BASH(1) BASH(1)

NAME

bash - GNU Bourne-Again SHell

SYNOPSIS

bash [options] [file]

COPYRIGHT

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

DESCRIPTION

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

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

OPTIONS

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

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

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

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

       --login
              Equivalent to -l.

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

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

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

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

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

       --verbose
              Equivalent to  -v.

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

ARGUMENTS

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

INVOCATION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DEFINITIONS

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

RESERVED WORDS

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

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

SHELL GRAMMAR

Simple Commands

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

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

Pipelines

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lists

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

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

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

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

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

              command1 && command2

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

       An OR list has the form

              command1 �⎪�⎪ command2

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

Compound Commands

A compound command is one of the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

              ( expression )
                     Returns  the  value  of  expression.  This may be used to
                     override the normal precedence of operators.
              ! expression
                     True if expression is false.
              expression1 && expression2
                     True if both expression1 and expression2 are true.
              expression1 || expression2
                     True if either expression1 or expression2 is true.

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

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

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

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

       case word in [ [(] pattern [ | pattern ] ... ) list ;; ] ... esac
              A case command first expands word, and tries to match it against
              each pattern in turn, using the same matching rules as for path‐
              name expansion (see Pathname  Expansion  below).   The  word  is
              expanded  using  tilde  expansion, parameter and variable expan‐
              sion, arithmetic  substitution,  command  substitution,  process
              substitution  and  quote  removal.   Each  pattern  examined  is
              expanded using tilde expansion, parameter  and  variable  expan‐
              sion, arithmetic substitution, command substitution, and process
              substitution.  If the shell option nocasematch is  enabled,  the
              match  is  performed  without  regard  to the case of alphabetic
              characters.  When a match is found, the  corresponding  list  is
              executed.  If the ;; operator is used, no subsequent matches are
              attempted after the first pattern match.  Using ;& in  place  of
              ;;  causes  execution  to continue with the list associated with
              the next set of patterns.  Using ;;& in place of ;;  causes  the
              shell  to  test  the next pattern list in the statement, if any,
              and execute any associated list on a successful match.  The exit
              status is zero if no pattern matches.  Otherwise, it is the exit
              status of the last command executed in list.

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

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

Coprocesses

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

       The format for a coprocess is:

              coproc [NAME] command [redirections]

       This  creates  a  coprocess  named  NAME.  If NAME is not supplied, the
       default name is COPROC.  NAME must not be supplied if command is a sim‐
       ple command (see above); otherwise, it is interpreted as the first word
       of the simple command.  When the coproc is executed, the shell  creates
       an  array  variable (see Arrays below) named NAME in the context of the
       executing shell.  The standard output of command  is  connected  via  a
       pipe  to  a  file  descriptor  in  the  executing  shell, and that file
       descriptor is assigned to NAME[0].  The standard input  of  command  is
       connected  via  a pipe to a file descriptor in the executing shell, and
       that file descriptor is assigned to NAME[1].  This pipe is  established
       before  any  redirections  specified  by  the  command (see REDIRECTION
       below).  The file descriptors can be utilized  as  arguments  to  shell
       commands  and redirections using standard word expansions.  The process
       id of the shell spawned to execute the coprocess is  available  as  the
       value  of  the variable NAME_PID.  The wait builtin command may be used
       to wait for the coprocess to terminate.

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

Shell Function Definitions

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

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

COMMENTS

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

QUOTING

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

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

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

       There  are  three  quoting  mechanisms:  the  escape  character, single
       quotes, and double quotes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PARAMETERS

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

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

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

              name=[value]

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

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

Positional Parameters

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

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

Special Parameters

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

Shell Variables

The following variables are set by the shell:

       BASH   Expands  to  the  full file name used to invoke this instance of
              bash.
       BASHPID
              Expands to the process id of the  current  bash  process.   This
              differs  from  $$ under certain circumstances, such as subshells
              that do not require bash to be re-initialized.
       BASH_ALIASES
              An associative array variable whose members  correspond  to  the
              internal list of aliases as maintained by the alias builtin Ele‐
              ments added to this array appear in the  alias  list;  unsetting
              array elements cause aliases to be removed from the alias list.
       BASH_ARGC
              An  array  variable whose values are the number of parameters in
              each frame of the current bash execution call stack.  The number
              of  parameters  to  the  current  subroutine  (shell function or
              script executed with . or source) is at the top  of  the  stack.
              When  a  subroutine is executed, the number of parameters passed
              is pushed onto BASH_ARGC.  The shell sets BASH_ARGC only when in
              extended  debugging  mode  (see  the description of the extdebug
              option to the shopt builtin below)
       BASH_ARGV
              An array variable containing all of the parameters in  the  cur‐
              rent bash execution call stack.  The final parameter of the last
              subroutine call is at the top of the stack; the first  parameter
              of the initial call is at the bottom.  When a subroutine is exe‐
              cuted, the parameters supplied are pushed onto  BASH_ARGV.   The
              shell  sets  BASH_ARGV only when in extended debugging mode (see
              the description of the extdebug  option  to  the  shopt  builtin
              below)
       BASH_CMDS
              An  associative  array  variable whose members correspond to the
              internal hash table  of  commands  as  maintained  by  the  hash
              builtin.  Elements added to this array appear in the hash table;
              unsetting array elements cause commands to be removed  from  the
              hash table.
       BASH_COMMAND
              The  command  currently  being executed or about to be executed,
              unless the shell is executing a command as the result of a trap,
              in  which  case  it  is the command executing at the time of the
              trap.
       BASH_EXECUTION_STRING
              The command argument to the -c invocation option.
       BASH_LINENO
              An array variable whose members are the line numbers  in  source
              files    corresponding    to    each    member    of   FUNCNAME.
              ${BASH_LINENO[$i]} is the line number in the source  file  where
              ${FUNCNAME[$i]}  was  called  (or ${BASH_LINENO[$i-1]} if refer‐
              enced within another shell function).  The corresponding  source
              file  name is ${BASH_SOURCE[$i]}.  Use LINENO to obtain the cur‐
              rent line number.
       BASH_REMATCH
              An array variable whose members are assigned by  the  =~  binary
              operator  to the [[ conditional command.  The element with index
              0 is the portion of  the  string  matching  the  entire  regular
              expression.   The  element  with  index  n is the portion of the
              string matching the nth parenthesized subexpression.  This vari‐
              able is read-only.
       BASH_SOURCE
              An  array variable whose members are the source filenames corre‐
              sponding to the elements in the FUNCNAME array variable.
       BASH_SUBSHELL
              Incremented by one each time a subshell or subshell  environment
              is spawned.  The initial value is 0.
       BASH_VERSINFO
              A readonly array variable whose members hold version information
              for this instance of bash.  The values  assigned  to  the  array
              members are as follows:
              BASH_VERSINFO[0]        The major version number (the release).
              BASH_VERSINFO[1]        The minor version number (the version).
              BASH_VERSINFO[2]        The patch level.
              BASH_VERSINFO[3]        The build version.
              BASH_VERSINFO[4]        The release status (e.g., beta1).
              BASH_VERSINFO[5]        The value of MACHTYPE.

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

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

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

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

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

       COMP_TYPE
              Set  to an integer value corresponding to the type of completion
              attempted that caused a completion function to be  called:  TAB,
              for  normal completion, ?, for listing completions after succes‐
              sive tabs, !, for listing alternatives on partial  word  comple‐
              tion,  @,  to list completions if the word is not unmodified, or
              %, for menu completion.  This  variable  is  available  only  in
              shell  functions  and  external commands invoked by the program‐
              mable completion facilities (see Programmable Completion below).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       HOSTNAME
              Automatically set to the name of the current host.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       SECONDS
              Each  time  this  parameter is referenced, the number of seconds
              since shell invocation is returned.  If a value is  assigned  to
              SECONDS,  the  value  returned upon subsequent references is the
              number of seconds since the assignment plus the value  assigned.
              If SECONDS is unset, it loses its special properties, even if it
              is subsequently reset.

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

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

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

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

       BASH_ENV
              If this parameter is set when bash is executing a shell  script,
              its  value  is  interpreted as a filename containing commands to
              initialize the shell, as in ~/.bashrc.  The value of BASH_ENV is
              subjected  to  parameter  expansion,  command  substitution, and
              arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as  a  file  name.
              PATH is not used to search for the resultant file name.
       CDPATH The  search  path for the cd command.  This is a colon-separated
              list of directories in which the  shell  looks  for  destination
              directories  specified  by  the  cd  command.  A sample value is
              ".:~:/usr".
       COLUMNS
              Used by the select builtin command  to  determine  the  terminal
              width  when  printing  selection  lists.  Automatically set upon
              receipt of a SIGWINCH.
       COMPREPLY
              An array variable from which bash reads the possible completions
              generated  by  a shell function invoked by the programmable com‐
              pletion facility (see Programmable Completion below).
       EMACS  If bash finds this variable in the environment  when  the  shell
              starts  with  value "t", it assumes that the shell is running in
              an emacs shell buffer and disables line editing.
       FCEDIT The default editor for the fc builtin command.
       FIGNORE
              A colon-separated list of suffixes  to  ignore  when  performing
              filename completion (see READLINE below).  A filename whose suf‐
              fix matches one of the entries in FIGNORE is excluded  from  the
              list of matched filenames.  A sample value is ".o:~" (Quoting is
              needed when assigning a value to this variable,  which  contains
              tildes).
       GLOBIGNORE
              A colon-separated list of patterns defining the set of filenames
              to be ignored by pathname expansion.  If a filename matched by a
              pathname  expansion  pattern also matches one of the patterns in
              GLOBIGNORE, it is removed from the list of matches.
       HISTCONTROL
              A colon-separated list of values controlling  how  commands  are
              saved  on  the  history  list.   If  the list of values includes
              ignorespace, lines which begin with a space  character  are  not
              saved  in  the history list.  A value of ignoredups causes lines
              matching the previous history entry to not be saved.  A value of
              ignoreboth is shorthand for ignorespace and ignoredups.  A value
              of erasedups causes all previous lines matching the current line
              to  be  removed from the history list before that line is saved.
              Any value not in the above list is ignored.  If  HISTCONTROL  is
              unset,  or does not include a valid value, all lines read by the
              shell parser are saved on the history list, subject to the value
              of  HISTIGNORE.  The second and subsequent lines of a multi-line
              compound command are not tested, and are added  to  the  history
              regardless of the value of HISTCONTROL.
       HISTFILE
              The name of the file in which command history is saved (see HIS�‐
              TORY below).  The default value is ~/.bash_history.   If  unset,
              the  command  history  is  not  saved  when an interactive shell
              exits.
       HISTFILESIZE
              The maximum number of lines contained in the history file.  When
              this  variable  is  assigned  a value, the history file is trun‐
              cated, if necessary, by removing the oldest entries, to  contain
              no  more  than  that number of lines.  The default value is 500.
              The history file is also truncated to this size after writing it
              when an interactive shell exits.
       HISTIGNORE
              A  colon-separated list of patterns used to decide which command
              lines should be saved on the  history  list.   Each  pattern  is
              anchored  at  the  beginning of the line and must match the com‐
              plete line (no implicit  `*'  is  appended).   Each  pattern  is
              tested  against  the line after the checks specified by HISTCON�‐
              TROL are applied.  In  addition  to  the  normal  shell  pattern
              matching characters, `&' matches the previous history line.  `&'
              may be escaped using  a  backslash;  the  backslash  is  removed
              before attempting a match.  The second and subsequent lines of a
              multi-line compound command are not tested, and are added to the
              history regardless of the value of HISTIGNORE.
       HISTSIZE
              The  number  of commands to remember in the command history (see
              HISTORY below).  The default value is 500.
       HISTTIMEFORMAT
              If this variable is set and not null, its value  is  used  as  a
              format string for strftime(3) to print the time stamp associated
              with each history entry displayed by the  history  builtin.   If
              this  variable  is  set,  time stamps are written to the history
              file so they may be preserved across shell sessions.  This  uses
              the  history  comment  character  to distinguish timestamps from
              other history lines.
       HOME   The home directory of the current user; the default argument for
              the cd builtin command.  The value of this variable is also used
              when performing tilde expansion.
       HOSTFILE
              Contains the name of a file in the  same  format  as  /etc/hosts
              that should be read when the shell needs to complete a hostname.
              The list of possible hostname completions may be  changed  while
              the  shell  is  running;  the  next  time hostname completion is
              attempted after the value is changed, bash adds the contents  of
              the  new file to the existing list.  If HOSTFILE is set, but has
              no value, bash attempts to read /etc/hosts to obtain the list of
              possible  hostname  completions.   When  HOSTFILE  is unset, the
              hostname list is cleared.
       IFS    The Internal Field Separator that is  used  for  word  splitting
              after  expansion  and  to  split  lines into words with the read
              builtin  command.   The  default  value  is  ``<space><tab><new‐
              line>''.
       IGNOREEOF
              Controls the action of an interactive shell on receipt of an EOF
              character as the sole input.  If set, the value is the number of
              consecutive  EOF  characters  which  must  be typed as the first
              characters on an input line before bash exits.  If the  variable
              exists  but  does not have a numeric value, or has no value, the
              default value is 10.  If it does not exist,  EOF  signifies  the
              end of input to the shell.
       INPUTRC
              The  filename  for  the  readline  startup  file, overriding the
              default of ~/.inputrc (see READLINE below).
       LANG   Used to determine the  locale  category  for  any  category  not
              specifically selected with a variable starting with LC_.
       LC_ALL This  variable  overrides  the  value  of LANG and any other LC_
              variable specifying a locale category.
       LC_COLLATE
              This variable determines the collation order used  when  sorting
              the  results  of pathname expansion, and determines the behavior
              of  range  expressions,  equivalence  classes,   and   collating
              sequences within pathname expansion and pattern matching.
       LC_CTYPE
              This  variable  determines  the interpretation of characters and
              the behavior of character classes within pathname expansion  and
              pattern matching.
       LC_MESSAGES
              This  variable  determines  the locale used to translate double-
              quoted strings preceded by a $.
       LC_NUMERIC
              This variable determines the locale  category  used  for  number
              formatting.
       LINES  Used  by  the  select  builtin  command  to determine the column
              length for printing selection  lists.   Automatically  set  upon
              receipt of a SIGWINCH.
       MAIL   If  this  parameter is set to a file name and the MAILPATH vari‐
              able is not set, bash informs the user of the arrival of mail in
              the specified file.
       MAILCHECK
              Specifies  how  often  (in  seconds)  bash checks for mail.  The
              default is 60 seconds.  When it is time to check for  mail,  the
              shell  does  so  before  displaying the primary prompt.  If this
              variable is unset, or set to  a  value  that  is  not  a  number
              greater than or equal to zero, the shell disables mail checking.
       MAILPATH
              A  colon-separated  list  of  file names to be checked for mail.
              The message to be printed when mail arrives in a particular file
              may  be  specified  by separating the file name from the message
              with a `?'.  When used in the text of the message, $_ expands to
              the name of the current mailfile.  Example:
              MAILPATH='/var/mail/bfox?"You  have  mail":~/shell-mail?"$ has
           mail!"'
           Bash supplies a default value for this variable, but the loca‐
           tion of the user mail files that it uses is system dependent
           (e.g., /var/mail/$USER).
           OPTERR If set to the value 1, bash displays error messages generated by
           the getopts builtin command (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).
           OPTERR is initialized to 1 each time the shell is invoked or a
           shell script is executed.
           PATH The search path for commands. It is a colon-separated list of
           directories in which the shell looks for commands (see COMMAND
           EXECUTION below). A zero-length (null) directory name in the
           value of PATH indicates the current directory. A null directory
           name may appear as two adjacent colons, or as an initial or
           trailing colon. The default path is system-dependent, and is
           set by the administrator who installs bash. A common value is
           ``/usr/gnu/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin''.
           POSIXLYCORRECT
              If this variable is in the environment  when  bash  starts,  the
              shell  enters posix mode before reading the startup files, as if
              the --posix invocation option had been supplied.  If it  is  set
              while  the  shell is running, bash enables posix mode, as if the
              command set -o posix had been executed.
       PROMPT_COMMAND
              If set, the value is executed as a command prior to issuing each
              primary prompt.
       PROMPT_DIRTRIM
              If  set  to a number greater than zero, the value is used as the
              number of trailing directory components to retain when expanding
              the  \w  and  \W  prompt  string  escapes (see PROMPTING below).
              Characters removed are replaced with an ellipsis.
       PS1    The value of this parameter is expanded  (see  PROMPTING  below)
              and  used  as  the  primary prompt string.  The default value is
              ``\s-\v\$ ''.
       PS2    The value of this parameter is expanded as with PS1 and used  as
              the secondary prompt string.  The default is ``> ''.
       PS3    The value of this parameter is used as the prompt for the select
              command (see SHELL GRAMMAR above).
       PS4    The value of this parameter is expanded  as  with  PS1  and  the
              value  is  printed  before  each command bash displays during an
              execution trace.  The first character of PS4 is replicated  mul‐
              tiple  times, as necessary, to indicate multiple levels of indi‐
              rection.  The default is ``+ ''.
       SHELL  The full pathname to the shell is kept in this environment vari‐
              able.   If  it is not set when the shell starts, bash assigns to
              it the full pathname of the current user's login shell.
       TIMEFORMAT
              The value of this parameter is used as a format string  specify‐
              ing  how  the timing information for pipelines prefixed with the
              time reserved word should be displayed.  The % character  intro‐
              duces  an  escape  sequence  that is expanded to a time value or
              other information.  The escape sequences and their meanings  are
              as follows; the braces denote optional portions.
              %%        A literal %.
              %[p][l]R  The elapsed time in seconds.
              %[p][l]U  The number of CPU seconds spent in user mode.
              %[p][l]S  The number of CPU seconds spent in system mode.
              %P        The CPU percentage, computed as (%U + %S) / %R.

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

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

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

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

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

       auto_resume
              This variable controls how the shell interacts with the user and
              job  control.   If this variable is set, single word simple com‐
              mands without redirections are treated as candidates for resump‐
              tion of an existing stopped job.  There is no ambiguity allowed;
              if there is more than one job beginning with the  string  typed,
              the  job  most  recently  accessed  is  selected.  The name of a
              stopped job, in this context, is the command line used to  start
              it.   If  set to the value exact, the string supplied must match
              the name of a stopped job exactly;  if  set  to  substring,  the
              string  supplied  needs  to  match  a substring of the name of a
              stopped job.  The substring value provides functionality  analo‐
              gous  to the %?  job identifier (see JOB CONTROL below).  If set
              to any other value, the supplied string must be a  prefix  of  a
              stopped job's name; this provides functionality analogous to the
              %string job identifier.

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

Arrays

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

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

       Associative arrays are created using declare -A name.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXPANSION

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

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

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

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

Brace Expansion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       Brace  expansion  introduces  a  slight incompatibility with historical
       versions of sh.  sh does not treat opening or closing braces  specially
       when  they  appear as part of a word, and preserves them in the output.
       Bash removes braces from words as a  consequence  of  brace  expansion.
       For  example,  a word entered to sh as file{1,2} appears identically in
       the output.  The same word is output as file1 file2 after expansion  by
       bash.   If strict compatibility with sh is desired, start bash with the
       +B option or disable brace expansion with the +B option to the set com‐
       mand (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below).

Tilde Expansion

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

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

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

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

Parameter Expansion

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

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

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

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

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

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

       ${parameter:-word}
              Use Default Values.  If parameter is unset or null,  the  expan‐
              sion  of word is substituted.  Otherwise, the value of parameter
              is substituted.
       ${parameter:=word}
              Assign Default Values.  If  parameter  is  unset  or  null,  the
              expansion of word is assigned to parameter.  The value of param‐
              eter is then substituted.   Positional  parameters  and  special
              parameters may not be assigned to in this way.
       ${parameter:?word}
              Display  Error if Null or Unset.  If parameter is null or unset,
              the expansion of word (or a message to that effect  if  word  is
              not  present) is written to the standard error and the shell, if
              it is not interactive, exits.  Otherwise, the value of parameter
              is substituted.
       ${parameter:+word}
              Use  Alternate Value.  If parameter is null or unset, nothing is
              substituted, otherwise the expansion of word is substituted.
       ${parameter:offset}
       ${parameter:offset:length}
              Substring Expansion.  Expands to  up  to  length  characters  of
              parameter  starting  at  the  character specified by offset.  If
              length is omitted, expands to the substring of parameter  start‐
              ing at the character specified by offset.  length and offset are
              arithmetic  expressions  (see  ARITHMETIC   EVALUATION   below).
              length  must evaluate to a number greater than or equal to zero.
              If offset evaluates to a number less than  zero,  the  value  is
              used  as  an  offset  from  the  end  of the value of parameter.
              Arithmetic expressions starting with a - must  be  separated  by
              whitespace from the preceding : to be distinguished from the Use
              Default Values expansion.  If parameter  is  @,  the  result  is
              length  positional parameters beginning at offset.  If parameter
              is an indexed array name subscripted by @ or *,  the  result  is
              the  length members of the array beginning with ${parameter[off‐
              set]}.  A negative offset is taken relative to one greater  than
              the  maximum  index of the specified array.  Substring expansion
              applied to an  associative  array  produces  undefined  results.
              Note  that a negative offset must be separated from the colon by
              at least one space to avoid being confused with  the  :-  expan‐
              sion.   Substring  indexing  is zero-based unless the positional
              parameters are used, in which case the indexing starts at  1  by
              default.   If  offset  is  0,  and the positional parameters are
              used, $0 is prefixed to the list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Command Substitution

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

              $(command)
       or
              `command`

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

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

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

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

Arithmetic Expansion

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

              $((expression))

       The  old  format  $[expression]  is  deprecated  and will be removed in
       upcoming versions of bash.

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

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

Process Substitution

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

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

Word Splitting

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

       The  shell  treats each character of IFS as a delimiter, and splits the
       results of the other expansions into words on these characters.  If IFS
       is  unset,  or its value is exactly <space><tab><newline>, the default,
       then sequences of <space>, <tab>, and <newline> at  the  beginning  and
       end  of  the  results  of  the previous expansions are ignored, and any
       sequence of IFS characters not  at  the  beginning  or  end  serves  to
       delimit  words.   If  IFS  has  a  value  other  than the default, then
       sequences of the whitespace characters space and tab are ignored at the
       beginning  and  end of the word, as long as the whitespace character is
       in the value of IFS (an IFS whitespace character).   Any  character  in
       IFS  that is not IFS whitespace, along with any adjacent IFS whitespace
       characters, delimits a field.  A sequence of IFS whitespace  characters
       is  also  treated as a delimiter.  If the value of IFS is null, no word
       splitting occurs.

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

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

Pathname Expansion

       After  word  splitting,  unless  the -f option has been set, bash scans
       each word for the characters *, ?, and [.  If one of  these  characters
       appears,  then  the word is regarded as a pattern, and replaced with an
       alphabetically sorted list of file names matching the pattern.   If  no
       matching  file  names  are  found, and the shell option nullglob is not
       enabled, the word is left unchanged.  If the nullglob  option  is  set,
       and  no  matches are found, the word is removed.  If the failglob shell
       option is set, and no matches are found, an error  message  is  printed
       and  the  command  is  not executed.  If the shell option nocaseglob is
       enabled, the match is performed without regard to the  case  of  alpha‐
       betic  characters.   Note  that when using range expressions like [a-z]
       (see below), letters of the other case may be  included,  depending  on
       the  setting of LC_COLLATE.  When a pattern is used for pathname expan‐
       sion, the character ``.''  at the start of a name or  immediately  fol‐
       lowing a slash must be matched explicitly, unless the shell option dot�‐
       glob is set.  When matching a pathname, the slash character must always
       be  matched  explicitly.   In  other cases, the ``.''  character is not
       treated specially.  See the description  of  shopt  below  under  SHELL
       BUILTIN  COMMANDS  for a description of the nocaseglob, nullglob, fail�‐
       glob, and dotglob shell options.

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

       Pattern Matching

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

       The special pattern characters have the following meanings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote Removal

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

REDIRECTION

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

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

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

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

              ls > dirlist 2>&1

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

              ls 2>&1 > dirlist

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

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

              /dev/fd/fd
                     If  fd  is  a valid integer, file descriptor fd is dupli‐
                     cated.
              /dev/stdin
                     File descriptor 0 is duplicated.
              /dev/stdout
                     File descriptor 1 is duplicated.
              /dev/stderr
                     File descriptor 2 is duplicated.
              /dev/tcp/host/port
                     If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port
                     is  an integer port number or service name, bash attempts
                     to open a TCP connection to the corresponding socket.
              /dev/udp/host/port
                     If host is a valid hostname or Internet address, and port
                     is  an integer port number or service name, bash attempts
                     to open a UDP connection to the corresponding socket.

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

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

       Note that the exec builtin command can make redirections take effect in
       the current shell.

Redirecting Input

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

       The general format for redirecting input is:

              [n]<word

Redirecting Output

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

       The general format for redirecting output is:

              [n]>word

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

Appending Redirected Output

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

       The general format for appending output is:

              [n]>>word

Redirecting Standard Output and Standard Error

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

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

              &>word
       and
              >&word

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

              >word 2>&1

Appending Standard Output and Standard Error

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

       The format for appending standard output and standard error is:

              &>>word

       This is semantically equivalent to

              >>word 2>&1

Here Documents

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

       The format of here-documents is:

              <<[-]word
                      here-document
              delimiter

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

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

Here Strings

A variant of here documents, the format is:

<<<word

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

Duplicating File Descriptors

The redirection operator

[n]<&word

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

       The operator

              [n]>&word

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

Moving File Descriptors

The redirection operator

[n]<&digit-

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

       Similarly, the redirection operator

              [n]>&digit-

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

Opening File Descriptors for Reading and Writing

The redirection operator

[n]<>word

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

ALIASES

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

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

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

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

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

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

FUNCTIONS

       A  shell  function,  defined  as  described  above under SHELL GRAMMAR,
       stores a series of commands for later execution.  When the  name  of  a
       shell  function  is used as a simple command name, the list of commands
       associated with that function name is executed.  Functions are executed
       in  the  context  of  the  current  shell; no new process is created to
       interpret them (contrast this with the execution of  a  shell  script).
       When  a  function is executed, the arguments to the function become the
       positional parameters during its execution.  The special parameter # is
       updated  to reflect the change.  Special parameter 0 is unchanged.  The
       first element of the FUNCNAME variable is set to the name of the  func‐
       tion  while  the function is executing.  All other aspects of the shell
       execution environment are identical between a function and  its  caller
       with the exception that the DEBUG and RETURN traps (see the description
       of the trap builtin under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below) are not  inher‐
       ited  unless  the  function has been given the trace attribute (see the
       description of the declare builtin below) or  the  -o  functrace  shell
       option  has  been enabled with the set builtin (in which case all func‐
       tions inherit the DEBUG and RETURN traps).

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

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

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

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

ARITHMETIC EVALUATION

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

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

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

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

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

CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS

       Conditional  expressions  are  used  by the [[ compound command and the
       test and [ builtin commands to test file attributes and perform  string
       and  arithmetic comparisons.  Expressions are formed from the following
       unary or binary primaries.  If any file argument to  one  of  the  pri‐
       maries is of the form /dev/fd/n, then file descriptor n is checked.  If
       the file argument to  one  of  the  primaries  is  one  of  /dev/stdin,
       /dev/stdout,  or /dev/stderr, file descriptor 0, 1, or 2, respectively,
       is checked.

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

       See the description of the test builtin command (section SHELL  BUILTIN
       COMMANDS  below)  for the handling of parameters (i.e.  missing parame‐
       ters).

       -a file
              True if file exists.
       -b file
              True if file exists and is a block special file.
       -c file
              True if file exists and is a character special file.
       -d file
              True if file exists and is a directory.
       -e file
              True if file exists.
       -f file
              True if file exists and is a regular file.
       -g file
              True if file exists and is set-group-id.
       -h file
              True if file exists and is a symbolic link.
       -k file
              True if file exists and its ``sticky'' bit is set.
       -p file
              True if file exists and is a named pipe (FIFO).
       -r file
              True if file exists and is readable.
       -s file
              True if file exists and has a size greater than zero.
       -t fd  True if file descriptor fd is open and refers to a terminal.
       -u file
              True if file exists and its set-user-id bit is set.
       -w file
              True if file exists and is writable.
       -x file
              True if file exists and is executable.
       -O file
              True if file exists and is owned by the effective user id.
       -G file
              True if file exists and is owned by the effective group id.
       -L file
              True if file exists and is a symbolic link.
       -S file
              True if file exists and is a socket.
       -N file
              True if file exists and has been  modified  since  it  was  last
              read.
       file1 -nt file2
              True  if  file1  is  newer (according to modification date) than
              file2, or if file1 exists and file2 does not.
       file1 -ot file2
              True if file1 is older than file2, or if file2 exists and  file1
              does not.
       file1 -ef file2
              True  if file1 and file2 refer to the same device and inode num‐
              bers.
       -o optname
              True if shell option  optname  is  enabled.   See  the  list  of
              options  under  the  description  of  the  -o  option to the set
              builtin below.
       -z string
              True if the length of string is zero.
       string
       -n string
              True if the length of string is non-zero.

       string1 == string2
              True if the strings are equal.  = may be used in place of == for
              strict POSIX compliance.

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

       string1 < string2
              True  if  string1  sorts before string2 lexicographically in the
              current locale.

       string1 > string2
              True if string1 sorts after  string2  lexicographically  in  the
              current locale.

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

SIMPLE COMMAND EXPANSION

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

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

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

       3.     Redirections are performed as described above under REDIRECTION.

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

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

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

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

COMMAND EXECUTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

COMMAND EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT

       The shell has an execution environment, which consists of  the  follow‐
       ing:

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

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

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

       ·      current traps set by trap

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

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

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

       ·      options enabled by shopt

       ·      shell aliases defined with alias

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

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

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

       ·      the current working directory

       ·      the file creation mode mask

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

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

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

       Command  substitution, commands grouped with parentheses, and asynchro‐
       nous commands are invoked in a subshell environment that is a duplicate
       of  the  shell  environment,  except that traps caught by the shell are
       reset to the values that the shell inherited from its parent at invoca‐
       tion.  Builtin commands that are invoked as part of a pipeline are also
       executed in a subshell environment.  Changes made to the subshell envi‐
       ronment cannot affect the shell's execution environment.

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

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

ENVIRONMENT

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

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

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

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

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

EXIT STATUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

SIGNALS

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

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

       The  shell  exits by default upon receipt of a SIGHUP.  Before exiting,
       an interactive shell  resends  the  SIGHUP  to  all  jobs,  running  or
       stopped.  Stopped jobs are sent SIGCONT to ensure that they receive the
       SIGHUP.  To prevent the shell from sending the signal to  a  particular
       job,  it  should be removed from the jobs table with the disown builtin
       (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below) or  marked  to  not  receive  SIGHUP
       using disown -h.

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

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

JOB CONTROL

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

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

              [1] 25647

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

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

       If the operating system on which bash is running supports job  control,
       bash contains facilities to use it.  Typing the suspend character (typ‐
       ically ^Z, Control-Z) while a process is running causes that process to
       be  stopped  and  returns  control to bash.  Typing the delayed suspend
       character (typically ^Y, Control-Y) causes the process  to  be  stopped
       when  it  attempts  to  read input from the terminal, and control to be
       returned to bash.  The user may then manipulate the state of this  job,
       using  the  bg command to continue it in the background, the fg command
       to continue it in the foreground, or the kill command to kill it.  A ^Z
       takes effect immediately, and has the additional side effect of causing
       pending output and typeahead to be discarded.

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

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

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

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

PROMPTING

       When executing interactively, bash displays the primary prompt PS1 when
       it is ready to read a command, and the secondary  prompt  PS2  when  it
       needs  more  input  to  complete  a  command.  Bash allows these prompt
       strings to be customized by inserting  a  number  of  backslash-escaped
       special characters that are decoded as follows:
              \a     an ASCII bell character (07)
              \d     the  date  in "Weekday Month Date" format (e.g., "Tue May
                     26")
              \D{format}
                     the format is passed to strftime(3)  and  the  result  is
                     inserted  into the prompt string; an empty format results
                     in a locale-specific time representation.  The braces are
                     required
              \e     an ASCII escape character (033)
              \h     the hostname up to the first `.'
              \H     the hostname
              \j     the number of jobs currently managed by the shell
              \l     the basename of the shell's terminal device name
              \n     newline
              \r     carriage return
              \s     the  name  of  the shell, the basename of $0 (the portion
                     following the final slash)
              \t     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM:SS format
              \T     the current time in 12-hour HH:MM:SS format
              \@     the current time in 12-hour am/pm format
              \A     the current time in 24-hour HH:MM format
              \u     the username of the current user
              \v     the version of bash (e.g., 2.00)
              \V     the release of bash, version + patch level (e.g., 2.00.0)
              \w     the current working  directory,  with  $HOME  abbreviated
                     with a tilde (uses the $PROMPT_DIRTRIM variable)
              \W     the basename of the current working directory, with $HOME
                     abbreviated with a tilde
              \!     the history number of this command
              \#     the command number of this command
              \$     if the effective UID is 0, a #, otherwise a $
              \nnn   the character corresponding to the octal number nnn
              \\     a backslash
              \[     begin a sequence of non-printing characters, which  could
                     be  used  to  embed  a terminal control sequence into the
                     prompt
              \]     end a sequence of non-printing characters

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

READLINE

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

Readline Notation

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

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

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

Readline Initialization

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

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

       For example, placing

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

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

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

Readline Key Bindings

       The  syntax for controlling key bindings in the inputrc file is simple.
       All that is required is the name of the command or the text of a  macro
       and  a key sequence to which it should be bound. The name may be speci‐
       fied in one of two ways: as a symbolic key name, possibly with Meta- or
       Control- prefixes, or as a key sequence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       When entering the text of a macro, single or double quotes must be used
       to indicate a macro definition.  Unquoted text is assumed to be a func‐
       tion name.  In the macro body, the backslash  escapes  described  above
       are  expanded.   Backslash  will quote any other character in the macro
       text, including " and '.

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

Readline Variables

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

              set variable-name value

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

       bell-style (audible)
              Controls  what  happens when readline wants to ring the terminal
              bell.  If set to none, readline never rings the bell.  If set to
              visible,  readline  uses a visible bell if one is available.  If
              set to audible, readline attempts to ring the terminal's bell.
       bind-tty-special-chars (On)
              If set to On, readline attempts to bind the  control  characters
              treated specially by the kernel's terminal driver to their read‐
              line equivalents.
       comment-begin (``'')
    The string that is inserted when the readline insert-comment
    command is executed. This command is bound to M- in emacs mode
              and to # in vi command mode.
       completion-ignore-case (Off)
              If set to On, readline performs filename matching and completion
              in a case-insensitive fashion.
       completion-prefix-display-length (0)
              The  length in characters of the common prefix of a list of pos‐
              sible completions that is displayed without modification.   When
              set  to  a  value greater than zero, common prefixes longer than
              this value are replaced with an ellipsis when displaying  possi‐
              ble completions.
       completion-query-items (100)
              This  determines when the user is queried about viewing the num‐
              ber of possible completions generated  by  the  possible-comple�‐
              tions  command.  It may be set to any integer value greater than
              or equal to zero.  If the  number  of  possible  completions  is
              greater than or equal to the value of this variable, the user is
              asked whether or not he wishes to view them; otherwise they  are
              simply listed on the terminal.
       convert-meta (On)
              If  set  to On, readline will convert characters with the eighth
              bit set to an ASCII key sequence by stripping the eighth bit and
              prefixing  an  escape  character (in effect, using escape as the
              meta prefix).
       disable-completion (Off)
              If set to On, readline will inhibit word completion.  Completion
              characters  will  be  inserted into the line as if they had been
              mapped to self-insert.
       editing-mode (emacs)
              Controls whether readline begins with a set of key bindings sim‐
              ilar to emacs or vi.  editing-mode can be set to either emacs or
              vi.
       enable-keypad (Off)
              When set to On, readline will try to enable the application key‐
              pad  when  it  is  called.  Some systems need this to enable the
              arrow keys.
       expand-tilde (Off)
              If set  to  on,  tilde  expansion  is  performed  when  readline
              attempts word completion.
       history-preserve-point (Off)
              If  set  to  on, the history code attempts to place point at the
              same location on each history line retrieved with  previous-his�‐
              tory or next-history.
       history-size (0)
              Set  the  maximum number of history entries saved in the history
              list.  If set to zero, the number of entries in the history list
              is not limited.
       horizontal-scroll-mode (Off)
              When  set  to  On, makes readline use a single line for display,
              scrolling the input horizontally on a single screen line when it
              becomes  longer  than the screen width rather than wrapping to a
              new line.
       input-meta (Off)
              If set to On, readline will enable eight-bit input (that is,  it
              will  not  strip  the  high  bit  from the characters it reads),
              regardless of what the terminal claims it can support.  The name
              meta-flag is a synonym for this variable.
       isearch-terminators (``C-[C-J'')
              The  string  of  characters that should terminate an incremental
              search without subsequently executing the character  as  a  com‐
              mand.   If this variable has not been given a value, the charac‐
              ters ESC and C-J will terminate an incremental search.
       keymap (emacs)
              Set the current readline keymap.  The set of valid keymap  names
              is  emacs,  emacs-standard,  emacs-meta, emacs-ctlx, vi, vi-com‐
              mand, and vi-insert.  vi is equivalent to vi-command;  emacs  is
              equivalent  to  emacs-standard.  The default value is emacs; the
              value of editing-mode also affects the default keymap.
       mark-directories (On)
              If set to On, completed directory names have a slash appended.
       mark-modified-lines (Off)
              If set to On, history lines that have  been  modified  are  dis‐
              played with a preceding asterisk (*).
       mark-symlinked-directories (Off)
              If set to On, completed names which are symbolic links to direc‐
              tories  have  a  slash  appended  (subject  to  the   value   of
              mark-directories).
       match-hidden-files (On)
              This  variable,  when  set to On, causes readline to match files
              whose names begin with a  `.'  (hidden  files)  when  performing
              filename  completion,  unless the leading `.' is supplied by the
              user in the filename to be completed.
       output-meta (Off)
              If set to On, readline will display characters with  the  eighth
              bit set directly rather than as a meta-prefixed escape sequence.
       page-completions (On)
              If  set to On, readline uses an internal more-like pager to dis‐
              play a screenful of possible completions at a time.
       print-completions-horizontally (Off)
              If set to On, readline will  display  completions  with  matches
              sorted  horizontally in alphabetical order, rather than down the
              screen.
       revert-all-at-newline (Off)
              If set to on, readline will undo all changes  to  history  lines
              before returning when accept-line is executed.  By default, his‐
              tory lines may be modified  and  retain  individual  undo  lists
              across calls to readline.
       show-all-if-ambiguous (Off)
              This  alters  the  default behavior of the completion functions.
              If set to on, words which have more than one possible completion
              cause  the  matches  to be listed immediately instead of ringing
              the bell.
       show-all-if-unmodified (Off)
              This alters the default behavior of the completion functions  in
              a fashion similar to show-all-if-ambiguous.  If set to on, words
              which have more than one possible completion without any  possi‐
              ble  partial  completion (the possible completions don't share a
              common prefix)  cause  the  matches  to  be  listed  immediately
              instead of ringing the bell.
       visible-stats (Off)
              If  set to On, a character denoting a file's type as reported by
              stat(2) is appended to the filename when listing  possible  com‐
              pletions.

Readline Conditional Constructs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

              $include  /etc/inputrc

Searching

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

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

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

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

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

Readline Command Names

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

Commands for Moving

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

Commands for Manipulating the History

       accept-line (Newline, Return)
              Accept the line regardless of where the cursor is.  If this line
              is  non-empty, add it to the history list according to the state
              of the HISTCONTROL variable.  If the line is a modified  history
              line, then restore the history line to its original state.
       previous-history (C-p)
              Fetch the previous command from the history list, moving back in
              the list.
       next-history (C-n)
              Fetch the next command from the history list, moving forward  in
              the list.
       beginning-of-history (M-<)
              Move to the first line in the history.
       end-of-history (M->)
              Move  to  the end of the input history, i.e., the line currently
              being entered.
       reverse-search-history (C-r)
              Search backward starting at the current  line  and  moving  `up'
              through  the  history  as  necessary.   This  is  an incremental
              search.
       forward-search-history (C-s)
              Search forward starting at the current line  and  moving  `down'
              through  the  history  as  necessary.   This  is  an incremental
              search.
       non-incremental-reverse-search-history (M-p)
              Search backward through the history starting at the current line
              using  a  non-incremental  search  for  a string supplied by the
              user.
       non-incremental-forward-search-history (M-n)
              Search forward  through  the  history  using  a  non-incremental
              search for a string supplied by the user.
       history-search-forward
              Search  forward through the history for the string of characters
              between the start of the current line and the point.  This is  a
              non-incremental search.
       history-search-backward
              Search backward through the history for the string of characters
              between the start of the current line and the point.  This is  a
              non-incremental search.
       yank-nth-arg (M-C-y)
              Insert  the  first argument to the previous command (usually the
              second word on the previous line) at point.  With an argument n,
              insert  the nth word from the previous command (the words in the
              previous command  begin  with  word  0).   A  negative  argument
              inserts the nth word from the end of the previous command.  Once
              the argument n is computed, the argument is extracted as if  the
              "!n" history expansion had been specified.
       yank-last-arg (M-., M-_)
              Insert  the last argument to the previous command (the last word
              of the  previous  history  entry).   With  an  argument,  behave
              exactly  like  yank-nth-arg.   Successive calls to yank-last-arg
              move back through the history list, inserting the last  argument
              of each line in turn.  The history expansion facilities are used
              to extract the last argument, as if the "!$"  history  expansion
              had been specified.
       shell-expand-line (M-C-e)
              Expand the line as the shell does.  This performs alias and his‐
              tory expansion as well as all of the shell word expansions.  See
              HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
       history-expand-line (M-^)
              Perform  history  expansion  on  the  current line.  See HISTORY
              EXPANSION below for a description of history expansion.
       magic-space
              Perform history expansion on  the  current  line  and  insert  a
              space.  See HISTORY EXPANSION below for a description of history
              expansion.
       alias-expand-line
              Perform alias expansion on the current line.  See ALIASES  above
              for a description of alias expansion.
       history-and-alias-expand-line
              Perform history and alias expansion on the current line.
       insert-last-argument (M-., M-_)
              A synonym for yank-last-arg.
       operate-and-get-next (C-o)
              Accept  the  current  line for execution and fetch the next line
              relative to the current line from the history for editing.   Any
              argument is ignored.
       edit-and-execute-command (C-xC-e)
              Invoke  an  editor  on the current command line, and execute the
              result as shell commands.   Bash  attempts  to  invoke  $VISUAL,
              $EDITOR, and emacs as the editor, in that order.

Commands for Changing Text

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

Killing and Yanking

       kill-line (C-k)
              Kill the text from point to the end of the line.
       backward-kill-line (C-x Rubout)
              Kill backward to the beginning of the line.
       unix-line-discard (C-u)
              Kill  backward  from  point  to  the beginning of the line.  The
              killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       kill-whole-line
              Kill all characters on the current line, no matter  where  point
              is.
       kill-word (M-d)
              Kill  from  point  to the end of the current word, or if between
              words, to the end of the next word.   Word  boundaries  are  the
              same as those used by forward-word.
       backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
              Kill  the  word  behind  point.  Word boundaries are the same as
              those used by backward-word.
       shell-kill-word (M-d)
              Kill from point to the end of the current word,  or  if  between
              words,  to  the  end  of the next word.  Word boundaries are the
              same as those used by shell-forward-word.
       shell-backward-kill-word (M-Rubout)
              Kill the word behind point.  Word boundaries  are  the  same  as
              those used by shell-backward-word.
       unix-word-rubout (C-w)
              Kill  the  word behind point, using white space as a word bound‐
              ary.  The killed text is saved on the kill-ring.
       unix-filename-rubout
              Kill the word behind point, using  white  space  and  the  slash
              character  as  the word boundaries.  The killed text is saved on
              the kill-ring.
       delete-horizontal-space (M-\)
              Delete all spaces and tabs around point.
       kill-region
              Kill the text in the current region.
       copy-region-as-kill
              Copy the text in the region to the kill buffer.
       copy-backward-word
              Copy the word before point to the kill buffer.  The word  bound‐
              aries are the same as backward-word.
       copy-forward-word
              Copy  the  word  following  point  to the kill buffer.  The word
              boundaries are the same as forward-word.
       yank (C-y)
              Yank the top of the kill ring into the buffer at point.
       yank-pop (M-y)
              Rotate the kill ring, and yank the new top.  Only works  follow‐
              ing yank or yank-pop.

Numeric Arguments

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

Completing

       complete (TAB)
              Attempt to perform completion on the text  before  point.   Bash
              attempts completion treating the text as a variable (if the text
              begins with $), username (if the text begins with  ~),  hostname
              (if  the  text begins with @), or command (including aliases and
              functions) in turn.  If none of these produces a match, filename
              completion is attempted.
       possible-completions (M-?)
              List the possible completions of the text before point.
       insert-completions (M-*)
              Insert  all completions of the text before point that would have
              been generated by possible-completions.
       menu-complete
              Similar to complete, but replaces the word to be completed  with
              a  single match from the list of possible completions.  Repeated
              execution of menu-complete steps through the  list  of  possible
              completions,  inserting  each  match in turn.  At the end of the
              list of completions, the bell is rung (subject to the setting of
              bell-style) and the original text is restored.  An argument of n
              moves n positions forward in the list  of  matches;  a  negative
              argument  may  be  used to move backward through the list.  This
              command is intended to be  bound  to  TAB,  but  is  unbound  by
              default.
       delete-char-or-list
              Deletes  the  character under the cursor if not at the beginning
              or end of the line (like delete-char).  If at  the  end  of  the
              line, behaves identically to possible-completions.  This command
              is unbound by default.
       complete-filename (M-/)
              Attempt filename completion on the text before point.
       possible-filename-completions (C-x /)
              List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
              it as a filename.
       complete-username (M-~)
              Attempt  completion  on  the text before point, treating it as a
              username.
       possible-username-completions (C-x ~)
              List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
              it as a username.
       complete-variable (M-$)
              Attempt  completion  on  the text before point, treating it as a
              shell variable.
       possible-variable-completions (C-x $)
              List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
              it as a shell variable.
       complete-hostname (M-@)
              Attempt  completion  on  the text before point, treating it as a
              hostname.
       possible-hostname-completions (C-x @)
              List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
              it as a hostname.
       complete-command (M-!)
              Attempt  completion  on  the text before point, treating it as a
              command name.  Command completion attempts  to  match  the  text
              against   aliases,   reserved   words,  shell  functions,  shell
              builtins, and finally executable filenames, in that order.
       possible-command-completions (C-x !)
              List the possible completions of the text before point, treating
              it as a command name.
       dynamic-complete-history (M-TAB)
              Attempt  completion on the text before point, comparing the text
              against lines from the  history  list  for  possible  completion
              matches.
       dabbrev-expand
              Attempt  menu completion on the text before point, comparing the
              text against lines from the history list for possible completion
              matches.
       complete-into-braces (M-{)
              Perform filename completion and insert the list of possible com‐
              pletions enclosed within braces so the list is available to  the
              shell (see Brace Expansion above).

Keyboard Macros

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

Miscellaneous

       re-read-init-file (C-x C-r)
              Read in the contents of the inputrc file,  and  incorporate  any
              bindings or variable assignments found there.
       abort (C-g)
              Abort  the  current editing command and ring the terminal's bell
              (subject to the setting of bell-style).
       do-uppercase-version (M-a, M-b, M-x, ...)
              If the metafied character x is lowercase, run the  command  that
              is bound to the corresponding uppercase character.
       prefix-meta (ESC)
              Metafy the next character typed.  ESC f is equivalent to Meta-f.
       undo (C-_, C-x C-u)
              Incremental undo, separately remembered for each line.
       revert-line (M-r)
              Undo  all changes made to this line.  This is like executing the
              undo command enough times to return  the  line  to  its  initial
              state.
       tilde-expand (M-&)
              Perform tilde expansion on the current word.
       set-mark (C-@, M-<space>)
              Set  the  mark to the point.  If a numeric argument is supplied,
              the mark is set to that position.
       exchange-point-and-mark (C-x C-x)
              Swap the point with the mark.  The current  cursor  position  is
              set  to the saved position, and the old cursor position is saved
              as the mark.
       character-search (C-])
              A character is read and point is moved to the next occurrence of
              that  character.   A negative count searches for previous occur‐
              rences.
       character-search-backward (M-C-])
              A character is read and point is moved to  the  previous  occur‐
              rence  of  that character.  A negative count searches for subse‐
              quent occurrences.
       insert-comment (M-#)
              Without a numeric argument,  the  value  of  the  readline  com�‐
              ment-begin  variable is inserted at the beginning of the current
              line.  If a numeric argument is supplied, this command acts as a
              toggle:   if  the characters at the beginning of the line do not
              match the value of comment-begin, the value is inserted,  other‐
              wise the characters in comment-begin are deleted from the begin‐
              ning of the line.  In either case, the line is accepted as if  a
              newline  had  been  typed.   The  default value of comment-begin
              causes this command to make the current line  a  shell  comment.
              If  a  numeric  argument  causes  the  comment  character  to be
              removed, the line will be executed by the shell.
       glob-complete-word (M-g)
              The word before point is  treated  as  a  pattern  for  pathname
              expansion,  with  an asterisk implicitly appended.  This pattern
              is used to generate a list of matching file names  for  possible
              completions.
       glob-expand-word (C-x *)
              The  word  before  point  is  treated  as a pattern for pathname
              expansion, and the list of  matching  file  names  is  inserted,
              replacing  the  word.   If  a  numeric  argument is supplied, an
              asterisk is appended before pathname expansion.
       glob-list-expansions (C-x g)
              The list  of  expansions  that  would  have  been  generated  by
              glob-expand-word  is  displayed,  and the line is redrawn.  If a
              numeric argument is supplied, an  asterisk  is  appended  before
              pathname expansion.
       dump-functions
              Print  all  of the functions and their key bindings to the read‐
              line output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied, the out‐
              put  is  formatted  in such a way that it can be made part of an
              inputrc file.
       dump-variables
              Print all of the settable readline variables and their values to
              the  readline output stream.  If a numeric argument is supplied,
              the output is formatted in such a way that it can be  made  part
              of an inputrc file.
       dump-macros
              Print  all of the readline key sequences bound to macros and the
              strings they output.  If a numeric  argument  is  supplied,  the
              output is formatted in such a way that it can be made part of an
              inputrc file.
       display-shell-version (C-x C-v)
              Display version information about the current instance of bash.

Programmable Completion

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

       First,  the command name is identified.  If a compspec has been defined
       for that command, the compspec is used to generate the list of possible
       completions  for  the  word.  If the command word is a full pathname, a
       compspec for the full pathname is searched for first.  If  no  compspec
       is  found  for the full pathname, an attempt is made to find a compspec
       for the portion following the final slash.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HISTORY

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

       On startup, the history is initialized from the file named by the vari‐
       able HISTFILE (default ~/.bash_history).  The file named by  the  value
       of  HISTFILE  is  truncated,  if necessary, to contain no more than the
       number of lines specified by the value of HISTFILESIZE.  When the  his‐
       tory  file  is read, lines beginning with the history comment character
       followed immediately by a digit are interpreted as timestamps  for  the
       preceding  history  line.   These  timestamps  are optionally displayed
       depending on the value of the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable.  When an  inter‐
       active  shell  exits, the last $HISTSIZE lines are copied from the his‐
       tory list to $HISTFILE.  If the histappend shell option is enabled (see
       the description of shopt under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below), the lines
       are appended to the history file, otherwise the history file  is  over‐
       written.   If  HISTFILE is unset, or if the history file is unwritable,
       the history is not saved.  If the HISTTIMEFORMAT variable is set,  time
       stamps are written to the history file, marked with the history comment
       character, so they may be preserved across shell sessions.   This  uses
       the history comment character to distinguish timestamps from other his‐
       tory lines.  After saving the history, the history file is truncated to
       contain  no  more than HISTFILESIZE lines.  If HISTFILESIZE is not set,
       no truncation is performed.

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

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

HISTORY EXPANSION

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

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

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

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

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

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

Event Designators

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

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

Word Designators

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

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

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

Modifiers

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

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

SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS

       Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented in this section
       as accepting options preceded by - accepts -- to signify the end of the
       options.   For  example,  the  :, true, false, and test builtins do not
       accept options.
       : [arguments]
              No effect; the command does nothing beyond  expanding  arguments
              and  performing any specified redirections.  A zero exit code is
              returned.

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

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

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

       bind [-m keymap] [-lpsvPSV]
       bind [-m keymap] [-q function] [-u function] [-r keyseq]
       bind [-m keymap] -f filename
       bind [-m keymap] -x keyseq:shell-command
       bind [-m keymap] keyseq:function-name
       bind readline-command
              Display current readline key and function bindings, bind  a  key
              sequence  to  a  readline  function  or macro, or set a readline
              variable.  Each non-option argument is a  command  as  it  would
              appear  in  .inputrc, but each binding or command must be passed
              as a separate argument; e.g.,  '"\C-x\C-r":  re-read-init-file'.
              Options, if supplied, have the following meanings:
              -m keymap
                     Use keymap as the keymap to be affected by the subsequent
                     bindings.  Acceptable keymap names are emacs, emacs-stan‐
                     dard,  emacs-meta,  emacs-ctlx,  vi, vi-move, vi-command,
                     and vi-insert.  vi is equivalent to vi-command; emacs  is
                     equivalent to emacs-standard.
              -l     List the names of all readline functions.
              -p     Display  readline  function  names and bindings in such a
                     way that they can be re-read.
              -P     List current readline function names and bindings.
              -s     Display readline key sequences bound to  macros  and  the
                     strings  they  output  in such a way that they can be re-
                     read.
              -S     Display readline key sequences bound to  macros  and  the
                     strings they output.
              -v     Display  readline variable names and values in such a way
                     that they can be re-read.
              -V     List current readline variable names and values.
              -f filename
                     Read key bindings from filename.
              -q function
                     Query about which keys invoke the named function.
              -u function
                     Unbind all keys bound to the named function.
              -r keyseq
                     Remove any current binding for keyseq.
              -x keyseq:shell-command
                     Cause shell-command to be  executed  whenever  keyseq  is
                     entered.   When shell-command is executed, the shell sets
                     the READLINE_LINE variable to the contents of  the  read�‐
                     line  line  buffer and the READLINE_POINT variable to the
                     current location of the insertion point.  If the executed
                     command  changes  the  value  of  READLINE_LINE  or READ�‐
                     LINE_POINT, those new values will  be  reflected  in  the
                     editing state.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

              The matches will be generated in the same way as if the program‐
              mable completion code had generated them directly from a comple‐
              tion specification with the same flags.  If word  is  specified,
              only those completions matching word will be displayed.

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

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

              The process of applying  these  completion  specifications  when
              word  completion  is attempted is described above under Program�‐
              mable Completion.

              Other options, if specified, have the following  meanings.   The
              arguments  to the -G, -W, and -X options (and, if necessary, the
              -P and -S options) should be quoted to protect them from  expan‐
              sion before the complete builtin is invoked.
              -o comp-option
                      The  comp-option  controls  several aspects of the comp‐
                      spec's behavior beyond the simple generation of  comple‐
                      tions.  comp-option may be one of:
                      bashdefault
                              Perform the rest of the default bash completions
                              if the compspec generates no matches.
                      default Use readline's default  filename  completion  if
                              the compspec generates no matches.
                      dirnames
                              Perform  directory  name completion if the comp‐
                              spec generates no matches.
                      filenames
                              Tell readline that the compspec generates  file‐
                              names,  so  it can perform any filename-specific
                              processing (like adding  a  slash  to  directory
                              names,  quoting special characters, or suppress‐
                              ing trailing spaces).  Intended to be used  with
                              shell functions.
                      nospace Tell   readline  not  to  append  a  space  (the
                              default) to words completed at the  end  of  the
                              line.
                      plusdirs
                              After  any  matches  defined by the compspec are
                              generated,   directory   name   completion    is
                              attempted  and  any  matches  are  added  to the
                              results of the other actions.
              -A action
                      The action may be one of the  following  to  generate  a
                      list of possible completions:
                      alias   Alias names.  May also be specified as -a.
                      arrayvar
                              Array variable names.
                      binding Readline key binding names.
                      builtin Names  of  shell  builtin commands.  May also be
                              specified as -b.
                      command Command names.  May also be specified as -c.
                      directory
                              Directory names.  May also be specified as -d.
                      disabled
                              Names of disabled shell builtins.
                      enabled Names of enabled shell builtins.
                      export  Names of exported shell variables.  May also  be
                              specified as -e.
                      file    File names.  May also be specified as -f.
                      function
                              Names of shell functions.
                      group   Group names.  May also be specified as -g.
                      helptopic
                              Help topics as accepted by the help builtin.
                      hostname
                              Hostnames,  as  taken from the file specified by
                              the HOSTFILE shell variable.
                      job     Job names, if job control is active.   May  also
                              be specified as -j.
                      keyword Shell  reserved words.  May also be specified as
                              -k.
                      running Names of running jobs, if job control is active.
                      service Service names.  May also be specified as -s.
                      setopt  Valid arguments for the -o  option  to  the  set
                              builtin.
                      shopt   Shell  option  names  as  accepted  by the shopt
                              builtin.
                      signal  Signal names.
                      stopped Names of stopped jobs, if job control is active.
                      user    User names.  May also be specified as -u.
                      variable
                              Names of all shell variables.  May also be spec‐
                              ified as -v.
              -G globpat
                      The  filename  expansion  pattern globpat is expanded to
                      generate the possible completions.
              -W wordlist
                      The wordlist is split using the characters  in  the  IFS
                      special  variable as delimiters, and each resultant word
                      is expanded.  The possible completions are  the  members
                      of  the  resultant  list which match the word being com‐
                      pleted.
              -C command
                      command is executed in a subshell environment,  and  its
                      output is used as the possible completions.
              -F function
                      The  shell  function function is executed in the current
                      shell environment.  When it finishes, the possible  com‐
                      pletions  are  retrieved from the value of the COMPREPLY
                      array variable.
              -X filterpat
                      filterpat is a pattern as used for  filename  expansion.
                      It is applied to the list of possible completions gener‐
                      ated by the preceding options and  arguments,  and  each
                      completion  matching filterpat is removed from the list.
                      A leading ! in filterpat negates the  pattern;  in  this
                      case, any completion not matching filterpat is removed.
              -P prefix
                      prefix  is  added at the beginning of each possible com‐
                      pletion after all other options have been applied.
              -S suffix
                      suffix is appended to each possible completion after all
                      other options have been applied.

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

       compopt [-o option] [+o option] [name]
              Modify  completion  options  for  each  name  according  to  the
              options, or for the currently-execution completion if  no  names
              are  supplied.   If no options are given, display the completion
              options for each name or the current completion.   The  possible
              values  of  option  are  those  valid  for  the complete builtin
              described above.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       echo [-neE] [arg ...]
              Output  the  args,  separated  by spaces, followed by a newline.
              The return status is always 0.  If -n is specified, the trailing
              newline  is  suppressed.  If the -e option is given, interpreta‐
              tion of the following backslash-escaped characters  is  enabled.
              The  -E option disables the interpretation of these escape char‐
              acters, even on systems where they are interpreted  by  default.
              The  xpg_echo  shell option may be used to dynamically determine
              whether or not echo expands these escape characters by  default.
              echo  does  not  interpret  -- to mean the end of options.  echo
              interprets the following escape sequences:
              \a     alert (bell)
              \b     backspace
              \c     suppress further output
              \e     an escape character
              \f     form feed
              \n     new line
              \r     carriage return
              \t     horizontal tab
              \v     vertical tab
              \\     backslash
              \0nnn  the eight-bit character whose value is  the  octal  value
                     nnn (zero to three octal digits)
              \xHH   the  eight-bit  character  whose value is the hexadecimal
                     value HH (one or two hex digits)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

              getopts  returns true if an option, specified or unspecified, is
              found.  It returns false if the end of options is encountered or
              an error occurs.

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

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

       history [n]
       history -c
       history -d offset
       history -anrw [filename]
       history -p arg [arg ...]
       history -s arg [arg ...]
              With no options, display the command history list with line num‐
              bers.  Lines listed with a * have been modified.  An argument of
              n lists only the last n lines.  If the shell variable  HISTTIME�‐
              FORMAT  is  set  and not null, it is used as a format string for
              strftime(3) to display the time stamp associated with each  dis‐
              played  history  entry.  No intervening blank is printed between
              the formatted time stamp and the history line.  If  filename  is
              supplied,  it  is  used as the name of the history file; if not,
              the value of HISTFILE is used.  Options, if supplied,  have  the
              following meanings:
              -c     Clear the history list by deleting all the entries.
              -d offset
                     Delete the history entry at position offset.
              -a     Append  the  ``new'' history lines (history lines entered
                     since the beginning of the current bash session)  to  the
                     history file.
              -n     Read  the history lines not already read from the history
                     file into the current  history  list.   These  are  lines
                     appended  to  the history file since the beginning of the
                     current bash session.
              -r     Read the contents of the history file and use them as the
                     current history.
              -w     Write  the current history to the history file, overwrit‐
                     ing the history file's contents.
              -p     Perform history substitution on the  following  args  and
                     display  the  result  on  the  standard output.  Does not
                     store the results in the history list.  Each arg must  be
                     quoted to disable normal history expansion.
              -s     Store  the  args  in  the history list as a single entry.
                     The last command in the history list  is  removed  before
                     the args are added.

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

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

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

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

       kill [-s sigspec | -n signum | -sigspec] [pid | jobspec] ...
       kill -l [sigspec | exit_status]
              Send  the  signal  named  by  sigspec or signum to the processes
              named by pid or jobspec.  sigspec is either  a  case-insensitive
              signal  name such as SIGKILL (with or without the SIG prefix) or
              a signal number; signum is a signal number.  If sigspec  is  not
              present,  then  SIGTERM is assumed.  An argument of -l lists the
              signal names.  If any arguments are supplied when -l  is  given,
              the  names  of  the  signals  corresponding to the arguments are
              listed, and the return status is 0.  The exit_status argument to
              -l  is  a  number  specifying either a signal number or the exit
              status of a process terminated by a signal.  kill  returns  true
              if  at  least  one  signal was successfully sent, or false if an
              error occurs or an invalid option is encountered.

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

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

       logout Exit a login shell.

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

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

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

              mapfile  returns successfully unless an invalid option or option
              argument is supplied, or array is invalid or unassignable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

       read [-ers] [-a aname] [-d delim] [-i text] [-n nchars] [-p prompt] [-t
       timeout] [-u fd] [name ...]
              One line is read from the  standard  input,  or  from  the  file
              descriptor  fd supplied as an argument to the -u option, and the
              first word is assigned to the first name, the second word to the
              second  name, and so on, with leftover words and their interven‐
              ing separators assigned to the last name.  If  there  are  fewer
              words read from the input stream than names, the remaining names
              are assigned empty values.  The characters in IFS  are  used  to
              split  the  line into words.  The backslash character (\) may be
              used to remove any special meaning for the next  character  read
              and  for line continuation.  Options, if supplied, have the fol‐
              lowing meanings:
              -a aname
                     The words are assigned to sequential indices of the array
                     variable aname, starting at 0.  aname is unset before any
                     new  values  are  assigned.   Other  name  arguments  are
                     ignored.
              -d delim
                     The  first  character  of  delim is used to terminate the
                     input line, rather than newline.
              -e     If the standard input is coming from a terminal, readline
                     (see  READLINE  above) is used to obtain the line.  Read‐
                     line uses the current (or default, if  line  editing  was
                     not previously active) editing settings.
              -i text
                     If  readline  is  being  used  to  read the line, text is
                     placed into the editing buffer before editing begins.
              -n nchars
                     read returns after reading nchars characters rather  than
                     waiting for a complete line of input.
              -p prompt
                     Display prompt on standard error, without a trailing new‐
                     line, before attempting to read any input.  The prompt is
                     displayed only if input is coming from a terminal.
              -r     Backslash does not act as an escape character.  The back‐
                     slash is considered to be part of the line.  In  particu‐
                     lar,  a  backslash-newline pair may not be used as a line
                     continuation.
              -s     Silent mode.  If input is coming from a terminal, charac‐
                     ters are not echoed.
              -t timeout
                     Cause  read  to time out and return failure if a complete
                     line of input is not read within timeout seconds.   time‐
                     out  may  be  a  decimal number with a fractional portion
                     following the decimal point.  This option is only  effec‐
                     tive  if  read is reading input from a terminal, pipe, or
                     other special file; it has no effect  when  reading  from
                     regular  files.  If timeout is 0, read returns success if
                     input is available  on  the  specified  file  descriptor,
                     failure  otherwise.   The exit status is greater than 128
                     if the timeout is exceeded.
              -u fd  Read input from file descriptor fd.

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

       readonly [-aApf] [name[=word] ...]
              The given names are marked readonly; the values of  these  names
              may  not  be changed by subsequent assignment.  If the -f option
              is supplied, the functions corresponding to  the  names  are  so
              marked.   The  -a  option  restricts  the  variables  to indexed
              arrays; the -A option restricts  the  variables  to  associative
              arrays.   If no name arguments are given, or if the -p option is
              supplied, a list of all  readonly  names  is  printed.   The  -p
              option  causes  output  to  be displayed in a format that may be
              reused as input.  If a variable name is followed by  =word,  the
              value  of  the  variable is set to word.  The return status is 0
              unless an invalid option is encountered, one of the names is not
              a  valid shell variable name, or -f is supplied with a name that
              is not a function.

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

       set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [-o option] [arg ...]
       set [+abefhkmnptuvxBCEHPT] [+o option] [arg ...]
              Without  options,  the name and value of each shell variable are
              displayed in a format that can be reused as input for setting or
              resetting the currently-set variables.  Read-only variables can‐
              not be reset.  In posix mode, only shell variables  are  listed.
              The  output  is  sorted  according  to the current locale.  When
              options are specified, they set or unset shell attributes.   Any
              arguments  remaining after option processing are treated as val‐
              ues for the positional parameters and are assigned, in order, to
              $1,  $2,  ...   $n.   Options,  if specified, have the following
              meanings:
              -a      Automatically mark variables  and  functions  which  are
                      modified  or  created  for  export to the environment of
                      subsequent commands.
              -b      Report the status of terminated background jobs  immedi‐
                      ately, rather than before the next primary prompt.  This
                      is effective only when job control is enabled.
              -e      Exit immediately if a pipeline (which may consist  of  a
                      single  simple command),  a subshell command enclosed in
                      parentheses, or one of the commands executed as part  of
                      a  command  list  enclosed  by braces (see SHELL GRAMMAR
                      above) exits with a non-zero status.  The shell does not
                      exit  if  the  command that fails is part of the command
                      list immediately following a  while  or  until  keyword,
                      part  of  the  test  following  the  if or elif reserved
                      words, part of any command executed in a && or  �⎪�⎪  list
                      except  the  command  following  the final && or �⎪�⎪, any
                      command in a pipeline but the last, or if the  command's
                      return  value  is being inverted with !.  A trap on ERR,
                      if set, is executed before the shell exits.  This option
                      applies to the shell environment and each subshell envi‐
                      ronment separately (see  COMMAND  EXECUTION  ENVIRONMENT
                      above), and may cause subshells to exit before executing
                      all the commands in the subshell.
              -f      Disable pathname expansion.
              -h      Remember the location of commands as they are looked  up
                      for execution.  This is enabled by default.
              -k      All  arguments  in the form of assignment statements are
                      placed in the environment for a command, not just  those
                      that precede the command name.
              -m      Monitor  mode.   Job control is enabled.  This option is
                      on by default for interactive  shells  on  systems  that
                      support  it  (see  JOB  CONTROL above).  Background pro‐
                      cesses run in a separate process group and a  line  con‐
                      taining  their exit status is printed upon their comple‐
                      tion.
              -n      Read commands but do not execute them.  This may be used
                      to  check  a  shell  script  for syntax errors.  This is
                      ignored by interactive shells.
              -o option-name
                      The option-name can be one of the following:
                      allexport
                              Same as -a.
                      braceexpand
                              Same as -B.
                      emacs   Use an emacs-style command line  editing  inter‐
                              face.  This is enabled by default when the shell
                              is interactive, unless the shell is started with
                              the  --noediting  option.  This also affects the
                              editing interface used for read -e.
                      errtrace
                              Same as -E.
                      functrace
                              Same as -T.
                      errexit Same as -e.
                      hashall Same as -h.
                      histexpand
                              Same as -H.
                      history Enable command history, as described above under
                              HISTORY.  This option is on by default in inter‐
                              active shells.
                      ignoreeof
                              The  effect  is  as   if   the   shell   command
                              ``IGNOREEOF=10''  had  been  executed (see Shell
                              Variables above).
                      keyword Same as -k.
                      monitor Same as -m.
                      noclobber
                              Same as -C.
                      noexec  Same as -n.
                      noglob  Same as -f.
                      nolog   Currently ignored.
                      notify  Same as -b.
                      nounset Same as -u.
                      onecmd  Same as -t.
                      physical
                              Same as -P.
                      pipefail
                              If set, the return value of a  pipeline  is  the
                              value  of  the  last (rightmost) command to exit
                              with a non-zero status, or zero if all  commands
                              in  the pipeline exit successfully.  This option
                              is disabled by default.
                      posix   Change the behavior of bash  where  the  default
                              operation  differs  from  the  POSIX standard to
                              match the standard (posix mode).
                      privileged
                              Same as -p.
                      verbose Same as -v.
                      vi      Use a vi-style command line  editing  interface.
                              This also affects the editing interface used for
                              read -e.
                      xtrace  Same as -x.
                      If -o is supplied with no option-name, the values of the
                      current  options are printed.  If +o is supplied with no
                      option-name, a series of set commands  to  recreate  the
                      current  option  settings  is  displayed on the standard
                      output.
              -p      Turn on privileged mode.  In this  mode,  the  $ENV  and
                      $BASH_ENV  files  are not processed, shell functions are
                      not inherited from the environment, and  the  SHELLOPTS,
                      CDPATH,  and GLOBIGNORE variables, if they appear in the
                      environment, are ignored.  If the shell is started  with
                      the effective user (group) id not equal to the real user
                      (group) id, and the -p option  is  not  supplied,  these
                      actions  are  taken  and the effective user id is set to
                      the real user id.  If  the  -p  option  is  supplied  at
                      startup,  the  effective  user id is not reset.  Turning
                      this option off causes the effective user and group  ids
                      to be set to the real user and group ids.
              -t      Exit after reading and executing one command.
              -u      Treat unset variables and parameters other than the spe‐
                      cial parameters "@" and "*" as an error when  performing
                      parameter  expansion.   If  expansion is attempted on an
                      unset variable or parameter, the shell prints  an  error
                      message,  and, if not interactive, exits with a non-zero
                      status.
              -v      Print shell input lines as they are read.
              -x      After expanding each simple command, for  command,  case
                      command, select command, or arithmetic for command, dis‐
                      play the expanded value of PS4, followed by the  command
                      and its expanded arguments or associated word list.
              -B      The  shell performs brace expansion (see Brace Expansion
                      above).  This is on by default.
              -C      If set, bash does not overwrite an  existing  file  with
                      the  >,  >&,  and <> redirection operators.  This may be
                      overridden when creating output files by using the redi‐
                      rection operator >| instead of >.
              -E      If set, any trap on ERR is inherited by shell functions,
                      command substitutions, and commands executed in  a  sub‐
                      shell  environment.  The ERR trap is normally not inher‐
                      ited in such cases.
              -H      Enable !  style history substitution.  This option is on
                      by default when the shell is interactive.
              -P      If  set,  the  shell does not follow symbolic links when
                      executing commands such as cd that  change  the  current
                      working  directory.   It  uses  the  physical  directory
                      structure instead.  By default, bash follows the logical
                      chain  of  directories  when  performing  commands which
                      change the current directory.
              -T      If set, any traps on DEBUG and RETURN are  inherited  by
                      shell  functions,  command  substitutions,  and commands
                      executed in  a  subshell  environment.   The  DEBUG  and
                      RETURN traps are normally not inherited in such cases.
              --      If  no arguments follow this option, then the positional
                      parameters are unset.  Otherwise, the positional parame‐
                      ters  are  set  to  the args, even if some of them begin
                      with a -.
              -       Signal the end of options, cause all remaining  args  to
                      be assigned to the positional parameters.  The -x and -v
                      options are turned off.  If there are no args, the posi‐
                      tional parameters remain unchanged.

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

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

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

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

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

              The list of shopt options is:

              autocd  If set, a command name that is the name of  a  directory
                      is  executed  as  if it were the argument to the cd com‐
                      mand.  This option is only used by interactive shells.
              cdable_vars
                      If set, an argument to the cd builtin  command  that  is
                      not  a directory is assumed to be the name of a variable
                      whose value is the directory to change to.
              cdspell If set, minor errors in the spelling of a directory com‐
                      ponent  in  a  cd command will be corrected.  The errors
                      checked for are transposed characters, a missing charac‐
                      ter,  and  one  character  too many.  If a correction is
                      found, the corrected file name is printed, and the  com‐
                      mand  proceeds.  This option is only used by interactive
                      shells.
              checkhash
                      If set, bash checks that a command found in the hash ta‐
                      ble  exists  before  trying  to execute it.  If a hashed
                      command no longer exists, a normal path search  is  per‐
                      formed.
              checkjobs
                      If set, bash lists the status of any stopped and running
                      jobs before exiting an interactive shell.  If  any  jobs
                      are running, this causes the exit to be deferred until a
                      second exit is attempted without an intervening  command
                      (see  JOB  CONTROL  above).   The shell always postpones
                      exiting if any jobs are stopped.
              checkwinsize
                      If set, bash checks the window size after  each  command
                      and,  if necessary, updates the values of LINES and COL�‐
                      UMNS.
              cmdhist If set, bash attempts to save all lines of  a  multiple-
                      line  command  in  the  same history entry.  This allows
                      easy re-editing of multi-line commands.
              compat31
                      If set, bash changes its behavior to that of version 3.1
                      with respect to quoted arguments to the conditional com‐
                      mand's =~ operator.
              dirspell
                      If set, bash attempts spelling correction  on  directory
                      names  during word completion if the directory name ini‐
                      tially supplied does not exist.
              dotglob If set, bash includes filenames beginning with a `.'  in
                      the results of pathname expansion.
              execfail
                      If set, a non-interactive shell will not exit if it can‐
                      not execute the file specified as  an  argument  to  the
                      exec  builtin  command.   An  interactive shell does not
                      exit if exec fails.
              expand_aliases
                      If set, aliases are expanded as  described  above  under
                      ALIASES.  This option is enabled by default for interac‐
                      tive shells.
              extdebug
                      If set,  behavior  intended  for  use  by  debuggers  is
                      enabled:
                      1.     The -F option to the declare builtin displays the
                             source file name and line number corresponding to
                             each function name supplied as an argument.
                      2.     If  the  command  run by the DEBUG trap returns a
                             non-zero value, the next command is  skipped  and
                             not executed.
                      3.     If  the  command  run by the DEBUG trap returns a
                             value of 2, and the shell is executing in a  sub‐
                             routine  (a shell function or a shell script exe‐
                             cuted by the . or source  builtins),  a  call  to
                             return is simulated.
                      4.     BASH_ARGC  and BASH_ARGV are updated as described
                             in their descriptions above.
                      5.     Function tracing is enabled:   command  substitu‐
                             tion, shell functions, and subshells invoked with
                             ( command ) inherit the DEBUG and RETURN traps.
                      6.     Error tracing is enabled:  command  substitution,
                             shell  functions,  and  subshells  invoked with (
                             command ) inherit the ERROR trap.
              extglob If set, the extended pattern matching features described
                      above under Pathname Expansion are enabled.
              extquote
                      If  set,  $'string'  and  $"string" quoting is performed
                      within  ${parameter}  expansions  enclosed   in   double
                      quotes.  This option is enabled by default.
              failglob
                      If  set,  patterns  which fail to match filenames during
                      pathname expansion result in an expansion error.
              force_fignore
                      If set, the suffixes  specified  by  the  FIGNORE  shell
                      variable  cause words to be ignored when performing word
                      completion even if the ignored words are the only possi‐
                      ble  completions.   See  SHELL  VARIABLES  above  for  a
                      description of  FIGNORE.   This  option  is  enabled  by
                      default.
              globstar
                      If set, the pattern ** used in a filename expansion con‐
                      text will match a files and zero or more directories and
                      subdirectories.  If the pattern is followed by a /, only
                      directories and subdirectories match.
              gnu_errfmt
                      If set, shell error messages are written in the standard
                      GNU error message format.
              histappend
                      If  set,  the history list is appended to the file named
                      by the value of the HISTFILE  variable  when  the  shell
                      exits, rather than overwriting the file.
              histreedit
                      If  set, and readline is being used, a user is given the
                      opportunity to re-edit a failed history substitution.
              histverify
                      If set, and readline is being used, the results of  his‐
                      tory  substitution  are  not  immediately  passed to the
                      shell parser.  Instead, the  resulting  line  is  loaded
                      into the readline editing buffer, allowing further modi‐
                      fication.
              hostcomplete
                      If set, and readline is being used, bash will attempt to
                      perform  hostname  completion when a word containing a @
                      is  being  completed  (see  Completing  under   READLINE
                      above).  This is enabled by default.
              huponexit
                      If set, bash will send SIGHUP to all jobs when an inter‐
                      active login shell exits.
              interactive_comments
                      If set, allow a word beginning with # to cause that word
                      and  all remaining characters on that line to be ignored
                      in an interactive  shell  (see  COMMENTS  above).   This
                      option is enabled by default.
              lithist If  set,  and  the cmdhist option is enabled, multi-line
                      commands are saved to the history with embedded newlines
                      rather than using semicolon separators where possible.
              login_shell
                      The  shell  sets this option if it is started as a login
                      shell (see INVOCATION above).   The  value  may  not  be
                      changed.
              mailwarn
                      If  set,  and  a file that bash is checking for mail has
                      been accessed since the last time it  was  checked,  the
                      message  ``The  mail in mailfile has been read'' is dis‐
                      played.
              no_empty_cmd_completion
                      If set, and  readline  is  being  used,  bash  will  not
                      attempt to search the PATH for possible completions when
                      completion is attempted on an empty line.
              nocaseglob
                      If set, bash matches  filenames  in  a  case-insensitive
                      fashion when performing pathname expansion (see Pathname
                      Expansion above).
              nocasematch
                      If set, bash  matches  patterns  in  a  case-insensitive
                      fashion when performing matching while executing case or
                      [[ conditional commands.
              nullglob
                      If set, bash allows patterns which match no  files  (see
                      Pathname  Expansion  above)  to expand to a null string,
                      rather than themselves.
              progcomp
                      If set, the programmable completion facilities (see Pro�‐
                      grammable Completion above) are enabled.  This option is
                      enabled by default.
              promptvars
                      If set, prompt strings undergo parameter expansion, com‐
                      mand   substitution,  arithmetic  expansion,  and  quote
                      removal after being expanded as described  in  PROMPTING
                      above.  This option is enabled by default.
              restricted_shell
                      The   shell  sets  this  option  if  it  is  started  in
                      restricted mode (see RESTRICTED SHELL below).  The value
                      may  not be changed.  This is not reset when the startup
                      files are executed, allowing the startup files  to  dis‐
                      cover whether or not a shell is restricted.
              shift_verbose
                      If  set,  the shift builtin prints an error message when
                      the shift count exceeds the number of positional parame‐
                      ters.
              sourcepath
                      If set, the source (.) builtin uses the value of PATH to
                      find the directory containing the file  supplied  as  an
                      argument.  This option is enabled by default.
              xpg_echo
                      If   set,  the  echo  builtin  expands  backslash-escape
                      sequences by default.
       suspend [-f]
              Suspend the execution of this shell until it receives a  SIGCONT
              signal.  A login shell cannot be suspended; the -f option can be
              used to override this and force the suspension.  The return sta‐
              tus  is  0  unless the shell is a login shell and -f is not sup‐
              plied, or if job control is not enabled.
       test expr
       [ expr ]
              Return a status of 0 or 1 depending on  the  evaluation  of  the
              conditional  expression expr.  Each operator and operand must be
              a separate argument.  Expressions are composed of the  primaries
              described  above  under  CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS.  test does not
              accept any options, nor does it accept and ignore an argument of
              -- as signifying the end of options.

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

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

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

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

       trap [-lp] [[arg] sigspec ...]
              The command arg is to  be  read  and  executed  when  the  shell
              receives  signal(s)  sigspec.   If arg is absent (and there is a
              single sigspec) or -, each specified  signal  is  reset  to  its
              original  disposition  (the  value  it  had upon entrance to the
              shell).  If arg is the null string the signal specified by  each
              sigspec  is ignored by the shell and by the commands it invokes.
              If arg is not present and -p has been supplied,  then  the  trap
              commands  associated  with  each  sigspec  are displayed.  If no
              arguments are supplied or if only -p is given, trap  prints  the
              list  of  commands  associated  with each signal.  The -l option
              causes the shell to print a list of signal names and their  cor‐
              responding  numbers.   Each  sigspec  is  either  a  signal name
              defined in <signal.h>, or a signal  number.   Signal  names  are
              case  insensitive  and the SIG prefix is optional.  If a sigspec
              is EXIT (0) the command arg is executed on exit from the  shell.
              If  a sigspec is DEBUG, the command arg is executed before every
              simple command, for command, case command, select command, every
              arithmetic for command, and before the first command executes in
              a shell function  (see  SHELL  GRAMMAR  above).   Refer  to  the
              description  of  the  extdebug  option  to the shopt builtin for
              details of its effect on the DEBUG trap.  If a sigspec  is  ERR,
              the  command  arg  is  executed  whenever a simple command has a
              non-zero exit status, subject to the following conditions.   The
              ERR  trap  is  not executed if the failed command is part of the
              command list immediately following a  while  or  until  keyword,
              part  of the test in an if statement, part of a command executed
              in a && or �⎪�⎪ list, or if the command's return  value  is  being
              inverted  via  !.   These  are the same conditions obeyed by the
              errexit option.  If a sigspec is RETURN, the command arg is exe‐
              cuted each time a shell function or a script executed with the .
              or source builtins finishes  executing.   Signals  ignored  upon
              entry  to the shell cannot be trapped or reset.  Trapped signals
              that are not being ignored are reset to their original values in
              a  child process when it is created.  The return status is false
              if any sigspec is invalid; otherwise trap returns true.

       type [-aftpP] name [name ...]
              With no options, indicate how each name would be interpreted  if
              used as a command name.  If the -t option is used, type prints a
              string which is one of alias,  keyword,  function,  builtin,  or
              file  if  name  is  an  alias,  shell  reserved  word, function,
              builtin, or disk file, respectively.  If the name is not  found,
              then  nothing  is  printed,  and  an  exit  status  of  false is
              returned.  If the -p option is used,  type  either  returns  the
              name of the disk file that would be executed if name were speci‐
              fied as a command name, or nothing if ``type -t name'' would not
              return  file.  The -P option forces a PATH search for each name,
              even if ``type -t name'' would not return file.  If a command is
              hashed,  -p  and  -P print the hashed value, not necessarily the
              file that appears first in PATH.  If the -a option is used, type
              prints  all of the places that contain an executable named name.
              This includes aliases and functions,  if  and  only  if  the  -p
              option  is  not  also used.  The table of hashed commands is not
              consulted when using -a.  The -f option suppresses  shell  func‐
              tion  lookup, as with the command builtin.  type returns true if
              all of the arguments are found, false if any are not found.

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

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

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

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

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

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

RESTRICTED SHELL

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

       ·      changing directories with cd

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

       ·      specifying command names containing /

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

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

       ·      importing function definitions from  the  shell  environment  at
              startup

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

       ·      redirecting output using the >, >|, <>, >&, &>, and >> redirect‐
              ion operators

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

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

       ·      Using  the  enable  builtin  command  to  enable  disabled shell
              builtins

       ·      specifying the -p option to the command builtin command

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

       These restrictions are enforced after any startup files are read.

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

SEE ALSO

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

FILES

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

AUTHORS

       Brian Fox, Free Software Foundation
       bfox@gnu.org

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

BUG REPORTS

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

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

       ALL bug reports should include:

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

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

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

BUGS

It's too big and too slow.

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

       Aliases are confusing in some uses.

       Shell builtin commands and functions are not stoppable/restartable.

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

       Array variables may not (yet) be exported.

       There may be only one active coprocess at a time.

GNU Bash-4.0                    2009 February 7                        BASH(1)