Comparison of computer shells
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For more details on this topic, see Shell (computing).
A shell is a command line interface computer program of an operating system.
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Usual environment | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | POSIX | Win32 | Win32 | .NET | DOS | DOS | OS/2 | Plan 9, POSIX | Java | Python | Ruby |
| Introduced | 1987 | 1978 | 1981 ? | 1994 | 1982 | 1989 ? | 1990 | 1989 | 1993 | 1993 | 2006 | 1980 | 1989 | 1987 | 1989 | 2005 | 1991 | 1995 |
| Tab completion | Yes (extendable) | Yes (via the ESC key) | Yes (extendable) | No | Yes (extendable) | Yes | Yes (extendable) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (extendable) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes[2] | Yes | Yes (provided by the rlcompleter module or IPython) | Yes |
| Pipes | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes | Yes (concurrent), normal data and compound variable objects | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes | Yes (.NET objects) | Yes (sequential, with temporary files) | Yes (sequential, with temporary files) | Yes (concurrent) | Yes (concurrent) | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Integer arithmetic | Yes (via $(( )) syntax) | Yes (via @ syntax) | Yes (via @ syntax) | Yes | Yes (via $(( )), (( )) and let syntax) | Yes (via $(( )) syntax) | Yes (via $(( )) syntax) | Yes [3] | Yes (via "set /a") | Yes (via %@eval[ ] function) | Yes | No | Yes (via %@eval[ ] function) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Floating point arithmetic | No | No | No | Yes | Yes (including C99-style extensions) | No | Yes | No | No | Yes (via %@eval[ ] function) | Yes | No | Yes (via %@eval[ ] function) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scientific notation | No (except for printf %f/%g) | No | No | Yes | Yes (including C99-style base16 notation) | No | Yes | No | No | Yes[4] | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Binary prefix notation | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? | Yes | No | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Hash tables | No | No | No | Yes (via module) | Yes (via associative arrays) | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Compound Variables | No | No | No | Yes (via records or lists) | Yes | No | ? | No | No | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Pattern Matching (regular expressions) | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Limited support | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pattern Matching (globbing) | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes | Yes (*, ?) | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes (*, ?) | Yes (*, ?, [...]) | Yes (*, ?) | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
| Globbing qualifiers (filename generation based on file attributes) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Recursive globbing (generating files from any level of subdirectories) | Yes | No | No | No | Yes (with set -G, no following of symlinks) | No | Yes (**/... or ***/... to follow symlinks) | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Directory stack (pushd/popd) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Command history | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (F7) | Yes | Yes | No[5][6] | Yes | Yes | Yes[2] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| History completion | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes (F8) | Yes | Yes (F8) | No[5][6] | Yes | ? | Yes[2] | ? | Yes (provided by IPython) | ? |
| Spell checking | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| Default user prompt[7] | bash-<version number>$ | % | > | > | $ | $ | <hostname>% | $ | <path>> | [<path>] | PS <path>> | <path or drive name>> | <path>> | [<path>] | term%, ; | bsh % | >>> | irb(main):001:0> |
| Custom command prompt | Yes (variable: $PS1) | Yes (variable: $prompt | Yes (variable: $prompt | No | Yes (variable: $PS1, and more) | Yes (variable: $PS1) | Yes (variable: $PS1, and more) | Yes (variable: $PS1) | Yes (environment variable: %PROMPT%) | Yes (environment variable: %PROMPT) | Yes (function: prompt) | Yes (environment variable: %PROMPT%) | Yes (environment variable: %PROMPT) | Yes (environment variable: %PROMPT%) | Yes (function: prompt, or variable: $prompt) | Yes (variable: bsh.prompt, or method: getBshPrompt()) | Yes (variable: sys.ps1) | ? |
| Exception handling | Yes (via trap) | ? | ? | ? | Yes (via trap) | ? | Yes | Yes (via trap) | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
| One-dimensional array variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-dimensional array variables | No | No | No | Yes | Yes (via associative arrays) | No | Yes (via associative arrays) | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Array slicing | Yes (${var:offset:length} syntax) | No | No | No | Yes (${var:offset:length} syntax) | No | Yes (${var[from,to]} syntax) | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes ($var(i j k)) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stream redirection | Yes (arbitrary fds) | Yes (stdin/out/err) | Yes (stdin/out/err) | Yes | Yes (arbitrary fds) | Yes (arbitrary fds) | Yes (arbitrary fds) | Yes (arbitrary fds) | Yes | Yes (stdin/out/err) | Yes | Yes (stdin/out only) | Yes (stdin/out/err) | Yes (stdin/out/err) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Aliases | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (macro and procedure definitions) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes ("macros", via doskey) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes (functions) | ? | Yes (functions) | Yes |
| Search and replace on variables | Yes (via ${//} syntax) | No | Yes (via ${:s//} syntax | Yes (via string functions and regular expressions) | Yes (via ${//} syntax and builtin commands) | No | Yes (via ${:s//} and ${//} syntax) | No | Yes (via set %varname:expression syntax) | Yes (via %@replace[ ] function) | Yes (-replace operator) | No | Yes (via %@replace[ ] function) | No | No | ? | Yes (via string methods and regular expressions) | Yes (via string functions and regular expressions) |
| Command substitution | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (via FOR /F command) | Yes (via FOR /F command) | Yes | No | Yes (via FOR /F command) | No | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
| Process substitution | Yes (if system supports /dev/fd/<n> or named pipes | No | No | ? | Yes (if system supports /dev/fd/<n> | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | No | ? | No | Yes (via: <{cmd} if system supports /dev/fd/<n>) | ? | ? | ? |
| Quoting | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes (Backtick: `) | Yes | No | Yes (Backtick: `) | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Escaping | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Caret: ^) | Yes (Caret: ^) | Yes (Backtick: `) | No | Yes (Ctrl-X: ?) | Yes | Yes | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) | Yes (Backslash: \) |
| Parallel assignment | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
| Subshells | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Backtick: ` in for /f usebackq) | Limited, via %@execstr[ ] and %@exec[ ] | Yes | No | Limited, via %@execstr[ ] and %@exec[ ] | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes (Backtick: `) |
| Job control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Handled by rio | ? | Yes | ? |
| Functions | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (via "call :label") | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Variadic functions | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Default arguments | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | ? | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Named parameters | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Lambda functions | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| eval function | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
| (De-)Serialization of composite datatypes | No | No | ? | No | Yes | No | ? | No | No | ? | Yes | No | ? | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pseudorandom number generation | Yes | No | No | Yes (random-integer, random-real) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (%random%) | Yes (%@random[ ] function) | Yes | No | Yes (%@random[ ] function) | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TCP/UDP connections as streams | Yes (client only) | No | No | Yes | Yes (and SCTP support, client only) | No | Yes (client and server but only TCP) | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Native CIM/WBEM support | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? |
| Comments | Yes (#) | Yes (#) | Yes (#) | Yes (; and #| ... |# for multi-line comments) | Yes (#) | Yes (#) | Yes (#) | Yes (#) | Yes (rem and unofficially the invalid label ::) | Yes (rem and unofficially the invalid label ::) | Yes (#) | Yes (rem and unofficially the invalid label ::) | Yes (rem and unofficially the invalid label ::) | Yes (rem and unofficially the invalid label ::) | Yes (#) | Yes (//) | Yes (#) | Yes (#) |
| Here documents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Equivalent feature ("""string""" syntax) |
Yes |
| Unicode | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Startup scripts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (4start) | Yes | No [8] | Yes (4start) | No | Yes | Yes (.bshrc) | Yes ($PYTHONSTARTUP or ipythonrc) | Yes (.irbrc) |
| Blocking of unsigned scripts | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell | |
| Bytecode | Planned[9] | No | No | Yes (compiler is Scheme48 virtual machine, "scshvm") | Yes (compiler is called "shcomp") | No | Yes (built-in command "zcompile") | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes (standard CPython, IronPython or Jython) | Yes (NetRuby, JRuby) |
| available as statically linked, independent single file executable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (requires manual configuration) | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes (bsh.jar) | No | No |
| Platform-independent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes[10] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Available as Free Software (as defined by the FSF) |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes[10] | No[11] | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| bash (v3.1) | csh | tcsh | Scsh | ksh (ksh93s+) | pdksh | zsh | ash | Windows cmd.exe[1] |
4NT | Windows PowerShell | COMMAND.COM | 4DOS | OS/2 cmd.exe |
rc | BeanShell | Python shell | Ruby shell |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g Command extensions enabled, or "cmd /x".
- ^ a b c Handled by rio, GNU readline, editline or vrl
- ^ Available in modern versions of ash such as NetBSD's sh or Debian ash
- ^ Scientific notation is supported for input only; numeric results are always displayed in common format.
- ^ a b Added by TSR programs such as DOSKey
- ^ a b Available in DR-DOS via the "history" command in config.sys; see this link
- ^ Many shells in *nix environments change the root user's prompt to '#'.
- ^ Limited support via AUTOEXEC.BAT.
- ^ Integration of bash-support is planned for Parrot.
- ^ a b Refers only to some implementations, such as on DosBox, Wine, and FreeDOS.
- ^ Licensed under modified MIT License but it "may not be used in any commercial product without written permission from Rex Conn" so it does not qualify as free software. See See README.TXT inside http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/user/4dos/7.50.1/4dos7501.zip for exact licensing terms.
