linux man page for shift

SHIFT(P)						     POSIX Programmer's Manual							  SHIFT(P)

NAME
       shift - shift positional parameters

SYNOPSIS
       shift [n]

DESCRIPTION
       The  positional	parameters  shall  be shifted. Positional parameter 1 shall be assigned the value of parameter (1+n), parameter 2 shall be
       assigned the value of parameter (2+n), and so on. The parameters represented by the numbers "$#" down to "$#-n+1" shall be unset,  and  the
       parameter '#' is updated to reflect the new number of positional parameters.

       The  value  n  shall  be  an unsigned decimal integer less than or equal to the value of the special parameter '#' .  If n is not given, it
       shall be assumed to be 1. If n is 0, the positional and special parameters are not changed.

OPTIONS
       None.

OPERANDS
       See the DESCRIPTION.

STDIN
       Not used.

INPUT FILES
       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       None.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       Not used.

STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
       The exit status is >0 if n>$#; otherwise, it is zero.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       None.

EXAMPLES
	      $ set a b c d e
	      $ shift 2
	      $ echo $*
	      c d e

RATIONALE
       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       Special Built-In Utilities

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technol-
       ogy -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and  the  original  IEEE
       and  The  Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained
       online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE
/The Open Group						       2003								  SHIFT(P)