INTRODUCTION

The Bourne shell is an interactive command and programming language that provides an interface to UNIX. As an interactive command language, it is responsible for reading and executing the commands that you enter at your terminal. As a programming language, its special commands allow you to write sophisticated programs. It also provides the ability to customize your working environment.

The Bourne shell was the original shell available with the earlier versions of UNIX. Later, the Korn and C shells were added.

This publication is based on the System V Release 4.2 version, which is the latest version at the time of this printing.