Bash

Bash is a Unix command shell written for the GNU project. As with all Unix commands, it is case-sensitive and will only run as bash.

Its name is an acronym for "Bourne-again shell": a pun on the Bourne shell sh, which was the original Unix shell. The original Bourne shell was written by Stephen Bourne. Bash was primarily written by Brian Fox and Chet Ramey.

The bash command syntax is largely backward-compatible with sh, and includes ideas drawn from ksh and csh, such as the command history, the directory stack, the $RANDOM variable, and the POSIX form of command substitution, '$('. It also supports auto-completion of partly typed-in program names, filenames etc.

Bash is the default shell on most GNU/Linux systems as well as on Mac OS X Panther, and it can be run on most Unix-like operating systems. It has also been ported to Microsoft Windows by the Cygwin project.

Bash is distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is available for download from many sites on the Internet, including the GNU project's FTP site [1]. The latest stable version is 3.0[1].

External links

• Bash home page
• The GNU Bash Reference Manual by Chet Ramey and Brian Fox, ISBN 0954161777
• Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide.
• Wikibooks' Bourne Shell Scripting module
• FAQ
• Beginners Bash Tutorial
• Scripting Tutorial
• Bash 3.0 Announcement

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See also: Bash.org, a popular website with humorous quotes.