Bash is the default shell of many Linux operating systems, and the Windows Subsystem for Linux in Windows 10. It has its own set of builtin commands, listed below.

Inherited and special builtin commands

Some of these commands are inherited from the original Bourne shell (sh). Commands marked as “inherited” below also work in the Bourne shell.

Some of the commands are designated as special commands under the POSIX standard. If bash is running in POSIX mode (e.g., set -o posix), they have these special behaviors:

  • When you run a special command, it is guaranteed to run first, before other commands with the same name.
  • If the command returns an error, and the shell was started in non-interactive mode, the shell will exit.
  • Variable assignments that precede a special builtin command stays in effect after the special command is completed.

Index of bash builtin commands

Back to Linux home