be locked into memory
	      -m     The  maximum resident set size (many systems do not honor
		     this limit)
	      -n     The maximum number of open file descriptors (most systems
		     do not allow this value to be set)
	      -p     The pipe size in 512-byte blocks (this may not be set)
	      -q     The maximum number of bytes in POSIX message queues
	      -r     The maximum real-time scheduling priority
	      -s     The maximum stack size
	      -t     The maximum amount of cpu time in seconds
	      -u     The  maximum  number  of  processes available to a single
		     user
	      -v     The maximum amount of virtual  memory  available  to  the
		     shell
	      -x     The maximum number of file locks
	      -T     The maximum number of threads

	      If limit is given, it is the new value of the specified resource
	      (the -a option is display only).	If no option is given, then -f
	      is  assumed.  Values are in 1024-byte increments, except for -t,
	      which is in seconds, -p, which is in units of  512-byte  blocks,
	      and  -T,	-b, -n, and -u, which are unscaled values.  The return
	      status is 0 unless an invalid option or argument is supplied, or
	      an error occurs while setting a new limit.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       96

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       umask [-p] [-S] [mode]
	      The user file-creation mask is set to mode.  If mode begins with
	      a digit, it is interpreted as an octal number; otherwise	it  is
	      interpreted  as a symbolic mode mask similar to that accepted by
	      chmod(1).	 If mode is omitted, the current value of the mask  is
	      printed.	 The  -S  option causes the mask to be printed in sym-
	      bolic form; the default output is an octal number.   If  the  -p
	      option is supplied, and mode is omitted, the output is in a form
	      that may be reused as input.  The return status is 0 if the mode
	      was  successfully	 changed  or if no mode argument was supplied,
	      and false otherwise.

       unalias [-a] [name ...]
	      Remove each name from the list of defined	 aliases.   If	-a  is
	      supplied,	 all  alias definitions are removed.  The return value
	      is true unless a supplied name is not a defined alias.

       unset [-fv] [name ...]
	      For each name, remove the corresponding  variable	 or  function.
	      If no options are supplied, or the -v option is given, each name
	      refers to a shell variable.   Read-only  variables  may  not  be
	      unset.   If  -f  is specified, each name refers to a shell func-
	      tion, and the function definition is removed.  Each unset	 vari-
	      able  or function is removed from the environment passed to sub-
	      sequent commands.	 If any of COMP_WORDBREAKS,  RANDOM,  SECONDS,
	      LINENO,  HISTCMD,	 FUNCNAME, GROUPS, or DIRSTACK are unset, they
	      lose their special properties, even  if  they  are  subsequently
	      reset.  The exit status is true unless a name is readonly.

       wait [n ...]
	      Wait  for each specified process and return its termination sta-
	      tus.  Each n may be a process ID or a job	 specification;	 if  a
	      job  spec	 is  given,  all  processes in that job's pipeline are
	      waited for.  If n is not given, all currently active child  pro-
	      cesses  are  waited  for,	 and  the return status is zero.  If n
	      specifies a non-existent process or job, the  return  status  is
	      127.   Otherwise,	 the  return  status is the exit status of the
	      last process or job waited for.

RESTRICTED SHELL
       If bash is started with the name rbash, or the -r option is supplied at
       invocation,  the	 shell becomes restricted.  A restricted shell is used
       to set up an environment more controlled than the standard  shell.   It
       behaves	identically  to bash with the exception that the following are
       disallowed or not performed:

       o      changing directories with cd

       o      setting or unsetting the values of SHELL, PATH, ENV, or BASH_ENV

       o      specifying command names containing /

       o      specifying  a  file  name containing a / as an argument to the .
	      builtin command

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       97

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       o      Specifying a filename containing a slash as an argument  to  the
	      -p option to the hash builtin command

       o      importing	 function  definitions	from  the shell environment at
	      startup

       o      parsing the value of SHELLOPTS from  the	shell  environment  at
	      startup

       o      redirecting  output using the >, >|, <>, >&, &>, and >> redirec-
	      tion operators

       o      using the exec builtin command to replace the shell with another
	      command

       o      adding  or  deleting builtin commands with the -f and -d options
	      to the enable builtin command

       o      Using the	 enable	 builtin  command  to  enable  disabled	 shell
	      builtins

       o      specifying the -p option to the command builtin command

       o      turning off restricted mode with set +r or set +o restricted.

       These restrictions are enforced after any startup files are read.

       When a command that is found to be a shell script is executed (see COM-
       MAND EXECUTION above), rbash turns off any restrictions	in  the	 shell
       spawned to execute the script.

SEE ALSO
       Bash Reference Manual, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       The Gnu Readline Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       The Gnu History Library, Brian Fox and Chet Ramey
       Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) Part 2: Shell and
       Utilities, IEEE
       sh(1), ksh(1), csh(1)
       emacs(1), vi(1)
       readline(3)

FILES
       /bin/bash
	      The bash executable
       /etc/profile
	      The systemwide initialization file, executed for login shells
       ~/.bash_profile
	      The personal initialization file, executed for login shells
       ~/.bashrc
	      The individual per-interactive-shell startup file
       ~/.bash_logout
	      The individual login shell cleanup file, executed when  a	 login
	      shell exits

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       98

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       ~/.inputrc
	      Individual readline initialization file

AUTHORS
       Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
       bfox@gnu.org

       Chet Ramey, Case Western Reserve University
       chet.ramey@case.edu

BUG REPORTS
       If you find a bug in bash, you should report it.	 But first, you should
       make sure that it really is a bug, and that it appears  in  the	latest
       version	 of  bash.   The  latest  version  is  always  available  from
       ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/bash/.

       Once you have determined that a bug actually exists,  use  the  bashbug
       command	to submit a bug report.	 If you have a fix, you are encouraged
       to mail that as well!  Suggestions and `philosophical' bug reports  may
       be  mailed  to  bug-bash@gnu.org	 or  posted  to	 the  Usenet newsgroup
       gnu.bash.bug.

       ALL bug reports should include:

       The version number of bash
       The hardware and operating system
       The compiler used to compile
       A description of the bug behaviour
       A short script or `recipe' which exercises the bug

       bashbug inserts the first three items automatically into	 the  template
       it provides for filing a bug report.

       Comments and bug reports concerning this manual page should be directed
       to chet@po.cwru.edu.

BUGS
       It's too big and too slow.

       There are some subtle differences between bash and traditional versions
       of sh, mostly because of the POSIX specification.

       Aliases are confusing in some uses.

       Shell builtin commands and functions are not stoppable/restartable.

       Compound commands and command sequences of the form `a ; b ; c' are not
       handled gracefully when process suspension is attempted.	 When  a  pro-
       cess is stopped, the shell immediately executes the next command in the
       sequence.  It suffices to place the sequence of commands between paren-
       theses to force it into a subshell, which may be stopped as a unit.

       Array variables may not (yet) be exported.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		       99

BASH(1)							  BASH(1)

       There may be only one active coprocess at a time.

GNU Bash-4.1		 2009 December 29		      100

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