Table of Contents

SIGNALS

The INT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored if the command is followed by & and the job MONITOR option is not active. Otherwise, signals have the values inherited by the shell from its parent (but see the TRAPxxx special function above).

HISTORY

History substitution allows you to use words from previous command lines in the command line you are typing. This simplifies spelling corrections and the repetition of complicated commands or arguments. Command lines are saved in the history list, the size of which is controlled by the HISTSIZE variable. The most recent command is retained in any case. A history substitution begins with a ! and may occur anywhere on the command line; history substitutions do not nest. The ! can be escaped with \ to suppress its special meaning. Single or double quotes will not work for this.

Input lines containing history substitutions are echoed on the terminal after being expanded, but before any other substitutions take place or the command gets executed.

Event Designators

An event designator is a reference to a command-line entry in the history list.
!
Start a history substitution, except when followed by a blank, newline, =, or (.

!!
Refer to the previous command. By itself, this substitution repeats the previous command.

!n
Refer to command-line n.

!-n
Refer to the current command-line minus n.

!str
Refer to the most recent command starting with str.

!?str[?]
Refer to the most recent command containing str.

!#
Refer to the current command line typed in so far.

!{...}
Insulate a history reference from adjacent characters (if necessary).

Word Designators

A word designator indicates which word or words of a given command line will be included in a history reference. A `:' separates the event specification from the word designator. It can be omitted if the word designator begins with a ^, $, *, - or %. Word designators include:
0
The first input word (command).

n
The n'th argument.

^
The first argument, that is, 1.

$
The last argument.

%
The word matched by (the most recent) ?str search.

x-y
A range of words; -y abbreviates 0-y.

*
All the arguments, or a null value if there is just one word in the event.

x*
Abbreviates x-$.

x-
Like x* but omitting word $. Note that a `%' word designator will only work when used as !%, !:%, !?str?:% and only when used after a !? substitution. Anything else will result in an error, although the error may not be the most obvious one.


Mark D. Borges