How do I know what type of shells are available in my Unix system?

shuhang2 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

How do I know what type of shells are available in my Unix system? Are there a single command or environment variable that can let me find that out?

Best regards,

John Chan

zaxxon · #2 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

A ring to to rule them all... err.. a command to list them all hm, I don't know one. Maybe this helps:

Your current shell:

Code:

echo $SHELL

For the initial shells of your users check the /etc/passwd.

Depending on which OS you are, you can query your software package management tools like for example:

Code:

rpm -qa| grep -i shell     # Many Linuxes, SUN, AIX, ...
dpkg -l| grep -i shell     # Debian Linux
lslpp -l| grep -i shell    # AIX

Levenson · #3 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

grep your_login_name /etc/passwd and look at the end of the line

vbe · #4 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

look what is installed...

Code:

ls /usr/bin/*sh

e.g. (hpux)
ant:/home/vbe $ ll /usr/bin/*sh
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root       sys             44 Sep 14  2006 /usr/bin/autopush -> /opt/star-ncf-prod/ep_patch/usr/bin/autopush
-r-sr-xr-x   5 root       bin          53248 Apr 28  2007 /usr/bin/chsh
-r-xr-xr-x   1 bin        bin         155648 Oct 10  2007 /usr/bin/csh
-r-xr-xr-x   1 bin        bin            152 Nov 14  2000 /usr/bin/hash
-r-xr-xr-x   1 bin        bin         245760 Nov 14  2000 /usr/bin/keysh
-r-xr-xr-x   2 bin        bin         159744 Oct 10  2007 /usr/bin/ksh
-r-sr-xr-x   1 root       bin          32768 Jan 25  2007 /usr/bin/remsh
-r-xr-xr-x   2 bin        bin         159744 Oct 10  2007 /usr/bin/rksh
-r-xr-xr-x   2 bin        bin         208896 Dec 15  2007 /usr/bin/rsh
-r-xr-xr-x   2 bin        bin         208896 Dec 15  2007 /usr/bin/sh
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root       sys             16 Dec 13  2004 /usr/bin/ssh -> /opt/ssh/bin/ssh

jim mcnamara · #5 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

Note: /usr/bin/hash is not a shell... neither are /usr/bin/ssh, /usr/bin/chsh

fpmurphy · #6 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

And don't forget /usr/dt/bin/dtksh which is an early version of ksh93 used primarily by CDE

mr_crosby · #7 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008

echo $SHELL will give you your initial login shell and not your current one.
To find your current shell its

Code:

echo $0

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