Which Shell Is Which?

Let's dig in and find out some of the key additional capabilities of the most popular UNIX user shells.

Task 14.1: The C Shell and Korn Shell History Mechanisms

If you went through school in the United States, you doubtless have heard the aphorism “Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.” UNIX stands this concept on its head. For UNIX, the aphorism is best stated “Those who are aware of their history can easily repeat it.”

Both the C shell and the Korn shell build a table of commands as you enter them and assign them each a command number. Each time you log in, the first command you enter is command 1, and ...

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