sh(1p) — Linux manual page

PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | OPERANDS | STDIN | INPUT FILES | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS | STDOUT | STDERR | OUTPUT FILES | EXTENDED DESCRIPTION | EXIT STATUS | CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS | APPLICATION USAGE | EXAMPLES | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

SH(1P)                  POSIX Programmer's Manual                 SH(1P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The
       Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
       or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       sh — shell, the standard command language interpreter

SYNOPSIS         top

       sh [-abCefhimnuvx] [-o option]... [+abCefhimnuvx] [+o option]...
           [command_file [argument...]]

       sh -c [-abCefhimnuvx] [-o option]... [+abCefhimnuvx] [+o option]...
           command_string [command_name [argument...]]

       sh -s [-abCefhimnuvx] [-o option]... [+abCefhimnuvx] [+o option]...
           [argument...]

DESCRIPTION         top

       The sh utility is a command language interpreter that shall
       execute commands read from a command line string, the standard
       input, or a specified file. The application shall ensure that the
       commands to be executed are expressed in the language described
       in Chapter 2, Shell Command Language.

       Pathname expansion shall not fail due to the size of a file.

       Shell input and output redirections have an implementation-
       defined offset maximum that is established in the open file
       description.

OPTIONS         top

       The sh utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1‐2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, with an
       extension for support of a leading <plus-sign> ('+') as noted
       below.

       The -a, -b, -C, -e, -f, -m, -n, -o option, -u, -v, and -x options
       are described as part of the set utility in Section 2.14, Special
       Built-In Utilities.  The option letters derived from the set
       special built-in shall also be accepted with a leading <plus-
       sign> ('+') instead of a leading <hyphen-minus> (meaning the
       reverse case of the option as described in this volume of
       POSIX.1‐2017).

       The following additional options shall be supported:

       -c        Read commands from the command_string operand. Set the
                 value of special parameter 0 (see Section 2.5.2,
                 Special Parameters) from the value of the command_name
                 operand and the positional parameters ($1, $2, and so
                 on) in sequence from the remaining argument operands.
                 No commands shall be read from the standard input.

       -i        Specify that the shell is interactive; see below. An
                 implementation may treat specifying the -i option as an
                 error if the real user ID of the calling process does
                 not equal the effective user ID or if the real group ID
                 does not equal the effective group ID.

       -s        Read commands from the standard input.

       If there are no operands and the -c option is not specified, the
       -s option shall be assumed.

       If the -i option is present, or if there are no operands and the
       shell's standard input and standard error are attached to a
       terminal, the shell is considered to be interactive.

OPERANDS         top

       The following operands shall be supported:

       -         A single <hyphen-minus> shall be treated as the first
                 operand and then ignored. If both '-' and "--" are
                 given as arguments, or if other operands precede the
                 single <hyphen-minus>, the results are undefined.

       argument  The positional parameters ($1, $2, and so on) shall be
                 set to arguments, if any.

       command_file
                 The pathname of a file containing commands. If the
                 pathname contains one or more <slash> characters, the
                 implementation attempts to read that file; the file
                 need not be executable. If the pathname does not
                 contain a <slash> character:

                  *  The implementation shall attempt to read that file
                     from the current working directory; the file need
                     not be executable.

                  *  If the file is not in the current working
                     directory, the implementation may perform a search
                     for an executable file using the value of PATH, as
                     described in Section 2.9.1.1, Command Search and
                     Execution.

                 Special parameter 0 (see Section 2.5.2, Special
                 Parameters) shall be set to the value of command_file.
                 If sh is called using a synopsis form that omits
                 command_file, special parameter 0 shall be set to the
                 value of the first argument passed to sh from its
                 parent (for example, argv[0] for a C program), which is
                 normally a pathname used to execute the sh utility.

       command_name
                 A string assigned to special parameter 0 when executing
                 the commands in command_string.  If command_name is not
                 specified, special parameter 0 shall be set to the
                 value of the first argument passed to sh from its
                 parent (for example, argv[0] for a C program), which is
                 normally a pathname used to execute the sh utility.

       command_string
                 A string that shall be interpreted by the shell as one
                 or more commands, as if the string were the argument to
                 the system() function defined in the System Interfaces
                 volume of POSIX.1‐2017. If the command_string operand
                 is an empty string, sh shall exit with a zero exit
                 status.

STDIN         top

       The standard input shall be used only if one of the following is
       true:

        *  The -s option is specified.

        *  The -c option is not specified and no operands are specified.

        *  The script executes one or more commands that require input
           from standard input (such as a read command that does not
           redirect its input).

       See the INPUT FILES section.

       When the shell is using standard input and it invokes a command
       that also uses standard input, the shell shall ensure that the
       standard input file pointer points directly after the command it
       has read when the command begins execution. It shall not read
       ahead in such a manner that any characters intended to be read by
       the invoked command are consumed by the shell (whether
       interpreted by the shell or not) or that characters that are not
       read by the invoked command are not seen by the shell. When the
       command expecting to read standard input is started
       asynchronously by an interactive shell, it is unspecified whether
       characters are read by the command or interpreted by the shell.

       If the standard input to sh is a FIFO or terminal device and is
       set to non-blocking reads, then sh shall enable blocking reads on
       standard input. This shall remain in effect when the command
       completes.

INPUT FILES         top

       The input file shall be a text file, except that line lengths
       shall be unlimited. If the input file consists solely of zero or
       more blank lines and comments, sh shall exit with a zero exit
       status.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES         top

       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of
       sh:

       ENV       This variable, when and only when an interactive shell
                 is invoked, shall be subjected to parameter expansion
                 (see Section 2.6.2, Parameter Expansion) by the shell,
                 and the resulting value shall be used as a pathname of
                 a file containing shell commands to execute in the
                 current environment.  The file need not be executable.
                 If the expanded value of ENV is not an absolute
                 pathname, the results are unspecified.  ENV shall be
                 ignored if the real and effective user IDs or real and
                 effective group IDs of the process are different.

       FCEDIT    This variable, when expanded by the shell, shall
                 determine the default value for the -e editor option's
                 editor option-argument. If FCEDIT is null or unset, ed
                 shall be used as the editor.

       HISTFILE  Determine a pathname naming a command history file. If
                 the HISTFILE variable is not set, the shell may attempt
                 to access or create a file .sh_history in the directory
                 referred to by the HOME environment variable. If the
                 shell cannot obtain both read and write access to, or
                 create, the history file, it shall use an unspecified
                 mechanism that allows the history to operate properly.
                 (References to history ``file'' in this section shall
                 be understood to mean this unspecified mechanism in
                 such cases.) An implementation may choose to access
                 this variable only when initializing the history file;
                 this initialization shall occur when fc or sh first
                 attempt to retrieve entries from, or add entries to,
                 the file, as the result of commands issued by the user,
                 the file named by the ENV variable, or implementation-
                 defined system start-up files.  Implementations may
                 choose to disable the history list mechanism for users
                 with appropriate privileges who do not set HISTFILE;
                 the specific circumstances under which this occurs are
                 implementation-defined. If more than one instance of
                 the shell is using the same history file, it is
                 unspecified how updates to the history file from those
                 shells interact. As entries are deleted from the
                 history file, they shall be deleted oldest first. It is
                 unspecified when history file entries are physically
                 removed from the history file.

       HISTSIZE  Determine a decimal number representing the limit to
                 the number of previous commands that are accessible. If
                 this variable is unset, an unspecified default greater
                 than or equal to 128 shall be used. The maximum number
                 of commands in the history list is unspecified, but
                 shall be at least 128. An implementation may choose to
                 access this variable only when initializing the history
                 file, as described under HISTFILE.  Therefore, it is
                 unspecified whether changes made to HISTSIZE after the
                 history file has been initialized are effective.

       HOME      Determine the pathname of the user's home directory.
                 The contents of HOME are used in tilde expansion as
                 described in Section 2.6.1, Tilde Expansion.

       LANG      Provide a default value for the internationalization
                 variables that are unset or null. (See the Base
                 Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 8.2,
                 Internationalization Variables for the precedence of
                 internationalization variables used to determine the
                 values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL    If set to a non-empty string value, override the values
                 of all the other internationalization variables.

       LC_COLLATE
                 Determine the behavior of range expressions,
                 equivalence classes, and multi-character collating
                 elements within pattern matching.

       LC_CTYPE  Determine the locale for the interpretation of
                 sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for
                 example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte
                 characters in arguments and input files), which
                 characters are defined as letters (character class
                 alpha), and the behavior of character classes within
                 pattern matching.

       LC_MESSAGES
                 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the
                 format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
                 standard error.

       MAIL      Determine a pathname of the user's mailbox file for
                 purposes of incoming mail notification. If this
                 variable is set, the shell shall inform the user if the
                 file named by the variable is created or if its
                 modification time has changed. Informing the user shall
                 be accomplished by writing a string of unspecified
                 format to standard error prior to the writing of the
                 next primary prompt string. Such check shall be
                 performed only after the completion of the interval
                 defined by the MAILCHECK variable after the last such
                 check. The user shall be informed only if MAIL is set
                 and MAILPATH is not set.

       MAILCHECK
                 Establish a decimal integer value that specifies how
                 often (in seconds) the shell shall check for the
                 arrival of mail in the files specified by the MAILPATH
                 or MAIL variables. The default value shall be 600
                 seconds. If set to zero, the shell shall check before
                 issuing each primary prompt.

       MAILPATH  Provide a list of pathnames and optional messages
                 separated by <colon> characters. If this variable is
                 set, the shell shall inform the user if any of the
                 files named by the variable are created or if any of
                 their modification times change. (See the preceding
                 entry for MAIL for descriptions of mail arrival and
                 user informing.) Each pathname can be followed by '%'
                 and a string that shall be subjected to parameter
                 expansion and written to standard error when the
                 modification time changes. If a '%' character in the
                 pathname is preceded by a <backslash>, it shall be
                 treated as a literal '%' in the pathname. The default
                 message is unspecified.

                 The MAILPATH environment variable takes precedence over
                 the MAIL variable.

       NLSPATH   Determine the location of message catalogs for the
                 processing of LC_MESSAGES.

       PATH      Establish a string formatted as described in the Base
                 Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8,
                 Environment Variables, used to effect command
                 interpretation; see Section 2.9.1.1, Command Search and
                 Execution.

       PWD       This variable shall represent an absolute pathname of
                 the current working directory. Assignments to this
                 variable may be ignored.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS         top

       The sh utility shall take the standard action for all signals
       (see Section 1.4, Utility Description Defaults) with the
       following exceptions.

       If the shell is interactive, SIGINT signals received during
       command line editing shall be handled as described in the
       EXTENDED DESCRIPTION, and SIGINT signals received at other times
       shall be caught but no action performed.

       If the shell is interactive:

        *  SIGQUIT and SIGTERM signals shall be ignored.

        *  If the -m option is in effect, SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP
           signals shall be ignored.

        *  If the -m option is not in effect, it is unspecified whether
           SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and SIGTSTP signals are ignored, set to the
           default action, or caught.  If they are caught, the shell
           shall, in the signal-catching function, set the signal to the
           default action and raise the signal (after taking any
           appropriate steps, such as restoring terminal settings).

       The standard actions, and the actions described above for
       interactive shells, can be overridden by use of the trap special
       built-in utility (see trap(1p) and Section 2.11, Signals and
       Error Handling).

STDOUT         top

       See the STDERR section.

STDERR         top

       Except as otherwise stated (by the descriptions of any invoked
       utilities or in interactive mode), standard error shall be used
       only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES         top

       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION         top

       See Chapter 2, Shell Command Language.  The functionality
       described in the rest of the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section shall
       be provided on implementations that support the User Portability
       Utilities option (and the rest of this section is not further
       shaded for this option).

   Command History List
       When the sh utility is being used interactively, it shall
       maintain a list of commands previously entered from the terminal
       in the file named by the HISTFILE environment variable. The type,
       size, and internal format of this file are unspecified. Multiple
       sh processes can share access to the file for a user, if file
       access permissions allow this; see the description of the
       HISTFILE environment variable.

   Command Line Editing
       When sh is being used interactively from a terminal, the current
       command and the command history (see fc(1p)) can be edited using
       vi-mode command line editing. This mode uses commands, described
       below, similar to a subset of those described in the vi utility.
       Implementations may offer other command line editing modes
       corresponding to other editing utilities.

       The command set -o vi shall enable vi-mode editing and place sh
       into vi insert mode (see Command Line Editing (vi-mode)).  This
       command also shall disable any other editing mode that the
       implementation may provide. The command set +o vi disables vi-
       mode editing.

       Certain block-mode terminals may be unable to support shell
       command line editing. If a terminal is unable to provide either
       edit mode, it need not be possible to set -o vi when using the
       shell on this terminal.

       In the following sections, the characters erase, interrupt, kill,
       and end-of-file are those set by the stty utility.

   Command Line Editing (vi-mode)
       In vi editing mode, there shall be a distinguished line, the edit
       line. All the editing operations which modify a line affect the
       edit line. The edit line is always the newest line in the command
       history buffer.

       With vi-mode enabled, sh can be switched between insert mode and
       command mode.

       When in insert mode, an entered character shall be inserted into
       the command line, except as noted in vi Line Editing Insert Mode.
       Upon entering sh and after termination of the previous command,
       sh shall be in insert mode.

       Typing an escape character shall switch sh into command mode (see
       vi Line Editing Command Mode).  In command mode, an entered
       character shall either invoke a defined operation, be used as
       part of a multi-character operation, or be treated as an error. A
       character that is not recognized as part of an editing command
       shall terminate any specific editing command and shall alert the
       terminal. If sh receives a SIGINT signal in command mode (whether
       generated by typing the interrupt character or by other means),
       it shall terminate command line editing on the current command
       line, reissue the prompt on the next line of the terminal, and
       reset the command history (see fc(1p)) so that the most recently
       executed command is the previous command (that is, the command
       that was being edited when it was interrupted is not re-entered
       into the history).

       In the following sections, the phrase ``move the cursor to the
       beginning of the word'' shall mean ``move the cursor to the first
       character of the current word'' and the phrase ``move the cursor
       to the end of the word'' shall mean ``move the cursor to the last
       character of the current word''. The phrase ``beginning of the
       command line'' indicates the point between the end of the prompt
       string issued by the shell (or the beginning of the terminal
       line, if there is no prompt string) and the first character of
       the command text.

   vi Line Editing Insert Mode
       While in insert mode, any character typed shall be inserted in
       the current command line, unless it is from the following set.

       <newline> Execute the current command line. If the current
                 command line is not empty, this line shall be entered
                 into the command history (see fc(1p)).

       erase     Delete the character previous to the current cursor
                 position and move the current cursor position back one
                 character. In insert mode, characters shall be erased
                 from both the screen and the buffer when backspacing.

       interrupt If sh receives a SIGINT signal in insert mode (whether
                 generated by typing the interrupt character or by other
                 means), it shall terminate command line editing with
                 the same effects as described for interrupting command
                 mode; see Command Line Editing (vi-mode).

       kill      Clear all the characters from the input line.

       <control>‐V
                 Insert the next character input, even if the character
                 is otherwise a special insert mode character.

       <control>‐W
                 Delete the characters from the one preceding the cursor
                 to the preceding word boundary. The word boundary in
                 this case is the closer to the cursor of either the
                 beginning of the line or a character that is in neither
                 the blank nor punct character classification of the
                 current locale.

       end-of-file
                 Interpreted as the end of input in sh.  This
                 interpretation shall occur only at the beginning of an
                 input line. If end-of-file is entered other than at the
                 beginning of the line, the results are unspecified.

       <ESC>     Place sh into command mode.

   vi Line Editing Command Mode
       In command mode for the command line editing feature, decimal
       digits not beginning with 0 that precede a command letter shall
       be remembered. Some commands use these decimal digits as a count
       number that affects the operation.

       The term motion command represents one of the commands:

           <space>  0  b  F  l  W  ^  $  ;  E  f  T  w  |  ,  B  e  h  t

       If the current line is not the edit line, any command that
       modifies the current line shall cause the content of the current
       line to replace the content of the edit line, and the current
       line shall become the edit line. This replacement cannot be
       undone (see the u and U commands below). The modification
       requested shall then be performed to the edit line. When the
       current line is the edit line, the modification shall be done
       directly to the edit line.

       Any command that is preceded by count shall take a count (the
       numeric value of any preceding decimal digits). Unless otherwise
       noted, this count shall cause the specified operation to repeat
       by the number of times specified by the count.  Also unless
       otherwise noted, a count that is out of range is considered an
       error condition and shall alert the terminal, but neither the
       cursor position, nor the command line, shall change.

       The terms word and bigword are used as defined in the vi
       description. The term save buffer corresponds to the term unnamed
       buffer in vi.

       The following commands shall be recognized in command mode:

       <newline> Execute the current command line. If the current
                 command line is not empty, this line shall be entered
                 into the command history (see fc(1p)).

       <control>‐L
                 Redraw the current command line. Position the cursor at
                 the same location on the redrawn line.

       #         Insert the character '#' at the beginning of the
                 current command line and treat the resulting edit line
                 as a comment. This line shall be entered into the
                 command history; see fc(1p).

       =         Display the possible shell word expansions (see Section
                 2.6, Word Expansions) of the bigword at the current
                 command line position.

                 Note:  This does not modify the content of the current
                        line, and therefore does not cause the current
                        line to become the edit line.

                 These expansions shall be displayed on subsequent
                 terminal lines. If the bigword contains none of the
                 characters '?', '*', or '[', an <asterisk> ('*') shall
                 be implicitly assumed at the end. If any directories
                 are matched, these expansions shall have a '/'
                 character appended. After the expansion, the line shall
                 be redrawn, the cursor repositioned at the current
                 cursor position, and sh shall be placed in command
                 mode.

       \         Perform pathname expansion (see Section 2.6.6, Pathname
                 Expansion) on the current bigword, up to the largest
                 set of characters that can be matched uniquely. If the
                 bigword contains none of the characters '?', '*', or
                 '[', an <asterisk> ('*') shall be implicitly assumed at
                 the end. This maximal expansion then shall replace the
                 original bigword in the command line, and the cursor
                 shall be placed after this expansion. If the resulting
                 bigword completely and uniquely matches a directory, a
                 '/' character shall be inserted directly after the
                 bigword. If some other file is completely matched, a
                 single <space> shall be inserted after the bigword.
                 After this operation, sh shall be placed in insert
                 mode.

       *         Perform pathname expansion on the current bigword and
                 insert all expansions into the command to replace the
                 current bigword, with each expansion separated by a
                 single <space>.  If at the end of the line, the current
                 cursor position shall be moved to the first column
                 position following the expansions and sh shall be
                 placed in insert mode. Otherwise, the current cursor
                 position shall be the last column position of the first
                 character after the expansions and sh shall be placed
                 in insert mode. If the current bigword contains none of
                 the characters '?', '*', or '[', before the operation,
                 an <asterisk> ('*') shall be implicitly assumed at the
                 end.

       @letter   Insert the value of the alias named _letter.  The
                 symbol letter represents a single alphabetic character
                 from the portable character set; implementations may
                 support additional characters as an extension. If the
                 alias _letter contains other editing commands, these
                 commands shall be performed as part of the insertion.
                 If no alias _letter is enabled, this command shall have
                 no effect.

       [count]~  Convert, if the current character is a lowercase
                 letter, to the equivalent uppercase letter and vice
                 versa, as prescribed by the current locale. The current
                 cursor position then shall be advanced by one
                 character. If the cursor was positioned on the last
                 character of the line, the case conversion shall occur,
                 but the cursor shall not advance. If the '~' command is
                 preceded by a count, that number of characters shall be
                 converted, and the cursor shall be advanced to the
                 character position after the last character converted.
                 If the count is larger than the number of characters
                 after the cursor, this shall not be considered an
                 error; the cursor shall advance to the last character
                 on the line.

       [count].  Repeat the most recent non-motion command, even if it
                 was executed on an earlier command line. If the
                 previous command was preceded by a count, and no count
                 is given on the '.'  command, the count from the
                 previous command shall be included as part of the
                 repeated command. If the '.'  command is preceded by a
                 count, this shall override any count argument to the
                 previous command. The count specified in the '.'
                 command shall become the count for subsequent '.'
                 commands issued without a count.

       [number]v Invoke the vi editor to edit the current command line
                 in a temporary file. When the editor exits, the
                 commands in the temporary file shall be executed and
                 placed in the command history. If a number is included,
                 it specifies the command number in the command history
                 to be edited, rather than the current command line.

       [count]l   (ell)

       [count]<space>
                 Move the current cursor position to the next character
                 position. If the cursor was positioned on the last
                 character of the line, the terminal shall be alerted
                 and the cursor shall not be advanced. If the count is
                 larger than the number of characters after the cursor,
                 this shall not be considered an error; the cursor shall
                 advance to the last character on the line.

       [count]h  Move the current cursor position to the countth
                 (default 1) previous character position. If the cursor
                 was positioned on the first character of the line, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 moved. If the count is larger than the number of
                 characters before the cursor, this shall not be
                 considered an error; the cursor shall move to the first
                 character on the line.

       [count]w  Move to the start of the next word. If the cursor was
                 positioned on the last character of the line, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 advanced. If the count is larger than the number of
                 words after the cursor, this shall not be considered an
                 error; the cursor shall advance to the last character
                 on the line.

       [count]W  Move to the start of the next bigword. If the cursor
                 was positioned on the last character of the line, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 advanced. If the count is larger than the number of
                 bigwords after the cursor, this shall not be considered
                 an error; the cursor shall advance to the last
                 character on the line.

       [count]e  Move to the end of the current word. If at the end of a
                 word, move to the end of the next word. If the cursor
                 was positioned on the last character of the line, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 advanced. If the count is larger than the number of
                 words after the cursor, this shall not be considered an
                 error; the cursor shall advance to the last character
                 on the line.

       [count]E  Move to the end of the current bigword. If at the end
                 of a bigword, move to the end of the next bigword. If
                 the cursor was positioned on the last character of the
                 line, the terminal shall be alerted and the cursor
                 shall not be advanced. If the count is larger than the
                 number of bigwords after the cursor, this shall not be
                 considered an error; the cursor shall advance to the
                 last character on the line.

       [count]b  Move to the beginning of the current word. If at the
                 beginning of a word, move to the beginning of the
                 previous word. If the cursor was positioned on the
                 first character of the line, the terminal shall be
                 alerted and the cursor shall not be moved. If the count
                 is larger than the number of words preceding the
                 cursor, this shall not be considered an error; the
                 cursor shall return to the first character on the line.

       [count]B  Move to the beginning of the current bigword. If at the
                 beginning of a bigword, move to the beginning of the
                 previous bigword. If the cursor was positioned on the
                 first character of the line, the terminal shall be
                 alerted and the cursor shall not be moved. If the count
                 is larger than the number of bigwords preceding the
                 cursor, this shall not be considered an error; the
                 cursor shall return to the first character on the line.

       ^         Move the current cursor position to the first character
                 on the input line that is not a <blank>.

       $         Move to the last character position on the current
                 command line.

       0         (Zero.) Move to the first character position on the
                 current command line.

       [count]|  Move to the countth character position on the current
                 command line. If no number is specified, move to the
                 first position. The first character position shall be
                 numbered 1. If the count is larger than the number of
                 characters on the line, this shall not be considered an
                 error; the cursor shall be placed on the last character
                 on the line.

       [count]fc Move to the first occurrence of the character 'c' that
                 occurs after the current cursor position. If the cursor
                 was positioned on the last character of the line, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 advanced. If the character 'c' does not occur in the
                 line after the current cursor position, the terminal
                 shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be moved.

       [count]Fc Move to the first occurrence of the character 'c' that
                 occurs before the current cursor position. If the
                 cursor was positioned on the first character of the
                 line, the terminal shall be alerted and the cursor
                 shall not be moved. If the character 'c' does not occur
                 in the line before the current cursor position, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 moved.

       [count]tc Move to the character before the first occurrence of
                 the character 'c' that occurs after the current cursor
                 position. If the cursor was positioned on the last
                 character of the line, the terminal shall be alerted
                 and the cursor shall not be advanced. If the character
                 'c' does not occur in the line after the current cursor
                 position, the terminal shall be alerted and the cursor
                 shall not be moved.

       [count]Tc Move to the character after the first occurrence of the
                 character 'c' that occurs before the current cursor
                 position. If the cursor was positioned on the first
                 character of the line, the terminal shall be alerted
                 and the cursor shall not be moved. If the character 'c'
                 does not occur in the line before the current cursor
                 position, the terminal shall be alerted and the cursor
                 shall not be moved.

       [count];  Repeat the most recent f, F, t, or T command. Any
                 number argument on that previous command shall be
                 ignored. Errors are those described for the repeated
                 command.

       [count],  Repeat the most recent f, F, t, or T command. Any
                 number argument on that previous command shall be
                 ignored. However, reverse the direction of that
                 command.

       a         Enter insert mode after the current cursor position.
                 Characters that are entered shall be inserted before
                 the next character.

       A         Enter insert mode after the end of the current command
                 line.

       i         Enter insert mode at the current cursor position.
                 Characters that are entered shall be inserted before
                 the current character.

       I         Enter insert mode at the beginning of the current
                 command line.

       R         Enter insert mode, replacing characters from the
                 command line beginning at the current cursor position.

       [count]cmotion
                 Delete the characters between the current cursor
                 position and the cursor position that would result from
                 the specified motion command. Then enter insert mode
                 before the first character following any deleted
                 characters. If count is specified, it shall be applied
                 to the motion command. A count shall be ignored for the
                 following motion commands:

                     0    ^    $    c

                 If the motion command is the character 'c', the current
                 command line shall be cleared and insert mode shall be
                 entered. If the motion command would move the current
                 cursor position toward the beginning of the command
                 line, the character under the current cursor position
                 shall not be deleted. If the motion command would move
                 the current cursor position toward the end of the
                 command line, the character under the current cursor
                 position shall be deleted.  If the count is larger than
                 the number of characters between the current cursor
                 position and the end of the command line toward which
                 the motion command would move the cursor, this shall
                 not be considered an error; all of the remaining
                 characters in the aforementioned range shall be deleted
                 and insert mode shall be entered. If the motion command
                 is invalid, the terminal shall be alerted, the cursor
                 shall not be moved, and no text shall be deleted.

       C         Delete from the current character to the end of the
                 line and enter insert mode at the new end-of-line.

       S         Clear the entire edit line and enter insert mode.

       [count]rc Replace the current character with the character 'c'.
                 With a number count, replace the current and the
                 following count-1 characters. After this command, the
                 current cursor position shall be on the last character
                 that was changed. If the count is larger than the
                 number of characters after the cursor, this shall not
                 be considered an error; all of the remaining characters
                 shall be changed.

       [count]_  Append a <space> after the current character position
                 and then append the last bigword in the previous input
                 line after the <space>.  Then enter insert mode after
                 the last character just appended. With a number count,
                 append the countth bigword in the previous line.

       [count]x  Delete the character at the current cursor position and
                 place the deleted characters in the save buffer. If the
                 cursor was positioned on the last character of the
                 line, the character shall be deleted and the cursor
                 position shall be moved to the previous character (the
                 new last character). If the count is larger than the
                 number of characters after the cursor, this shall not
                 be considered an error; all the characters from the
                 cursor to the end of the line shall be deleted.

       [count]X  Delete the character before the current cursor position
                 and place the deleted characters in the save buffer.
                 The character under the current cursor position shall
                 not change. If the cursor was positioned on the first
                 character of the line, the terminal shall be alerted,
                 and the X command shall have no effect. If the line
                 contained a single character, the X command shall have
                 no effect. If the line contained no characters, the
                 terminal shall be alerted and the cursor shall not be
                 moved. If the count is larger than the number of
                 characters before the cursor, this shall not be
                 considered an error; all the characters from before the
                 cursor to the beginning of the line shall be deleted.

       [count]dmotion
                 Delete the characters between the current cursor
                 position and the character position that would result
                 from the motion command. A number count repeats the
                 motion command count times. If the motion command would
                 move toward the beginning of the command line, the
                 character under the current cursor position shall not
                 be deleted. If the motion command is d, the entire
                 current command line shall be cleared. If the count is
                 larger than the number of characters between the
                 current cursor position and the end of the command line
                 toward which the motion command would move the cursor,
                 this shall not be considered an error; all of the
                 remaining characters in the aforementioned range shall
                 be deleted. The deleted characters shall be placed in
                 the save buffer.

       D         Delete all characters from the current cursor position
                 to the end of the line. The deleted characters shall be
                 placed in the save buffer.

       [count]ymotion
                 Yank (that is, copy) the characters from the current
                 cursor position to the position resulting from the
                 motion command into the save buffer. A number count
                 shall be applied to the motion command. If the motion
                 command would move toward the beginning of the command
                 line, the character under the current cursor position
                 shall not be included in the set of yanked characters.
                 If the motion command is y, the entire current command
                 line shall be yanked into the save buffer.  The current
                 cursor position shall be unchanged. If the count is
                 larger than the number of characters between the
                 current cursor position and the end of the command line
                 toward which the motion command would move the cursor,
                 this shall not be considered an error; all of the
                 remaining characters in the aforementioned range shall
                 be yanked.

       Y         Yank the characters from the current cursor position to
                 the end of the line into the save buffer. The current
                 character position shall be unchanged.

       [count]p  Put a copy of the current contents of the save buffer
                 after the current cursor position. The current cursor
                 position shall be advanced to the last character put
                 from the save buffer. A count shall indicate how many
                 copies of the save buffer shall be put.

       [count]P  Put a copy of the current contents of the save buffer
                 before the current cursor position. The current cursor
                 position shall be moved to the last character put from
                 the save buffer. A count shall indicate how many copies
                 of the save buffer shall be put.

       u         Undo the last command that changed the edit line. This
                 operation shall not undo the copy of any command line
                 to the edit line.

       U         Undo all changes made to the edit line. This operation
                 shall not undo the copy of any command line to the edit
                 line.

       [count]k

       [count]-  Set the current command line to be the countth previous
                 command line in the shell command history. If count is
                 not specified, it shall default to 1. The cursor shall
                 be positioned on the first character of the new
                 command. If a k or - command would retreat past the
                 maximum number of commands in effect for this shell
                 (affected by the HISTSIZE environment variable), the
                 terminal shall be alerted, and the command shall have
                 no effect.

       [count]j

       [count]+  Set the current command line to be the countth next
                 command line in the shell command history. If count is
                 not specified, it shall default to 1. The cursor shall
                 be positioned on the first character of the new
                 command. If a j or + command advances past the edit
                 line, the current command line shall be restored to the
                 edit line and the terminal shall be alerted.

       [number]G Set the current command line to be the oldest command
                 line stored in the shell command history. With a number
                 number, set the current command line to be the command
                 line number in the history. If command line number does
                 not exist, the terminal shall be alerted and the
                 command line shall not be changed.

       /pattern<newline>
                 Move backwards through the command history, searching
                 for the specified pattern, beginning with the previous
                 command line. Patterns use the pattern matching
                 notation described in Section 2.13, Pattern Matching
                 Notation, except that the '^' character shall have
                 special meaning when it appears as the first character
                 of pattern.  In this case, the '^' is discarded and the
                 characters after the '^' shall be matched only at the
                 beginning of a line. Commands in the command history
                 shall be treated as strings, not as filenames. If the
                 pattern is not found, the current command line shall be
                 unchanged and the terminal shall be alerted. If it is
                 found in a previous line, the current command line
                 shall be set to that line and the cursor shall be set
                 to the first character of the new command line.

                 If pattern is empty, the last non-empty pattern
                 provided to / or ?  shall be used. If there is no
                 previous non-empty pattern, the terminal shall be
                 alerted and the current command line shall remain
                 unchanged.

       ?pattern<newline>
                 Move forwards through the command history, searching
                 for the specified pattern, beginning with the next
                 command line. Patterns use the pattern matching
                 notation described in Section 2.13, Pattern Matching
                 Notation, except that the '^' character shall have
                 special meaning when it appears as the first character
                 of pattern.  In this case, the '^' is discarded and the
                 characters after the '^' shall be matched only at the
                 beginning of a line. Commands in the command history
                 shall be treated as strings, not as filenames. If the
                 pattern is not found, the current command line shall be
                 unchanged and the terminal shall be alerted. If it is
                 found in a following line, the current command line
                 shall be set to that line and the cursor shall be set
                 to the fist character of the new command line.

                 If pattern is empty, the last non-empty pattern
                 provided to / or ?  shall be used. If there is no
                 previous non-empty pattern, the terminal shall be
                 alerted and the current command line shall remain
                 unchanged.

       n         Repeat the most recent / or ?  command. If there is no
                 previous / or ?, the terminal shall be alerted and the
                 current command line shall remain unchanged.

       N         Repeat the most recent / or ?  command, reversing the
                 direction of the search. If there is no previous / or
                 ?, the terminal shall be alerted and the current
                 command line shall remain unchanged.

EXIT STATUS         top

       The following exit values shall be returned:

           0   The script to be executed consisted solely of zero or
               more blank lines or comments, or both.

       1‐125   A non-interactive shell detected an error other than
               command_file not found or executable, including but not
               limited to syntax, redirection, or variable assignment
               errors.

         126   A specified command_file could not be executed due to an
               [ENOEXEC] error (see Section 2.9.1.1, Command Search and
               Execution, item 2).

         127   A specified command_file could not be found by a non-
               interactive shell.

       Otherwise, the shell shall return the exit status of the last
       command it invoked or attempted to invoke (see also the exit
       utility in Section 2.14, Special Built-In Utilities).

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS         top

       See Section 2.8.1, Consequences of Shell Errors.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       Standard input and standard error are the files that determine
       whether a shell is interactive when -i is not specified. For
       example:

           sh > file

       and:

           sh 2> file

       create interactive and non-interactive shells, respectively.
       Although both accept terminal input, the results of error
       conditions are different, as described in Section 2.8.1,
       Consequences of Shell Errors; in the second example a redirection
       error encountered by a special built-in utility aborts the shell.

       A conforming application must protect its first operand, if it
       starts with a <plus-sign>, by preceding it with the "--" argument
       that denotes the end of the options.

       Applications should note that the standard PATH to the shell
       cannot be assumed to be either /bin/sh or /usr/bin/sh, and should
       be determined by interrogation of the PATH returned by getconf
       PATH, ensuring that the returned pathname is an absolute pathname
       and not a shell built-in.

       For example, to determine the location of the standard sh
       utility:

           command -v sh

       On some implementations this might return:

           /usr/xpg4/bin/sh

       Furthermore, on systems that support executable scripts (the "#!"
       construct), it is recommended that applications using executable
       scripts install them using getconf PATH to determine the shell
       pathname and update the "#!" script appropriately as it is being
       installed (for example, with sed).  For example:

           #
           # Installation time script to install correct POSIX shell pathname
           #
           # Get list of paths to check
           #
           Sifs=$IFS
           Sifs_set=${IFS+y}
           IFS=:
           set -- $(getconf PATH)
           if [ "$Sifs_set" = y ]
           then
               IFS=$Sifs
           else
               unset IFS
           fi
           #
           # Check each path for 'sh'
           #
           for i
           do
               if [ -x "${i}"/sh ]
               then
                   Pshell=${i}/sh
               fi
           done
           #
           # This is the list of scripts to update. They should be of the
           # form '${name}.source' and will be transformed to '${name}'.
           # Each script should begin:
           #
           # #!INSTALLSHELLPATH
           #
           scripts="a b c"
           #
           # Transform each script
           #
           for i in ${scripts}
           do
               sed -e "s|INSTALLSHELLPATH|${Pshell}|" < ${i}.source > ${i}
           done

EXAMPLES         top

        1. Execute a shell command from a string:

               sh -c "cat myfile"

        2. Execute a shell script from a file in the current directory:

               sh my_shell_cmds

RATIONALE         top

       The sh utility and the set special built-in utility share a
       common set of options.

       The name IFS was originally an abbreviation of ``Input Field
       Separators''; however, this name is misleading as the IFS
       characters are actually used as field terminators. One
       justification for ignoring the contents of IFS upon entry to the
       script, beyond security considerations, is to assist possible
       future shell compilers. Allowing IFS to be imported from the
       environment prevents many optimizations that might otherwise be
       performed via dataflow analysis of the script itself.

       The text in the STDIN section about non-blocking reads concerns
       an instance of sh that has been invoked, probably by a C-language
       program, with standard input that has been opened using the
       O_NONBLOCK flag; see open() in the System Interfaces volume of
       POSIX.1‐2017. If the shell did not reset this flag, it would
       immediately terminate because no input data would be available
       yet and that would be considered the same as end-of-file.

       The options associated with a restricted shell (command name rsh
       and the -r option) were excluded because the standard developers
       considered that the implied level of security could not be
       achieved and they did not want to raise false expectations.

       On systems that support set-user-ID scripts, a historical
       trapdoor has been to link a script to the name -i.  When it is
       called by a sequence such as:

           sh -

       or by:

           #! usr/bin/sh -

       the historical systems have assumed that no option letters
       follow.  Thus, this volume of POSIX.1‐2017 allows the single
       <hyphen-minus> to mark the end of the options, in addition to the
       use of the regular "--" argument, because it was considered that
       the older practice was so pervasive. An alternative approach is
       taken by the KornShell, where real and effective user/group IDs
       must match for an interactive shell; this behavior is
       specifically allowed by this volume of POSIX.1‐2017.

       Note:  There are other problems with set-user-ID scripts that the
              two approaches described here do not resolve.

       The initialization process for the history file can be dependent
       on the system start-up files, in that they may contain commands
       that effectively preempt the user's settings of HISTFILE and
       HISTSIZE.  For example, function definition commands are recorded
       in the history file, unless the set -o nolog option is set. If
       the system administrator includes function definitions in some
       system start-up file called before the ENV file, the history file
       is initialized before the user gets a chance to influence its
       characteristics. In some historical shells, the history file is
       initialized just after the ENV file has been processed.
       Therefore, it is implementation-defined whether changes made to
       HISTFILE after the history file has been initialized are
       effective.

       The default messages for the various MAIL-related messages are
       unspecified because they vary across implementations.  Typical
       messages are:

           "you have mail\n"

       or:

           "you have new mail\n"

       It is important that the descriptions of command line editing
       refer to the same shell as that in POSIX.1‐2008 so that
       interactive users can also be application programmers without
       having to deal with programmatic differences in their two
       environments. It is also essential that the utility name sh be
       specified because this explicit utility name is too firmly rooted
       in historical practice of application programs for it to change.

       Consideration was given to mandating a diagnostic message when
       attempting to set vi-mode on terminals that do not support
       command line editing. However, it is not historical practice for
       the shell to be cognizant of all terminal types and thus be able
       to detect inappropriate terminals in all cases.  Implementations
       are encouraged to supply diagnostics in this case whenever
       possible, rather than leaving the user in a state where editing
       commands work incorrectly.

       In early proposals, the KornShell-derived emacs mode of command
       line editing was included, even though the emacs editor itself
       was not. The community of emacs proponents was adamant that the
       full emacs editor not be standardized because they were concerned
       that an attempt to standardize this very powerful environment
       would encourage vendors to ship strictly conforming versions
       lacking the extensibility required by the community. The author
       of the original emacs program also expressed his desire to omit
       the program. Furthermore, there were a number of historical
       systems that did not include emacs, or included it without
       supporting it, but there were very few that did not include and
       support vi.  The shell emacs command line editing mode was
       finally omitted because it became apparent that the KornShell
       version and the editor being distributed with the GNU system had
       diverged in some respects. The author of emacs requested that the
       POSIX emacs mode either be deleted or have a significant number
       of unspecified conditions. Although the KornShell author agreed
       to consider changes to bring the shell into alignment, the
       standard developers decided to defer specification at that time.
       At the time, it was assumed that convergence on an acceptable
       definition would occur for a subsequent draft, but that has not
       happened, and there appears to be no impetus to do so. In any
       case, implementations are free to offer additional command line
       editing modes based on the exact models of editors their users
       are most comfortable with.

       Early proposals had the following list entry in vi Line Editing
       Insert Mode:

       \     If followed by the erase or kill character, that character
             shall be inserted into the input line.  Otherwise, the
             <backslash> itself shall be inserted into the input line.

       However, this is not actually a feature of sh command line
       editing insert mode, but one of some historical terminal line
       drivers. Some conforming implementations continue to do this when
       the stty iexten flag is set.

       In interactive shells, SIGTERM is ignored so that kill 0 does not
       kill the shell, and SIGINT is caught so that wait is
       interruptible. If the shell does not ignore SIGTTIN, SIGTTOU, and
       SIGTSTP signals when it is interactive and the -m option is not
       in effect, these signals suspend the shell if it is not a session
       leader. If it is a session leader, the signals are discarded if
       they would stop the process, as required by the System Interfaces
       volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Section 2.4.3, Signal Actions for
       orphaned process groups.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       Section 2.9.1.1, Command Search and Execution, Chapter 2, Shell
       Command Language, cd(1p), echo(1p), exit(1p), fc(1p), pwd(1p),
       invalid, set(1p), stty(1p), test(1p), trap(1p), umask(1p), vi(1p)

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, Chapter 8,
       Environment Variables, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines

       The System Interfaces volume of POSIX.1‐2017, dup(3p), exec(1p),
       exit(3p), fork(3p), open(3p), pipe(3p), signal(3p), system(3p),
       ulimit(3p), umask(3p), wait(3p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
       form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
       Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
       (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
       Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any
       discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
       are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
       the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group               2017                            SH(1P)

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