Shell Scripting 1 - What is Linux Shell ?

Do you know what Linux 'Kernel' is? Simply, it is the heart of the Linux Operating System. It manages the resources. (ie. Memory management, File management, I/O management, Device management, etc.) Kernel lies close to the hardware. So the language it can understand is more over low level. 

For humans to work with the operating system, there are human readable commands. Shell is the special program which converts those human readable commands in to the format which Kernel can understand. So shell is also a user program, which provides a more convenient environment for humans to interact with the system. 

 

Shell executes commands that are given from the keyboard or a file. There are several shells.

• BASH
• CSH
• KSH
• TCSH

You can access the Shell simply by opening a terminal. Or else you can connect through SSH (Secure Shell).

Note :  All the available shells in the system can be found in /etc/shells file.
            Current shell name is assigned to SHELL variable.

Let's see what is Shell Scripting in my next post.