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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers trap command Post 302537011 by Corona688 on Wednesday 6th of July 2011 11:02:25 PM
Old 07-07-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by Straitsfan
I'm sorry to be so dense corona, but can you tell me what is meant by external command, foreground process, etc. I'm not sure the book is clear on this. Smilie
An external command is one that's not built into the shell. It exists as an actual file somewhere, and when you run it, it creates a whole new process.
Code:
$ whereis -b cat
cat: /bin/cat
$ /bin/cat file.txt
contents of file
$ whereis read
read:
$ read VAR
qwertyuiop
$ echo $VAR
qwertyuiop
$

builtins, on the other hand, are commands the shell just automatically knows how to do. There's no 'read' program on the system, but 'read' works anyway, putting the qwertyuiop typed on the keyboard into the variable VAR.

So when you run an external command, it's run seperately, and it has control of the terminal until it's done. When you run an internal command, no programs are run, the shell just does what you tell it internally.

Another important builtin is one you probably already know -- 'cd'. Consider how external programs are run -- they have a separate process, their own environment. If cd wasn't a builtin it couldn't possibly work, because it'd create a new process, change that process' directory, quit, and return to your shell, leaving your shell unchanged.
 

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trap(1) 							   User Commands							   trap(1)

NAME
trap, onintr - shell built-in functions to respond to (hardware) signals SYNOPSIS
sh trap [ argument n [n2...]] csh onintr [-| label] ksh *trap [ arg sig [ sig2...]] DESCRIPTION
sh The trap command argument is to be read and executed when the shell receives numeric or symbolic signal(s) (n). (Note: argument is scanned once when the trap is set and once when the trap is taken.) Trap commands are executed in order of signal number or corresponding symbolic names. Any attempt to set a trap on a signal that was ignored on entry to the current shell is ineffective. An attempt to trap on signal 11 (memory fault) produces an error. If argument is absent all trap(s) n are reset to their original values. If argument is the null string this signal is ignored by the shell and by the commands it invokes. If n is 0 the command argument is executed on exit from the shell. The trap command with no arguments prints a list of commands associated with each signal number. csh onintr controls the action of the shell on interrupts. With no arguments, onintr restores the default action of the shell on interrupts. (The shell terminates shell scripts and returns to the terminal command input level). With the - argument, the shell ignores all inter- rupts. With a label argument, the shell executes a goto label when an interrupt is received or a child process terminates because it was interrupted. ksh trap uses arg as a command to be read and executed when the shell receives signal(s) sig. (Note that arg is scanned once when the trap is set and once when the trap is taken.) Each sig can be given as a number or as the name of the signal. trap commands are executed in order of signal number. Any attempt to set a trap on a signal that was ignored on entry to the current shell is ineffective. If arg is omitted or is -, then the trap(s) for each sig are reset to their original values. If arg is the null (the empty string, e.g., "" ) string then this signal is ignored by the shell and by the commands it invokes. If sig is ERR then arg will be executed whenever a command has a non- zero exit status. If sig is DEBUG then arg will be executed after each command. If sig is 0 or EXIT for a trap set outside any function then the command arg is executed on exit from the shell. The trap command with no arguments prints a list of commands associated with each signal number. On this man page, ksh(1) commands that are preceded by one or two * (asterisks) are treated specially in the following ways: 1. Variable assignment lists preceding the command remain in effect when the command completes. 2. I/O redirections are processed after variable assignments. 3. Errors cause a script that contains them to abort. 4. Words, following a command preceded by ** that are in the format of a variable assignment, are expanded with the same rules as a vari- able assignment. This means that tilde substitution is performed after the = sign and word splitting and file name generation are not performed. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWcsu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
csh(1), exit(1), ksh(1), sh(1), attributes(5) SunOS 5.10 23 Oct 1994 trap(1)
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