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Bash Features
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This text is a brief description of the features that are present in
the Bash shell (version 3.0, 27 July 2004)..

   This is Edition 3.0, last updated 27 July 2004, of `The GNU Bash
Reference Manual', for `Bash', Version 3.0.

   Bash contains features that appear in other popular shells, and some
features that only appear in Bash.  Some of the shells that Bash has
borrowed concepts from are the Bourne Shell (`sh'), the Korn Shell
(`ksh'), and the C-shell (`csh' and its successor, `tcsh'). The
following menu breaks the features up into categories based upon which
one of these other shells inspired the feature.

   This manual is meant as a brief introduction to features found in
Bash.  The Bash manual page should be used as the definitive reference
on shell behavior.

Introduction

An introduction to the shell.

Definitions

Some definitions used in the rest of this manual.

Basic Shell Features

The shell "building blocks".

Shell Builtin Commands

Commands that are a part of the shell.

Shell Variables

Variables used or set by Bash.

Bash Features

Features found only in Bash.

Job Control

A chapter describing what job control is and how Bash allows you to use it.

Using History Interactively

Chapter dealing with history expansion rules.

Command Line Editing

Chapter describing the command line editing features.

Installing Bash

How to build and install Bash on your system.

Reporting Bugs

How to report bugs in Bash.

Major Differences From The Bourne Shell

A terse list of the differences between Bash and historical versions of /bin/sh.

Copying This Manual

Copying this manual.

Builtin Index

Index of Bash builtin commands.

Reserved Word Index

Index of Bash reserved words.

Variable Index

Quick reference helps you find the variable you want.

Function Index

Index of bindable Readline functions.

Concept Index

General index for concepts described in this manual.