User Commands exec(1)
NAME
exec, eval, source - shell built-in functions to execute
other commandsSYNOPSIS
sh exec [argument]... eval [argument]... csh exec command eval argument...source [-h] name
ksh *exec [argument]... *eval [argument]... ksh93+exec [-c] [-a name] [command [argument ... ]]
+eval [argument]...DESCRIPTION
sh The exec command specified by the arguments is executed in place of this shell without creating a new process. Input/output arguments and appear and, if no other arguments are specified, cause the shell input/output to be modified.The arguments to the eval built-in are read as input to the
shell and the resulting command(s) executed. csh exec executes command in place of the current shell, which terminates.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 8 Apr 2008 1
User Commands exec(1) eval reads its arguments as input to the shell and executes the resulting command(s). This is usually used to executecommands generated as the result of command or variable sub-
stitution.source reads commands from name. source commands can be
nested, but if they are nested too deeply the shell can runout of file descriptors. An error in a sourced file at any
level terminates all nested source commands.
-h Place commands from the file name on the history list
without executing them. kshWith the exec built-in, if arg is specified, the command
specified by the arguments is executed in place of this shell without creating a new process. Input/output arguments can appear and affect the current process. If no arguments are specified the effect of this command is to modify file descriptors as prescribed by the input/output redirection list. In this case, any file descriptor numbers greater than2 that are opened with this mechanism are closed when invok-
ing another program. The arguments to eval are read as input to the shell and the resulting command(s) executed. 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 variable assign-
ment. This means that tilde substitution is per-
formed after the = sign and word splitting and file name generation are not performed. ksh93SunOS 5.11 Last change: 8 Apr 2008 2
User Commands exec(1)exec is a special built-in command that can be used to mani-
pulate file descriptors or to replace the current shell with a new command. If command is specified, then the current shell process is replaced by command rather than running command and waiting for it to complete. There is no need to use exec to enhanceperformance since the shell implicitly uses the exec mechan-
ism internally whenever possible. If no operands are specified, exec can be used to open or close files, or to manipulate file descriptors from 0 to 9in the current shell environment using the standard redirec-
tion mechanism available with all commands. The close-on-
exec flags is set on file descriptor numbers greater than 2 that are opened this way so that they are closed when another program is invoked. Because exec is a special command, any failure causes the script that invokes it to exit. This can be prevented by invoking exec from the command utility. exec cannot be invoked from a restricted shell to create files or to open a file for writing or appending.eval is a shell special built-in command that constructs a
command by concatenating the arguments together, separating each with a space. The resulting string is taken as input to the shell and evaluated in the current environment. command words are expanded twice, once to construct argument, and again when the shell executes the constructed command. It is not an error if argument is not specified. On this manual page, ksh93 commands that are preceded by oneor two + symbols are special built-in commands and 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. They are not valid function names.
SunOS 5.11 Last change: 8 Apr 2008 3
User Commands exec(1) 5. Words following a command preceded by ++ that are in the format of a variable assignment are expanded with the same rules as a variable assignment. This means that tilde substitution is performed afterthe = sign and field splitting and file name gen-
eration are not performed. OPTIONS ksh93 The following options are supported by ksh93 exec:-a name argv[0] is set to name for command.
-c Clear all environment variables before executions
except variable assignments that are part of the current exec command. EXIT STATUS ksh The following exit values are returned by exec: 0 Successful completion.1-125 A redirection error occurred.
127 command was not found. 126 command was found, but it is not an executable utility. ksh93 The following exit values are returned by exec. If command is specified, exec does not return.0 Successful completion. All I/O redirections were suc-
cessful. >0 An error occurred. The following exit values are returned by eval:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 8 Apr 2008 4
User Commands exec(1)If argument is not specified, the exit status is 0. Other-
wise, it is the exit status of the command defined by the argument operands.ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcs ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
csh(1), ksh(1), ksh93(1), sh(1), attributes(5)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 8 Apr 2008 5