What is Hamilton C shell?
The Hamilton C shell, also known as hcsh or Hamilton shell, is a Unix shell programming language based on the C language. It serves as an alternative shell to the traditionally used Bourne shell (sh), providing additional functionality and features aimed at boosting programmer productivity.
Some of the key features that distinguish Hamilton C shell from the standard Bourne shell include:
- Command history - hcsh allows commands used previously to be accessed conveniently via the command history.
- Tab completion - typing the start of a pathname or command and pressing tab can automatically complete the rest.
- Additional programming constructs - provides familiar C language features like if statements and loops for scripting.
- Customizable prompts - users can set shell prompts to display useful info like directories.
- Extensible via modules - functionality can be expanded by adding external modules.
- Backslash escapes in strings - allows special characters to be handled more easily.
The combination of the power and flexibility of C plus purpose-built enhancements for convenient interaction and scripting has helped Hamilton C shell become popular among programmers and power users. Though not bundled with operating systems by default, it is commonly installed from external package repositories and used alongside shells like bash or zsh.