This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.4 since the release of bash-4.3. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. There is now a settable configuration #define that will cause the shell to exit if the shell is running setuid without the -p option and setuid to the real uid fails. b. Command and process substitutions now turn off the `-v' option when executing, as other shells seem to do. c. The default value for the `checkhash' shell option may now be set at compile time with a #define. d. The `mapfile' builtin now has a -d option to use an arbitrary character as the record delimiter, and a -t option to strip the delimiter as supplied with -d. e. The maximum number of nested recursive calls to `eval' is now settable in config-top.h; the default is no limit. f. The `-p' option to declare and similar builtins will display attributes for named variables even when those variables have not been assigned values (which are technically unset). g. The maximum number of nested recursive calls to `source' is now settable in config-top.h; the default is no limit. h. All builtin commands recognize the `--help' option and print a usage summary. i. Bash does not allow function names containing `/' and `=' to be exported. j. The `ulimit' builtin has new -k (kqueues) and -P (pseudoterminals) options. k. The shell now allows `time ; othercommand' to time null commands. l. There is a new `--enable-function-import' configuration option to allow importing shell functions from the environment; import is enabled by default. m. `printf -v var ""' will now set `var' to the empty string, as if `var=""' had been executed. n. GLOBIGNORE, the pattern substitution word expansion, and programmable completion match filtering now honor the value of the `nocasematch' option. o. There is a new ${parameter@spec} family of operators to transform the value of `parameter'. p. Bash no longer attempts to perform compound assignment if a variable on the rhs of an assignment statement argument to `declare' has the form of a compound assignment (e.g., w='(word)' ; declare foo=$w); compound assignments are accepted if the variable was already declared as an array, but with a warning. q. The declare builtin no longer displays array variables using the compound assignment syntax with quotes; that will generate warnings when re-used as input, and isn't necessary. r. Executing the rhs of && and || will no longer cause the shell to fork if it's not necessary. s. The `local' builtin takes a new argument: `-', which will cause it to save and the single-letter shell options and restore their previous values at function return. t. `complete' and `compgen' have a new `-o nosort' option, which forces readline to not sort the completion matches. u. Bash now allows waiting for the most recent process substitution, since it appears as $!. v. The `unset' builtin now unsets a scalar variable if it is subscripted with a `0', analogous to the ${var[0]} expansion. w. `set -i' is no longer valid, as in other shells. x. BASH_SUBSHELL is now updated for process substitution and group commands in pipelines, and is available with the same value when running any exit trap. y. Bash now checks $INSIDE_EMACS as well as $EMACS when deciding whether or not bash is being run in a GNU Emacs shell window. z. Bash now treats SIGINT received when running a non-builtin command in a loop the way it has traditionally treated running a builtin command: running any trap handler and breaking out of the loop. aa. New variable: EXECIGNORE; a colon-separate list of patterns that will cause matching filenames to be ignored when searching for commands. bb. Aliases whose value ends in a shell metacharacter now expand in a way to allow them to be `pasted' to the next token, which can potentially change the meaning of a command (e.g., turning `&' into `&&'). cc. `make install' now installs the example loadable builtins and a set of bash headers to use when developing new loadable builtins. dd. `enable -f' now attempts to call functions named BUILTIN_builtin_load when loading BUILTIN, and BUILTIN_builtin_unload when deleting it. This allows loadable builtins to run initialization and cleanup code. ee. There is a new BASH_LOADABLES_PATH variable containing a list of directories where the `enable -f' command looks for shared objects containing loadable builtins. ff. The `complete_fullquote' option to `shopt' changes filename completion to quote all shell metacharacters in filenames and directory names. gg. The `kill' builtin now has a `-L' option, equivalent to `-l', for compatibility with Linux standalone versions of kill. hh. BASH_COMPAT and FUNCNEST can be inherited and set from the shell's initial environment. ii. inherit_errexit: a new `shopt' option that, when set, causes command substitutions to inherit the -e option. By default, those subshells disable -e. It's enabled as part of turning on posix mode. jj. New prompt string: PS0. Expanded and displayed by interactive shells after reading a complete command but before executing it. kk. Interactive shells now behave as if SIGTSTP/SIGTTIN/SIGTTOU are set to SIG_DFL when the shell is started, so they are set to SIG_DFL in child processes. ll. Posix-mode shells now allow double quotes to quote the history expansion character. mm. OLDPWD can be inherited from the environment if it names a directory. nn. Shells running as root no longer inherit PS4 from the environment, closing a security hole involving PS4 expansion performing command substitution. oo. If executing an implicit `cd' when the `autocd' option is set, bash will now invoke a function named `cd' if one exists before executing the `cd' builtin. pp. Value conversions (arithmetic expansions, case modification, etc.) now happen when assigning elements of an array using compound assignment. qq. There is a new option settable in config-top.h that makes multiple directory arguments to `cd' a fatal error. rr. Bash now uses mktemp() when creating internal temporary files; it produces a warning at build time on many Linux systems. 2. New Features in Readline a. The history truncation code now uses the same error recovery mechansim as the history writing code, and restores the old version of the history file on error. The error recovery mechanism handles symlinked history files. b. There is a new bindable variable, `enable-bracketed-paste', which enables support for a terminal's bracketed paste mode. c. The editing mode indicators can now be strings and are user-settable (new `emacs-mode-string', `vi-cmd-mode-string' and `vi-ins-mode-string' variables). Mode strings can contain invisible character sequences. Setting mode strings to null strings restores the defaults. d. Prompt expansion adds the mode string to the last line of a multi-line prompt (one with embedded newlines). e. There is a new bindable variable, `colored-completion-prefix', which, if set, causes the common prefix of a set of possible completions to be displayed in color. f. There is a new bindable command `vi-yank-pop', a vi-mode version of emacs- mode yank-pop. g. The redisplay code underwent several efficiency improvements for multibyte locales. h. The insert-char function attempts to batch-insert all pending typeahead that maps to self-insert, as long as it is coming from the terminal. i. rl_callback_sigcleanup: a new application function that can clean up and unset any state set by readline's callback mode. Intended to be used after a signal. j. If an incremental search string has its last character removed with DEL, the resulting empty search string no longer matches the previous line. k. If readline reads a history file that begins with `#' (or the value of the history comment character) and has enabled history timestamps, the history entries are assumed to be delimited by timestamps. This allows multi-line history entries. l. Readline now throws an error if it parses a key binding without a terminating `:' or whitespace. m. The default binding for ^W in vi mode now uses word boundaries specified by Posix (vi-unix-word-rubout is bindable command name). n. rl_clear_visible_line: new application-callable function; clears all screen lines occupied by the current visible readline line. o. rl_tty_set_echoing: application-callable function that controls whether or not readline thinks it is echoing terminal output. p. Handle >| and strings of digits preceding and following redirection specifications as single tokens when tokenizing the line for history expansion. q. Fixed a bug with displaying completions when the prefix display length is greater than the length of the completions to be displayed. r. The :p history modifier now applies to the entire line, so any expansion specifying :p causes the line to be printed instead of expanded. s. New application-callable function: rl_pending_signal(): returns the signal number of any signal readline has caught but not yet handled. t. New application-settable variable: rl_persistent_signal_handlers: if set to a non-zero value, readline will enable the readline-6.2 signal handler behavior in callback mode: handlers are installed when rl_callback_handler_install is called and removed removed when a complete line has been read. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.3 since the release of bash-4.2. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. The `helptopic' completion action now maps to all the help topics, not just the shell builtins. b. The `help' builtin no longer does prefix substring matching first, so `help read' does not match `readonly', but will do it if exact string matching fails. c. The shell can be compiled to not display a message about processes that terminate due to SIGTERM. d. Non-interactive shells now react to the setting of checkwinsize and set LINES and COLUMNS after a foreground job exits. e. There is a new shell option, `globasciiranges', which, when set to on, forces globbing range comparisons to use character ordering as if they were run in the C locale. f. There is a new shell option, `direxpand', which makes filename completion expand variables in directory names in the way bash-4.1 did. g. In Posix mode, the `command' builtin does not change whether or not a builtin it shadows is treated as an assignment builtin. h. The `return' and `exit' builtins accept negative exit status arguments. i. The word completion code checks whether or not a filename containing a shell variable expands to a directory name and appends `/' to the word as appropriate. The same code expands shell variables in command names when performing command completion. j. In Posix mode, it is now an error to attempt to define a shell function with the same name as a Posix special builtin. k. When compiled for strict Posix conformance, history expansion is disabled by default. l. The history expansion character (!) does not cause history expansion when followed by the closing quote in a double-quoted string. m. `complete' and its siblings compgen/compopt now takes a new `-o noquote' option to inhibit quoting of the completions. n. Setting HISTSIZE to a value less than zero causes the history list to be unlimited (setting it 0 zero disables the history list). o. Setting HISTFILESIZE to a value less than zero causes the history file size to be unlimited (setting it to 0 causes the history file to be truncated to zero size). p. The `read' builtin now skips NUL bytes in the input. q. There is a new `bind -X' option to print all key sequences bound to Unix commands. r. When in Posix mode, `read' is interruptible by a trapped signal. After running the trap handler, read returns 128+signal and throws away any partially-read input. s. The command completion code skips whitespace and assignment statements before looking for the command name word to be completed. t. The build process has a new mechanism for constructing separate help files that better reflects the current set of compilation options. u. The -nt and -ot options to test now work with files with nanosecond timestamp resolution. v. The shell saves the command history in any shell for which history is enabled and HISTFILE is set, not just interactive shells. w. The shell has `nameref' variables and new -n(/+n) options to declare and unset to use them, and a `test -R' option to test for them. x. The shell now allows assigning, referencing, and unsetting elements of indexed arrays using negative subscripts (a[-1]=2, echo ${a[-1]}) which count back from the last element of the array. y. The {x}<word redirection feature now allows words like {array[ind]} and can use variables with special meanings to the shell (e.g., BASH_XTRACEFD). z. There is a new CHILD_MAX special shell variable; its value controls the number of exited child statues the shell remembers. aa. There is a new configuration option (--enable-direxpand-default) that causes the `direxpand' shell option to be enabled by default. bb. Bash does not do anything special to ensure that the file descriptor assigned to X in {x}<foo remains open after the block containing it completes. cc. The `wait' builtin has a new `-n' option to wait for the next child to change status. dd. The `printf' %(...)T format specifier now uses the current time if no argument is supplied. ee. There is a new variable, BASH_COMPAT, that controls the current shell compatibility level. ff. The `popd' builtin now treats additional arguments as errors. gg. The brace expansion code now treats a failed sequence expansion as a simple string and will continue to expand brace terms in the remainder of the word. hh. Shells started to run process substitutions now run any trap set on EXIT. ii. The fc builtin now interprets -0 as the current command line. jj. Completing directory names containing shell variables now adds a trailing slash if the expanded result is a directory. kk. `cd' has a new `-@' option to browse a file's extended attributes on systems that support O_XATTR. ll. The test/[/[[ `-v variable' binary operator now understands array references. 2. New Features in Readline a. Readline is now more responsive to SIGHUP and other fatal signals when reading input from the terminal or performing word completion but no longer attempts to run any not-allowable functions from a signal handler context. b. There are new bindable commands to search the history for the string of characters between the beginning of the line and the point (history-substring-search-forward, history-substring-search-backward) c. Readline allows quoted strings as the values of variables when setting them with `set'. As a side effect, trailing spaces and tabs are ignored when setting a string variable's value. d. The history library creates a backup of the history file when writing it and restores the backup on a write error. e. New application-settable variable: rl_filename_stat_hook: a function called with a filename before using it in a call to stat(2). Bash uses it to expand shell variables so things like $HOME/Downloads have a slash appended. f. New bindable function `print-last-kbd-macro', prints the most-recently- defined keyboard macro in a reusable format. g. New user-settable variable `colored-stats', enables use of colored text to denote file types when displaying possible completions (colored analog of visible-stats). h. New user-settable variable `keyseq-timout', acts as an inter-character timeout when reading input or incremental search strings. i. New application-callable function: rl_clear_history. Clears the history list and frees all readline-associated private data. j. New user-settable variable, show-mode-in-prompt, adds a characters to the beginning of the prompt indicating the current editing mode. k. New application-settable variable: rl_input_available_hook; function to be called when readline detects there is data available on its input file descriptor. l. Readline calls an application-set event hook (rl_event_hook) after it gets a signal while reading input (read returns -1/EINTR but readline does not handle the signal immediately) to allow the application to handle or otherwise note it. m. If the user-settable variable `history-size' is set to a value less than 0, the history list size is unlimited. n. New application-settable variable: rl_signal_event_hook; function that is called when readline is reading terminal input and read(2) is interrupted by a signal. Currently not called for SIGHUP or SIGTERM. o. rl_change_environment: new application-settable variable that controls whether or not Readline modifies the environment (currently readline modifies only LINES and COLUMNS). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.2 since the release of bash-4.1. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. `exec -a foo' now sets $0 to `foo' in an executable shell script without a leading #!. b. Subshells begun to execute command substitutions or run shell functions or builtins in subshells do not reset trap strings until a new trap is specified. This allows $(trap) to display the caller's traps and the trap strings to persist until a new trap is set. c. `trap -p' will now show signals ignored at shell startup, though their disposition still cannot be modified. d. $'...', echo, and printf understand \uXXXX and \UXXXXXXXX escape sequences. e. declare/typeset has a new `-g' option, which creates variables in the global scope even when run in a shell function. f. test/[/[[ have a new -v variable unary operator, which returns success if `variable' has been set. g. Posix parsing changes to allow `! time command' and multiple consecutive instances of `!' (which toggle) and `time' (which have no cumulative effect). h. Posix change to allow `time' as a command by itself to print the elapsed user, system, and real times for the shell and its children. j. $((...)) is always parsed as an arithmetic expansion first, instead of as a potential nested command substitution, as Posix requires. k. A new FUNCNEST variable to allow the user to control the maximum shell function nesting (recursive execution) level. l. The mapfile builtin now supplies a third argument to the callback command: the line about to be assigned to the supplied array index. m. The printf builtin has a new %(fmt)T specifier, which allows time values to use strftime-like formatting. n. There is a new `compat41' shell option. o. The cd builtin has a new Posix-mandated `-e' option. p. Negative subscripts to indexed arrays, previously errors, now are treated as offsets from the maximum assigned index + 1. q. Negative length specifications in the ${var:offset:length} expansion, previously errors, are now treated as offsets from the end of the variable. r. Parsing change to allow `time -p --'. s. Posix-mode parsing change to not recognize `time' as a keyword if the following token begins with a `-'. This means no more Posix-mode `time -p'. Posix interpretation 267. t. There is a new `lastpipe' shell option that runs the last command of a pipeline in the current shell context. The lastpipe option has no effect if job control is enabled. u. History expansion no longer expands the `$!' variable expansion. v. Posix mode shells no longer exit if a variable assignment error occurs with an assignment preceding a command that is not a special builtin. w. Non-interactive mode shells exit if -u is enabled and an attempt is made to use an unset variable with the % or # expansions, the `//', `^', or `,' expansions, or the parameter length expansion. x. Posix-mode shells use the argument passed to `.' as-is if a $PATH search fails, effectively searching the current directory. Posix-2008 change. 2. New Features in Readline a. The history library does not try to write the history filename in the current directory if $HOME is unset. This closes a potential security problem if the application does not specify a history filename. b. New bindable variable `completion-display-width' to set the number of columns used when displaying completions. c. New bindable variable `completion-case-map' to cause case-insensitive completion to treat `-' and `_' as identical. d. There are new bindable vi-mode command names to avoid readline's case- insensitive matching not allowing them to be bound separately. e. New bindable variable `menu-complete-display-prefix' causes the menu completion code to display the common prefix of the possible completions before cycling through the list, instead of after. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.1 since the release of bash-4.0. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. Here-documents within $(...) command substitutions may once more be delimited by the closing right paren, instead of requiring a newline. b. Bash's file status checks (executable, readable, etc.) now take file system ACLs into account on file systems that support them. c. Bash now passes environment variables with names that are not valid shell variable names through into the environment passed to child processes. d. The `execute-unix-command' readline function now attempts to clear and reuse the current line rather than move to a new one after the command executes. e. `printf -v' can now assign values to array indices. f. New `complete -E' and `compopt -E' options that work on the "empty" completion: completion attempted on an empty command line. g. New complete/compgen/compopt -D option to define a `default' completion: a completion to be invoked on command for which no completion has been defined. If this function returns 124, programmable completion is attempted again, allowing a user to dynamically build a set of completions as completion is attempted by having the default completion function install individual completion functions each time it is invoked. h. When displaying associative arrays, subscripts are now quoted. i. Changes to dabbrev-expand to make it more `emacs-like': no space appended after matches, completions are not sorted, and most recent history entries are presented first. j. The [[ and (( commands are now subject to the setting of `set -e' and the ERR trap. k. The source/. builtin now removes NUL bytes from the file before attempting to parse commands. l. There is a new configuration option (in config-top.h) that forces bash to forward all history entries to syslog. m. A new variable $BASHOPTS to export shell options settable using `shopt' to child processes. n. There is a new confgure option that forces the extglob option to be enabled by default. o. New variable $BASH_XTRACEFD; when set to an integer bash will write xtrace output to that file descriptor. p. If the optional left-hand-side of a redirection is of the form {var}, the shell assigns the file descriptor used to $var or uses $var as the file descriptor to move or close, depending on the redirection operator. q. The < and > operators to the [[ conditional command now do string comparison according to the current locale if the compatibility level is greater than 40. r. Programmable completion now uses the completion for `b' instead of `a' when completion is attempted on a line like: a $(b c. s. Force extglob on temporarily when parsing the pattern argument to the == and != operators to the [[ command, for compatibility. t. Changed the behavior of interrupting the wait builtin when a SIGCHLD is received and a trap on SIGCHLD is set to be Posix-mode only. u. The read builtin has a new `-N nchars' option, which reads exactly NCHARS characters, ignoring delimiters like newline. v. The mapfile/readarray builtin no longer stores the commands it invokes via callbacks in the history list. w. There is a new `compat40' shopt option. 2. New Features in Readline a. New bindable function: menu-complete-backward. b. In the vi insertion keymap, C-n is now bound to menu-complete by default, and C-p to menu-complete-backward. c. When in vi command mode, repeatedly hitting ESC now does nothing, even when ESC introduces a bound key sequence. This is closer to how historical vi behaves. d. New bindable function: skip-csi-sequence. Can be used as a default to consume key sequences generated by keys like Home and End without having to bind all keys. e. New application-settable function: rl_filename_rewrite_hook. Can be used to rewite or modify filenames read from the file system before they are compared to the word to be completed. f. New bindable variable: skip-completed-text, active when completing in the middle of a word. If enabled, it means that characters in the completion that match characters in the remainder of the word are "skipped" rather than inserted into the line. g. The pre-readline-6.0 version of menu completion is available as "old-menu-complete" for users who do not like the readline-6.0 version. h. New bindable variable: echo-control-characters. If enabled, and the tty ECHOCTL bit is set, controls the echoing of characters corresponding to keyboard-generated signals. i. New bindable variable: enable-meta-key. Controls whether or not readline sends the smm/rmm sequences if the terminal indicates it has a meta key that enables eight-bit characters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-4.0 since the release of bash-3.2. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. When using substring expansion on the positional parameters, a starting index of 0 now causes $0 to be prefixed to the list. b. The `help' builtin now prints its columns with entries sorted vertically rather than horizontally. c. There is a new variable, $BASHPID, which always returns the process id of the current shell. d. There is a new `autocd' option that, when enabled, causes bash to attempt to `cd' to a directory name that is supplied as the first word of a simple command. e. There is a new `checkjobs' option that causes the shell to check for and report any running or stopped jobs at exit. f. The programmable completion code exports a new COMP_TYPE variable, set to a character describing the type of completion being attempted. g. The programmable completion code exports a new COMP_KEY variable, set to the character that caused the completion to be invoked (e.g., TAB). h. If creation of a child process fails due to insufficient resources, bash will try again several times before reporting failure. i. The programmable completion code now uses the same set of characters as readline when breaking the command line into a list of words. j. The block multiplier for the ulimit -c and -f options is now 512 when in Posix mode, as Posix specifies. k. Changed the behavior of the read builtin to save any partial input received in the specified variable when the read builtin times out. This also results in variables specified as arguments to read to be set to the empty string when there is no input available. When the read builtin times out, it returns an exit status greater than 128. l. The shell now has the notion of a `compatibility level', controlled by new variables settable by `shopt'. Setting this variable currently restores the bash-3.1 behavior when processing quoted strings on the rhs of the `=~' operator to the `[[' command. m. The `ulimit' builtin now has new -b (socket buffer size) and -T (number of threads) options. n. The -p option to `declare' now displays all variable values and attributes (or function values and attributes if used with -f). o. There is a new `compopt' builtin that allows completion functions to modify completion options for existing completions or the completion currently being executed. p. The `read' builtin has a new -i option which inserts text into the reply buffer when using readline. q. A new `-E' option to the complete builtin allows control of the default behavior for completion on an empty line. r. There is now limited support for completing command name words containing globbing characters. s. Changed format of internal help documentation for all builtins to roughly follow man page format. t. The `help' builtin now has a new -d option, to display a short description, and a -m option, to print help information in a man page-like format. u. There is a new `mapfile' builtin to populate an array with lines from a given file. The name `readarray' is a synonym. v. If a command is not found, the shell attempts to execute a shell function named `command_not_found_handle', supplying the command words as the function arguments. w. There is a new shell option: `globstar'. When enabled, the globbing code treats `**' specially -- it matches all directories (and files within them, when appropriate) recursively. x. There is a new shell option: `dirspell'. When enabled, the filename completion code performs spelling correction on directory names during completion. y. The `-t' option to the `read' builtin now supports fractional timeout values. z. Brace expansion now allows zero-padding of expanded numeric values and will add the proper number of zeroes to make sure all values contain the same number of digits. aa. There is a new bash-specific bindable readline function: `dabbrev-expand'. It uses menu completion on a set of words taken from the history list. bb. The command assigned to a key sequence with `bind -x' now sets two new variables in the environment of the executed command: READLINE_LINE_BUFFER and READLINE_POINT. The command can change the current readline line and cursor position by modifying READLINE_LINE_BUFFER and READLINE_POINT, respectively. cc. There is a new &>> redirection operator, which appends the standard output and standard error to the named file. dd. The parser now understands `|&' as a synonym for `2>&1 |', which redirects the standard error for a command through a pipe. ee. The new `;&' case statement action list terminator causes execution to continue with the action associated with the next pattern in the statement rather than terminating the command. ff. The new `;;&' case statement action list terminator causes the shell to test the next set of patterns after completing execution of the current action, rather than terminating the command. gg. The shell understands a new variable: PROMPT_DIRTRIM. When set to an integer value greater than zero, prompt expansion of \w and \W will retain only that number of trailing pathname components and replace the intervening characters with `...'. hh. There are new case-modifying word expansions: uppercase (^[^]) and lowercase (,[,]). They can work on either the first character or array element, or globally. They accept an optional shell pattern that determines which characters to modify. There is an optionally- configured feature to include capitalization operators. ii. The shell provides associative array variables, with the appropriate support to create, delete, assign values to, and expand them. jj. The `declare' builtin now has new -l (convert value to lowercase upon assignment) and -u (convert value to uppercase upon assignment) options. There is an optionally-configurable -c option to capitalize a value at assignment. kk. There is a new `coproc' reserved word that specifies a coprocess: an asynchronous command run with two pipes connected to the creating shell. Coprocs can be named. The input and output file descriptors and the PID of the coprocess are available to the calling shell in variables with coproc-specific names. ll. A value of 0 for the -t option to `read' now returns success if there is input available to be read from the specified file descriptor. mm. CDPATH and GLOBIGNORE are ignored when the shell is running in privileged mode. nn. New bindable readline functions shell-forward-word and shell-backward-word, which move forward and backward words delimited by shell metacharacters and honor shell quoting. oo. New bindable readline functions shell-backward-kill-word and shell-kill-word which kill words backward and forward, but use the same word boundaries as shell-forward-word and shell-backward-word. 2. New Features in Readline a. A new variable, rl_sort_completion_matches; allows applications to inhibit match list sorting (but beware: some things don't work right if applications do this). b. A new variable, rl_completion_invoking_key; allows applications to discover the key that invoked rl_complete or rl_menu_complete. c. The functions rl_block_sigint and rl_release_sigint are now public and available to calling applications who want to protect critical sections (like redisplay). d. The functions rl_save_state and rl_restore_state are now public and available to calling applications; documented rest of readline's state flag values. e. A new user-settable variable, `history-size', allows setting the maximum number of entries in the history list. f. There is a new implementation of menu completion, with several improvements over the old; the most notable improvement is a better `completions browsing' mode. g. The menu completion code now uses the rl_menu_completion_entry_function variable, allowing applications to provide their own menu completion generators. h. There is support for replacing a prefix of a pathname with a `...' when displaying possible completions. This is controllable by setting the `completion-prefix-display-length' variable. Matches with a common prefix longer than this value have the common prefix replaced with `...'. i. There is a new `revert-all-at-newline' variable. If enabled, readline will undo all outstanding changes to all history lines when `accept-line' is executed. j. If the kernel supports it, readline displays special characters corresponding to a keyboard-generated signal when the signal is received. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-3.2 since the release of bash-3.1. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. Changed the parameter pattern replacement functions to not anchor the pattern at the beginning of the string if doing global replacement - that combination doesn't make any sense. b. When running in `word expansion only' mode (--wordexp option), inhibit process substitution. c. Loadable builtins now work on MacOS X 10.[34]. d. Shells running in posix mode no longer set $HOME, as POSIX requires. e. The code that checks for binary files being executed as shell scripts now checks only for NUL rather than any non-printing character. f. Quoting the string argument to the [[ command's =~ operator now forces string matching, as with the other pattern-matching operators. 2. New Features in Readline a. Calling applications can now set the keyboard timeout to 0, allowing poll-like behavior. b. The value of SYS_INPUTRC (configurable at compilation time) is now used as the default last-ditch startup file. c. The history file reading functions now allow windows-like \r

line terminators. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-3.1 since the release of bash-3.0. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. Bash now understands LC_TIME as a special variable so that time display tracks the current locale. b. BASH_ARGC, BASH_ARGV, BASH_SOURCE, and BASH_LINENO are no longer created as `invisible' variables and may not be unset. c. In POSIX mode, if `xpg_echo' option is enabled, the `echo' builtin doesn't try to interpret any options at all, as POSIX requires. d. The `bg' builtin now accepts multiple arguments, as POSIX seems to specify. e. Fixed vi-mode word completion and glob expansion to perform tilde expansion. f. The `**' mathematic exponentiation operator is now right-associative. g. The `ulimit' builtin has new options: -i (max number of pending signals), -q (max size of POSIX message queues), and -x (max number of file locks). h. A bare `%' once again expands to the current job when used as a job specifier. i. The `+=' assignment operator (append to the value of a string or array) is now supported for assignment statements and arguments to builtin commands that accept assignment statements. j. BASH_COMMAND now preserves its value when a DEBUG trap is executed. k. The `gnu_errfmt' option is enabled automatically if the shell is running in an emacs terminal window. l. New configuration option: --single-help-strings. Causes long help text to be written as a single string; intended to ease translation. m. The COMP_WORDBREAKS variable now causes the list of word break characters to be emptied when the variable is unset. n. An unquoted expansion of $* when $IFS is empty now causes the positional parameters to be concatenated if the expansion doesn't undergo word splitting. o. Bash now inherits $_ from the environment if it appears there at startup. p. New shell option: nocasematch. If non-zero, shell pattern matching ignores case when used by `case' and `[[' commands. q. The `printf' builtin takes a new option: -v var. That causes the output to be placed into var instead of on stdout. r. By default, the shell no longer reports processes dying from SIGPIPE. s. Bash now sets the extern variable `environ' to the export environment it creates, so C library functions that call getenv() (and can't use the shell-provided replacement) get current values of environment variables. t. A new configuration option, `--enable-strict-posix-default', which will build bash to be POSIX conforming by default. u. If compiled for strict POSIX conformance, LINES and COLUMNS may now override the true terminal size. 2. New Features in Readline a. The key sequence sent by the keypad `delete' key is now automatically bound to delete-char. b. A negative argument to menu-complete now cycles backward through the completion list. c. A new bindable readline variable: bind-tty-special-chars. If non-zero, readline will bind the terminal special characters to their readline equivalents when it's called (on by default). d. New bindable command: vi-rubout. Saves deleted text for possible reinsertion, as with any vi-mode `text modification' command; `X' is bound to this in vi command mode. e. A new external application-controllable variable that allows the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables to set the window size regardless of what the kernel returns: rl_prefer_env_winsize ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-3.0 since the release of bash-2.05b. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. ANSI string expansion now implements the \x{hexdigits} escape. b. There is a new loadable `strftime' builtin. c. New variable, COMP_WORDBREAKS, which controls the readline completer's idea of word break characters. d. The `type' builtin no longer reports on aliases unless alias expansion will actually be performed. e. HISTCONTROL is now a colon-separated list of values, which permits more extensibility and backwards compatibility. f. HISTCONTROL may now include the `erasedups' option, which causes all lines matching a line being added to be removed from the history list. g. `configure' has a new `--enable-multibyte' argument that permits multibyte character support to be disabled even on systems that support it. h. New variables to support the bash debugger: BASH_ARGC, BASH_ARGV, BASH_SOURCE, BASH_LINENO, BASH_SUBSHELL, BASH_EXECUTION_STRING, BASH_COMMAND i. FUNCNAME has been changed to support the debugger: it's now an array variable. j. for, case, select, arithmetic commands now keep line number information for the debugger. k. There is a new `RETURN' trap executed when a function or sourced script returns (not inherited child processes; inherited by command substitution if function tracing is enabled and the debugger is active). l. New invocation option: --debugger. Enables debugging and turns on new `extdebug' shell option. m. New `functrace' and `errtrace' options to `set -o' cause DEBUG and ERR traps, respectively, to be inherited by shell functions. Equivalent to `set -T' and `set -E' respectively. The `functrace' option also controls whether or not the DEBUG trap is inherited by sourced scripts. n. The DEBUG trap is run before binding the variable and running the action list in a `for' command, binding the selection variable and running the query in a `select' command, and before attempting a match in a `case' command. o. New `--enable-debugger' option to `configure' to compile in the debugger support code. p. `declare -F' now prints out extra line number and source file information if the `extdebug' option is set. q. If `extdebug' is enabled, a non-zero return value from a DEBUG trap causes the next command to be skipped, and a return value of 2 while in a function or sourced script forces a `return'. r. New `caller' builtin to provide a call stack for the bash debugger. s. The DEBUG trap is run just before the first command in a function body is executed, for the debugger. t. `for', `select', and `case' command heads are printed when `set -x' is enabled. u. There is a new {x..y} brace expansion, which is shorthand for {x.x+1, x+2,...,y}. x and y can be integers or single characters; the sequence may ascend or descend; the increment is always 1. v. New ksh93-like ${!array[@]} expansion, expands to all the keys (indices) of array. w. New `force_fignore' shopt option; if enabled, suffixes specified by FIGNORE cause words to be ignored when performing word completion even if they're the only possibilities. x. New `gnu_errfmt' shopt option; if enabled, error messages follow the `gnu style' (filename:lineno:message) format. y. New `-o bashdefault' option to complete and compgen; if set, causes the whole set of bash completions to be performed if the compspec doesn't result in a match. z. New `-o plusdirs' option to complete and compgen; if set, causes directory name completion to be performed and the results added to the rest of the possible completions. aa. `kill' is available as a builtin even when the shell is built without job control. bb. New HISTTIMEFORMAT variable; value is a format string to pass to strftime(3). If set and not null, the `history' builtin prints out timestamp information according to the specified format when displaying history entries. If set, bash tells the history library to write out timestamp information when the history file is written. cc. The [[ ... ]] command has a new binary `=~' operator that performs extended regular expression (egrep-like) matching. dd. `configure' has a new `--enable-cond-regexp' option (enabled by default) to enable the =~ operator and regexp matching in [[ ... ]]. ee. Subexpressions matched by the =~ operator are placed in the new BASH_REMATCH array variable. ff. New `failglob' option that causes an expansion error when pathname expansion fails to produce a match. gg. New `set -o pipefail' option that causes a pipeline to return a failure status if any of the processes in the pipeline fail, not just the last one. hh. printf builtin understands two new escape sequences: \" and \?. ii. `echo -e' understands two new escape sequences: \" and \?. jj. The GNU `gettext' package and libintl have been integrated; the shell's messages can be translated into different languages. kk. The `\W' prompt expansion now abbreviates $HOME as `~', like `\w'. ll. The error message printed when bash cannot open a shell script supplied as argument 1 now includes the name of the shell, to better identify the error as coming from bash. mm. The parameter pattern removal and substitution expansions are now much faster and more efficient when using multibyte characters. nn. The `jobs', `kill', and `wait' builtins now accept job control notation even if job control is not enabled. oo. The historical behavior of `trap' that allows a missing `action' argument to cause each specified signal's handling to be reset to its default is now only supported when `trap' is given a single non-option argument. 2. New Features in Readline a. History expansion has a new `a' modifier equivalent to the `g' modifier for compatibility with the BSD csh. b. History expansion has a new `G' modifier equivalent to the BSD csh `g' modifier, which performs a substitution once per word. c. All non-incremental search operations may now undo the operation of replacing the current line with the history line. d. The text inserted by an `a' command in vi mode can be reinserted with `.'. e. New bindable variable, `show-all-if-unmodified'. If set, the readline completer will list possible completions immediately if there is more than one completion and partial completion cannot be performed. f. There is a new application-callable `free_history_entry()' function. g. History list entries now contain timestamp information; the history file functions know how to read and write timestamp information associated with each entry. h. Four new key binding functions have been added: rl_bind_key_if_unbound() rl_bind_key_if_unbound_in_map() rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound() rl_bind_keyseq_if_unbound_in_map() i. New application variable, rl_completion_quote_character, set to any quote character readline finds before it calls the application completion function. j. New application variable, rl_completion_suppress_quote, settable by an application completion function. If set to non-zero, readline does not attempt to append a closing quote to a completed word. k. New application variable, rl_completion_found_quote, set to a non-zero value if readline determines that the word to be completed is quoted. Set before readline calls any application completion function. l. New function hook, rl_completion_word_break_hook, called when readline needs to break a line into words when completion is attempted. Allows the word break characters to vary based on position in the line. m. New bindable command: unix-filename-rubout. Does the same thing as unix-word-rubout, but adds `/' to the set of word delimiters. n. When listing completions, directories have a `/' appended if the `mark-directories' option has been enabled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05b since the release of bash-2.05a. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. If set, TMOUT is the default timeout for the `read' builtin. b. `type' has two new options: `-f' suppresses shell function lookup, and `-P' forces a $PATH search. c. New code to handle multibyte characters. d. `select' was changed to be more ksh-compatible, in that the menu is reprinted each time through the loop only if REPLY is set to NULL. The previous behavior is available as a compile-time option. e. `complete -d' and `complete -o dirnames' now force a slash to be appended to names which are symlinks to directories. f. There is now a bindable edit-and-execute-command readline command, like the vi-mode `v' command, bound to C-xC-e in emacs mode. g. Added support for ksh93-like [:word:] character class in pattern matching. h. The $'...' quoting construct now expands \cX to Control-X. i. A new \D{...} prompt expansion; passes the `...' to strftime and inserts the result into the expanded prompt. j. The shell now performs arithmetic in the largest integer size the machine supports (intmax_t), instead of long. k. If a numeric argument is supplied to one of the bash globbing completion functions, a `*' is appended to the word before expansion is attempted. l. The bash globbing completion functions now allow completions to be listed with double tabs or if `show-all-if-ambiguous' is set. m. New `-o nospace' option for `complete' and `compgen' builtins; suppresses readline's appending a space to the completed word. n. New `here-string' redirection operator: <<< word. o. When displaying variables, function attributes and definitions are shown separately, allowing them to be re-used as input (attempting to re-use the old output would result in syntax errors). p. There is a new configuration option `--enable-mem-scramble', controls bash malloc behavior of writing garbage characters into memory at allocation and free time. q. The `complete' and `compgen' builtins now have a new `-s/-A service' option to complete on names from /etc/services. r. `read' has a new `-u fd' option to read from a specified file descriptor. s. Fix the completion code so that expansion errors in a directory name don't cause a longjmp back to the command loop. t. Fixed word completion inside command substitution to work a little more intuitively. u. The `printf' %q format specifier now uses $'...' quoting to print the argument if it contains non-printing characters. v. The `declare' and `typeset' builtins have a new `-t' option. When applied to functions, it causes the DEBUG trap to be inherited by the named function. Currently has no effect on variables. w. The DEBUG trap is now run *before* simple commands, ((...)) commands, [[...]] conditional commands, and for ((...)) loops. x. The expansion of $LINENO inside a shell function is only relative to the function start if the shell is interactive -- if the shell is running a script, $LINENO expands to the line number in the script. This is as POSIX-2001 requires. y. The bash debugger in examples/bashdb has been modified to work with the new DEBUG trap semantics, the command set has been made more gdb-like, and the changes to $LINENO make debugging functions work better. Code from Gary Vaughan. z. New [n]<&word- and [n]>&word- redirections from ksh93 -- move fds (dup and close). aa. There is a new `-l' invocation option, equivalent to `--login'. bb. The `hash' builtin has a new `-l' option to list contents in a reusable format, and a `-d' option to remove a name from the hash table. cc. There is now support for placing the long help text into separate files installed into ${datadir}/bash. Not enabled by default; can be turned on with `--enable-separate-helpfiles' option to configure. dd. All builtins that take operands accept a `--' pseudo-option, except `echo'. ee. The `echo' builtin now accepts \0xxx (zero to three octal digits following the `0') in addition to \xxx (one to three octal digits) for SUSv3/XPG6/ POSIX.1-2001 compliance. 2. New Features in Readline a. Support for key `subsequences': allows, e.g., ESC and ESC-a to both be bound to readline functions. Now the arrow keys may be used in vi insert mode. b. When listing completions, and the number of lines displayed is more than the screen length, readline uses an internal pager to display the results. This is controlled by the `page-completions' variable (default on). c. New code to handle editing and displaying multibyte characters. d. The behavior introduced in bash-2.05a of deciding whether or not to append a slash to a completed name that is a symlink to a directory has been made optional, controlled by the `mark-symlinked-directories' variable (default is the 2.05a behavior). e. The `insert-comment' command now acts as a toggle if given a numeric argument: if the first characters on the line don't specify a comment, insert one; if they do, delete the comment text f. New application-settable completion variable: rl_completion_mark_symlink_dirs, allows an application's completion function to temporarily override the user's preference for appending slashes to names which are symlinks to directories. g. New function available to application completion functions: rl_completion_mode, to tell how the completion function was invoked and decide which argument to supply to rl_complete_internal (to list completions, etc.). h. Readline now has an overwrite mode, toggled by the `overwrite-mode' bindable command, which could be bound to `Insert'. i. New application-settable completion variable: rl_completion_suppress_append, inhibits appending of rl_completion_append_character to completed words. j. New key bindings when reading an incremental search string: ^W yanks the currently-matched word out of the current line into the search string; ^Y yanks the rest of the current line into the search string, DEL or ^H deletes characters from the search string. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05a since the release of bash-2.05. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. Added support for DESTDIR installation root prefix, so you can do a `make install DESTDIR=bash-root' and do easier binary packaging. b. Added support for builtin printf "'" flag character as per latest POSIX drafts. c. Support for POSIX.2 printf(1) length specifiers `j', `t', and `z' (from ISO C99). d. New autoconf macro, RL_LIB_READLINE_VERSION, for use by other applications (bash doesn't use very much of what it returns). e. `set [-+]o nolog' is recognized as required by the latest POSIX drafts, but ignored. f. New read-only `shopt' option: login_shell. Set to non-zero value if the shell is a login shell. g. New `\A' prompt string escape sequence; expands to time in 24 HH:MM format. h. New `-A group/-g' option to complete and compgen; does group name completion. i. New `-t' option to `hash' to list hash values for each filename argument. j. New [-+]O invocation option to set and unset `shopt' options at startup. k. configure's `--with-installed-readline' option now takes an optional `=PATH' suffix to set the root of the tree where readline is installed to PATH. l. The ksh-like `ERR' trap has been added. The `ERR' trap will be run whenever the shell would have exited if the -e option were enabled. It is not inherited by shell functions. m. `readonly', `export', and `declare' now print variables which have been given attributes but not set by assigning a value as just a command and a variable name (like `export foo') when listing, as the latest POSIX drafts require. n. `bashbug' now requires that the subject be changed from the default. o. configure has a new `--enable-largefile' option, like other GNU utilities. p. `for' loops now allow empty word lists after `in', like the latest POSIX drafts require. q. The builtin `ulimit' now takes two new non-numeric arguments: `hard', meaning the current hard limit, and `soft', meaning the current soft limit, in addition to `unlimited' r. `ulimit' now prints the option letter associated with a particular resource when printing more than one limit. s. `ulimit' prints `hard' or `soft' when a value is not `unlimited' but is one of RLIM_SAVED_MAX or RLIM_SAVED_CUR, respectively. t. The `printf' builtin now handles the %a and %A conversions if they're implemented by printf(3). u. The `printf' builtin now handles the %F conversion (just about like %f). v. The `printf' builtin now handles the %n conversion like printf(3). The corresponding argument is the name of a shell variable to which the value is assigned. 2. New Features in Readline a. Added extern declaration for rl_get_termcap to readline.h, making it a public function (it was always there, just not in readline.h). b. New #defines in readline.h: RL_READLINE_VERSION, currently 0x0402, RL_VERSION_MAJOR, currently 4, and RL_VERSION_MINOR, currently 2. c. New readline variable: rl_readline_version, mirrors RL_READLINE_VERSION. d. New bindable boolean readline variable: match-hidden-files. Controls completion of files beginning with a `.' (on Unix). Enabled by default. e. The history expansion code now allows any character to terminate a `:first-' modifier, like csh. f. New bindable variable `history-preserve-point'. If set, the history code attempts to place the user at the same location on each history line retrived with previous-history or next-history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.05 since the release of bash-2.04. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. Added a new `--init-file' invocation argument as a synonym for `--rcfile', per the new GNU coding standards. b. The /dev/tcp and /dev/udp redirections now accept service names as well as port numbers. c. `complete' and `compgen' now take a `-o value' option, which controls some of the aspects of that compspec. Valid values are: default - perform bash default completion if programmable completion produces no matches dirnames - perform directory name completion if programmable completion produces no matches filenames - tell readline that the compspec produces filenames, so it can do things like append slashes to directory names and suppress trailing spaces d. A new loadable builtin, realpath, which canonicalizes and expands symlinks in pathname arguments. e. When `set' is called without options, it prints function defintions in a way that allows them to be reused as input. This affects `declare' and `declare -p' as well. This only happens when the shell is not in POSIX mode, since POSIX.2 forbids this behavior. f. Bash-2.05 once again honors the current locale setting when processing ranges within pattern matching bracket expressions (e.g., [A-Z]). 2. New Features in Readline a. The blink timeout for paren matching is now settable by applications, via the rl_set_paren_blink_timeout() function. b. _rl_executing_macro has been renamed to rl_executing_macro, which means it's now part of the public interface. c. Readline has a new variable, rl_readline_state, which is a bitmap that encapsulates the current state of the library; intended for use by callbacks and hook functions. d. New application-callable function rl_set_prompt(const char *prompt): expands its prompt string argument and sets rl_prompt to the result. e. New application-callable function rl_set_screen_size(int rows, int cols): public method for applications to set readline's idea of the screen dimensions. f. New function, rl_get_screen_size (int *rows, int *columns), returns readline's idea of the screen dimensions. g. The timeout in rl_gather_tyi (readline keyboard input polling function) is now settable via a function (rl_set_keyboard_input_timeout()). h. Renamed the max_input_history variable to history_max_entries; the old variable is maintained for backwards compatibility. i. The list of characters that separate words for the history tokenizer is now settable with a variable: history_word_delimiters. The default value is as before. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.04 since the release of bash-2.03. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. The history builtin has a `-d offset' option to delete the history entry at position `offset'. b. The prompt expansion code has two new escape sequences: \j, the number of active jobs; and \l, the basename of the shell's tty device name. c. The `bind' builtin has a new `-x' option to bind key sequences to shell commands. d. There is a new shell option, no_empty_command_completion, which, when enabled, disables command completion when TAB is typed on an empty line. e. The `help' builtin has a `-s' option to just print a builtin's usage synopsis. f. There are several new arithmetic operators: id++, id-- (variable post-increment/decrement), ++id, --id (variable pre-increment/decrement), expr1 , expr2 (comma operator). g. There is a new ksh-93 style arithmetic for command: for ((expr1 ; expr2; expr3 )); do list; done h. The `read' builtin has a number of new options: -t timeout only wait timeout seconds for input -n nchars only read nchars from input instead of a full line -d delim read until delim rather than newline -s don't echo input chars as they are read i. The redirection code now handles several filenames specially: /dev/fd/N, /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, and /dev/stderr, whether or not they are present in the file system. j. The redirection code now recognizes pathnames of the form /dev/tcp/host/port and /dev/udp/host/port, and tries to open a socket of the appropriate type to the specified port on the specified host. k. The ksh-93 ${!prefix*} expansion, which expands to the names of all shell variables with prefix PREFIX, has been implemented. l. There is a new dynamic variable, FUNCNAME, which expands to the name of a currently-executing function. Assignments to FUNCNAME have no effect. m. The GROUPS variable is no longer readonly; assignments to it are silently discarded. This means it can be unset. n. A new programmable completion facility, with two new builtin commands: complete and compgen. o. configure has a new option, `--enable-progcomp', to compile in the programmable completion features (enabled by default). p. `shopt' has a new option, `progcomp', to enable and disable programmable completion at runtime. q. Unsetting HOSTFILE now clears the list of hostnames used for completion. r. configure has a new option, `--enable-bash-malloc', replacing the old `--with-gnu-malloc' (which is still present for backwards compatibility). s. There is a new manual page describing rbash, the restricted shell. t. `bashbug' has new `--help' and `--version' options. u. `shopt' has a new `xpg_echo' option, which controls the behavior of `echo' with respect to backslash-escaped characters at runtime. v. If NON_INTERACTIVE_LOGIN_SHELLS is defined, all login shells read the startup files, even if they are not interactive. w. The LC_NUMERIC variable is now treated specially, and used to set the LC_NUMERIC locale category for number formatting, e.g., when `printf' displays floating-point numbers. 2. New features in Readline a. Parentheses matching is now always compiled into readline, and enabled or disabled when the value of the `blink-matching-paren' variable is changed. b. MS-DOS systems now use ~/_inputrc as the last-ditch inputrc filename. c. MS-DOS systems now use ~/_history as the default history file. d. history-search-{forward,backward} now leave the point at the end of the line when the string to search for is empty, like {reverse,forward}-search-history. e. history-search-{forward,backward} now leave the last history line found in the readline buffer if the second or subsequent search fails. f. New function for use by applications: rl_on_new_line_with_prompt, used when an application displays the prompt itself before calling readline(). g. New variable for use by applications: rl_already_prompted. An application that displays the prompt itself before calling readline() must set this to a non-zero value. h. A new variable, rl_gnu_readline_p, always 1. The intent is that an application can verify whether or not it is linked with the `real' readline library or some substitute. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.03 since the release of bash-2.02. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. New `shopt' option, `restricted_shell', indicating whether or not the shell was started in restricted mode, for use in startup files. b. Filename generation is now performed on the words between ( and ) in array assignments (which it probably should have done all along). c. OLDPWD is now auto-exported, as POSIX.2 seems to require. d. ENV and BASH_ENV are read-only variables in a restricted shell. e. A change was made to the startup file code so that any shell begun with the `--login' option, even non-interactive shells, will source the login shell startup files. 2. New Features in Readline a. Many changes to the signal handling: o Readline now catches SIGQUIT and cleans up the tty before returning; o A new variable, rl_catch_signals, is available to application writers to indicate to readline whether or not it should install its own signal handlers for SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGQUIT, SIGALRM, SIGTSTP, SIGTTIN, and SIGTTOU; o A new variable, rl_catch_sigwinch, is available to application writers to indicate to readline whether or not it should install its own signal handler for SIGWINCH, which will chain to the calling applications's SIGWINCH handler, if one is installed; o There is a new function, rl_free_line_state, for application signal handlers to call to free up the state associated with the current line after receiving a signal; o There is a new function, rl_cleanup_after_signal, to clean up the display and terminal state after receiving a signal; o There is a new function, rl_reset_after_signal, to reinitialize the terminal and display state after an application signal handler returns and readline continues b. There is a new function, rl_resize_terminal, to reset readline's idea of the screen size after a SIGWINCH. c. New public functions: rl_save_prompt and rl_restore_prompt. These were previously private functions with a `_' prefix. d. New function hook: rl_pre_input_hook, called just before readline starts reading input, after initialization. e. New function hook: rl_display_matches_hook, called when readline would display the list of completion matches. The new function rl_display_match_list is what readline uses internally, and is available for use by application functions called via this hook. f. New bindable function, delete-char-or-list, like tcsh. g. A new variable, rl_erase_empty_line, which, if set by an application using readline, will cause readline to erase, prompt and all, lines on which the only thing typed was a newline. h. New bindable variable: `isearch-terminators'. i. New bindable function: `forward-backward-delete-char' (unbound by default). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.02 since the release of bash-2.01.1. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. A new version of malloc, based on the older GNU malloc, that has many changes, is more page-based, is more conservative with memory usage, and does not `orphan' large blocks when they are freed. b. A new version of gmalloc, based on the old GLIBC malloc, with many changes and range checking included by default. c. A new implementation of fnmatch(3) that includes full POSIX.2 Basic Regular Expression matching, including character classes, collating symbols, equivalence classes, and support for case-insensitive pattern matching. d. ksh-88 egrep-style extended pattern matching ([@+*?!](patlist)) has been implemented, controlled by a new `shopt' option, `extglob'. e. There is a new ksh-like `[[' compound command, which implements extended `test' functionality. f. There is a new `printf' builtin, implemented according to the POSIX.2 specification. g. There is a new feature for command substitution: $(< filename) now expands to the contents of `filename', with any trailing newlines removed (equivalent to $(cat filename)). h. There are new tilde prefixes which expand to directories from the directory stack. i. There is a new `**' arithmetic operator to do exponentiation. j. There are new configuration options to control how bash is linked: `--enable-profiling', to allow bash to be profiled with gprof, and `--enable-static-link', to allow bash to be linked statically. k. There is a new configuration option, `--enable-cond-command', which controls whether or not the `[[' command is included. It is on by default. l. There is a new configuration option, `--enable-extended-glob', which controls whether or not the ksh extended globbing feature is included. It is enabled by default. m. There is a new configuration #define in config.h.top that, when enabled, will cause all login shells to source /etc/profile and one of the user- specific login shell startup files, whether or not the shell is interactive. n. There is a new invocation option, `--dump-po-strings', to dump a shell script's translatable strings ($"...") in GNU `po' format. o. There is a new `shopt' option, `nocaseglob', to enable case-insensitive pattern matching when globbing filenames and using the `case' construct. p. There is a new `shopt' option, `huponexit', which, when enabled, causes the shell to send SIGHUP to all jobs when an interactive login shell exits. q. `bind' has a new `-u' option, which takes a readline function name as an argument and unbinds all key sequences bound to that function in a specified keymap. r. `disown' now has `-a' and `-r' options, to limit operation to all jobs and running jobs, respectively. s. The `shopt' `-p' option now causes output to be displayed in a reusable format. t. `test' has a new `-N' option, which returns true if the filename argument has been modified since it was last accessed. u. `umask' now has a `-p' option to print output in a reusable format. v. A new escape sequence, `\xNNN', has been added to the `echo -e' and $'...' translation code. It expands to the character whose ascii code is NNN in hexadecimal. w. The prompt string expansion code has a new `\r' escape sequence. x. The shell may now be cross-compiled for the CYGWIN32 environment on a Unix machine. 2. New Features in Readline a. There is now an option for `iterative' yank-last-arg handline, so a user can keep entering `M-.', yanking the last argument of successive history lines. b. New variable, `print-completions-horizontally', which causes completion matches to be displayed across the screen (like `ls -x') rather than up and down the screen (like `ls'). c. New variable, `completion-ignore-case', which causes filename completion and matching to be performed case-insensitively. d. There is a new bindable command, `magic-space', which causes history expansion to be performed on the current readline buffer and a space to be inserted into the result. e. There is a new bindable command, `menu-complete', which enables tcsh-like menu completion (successive executions of menu-complete insert a single completion match, cycling through the list of possible completions). f. There is a new bindable command, `paste-from-clipboard', for use on Win32 systems, to insert the text from the Win32 clipboard into the editing buffer. g. The key sequence translation code now understands printf-style backslash escape sequences, including \NNN octal escapes. These escape sequences may be used in key sequence definitions or macro values. h. An `$include' inputrc file parser directive has been added. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.01 since the release of bash-2.0. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. There is a new builtin array variable: GROUPS, the set of groups to which the user belongs. This is used by the test suite. 2. New Features in Readline a. If a key sequence bound to `universal-argument' is read while reading a numeric argument started with `universal-argument', it terminates the argument but is otherwise ignored. This provides a way to insert multiple instances of a digit string, and is how GNU emacs does it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a terse description of the new features added to bash-2.0 since the release of bash-1.14.7. As always, the manual page (doc/bash.1) is the place to look for complete descriptions. 1. New Features in Bash a. There is a new invocation option, -D, that dumps translatable strings in a script. b. The `long' invocation options must now be prefixed with `--'. c. New long invocation options: --dump-strings, --help, --verbose d. The `nolineediting' invocation option was renamed to `noediting'. e. The `nobraceexpansion' and `quiet' long invocation options were removed. f. The `--help' and `--version' long options now work as the GNU coding standards specify. g. If invoked as `sh', bash now enters posix mode after reading the startup files, and reads and executes commands from the file named by $ENV if interactive (as POSIX.2 specifies). A login shell invoked as `sh' reads $ENV after /etc/profile and ~/.profile. h. There is a new reserved word, `time', for timing pipelines, builtin commands, and shell functions. It uses the value of the TIMEFORMAT variable as a format string describing how to print the timing statistics. i. The $'...' quoting syntax expands ANSI-C escapes in ... and leaves the result single-quoted. j. The $"..." quoting syntax performs locale-specific translation of ... and leaves the result double-quoted. k. LINENO now works correctly in functions. l. New variables: DIRSTACK, PIPESTATUS, BASH_VERSINFO, HOSTNAME, SHELLOPTS, MACHTYPE. The first three are array variables. m. The BASH_VERSION and BASH_VERSINFO variables now include the shell's `release status' (alpha[N], beta[N], release). n. Some variables have been removed: MAIL_WARNING, notify, history_control, command_oriented_history, glob_dot_filenames, allow_null_glob_expansion, nolinks, hostname_completion_file, noclobber, no_exit_on_failed_exec, and cdable_vars. Most of them are now implemented with the new `shopt' builtin; others were already implemented by `set'. o. Bash now uses some new variables: LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LC_CTYPE, LC_COLLATE, LANG, GLOBIGNORE, HISTIGNORE. p. The shell now supports integer-indexed arrays of unlimited length, with a new compound assignment syntax and changes to the appropriate builtin commands (declare/typeset, read, readonly, etc.). The array index may be an arithmetic expression. q. ${!var}: indirect variable expansion, equivalent to eval \${$var}. r. ${paramter:offset[:length]}: variable substring extraction. s. ${parameter/pattern[/[/]string]}: variable pattern substitution. t. The $[...] arithmetic expansion syntax is no longer supported, in favor of $((...)). u. Aliases can now be expanded in shell scripts with a shell option (shopt expand_aliases). v. History and history expansion can now be used in scripts with set -o history and set -H. w. All builtins now return an exit status of 2 for incorrect usage. x. Interactive shells resend SIGHUP to all running or stopped children if (and only if) they exit due to a SIGHUP. y. New prompting expansions: \a, \e, \H, \T, \@, \v, \V. z. Variable expansion in prompt strings is now controllable via a shell option (shopt promptvars). aa. Bash now defaults to using command-oriented history. bb. The history file ($HISTFILE) is now truncated to $HISTFILESIZE after being written. cc. The POSIX.2 conditional arithmetic evaluation syntax (expr ? expr : expr) has been implemented. dd. Each builtin now accepts `--' to signify the end of the options, except as documented (echo, etc.). ee. All builtins use -p to display values in a re-readable format where appropriate, except as documented (echo, type, etc.). ff. The `alias' builtin has a new -p option. gg. Changes to the `bind' builtin: o has new options: -psPSVr. o the `-d' option was renamed to `-p' o the `-v' option now dumps variables; the old `-v' is now `-P' hh. The `bye' synonym for `exit' was removed. ii. The -L and -P options to `cd' and `pwd' have been documented. jj. The `cd' builtin now does spelling correction on the directory name by default. This is settable with a shell option (shopt cdspell). kk. The `declare' builtin has new options: -a, -F, -p. ll. The `dirs' builtin has new options: -c, -p, -v. mm. The new `disown' builtin removes jobs from the shell's jobs table or inhibits the resending of SIGHUP when the shell receives a SIGHUP. nn. The `echo' builtin has a new escape character: \e. oo. The `enable' builtin can now load new builtins dynamically from shared objects on systems with the dlopen/dlsym interface. There are a number of examples in the examples/loadables directory. There are also new options: -d, -f, -s, -p. pp. The `-all' option to `enable' was removed in favor of `-a'. qq. The `exec' builtin has new options: -l, -c, -a. rr. The `hash' builtin has a new option: -p. ss. The `history' builtin has new options: -c, -p, -s. tt. The `jobs' builtin has new options: -r, -s. uu. The `kill' builtin has new options: -n signum, -l signame. vv. The `pushd' and `popd' builtins have a new option: -n. ww. The `read' builtin has new options: -p prompt, -e, -a. xx. The `readonly' builtin has a new -a option, and the -n option was removed. yy. Changes to the `set' builtin: o new options: -B, -o keyword, -o onecmd, -o history o options removed: -l, -d, -o nohash o options changed: +o, -h, -o hashall o now displays variables in a format that can be re-read as input zz. The new `shopt' builtin controls shell optional behavior previously done by setting and unsetting certain shell variables. aaa. The `test' builtin has new operators: -o option, s1 == s2, s1 < s2, and s1 > s2, where s1 and s2 are strings. bbb. There is a new trap, DEBUG, executed after every simple command. ccc. The `trap' builtin has a new -p option. ddd. The `ulimit' builtin has a new -l option on 4.4BSD-based systems. eee. The PS1, PS2, PATH, and IFS variables may now be unset. fff. The restricted shell mode has been expanded and is now documented. ggg. Security improvements: o functions are not imported from the environment if running setuid or with -p o no startup files are sourced if running setuid or with -p hhh. The documentation has been overhauled: the texinfo manual was expanded, and HTML versions of the man page and texinfo manual are included. iii. Changes to Posix mode: o Command lookup now finds special builtins before shell functions. o Failure of a special builtin causes a non-interactive shell to exit. Failures are defined in the POSIX.2 specification. o If the `cd' builtin finds a directory to change to using $CDPATH, the value assigned to PWD when `cd' completes does not contain any symbolic links. o A non-interactive shell exits if a variable assignment error occurs when no command name follows the assignment statements. o A non-interactive shell exits if the interation variable in a `for' statement or the selection variable in a `select' statement is read-only or another variable assignment error occurs. o The `<>' redirection operator now opens a file for both stdin and stdout by default, not just when in posix mode. o Assignment statements preceding special builtins now persist in the shell's environment when the builtin completes. Posix mode is now completely POSIX.2-compliant (modulo bugs). When invoked as sh, bash should be completely POSIX.2-compliant. jjj. The default value of PS1 is now "\s-\v\$ ". kkk. The ksh-like ((...)) arithmetic command syntax has been implemented. This is exactly equivalent to `let "..."'. lll. Integer constants have been extended to base 64. mmm. The `ulimit' builtin now sets both hard and soft limits and reports the soft limit by default. 2. New Features in Readline a. New variables: enable-keypad, input-meta (new name for meta-flag), mark-directories, visible-stats (now documented), disable-completion, comment-begin. b. New bindable commands: kill-region, copy-region-as-kill, copy-backward-word, copy-forward-word, set-mark, exchange-point-and-mark, character-search, character-search-backward, insert-comment, glob-expand-word, glob-list-expansions, dump-variables, dump-macros. c. New emacs keybindings: delete-horizontal-space (M-\), insert-completions (M-*), possible-completions (M-=). d. The history-search-backward and history-search-forward commands were modified to be the same as previous-line and next-line if point is at the start of the line. e. More file types are available for the visible-stats mode. 3. Changes of interest in the Bash implementation a. There is a new autoconf-based configuration mechanism. b. More things have been moved from Posix mode to standard shell behavior. c. The trace output (set -x) now inserts quotes where necessary so it can be reused as input. d. There is a compile-time option for a system-wide interactive shell startup file (disabled by default). e. The YACC grammar is smaller and tighter, and all 66 shift-reduce conflicts are gone. Several parsing bugs have been fixed. f. Builtin option parsing has been regularized (using internal_getopt()), with the exception of `echo', `type', and `set'. g. Builtins now return standard usage messages constructed from the `short doc' used by the help builtin. h. Completion now quotes using backslashes by default, but honors user-supplied quotes. i. The GNU libc malloc is available as a configure-time option. j. There are more internationalization features; bash uses gettext if it is available. The $"..." translation syntax uses the current locale and gettext. k. There is better reporting of job termination when the shell is not interactive. l. The shell is somewhat more efficient: it uses a little less memory and makes fewer system calls. 4. Changes of interest in the Readline implementation a. There is now support for readline `callback' functions. b. There is now support for user-supplied input, redisplay, and terminal preparation functions. c. Most of the shell-specific code in readline has been generalized or removed. d. Most of the annoying redisplay bugs have been fixed, notably the problems with incremental search and excessive redrawing when special characters appear in the prompt string. e. There are new library functions and variables available to application writers, most having to do with completion and quoting. f. The NEWLINE character (^J) is now treated as a search terminator by the incremental search functions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.