SYNOPSIS

yash [options...] [--] [operands...]

INTRODUCTION

Yet anther shell (yash) is a command line shell for UNIX-like operating systems. The shell conforms to the POSIX.1-2008 standard (for the most parts), and actually is more conforming than other POSIX-conforming shells. Moreover, it has many features that are used for interactive use, such as command history and command line editing.

This program can be freely modified and redistributed under the terms of GNU General Public License (Version 2). Use of this program is all at your own risk. There is no warranty and the author is not responsible for any consequences caused by use of this program.

This manual can be freely modified and redistributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.1 Japan.

Yash is developed and maintained by 渡邊裕貴 (WATANABE Yuki) aka Magicant. Yash development project and Yash's homepage are hosted by OSDN.

INVOCATION

When invoked as a program, yash performs the predefined initialization steps and repeatedly reads and executed commands. Command line arguments given in the invocation determines how the shell initializes itself and executes commands.

Command line arguments

The syntax of command line arguments for yash conforms to POSIX. As defined in POSIX, arguments are separated into options and operands. For more detailed explanation about options and operands, see Command argument syntax. All options must come before operands. The interpretation of operands depends on options specified.

When you specify the -c (--cmdline) option, you must give at least one operand. The shell interprets and executes the first operand as a command string. The second operand, if any, is used to initialize the 0 special parameter. The other operands, if any, are used to initialize the positional parameters. When the -c (--cmdline) option is specified, the shell does not read any file or the standard input (unless the dot built-in is used).

If you specify the -s (--stdin) option, the shell reads the standard input, interprets the input as commands, and executes them. All the operands given are used to initialize the positional parameters. The 0 special parameter is initialized to the name the shell is invoked as.

If you specify neither the -c (--cmdline) nor -s (--stdin) option, the shell reads a file, interprets the file contents as commands, and executes them. The first operand specifies the pathname of the file. The remaining operands are used to initialize the positional parameters. If you do not give any operands, the shell reads the standard input as if the -s (--stdin) option is specified.

You cannot use both the -c (--cmdline) and -s (--stdin) options at a time.

If you specify either the --help or --version option, the shell never performs the usual initialization or command execution. Instead, it just prints brief usage (for --help) or version information (for --version). If the --version option is accompanied by the -v (--verbose) option, the shell prints a list of the available optional features as well.

If you specify the -i (--interactive) option, the shell goes into the interactive mode. If you specify the +i (++interactive) option, conversely, the shell never goes into the interactive mode.

If you specify the -l (--login) option, the shell behaves as a login shell.

The --noprofile, --norcfile, --profile, and --rcfile options determine how the shell is initialized (see below for details).

In addition to the options described above, you can specify options that can be specified to the set built-in.

If the first operand is - and the options and the operands are not separated by --, the first operand is ignored.

Initialization of yash

Yash initializes itself as follows:

1. Yash first parses the name it was invoked as. If the name starts with -, the shell behaves as a login shell. If the name is sh (including names such as /bin/sh), the shell goes into the POSIXly-correct mode.

2. If no operands are given and the standard input and standard error are both connected to a terminal, the shell goes into the interactive mode unless the +i (++interactive) option is specified.

3. Job control is automatically enabled in an interactive shell unless the +m (++monitor) option is specified.

4. Yash reads and executes commands from the following files (unless the real and effective user IDs of the shell process are different or the real and effective group IDs of the shell process are different):

1. If it is behaving as a login shell, the shell reads the file specified by the --profile=filename option unless the --noprofile option is specified or the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode.

If the --profile=filename option is not specified, the shell reads ~/.yash_profile as a default.

2. If in the interactive mode, the shell reads the file specified by the --rcfile=filename option unless the --norcfile option is specified.

If the --rcfile=filename option is not specified, the shell

• reads ~/.yashrc as a default if not in the POSIXly-correct mode; or

• performs parameter expansion on the value of the ENV environment variable and treats the expansion result as the name of the file to read if in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Note

Yash never automatically reads /etc/profile, /etc/yashrc, nor ~/.profile.

SYNTAX

The shell reads, parses, and executes command line by line. If there is more than one command on a line, all the commands are parsed before executed. If a command is continued to next lines, the shell reads more enough lines to complete the command. On a syntax error, the shell neither reads nor executes any more commands.

Tokens and keywords

A command is composed of one or more tokens. In the shell syntax, a token is a word that is part of a command. Normally, tokens are separated by whitespaces, that is, the space or tab character. Whitespaces inside a command substitution or a parameter expansion, however, do not separate tokens.

The following symbols have special meanings in the shell syntax and in most cases separate tokens:

; & | < > ( ) [newline]

The following symbols do not separate tokens, but have syntactic meanings:

$ ` \ " ' * ? [ # ~ = %

The following tokens are treated as keywords depending on the context in which they appear:

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

A token is treated as a keyword when:

• it is the first token of a command,

• it follows another keyword (except case, for, and in), or

• it is a non-first token of a command and is supposed to be a keyword to compose a composite command.

If a token begins with #, then the # and any following characters up to the end of the line are treated as a comment, which is completely ignored in syntax parsing.

Quotations

If you want whitespaces, separator characters, or keywords described above to be treated as a normal characters, you must quote the characters using appropriate quotation marks. Quotation marks are not treated as normal characters unless they are themselves quoted. You can use the following three quotation marks:

• A backslash (\) quotes a character that immediately follows.

The only exception about a backslash is the case where a backslash is followed by a newline. In this case, the two characters are treated as a line continuation rather than a newline being quoted. The two characters are removed from the input and the two lines surrounding the line continuation are concatenated into a single line.

• A pair of single-quotation marks (') quote any characters between them except another single-quotation. Note that newlines can be quoted using single-quotations.

• Double-quotation marks (") are like single-quotations, but they have a few exceptions: Parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion are interpreted as usual even between double-quotations. A backslash between double-quotations is treated as a quotation mark only when it is followed by $, `, ", \, or a newline; other backslashes are treated as normal characters.

Aliases

Tokens that compose a command are subject to alias substitution. A token that matches the name of an alias that has already been defined is substituted with the value of the alias before the command is parsed.

Tokens that contain quotations are not alias-substituted since an alias name cannot contain quotation marks. Keywords and command separator characters are not alias-substituted either.

There are two kinds of aliases: normal aliases and global aliases. A normal alias can only substitute the first token of a command while a global alias can substitute any part of a command. Global aliases are yash extension that is not defined in POSIX.

If a token is alias-substituted with the value of a normal alias that ends with a whitespace, the next token is exceptionally subject to alias substitution for normal aliases.

The results of alias substitution are again subject to alias substitution for other aliases (but not for the aliases that have been already applied).

You can define aliases using the alias built-in and remove using the unalias built-in.

Simple commands

A command that does not start with a keyword token is a simple command. Simple commands are executed as defined in Execution of simple commands.

If the first and any number of following tokens of a simple command have the form name=value, they are interpreted as variable assignments. A variable name must consist of one or more alphabets, digits and/or underlines (_) and must not start with a digit. The first token that is not a variable assignment is considered as a command name and all the following tokens (whether or not they have the form name=value) as command arguments.

A variable assignment of the form var=(tokens) is interpreted as assignment to an array. You can write any number of tokens between a pair of parentheses. Tokens can be separated by not only spaces and tabs but also newlines.

Pipelines

A pipeline is a sequence of one or more simple commands, compound commands, and/or function definitions that are separated by |.

A pipeline that has more than one subcommand is executed by executing each subcommand of the pipeline in a subshell simultaneously. The standard output of each subcommand except the last one is redirected to the standard input of the next subcommand. The standard input of the first subcommand and the standard output of the last subcommand are not redirected. The exit status of the pipeline is that of the last subcommand.

A pipeline can be prefixed by !, in which case the exit status of the pipeline is reversed: the exit status of the pipeline is 1 if that of the last subcommand is 0, and 0 otherwise.

Note

When the execution of a pipeline finishes, at least the execution of the last subcommand has finished since the exit status of the last subcommand defines that of the whole pipeline. The execution of other subcommands, however, may not have finished then. On the other hand, the execution of the pipeline may not finish soon after that of the last subcommand finished because the shell may choose to wait for the execution of other subcommands to finish.

Note

The POSIX standard allows executing any of subcommands in the current shell rather than subshells, though yash does not do so.

And/or lists

An and/or list is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by && or ||.

An and/or list is executed by executing some of the pipelines conditionally. The first pipeline is always executed. The other pipelines are either executed or not executed according to the exit status of the previous pipelines.

• If two pipelines are separated by && and the exit status of the first pipeline is zero, the second pipeline is executed.

• If two pipelines are separated by || and the exit status of the first pipeline is not zero, the second pipeline is executed.

• In other cases, the execution of the and/or list ends: the second and any remaining pipelines are not executed.

The exit status of an and/or list is that of the last pipeline that was executed.

Normally, an and/or list must be terminated by a semicolon, ampersand, or newline. See Command separators and asynchronous commands.

Command separators and asynchronous commands

The whole input to the shell must be composed of any number of and/or lists separated by a semicolon or ampersand. A terminating semicolon can be omitted if it is followed by ;;, ), or a newline. Otherwise, an and/or list must be terminated by a semicolon or ampersand.

If an and/or list is terminated by a semicolon, it is executed synchronously: the shell waits for the and/or list to finish before executing the next and/or list. If an and/or list is terminated by an ampersand, it is executed asynchronously: after the execution of the and/or list is started, the next and/or list is executed immediately. An asynchronous and/or list is always executed in a subshell and its exit status is zero.

If the shell is not doing job control, the standard input of an asynchronous and/or list is automatically redirected to /dev/null. Signal handlers of the and/or list for the SIGINT and SIGQUIT signals are set to "ignore" the signal so that the execution of the and/or list cannot be stopped by those signals. (In the POSIXly-correct mode, the standard input is redirected if and only if the shell is interactive, regardless of whether job control is on. Moreover, the SIGINT and SIGQUIT signals are ignored even if job control is on.)

When the execution of an asynchronous and/or list is started, the shell remembers its process ID. You can obtain the ID by referencing the ! special parameter. You can obtain the current and exit status of the asynchronous list as well by using the jobs and wait built-ins.

Compound commands

Compound commands provide you with programmatic control of shell command execution.

Grouping

A grouping is a list of commands that is treated as a simple command.

Normal grouping syntax

{ command...; }

Subshell grouping syntax

(command...)

The { and } tokens are keywords, which must be separated from other tokens. The ( and ) tokens, however, are special separators that need not to be separated.

In the normal grouping syntax, the commands in a grouping are executed in the current shell. In the subshell grouping syntax, the commands are executed in a new subshell.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, a grouping must contain at least one command. If the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode, a grouping may contain no commands.

The exit status of a grouping is that of the last command in the grouping. If the grouping contains no commands, its exit status is that of the last executed command before the grouping.

If command

The if command performs a conditional branch.

Basic if command syntax

if condition...; then body...; fi

Syntax with the else clause

if condition...; then body...; else body...; fi

Syntax with the elif clause

if condition...; then body...; elif condition...; then body...; fi

Syntax with the elif clause

if condition...; then body...; elif condition...; then body...; else body...; fi

For all the syntaxes, the execution of an if command starts with the execution of the condition commands that follows the if token. If the exit status of the condition commands is zero, the condition is considered as "true". In this case, the body commands that follows the then token are executed and the execution of the if command finishes. If the exit status of the condition commands is non-zero, the condition is considered as "false". In this case, the condition commands for the next elif clause are executed and the exit status is tested in the same manner as above. If there is no elif clause, the body commands that follow the else token are executed and the execution of the if command finishes. If there is no else clause either, the execution of the if command just ends.

An if command may have more than one elif-then clause.

The exit status of an if command is that of the body commands that were executed. The exit status is zero if no body commands were executed, that is, all the conditions were false and there was no else clause.

While and until loops

The while loop and until loop are simple loops with condition.

While loop syntax

while condition...; do body...; done

Until loop syntax

until condition...; do body...; done

If the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode, you can omit the condition and/or body commands of a while/until loop.

The execution of a while loop is started by executing the condition commands. If the exit status of the condition commands is zero, the shell executes the body commands and returns to the execution of the condition commands. The condition and body commands are repeatedly executed until the exit status of the condition commands is non-zero.

Note

The body commands are not executed at all if the first execution of the condition commands yields a non-zero exit status.

An until loop is executed in the same manner as a while loop except that the condition to repeat the loop is reversed: the body commands are executed when the exit status of the condition commands is non-zero.

The exit status of a while/until loop is that of the last executed body command. The exit status is zero if the body commands are empty or were not executed at all.

For loop

The for loop repeats commands with a variable assigned one of given values in each round.

For loop syntax

for varname in word...; do command...; donefor varname do command...; done

The word list after the in token may be empty, but the semicolon (or newline) before the do token is required even in that case. The words are not treated as keywords, but you need to quote separator characters (such as & and |) to include them as part of a word. If you omit the in token and the following words, you must also omit the semicolon before the do token. However, the shell does not complain about the existence of the semicolon if not in the POSIXly-correct mode. The command list may be empty if not in the POSIXly-correct mode.

The varname must be a portable (ASCII-only) name in the POSIXly-correct mode.

The execution of a for loop is started by expanding the words in the same manner as in the execution of a simple command. If the in and word tokens are omitted, the shell assumes the word tokens to be "$@". Next, the following steps are taken for each word expanded (in the order the words were expanded):

1. Assign the word to the variable whose name is varname.

2. Execute the commands.

Each word is assigned as a local variable except in the POSIXly-correct mode. If the expansion of the words yielded no words as a result, the commands are not executed at all.

The exit status of a for loop is that of the last executed command. The exit status is zero if the commands are not empty and not executed at all. If the commands are empty, the exit status is that of the last executed command before the for loop.

Case command

The case command performs a pattern matching to select commands to execute.

Case command syntax

case word in caseitem... esac

Case item syntax

(patterns) command...;;

The word between the case and in tokens must be exactly one word. The word is not treated as a keyword, but you need to quote separator characters (such as & and |) to include them as part of the word. Between the in and esac tokens you can put any number of case items (may be none). You can omit the first ( token of a case item and the last ;; token before the esac token. If the last command of a case item is terminated by a semicolon, you can omit the semicolon as well. The commands in a case item may be empty.

The patterns in a case item are one or more tokens each separated by a | token.

The execution of a case command starts with subjecting the word to the four expansions. Next, the following steps are taken for each case item (in the order of appearance):

1. For each word in the patterns, expand the word in the same manner as the word and test if the expanded pattern matches the expanded word. (If a pattern is found that matches the word, the remaining patterns are not expanded nor tested, so some of the patterns may not be expanded. Yash expands and tests the patterns in the order of appearance, but it may not be the case for other shells.)

2. If one of the patterns was found to match the word in the previous step, the commands in this case item are executed and the execution of the whole case item ends. Otherwise, proceed to the next case item.

The exit status of a case command is that of the commands executed. The exit status is zero if no commands were executed, that is, there were no case items, no matching pattern was found, or no commands were associated with the matching pattern.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, the first pattern in a case item cannot be esac (even if you do not omit the ( token).

Function definition

The function definition command defines a function.

Function definition syntax

funcname ( ) compound_commandfunction funcname compound_commandfunction funcname ( ) compound_command

In the first syntax without the function keyword, funcname cannot contain any special characters such as semicolons and quotation marks. In the second and third syntax, which cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode, funcname is subjected to the four expansions when executed. In the POSIXly-correct mode, funcname is limited to a portable (ASCII-only) name.

When a function definition command is executed, a function whose name is funcname is defined with its body being compound_command.

A function definition command cannot be directly redirected. Any redirections that follow a function definition are associated with compound_command rather than the whole function definition command. In func() { cat; } >/dev/null, for example, it is not func() { cat; } but { cat; } that is redirected.

The exit status of a function definition is zero if the function was defined without errors, and non-zero otherwise.

PARAMETERS AND VARIABLES

Parameters are string values that are expanded in parameter expansion. There are three types of parameters: positional parameters, special parameters and variables.

Positional parameters

Positional parameters are parameters that are identified by natural numbers. If there are three positional parameters, for example, they are identified as 1, 2, and 3. You can obtain the number of positional parameters by the # special parameter. The * and @ special parameters are expanded to all positional parameters.

Positional parameters are initialized from the shell's command line arguments when the shell is started (see Command line arguments). In the initialization, the order of the operands are preserved as the order of the positional parameters.

When the shell executes a function call, positional parameters are changed to the arguments to the function call so that you can access the arguments while the function is being executed. Positional parameters are restored to the original values when the execution of the function is finished.

Positional parameters can be manipulated by built-in commands like set and shift.

Note that 0 is not a positional parameter but a special parameter.

Special parameters

Special parameters are parameters each identified by a single symbol. They cannot be directly assigned to by the user.

Yash provides the following special parameters:

0

The name of the shell executable file or the script file that was specified in the invocation of the shell.

#

The number of current positional parameters. The value is a non-negative integer.

$

The process ID of the shell. The value is a positive integer and is never changed even in subshells.

-

Currently enabled shell options. The value is a concatenation of alphabet characters that are the names of currently enabled single-character options that can be specified in shell invocation. The value reflects changes of enabled options when you enable or disable options using the set built-in.

?

The exit status of the last executed pipeline. The value is a non-negative integer.

!

The process ID of the last executed asynchronous list.

*

This special parameter represents the whole positional parameters. When there is no positional parameters, the value of this special parameter is the empty string. When there is more than one positional parameter, the value is a concatenation of all the positional parameters, each of which is separated as follows:

• If the IFS variable exists and its value is not empty, positional parameters are each separated by the first character of the value of the IFS variable.

• If the IFS variable exists and has an empty value, positional parameters are just concatenated without any separator.

• If the IFS variable does not exist, positional parameters are each separated by a space character.

@

This special parameter represents the whole positional parameters like the * special parameter above. The difference between the two is the results of expansion that occurs between a pair of double-quotation marks. If the @ special parameter is expanded inside double-quotations, positional parameters are field-split rather than concatenated (in spite of the quotation). If there are no positional parameters, the expansion yields no word rather than an empty word.

• When there are no positional parameters, the command words echo 1 "$@" 2 is expanded to the three words echo, 1, and 2.

• When positional parameters are the three words 1, 2 2, and 3, the command words echo "$@" is expanded to the four words echo, 1, 2 2, and 3, and the words echo "a$@b" to the four words echo, a1, 2 2, and 3b.

Variables

Variables are parameters the user can assign values to. Each variable has a name that identifies it and a value that defines the results of expansion.

A variable name is composed of one or more alphanumeric characters and underscores (_). A name cannot start with a digit. Other characters may be used in a name depending on internationalization support of your environment.

Variables that are exported to external commands are called environment variables. They are passed to all external commands the shell invokes. Variables passed to the shell in invocation will be automatically exported.

You can assign to variables by a simple command as well as the typeset built-in. You can remove variables by using the unset built-in.

Variables used by the shell

The following variables are used by the shell for special purposes.

CDPATH

This variable is used by the cd built-in to find a destination directory.

COLUMNS

This variable specifies the width (the number of character columns) of the terminal screen. The value affects the display of line-editing.

COMMAND_NOT_FOUND_HANDLER

When the shell cannot find a command to be executed, the value of this variable is interpreted and executed instead. You can override the shell's error handling behavior with this variable. See Execution of simple commands for detail.

This feature is disabled in the POSIXly-correct mode.

DIRSTACK

This array variable is used by the shell to store the directory stack contents. If you modify the value of this variable, the directory stack may be corrupted.

ECHO_STYLE

This variable specifies the behavior of the echo built-in.

ENV

When an interactive shell is started in the POSIXly-correct mode, the value of this variable is used to find the initialization file. See Initialization of yash.

FCEDIT

This variable specifies an editor program used to edit command lines during execution of the fc built-in.

HANDLED

This variable can be set in the command-not-found handler to tell the shell not to produce a further error message. See Execution of simple commands for detail.

HISTFILE

This variable specifies the pathname of the file to save the command history in.

HISTRMDUP

This variable specifies the number of command history items to be checked for duplication. When the shell is adding a new history item to the command history, if some of the most recent n items have the same contents as the new one, then the duplicate existing items are removed from the history before the new one is added, where n is the value of this variable.

If the value of this variable is 1, for example, the most recent item is removed when a new item that have the same contents is added.

Items older than the nth recent item are not removed. No items are removed if the value of this variable is 0. All items are subject to removal if the variable value is greater than or equal to the value of the HISTSIZE variable.

HISTSIZE

This variable specifies the maximum number of items in the command history.

HOME

This variable specifies the pathname of the user's home directory and affects results of tilde expansion and cd built-in.

IFS

This variable specifies separators used in field splitting. The variable value is initialized to the three characters of a space, a tab, and a newline when the shell is started.

LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, LC_MONETARY, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME

These variables specify a locale in which the shell runs. The shell chooses the file input/output encoding, the error message language, etc. according to the locale specified.

Unless the shell is interactive and not in the POSIXly-correct mode, the value of the LC_CTYPE variable is considered only when the shell is started. Once the shell has been initialized, changing the value of LC_CTYPE will have no effect on the shell's behavior.

LINENO

The value of this variable is automatically set to the line number in which the currently executed command appears in the file.

In the interactive shell, the line number is reset to 1 each time the shell reads and executes a command.

If you assign to or remove this variable, it will no longer provide line numbers.

LINES

This variable specifies the height (the number of character lines) of the terminal screen. The value affects the display of line-editing.

MAIL

This variable specifies the pathname of a file that is checked in mail checking.

MAILCHECK

This variable specifies how often the shell should do mail checking. The value has to be specified as a positive integer in seconds. The value is initialized to the default value of 600 when the shell is started.

MAILPATH

This variable specifies the pathnames of files that are checked in mail checking.

NLSPATH

The POSIX standard prescribes that the value of this variable specifies pathname templates of locale-dependent message data files, but yash does not use it.

OLDPWD

This variable is set to the previous working directory path when you change the working directory by using the cd or other built-ins. This variable is exported by default.

OPTARG

When the getopts built-in parses an option that takes an argument, the argument value is assigned to this variable.

OPTIND

The value of this variable specifies the index of an option that is to be parsed by the next getopts built-in execution. This variable is initialized to 1 when the shell is started.

PATH

This variable specifies paths that are searched for a command in command search.

PPID

The value of this variable is the process ID of the shell's parent process, which is a positive integer. This variable is initialized when the shell is started. The value is not changed when the shell makes a new subshell.

PROMPT_COMMAND

The shell interprets and executes the value of this variable before printing each command prompt if the shell is interactive and not in the POSIXly-correct mode. This behavior is equivalent to executing the command eval -i -- "${PROMPT_COMMAND-}" before each command prompt, but its exit status does not affect the expansion of the ? special parameter in the next command.

PS1

This variable specifies the main command prompt string printed by an interactive shell. See Prompts for the format of the variable value. The value is initialized to \$ when the shell is started. (In the POSIXly-correct mode, the initial value is either $ or # depending on whether the effective user ID of the shell process is zero or not.)

PS1R

This variable specifies the auxiliary prompt string printed to the right of the cursor when you input a command line to an interactive shell. See Prompts for the format of the variable value.

PS1S

This variable specifies the font style of command strings you enter to an interactive shell. See Prompts for the format of the variable value.

PS2

This variable is like the PS1 variable, but it is used for the second and following lines of a command that is longer than one line. See Prompts for the format of the variable value. The value is initialized to > when the shell is started.

PS2R

This variable is like the PS1R variable, but it is used when PS2 is used. See Prompts for the format of the variable value.

PS2S

This variable is like the PS1S variable, but it is used when PS2 is used. See Prompts for the format of the variable value.

PS4

The value of this variable is printed before each command trace output when the xtrace option is enabled. The value is subject to parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion. You can also use backslash notations if the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode. The value is initialized to + when the shell is started.

PS4S

This variable is like the PS1S variable, but it is used when PS4 is used. You can use this variable to modify font style of command trace output.

PWD

The value of this variable is the pathname of the current working directory. The value is set when the shell is started and reset each time the working directory is changed by the cd or other built-ins. This variable is exported by default.

RANDOM

You can use this variable to get random numbers. The value of this variable is a uniformly distributed random integer between 0 and 32767 (inclusive). You will get a different number each time the variable is expanded.

You can set the "seed" of random numbers by assigning a non-negative integer to the variable.

If you remove this variable, it will no longer work as a random number generator. If the shell was invoked in the POSIXly-correct mode, this variable does not work as a random number generator.

TERM

This variable specifies the type of the terminal in which the shell is running. The value affects the behavior of line-editing.

YASH_AFTER_CD

The shell interprets and executes the value of this variable after each time the shell's working directory is changed by the cd or other built-ins. This behavior is equivalent to executing the command eval -i -- "${YASH_AFTER_CD-}" after the directory was changed.

YASH_LOADPATH

This variable specifies directories the dot built-in searches for a script file. More than one directory can be specified by separating them by colons like the PATH variable. When the shell is started, this variable is initialized to the pathname of the directory where common script files are installed.

YASH_LE_TIMEOUT

This variable specifies how long the shell should wait for a next possible input from the terminal when it encountered an ambiguous control sequence while line-editing. The value must be specified in milliseconds. If you do not define this variable, the default value of 100 milliseconds is assumed.

YASH_VERSION

The value is initialized to the version number of the shell when the shell is started.

Arrays

An array is a variable that contains zero or more strings. The string values of an array are identified by natural numbers (like positional parameters).

You can assign values to an array by using a simple command as well as the array built-in. You can use the unset built-in to remove arrays.

Arrays cannot be exported as arrays. When an array is exported, it is treated as a normal variable whose value is a concatenation of all the array values, each separated by a colon.

Arrays are not supported in the POSIXly-correct mode.

WORD EXPANSIONS

Word expansion is substitution of part of a word with another particular string. There are seven types of word expansions:

1. Tilde expansion

2. Parameter expansion

3. Command substitution

4. Arithmetic expansion

5. Brace expansion

6. Field splitting

7. Pathname expansion (globbing)

These types of expansions are performed in the order specified above.

Tilde expansion, parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion are called the four expansions.

Tilde expansion

In tilde expansion, parts of words that start with a tilde (~) are substituted with particular pathnames. The part of each word that gets substituted is from the beginning of the word, which is a tilde, up to (but not including) the first slash (/) in the word. If the word does not contain a slash, the whole word is substituted. If any character in the substituted part is quoted, tilde expansion is not performed on the word.

The results of expansion are determined by the format of the substituted part:

~

A single tilde is substituted with the value of the HOME variable.

~username

A tilde followed by a user name is substituted with the pathname of the user's home directory.

~+

~+ is substituted with the value of the PWD variable.

~-

~- is substituted with the value of the OLDPWD variable.

~+n, ~-n

where n is a non-negative integer. This type of tilde expansion yields the pathname of a directory of which ~+n or ~-n is the index in the directory stack.

When tilde expansion is performed on the value of a variable assignment that occurs during execution of a simple command, the value is considered as a colon-separated list of words and those words are each subject to tilde expansion. For example, the variable assignment

VAR=~/a:~/b:~/c

is equivalent to

VAR=/home/foo/a:/home/foo/b:/home/foo/c

if the value of HOME variable is /home/foo.

The POSIX standard does not prescribe how the shell should behave when it encounters an error during tilde expansion (e.g., when the HOME variable is not defined). Yash silently ignores any errors during tilde expansion; the part of the word that would be substituted is left intact.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, tilde expansion supports the formats of ~ and ~username only.

Parameter expansion

Parameter expansion expands to the value of a parameter.

The syntax of typical, simple parameter expansion is ${parameter}, which expands to the value of the parameter whose name is parameter. You can omit the braces (e.g., $parameter) if

• parameter is a special parameter,

• parameter is a positional parameter whose index is a one-digit integer, or

• parameter is a variable and the parameter expansion is not followed by a character that can be used as part of a variable name. For example, ${path}-name is equivalent to $path-name, but ${path}name and $pathname are different.

If parameter is none of a special parameter, positional parameter, and variable, it is a syntax error. (Some shells other than yash may treat such a case as an expansion error.)

If the unset option is disabled and the parameter is an undefined variable, it is an expansion error. If the unset option is enabled, an undefined variable expands to the empty string.

More complex syntax of parameter expansion allows modifying the value of a parameter.

Parameter expansion

${ prefix parameter index modifier }

The spaces in the syntax definition above are for readability only and must be omitted. You can omit prefix, index, and/or modifier.

Prefix

The prefix, if any, must be a hash sign (#). If a parameter expansion has the prefix, the result of expansion is the number of characters in the value this expansion would be expanded to without the prefix.

Parameter name

The parameter name (parameter) must be either

• a name of a special parameter, positional parameter, or variable; or

• another parameter expansion, command substitution, or arithmetic expansion.

The parameter expansion is expanded to the value of the parameter. If parameter is an array variable, the values of the array are field-split like the @ special parameter unless the index [*] is specified.

If parameter is another expansion, it is called a nested expansion. Nested expansion cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode. The braces ({ }) of a nested parameter expansion cannot be omitted.

Index.sp An index allows extracting part of the parameter value (or some of array values).

Index

[word1]

[word1,word2]

where word1 and word2 are parsed in the same manner as normal tokens except that they are always delimited by , or ] and can contain whitespace characters.

If there is an index in a parameter expansion, it is interpreted as follows:

1. Words word1 and word2 are subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion.

2. If there is no word2 and if word1 expands to one of *, @, and #, then that is the interpretation of index and the next step is not taken.

3. The results of the previous steps (the expanded word1 and word2) are interpreted and evaluated as an arithmetic expression in the same manner as in arithmetic expansion. The resulting integers are the interpretation of index. If the results are not integers, it is an expansion error. If there is no word2, it is assumed that word2 is equal to word1.

If parameter is an array variable, the index specifies the part of the array. If parameter is either the * or @ special parameter, the index specifies the index range of positional parameters. In other cases, the index specifies the index range of a substring of the parameter value that is being expanded. In all cases, the specified range of the array values, positional parameters, or parameter value remains in the results of the expansion and other values are dropped.

If the interpretation of index is one or two integers, the following rules apply:

• If the interpreted index value is negative, it wraps around. For example, the index value of -1 corresponds to the last value/character.

• It is not an error when the index value is out of range. Existing values/characters within the range are just selected.

• If the interpretation of either word1 or word2 is 0, the range is assumed empty and the expansion results in nothing.

If the interpretation of index is one of *, @, and #, it is treated as follows:

*

If parameter is an array, all values of the array are concatenated into a single string. If parameter is the * or @ special parameter, all positional parameters are concatenated into a string. See the description of the * special parameter for how the values/positional parameters are separated in the result string. In other cases, the interpretation of index is treated as if the interpretation is the two integers 1 and -1.

@

The interpretation of index is treated as if the interpretation is the two integers 1 and -1.

#

The interpretation of the #index is special in that it does not simply specify a range. Instead, the expanded values are substituted with the count.

If parameter is an array, the result of this parameter expansion will be the number of values in the array being expanded. If parameter is the * or @ special parameter, the result will be the number of current positional parameters. Otherwise, the result will be the number of characters in the value that is being expanded.

If a parameter expansion does not contain an index, it is assumed to be [@]. In the POSIXly-correct mode, index cannot be specified.

Example 1. Expansion of a normal variable

The following commands will print the string ABC:

var='123ABC789'
echo "${var[4,6]}"

Example 2. Expansion of positional parameters

The following commands will print the string 2 3 4:

set 1 2 3 4 5
echo "${*[2,-2]}"

Example 3. Expansion of an array

The following commands will print the string 2 3 4:

array=(1 2 3 4 5)
echo "${array[2,-2]}"

Modifier

You can modify the value to be expanded by using modifiers:

-word

If the parameter name (parameter) is an undefined variable, the parameter expansion is expanded to word. It is not treated as an error if the unset option is disabled.

+word

If the parameter name (parameter) is an existing variable, the parameter expansion is expanded to word. It is not treated as an error if the unset option is disabled.

=word

If the parameter name (parameter) is an undefined variable, word is assigned to the variable and the parameter expansion is expanded to word. It is not treated as an error if the unset option is disabled.

?word

If the parameter name (parameter) is an undefined variable, word is printed as an error message to the standard error. If word is empty, the default error message is printed instead.

:-word, :+word, :=word, :?word

These are similar to the four types of modifiers above. The only difference is that, if parameter exists and has an empty value, it is also treated as an undefined variable.

#word

The shell performs pattern matching against the value that is being expanded, using word as a pattern. If word matches the beginning of the value, the matching part is removed from the value and the other part remains as expansion results. The shortest matching is used if more than one matching is possible.

##word

This is similar to #word above. The only difference is that the longest matching is used if more than one matching is possible.

%word

This is similar to #word above. The only difference is that matching is tried at the end of the value rather than at the beginning: if word matches the end of the value, the matching part is removed from the value and the other part remains as expansion results.

%%word

This is similar to %word above. The only difference is that the longest matching is used if more than one matching is possible.

/word1/word2

The shell performs pattern matching against the value that is being expanded, using word1 as a pattern. If word1 matches any part of the value, the matching part is replaced with word2 and the whole value after the replacement remains as expansion results. If word1 matches more than one part of the value, only the first part is replaced. The shortest matching is replaced if more than one matching is possible for the same starting point in the value.

This modifier cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode.

/#word1/word2

This is similar to /word1/word2 above. The only difference is that word1 matches only at the beginning of the value being expanded.

/%word1/word2

This is similar to /word1/word2 above. The only difference is that word1 matches only at the end of the value being expanded.

//word1/word2

This is similar to /word1/word2 above. The only difference is that all matched parts are replaced if word1 matches more than one part of the value.

:/word1/word2

This is similar to /word1/word2 above. The only difference is that the value is replaced only when word1 matches the whole value.

In all types of modifiers above, words are subjected to the four expansions when (and only when) they are used.

If parameter is an array variable or the @ or * special parameter, modifiers affect each value of the array or all positional parameters.

Command substitution

Command substitution expands to output of commands specified.

Command substitution

$(commands)

`commands`

When command substitution is evaluated, commands are executed by a subshell with output pipelined to the shell. When the commands finished, command substitution is substituted with the output of the commands. Any trailing newline characters in the output are ignored.

When command substitution of the form $(commands) is parsed, the commands are parsed carefully so that complex commands such as nested command substitution are parsed correctly. If commands start with (, you should put a space before commands so that the whole command substitution is not confused with arithmetic expansion. If the shell is in the POSIXly-correctly mode, the commands are parsed each time the command substitution is expanded; otherwise, commands are parsed only when the command substitution is parsed.

If command substitution is of the form `commands`, the commands are not parsed when the command substitution is parsed. The end of commands is detected by the first backquote character (`) after the beginning of commands that is not quoted by a backslash. Backquotes that are part of commands (typically used for nested command substitution) must be quoted by backslashes. The commands are parsed each time the command substitution is expanded.

Arithmetic expansion

Arithmetic expansion evaluates an arithmetic expression and expands to the value of the expression.

Arithmetic expansion

$((expression))

When arithmetic expansion is expanded, the expression is subject to parameter expansion, command substitution, and (nested) arithmetic expansion. The expression is parsed in (almost) same manner as an expression of the C programming language.

Yash allows an expression to be either an integer (of the long type in C) or a floating-point number (of the double type in C). An operation on integers yields an integer and an operation involving a floating-point number yields a floating-point number. In the POSIXly-correct mode, you can use integers only.

The following operators are available (in the order of precedence):

1. ( )

2. ++-- (postfix operators)

3. ++--+-~! (prefix operators)

4. */%

5. +- (binary operators)

6. <<>>

7. <<=>>=

8. ==!=

9. &

10. ^

11. |

12. &&

13. ||

14. ? :

15. =*=/=%=+=-=<<=>>=&=^=|=

The ++ and -- operators cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode.

An atomic expression can be one of an integer literal, a floating-point number literal, and a variable. Literals are parsed in the same manner as in C. An octal integer literal starts with 0, and hexadecimal with 0x. A floating-point number literal may have an exponent (i.e. 1.23e+6). A variable with a non-numeric value will result in an error when parsed as a number.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, variables are always parsed as numbers. Otherwise, variables are parsed only when they are used as numbers in computation. Unparsed variables are left intact.

set +o posixly-correct
foo=bar
echo $((0 ? foo : foo)) # prints "bar"
echo $((foo + 0))       # error

Brace expansion

Brace expansion expands to several split words with preceding and succeeding portions duplicated to each split words. Brace expansion is expanded only when the brace-expand option is enabled.

Comma-separated brace expansion

{word1,word2,...,wordn}

Range brace expansion

{start..end}

{start..end..delta}

Comma-separated brace expansion is expanded to each comma-separated word. For example, a{1,2,3}b is expanded to the three words a1b, a2b, and a3b.

Range brace expansion is expanded to integers in the range defined by start and end. The difference between each integer can be defined by delta. If start is larger than end, the results will be in descending order. When ..delta is omitted, it defaults to 1 or -1. For example, a{1..3}b is expanded to the three words a1b, a2b, and a3b; and a{1..7..2}b to the four words a1b, a3b, a5b, and a7b.

Multiple brace expansions can be used in one word. Brace expansions can also be nested. You can quote braces and/or commas to prevent them from being treated as brace expansion.

Any errors in brace expansion are silently ignored.

Field splitting

In field splitting, words are split at predefined separators.

Field splitting can occur only within parts of words that resulted from parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion that are not between double-quotation marks. Expansion results of the @ special parameter are exceptionally split even between double-quotation marks.

Separators used in field splitting are defined by the value of the IFS variable. If the variable does not exist, the value is assumed to be the three characters of space, tab, and newline.

Characters included in the value of the IFS variable are called IFS characters. IFS characters that are any of space, tab, and newline are called IFS whitespace and other IFS characters are called IFS non-whitespace.

Field splitting is performed as follows:

1. The shell searches words for split points. A split point is one or more adjacent IFS characters within the word portions that are subject to field splitting. The following steps are taken for each split point found.

2. If the split point includes one or more IFS non-whitespaces, any IFS whitespaces in the split point are ignored and the word is split at each IFS non-whitespace in the split point.

3. If the split point includes no IFS non-whitespaces, the word is split at the split point unless it is at the beginning or end of the word.

4. The split points are removed from the results.

Note

Words are not split at all when the value of the IFS variable is empty.

Pathname expansion

Pathname expansion performs pattern matching and expands to pathnames matched by the pattern.

A word subjected to pathname expansion is treated as a pattern. If one or more pathnames are found that are matched by the pattern, the pathnames become the results of the pathname expansion.

Pathname expansion is not performed when the glob option is disabled.

The shell searches readable directories for matching pathnames. Unreadable directories are silently ignored.

The following options affect the behavior of pathname expansion:

null-glob

This option affects the result of pathname expansion when no matching pathnames are found. If enabled, the result is no word. If disabled, the result is the original pattern word.

case-glob

This option specifies case-sensitivity in matching. If enabled, pattern matching is done case-sensitively.

dot-glob

This option affects matching of filenames that start with a period (.). If disabled, a period at the beginning of a filename does not match wildcard patterns (? and *) or bracket expressions. If enabled, there is no such special treatment of periods.

mark-dirs

If enabled, each resulting pathname that is a directory name is suffixed by a slash (/).

extended-glob

This option enables the extension. (See below)

Any errors in pathname expansion are silently ignored. If the word is an invalid pattern, it just becomes the result. The results depend on the null-glob option when no matching pathnames are found.

Pattern matching is done for each filename (or pathname component) of pathnames. The shell skips matching for literal patterns that contain no wildcards or bracket expressions. As a result, the patterns /*/foo and /*/fo[o] may yield different expansion results when the case-glob option is disabled; for example, the pattern /*/fo[o] matches the pathname /bar/FOO but the pattern /*/foo does not because matching is skipped for foo.

Extension in pathname expansion

The following patterns can be used when the extended-glob option is enabled.

**

The directory is searched recursively and the pattern matches any number of directory filenames (each separated by a slash). Any directory whose name begins with a period is excluded from search. For example, the pattern dir/**/file can match the pathnames dir/file, dir/foo/file, dir/a/b/c/file, etc.

This pattern is not effective when appearing at the end of the whole pattern (i.e. foo/bar/**).

.**

This pattern is like **, but all directories are searched including ones with a name starting with a period.

***

This pattern is like **, but if a symbolic link to a directory is found during recursive search, the directory is searched recursively as well.

.***

This pattern is like ***, but all directories are searched including ones with a name starting with a period.

PATTERN MATCHING NOTATION

Pattern matching notation is a syntax of patterns that represent particular sets of strings. When a string is included in the set of strings a pattern represents, the pattern is said to match the string. Whether a pattern matches a string or not is defined as follows.

Normal characters

A character that is not quoted or any of special characters defined below is a normal character, which matches the character itself.

For example, the pattern abc matches the string abc, and not any other strings.

Single-character wildcard

The character ? matches any single character.

For example, the pattern a?c matches any three-character strings that starts with a and ends with c, such as aac, abc, and a;c.

Multi-character wildcard

The character * matches any strings (of any length, including the empty string).

For example, the pattern a*c matches any string that starts with a and ends with c, such as ac, abc, and a;xyz;c.

Bracket expression

A pattern that is enclosed by brackets ([ and ]) is a bracket expression. A bracket expression must have at least one character between the brackets. The characters between the brackets are interpreted as a bracket expression pattern, which is a below-defined special notation for bracket expression. A bracket expression pattern represents a set of characters. The bracket expression matches any one of the characters in the set the bracket expression pattern represents.

If the opening bracket ([) is followed by an exclamation mark (!), the exclamation is not treated as part of the bracket expression pattern and the whole bracket expression instead matches a character that is not included in the set the bracket expression pattern represents. If the opening bracket is followed by a caret (^), it is treated like an exclamation mark as above (but shells other than yash may treat the caret differently).

If the opening bracket (or the following exclamation or caret, if any) is followed by a closing bracket (]), it is treated as part of the bracket expression pattern rather than the end of the bracket expression. You cannot quote characters in the bracket expression pattern because quotation is treated before bracket expression.

An opening bracket in a pattern is treated as a normal character if it is not the beginning of a valid bracket expression.

Normal characters (in bracket expression pattern)

A character that is not any of special characters defined below is a normal character, which represents the character itself.

For example, the bracket expression pattern abc represents the set of the three characters a, b, and c. The bracket expression [abc] therefore matches any of the three characters.

Range expressions

A hyphen preceded and followed by a character (or collating symbol) is a range expression, which represents the set of the two characters and all characters between the two in the collation order. A collation order is an order of characters that is defined in the locale data.

If a hyphen is followed by a closing bracket (]), the bracket is treated as the end of the bracket expression and the hyphen as a normal character.

For example, the range expression 3-5 represents the set of the three characters 3, 4, and 5. The bracket expression [3-5-] therefore matches one of the four characters 3, 4, 5, and -.

Collating symbols

A collating symbol allows more than one character to be treated as a single character in matching. A collating symbol is made up of one or more characters enclosed by the special brackets [. and .].

One or more characters that are treated as a single character in matching are called a collating element. Precisely, a bracket expression pattern represents a set of collating elements and a bracket expression matches a collating element rather than a character, but we do not differentiate them for brevity here.

For example, the character combination "ch" was treated as a single character in the traditional Spanish language. If this character combination is registered as a collating element in the locale data, the bracket expression [[.ch.]df] matches one of ch, d, and f.

Equivalence classes

An equivalence class represents a set of characters that are considered equivalent. A equivalence class is made up of a character (or more precisely, a collating element) enclosed by the special brackets [= and =].

An equivalence class represents the set of characters that consists of the character enclosed by the brackets and the characters that are in the same primary equivalence class as the enclosed character. The shell consults the locale data for the definition of equivalence classes in the current locale.

For example, if the six characters a, à, á, â, ã, ä are defined to be in the same primary equivalence class, the bracket expressions [[=a=]], [[=à=]], and [[=á=]] match one of the six.

Character classes

A character class represents a predefined set of characters. A character class is made up of a class name enclosed by the special brackets [: and :]. The shell consults the locale data for which class a character belongs to.

The following character classes can be used in all locales:

[:lower:]

set of lowercase letters

[:upper:]

set of uppercase letters

[:alpha:]

set of letters, including the [:lower:] and [:upper:] classes.

[:digit:]

set of decimal digits

[:xdigit:]

set of hexadecimal digits

[:alnum:]

set of letters and digits, including the [:alpha:] and [:digit:] classes.

[:blank:]

set of blank characters, not including the newline character

[:space:]

set of space characters, including the newline character

[:punct:]

set of punctuations

[:print:]

set of printable characters

[:cntrl:]

set of control characters

For example, the bracket expression [[:lower:][:upper:]] matches a lower or upper case character. In addition to the classes listed above, other classes may be used depending on the definition of the current locale.

REDIRECTION

Redirection is a feature you can use to modify file descriptors of commands. By using redirection, you can execute commands with their standard input/output connected with files or devices other than the terminal.

You can do redirection by adding redirection operators to a command (simple command or compound command) In a simple command, redirection operators may appear anywhere in the command as long as operator tokens are separated from other tokens. In a compound command, redirection operators must appear at the end of the command.

Redirection operators are processed before the command body is executed. More than one redirection operator in a command are processed in the order of appearance. Redirection operators affect only the command in which they appear, except when they appear in an exec built-in without command operands. That is, file descriptors modified by redirection are restored after the command has finished.

A redirection operator starts with < or >. Redirection operators starting with < affects the standard input (file descriptor 0) by default. Redirection operators starting with > affects the standard output (file descriptor 1) by default. To affect another file descriptor, you can prefix a redirection operator with a non-negative integer; the operator will affect the file descriptor specified by the integer. The integer must immediately precede the < or > without any whitespaces in between. The integer must not be quoted, either.

Redirection to files

The most common type of redirection is redirection to files.

Redirection of input

< token

Redirection of output

> token

>| token

>> token

Redirection of input and output

<> token

The token is subject to the four expansions. It is also subject to pathname expansion if the shell is interactive. The expansion result is treated as the pathname of the file to which redirection is performed. If the pathname expansion does not result in a single pathname, it is an error.

In redirection of input, the standard input is replaced with a file descriptor which is open for read-only access to the target file. If the target file cannot be opened for read-only access, it is an error.

In redirection of output, the standard output is replaced with a file descriptor which is open for write-only access to the target file. If the target file cannot be opened for write-only access, it is an error. If the target file does not exist, a new empty file is created and opened. If the target file already exists, the file is opened as follows:

• For the >| operator, the file is emptied when opened if it is a regular file.

• For the > operator, the behavior is the same as the >| operator if the clobber option is enabled. If the option is disabled and the file is a regular file, it is treated as an error.

• For the >> operator, the file is opened for appending; any output to the file descriptor is appended to the end of the file.

In redirection of input and output, the standard input is replaced with a file descriptor which is open for read-and-write access to the target file. If the file does not exist, a new empty file is created and opened.

Socket redirection

If the pathname of the target file is of the form /dev/tcp/host/port or /dev/udp/host/port and the file cannot be opened in the usual manner, a new socket is opened for communication with the port of the host. The redirection replaces the standard input or output with the file descriptor to the socket.

A stream socket is opened for the form /dev/tcp/host/port and a datagram socket for the form /dev/udp/host/port. The protocol actually used for communication is determined by the socket library the shell uses. Typically, stream sockets use TCP and datagram sockets UDP.

In socket redirection, the file descriptor is both readable and writable regardless of the type of the redirection operator used.

Socket redirection is yash's extension that is not defined in POSIX. Bash as well has socket redirection as extension.

Duplication of file descriptors

Redirection allows duplicating or closing existing file descriptors.

Duplication of file descriptor

<& token

>& token

The token is subject to expansion as in redirection to files, but it is treated as a file descriptor rather than a pathname. Thus the expanded token must be a non-negative integer.

The <& and >& operators duplicate the file descriptor specified by token to the standard input and output, respectively. (The operators can be prefixed with a non-negative integer so that the file descriptor is duplicated to a file descriptor other than the standard input or output.)

If the expanded token is a single hyphen rather than a non-negative integer, the file descriptor is closed rather than duplicated. By default, the <& and >& operators close the standard input and output, respectively, but the operators can be prefixed with a non-negative integer so that another file descriptor is closed.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, a file descriptor must be readable when duplicated by the <& operator and writable when duplicated by the >& operator.

Here documents and here strings

Here document and here string allow redirection to file descriptors that reads strings directly specified in shell commands.

Here document

<< token

<<- token

Here string

<<< token

In a here document or here string, the standard input is replaced with a readable file descriptor. When the command reads from the file descriptor, it will read the contents of the here document/string, which is defined below.

When a here document operator (<< or <<-) appears in a command, the shell reads the contents of the here document starting from the next line. The contents of here documents are not parsed nor executed as commands. The token after the operand specifies a delimiter that indicates the end of the contents. (The token is not subject to any expansion, but quotation is processed.) The contents of the here document is terminated just before the first line containing the token only. When using the <<- operator, all tab characters at the beginning of each line in the here document contents are removed and the delimiter token may be preceded by tab characters.

If there are more than one here document operator on one line, the contents of the here documents are parsed in order: The contents of the first here document starts from the next line and ends before the first line containing the token that followed the first operator. Just after that line, the contents of the second here document starts, and so on.

The contents of here documents are treated literally: whitespaces, tabs, etc. remain as is. The exception is that, when the token is not quoted at all:

• the contents are subject to parameter expansion, command substitution, arithmetic expansion.

• a backslash in the contents is treated as quotation if and only if it precedes $, `, ", or another backslash.

• a backslash followed by a newline is treated as line continuation.

In here string, the token after the operator is subject to expansion as in redirection to files. The expansion result becomes the contents of the here string. A newline character is automatically appended to the end of here string contents.

Here string is yash's extension that is not defined in POSIX. Other shells like bash, ksh, and zsh have the same feature.

Pipeline redirection

Pipeline redirection allows opening pipelines that can be used for arbitrary purposes.

Pipeline redirection

>>| token

The token is subject to expansion as in redirection to files, but it is treated as a file descriptor rather than a pathname. Thus the expanded token must be a non-negative integer.

Pipeline redirection opens a new pipeline. The standard output (or the file descriptor specified before the operator, if any) is replaced with the file descriptor open for writing to the pipeline. The file descriptor specified by token is replaced with the file descriptor open for reading from the pipeline.

Pipeline redirection is yash's extension that is not defined in POSIX.

Process redirection

Process redirection creates a pipeline connected to another command.

Process redirection

<(command...)

>(command...)

In process redirection, the command specified is executed in a subshell. If the process redirection is of the form <(command...), the standard output of command is connected with a pipeline to the standard input of the command the redirection is associated with. If the process redirection is of the form >(command...), the standard input of command is connected with a pipeline to the standard output of the command the redirection is associated with.

Process redirection is yash's extension that is not defined in POSIX. Bash and zsh have a feature called process substitution, which uses the same syntax as yash's process redirection, but incompatibly differs in behavior.

COMMAND EXECUTION

This section describes how commands are executed.

Execution of simple commands

A simple command is executed as follows:

1. All tokens in the simple command are expanded except for assignment and redirection tokens. If an error occurs during expansion, the execution of the simple command is aborted with a non-zero exit status.

In the following steps, the first word of the expansion results is referred to as command name, and the other words as command arguments. If there is only one word of the expansion results, there are no command argument words. If there are none of the expansion results, there is no command name either.

2. Redirection specified in the command, if any, is processed. The word token after each redirection operator is expanded. If an error occurs during processing redirection (including when expanding the word token), the execution of this simple command is aborted with a non-zero exit status.

3. Assignments specified in the command, if any, are processed. For each assignment token, the value is expanded and assigned to the specified variable. If an error occurs during assignments (including when expanding the values to be assigned), the execution of this simple command is aborted with a non-zero exit status.

• If there is no command name or the name denotes a special built-in or function, the assignments are permanent: the assigned values remain after the command has finished (until the variable is reassigned).

• Otherwise, the assignments are temporary: the assigned values only last during the execution of this simple command.

The assigned variables are automatically exported when the command name is specified or the all-export option is enabled.

4. If there is no command name, the command execution ends with the exit status of zero (unless there are any command substitutions in the command, in which case the exit status of the simple command is that of the last executed command substitution).

5. A command to be executed is determined using the command search algorithm and the command is executed.

• If the command is an external command, the command is executed by creating a new subshell and calling the "exec" system call in the subshell. The command name and arguments are passed to the executed command. Exported variables are passed to the executed command as environment variables.

• If the command is a built-in, the built-in is executed with the command arguments passed to the built-in.

• If the command is a function, the contents of the function are executed with the command arguments as function arguments.

If the command was executed, the exit status of this simple command is that of the executed command. If the algorithm failed to determine a command, no command is executed and the exit status is 127. If the shell failed to execute the determined command, the exit status is 126. If the executed command was killed by a signal, the exit status is the signal number plus 384.

Note
In shells other than yash, the exit status may be different when the command was killed by a signal, because the POSIX standard only requires that the exit status be "greater than 128."

If the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode and the algorithm failed to determine a command, the command eval -i -- "${COMMAND_NOT_FOUND_HANDLER-}" is evaluated. During the command execution, positional parameters are temporarily set to the command name and arguments that resulted in the first step. Any local variables defined during the execution are removed when the execution is finished. The HANDLED local variable is automatically defined with the initial value being the empty string. If the HANDLED variable has a non-empty value when the execution of the command string is finished, the shell pretends that the command was successfully determined and executed. The exit status of the simple command is that of the command string in this case.

Command search

A command that is executed in a simple command is determined by the command name using the following algorithm:

1. If the command name contains a slash (/), the whole name is treated as the pathname of an external command. The external command is determined as the executed command.

2. If the command name is a special built-in, the built-in is determined as the executed command.

3. If the command name is the name of an existing function, the function is determined as the executed command.

4. If the command name is a semi-special built-in, the built-in is determined as the executed command.

5. If the command name is a regular built-in, the built-in is determined as the executed command unless the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode.

6. The shell searches the PATH for a executed command:

The value of the PATH variable is separated by colons. Each separated part is considered as a directory pathname (an empty pathname denotes the current working directory). The shell searches the directories (in the order of appearance) and checks if any directory directly contains an executable regular file whose name is equal to the command name. If such a file is found:

• If the command name is the name of a built-in, the built-in is determined as the executed command.

• Otherwise, the file is determined as the executed command. (The file will be executed as an external command.)

If no such file is found, no command is determined as the executed command.

When the shell finds a file that matches the command name during the search above, the shell remembers the pathname of the file if it is an absolute path. When the algorithm above is used for the same command name again, the shell skips searching and directly determines the command to be executed. If an executable regular file no longer exists at the remembered pathname, however, the shell searches again to update the remembered pathname. You can manage remembered pathnames using the hash built-in.

Termination of the shell

The shell exits when it reached the end of input and has parsed and executed all input commands or when the exit built-in is executed. The exit status of the shell is that of the last command the shell executed (or zero if no commands were executed). The exit status of the shell is always between 0 and 255 (inclusive). If the exit status of the last command is 256 or larger, the exit status of the shell will be the remainder of the exit status divided by 256.

If an exit handler has been registered by the trap built-in, the handler is executed just before the shell exits. The exit status of the commands executed in the handler does not affect the exit status of the shell.

If a non-interactive shell encountered one of the following errors, the shell immediately exits with a non-zero exit status:

• A command cannot be parsed due to an syntax error (except during shell initialization).

• A special built-in is executed in the POSIXly-correct mode and the command arguments do not meet the syntax of the built-in's arguments.

• An error occurs during redirection or assignment in a simple command whose command name is a special built-in and the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode.

• An error occurs during expansion (except during shell initialization).

Note

Some shells other than yash exit when they fail to find a command to execute in command search.

Functions

Functions allow executing a compound command as a simple command. A function can be defined by the function definition command and executed by a simple command. You can use the unset built-in to remove function definitions.

There are no functions predefined when yash is started.

A function is executed by executing its body, which is a compound command. While the function is being executed, positional parameters are set to the arguments given to the function. The old positional parameters are restored when the function execution finishes.

Local variables

Local variables are temporary variables that are defined in a function and exist during the function execution only. They can be defined by the typeset built-in. They are removed when the function execution finishes.

Local variables may hide variables that have already been defined before the function execution had started. An existing variable becomes inaccessible if a local variable of the same name is defined in a function. The old variable becomes accessible again when the function execution finishes.

You cannot create a local variable when not executing a function. A normal variable is created if you try to do so.

Command execution environment

The shell holds following properties during execution.

• The working directory

• Open file descriptors

• The file creation mask (umask)

• The set of signals whose handler is set to "ignore" (trap)

• Environment variables

• Resource limits (ulimit)

Those properties are inherited from the invoker of the shell to the shell, and from the shell to each external command executed by the shell.

The properties can be changed during the execution of the shell by built-in commands, variable assignments, etc.

Subshells

A subshell is a copy of the shell process. Subshells are used in execution of groupings, pipelines, etc.

Subshells inherit functions, aliases, etc. defined in the shell as well as the properties above since subshells are copies of the shell process. Notable exceptions are:

• Traps registered by the trap built-in are all reset in subshells except for ones whose action is set to "ignore". (See below)

• The interactive mode and job control are disabled in subshells. Jobs are not inherited by subshells.

Subshells are executed independently of the original shell, so changes of any properties above do not affect those of the original shell.

Note

If the subshell contains a single trap built-in, some shells (but not yash) may not reset the traps on entry to the subshell.

INTERACTIVE MODE

The interactive mode is a mode of the shell intended for direct interaction with a user. If yash is in the interactive mode, it is called an interactive shell.

Whether a shell runs in the interactive mode or not is determined in the invocation of the shell. After the shell has started up, the interactive mode cannot be switched on or off.

When the shell is interactive:

• Initialization scripts are executed during invocation.

• The shell checks for mail and prints a command prompt when it reads a command. Job status changes are also reported if job control is active. Line-editing may be used depending on the capability of the terminal.

• Commands executed are automatically registered in command history.

• If a command executed by the shell is killed by a signal other than SIGINT and SIGPIPE, the shell reports the fact to the standard error.

• The filename token is subject to pathname expansion in file redirection.

• The standard input of an asynchronous command is not automatically redirected to /dev/null (in the POSIXly-correct mode only).

• The shell does not exit when it encounters a syntax or expansion error during command execution. (cf. Termination of the shell)

• The shell does not exit when it receives the SIGINT, SIGTERM, or SIGQUIT signal.

• A signal handler can be changed by the trap built-in even if the handler had been set to "ignore" when the shell was invoked.

• The value of the - special parameter contains i.

• The shell's locale reflects the value of the LC_CTYPE variable whenever the value is changed (if the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode).

• Commands are executed even when the exec option is off.

• The ignore-eof option takes effect when enabled.

• When the shell reaches the end of input or the exit built-in is executed, the shell checks if there is any stopped job. If so, the shell prints a warning and does not actually exit.

• The suspend built-in by default cannot stop the shell if it is a session leader.

• The shell does not exit when the dot built-in fails to find a script file to read.

• The shell does not exit when the exec built-in fails to execute a command (if not in the POSIXly-correct mode).

• When a job finished for which the wait built-in has been waiting, the fact is reported (only if job control is active and not in the POSIXly-correct mode).

• A prompt is printed when the read built-in reads a second or following line.

Prompts

The interactive shell prints a prompt just before it reads a command. The contents of the prompt is specified by the value of the PS1 and PS2 variables. The former is used for reading the first line of the command and the latter for other lines.

When the prompt is printed, the variable value is subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion (but note that the POSIX standard requires parameter expansion only). The result of the expansion is parsed by the rules below to make the actual prompt string, which is printed to the standard error.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, each exclamation mark (!) in the string is substituted with the command history number of the command that is being input. Two adjacent exclamation marks (!!) are printed as a single exclamation. Other characters are printed intact.

If the shell is not in the POSIXly-command mode, the following notations can be used to format the prompt string. Notations are replaced with the strings designated in the list below. Characters that are not interpreted as notations are printed intact.

\a

Bell character (ASCII code: 7)

\e

Escape character (ASCII code: 27)

\j

The number of jobs in the shell.

\n

Newline character (ASCII code: 10)

\r

Carriage return character (ASCII code: 13)

\!

The command history number of the command that is being input

\$

# if the shell's effective user ID is 0; $ otherwise.

\\

Backslash

\[, \]

These two notations can surround part of the prompt string that is not visible on the terminal. The surrounded part is ignored when the shell counts the number of characters that is displayed on the terminal, thus making characters correctly aligned on the terminal when the prompt string contains special invisible characters.

\ffontspecs.

When line-editing is active, this notation is replaced with special characters to change font styles on the terminal if the terminal is capable of it. If line-editing is inactive or the terminal is incapable of changing font styles, this notation is silently ignored. One or more of the following can be used for fontspecs:

k

Change font color to black

r

Change font color to red

g

Change font color to green

y

Change font color to yellow

b

Change font color to blue

m

Change font color to magenta

c

Change font color to cyan

w

Change font color to white

K

Change background color to black

R

Change background color to red

G

Change background color to green

Y

Change background color to yellow

B

Change background color to blue

M

Change background color to magenta

C

Change background color to cyan

W

Change background color to white

t

Make font color or background brighter (can only be used just after one of the characters above)

d

Change font and background colors to normal

s

Make font standout

u

Make font underlined

v

Make font and background colors reversed

b

Make font blink

i

Make font dim

o

Make font bold

x

Make font invisible

D

Make color and style normal

The actual colors of font and background are defined by the terminal. Different terminals may use different colors.

In addition to the normal prompt, a prompt string can be displayed to the right of the cursor if line-editing is active. Those prompts are called right prompts. The contents of right prompts are defined by the value of the PS1R and PS2R variables, each corresponding to the PS1 and PS2 variables.

Using the above-said notations, the font style of command strings the user inputs can be changed as well as that of prompts. The font style of command strings is defined by the value of the PS1S and PS2S variables, each corresponding to the PS1 and PS2 variables. The value can contain the \ffontspecs. notation only.

When the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode, the value of the PROMPT_COMMAND variable is executed before each prompt.

Command history

Command history is a feature of the shell that remembers executed commands to allow re-executing them later. Commands executed in the interactive mode are automatically saved in the command history. Saved commands can be edited and re-executed using line-editing and the fc and history built-ins.

Commands are saved line by line. Lines that do not contain any non-whitespace characters are not saved in the history. Lines that start with whitespaces are not saved when the hist-space option is on.

Command history is saved in a file. When history is first used after an interactive shell was started, the shell opens a file to save history in. The filename is specified by the value of the HISTFILE variable. If the file contains history data when opened, the data is restored to the shell's history. The file contents are updated in real time as the user inputs commands into the shell. If the HISTFILE variable is not set or the file cannot be opened successfully, history is not saved in the file, but the history feature will be functional in all other respects.

The number of commands saved in history is specified by the value of the HISTSIZE variable. The shell automatically removes old history data so that the number of saved commands does not exceed the value. If the HISTSIZE variable is not set or its value is not a natural number, 500 items will be saved in history.

The shell looks at the value of the HISTFILE and HISTSIZE variables only when the history feature is first used after the shell was started. "The history feature is used" when:

• the fc or history built-in is executed,

• line-editing is used (regardless of whether or not history data is recalled in line-editing), or

• a command is input to the shell

Therefore, the variables should be set in initialization scripts.

When more than one instance of yash shares a single history file, all the shells use the same history data. As a result, commands that have been executed by a shell instance can be recalled on another shell instance. Shells sharing the same history should have the same HISTSIZE value so that they manipulate history data properly.

Yash's history data file has its own format that is incompatible with other kinds of shells.

The HISTRMDUP variable can be set to remove duplicate history items.

Mail checking

An interactive shell can notify receipt of email. The shell periodically checks the modification date/time of a file specified by the user. If the file has been modified since the previous check, the shell prints a notification message (except when the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode and the file is empty). By specifying a mailbox file to be checked, the shell will print a message when the file has been modified, that is, some mail has been received.

Check is done just before the shell prints a command line prompt. The interval of checks can be specified by the MAILCHECK variable in seconds. If the variable value is 0, check is done before every prompt. If the variable value is not a non-negative integer, no checks are done.

The file whose modification time is checked is specified by the MAIL variable. The variable value should be set to the pathname of the file.

If you want to check more than one file or customize the notification message, you can set the MAILPATH variable instead of the MAIL variable. When the MAILPATH variable is set, the MAIL variable is ignored. The value of the MAILPATH variable should be set to one or more colon-separated pathnames of files to be checked. Each pathname can be followed by a percent sign (%) and a custom notification message, which is printed when the corresponding file has been modified. If the pathname contains a percent sign, it should be quoted by a backslash. The specified message is subject to parameter expansion. For example, if the value of the MAILPATH variable is /foo/mail%New mail!:/bar/mailbox%You've got mail:/baz/mail\%data, the shell will print

• New mail! when the file /foo/mail has been modified

• You've got mail when the file /bar/mailbox has been modified

• the default message when the file /baz/mail%data has been modified.

JOB CONTROL

Job control is a function of the shell that executes multiple commands simultaneously and suspends/resumes the commands.

When control is active:

• Every pipeline executed by the shell becomes a job. A job has its unique process group ID that is shared among all processes in the job.

• If the processes of a job are suspended while the shell is waiting for the processes to finish, the shell continues to the next command as if the process have finished. The shell remembers the job as suspended so that it can be resumed later.

• If a job is executed synchronously, the shell sets the foreground process group of the terminal to the process group of the job. When the job is finished (or suspended), the shell gets back to the foreground.

• The subshell executing a command substitution has its own unique process group ID like a job. However, the shell does not remember the subshell as a job, so it cannot be suspended or resumed.

• If the shell is interactive, job status is reported before every command line prompt as if the command jobs -n is executed.

• The standard input of an asynchronous command is not automatically redirected to /dev/null (unless in the POSIXly-correct mode).

• The shell does not exit when it receives the SIGTSTP signal.

• The value of the - special parameter contains m.

• When a job finished for which the wait built-in has been waiting, the fact is reported (only if the shell is interactive and not in the POSIXly-correct mode).

When job control is inactive, processes executed by the shell have the same process group ID as the shell. The shell treats asynchronous commands as an uncontrolled job.

You can use the following built-ins to manipulate jobs:

jobs

prints existing jobs

fg and bg

run jobs in the foreground or background

wait

waits for jobs to be finished (or suspended)

disown

forgets jobs

kill

sends a signal to jobs

An interactive job-controlling shell reports jobs status before every prompt by default. You can set the following options to make the shell report status at other timings:

notify

the shell reports immediately whenever job status changes.

notify-le

the shell reports immediately when job status changes while line-editing.

A job is removed from the shell's job list when:

• it has finished and the "finished" status is reported,

• the wait built-in successfully waited for the job to finish, or

• the disown built-in removed the job.

Note

The word "stop" is synonymous to "suspend" in the context of job control.

Job ID

Some built-ins use the following notation, which is called job ID, to specify a job to operate on:

%, %%, %+

the current job

%-

the previous job

%n

the job that has job number n, where n is a positive integer

%string

the job whose name begins with string

%?string

the job whose name contains string

The current job and previous job are jobs selected by the shell according to the following rules:

• When there is one or more suspended jobs, the current job is selected from them.

• When there is one or more suspended jobs other than the current job, the previous job is selected from them.

• The current and previous jobs are always different. When the shell has only one job, it is the current job and there is no previous job.

• When the current job finished, the previous job becomes the current job.

• When the current job is changed, the old current job becomes the previous job except when the old job finished.

• When the foreground job is suspended, the job becomes the current job.

Yash has some options to modify the rules of the current/previous job selection. (The rules above have priority over the options below.)

cur-async

When a new asynchronous command is started, it becomes the current job.

cur-bg

When a job is resumed by the bg built-in, the job becomes the current job.

cur-stop

When a job is suspended, it becomes the current job.

The current and previous jobs are not changed as long as the rules above are met.

The rules of the current/previous job selection defined in the POSIX standard are looser than yash's rules above. Other POSIX-compliant shells may select the current and previous jobs differently.

BUILT-IN COMMANDS

Built-in commands are commands that are implemented in the shell and are executed by the shell without external programs.

Types of built-in commands

There are three types of built-in commands in yash: special built-in commands, semi-special built-in commands and regular built-in commands.

Special built-in commands are much more important commands than others. They are executed regardless of whether the corresponding external commands exist or not. Results of variable assignments that occur in a simple command that invokes a special built-in last after the command has finished. Moreover, in the POSIXly-correct mode, a non-interactive shell immediately exits with a non-zero exit status when a redirect error, assignment error, or misuse of option or operand occurs in a special built-in command.

Semi special built-in commands are the second important built-in commands. They are executed regardless of whether the corresponding external commands exist or not. In other parts they are the same as regular built-in commands.

Regular built-in commands are less important built-in commands including commands that can be implemented as external commands or are not listed in POSIX. In the POSIXly-correct mode, a regular built-in is executed only when a corresponding external command is found in PATH.

Syntax of command arguments

In this section we explain common rules about command arguments. The built-in commands of yash follow the rules unless otherwise stated.

There are two types of command arguments. One is options and the other is operands. An option is an argument that starts with a hyphen (-) and changes the way the command behaves. Some options take arguments. An operand is an argument that is not an option and specifies objects the command operates on.

If you specify more than one option to a command, the order of the options are normally not significant. The order of operands, however, affects the command behavior.

An option is either a single-character option or a long option. A single-character option is identified by one alphabetic character. A long option is identified by multiple alphabetic characters. The POSIX standard only prescribes single-character options, so in the POSIXly-correct mode you cannot use long options.

A single-character option is composed of a hyphen followed by a letter. For example, -a is a single-character option. A single-character option that takes an argument requires the argument to be just after the option name.

Example 4. The set built-in and single-character options

For the set built-in, -m is a single-character option that does not take an argument and -o is one that takes an argument.

• set -o errexit -m

• set -oerrexit -m

In these two command lines, errexit is the argument to the -o option.

In the second example above, the -o option and its argument are combined into a single command line argument. The POSIX standard deprecates that style and any POSIX-conforming applications must specify options and their arguments as separate command line arguments, although yash accepts both styles.

You can combine single-character options that do not take arguments into a single command line argument. For example, the three options -a, -b and -c can be combined into -abc.

A long option is composed of two hyphens followed by an option name. For example, --long-option is a long option. You can omit some last characters of a long option name as long as it is not ambiguous. For example, you can use --long instead of --long-option if there is no other options beginning with --long. Like a single-character option, a long option that takes an argument requires the argument to be a command line argument just after the option name or to be specified in the same command line argument as the option name, separated by an equal sign (=).

Example 5. The fc built-in and long options

For the fc built-in, --quiet is a long option that does not take an argument and --editor is one that takes an argument.

• fc --editor vi --quiet

• fc --editor=vi --quiet

In these command lines, vi is the argument to the --editor option.

Arguments that are not options (nor arguments to them) are interpreted as operands. The POSIX standard requires all options should be specified before any operands. Therefore, in the POSIXly-correct mode, any arguments that come after the first operand are interpreted as operands (even if they look like options). If not in the POSIXly-correct mode, you can specify options after operand.

Regardless of whether the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode or not, an argument that is just composed of two hyphens (--) can be used as a separator between options and operands. All command line arguments after the -- separator are interpreted as operands, so you can specify operands that start with a hyphen correctly using the separator.

Example 6. Options and operands to the set built-in

• set -a -b -- -c -d

In this example, -a and -b are options and -c and -d are operands. The -- separator itself is neither an option nor an operand.

Regardless of whether the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode or not, an argument that is just composed of a single hyphen (-) is interpreted as an operand.

LINE-EDITING

With the line-editing feature, you can edit the command text when you input a command to an interactive shell. It not only works as a simple visual-interface editor, but also is integrated with the command history. You can recall, edit, and execute commands in the history with line-editing instead of using the fc built-in.

Line-editing has two editing modes, the vi and emacs modes, which each have their own key binding settings. By switching editing modes, you can change key bindings used in line-editing. Each mode has a corresponding shell option, which determines whether the mode is currently active or not. No more than one mode can be active at a time, so the options for the other modes are automatically turned off when you turn on the option for one mode. The whole line-editing feature is deactivated when those options are off.

When an interactive shell is started, the vi mode is automatically activated if the standard input and error are both connected to a terminal.

Line-editing can be used only when the standard input and error are both connected to a terminal. If not, the shell silently falls back to the normal input mechanism. While line-editing is being used, the shell uses the termios interface to change I/O settings of the terminal and the terminfo interface to parse input key sequences.

Shell options on line-editing

The following options can be set by the set built-in to enable line-editing and choose an editing mode to activate:

vi

activates the vi mode.

emacs

activates the emacs mode.

The other line-editing-related options are:

le-always-rp

When this options is enabled, the right prompt is always visible: when the cursor reaches the right prompt, it moves to the next line from the original position, which would otherwise be overwritten by input text.

le-comp-debug

When enabled, internal information is printed during completion, which will help debugging completion scripts.

le-conv-meta

When enabled, the 8th bit of each input byte is always treated as a meta-key flag, regardless of terminfo data.

le-no-conv-meta

When enabled, the 8th bit of each input byte is never treated as a meta-key flag, regardless of terminfo data.

The le-conv-meta and le-no-conv-meta options cannot be both enabled at a time. When either is enabled, the other is automatically disabled. When neither is enabled, the 8th bit may be treated as a meta-key flag depending on terminfo data.

le-prompt-sp

When enabled, the shell prints a special character sequence before printing each prompt so that every prompt is printed at the beginning of a line.

This option is enabled by default.

le-visible-bell

When enabled, the shell flashes the terminal instead of sounding an alarm when an alert is required.

Editing modes

The vi mode is an editing mode that offers key bindings similar to that of the vi editor. The vi mode has two sub-modes that are switched during editing: the insert and command modes. The sub-mode is always reset to the insert mode when line-editing is started for a new command line. In the insert mode, most characters are inserted to the buffer as typed. In the command mode, input characters are treated as commands that move the cursor, insert/delete text, etc.

The emacs mode offers key bindings similar to the emacs editor. Most characters are inserted to the buffer as typed, but more characters are treated as commands than the vi insert mode.

Another sub-mode is used while you enter search keywords. The sub-mode is called the search mode, which offers slightly different key bindings depending on the active editing mode.

Line-editing commands

All characters the user enters while line-editing is active are treated as line-editing commands listed below. The bindkey built-in allows customizing the key bindings of each mode (except for the search mode).

The list below shows not only the functions of commands but also the default key bindings. The keywords "vi-insert", "vi-command", "vi-search", "emacs", "emacs-search" means the vi insert mode, the vi command mode, the search mode for the vi mode (the vi search mode), the emacs mode, and the search mode for the emacs mode (the emacs search mode), respectively.

Some commands take an argument that affects the function of the commands. For example, the forward-char command moves the cursor by as many characters as specified by the argument. To specify an argument, use the digit-argument command just before another command that takes an argument.

Basic editing commands

noop

Do nothing.

vi-command

\^[

alert

Alert.

self-insert

Insert the input character at the current cursor position. Characters escaped by escape sequences cannot be inserted.

vi-insert, emacs

\\

insert-tab

Insert a tab character at the current cursor position.

emacs

\^[\^I

expect-verbatim

Insert a character that is entered just after this command at the current cursor position. This command can input a character that cannot be input by the self-insert command, except a null character ('\0').

vi-insert, vi-search, emacs-search

\^V

emacs

\^Q, \^V

digit-argument

Pass the input digit to the next command as an argument.

This command can be bound to a digit or hyphen. To pass "12" as an argument to the forward-char command in the vi mode, for example, enter 12l.

vi-command

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

emacs

\^[0, \^[1, \^[2, \^[3, \^[4, \^[5, \^[6, \^[7, \^[8, \^[9, \^[-,

bol-or-digit

Like the beginning-of-line command if there is no argument; like the digit-argument command otherwise.

vi-command

0

accept-line

Finish editing the current line. A newline is automatically appended to the line. The line will be executed by the shell.

vi-insert, vi-command, emacs, emacs-search

\^J, \^M

abort-line

Abandon the current buffer and finish editing as if an empty line was input.

vi-insert, vi-command, vi-search, emacs, emacs-search

\!, \^C

eof

Abandon the current buffer and finish editing as if the shell reached the end of input. This normally makes the shell exit.

eof-if-empty

Like the eof command if the buffer is empty; like the alert command otherwise.

vi-insert, vi-command

\#, \^D

eof-or-delete

Like the eof command if the buffer is empty; like the delete-char command otherwise.

emacs

\#, \^D

accept-with-hash

Like the accept-line command, but:

• A hash sign (#) is inserted at the beginning of the line if there is none.

• Otherwise, the hash sign is removed from the beginning of the line.

vi-command

#

emacs

\^[#

setmode-viinsert

Switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

i, \I

setmode-vicommand

Switch to the vi command mode.

vi-insert

\^[

setmode-emacs

Switch to the emacs mode.

expect-char, abort-expect-char

These commands are not meant for use by the user. They are used by the shell to implement some other commands.

redraw-all

Reprint the prompt and the current line to the terminal.

vi-insert, vi-command, vi-search, emacs, emacs-search

\^L

clear-and-redraw-all

Clear the terminal and reprint the prompt and the current line.

Motion commands

Motion commands move the cursor on the line. Most motion commands accept an argument. When passed an argument, they repeat the cursor motion as many times as specified by the argument. Passing "4" as an argument to the forward-char command, for example, advances the cursor by four characters.

The shell has several definitions of words as units of distance: A bigword is one or more adjacent non-whitespace characters. A semiword is one or more adjacent characters that contain no whitespaces or punctuations. An emacsword is one or more adjacent alphanumeric characters. A viword is either:

• one or more adjacent alphanumeric characters and/or underscores (_), or

• one or more adjacent characters that contain none of alphanumeric characters, underscores, and whitespaces.

forward-char

Move the cursor to the next character.

vi-insert

\R

vi-command

l, (space), \R

emacs

\R, \^F

backward-char

Move the cursor to the previous character.

vi-insert

\L

vi-command

h, \B, \L, \?, \^H

emacs

\L, \^B

forward-bigword

Move the cursor to the next bigword.

vi-command

W

end-of-bigword

Move the cursor to the next end of a bigword.

vi-command

E

backward-bigword

Move the cursor to the previous bigword.

vi-command

B

forward-semiword

Move the cursor to the next semiword.

end-of-semiword

Move the cursor to the next end of a semiword.

backward-semiword

Move the cursor to the previous semiword.

forward-viword

Move the cursor to the next viword.

vi-command

w

end-of-viword

Move the cursor to the next end of a viword.

vi-command

e

backward-viword

Move the cursor to the previous viword.

vi-command

b

forward-emacsword

Move the cursor to the next emacsword.

emacs

\^[f, \^[F

backward-emacsword

Move the cursor to the previous emacsword.

emacs

\^[b, \^[B

beginning-of-line

Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.

vi-insert, vi-command

\H

emacs

\H, \^A

end-of-line

Move the cursor to the end of the line.

vi-insert

\E

vi-command

$, \E

emacs

\E, \^E

go-to-column

Move the cursor to the nth character on the line, where n is the argument. Assume n = 1 when no argument.

vi-command

|

first-nonblank

Move the cursor to the first non-blank character on the line.

vi-command

^

find-char

Move the cursor to the first position where a character that is entered just after this command appears after the current cursor position.

vi-command

f

emacs

\^]

find-char-rev

Move the cursor to the last position where a character that is entered just after this command appears before the current cursor position.

vi-command

F

emacs

\^[\^]

till-char

Move the cursor to the first position just before a character that is entered just after this command appears after the current cursor position.

vi-command

t

till-char-rev

Move the cursor to the last position just after a character that is entered just after this command appears before the current cursor position.

vi-command

T

refind-char

Redo the last find-char, find-char-rev, till-char, till-char-rev command.

vi-command

;

refind-char-rev

Redo the last find-char, find-char-rev, till-char, till-char-rev command in the reverse direction.

vi-command

,

Editing commands

Editing commands modify contents of the buffer. Most editing commands accept an argument. When passed an argument, they repeat the modification as many times as specified by the argument.

Texts deleted by commands whose name starts with "kill" are saved in kill ring, from which deleted contents can be restored to the buffer. The most recent 32 texts are kept in the kill ring.

delete-char

Delete a character at the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the kill-char command otherwise.

vi-insert, emacs

\X

delete-bigword

Delete a bigword at the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the kill-bigword command otherwise.

delete-semiword

Delete a semiword at the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the kill-semiword command otherwise.

delete-viword

Delete a viword at the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the kill-viword command otherwise.

delete-emacsword

Delete a emacsword at the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the kill-emacsword command otherwise.

backward-delete-char

Delete a character just before the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the backward-kill-char command otherwise.

vi-insert, emacs

\B, \?, \^H

backward-delete-bigword

Delete a bigword just before the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the backward-kill-bigword command otherwise.

backward-delete-semiword

Delete a semiword just before the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the backward-kill-semiword command otherwise.

vi-insert

\^W

backward-delete-viword

Delete a viword just before the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the backward-kill-viword command otherwise.

backward-delete-emacsword

Delete a emacsword just before the current cursor position if no argument is passed; like the backward-kill-emacsword command otherwise.

delete-line

Delete the whole buffer contents.

forward-delete-line

Delete all characters from the current cursor position to the end of the buffer.

backward-delete-line

Delete all characters before the current cursor position.

vi-insert

\$, \^U

kill-char

Delete a character at the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

vi-command

x, \X

kill-bigword

Delete a bigword at the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

kill-semiword

Delete a semiword at the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

kill-viword

Delete a viword at the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

kill-emacsword

Delete a emacsword at the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

emacs

\^[d, \^[D

backward-kill-char

Delete a character just before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

vi-command

X

backward-kill-bigword

Delete a bigword just before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

emacs

\^W

backward-kill-semiword

Delete a semiword just before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

backward-kill-viword

Delete a viword just before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

backward-kill-emacsword

Delete a emacsword just before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

emacs

\^[\B, \^[\?, \^[\^H

kill-line

Delete the whole buffer contents and add it to the kill ring.

forward-kill-line

Delete all characters from the current cursor position to the end of the buffer and add it to the kill ring.

emacs

\^K

backward-kill-line

Delete all characters before the current cursor position and add it to the kill ring.

emacs

\$, \^U, \^X\B, \^X\?

put-before

Insert the last-killed text before the current cursor position and move the cursor to the last character that was inserted.

vi-command

P

put

Insert the last-killed text after the current cursor position and move the cursor to the last character that was inserted.

vi-command

p

put-left

Insert the last-killed text before the current cursor position and move the cursor to the last character that was inserted.

emacs

\^Y

put-pop

Replace the just put text with the next older killed text.

This command can be used only just after the put-before, put, put-left, or put-pop command.

emacs

\^[y, \^[Y

undo

Cancel modification by the last editing command.

vi

u

emacs

\^_, \^X\$, \^X\^U

undo-all

Cancel all modification in the current buffer, restoring the initial contents.

vi

U

emacs

\^[\^R, \^[r, \^[R

cancel-undo

Cancel cancellation by the last undo or undo-all command.

vi

\^R

cancel-undo-all

Cancel all cancellation by all most recent undo and undo-all commands.

redo

Repeat modification by the last editing command.

vi-command

.

Completion commands

complete

Complete a word just before the cursor position and, if there is more than one candidate, show a list of the candidates.

complete-next-candidate

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the next candidate in the list.

vi-insert, emacs

\^I

complete-prev-candidate

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the previous candidate in the list.

vi-insert, emacs

\bt

complete-next-column

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the first candidate in the next column in the list.

complete-prev-column

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the first candidate in the previous column in the list.

complete-next-page

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the first candidate in the next page in the list.

complete-prev-page

Like the complete command when candidates are not being listed; otherwise, select the first candidate in the previous page in the list.

complete-list

Complete a word just before the cursor position.

If you pass no argument, a list of completion candidates is shown. Otherwise, the word is completed with the nth candidate where n is the argument.

emacs

\^[?, \^[=

complete-all

Replace a word just before the cursor position with all possible completion candidates, each separated by a space.

emacs

\^[*

complete-max

Complete a word just before the cursor position with the longest prefix of all possible completion candidates.

clear-candidates

Clear the list of completion candidates.

Vi-specific commands

vi-replace-char

Replace the character at the cursor position with a character that is entered just after this command.

vi-command

r

vi-insert-beginning

Move the cursor to the beginning of the line and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

I

vi-append

Move the cursor to the next character and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

I

vi-append-to-eol

Move the cursor to the end of the line and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

A

vi-replace

Switch to the vi insert mode and start overwriting. While overwriting, the self-insert command replaces the character at cursor position rather than inserting a character. Overwriting ends when the editing mode is changed.

vi-command

R

vi-switch-case

Switch case of characters between the current and next cursor positions. This command must be followed by a motion command, which determines the next cursor position.

vi-switch-case-char

Switch case of the character at the current cursor position and move the cursor to the next character.

vi-command

~

vi-yank

Add to the kill ring the characters between the current and next cursor positions. This command must be followed by a motion command, which determines the next cursor position.

vi-command

y

vi-yank-to-eol

Add to the kill ring the characters from the current cursor position to the end of the line.

vi-command

Y

vi-delete

Delete characters between the current and next cursor positions and add it to the kill ring. This command must be followed by a motion command, which determines the next cursor position.

vi-command

d

vi-delete-to-eol

Delete the characters from the current cursor position to the end of the line and add it to the kill ring.

vi-command

D

vi-change

Delete characters between the current and next cursor positions and switch to the vi insert mode. This command must be followed by a motion command, which determines the next cursor position.

vi-command

c

vi-change-to-eol

Delete the characters from the current cursor position to the end of the line and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

C

vi-change-line

Delete the whole buffer contents and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

S

vi-yank-and-change

Like the vi-change command, but the deleted text is added to the kill ring.

vi-yank-and-change-to-eol

Like the vi-change-to-eol command, but the deleted text is added to the kill ring.

vi-yank-and-change-line

Like the vi-change-line command, but the deleted text is added to the kill ring.

vi-substitute

Delete a character at the current cursor position, add it to the kill ring, and switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

s

vi-append-last-bigword

Insert a space and the last bigword in the most recent command history entry just after the current cursor position and switch to the vi insert mode. If argument n is passed, the nth bigword in the entry is inserted instead of the last.

vi-command

_

vi-exec-alias

Execute the value of an alias named _c as editing commands where c is a character input just after this command.

vi-command

@

vi-edit-and-accept

Start the vi editor to edit the current buffer contents. When the editor finished, the edited buffer contents is accepted like the accept-line command unless the exit status of the editor is non-zero.

vi-command

v

vi-complete-list

Like the complete-list command, but also switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

=

vi-complete-all

Like the complete-all command, but also switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

*

vi-complete-max

Like the complete-max command, but also switch to the vi insert mode.

vi-command

\\

vi-search-forward

Switch to the vi search mode and start forward history search.

vi-command

?

vi-search-backward

Switch to the vi search mode and start backward history search.

vi-command

/

Emacs-specific commands

emacs-transpose-chars

Move a character just before the cursor to the right.

emacs

\^T

emacs-transpose-words

Move an emacsword just before the cursor to the right.

emacs

\^[t, \^[T

emacs-downcase-word

Make an emacsword just after the cursor lowercase.

emacs

\^[l, \^[L

emacs-upcase-word

Make an emacsword just after the cursor uppercase.

emacs

\^[u, \^[U

emacs-capitalize-word

Capitalize the first letter of an emacsword just after the cursor.

emacs

\^[c, \^[u

emacs-delete-horizontal-space

Delete spaces around the cursor. If any argument was passed, delete spaces just before the cursor only.

emacs

\^[\\

emacs-just-one-space

Delete spaces around the cursor and leave one space. If an argument is specified, leave as many spaces as the argument.

emacs

\^[ (Escape followed by a space)

emacs-search-forward

Switch to the emacs search mode and start forward history search.

emacs

\^S

emacs-search-backward

Switch to the emacs search mode and start backward history search.

emacs

\^R

History-related commands

oldest-history

Recall the oldest entry in the history. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead. The cursor position remains unchanged.

newest-history

Recall the newest entry in the history. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead. The cursor position remains unchanged.

return-history

Return to the initial buffer corresponding to none of existing history entries. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead. The cursor position remains unchanged.

oldest-history-bol

Recall the oldest entry in the history and move the cursor to the beginning of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

vi-command

G

newest-history-bol

Recall the newest entry in the history and move the cursor to the beginning of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

return-history-bol

Return to the initial buffer corresponding to none of existing history entries and move the cursor to the beginning of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

vi-command

g

oldest-history-eol

Recall the oldest entry in the history and move the cursor to the end of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

emacs

\^[<

newest-history-eol

Recall the newest entry in the history and move the cursor to the end of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

return-history-eol

Return to the initial buffer corresponding to none of existing history entries and move the cursor to the end of the line. If argument n is passed, the entry whose number is n is recalled instead.

emacs

\^[>

next-history

Recall the next history entry. The cursor position remains unchanged.

prev-history

Recall the previous history entry. The cursor position remains unchanged.

next-history-bol

Recall the next history entry and move the cursor to the beginning of the line.

vi-command

j, +, \D, \^N

prev-history-bol

Recall the previous history entry and move the cursor to the beginning of the line.

vi-command

k, -, \U, \^P

next-history-eol

Recall the next history entry and move the cursor to the end of the line.

vi-insert, emacs

\D, \^N

prev-history-eol

Recall the previous history entry and move the cursor to the end of the line.

vi-insert, emacs

\U, \^P

search-again

Repeat the last command history search.

vi-command

n

search-again-rev

Repeat the last command history search in the reverse direction.

vi-command

N

search-again-forward

Repeat the last command history search in the forward direction.

search-again-backward

Repeat the last command history search in the backward direction.

beginning-search-forward

Recall the next history entry that starts with the same text as the text from the beginning of the line up to the current cursor position. The cursor position remains unchanged.

beginning-search-backward

Recall the previous history entry that starts with the same text as the text from the beginning of the line up to the current cursor position. The cursor position remains unchanged.

Search mode commands

srch-self-insert

Insert the input character at the current cursor position. Characters escaped by escape sequences cannot be inserted.

vi-search, emacs-search

\\

srch-backward-delete-char

Delete the last character in the search text. If the text is empty:

• like the srch-abort-search command when in the vi search mode, or

• like the alert command when in the emacs search mode.

vi-search, emacs-search

\B, \?, \^H

srch-backward-delete-line

Delete the whole search text.

vi-search, emacs-search

\$, \^U

srch-continue-forward

Find the next matching history entry.

emacs-search

\^S

srch-continue-backward

Find the previous matching history entry.

emacs-search

\^R

srch-accept-search

Finish the search mode, accepting the result being shown.

vi-search

\^J, \^M

emacs-search

\^J, \^[

srch-abort-search

Abort search and restore the previous buffer contents.

vi-search

\^[

emacs-search

\^G

Escape sequences

In the bindkey built-in, escape sequences are used to represent special keys such as function keys and arrow keys. Every escape sequence starts with a backslash (\) and thus there is also an escape sequence for a backslash itself.

Below are available escape sequences:

\\

Backslash (\)

\B

Backspace

\D

Down arrow

\E

End

\H

Home

\I

Insert (Insert-char, Enter-insert-mode)

\L

Left arrow

\N

Page-down (Next-page)

\P

Page-up (Previous-page)

\R

Right arrow

\U

Up arrow

\X

Delete

\!

INTR

\#

EOF

\$

KILL

\?

ERASE

\^@

Ctrl + @

\^A, \^B, ..., \^Z

Ctrl + A, Ctrl + B, ..., Ctrl + Z

Note that Ctrl + I, Ctrl + J, and Ctrl + M are tab, newline, and carriage return, respectively.

\^[

Ctrl + [ (Escape)

\^\

Ctrl + \

\^]

Ctrl + ]

\^^

Ctrl + ^

\^_

Ctrl + _

\^?

Ctrl + ? (Delete)

\F00, \F01, ..., \F63

F0, F1, ..., F63

\a1

Top-left on keypad

\a3

Top-right on keypad

\b2

Center on keypad

\bg

Beginning

\bt

Back-tab

\c1

Bottom-left on keypad

\c3

Bottom-right on keypad

\ca

Clear-all-tabs

\cl

Close

\cn

Cancel

\co

Command

\cp

Copy

\cr

Create

\cs

Clear-screen or erase

\ct

Clear-tab

\dl

Delete-line

\ei

Exit-insert-mode

\el

Clear-to-end-of-line

\es

Clear-to-end-of-screen

\et

Enter (Send)

\ex

Exit

\fd

Find

\hp

Help

\il

Insert-line

\ll

Home-down

\me

Message

\mk

Mark

\ms

Mouse event

\mv

Move

\nx

Next-object

\on

Open

\op

Options

\pr

Print (Copy)

\pv

Previous-object

\rd

Redo

\re

Resume

\rf

Ref (Reference)

\rh

Refresh

\rp

Replace

\rs

Restart

\sf

Scroll-forward (Scroll-down)

\sl

Select

\sr

Scroll-backward (Scroll-up)

\st

Set-tab

\su

Suspend

\sv

Save

\ud

Undo

\SE

Shift + End

\SH

Shift + Home

\SI

Shift + Insert

\SL

Shift + Left arrow

\SR

Shift + Right arrow

\SX

Shift + Delete

\Sbg

Shift + Beginning

\Scn

Shift + Cancel

\Sco

Shift + Command

\Scp

Shift + Copy

\Scr

Shift + Create

\Sdl

Shift + Delete-line

\Sel

Shift + End-of-line

\Sex

Shift + Exit

\Sfd

Shift + Find

\Shp

Shift + Help

\Smg

Shift + Message

\Smv

Shift + Move

\Snx

Shift + Next

\Sop

Shift + Options

\Spr

Shift + Print

\Spv

Shift + Previous

\Srd

Shift + Redo

\Sre

Shift + Resume

\Srp

Shift + Replace

\Ssu

Shift + Suspend

\Ssv

Shift + Save

\Sud

Shift + Undo

INTR, EOF, KILL, and ERASE are special characters configured by the stty command. In a typical configuration, they are sent by typing Ctrl+C, Ctrl+D, Ctrl+U, and Ctrl+H, respectively, but some configuration uses Ctrl+? instead of Ctrl+H for ERASE.

Command line completion

By using the complete and complete-next-candidate commands, etc., you can complete command names, options, and operands. By default, the complete-next-candidate command is bound with the Tab key in the vi insert and emacs modes.

Type a few first letters of a command name or pathname and hit the Tab key, and a list of matching names will be shown. You can choose a candidate from the list to complete the name by hitting the Tab key again. If there is only one matching name, no list will be shown and the name will directly be completed.

If the name to be completed contains characters like * and ?, it is treated as a pattern. The name on the command line will be directly substituted with all possible names matching the pattern (you cannot choose from a list).

Normally, command names are completed with command names and command arguments with pathnames. However, completion functions can be defined to refine completion results.

Completion details

When doing completion for the first time after the shell has been started, the INIT file is loaded as if the command string . -AL completion/INIT is executed. If the file is not found, it is silently ignored. This automatic loading is mainly intended for loading completion functions bundled with the shell, but you can let the shell load your own functions by putting a file in the load path.

When completing a command name, the shell executes the completion//command function and when completing a command argument, the completion//argument function. If those completion functions are not defined, the shell just completes with command names or pathnames. When completing other names, such as the user name in tilde expansion and the parameter name in parameter expansion, completion functions are never used: the shell just completes with user names, parameter names, or whatever applicable.

Completion functions are executed without any arguments. The following local variables are automatically defined while executing completion functions:

IFS

The value is the three characters of a space, a tab, and a newline, which are the default value of the variable.

WORDS

This variable is an array whose elements are a command name and arguments that have already been entered before the argument being completed. When completing a command name, the array has no elements.

TARGETWORD

The value is the partially entered command name or argument that is being completed.

Completion candidates are generated by executing the complete built-in during a completion function.

Completion functions must not perform I/O to the terminal, or displayed text will be corrupted. Completion functions should run as quickly as possible for better user experience.

While a completion function is being executed:

• the POSIXly-correct mode is temporarily disabled,

• the err-exit option is temporarily disabled, and

• traps are not executed.

POSIXLY-CORRECT MODE

Yash behaves as defined in POSIX.1-2008, Shell & Utilities for the most part, but some functionalities disobey POSIX for usability. When full POSIX-conformance is needed, you can enable the POSIXly-correct mode to make yash obey POSIX as mush as possible.

If yash is started with the name "sh", the POSIXly-correct mode is automatically enabled. The -o posixly-correct command-line option also enables the POSIXly-correct mode. After yash has been started, the POSIXly-correct mode can be enabled by executing the command string set -o posixly-correct.

When the POSIXly-correct mode is on, yash not only tries to obey the requirements by POSIX, but also treats as errors most conditions where the behavior is undefined or unspecified by POSIX. As a result, most yash-specific functionalities are disabled in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Below is the complete list of the behavioral differences between when yash is in the POSIXly-correct mode and when not. When the POSIXly-correct mode is enabled:

• Different initialization scripts are used.

• Global aliases are not substituted.

• Nested commands in a compound command must not be empty.

• Words expanded in a for loop are assigned as a global variable rather than a local. The variable must have a portable (ASCII-only) name. A semicolon before do cannot appear without in after the variable name.

• The first pattern in a case command cannot be esac.

• The function keyword cannot be used for function definition. The function must have a portable (ASCII-only) name.

• Simple commands cannot assign to arrays.

• Changing the value of the LC_CTYPE variable after the shell has been initialized does not affect the shell's locale.

• The RANDOM variable cannot be used to generate random numbers.

• Tilde expansion only expands ~ and ~username.

• Parameter expansion cannot be nested. No indexes are allowed.

• The commands in a command substitution of the form $(commands) are parsed every time the substitution is executed.

• In arithmetic expansion, fractional numbers and the ++ and -- operators cannot be used. All variables must be numeric.

• In a redirection to a file, if the pathname expansion yielded more than one or no pathname, it is not immediately treated as an error. Instead, the shell tries to treat the word before the expansion as a pathname.

• Socket redirection, here strings, pipe redirection, and process redirection cannot be used.

• When executing a simple command, failure in command search does not trigger execution of the COMMAND_NOT_FOUND_HANDLER variable.

• In command search, a regular built-in needs to have a corresponding external command for the built-in to be found.

• asynchronous commands ignore the SIGINT and SIGQUIT signals even when job control is active. The standard input of asynchronous commands is redirected to /dev/null if the shell is not interactive, regardless of whether job control is active or not.

• Some built-ins behave differently. Especially, some command-line options cannot be used.

• A non-interactive shell exits when a special built-in is given a syntactically wrong arguments or when an error occurs in assignment or redirection with a special built-in.

• An interactive shell does not execute the PROMPT_COMMAND variable before printing a prompt. The values of the PS1, PS2, and PS4 variables are parsed differently.

• In mail checking, a notification message is printed if the file has been modified, regardless of whether the file is empty.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND TROUBLESHOOTING

The default prompt is too simple...

Without a yashrc file, yash is almost the same as a raw POSIX shell. Put the sample yashrc in your home directory (~/.yashrc) and customize it as you like.

How can I use Unicode (non-ASCII) characters?

You need to set locale environment variables to enable Unicode character support.

If the variables have already been configured for your preference, you probably don't have to do anything. To check the current locale configurations, you can use the locale command:

$ locale
LANG=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.utf8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.utf8"
LC_TIME="en_US.utf8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.utf8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.utf8"
LC_NAME="en_US.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.utf8"
LC_ALL=en_US.utf8

In this example, the locale command shows that all the locale setting categories are configured for the English language, the United States region, and the UTF-8 encoding.

If the current configuration does not seem to match your preference, set the LC_ALL variable like this:

export LC_ALL=en_US.utf8

If you want to use other languages, regions, or encodings, you have to set the variable to a different value. Please consult your OS's documentation to learn how to configure these variables in detail.

If you want to apply the same configuration every time you start yash, write the command in ~/.yashrc or ~/.yash_profile.

If yash still rejects Unicode characters being entered, see the section below regarding line-editing.

Line-editing does not work

First, type echo $TERM and see if it prints a sane value. xterm is the safest value that should work on any existing environment. Colored versions like xterm-16color and other terminal types like rxvt and vt100 may also work. All possible values can be listed by the toe command. It's most desirable to choose a value that matches the actual terminal type you are using, but it might not work if the terminal type you chose is not supported on the system on which yash is running. If so, try changing the TERM value by export TERM=xterm, for example, to find a value that works.

If line-editing works but you have trouble entering Unicode (non-ASCII) characters, try enabling the le-no-conv-meta option by set -o le-no-conv-meta.

FORMAL DEFINITION OF COMMAND SYNTAX

This chapter defines the syntax of shell commands as a parsing expression grammar.

The set of terminals of the grammar is the set of characters that can be handled on the environment in which the shell is run (a.k.a. execution character set), with the exception that the set does not contain the null character ('\0').

Below is a list of nonterminals of the grammar with corresponding parsing expressions. The list does not include rules for parsing contents and ends of here documents. In the POSIXly-correct mode, the grammar varies from the list below to disable non-POSIX functionalities.

CompleteCommand

SequenceEOF

Sequence

N* List*

List

Pipeline ((&& / ||) N* Pipeline)* ListSeparator

Pipeline

Bang? Command (|N* Command)*

Command

CompoundCommandRedirection* /

!RFunctionDefinition /

!R SimpleCommand

CompoundCommand

Subshell / Grouping / IfCommand / ForCommand / WhileCommand / CaseCommand / FunctionCommand

Subshell

(Sequence)S*

Grouping

LeftBraceSequenceRightBrace

IfCommand

IfSequenceThen Sequence (Elif Sequence Then Sequence)* (Else Sequence)? Fi

ForCommand

ForNameS* Separator? (InWord* Separator)? DoSequenceDone

WhileCommand

(While / Until) SequenceDo Sequence Done

CaseCommand

CaseWordN* In N* CaseItem* Esac

CaseItem

!Esac ((S*)? Word (| S* Word)* )Sequence (;; / &Esac)

FunctionCommand

FunctionWord ((S* ))? N* CompoundCommandRedirection*

FunctionDefinition

NameS* ( S* )N* CompoundCommandRedirection*

SimpleCommand

&(Word / Redirection) (Assignment / Redirection)* (Word / Redirection)*

Assignment

Name=Word /

Name =(N* (Word N*)* )

Name

![[:digit:]] [[:alnum:] _]+

PortableName

![0-9] [0-9ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz_]+

Word

(WordElement / !SpecialChar .)+ S*

WordElement

\ . / ' (!' .)* ' / "QuoteElement* " / Parameter / Arithmetic / CommandSubstitution

QuoteElement

\ ([$`"\] / NL) / Parameter / Arithmetic / CommandSubstitution /

![`"\] .

Parameter

$ [@*#?-$! [:digit:]] / $PortableName / $ParameterBody

ParameterBody

{ParameterNumber? (ParameterName / ParameterBody / Parameter) ParameterIndex? ParameterMatch? }

ParameterNumber

# ![+=:/%] !([-?#] })

ParameterName

[@*#?-$!] /

[[:alnum:] _]+

ParameterIndex

[ParameterIndexWord (, ParameterIndexWord)? ]

ParameterIndexWord

(WordElement / !["'],] .)+

ParameterMatch

:? [-+=?] ParameterMatchWord /

(# / ## / % / %%) ParameterMatchWord /

(:/ / / [#%/]?) ParameterMatchWordNoSlash (/ ParameterMatchWord)?

ParameterMatchWord

(WordElement / !["'}] .)*

ParameterMatchWordNoSlash

(WordElement / !["'/}] .)*

Arithmetic

$((ArithmeticBody* ))

ArithmeticBody

\ . / Parameter / Arithmetic / CommandSubstitution / ( ArithmeticBody ) /

![`()] .

CommandSubstitution

$(Sequence) / `CommandSubstitutionBody* `

CommandSubstitutionBody

\ [$`\] /

!` .

Redirection

RedirectionFDRedirectionOperatorS* Word /

RedirectionFD <(Sequence) /

RedirectionFD >( Sequence )

RedirectionFD

[[:digit:]]*

RedirectionOperator

< / <> / > / >| / >> / >>| / <& / >& / << / <<- / <<<

ListSeparator

Separator / &N* /

&) /

&;;

Separator

;N* / N+ / EOF

N

S* NL

S

[[:blank:]] / Comment

Comment

# (!NL .)*

R

Bang / LeftBrace / RightBrace / Case / Do / Done / Elif / Else / Esac / Fi / For / If / In / Then / Until / While

Bang

!D

LeftBrace

{D

RightBrace

}D

Case

caseD

Do

doD

Done

doneD

Elif

elifD

Else

elseD

Esac

esacD

Fi

fiD

For

forD

Function

functionD

If

ifD

In

inD

Then

thenD

Until

untilD

While

whileD

D

!WordS*

SpecialChar

[|&;<>()`\"' [:blank:]] / NL

NL

<newline>

EOF

!.

ALIAS BUILT-IN

The alias built-in defines and/or prints aliases.

Syntax

• alias [-gp] [name[=value]...]

Description

The alias built-in defines and/or prints aliases as specified by operands. The printed aliases can be used as (part of) shell commands. The built-in prints all currently defined aliases when given no operands.

Options

-g, --global

With this option, aliases are defined as global aliases; without this option, as normal aliases.

-p, --prefix

With this option, aliases are printed in a full command form like alias -g foo='bar'. Without this option, only command operands are printed like foo='bar'.

Operands

name

The name of an alias that should be printed.

name=value

The name and value of an alias that is being defined.

Exit status

The exit status of the alias built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The characters that cannot be used in an alias name are the space, tab, newline, and any of =$<>\'"`;&|()#. You can use any characters in an alias value.

The alias built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the alias built-in, thus no options are available in the POSIXly correct mode.

ARRAY BUILT-IN

The array built-in prints or modifies arrays.

Syntax

• array

• array name [value...]

• array -d name [index...]

• array -i name index [value...]

• array -s name index value

Description

When executed without any option or operands, the built-in prints all array definitions to the standard output in a form that can be parsed as commands.

When executed with name and values (but without an option), the built-in sets the values as the values of the array named name.

With the -d (--delete) option, the built-in removes the indexth values of the array named name. The number of values in the array will be decreased by the number of the indexes specified. If the indexth value does not exist, it is silently ignored.

With the -i (--insert) option, the built-in inserts values into the array named name. The number of values in the array will be increased by the number of the values specified. The values are inserted between the indexth and next values. If index is zero, the values are inserted before the first value. If index is larger than the number of values in the array, the values are appended after the last element.

With the -s (--set) option, the built-in sets value as the indexth value of the array named name. The array must have at least index values.

Options

-d, --delete

Delete array values.

-i, --insert

Insert array values.

-s, --set

Set an array value.

Operands

name

The name of an array to operate on.

index

The index to an array element. The first element has the index of 1.

value

A string to which the array element is set.

Exit status

The exit status of the array built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The array built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

The command array name value... is equivalent to the assignment name=(value...).

BG BUILT-IN

The bg built-in resumes a job in the background.

Syntax

• bg [job...]

Description

The bg built-in sends the SIGCONT signal to the specified job. As a result, the job is resumed in the background (if it has been suspended).

The name of the job is printed when the job is resumed.

The built-in can be used only when job control is enabled.

Operands

job

The job ID of the job to be resumed.

More than one job can be specified at a time. The current job is resumed if none is specified.

The percent sign (%) at the beginning of a job ID can be omitted if the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Exit status

The exit status of the bg built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The bg built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard provides that the built-in shall have no effect when the job is already running. The bg built-in of yash, however, always sends the SIGCONT signal to the job.

BINDKEY BUILT-IN

The bindkey built-in prints or modifies key bindings used in line-editing.

Syntax

• bindkey -aev [key [command]]

• bindkey -l

Description

When executed with the -l (--list) option, the built-in lists all available line-editing commands to the standard output.

When executed with one of the other options, the built-in prints or modifies key bindings for the editing mode specified by the option:

• Without key or command, all currently defined bindings are printed to the standard output in a form that can be parsed as commands that restore the current bindings when executed.

• With key but without command, only the binding for the given key is printed.

• With key and command, key is bound to command.

Options

-a, --vi-command

Print or modify bindings for the vi command mode.

-e, --emacs

Print or modify bindings for the emacs mode.

-v, --vi-insert

Print or modify bindings for the vi insert mode.

Operands

key

A character sequence of one or more keys that is bound to an editing command. The sequence may include escape sequences.

command

A line-editing command to which key is bound. If command is a single hyphen (-), key is unbound.

Exit status

The exit status of the bindkey built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The bindkey built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

BREAK BUILT-IN

The break built-in aborts a loop being executed.

Syntax

• break [nest]

• break -i

Description

When executed without the -i (--iteration) option, the built-in aborts a currently executed for, while, or until loop. When executed in nested loops, it aborts the nestth innermost loop. The default nest is one. If the number of currently executed nested loops is less than nest, the built-in aborts the outermost loop.

When executed with the -i (--iteration) option, the built-in aborts the currently executed (innermost) iterative execution.

Options

-i, --iteration

Abort an iterative execution instead of a loop.

Operands

nest

The number of loops to abort, which must be a positive integer.

Exit status

The exit status of the break built-in is:

• zero if a loop was successfully aborted.

• that of the command that was executed just before the break built-in if an iterative execution was successfully aborted.

Notes

The break built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the break built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

CD BUILT-IN

The cd built-in changes the working directory.

Syntax

• cd [-L|-P] [directory]

Description

The cd built-in changes the working directory to the directory specified by the operand. The pathname of the new working directory is assigned to the PWD variable, whose previous value is again assigned to the OLDPWD variable.

If directory is a relative path that does not start with '.' or '..', paths in the CDPATH variable are searched to find a new working directory. The search is done in a manner similar to the last step of command search, but a directory is sought instead of an executable regular file. If a new working directory was found from CDPATH, its pathname is printed to the standard output. If no applicable directory was found in the search, directory is simply treated as a pathname relative to the current working directory.

If the working directory was successfully changed, the value of the YASH_AFTER_CD variable is executed as a command unless the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode. If the variable is an array, its values are executed iteratively (cf. eval built-in).

Options

-L, --logical

Symbolic links in the pathname of the new working directory are not resolved. The new value of the PWD may include pathname components that are symbolic links.

-P, --physical

Symbolic links in the pathname of the new working directory are resolved. The new value of the PWD variable never includes pathname components that are symbolic links.

--default-directory=directory

If this option is specified and the directory operand is omitted, the argument to this option is used for the directory operand. If the directory operand is specified, this option is ignored.

The -L (--logical) and -P (--physical) options are mutually exclusive: only the last specified one is effective. If neither is specified, -L is assumed.

Operands

directory

The pathname of the new working directory.

If directory is a single hyphen ('-'), the value of the OLDPWD variable is assumed for the new directory pathname, which is printed to the standard output.

If directory is omitted, the working directory is changed to the directory specified by the --default-directory=... option. If that option is not specified either, the default is the home directory.

Exit status

The exit status of the cd built-in is zero if the working directory was successfully changed and non-zero if there was an error.

Notes

The cd built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard does not define the use of the YASH_AFTER_CD variable or the --default-directory=... option. The standard does not allow using an option with a single hyphen operand.

The exit status of the commands in the YASH_AFTER_CD variable does not affect that of the cd built-in.

COLON BUILT-IN

The colon built-in does nothing.

Syntax

• : [argument...]

Description

The colon built-in does nothing. Any command line arguments are ignored.

Exit status

The exit status of the colon built-in is zero.

Notes

The colon built-in is a special built-in.

Arguments are expanded and redirections are performed as usual. The colon and true built-ins have the same effect, but colon is a special built-in while true is a semi-special.

COMMAND BUILT-IN

The command built-in executes or identifies a command.

Syntax

• command [-befp] command [argument...]

• command -v|-V [-abefkp] command...

Description

Without the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option, the built-in executes command with arguments in the same manner as the last step of execution of simple commands. The command is treated as a built-in or external command or a function according to the options specified to the command built-in. The shell does not exit on argument syntax error etc. even if the command is a special built-in

With the -v (--identify) option, command is identified. If the command is found in $PATH, its full pathname is printed. If it is a keyword, function, or built-in that is not found in $PATH, the command name is simply printed. If it is an alias, it is printed in the form like alias ll='ls -l'. If the command is not found, nothing is printed and the exit status is non-zero.

The -V (--verbose-identify) option is similar to the -v (--identify) option, but the output format is more human-friendly.

Options

-a, --alias

Search for the command as an alias. Must be used with the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option.

-b, --builtin-command

Search for the command as a built-in.

-e, --external-command

Search for the command as an external command.

-f, --function

Search for the command as a function.

-k, --keyword

Search for the command as a keyword. Must be used with the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option.

-p, --standard-path

Search the system's default PATH instead of the current $PATH.

-v, --identify

Identify commands and print in the format defined in the POSIX standard.

-V, --verbose-identify

Identify commands and print in a human-friendly format.

If none of the -a (--alias), -b (--builtin-command), -e (--external-command), -f (--function), and -k (--keyword) options is specified, the following defaults are assumed:

Without the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option

-b -e

With the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option

-a -b -e -f -k

Operands

command

A command to be executed or identified.

argument...

Arguments passed to the executed command.

Exit status

The exit status of the command built-in is:

Without the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option

the exit status of the executed command.

With the -v (--identify) or -V (--verbose-identify) option

zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The command built-in is a semi-special built-in.

In the POSIXly-correct mode, options other than -p, -v, and -V cannot be used and at most one command can be specified. The POSIX standard does not allow specifying both -v and -V together, but yash does (only the last specified one is effective).

COMPLETE BUILT-IN

The complete built-in generates completion candidates. This built-in can only be executed from completion functions during command line completion.

Syntax

• complete [-A pattern] [-R pattern] [-T] [-P prefix] [-S suffix] [-abcdfghjkuv] [[-O] [-D description] word...]

Description

The built-in generates completion candidates according to the specified arguments. No matter how candidates are generated, only candidates that match the word being completed are generated.

Options

-A pattern, --accept=pattern

Only accept candidates that match the pattern specified by this option. When more than one of this option is specified, only candidates that match all of the patterns are generated.

-D description, --description=description

Give a description of the word candidates. The description is shown beside the candidates in the candidate list.

-O, --option

The candidates are treated as command line options. A hyphen is prepended to each candidate that is treated as an option.

-P prefix, --prefix=prefix

Ignore prefix of the word being completed when generating candidates. The specified prefix must be initial part of the word.

If the word being completed is file:///home/user/docume for example, the command line complete -P file:// -f will generate pathname candidates that complete /home/user/docume.

-R pattern, --reject=pattern

Reject candidates that match the pattern specified by this option. When more than one of this option is specified, only candidates that match none of the patterns are generated.

-S suffix, --suffix=suffix

Append suffix to each generated candidate.

-T, --no-termination

Do not append a space after the word is completed. Without this option, a space is appended to the completed word so that you do not have to enter a space before the next word.

Options that select candidate types

-a, --alias

Aliases. (same as --normal-alias --global-alias)

--array-variable

Arrays.

--bindkey

Line-editing commands the bindkey built-in accepts.

-b, --builtin-command

Built-in commands. (same as --special-builtin --semi-special-builtin --regular-builtin)

-c, --command

Commands. (same as --builtin-command --external-command --function)

-d, --directory

Directories.

--dirstack-index

Valid indices of the directory stack.

--executable-file

Executable regular files.

--external-command

External commands.

-f, --file

Files (including directories).

--finished-job

Job IDs of finished jobs.

--function

Functions.

--global-alias

Global aliases.

-g, --group

User groups.

-h, --hostname

Host names.

-j, --job

Job IDs.

-k, --keyword

Keywords.

--normal-alias

Normal aliases.

--regular-builtin

Regular built-in commands.

--running-job

Job IDs of jobs that are being executed.

--scalar-variable

Variables that are not arrays.

--semi-special-builtin

Semi-special built-in commands.

--signal

Signals.

--special-builtin

Special built-in commands.

--stopped-job

Job IDs of jobs that are suspended.

-u, --username

Users' log-in names.

-v, --variable

Variables.

If the -d (--directory) option is specified without the -f (--file) option, the -S / -T options are assumed.

Generated candidates for job IDs do not have leading percent signs (%). If the word being completed starts with a percent sign, the -P % option should be specified.

Operands

Operands are treated as completion candidates.

Exit status

The exit status of the built-in is zero if one or more candidates were generated, one if no candidates were generated, or larger than one if an error occurred.

Notes

The complete built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

CONTINUE BUILT-IN

The continue built-in skips an iteration of a loop being executed.

Syntax

• continue [nest]

• continue -i

Description

When executed without the -i (--iteration) option, the built-in aborts the current iteration of for, while, or until loop and starts the next iteration of the loop. When executed in nested loops, it affects the nestth innermost loop. The default nest is one. If the number of currently executed nested loops is less than nest, the built-in affects the outermost loop.

When executed with the -i (--iteration) option, the built-in aborts the current iteration of (innermost) iterative execution.

Options

-i, --iteration

Skip an iterative execution instead of a loop.

Operands

nest

The nestth innermost loop is affected. nest must be a positive integer.

Exit status

The exit status of the continue built-in is:

• zero if loop iteration was successfully skipped.

• that of the command that was executed just before the continue built-in if iterative execution was successfully skipped.

Notes

The continue built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the continue built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

DIRS BUILT-IN

The dirs built-in prints the contents of the directory stack.

Syntax

• dirs [-cv] [index..]

Description

The directory stack is a feature that records history of working directories. You can use the pushd built-in to save a working directory in the directory stack, the popd built-in to recall the saved working directory, and the dirs built-in to see the stack contents. Those built-ins use the DIRSTACK array and the PWD variable to save the stack contents. Modifying the array means modifying the stack contents.

Directory stack entries are indexed by signed integers. The entry of index +0 is the current working directory, +1 is the last saved directory, +2 is the second last, and so on. Negative indices are in the reverse order: the entry of index -0 is the first saved directory, -1 is the second, and -n is the current working directory if the stack has n entries,

When executed without the -c (--clear) option, the dirs built-in prints the current contents of the directory stack to the standard output. With the -c (--clear) option, the built-in clears the directory stack.

Options

-c, --clear

Clear the directory stack contents except for the current working directory, which has index +0.

-v, --verbose

Print indices when printing stack contents.

Operands

index

The index of a stack entry to be printed.

You can specify more than one index. If you do not specify any index, all the entries are printed.

Exit status

The exit status of the dirs built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The dirs built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

DISOWN BUILT-IN

The disown built-in removes jobs.

Syntax

• disown [-a] [job...}

Description

The disown built-in removes the specified jobs from the job list. The removed jobs will no longer be job-controlled, but the job processes continue execution (unless they have been suspended).

Options

-a, --all

Removes all jobs.

Operands

job

The job ID of the job to be removed.

You can specify more than one job ID. If you do not specify any job ID, the current job is removed. If the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode, the %-prefix of the job ID can be omitted.

Exit status

The exit status of the disown built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The disown built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

DOT BUILT-IN

The dot built-in reads a file and executes commands in it.

Syntax

• . [-AL] file [argument...]

Description

The dot built-in reads the specified file, parses its contents as commands, and executes them in the current command execution environment.

If arguments are specified, positional parameters are temporarily set to them. The positional parameters will be restored when the dot built-in finishes. If no arguments are specified, the positional parameters are not changed.

If file does not contain any slashes, the shell searches $PATH for a readable (but not necessarily executable) shell script file whose name is file in the same manner as command search. If no such file was found, the shell searches the current working directory for a file unless in the POSIXly-correct mode. To ensure that the file in the current working directory is used, start file with './'.

Options

-A, --no-alias

Disable alias substitution while parsing.

-L, --autoload

Search $YASH_LOADPATH instead of $PATH, regardless of whether file contains slashes. The file value is not considered relative to the current working directory.

The dot built-in treats as operands any command line arguments after the first operand.

Operands

file

The pathname of a file to be read.

arguments...

Strings to which positional parameters are set while execution.

Exit status

The exit status of the dot built-in is that of the last command executed. The exit status is zero if the file contains no commands to execute and non-zero if a file was not found or could not be opened.

Notes

The dot built-in is a special built-in.

A non-interactive shell immediately exits with a non-zero exit status if the dot built-in fails to find or open a file to execute.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the dot built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

The POSIX standard does not define the arguments... operands. It is an error to specify the arguments... operands in the POSIXly-correct mode.

ECHO BUILT-IN

The echo built-in prints its arguments.

Syntax

• echo [string...]

The built-in treats all command line arguments as operands except for the options described below. Any word that cannot be parsed as an acceptable option is treated as an operand. Options must precede all operands. Syntax errors never happen in the echo built-in.

Description

The echo built-in prints the operand strings followed by a newline to the standard output. The strings are each separated by a space.

Escape sequences

The ECHO_STYLE variable and the -e option enable escape sequences that are replaced with corresponding characters:

\a

Bell character (ASCII code: 7)

\b

Backspace (ASCII code: 8)

\c

Nothing. After this escape sequence, no characters are printed at all.

\e

Escape character (ASCII code: 27)

\f

Form feed character (ASCII code: 12)

\n

Newline character (ASCII code: 10)

\r

Carriage return character (ASCII code: 13)

\t

Horizontal tab character (ASCII code: 9)

\v

Vertical tab character (ASCII code: 11)

\\

Backslash

\0xxx

Character whose code is xxx, where xxx is an octal number of at most three digits.

When escape sequences are not enabled, they are just printed intact.

ECHO_STYLE variable

The ECHO_STYLE variable defines which options are accepted and whether escape sequences are enabled by default. The variable value should be set to one of the following:

SYSV, XSI

No options are accepted. Escape sequences are always enabled.

BSD

The -n option is accepted. Escape sequences are never enabled.

GNU

The -n, -e, and -E options are accepted. Escape sequences are not enabled by default, but can be enabled by the -e option.

ZSH

The -n, -e, and -E options are accepted. Escape sequences are enabled by default, but can be disabled by the -E option.

DASH

The -n option is accepted. Escape sequences are always enabled.

RAW

No options are accepted. Escape sequences are never enabled.

When the ECHO_STYLE variable is not set, it defaults to SYSV.

Options

-n

Do not print a newline at the end.

-e

Enable escape sequences.

-E

Disable escape sequences.

Exit status

The exit status of the echo built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The POSIX standard does not define the ECHO_STYLE variable nor any options for the built-in. According to POSIX, the behavior of the built-in is implementation-defined when the first argument is -n or when any argument contains a backslash. For maximum portability, the printf built-in should be preferred over the echo built-in.

EVAL BUILT-IN

The eval built-in evaluates operands as commands.

Syntax

• eval [-i] [command...]

The eval built-in requires that all options precede operands. Any command line arguments after the first operand are all treated as operands.

Description

The eval parses operands as commands and executes them in the current command execution environment.

When executed without the -i (--iteration) option, all the operands are concatenated into one string (with a space inserted between each operand) and parsed/executed at once.

With the -i (--iteration) option, the built-in performs iterative execution: operands are parsed/executed one by one. If the continue built-in is executed with the -i (--iteration) option during the iterative execution, the execution of the current operand is aborted and the next operand is parsed/executed immediately. The break built-in with the -i (--iteration) option is similar but the remaining operands are not parsed/executed. The value of the ? special parameter is saved before the iterative execution is started. The parameter value is restored to the saved one after each iteration.

Options

-i, --iteration

Perform iterative execution.

Operands

command

A string that is parsed and executed as commands.

Exit status

The exit status is zero if no command was specified or command contained no actual command that can be executed. Otherwise, that is, if the eval built-in executed one or more commands, the exit status of the eval built-in is that of the last executed command.

Notes

The eval built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the eval built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

EXEC BUILT-IN

The exec built-in replaces the shell process with another external command.

Syntax

• exec [-cf] [-a name] [command [argument...]]

The exec built-in requires that all options precede operands. It is important so that options to the exec built-in are not confused with options to command. Any command line arguments after command are treated as arguments.

Description

When the exec built-in is executed with command, the shell executes command with arguments in a manner similar to the last step of execution of a simple command. The differences are that command is always treated as an external command ignoring any existing functions and built-ins and that the exec system call that starts the external command is called in the current command execution environment instead of a subshell, replacing the shell process with the new command process.

If the shell is in the POSIXly-correct mode or not interactive, failure in execution of command causes the shell to exit immediately.

If an interactive shell that is not in the POSIXly-correct mode has a stopped job, the shell prints a warning message and refuses to execute command. Once the shell process is replaced with an external command, information about the shell's jobs is lost, so you will have to resume or kill the stopped jobs by sending signals by hand. To force the shell to execute command regardless, specify the -f (--force) option.

When executed without command, the built-in does nothing. As a side effect, however, redirection applied to the built-in remains in the current command execution environment even after the built-in finished.

Options

-a name, --as=name

Pass name, instead of command, to the external command as its name.

-c, --clear

Pass to the external command only variables that are assigned in the simple command in which the built-in is being executed. Other environment variables are not passed to the command.

-f, --force

Suppress warnings that would prevent command execution.

Operands

command

An external command to be executed.

argument...

Arguments to be passed to the command.

Exit status

If the shell process was successfully replaced with the external command, there is no exit status since the shell process no longer exists.

The exit status is:

• 127 if the command was not found,

• 126 if the command was found but could not be executed, and

• zero if no command was specified.

Notes

The exec built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the exec built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Syntax

• exit [-f] [exit_status]

Description

The exit built-in causes the current shell (or subshell) process to exit.

If an interactive shell has a stopped job, the shell prints a warning message and refuses to exit. To force the shell to exit regardless, specify the -f (--force) option or execute the built-in twice in a row.

If an EXIT trap has been set, the shell executes the trap before exiting.

Options

-f, --force

Suppress warnings that would prevent the shell from exiting.

Operands

exit_status

A non-negative integer that will be the exit status of the exiting shell.

If this operand is omitted, the exit status of the shell will be that of the last command executed before the exit built-in (but, if the built-in is executed during a trap, the exit status will be that of the last command before the trap is entered).

If exit_status is 256 or larger, the actual exit status will be the remainder of exit_status divided by 256.

Exit status

Because the built-in causes the shell to exit, there is no exit status of the built-in.

As an exception, if the shell refused to exit, the exit status of the built-in is non-zero.

Notes

The exit built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines no options for the exit built-in; the built-in accepts no options in the POSIXly-correct mode.

The POSIX standard provides that the exit_status operand should be between 0 and 255 (inclusive). Yash accepts integers larger than 255 as an extension.

If the built-in is executed during an EXIT trap, the shell just exits without executing the trap again. If exit_status was not specified, the exit status of the shell is what the exit status would be if the trap had not been set. See also Termination of the shell.

EXPORT BUILT-IN

The export built-in marks variables for export to child processes.

Syntax

• export [-prX] [name[=value]...]

Description

The export built-in is equivalent to the typeset built-in with the -gx option.

Notes

The export built-in is a special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines the -p option only; other options cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode. The POSIX does not allow using the option together with operands.

FALSE BUILT-IN

The false built-in does nothing unsuccessfully.

Syntax

• false

Description

The false built-in does nothing. Any command line arguments are ignored.

Exit status

The exit status of the false built-in is non-zero.

Notes

The false built-in is a semi-special built-in.

FC BUILT-IN

The fc built-in re-executes or prints commands from command history.

Syntax

• fc [-qr] [-e editor] [start [end]]

• fc -s[q] [old=new] [start]

• fc -l[nrv] [start [end]]

Description

When executed without the -l (--list) option, the built-in executes the commands in the command history range specified by the operands. If the -s (--silent) option is not specified, the shell invokes an editor which allows you to edit the commands before they are executed. The commands are executed when you quit the editor. If the -s (--silent) option is specified, the commands are immediately executed. In either case, the executed commands are printed to the standard output and added to the history.

When executed with the -l (--list) option, the built-in prints the commands in the command history range specified by the operands. By default, commands are printed with their history entry numbers, but output format can be changed using the -n (--no-numbers)) and -v (--verbose) options.

Options

-e editor, --editor=editor

Specify an editor that is used to edit commands.

If this option is not specified, the value of the FCEDIT variable is used. If the variable is not set either, vi is used.

-l, --list

Print command history entries.

-n, --no-numbers

Don't print entry numbers when printing history entries.

-q, --quiet

Don't print commands before executing.

-r, --reverse

Reverse the order of command entries in the range.

-s, --silent

Execute commands without editing them.

-v, --verbose

Print execution time before each history entry when printing.

Operands

start and end

The start and end operands specify a range of command history entries that are executed or printed. If one of the operands is an integer, it is treated as a history entry number. A negative integer means the nth most recent entry where n is the absolute value of the integer. If one of the operands is not an integer, it is treated as part of a command string: the most recent entry that starts with the string is selected as the start or end of the range.

If the first entry of the range that is specified by start is newer than the last entry of the range that is specified by end, the range is reversed as if the -r (--reverse) option was specified. (If the option is already specified, it is cancelled.)

The default values for start and end are:

	with -l	without -l
start	-16	-1
end	-16	same as start

old=new

An operand of this format replaces part of the command string. If the command string contains old, it is replaced with new and the new string is executed. Only the first occurrence of old is replaced.

Exit status

If commands was executed, the exit status of the fc built-in is that of the last executed command. Otherwise, the exit status is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The fc built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard does not define the -q (--quiet) or -v (--verbose) options, so they cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Command history cannot be modified during line-editing.

FG BUILT-IN

The fg built-in resumes a job in the foreground.

Syntax

• fg [job...]

Description

The fg built-in brings the specified job to the foreground and sends the SIGCONT signal to the job. As a result, the job is resumed in the foreground (if it has been suspended). The built-in then waits for the job to finish and returns the exit status of it.

The name of the job is printed when the job is resumed.

The built-in can be used only when job control is enabled.

Operands

job

The job ID of the job to be resumed.

If more than one job is specified, they are resumed in order, one at a time. The current job is resumed if none is specified.

The percent sign (%) at the beginning of a job ID can be omitted if the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode.

Exit status

The exit status of the fg built-in is that of the (last) job resumed. The exit status is non-zero when there was some error.

Notes

The fg built-in is a semi-special built-in.

You cannot specify more than one job in the POSIXly-correct mode.

GETOPTS BUILT-IN

The getopts built-in parses command options.

Syntax

• getopts optionlist variable [argument...]

Description

The getopts built-in parses single-character options that appear in arguments. Each time the built-in is invoked, it parses one option and assigns the option character to variable.

The optionlist operand is a list of option characters that should be accepted by the parser. In optionlist, an option that takes an argument should be specified as the option character followed by a colon. For example, if you want the -a, -b and -c options to be parsed and the -b option to take an argument, then optionlist should be ab:c.

When an option that takes an argument is parsed, the argument is assigned to the OPTARG variable.

When an option that is not specified in optionlist is found or when an option argument is missing, the result depends on the first character of optionlist:

• If optionlist starts with a colon, the option character is assigned to the OPTARG variable and variable is set to either ? (when the option is not in optionlist) or : (when the option argument is missing).

• Otherwise, variable is set to ?, the OPTARG variable is unset, and an error message is printed.

The built-in parses one option for each execution. For all options in a set of command line arguments to be parsed, the built-in has to be executed repeatedly with the same arguments. The built-in uses the OPTIND variable to remember which argument should be parsed next. When the built-in is invoked for the first time, the variable value must be 1, which is the default value. You must not modify the variable until all the options have been parsed, when the built-in sets the variable to the index of the first operand in arguments. (If there are no operands, it will be set to the number of arguments plus one.)

When you want to start parsing a new set of arguments, you have to reset the OPTIND variable to 1 beforehand.

Operands

optionlist

A list of options that should be accepted as valid options in parsing.

variable

The name of a variable the result is to be assigned to.

arguments

Command line arguments that are to be parsed.

When no arguments are given, the positional parameters are parsed.

Exit status

If an option is found, whether or not it is specified in optionlist, the exit status is zero. If there is no more option to be parsed, the exit status is non-zero.

Example

aopt=false bopt= copt=false
while getopts ab:c opt
do
  case $opt in
  a) aopt=true ;;
  b) bopt=$OPTARG ;;
  c) copt=true ;;
  \?) return 2 ;;
  esac
done
if $aopt;          then echo Option -a specified;       fi
if [ -n "$bopt" ]; then echo Option -b $bopt specified; fi
if $copt;          then echo Option -c specified;       fi
shift $((OPTIND - 1))
echo Operands are: $*

Notes

In arguments that are parsed, options must precede operands. The built-in ends parsing when it encounters the first operand.

The getopts built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard does not specify what will happen when the OPTIND variable is assigned a value other than 1.

HASH BUILT-IN

The hash built-in remembers, forgets, or reports command locations.

Syntax

• hash command...

• hash -r [command...]

• hash [-a]

• hash -d user...

• hash -dr [user...]

• hash -d

Description

When executed with commands but without options, the built-in immediately performs command path search and caches commands' full paths.

When executed with the -r (--remove) option, it removes the paths of commands (or all cached paths if none specified) from the cache.

When executed without options or commands, it prints the currently cached paths to the standard output.

With the -d (--directory) option, the built-in does the same things to the home directory cache, rather than the command path cache. Cached home directory paths are used in tilde expansion.

Options

-a, --all

Print all cached paths.

Without this option, paths for built-ins are not printed.

-d, --directory

Affect the home directory cache instead of the command path cache.

-r, --remove

Remove cached paths.

Operands

command

The name of an external command (that does not contain any slash).

user

A user name.

Exit status

The exit status of the hash built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The shell automatically caches command and directory paths when executing a command or performing tilde expansion, so normally there is no need to use this built-in explicitly to cache paths.

Assigning a value to the PATH variable removes all command paths from the cache as if hash -r was executed.

The POSIX standard defines the -r option only: other options cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode.

HELP BUILT-IN

The help built-in prints usage of built-ins.

Syntax

• help [built-in...]

Description

The help built-in prints a description of built-ins.

The built-in extracts part of the output of man yash and prints it to the standard output. Therefore, the manual page of yash must have been installed for the built-in to work. Depending on the formatting style of the man command, the built-in may not work as expected.

Operands

built-ins

Names of built-ins.

Exit status

The exit status of the help built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The help built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

Many built-ins of yash accept the --help option that prints the same description.

HISTORY BUILT-IN

The history built-in prints or edits command history.

Syntax

• history [-cF] [-d entry] [-s command] [-r file] [-w file] [count]

Description

The history built-in prints or edits command history.

When executed with an option, the built-in edits history according to the option. If more than one option is specified, each option is processed in order.

When executed with the count operand, the built-in prints the most recent count history entries to the standard output in the same manner as the fc built-in.

When executed with neither options nor operands, the built-in prints the whole history.

Options

-c, --clear

Clear all history entries completely.

-d entry, --delete=entry

Delete the specified entry. The entry should be specified in the same manner as the start and end operands of the fc built-in.

-F, --flush-file

Rebuild the history file. This operation removes unused old data from the file.

-r file, --read=file

Read command lines from file and add them to the history. The file contents are treated as lines of simple text.

-s command, --set=command

Add command as a new history entry after removing the most recent entry.

-w file, --write=file

Write the whole history to file. Any existing data in the file will be lost. The output format is lines of simple text, each of which is a command string.

Operands

count

The number of entries to be printed.

Exit status

The exit status of the history built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The history built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

Command history cannot be modified during line-editing.

JOBS BUILT-IN

The jobs built-in reports job status.

Syntax

• jobs [-lnprs] [job...]

Description

The jobs built-in prints information of jobs the shell is currently controlling.

By default, the following information is printed for each job, line by line:

• the job number,

• the + or - symbol if the job is the current or previous job, respectively,

• the status, and

• the command string.

Options

-l, --verbose

Print the process ID, status, and command string for each process in the jobs.

-n, --new

Print new jobs only: jobs whose status has never been reported since the status changed.

-p, --pgid-only

Print process group IDs of jobs only.

-r, --running-only

Print running jobs only.

-s, --stopped-only

Print stopped jobs only.

Operands

jobs

The job IDs of jobs to be reported. When no job is specified, all jobs under the shell's control are reported.

Exit status

The exit status of the jobs built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

The jobs built-in is a semi-special built-in.

The POSIX standard defines the -l and -p options only: other options cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode. In the POSIXly-correct mode, the effect of the -l option is different in that status is reported for each job rather than for each process.

The process group ID of a job executed by yash is equal to the process ID of the first command of the pipeline that forms the job.

KILL BUILT-IN

The kill built-in sends a signal to processes.

Syntax

• kill [-signal|-s signal|-n signal] process...

• kill -l [-v] [signal...]

The kill built-in requires that all options precede operands. Any command line arguments after the first operand are all treated as operands.

Description

When executed without the -l option, the built-in sends a signal to processes. The signal sent can be specified by option. The SIGTERM signal is sent if no signal is specified.

When executed with the -l option, the built-in prints information of signals to the standard output. If no signal is specified, information of all signals is printed.

Options

Signal-specifying options

-signal, -s signal, -n signal

A signal-specifying option specifies a signal to be sent to processes. signal can be specified by name or number. If number 0 is specified, the built-in checks if a signal could be sent to the processes but no signal is actually sent. Signal names are case-insensitive.

You can specify at most one signal-specifying option at a time.

Other options

-l

Print signal information instead of sending a signal.

-v

Print more signal information.

Without this option, the built-in prints the signal name only. This option adds the signal number and a short description.

When the -v option is specified, the -l option can be omitted.

Operands

processes

Specify processes to which a signal is sent.

Processes can be specified by the process ID, the process group ID, or the job ID. The process group ID must be prefixed with a hyphen (-) so that it is not treated as a process ID.

When 0 is specified as process, the signal is sent to the process group to which the shell process belongs. When -1 is specified, the signal is sent to all processes on the system.

signal

Specify a signal of which information is printed.

The signal can be specified by the name, the number, or the exit status of a command that was killed by the signal.

Exit status

The exit status of the kill built-in is zero unless there is any error. If the signal was sent to at least one process, the exit status is zero even if the signal was not sent to all of the specified processes.

Notes

The kill built-in is a semi-special built-in.

Command arguments that start with a hyphen should be used with care. The command kill -1 -2, for example, sends signal 1 to process group 2 since -1 is treated as a signal-specifying option and -2 as an operand that specifies a process group. The commands kill -- -1 -2 and kill -TERM -1 -2, on the other hand, treats both -1 and -2 as operands.

The POSIX standard does not define the -n or -v options, so they cannot be used in the POSIXly-correct mode. The standard does not allow specifying a signal number as the argument of the -s option or a signal name as the signal operand.

The standard requires signal names to be specified without the SIG prefix, like INT and QUIT. If the shell is not in the POSIXly-correct mode, the built-in accepts SIG-prefixed signal names as well.

POPD BUILT-IN

The popd built-in pops a directory from the directory stack.

Syntax

• popd [index]

Description

The popd built-in removes the last entry from the directory stack, returning to the previous working directory. If index is given, the entry specified by index is removed instead of the last one.

Operands

index

The index of a directory stack entry you want to remove.

If omitted, +0 (the last entry) is assumed.

Exit status

The exit status of the popd built-in is zero unless there is any error.

Notes

It is an error to use this built-in when there is only one directory stack entry.

The popd built-in is not defined in the POSIX standard.

PRINTF BUILT-IN

The printf built-in prints formatted values.

Syntax

• printf format [value...]