Introduction to Linux

C.2. Differing features

The table below shows major differences between the standard shell (sh ), Bourne Again SHell (bash ), Korn shell (ksh ) and the C shell (csh ).

       Shell compatibility
        

Since the Bourne Again SHell is a superset of sh , all sh commands will also work in bash - but not vice versa. bash has many more features of its own, and, as the table below demonstrates, many features incorporated from other shells.

Since the Turbo C shell is a superset of csh , all csh commands will work in tcsh , but not the other way round.

Table C-2. Differing Shell Features

   
    sh     bash     ksh     csh    Meaning/Action
   $    $    $    %    Default user prompt
         >|     >|     >!    Force redirection
    > file 2>&1     &> file or > file 2>&1     > file 2>&1     >& file    Redirect stdout and stderr to file
         { }          { }    Expand elements in list
    'command'     'command' or $(command)     $(command)     'command'    Substitute output of enclosed command
    $HOME     $HOME     $HOME     $home    Home directory
        ~    ~    ~    Home directory symbol
         ~+ , ~- , dirs     ~+ , ~-     =- , =N    Access directory stack
   

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