What is /bin/bash for?

subaruwrx · 07-05-2004, 05:33 AM

as above, thanx

jkobrien · 07-05-2004, 05:38 AM

/bin/bash is the executable for the Bourne Again SHell - the shell is the thing that interprets your commands in the terminal and passes them on to the computer. So it's for talking to the computer to tell it to delete files, list directories, install software, run programs, etc.

John

320mb · 07-05-2004, 10:40 AM

http://tldp.org/guides.html

read these:
Bash Guide for Beginners
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

Goala · 07-06-2004, 04:30 AM

Hi

and if you are asking what is the

Code:

#!/bin/bash

line found at the first line of a lot of scripts... then the answer is this is the way you specify which is the program you are going to execute the script with.

You can find too at the beginning of some scripts:
#!/bin/perl
#!/bin/python
....

bye.

jim mcnamara · 07-06-2004, 01:50 PM

The she-bang "#!" is a magic number. When any shell tries to 'run' a file it looks for a magic number, this is how it knows it's dealing with a compiled program, for instance. Check out /usr/include/magic.h ...
which usually points to /usr/include/sys/magic.h

aluser · 07-06-2004, 03:24 PM

iirc, it's the kernel that interprets the #!, not the shell. Thus, you can execve() a shell script from your C program just like you would an executable.

subaruwrx · 07-09-2004, 03:01 AM

Oh, so when adding new user there is also this option to specify the shell right? By default is the /bin/bash?

Am I right to say that /bin/bash is one of many shells available in linux? Different shells will have some different type of commands?

Goala · 07-09-2004, 04:49 AM

You are right.

bash is the usual (and default) shell used in linux. You can find too sh, csh, ksh...

The commands are the same more or less. The shells' behaviours are different.

bye.

subaruwrx · 07-09-2004, 05:00 AM

thanx