Linux Command Line Interface

Linux Command Line Interface

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The Bash Shell

Learning objective: (2) Explain what the BASH shell is


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Bash is a Unix shell. The name is an acronym, a pun and descriptive. As an acronym, it stands for Bourne-again shell, referring to its initial conception as a free open source clone of the Bourne shell. The Bash command syntax is a superset of the Bourne shell command syntax. The vast majority of Bourne shell scripts can be executed by Bash without modification, with the exception of Bourne shell scripts stumbling into fringe syntax behavior interpreted differently in Bash or attempting to run a system command matching a newer Bash builtin, etc. [Wikipedia]

The cis2 server uses the Bash shell. There are many other command line shells available for Linux. Bash is one of the most popular and found on many systems like Ubuntu, Mint, and PuppyLinux.

Popular GNU Linux shell

Bash is a POSIX shell with a number of extensions. It is the shell for the GNU operating system from the GNU Project. It can be run on most Unix-like operating systems. It is the default shell on most systems built on top of the Linux kernel as well as on Mac OS X and Darwin. It has also been ported to Microsoft Windows using Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA), or POSIX emulation provided by Cygwin and MSYS. It has been ported to DOS by the DJGPP project and to Novell NetWare. [Wikipedia]

Auto-complete with tab key

When used as an interactive command shell and pressing the tab key, Bash automatically uses command line completion to match partly typed program names, filenames and variable names. [Wikipedia]

✏ Self Quiz!

Select the best response(s) for each question/statement. Use this opportunity to test *your* knowledge and not just move on...

1) Some key features of the Bash shell are:
It is the most widely used CLI in Linux
It is also available for the Mac
It supports auto-complete by use of the enter key

.

Thinking: Why is auto-complete an important feature in Linux?

Key terms: auto-complete, shell

Resources:
To maximize your learning, please visit these Web sites and review their content to help reinforce the concepts presented in this section.

Quick links:
Bash shell @ Wikipedia
POSIX @ Wikipedia

Embedded Resources

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Bash shell @ Wikipedia | Reload page | If frame is empty, click on the link to view the page in a new tab or window

POSIX @ Wikipedia | Reload page | If frame is empty, click on the link to view the page in a new tab or window

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