Linux Shells by Example

chsh—change your login shell

chsh [ -s shell ] [ -l ] [ -u ] [ -v ] [ username ]

chsh is used to change your login shell. If a shell is not given on the command line, chsh prompts for one. All valid shells are listed in the /etc/shells file.

-s, --shell	Specifies your login shell.
-l, --list-shells	Prints the list of shells listed in /etc/shells and exits.
-u, --help	Prints a usage message and exits.
-v, --version	Prints version information and exits.

Example A.12.

1 $ chsh -l /bin/bash /bin/sh /bin/ash /bin/bsh /bin/tcsh /bin/csh /bin/ksh /bin/zsh 2 $ chsh Changing shell for ellie. New shell [/bin/sh] tcsh chsh: shell ust be a full path name.

Explanation

1. Lists all available shells on this Linux system.

2. Asks the user to type in ...