KornShell
KornShell (ksh) is a Unix shell and command language written by David Korn. It is backward-compatible with the Bourne shell and includes many features from Bash and C shell. KornShell is known for its interactive scripting and job control features.
shell
scripting
unix
ksh
KornShell (ksh) Interactive Unix Shell and Command Languages
KornShell (ksh) is a Unix shell and command language written by David Korn, offering backward-compatibility with the Bourne shell, features from Bash, and C shell. Utilize its interactive scripting and job control capabilities.
What is KornShell?
KornShell (ksh) is a Unix shell and command language written by David Korn in the early 1980s. It is backward-compatible with the Bourne shell and includes many additional features from the Bash and C shells.
Some key features of KornShell include:
- Interactive scripting and debugging
- Job control
- Command history and editing
- Alias and function definitions
- String editing operations
- Integer arithmetic operations
- Advanced test/conditional expressions
KornShell is designed to create shell scripts that are portable and powerful. It became especially popular for writing system administration scripts and complex shell programs. The interactive features for debugging scripts and its compatibility made it an attractive alternative to bash or csh for many developers and power users.
While it has been largely superseded by bash on Linux and zsh on macOS, KornShell continues to be used today on commercial Unix platforms like AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris. The license terms are also friendlier compared to bash. So if you need advanced scripting capabilities and POSIX/Unix compatibility, KornShell is still a good option to consider.
KornShell Features
Features
- Interactive shell and scripting language
- Compatible with Bourne shell (sh)
- Influenced features in Bash and Zsh shells
- Job control
- Command history and editing
- Aliases
- Functions
- Built-in arithmetic
- Associative arrays
- POSIX compliance
Pricing
- Open Source
- Free
Pros
Backward compatibility with Bourne shell
Powerful scripting capabilities
Rich feature set
Good performance
Available on most Unix/Linux systems
Cons
Not installed by default on some systems
Less user-friendly than Bash for interactive use
Less widespread adoption than Bash
Some platform differences in implementation
Official Links
The Best KornShell Alternatives
Top Development and Scripting Languages and other similar apps like KornShell
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