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 (variabl 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.