(bash.info) What is Bash?

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(bash.info) Introduction

(bash.info) What is a shell?

 
 1.1 What is Bash?
 =================
 
 Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, for the GNU
 operating system.  The name is an acronym for the `Bourne-Again SHell',
 a pun on Stephen Bourne, the author of the direct ancestor of the
 current Unix shell `sh', which appeared in the Seventh Edition Bell
 Labs Research version of Unix.
 
    Bash is largely compatible with `sh' and incorporates useful
 features from the Korn shell `ksh' and the C shell `csh'.  It is
 intended to be a conformant implementation of the IEEE POSIX Shell and
 Tools portion of the IEEE POSIX specification (IEEE Standard 1003.1).
 It offers functional improvements over `sh' for both interactive and
 programming use.
 
    While the GNU operating system provides other shells, including a
 version of `csh', Bash is the default shell.  Like other GNU software,
 Bash is quite portable.  It currently runs on nearly every version of
 Unix and a few other operating systems - independently-supported ports
 exist for MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows platforms.
 

Info Catalog

(bash.info) Introduction

(bash.info) What is a shell?