UNIX "Shell" command interpreters

A shell is a program that interprets your commands and translates them into a form that is understood by UNIX.

There are several shells available: the Bourne shell (sh), the C Shell (csh), and, on some systems like the Cray, the Korn shell (ksh). The Bourne shell and the Korn shell are derived from AT&T Unix System V. The C shell is derived from the 4.2 release of the Berkeley Software Distribution. These shells differ somewhat in terms of their use and functionality.

Selecting a Shell

Initially,you are given the C shell, but you can use the chsh command to choose whatever shell you would like. To change your shell to the Korn shell, for instance, execute:

     chsh login-name /bin/ksh

Shell overviews are available via the man command.