Warning: Work in progress! Leave feedback on Zulip or Github if you'd like this doc to be updated.

Oil Help Topics

This is the online version of Oil's help. The linked help topics below are divided into groups and sections.

For example, typing help if in the shell shows you how to use the if statement. A link to this same text appears in the command group below, under the [Conditional] section.

To view this index inside the shell, use:

help index           # all 12 groups
help index GROUP+    # show one or more groups

An X next to a help topic means that it's an unimplemented feature.

Table of Contents
Overview (overview)
Command Language (command)
Variable Assignments (assign)
Oil Expression Language (expr)
Word Language (word)
Other Shell Sublanguages (sublang)
Builtin Commands (builtin)
Shell Options (option)
Environment Variables (env)
Special Variables (special)
Plugins and Hooks (plugin)
Oil Libraries (lib)

Overview (overview)

  [Usage]         bundle-usage   osh-usage   oil-usage   config   startup
                  line-editing   prompt
  [Lexing]        comment #   line-continuation \
  [Oil Lexing]    X single-command %%%   X docstring ###

Command Language (command)

  [Commands]      simple-command   semicolon ;
  [Conditional]   case   if   true   false   colon :
                  bang !   and &&   or ||   dbracket [[
  [Iteration]     while   until   for   for-expr-sh ((
  [Control Flow]  break   continue   return   exit
  [Grouping]      function   block {   subshell (
  [Concurrency]   pipe   |   X |&
                  ampersand &
  [Redirects]     redir-file  >  >>  >|  <  <>   X &>
                  redir-desc  >&  <&
                  here-doc    <<  <<-  <<<
  [Other Command] dparen ((   time   X coproc   X select
  [Oil Keywords]  proc   return   equal =

Variable Assignments (assign)

  [Operators]     assign        str='xyz'
                  append        str+='abc'
  [Compound Data] array         array=(a b c)   array[1]=B   "${a[@]}"
                  assoc         assoc=(['a']=1 ['b']=2)   assoc['x']=b
  [Builtins]      local   readonly   export   unset   shift
                  declare   typeset   X let
  [Oil Keywords]  const   var   setvar   set   setlocal   setglobal   setref

Oil Expression Language (expr)

  [Functions]     proc-decl     proc p (x, y, @rest, &block) { echo hi }
                  func-call     f(x, y)
  [Literals]      oil-string    c'line\n'  r'[a-z]\n'
                  oil-array     @(a b c)
  [Regexes]       re-literal    /d+/
                  re-compound   ~   (group)   <capture>   sequence
                  re-primitive  %zero   Subpattern   @subpattern
                                'sq'   "dq"   $x   ${x}
                  named-classes dot  digit  space  word  d  s  w
                  class-literal [c a-z 'abc' \\ \xFF \u0100]
                  re-flags      ignorecase etc.
                  re-multiline  ///
                  re-glob-ops   ~   !~

Word Language (word)

  [Quotes]        quotes        'abc'  $'\n'  "$var"
  [Substitutions] com-sub       $(command)   `command`
                  var-sub       ${var}   $0   $9   
                  arith-sub     $((1 + 2))
                  tilde-sub     ~/src
                  proc-sub      diff <(sort L.txt) <(sort R.txt)
  [Var Ops]       op-test       ${x:-default}  
                  op-unary      ${x%%suffix}  etc.
                  op-str        ${x//y/z}
                  op-slice      ${a[@]:0:1}
                  op-format     ${x@P}
  [Oil Word]      inline-call   $strfunc(x, y) @arrayfunc(z)
                  splice        @array @ARGV
                  X oil-printf  ${x %.3f}
                  X oil-format  ${x|html}

Other Shell Sublanguages (sublang)

  [Arithmetic]    arith-context Where legacy arithmetic is allowed
                  num-literals  0xFF  0755  etc.
                  math          1 + 2*3
                  arith-logical !a && b
                  bitwise       ~a ^ b
                  arith-assign  a *= 2
  [Boolean]       dbracket      [[ vs. the test builtin
                  bool-expr       [[ ! $x && $y || $z ]]
                                test ! $x -a $y -o $z
                  bool-infix    [[ $a -nt $b ]]  [[ $x == $y ]]
                  bool-path     [[ -d /etc ]]
                  bool-str      [[ -z '' ]]
                  bool-other    [[ -o errexit ]]
  [Patterns]      glob          *.py
                  extglob       @(*.py|*.sh)
                  regex         [[ foo =~ [a-z]+ ]]
  [Brace Expand]  braces        {alice,bob}@example.com
  [History]       histsub       !$  !!  !n

Builtin Commands (builtin)

  [I/O]           read   echo 
                  readarray   mapfile
  [Run Code]      source .   eval   trap
  [Set Options]   set   shopt
  [Working Dir]   cd   pwd   pushd   popd   dirs
  [Completion]    complete   compgen   compopt   compadjust
  [Shell Process] exec   X logout 
                  umask   X ulimit   X times
  [Child Process] jobs   wait   ampersand &
                  fg   X bg   X disown 
  [External]      test [   printf   getopts   X kill
  [Introspection] help   hash   type   X caller
  [Word Lookup]   command   builtin
  [Interactive]   alias   unalias   history   X fc   X bind
X [Unsupported]   enable
  [Oil Builtins]  cd   X shopt   X env   compatible, and takes a block
                  X fork   X wait        replaces & and (), takes a block
                  X fopen                Many open streams, takes a block
                  X use                  source with namespace, file-relative 
                  X opts                 getopts replacement
                  push                   add elements to end of array
                  repr                   Show debug representation of vars
                  getline                Instead of read -raw :name
                  write                  like echo, but with --, -sep, -end
                  X log   X die          common functions (polyfill)
  [Data Formats]  json   X tsv2   X html   X struct/binary
X [External Lang] BEGIN   END   when (awk)
                  rule (make)   each (xargs)   fs (find)
X [Testing]       check

Shell Options (option)

  [Errors]        nounset   pipefail   errexit   inherit_errexit
  [Globbing]      noglob   nullglob   X failglob   dashglob
  [Debugging]     xtrace   X verbose   X extdebug
  [Interactive]   emacs   vi
  [Other Option]  X noclobber
  [strict:all]    * All options starting with 'strict_'
                  strict_argv            No empty argv
                  strict_arith           Fatal parse errors (on by default)
                  strict_array           Arrays don't decay to strings
                  strict_control_flow    trap misplaced break/continue
                  strict_echo            echo takes 0 or 1 arguments
                  strict_errexit         Disallow code that ignores failure
                  strict_eval_builtin    eval takes exactly 1 argument
                  strict_nameref         trap invalid variable names
                  strict_word_eval       Expose unicode and slicing errors
                  strict_tilde           Tilde subst can result in error
                  X strict_backslash     Parse the sublanguage more strictly
                  X strict_glob          Parse the sublanguage more strictly
                  X strict_trap          Function name only
                  parse_ignored          Parse and silently ignore?
  [oil:basic]     * Enable Oil functionality
                  parse_at               echo @array @arrayfunc(x, y)
                  parse_brace            if true { ... }; cd ~/src { ... }
                  parse_paren            if (x > 0) ...
                  X parse_redir_expr     >> var x   << 'here string'
                  X longopts             test -file, read -delim, etc.
                  more_errexit           More errexit checks --  at command sub
                  simple_word_eval       No splitting, static globbing
                  dashglob               Disabled to avoid files like -rf
  [oil:nice]      * The full Oil language
                  parse_equals           x = 's' (for cleaner config blocks)
                  parse_set              instead of setvar
                  X parse_amp            echo hi &2 > /dev/null
                  X parse_dollar_slash   egrep $/ d+ / *.txt
                  X parse_dparen         remove ((
                  X parse_rawc           r'\'   c'\n'   c"$x\n"
                  X simple_test_builtin  Only file tests, remove [, status 2
                  X no_old_builtins      local/declare/etc.  pushd/popd/dirs
                                         ... source  unset  printf  [un]alias
                                         ... getopts
                  X no_old_syntax        [[   $(( ))  ${x%prefix}   $$
                                         $'\n'   @(*.sh|*.py)  `echo comsub`
                                         ${a[@]}
  [Compatibility] eval_unsafe_arith   parse_dynamic_arith
                  verbose_errexit

Environment Variables (env)

  [Shell Options] SHELLOPTS   X BASHOPTS
  [Other Env]     HOME   PATH   IFS
  [Oil Paths]     ?builtins   ?completion_plugins   ?coprocesses

Special Variables (special)

  [POSIX Special] $@  $*  $#     $?  $-     $$  $!   $0  $9
  [Other Special] BASH_REMATCH   @PIPESTATUS
  [Oil Special]   ARGV   STATUS   M
  [Platform]      HOSTNAME   OSTYPE   OIL_VERSION
  [Call Stack]    @BASH_SOURCE   @FUNCNAME   @BASH_LINENO   
                  X @BASH_ARGV   X @BASH_ARGC
  [Tracing]       LINENO   SOURCE_NAME
  [Process State] X BASHPID   X PPID   UID   EUID   
X [Process Stack] BASH_SUBSHELL   SHLVL
X [Shell State]   BASH_CMDS   @DIRSTACK
  [Completion]    @COMP_WORDS   COMP_CWORD   COMP_LINE   COMP_POINT
                  COMP_WORDBREAKS   @COMPREPLY   X COMP_KEY
                  X COMP_TYPE   COMP_ARGV
  [cd]            PWD   OLDPWD   X CDPATH
  [getopts]       OPTIND   OPTARG   X OPTERR
  [read]          REPLY   IFS
  [Functions]     X RANDOM   X SECONDS

Plugins and Hooks (plugin)

  [Signals]       SIGTERM   X SIGINT   X SIGABRT   SIG...
  [Traps]         EXIT   X ERR   X DEBUG   X RETURN
  [Words]         PS1   X PS2   X PS3   PS4
  [Completion]    complete
  [Other Plugin]  X command_not_found   PROMPT_COMMAND

Oil Libraries (lib)

  [Collections]   len()   copy()
  [Pattern]       regmatch()   fnmatch()
  [String]        find()   sub()   join() 
                  split()             $IFS, awk algorithm, regex
  [Word]          glob()   maybe()
  [Better Syntax] shquote()
                  lstrip()   rstrip()   lstripglob()   rstripglob()
                  upper()   lower()
                  strftime()
  [Arrays]        index()
  [Assoc Arrays]  @names()   @values()
  [Block]         setvar()            for procs to set in outer scope
                  evalblock()         procs evaluate block to namespace
X [Hashing]       sha1   sha256 (etc.)

Generated on Tue Aug 18 10:26:21 PDT 2020