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OSH Help Topics

This is the online help for the OSH language. It underlies the help builtin.

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 osh

An X next to a help topic means that the feature is unimplemented.

You may also want to browse Oil Help Topics.

Overview (overview)

  [Usage]         osh-usage   config   startup   line-editing   prompt
  [Lexing]        comment #   line-continuation \

Command Language (command-lang)

  [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]      sh-func   sh-block {   subshell (
  [Concurrency]   pipe   |   X |&
                  ampersand &
  [Redirects]     redir-file  >  >>  >|  <  <>   X &>
                  redir-desc  >&  <&
                  here-doc    <<  <<-  <<<
  [Other Command] dparen ((   time   X coproc   X select

Assignments and Expressions (assign)

  [Literals]      sh-array      array=(a b c)   array[1]=B   "${a[@]}"
                  sh-assoc      assoc=(['a']=1 ['b']=2)   assoc['x']=b
  [Operators]     sh-assign     str='xyz'
                  sh-append     str+='abc'
  [Builtins]      local   readonly   export   unset   shift
                  declare   typeset   X let

Word Language (word-lang)

  [Quotes]        quotes        'abc'  $'\n'  "$var"
  [Substitutions] com-sub       $(command)   `command`   @(split 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-strip      ${x%%suffix}  etc.
                  op-replace    ${x//y/z}
                  op-index      ${a[i+1}
                  op-slice      ${a[@]:0:1}
                  op-format     ${x@P}

Other Shell Sublanguages (sublang)

  [Arithmetic]    arith-context Where legacy arithmetic is allowed
                  sh-numbers    0xFF  0755  etc.
                  sh-arith      1 + 2*3   a *= 2
                  sh-logical    !a && b
                  sh-bitwise    ~a ^ b
  [Boolean]       dbracket      [[ vs. the test builtin
                  bool-expr       [[ ! $x && $y || $z ]]
                                test ! $x -a $y -o $z
                  bool-infix    [[ $a -nt $b ]]  [[ $x == $y ]]
                  bool-path     [[ -d /etc ]]
                  bool-str      [[ -z '' ]]
                  bool-other    [[ -o errexit ]]
  [Patterns]      glob          *.py
                  extglob       ,(*.py|*.sh)
                  regex         [[ foo =~ [a-z]+ ]]
  [Other Sublang] braces        {alice,bob}@example.com
                  histsub       !$  !!  !n
                  char-escapes  \t  \c  \x00  \u03bc

Builtin Commands (builtins)

  [I/O]           read   echo   printf
                  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 kill   X disown 
  [External]      test [   getopts
  [Introspection] help   hash   type   X caller
  [Word Lookup]   command   builtin
  [Interactive]   alias   unalias   history   X fc   X bind
X [Unsupported]   enable

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

Environment Variables (env)

  [Shell Options] SHELLOPTS   X BASHOPTS
  [Other Env]     HOME   PATH

Special Variables (special)

  [POSIX Special] $@  $*  $#     $?  $-     $$  $!   $0  $9
  [Other Special] BASH_REMATCH   @PIPESTATUS
  [Platform]      HOSTNAME   OSTYPE
  [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
  [Functions]     X RANDOM   X SECONDS
  [Shell Vars]    IFS   X LANG

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