Differing Features

Table 4-2 is a sampling of features that differ between bash and tcsh, Mac OS X’s former default shell.

Table 4-2. Differences between the bash and tcsh shells

Meaning/action

bash

tcsh

Default prompt

$

%

Force redirection

>|

>!

Force append

 

>>!

Variable assignment

var = val

set var = val

Set environment variable

export var = val

setenv var val

Command substitution

$(command), ''

''

Number of arguments

$#

$#argv

Execute commands in file

. file

source file

End a loop statement

done

end

End case or switch

esac

endsw

Loop through variables

for/do

foreach

Sample if statement

if [$i -eq 5]

if ($i= =5)

End if statement

fi

endif

Set resource limits

ulimit

limit

Read from terminal

read

$<

Make a variable read-only

readonly

set -r

Show possible completions

Tab

Tab

Ignore interrupts

trap 2

onintr

Begin until loop

until/do

until

Begin while loop

while/do

while

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