Bash built-in Commands and Reserved Words
Command
Summary
!
Reserved word. Logical NOT of a command exit status.
:
Do nothing, just do expansions of any arguments.
.
Read file and execute its contents in current shell. Same as source.
alias
Set up shorthand (macro) for a command or command line. (see unalias)
bg
Put job in background. (Also &)
bind
Bind a key sequence to a readline function or macro.
break
Exit from surrounding for, select, while, or until loop.
builtin
Execute the specified shell built-in. (instead of the external utility)
case
Reserved word. Multi-way if-conditional construct. (see esac)
cd
Change working directory. (see also pwd)
command
Run a command bypassing shell function lookup.
continue
Skip to next iteration of a for, select, while, or until loop.
declare
Declare variables and give them attributes. (replaces typeset)
dirs
Display the list of currently remembered directories. (directory stack)
disown
Remove a job from the job table. (see jobs)
do
Reserved word. Part of a for, select, while, or until looping construct.
done
Reserved word. Part of a for, select, while, or until looping construct.
echo
Expand and print any arguments to the screen.
elif
Reserved word. Part of an if construct. (else if)
else
Reserved word. Part of an if construct.
enable
Enable or disable a built-in shell command. (force use of external utility)
esac
Reserved word. Part of a case construct. (end case)
eval
Run the given arguments through command-line processing. (e.g. look again)
exec
Replace the current shell with the given program.
exit
Exit from the shell. (Also ^D and logout)
export
Create environmental variables. (global) (see also declare)
fc
Fix command (edit command history).
fg
Put background job in foreground.
fi
Reserved word. Part of an if construct. (end if)
for
Reserved word. Looping construct. (see in, do and done)
function
Define a function.
getopts
Process command-line options.
hash
Full pathnames of commands are determined and remembered.
help
Display helpful information on built-in commands.
history
Display command history.
if
Reserved word. Conditional construct. (see then, elif, else, fi)
in
Reserved word. Part of a case, select or for construct.
jobs
List any background jobs.
kill
Send a signal to a process. (e.g. terminate a PID)
let
Integer arithmetic variable assignment. Same as/replaced by (( )).
local
Create a local variable. (see also declare and readonly)
logout
Exit a login shell. (Also ^D or exit)
popd
Remove the top directory from the directory stack. (lifo) (see dirs)
pushd
Add a directory to the top of the directory stack. (lifo) (see dirs)
pwd
Print the working directory. (e.g. current directory) (see also cd)
read
Read a line from standard input. (stdin keyboard)
readonly
Make variables read-only (unassignable).
return
Return from the surrounding function or script.
select
Reserved word. Menu-generation construct. (see in, do and done)
set
Set or display bash options.
shift
Shift command-line arguments. (e.g. $0 — $9)
suspend
Suspend execution of a shell.
test
Evaluate a boolean conditional expression. Same as/replaced by [ ] and [[ ]].
then
Reserved word. Part of an if construct.
time
Reserved word. Run command (pipeline) and print the execution time.
times
Print the accumulated user and system times for processes run from the shell.
trap
Set up a signal-catching routine.
type
Identify the source of a command.
typeset
Declare variables and give them attributes. Same as/replaced by declare.
ulimit
Set/show process resource limits.
umask
Set/show file permission mask.
unalias
Remove alias definitions.
unset
Remove definitions of variables or functions.
until
Reserved word. Looping construct. (see while, do, and done)
wait
Wait for background job(s) to finish.
while
Reserved word. Looping construct. (see until, do, and done)