SET(1)                     POSIX Programmer's Manual                    SET(1)



PROLOG
       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The OS
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the corresponding
       OS manual page for details of OS behavior), or the interface may not be
       implemented on OS.

NAME
       set -- set or unset options and positional parameters

SYNOPSIS
       set [[-abCefhmnuvx]] [[-o option]] [[argument...]]

       set [[+abCefhmnuvx]] [[+o option]] [[argument...]]

       set -- [[argument...]]

       set -o

       set +o

DESCRIPTION
       If no options or arguments are specified, set shall write the names and
       values of all shell variables in the collation sequence of the current
       locale. Each name shall start on a separate line, using the format:


           "%s=%s\n", <name>, <value>

       The value string shall be written with appropriate quoting; see the
       description of shell quoting in Section 2.2, Quoting.  The output shall
       be suitable for reinput to the shell, setting or resetting, as far as
       possible, the variables that are currently set; read-only variables
       cannot be reset.

       When options are specified, they shall set or unset attributes of the
       shell, as described below. When arguments are specified, they cause
       positional parameters to be set or unset, as described below. Setting
       or unsetting attributes and positional parameters are not necessarily
       related actions, but they can be combined in a single invocation of
       set.

       The set special built-in shall support the Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1-2017, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines except that
       options can be specified with either a leading <hyphen-minus> (meaning
       enable the option) or <plus-sign> (meaning disable it) unless otherwise
       specified.

       Implementations shall support the options in the following list in both
       their <hyphen-minus> and <plus-sign> forms. These options can also be
       specified as options to sh.

       -a    When this option is on, the export attribute shall be set for
             each variable to which an assignment is performed; see the Base
             Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 4.23, Variable
             Assignment.  If the assignment precedes a utility name in a
             command, the export attribute shall not persist in the current
             execution environment after the utility completes, with the
             exception that preceding one of the special built-in utilities
             causes the export attribute to persist after the built-in has
             completed. If the assignment does not precede a utility name in
             the command, or if the assignment is a result of the operation of
             the getopts or read utilities, the export attribute shall persist
             until the variable is unset.

       -b    This option shall be supported if the implementation supports the
             User Portability Utilities option. It shall cause the shell to
             notify the user asynchronously of background job completions. The
             following message is written to standard error:


                 "[%d]%c %s%s\n", <job-number>, <current>, <status>, <job-name>

             where the fields shall be as follows:

             <current>   The character ''++'' identifies the job that would be
                         used as a default for the fg or bg utilities; this
                         job can also be specified using the job__id ""%%++"" or
                         ""%%%%"".  The character ''--'' identifies the job that
                         would become the default if the current default job
                         were to exit; this job can also be specified using
                         the job__id ""%%--"".  For other jobs, this field is a
                         <space>.  At most one job can be identified with ''++''
                         and at most one job can be identified with ''--''.  If
                         there is any suspended job, then the current job
                         shall be a suspended job. If there are at least two
                         suspended jobs, then the previous job also shall be a
                         suspended job.

             <job-number>
                         A number that can be used to identify the process
                         group to the wait, fg, bg, and kill utilities. Using
                         these utilities, the job can be identified by
                         prefixing the job number with ''%%''.

             <status>    Unspecified.

             <job-name>  Unspecified.

             When the shell notifies the user a job has been completed, it may
             remove the job's process ID from the list of those known in the
             current shell execution environment; see Section 2.9.3.1,
             Examples.  Asynchronous notification shall not be enabled by
             default.

       -C    (Uppercase C.) Prevent existing files from being overwritten by
             the shell's ''>>'' redirection operator (see Section 2.7.2,
             Redirecting Output); the "">>||"" redirection operator shall override
             this noclobber option for an individual file.

       -e    When this option is on, when any command fails (for any of the
             reasons listed in Section 2.8.1, Consequences of Shell Errors or
             by returning an exit status greater than zero), the shell
             immediately shall exit, as if by executing the exit special
             built-in utility with no arguments, with the following
             exceptions:

              1. The failure of any individual command in a multi-command
                 pipeline shall not cause the shell to exit. Only the failure
                 of the pipeline itself shall be considered.

              2. The -e setting shall be ignored when executing the compound
                 list following the while, until, if, or elif reserved word, a
                 pipeline beginning with the !!  reserved word, or any command
                 of an AND-OR list other than the last.

              3. If the exit status of a compound command other than a
                 subshell command was the result of a failure while -e was
                 being ignored, then -e shall not apply to this command.

             This requirement applies to the shell environment and each
             subshell environment separately. For example, in:


                 set -e; (false; echo one) | cat; echo two

             the false command causes the subshell to exit without executing
             echo one; however, echo two is executed because the exit status
             of the pipeline (false; echo one) _| cat is zero.

       -f    The shell shall disable pathname expansion.

       -h    Locate and remember utilities invoked by functions as those
             functions are defined (the utilities are normally located when
             the function is executed).

       -m    This option shall be supported if the implementation supports the
             User Portability Utilities option. All jobs shall be run in their
             own process groups. Immediately before the shell issues a prompt
             after completion of the background job, a message reporting the
             exit status of the background job shall be written to standard
             error. If a foreground job stops, the shell shall write a message
             to standard error to that effect, formatted as described by the
             jobs utility. In addition, if a job changes status other than
             exiting (for example, if it stops for input or output or is
             stopped by a SIGSTOP signal), the shell shall write a similar
             message immediately prior to writing the next prompt. This option
             is enabled by default for interactive shells.

       -n    The shell shall read commands but does not execute them; this can
             be used to check for shell script syntax errors. An interactive
             shell may ignore this option.

       -o    Write the current settings of the options to standard output in
             an unspecified format.

       +o    Write the current option settings to standard output in a format
             that is suitable for reinput to the shell as commands that
             achieve the same options settings.

       -o option
             This option is supported if the system supports the User
             Portability Utilities option. It shall set various options, many
             of which shall be equivalent to the single option letters. The
             following values of option shall be supported:

             allexport Equivalent to -a.

             errexit   Equivalent to -e.

             ignoreeof Prevent an interactive shell from exiting on end-of-
                       file. This setting prevents accidental logouts when
                       <control>-D is entered. A user shall explicitly exit to
                       leave the interactive shell.

             monitor   Equivalent to -m.  This option is supported if the
                       system supports the User Portability Utilities option.

             noclobber Equivalent to -C (uppercase C).

             noglob    Equivalent to -f.

             noexec    Equivalent to -n.

             nolog     Prevent the entry of function definitions into the
                       command history; see Command History List.

             notify    Equivalent to -b.

             nounset   Equivalent to -u.

             verbose   Equivalent to -v.

             vi        Allow shell command line editing using the built-in vi
                       editor. Enabling vi mode shall disable any other
                       command line editing mode provided as an implementation
                       extension.

                       It need not be possible to set vi mode on for certain
                       block-mode terminals.

             xtrace    Equivalent to -x.

       -u    When the shell tries to expand an unset parameter other than the
             ''@@'' and ''**'' special parameters, it shall write a message to
             standard error and the expansion shall fail with the consequences
             specified in Section 2.8.1, Consequences of Shell Errors.

       -v    The shell shall write its input to standard error as it is read.

       -x    The shell shall write to standard error a trace for each command
             after it expands the command and before it executes it. It is
             unspecified whether the command that turns tracing off is traced.

       The default for all these options shall be off (unset) unless stated
       otherwise in the description of the option or unless the shell was
       invoked with them on; see sh.

       The remaining arguments shall be assigned in order to the positional
       parameters. The special parameter ''##'' shall be set to reflect the
       number of positional parameters. All positional parameters shall be
       unset before any new values are assigned.

       If the first argument is ''--'', the results are unspecified.

       The special argument ""----"" immediately following the set command name
       can be used to delimit the arguments if the first argument begins with
       ''++'' or ''--'', or to prevent inadvertent listing of all shell variables
       when there are no arguments. The command set ---- without argument shall
       unset all positional parameters and set the special parameter ''##'' to
       zero.

OPTIONS
       See the DESCRIPTION.

OPERANDS
       See the DESCRIPTION.

STDIN
       Not used.

INPUT FILES
       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       None.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       See the DESCRIPTION.

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

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.

EXIT STATUS
        0    Successful completion.

       >0    An invalid option was specified, or an error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       Application writers should avoid relying on set -e within functions.
       For example, in the following script:


           set -e
           start() {
               some_server
               echo some_server started successfully
           }
           start || echo >&2 some_server failed

       the -e setting is ignored within the function body (because the
       function is a command in an AND-OR list other than the last).
       Therefore, if some__server fails, the function carries on to echo
       ""ssoommee__sseerrvveerrstartedssuucccceessssffuullllyy"", and the exit status of the function
       is zero (which means ""ssoommee__sseerrvveerrfailed" is not output).

EXAMPLES
       Write out all variables and their values:


           set

       Set $1, $2, and $3 and set ""$$##"" to 3:


           set c a b

       Turn on the -x and -v options:


           set -xv

       Unset all positional parameters:


           set --

       Set $1 to the value of _x, even if it begins with ''--'' or ''++'':


           set -- "$x"

       Set the positional parameters to the expansion of _x, even if _x expands
       with a leading ''--'' or ''++'':


           set -- $x

RATIONALE
       The set -- form is listed specifically in the SYNOPSIS even though this
       usage is implied by the Utility Syntax Guidelines. The explanation of
       this feature removes any ambiguity about whether the set -- form might
       be misinterpreted as being equivalent to set without any options or
       arguments. The functionality of this form has been adopted from the
       KornShell. In System V, set -- only unsets parameters if there is at
       least one argument; the only way to unset all parameters is to use
       shift.  Using the KornShell version should not affect System V scripts
       because there should be no reason to issue it without arguments
       deliberately; if it were issued as, for example:


           set -- "$@"

       and there were in fact no arguments resulting from ""$$@@"", unsetting the
       parameters would have no result.

       The set + form in early proposals was omitted as being an unnecessary
       duplication of set alone and not widespread historical practice.

       The noclobber option was changed to allow set -C as well as the set -o
       noclobber option. The single-letter version was added so that the
       historical ""$$--"" paradigm would not be broken; see Section 2.5.2,
       Special Parameters.

       The description of the -e option is intended to match the behavior of
       the 1988 version of the KornShell.

       The -h flag is related to command name hashing. See hash.

       The following set flags were omitted intentionally with the following
       rationale:

       -k    The -k flag was originally added by the author of the Bourne
             shell to make it easier for users of pre-release versions of the
             shell. In early versions of the Bourne shell the construct set
             name=value had to be used to assign values to shell variables.
             The problem with -k is that the behavior affects parsing,
             virtually precluding writing any compilers. To explain the
             behavior of -k, it is necessary to describe the parsing
             algorithm, which is implementation-defined. For example:


                 set -k; echo name=value

             and:


                 set -k
                 echo name=value

             behave differently. The interaction with functions is even more
             complex. What is more, the -k flag is never needed, since the
             command line could have been reordered.

       -t    The -t flag is hard to specify and almost never used. The only
             known use could be done with here-documents. Moreover, the
             behavior with ksh and sh differs. The reference page says that it
             exits after reading and executing one command. What is one
             command? If the input is date;date, sh executes both date
             commands while ksh does only the first.

       Consideration was given to rewriting set to simplify its confusing
       syntax. A specific suggestion was that the unset utility should be used
       to unset options instead of using the non-getopt()-able +option syntax.
       However, the conclusion was reached that the historical practice of
       using +option was satisfactory and that there was no compelling reason
       to modify such widespread historical practice.

       The -o option was adopted from the KornShell to address user needs. In
       addition to its generally friendly interface, -o is needed to provide
       the vi command line editing mode, for which historical practice yields
       no single-letter option name. (Although it might have been possible to
       invent such a letter, it was recognized that other editing modes would
       be developed and -o provides ample name space for describing such
       extensions.)

       Historical implementations are inconsistent in the format used for -o
       option status reporting. The +o format without an option-argument was
       added to allow portable access to the options that can be saved and
       then later restored using, for instance, a dot script.

       Historically, sh did trace the command set ++xx, but ksh did not.

       The ignoreeof setting prevents accidental logouts when the end-of-file
       character (typically <control>-D) is entered. A user shall explicitly
       exit to leave the interactive shell.

       The set -m option was added to apply only to the UPE because it applies
       primarily to interactive use, not shell script applications.

       The ability to do asynchronous notification became available in the
       1988 version of the KornShell. To have it occur, the user had to issue
       the command:


           trap "jobs -n" CLD

       The C shell provides two different levels of an asynchronous
       notification capability. The environment variable notify is analogous
       to what is done in set -b or set -o notify.  When set, it notifies the
       user immediately of background job completions. When unset, this
       capability is turned off.

       The other notification ability comes through the built-in utility
       notify.  The syntax is:


           notify [[%job ... ]]

       By issuing notify with no operands, it causes the C shell to notify the
       user asynchronously when the state of the current job changes. If given
       operands, notify asynchronously informs the user of changes in the
       states of the specified jobs.

       To add asynchronous notification to the POSIX shell, neither the
       KornShell extensions to trap, nor the C shell notify environment
       variable seemed appropriate (notify is not a proper POSIX environment
       variable name).

       The set -b option was selected as a compromise.

       The notify built-in was considered to have more functionality than was
       required for simple asynchronous notification.

       Historically, some shells applied the -u option to all parameters
       including $@ and _$_*.  The standard developers felt that this was a
       misfeature since it is normal and common for $@ and $* to be used in
       shell scripts regardless of whether they were passed any arguments.
       Treating these uses as an error when no arguments are passed reduces
       the value of -u for its intended purpose of finding spelling mistakes
       in variable names and uses of unset positional parameters.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       Section 2.14, Special Built-In Utilities, hash

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1-2017, Section 4.23, Variable
       Assignment, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology --
       Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 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 .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
       files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .



IEEE/The Open Group                  2017                               SET(1)
