HP NonStop G-Series - Manual (Page 31)

3 The OSS Shell
The user interface in the OSS environment is called the OSS “shell.” The OSS shell is a program
that interprets the commands you enter, runs the programs you ask for, and sends output to your
screen.
Open System Services supports the Korn shell (sh). The C shell is not supported by Open System
Services; however, beginning with the J06.14 and H06.25 RVUs, the OSS Core Utilities product
(T1202) provides the BASH (Bourne-Again SHell) shell. For information about the OSS Core Utilities,
see
OSS Core Utilities User Commands (page 185) .
The osh command starts the shell (/bin/sh).
The default shell prompt is a $ (dollar sign). (This is the default prompt for the Korn shell.) Your
shell prompt could be different depending on whether the system administrator has specified a
prompt in the OSS environment file /etc/profile and whether you or another user has specified
a local prompt in the local .profile file. Two frequently used prompts are the pathname of the
user’s home directory followed by a : (colon) and each user’s user ID. Line numbers can appear
with the prompt.
Throughout this guide, a $ is used to represent the shell prompt.
NOTE: The commands, syntax, and files pertaining to the shell and examples used in this document
are based on the Korn shell, unless otherwise stated.
This chapter provides an overview of the OSS shell. For additional information on shell concepts
and on the Korn shell and its features, refer to one of the commercially available books on UNIX
and POSIX shells and on the POSIX Korn shell.
Beginning with the J06.14 and H06.25 RVUs, the OSS Core Utilities product (T1202) provides
the bash shell and additional Open Source utilities. For detailed information about the bash shell,
including the initialization files used for login shells, see the bash(1) reference page. (For details
of viewing the bash(1) reference page, see
Using Commands That Share Identical Names
(page 189) .)
OSS Shell Features
Table 1 lists selected OSS shell features.
Table 1 Selected OSS Shell Features
Description Feature
A programming language that includes features such as loops, condition statements,
and variables. Shell programming
Characters that represent groups of other characters or that represent any character. Metacharacters
Commands and utilities that are a part of the shell. Built-in commands
Syntax and special characters that permit efficient entry of commands. Command-entry aids
A feature that allows you to enter a portion of a filename. The system completes it or
offers a list of choices. Filename completion
A feature that allows you to abbreviate long command lines or to rename commands. Command aliases
A feature that stores commands, allowing you to edit and reuse them. Command history
A feature that allows you to edit a current or previous command. Command-line editing
Environment variables that can be set through the shell. Environment variables
A feature that allows programmers to control program execution flow. Flow control
OSS Shell Features 31