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<!--header start-->
<center><font size="2">The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6<br>
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001<br>
Copyright &copy; 2001 The IEEE and The Open Group, All Rights reserved.</font></center>
<!--header end-->
<hr size="2" noshade>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_01"></a>NAME</h4>
<blockquote>set - set or unset options and positional parameters</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_02"></a>SYNOPSIS</h4>
<blockquote class="synopsis">
<p><code><tt><sup>[<a href="javascript:open_code('XSI')">XSI</a>]</sup> set</tt> <b>[</b><tt>-abCefmnuvx</tt><b>]<img src=
"../images/opt-start.gif" border="0">[</b><tt>-h</tt><b>]<img src="../images/opt-end.gif" border="0">[</b><tt>-o</tt>
<i>option</i><b>][</b><i>argument</i><tt>...</tt><b>]</b><tt><br>
<br>
<sup>[<a href="javascript:open_code('XSI')">XSI</a>]</sup> set</tt> <b>[</b><tt>+abCefmnuvx</tt><b>]<img src=
"../images/opt-start.gif" border="0">[</b><tt>+h</tt><b>]<img src="../images/opt-end.gif" border="0">[</b><tt>+o</tt>
<i>option</i><b>][</b><i>argument</i><b>...]</b><tt><br>
<br>
set --</tt> <b>[</b><i>argument</i><tt>...</tt><b>]</b><tt><br>
<br>
set -o<br>
<br>
set +o<br>
</tt></code></p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_03"></a>DESCRIPTION</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>If no <i>option</i>s or <i>argument</i>s are specified, <i>set</i> shall write the names and values of all shell variables in
the collation sequence of the current locale. Each <i>name</i> shall start on a separate line, using the format:</p>
<pre>
<tt>"%s=%s\n", &lt;</tt><i>name</i><tt>&gt;, &lt;</tt><i>value</i><tt>&gt;
</tt>
</pre>
<p>The <i>value</i> string shall be written with appropriate quoting; see the description of shell quoting in <a href=
"xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_02"><i>Quoting</i></a> . 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.</p>
<p>When options are specified, they shall set or unset attributes of the shell, as described below. When <i>argument</i>s 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 <i>set</i>.</p>
<p>The <i>set</i> special built-in shall support the Base Definitions volume of IEEE&nbsp;Std&nbsp;1003.1-2001, <a href=
"../basedefs/xbd_chap12.html#tag_12_02">Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines</a> except that options can be specified with
either a leading hyphen (meaning enable the option) or plus sign (meaning disable it) unless otherwise specified.</p>
<p>Implementations shall support the options in the following list in both their hyphen and plus-sign forms. These options can also
be specified as options to <a href="../utilities/sh.html"><i>sh</i></a>.</p>
<dl compact>
<dt><b>-a</b></dt>
<dd>When this option is on, the <i>export</i> attribute shall be set for each variable to which an assignment is performed; see the
Base Definitions volume of IEEE&nbsp;Std&nbsp;1003.1-2001, <a href="../basedefs/xbd_chap04.html#tag_04_21">Section 4.21, Variable
Assignment</a>. If the assignment precedes a utility name in a command, the <i>export</i> 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 <i>export</i> 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 <a href="../utilities/getopts.html"><i>getopts</i></a> or
<a href="../utilities/read.html"><i>read</i></a> utilities, the <i>export</i> attribute shall persist until the variable is
unset.</dd>
<dt><b>-b</b></dt>
<dd>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:
<pre>
<tt>"[%d]%c %s%s\n", &lt;</tt><i>job-number</i><tt>&gt;, &lt;</tt><i>current</i><tt>&gt;, &lt;status&gt;, &lt;job-name&gt;
</tt>
</pre>
<p>where the fields shall be as follows:</p>
<dl compact>
<dt>&lt;<i>current</i>&gt;</dt>
<dd>The character <tt>'+'</tt> identifies the job that would be used as a default for the <a href=
"../utilities/fg.html"><i>fg</i></a> or <a href="../utilities/bg.html"><i>bg</i></a> utilities; this job can also be specified
using the <i>job_id</i> <tt>"%+"</tt> or <tt>"%%"</tt> . The character <tt>'-'</tt> identifies the job that would become the
default if the current default job were to exit; this job can also be specified using the <i>job_id</i> <tt>"%-"</tt> . For other
jobs, this field is a &lt;space&gt;. At most one job can be identified with <tt>'+'</tt> and at most one job can be identified with
<tt>'-'</tt> . 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.</dd>
<dt>&lt;<i>job-number</i>&gt;</dt>
<dd>A number that can be used to identify the process group to the <a href="../utilities/wait.html"><i>wait</i></a>, <a href=
"../utilities/fg.html"><i>fg</i></a>, <a href="../utilities/bg.html"><i>bg</i></a>, and <a href=
"../utilities/kill.html"><i>kill</i></a> utilities. Using these utilities, the job can be identified by prefixing the job number
with <tt>'%'</tt> .</dd>
<dt>&lt;<i>status</i>&gt;</dt>
<dd>Unspecified.</dd>
<dt>&lt;<i>job-name</i>&gt;</dt>
<dd>Unspecified.</dd>
</dl>
<p>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 <a href="xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_09_03_02"><i>Asynchronous Lists</i></a> . Asynchronous
notification shall not be enabled by default.</p>
</dd>
<dt><b>-C</b></dt>
<dd>(Uppercase C.) Prevent existing files from being overwritten by the shell's <tt>'&gt;'</tt> redirection operator (see <a href=
"xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_07_02"><i>Redirecting Output</i></a> ); the <tt>"&gt;|"</tt> redirection operator shall override this
<i>noclobber</i> option for an individual file.</dd>
<dt><b>-e</b></dt>
<dd>When this option is on, if a simple command fails for any of the reasons listed in <a href=
"xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_08_01"><i>Consequences of Shell Errors</i></a> or returns an exit status value &gt;0, and is not part of
the compound list following a <b>while</b>, <b>until</b>, or <b>if</b> keyword, and is not a part of an AND or OR list, and is not
a pipeline preceded by the <b>!</b> reserved word, then the shell shall immediately exit.</dd>
<dt><b>-f</b></dt>
<dd>The shell shall disable pathname expansion.</dd>
<dt><b>-h</b></dt>
<dd><sup>[<a href="javascript:open_code('XSI')">XSI</a>]</sup> <img src="../images/opt-start.gif" alt="[Option Start]" border="0">
Locate and remember utilities invoked by functions as those functions are defined (the utilities are normally located when the
function is executed). <img src="../images/opt-end.gif" alt="[Option End]" border="0"></dd>
<dt><b>-m</b></dt>
<dd>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 <a href="../utilities/jobs.html"><i>jobs</i></a> 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.</dd>
<dt><b>-n</b></dt>
<dd>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.</dd>
<dt><b>-o</b></dt>
<dd>Write the current settings of the options to standard output in an unspecified format.</dd>
<dt><b>+o</b></dt>
<dd>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.</dd>
<dt><b>-o&nbsp;</b> <i>option</i></dt>
<dd><br>
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 <i>option</i> shall be supported:
<dl compact>
<dt><i>allexport</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-a</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>errexit</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-e</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>ignoreeof</i></dt>
<dd>Prevent an interactive shell from exiting on end-of-file. This setting prevents accidental logouts when &lt;control&gt;-D is
entered. A user shall explicitly <a href="../utilities/exit.html"><i>exit</i></a> to leave the interactive shell.</dd>
<dt><i>monitor</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-m</b>. This option is supported if the system supports the User Portability Utilities option.</dd>
<dt><i>noclobber</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-C</b> (uppercase C).</dd>
<dt><i>noglob</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-f</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>noexec</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-n</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>nolog</i></dt>
<dd>Prevent the entry of function definitions into the command history; see <a href="../utilities/sh.html#tag_04_128_13_01"><i>Command History List</i></a>
.</dd>
<dt><i>notify</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-b</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>nounset</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-u</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>verbose</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-v</b>.</dd>
<dt><i>vi</i></dt>
<dd>Allow shell command line editing using the built-in <a href="../utilities/vi.html"><i>vi</i></a> editor. Enabling <a href=
"../utilities/vi.html"><i>vi</i></a> mode shall disable any other command line editing mode provided as an implementation
extension.
<p>It need not be possible to set <a href="../utilities/vi.html"><i>vi</i></a> mode on for certain block-mode terminals.</p>
</dd>
<dt><i>xtrace</i></dt>
<dd>Equivalent to <b>-x</b>.</dd>
</dl>
</dd>
<dt><b>-u</b></dt>
<dd>The shell shall write a message to standard error when it tries to expand a variable that is not set and immediately exit. An
interactive shell shall not exit.</dd>
<dt><b>-v</b></dt>
<dd>The shell shall write its input to standard error as it is read.</dd>
<dt><b>-x</b></dt>
<dd>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.</dd>
</dl>
<p>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 <a href="../utilities/sh.html"><i>sh</i></a>.</p>
<p>The remaining arguments shall be assigned in order to the positional parameters. The special parameter <tt>'#'</tt> shall be set
to reflect the number of positional parameters. All positional parameters shall be unset before any new values are assigned.</p>
<p>The special argument <tt>"--"</tt> immediately following the <i>set</i> command name can be used to delimit the arguments if the
first argument begins with <tt>'+'</tt> or <tt>'-'</tt> , or to prevent inadvertent listing of all shell variables when there are
no arguments. The command <i>set</i> <b>--</b> without <i>argument</i> shall unset all positional parameters and set the special
parameter <tt>'#'</tt> to zero.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_04"></a>OPTIONS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_05"></a>OPERANDS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_06"></a>STDIN</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_07"></a>INPUT FILES</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_08"></a>ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_09"></a>ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_10"></a>STDOUT</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_11"></a>STDERR</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_12"></a>OUTPUT FILES</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_13"></a>EXTENDED DESCRIPTION</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_14"></a>EXIT STATUS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>Zero.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_15"></a>CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<div class="box"><em>The following sections are informative.</em></div>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_16"></a>APPLICATION USAGE</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_17"></a>EXAMPLES</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>Write out all variables and their values:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set
</tt>
</pre>
<p>Set $1, $2, and $3 and set <tt>"$#"</tt> to 3:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set c a b
</tt>
</pre>
<p>Turn on the <b>-x</b> and <b>-v</b> options:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set -xv
</tt>
</pre>
<p>Unset all positional parameters:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set --
</tt>
</pre>
<p>Set $1 to the value of <i>x</i>, even if it begins with <tt>'-'</tt> or <tt>'+'</tt> :</p>
<pre>
<tt>set -- "$x"
</tt>
</pre>
<p>Set the positional parameters to the expansion of <i>x</i>, even if <i>x</i> expands with a leading <tt>'-'</tt> or <tt>'+'</tt>
:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set -- $x
</tt>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_18"></a>RATIONALE</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>The <i>set</i> -- form is listed specifically in the SYNOPSIS even though this usage is implied by the Utility Syntax
Guidelines. The explanation of this feature removes any ambiguity about whether the <i>set</i> -- form might be misinterpreted as
being equivalent to <i>set</i> without any options or arguments. The functionality of this form has been adopted from the
KornShell. In System V, <i>set</i> -- only unsets parameters if there is at least one argument; the only way to unset all
parameters is to use <a href="../utilities/shift.html"><i>shift</i></a>. Using the KornShell version should not affect System V
scripts because there should be no reason to issue it without arguments deliberately; if it were issued as, for example:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set -- "$@"
</tt>
</pre>
<p>and there were in fact no arguments resulting from <tt>"$@"</tt> , unsetting the parameters would have no result.</p>
<p>The <i>set</i> + form in early proposals was omitted as being an unnecessary duplication of <i>set</i> alone and not widespread
historical practice.</p>
<p>The <i>noclobber</i> option was changed to allow <i>set</i> <b>-C</b> as well as the <i>set</i> <b>-o</b> <i>noclobber</i>
option. The single-letter version was added so that the historical <tt>"$-"</tt> paradigm would not be broken; see <a href=
"xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_05_02"><i>Special Parameters</i></a> .</p>
<p>The <b>-h</b> flag is related to command name hashing and is only required on XSI-conformant systems.</p>
<p>The following <i>set</i> flags were omitted intentionally with the following rationale:</p>
<dl compact>
<dt><b>-k</b></dt>
<dd>The <b>-k</b> 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 <i>set</i> <i>name</i>= <i>value</i> had to be used to assign
values to shell variables. The problem with <b>-k</b> is that the behavior affects parsing, virtually precluding writing any
compilers. To explain the behavior of <b>-k</b>, it is necessary to describe the parsing algorithm, which is
implementation-defined. For example:
<pre>
<tt>set -k; echo</tt> <i>name</i><tt>=</tt><i>value</i>
</pre>
<p>and:</p>
<pre>
<tt>set -k
echo</tt> <i>name</i><tt>=</tt><i>value</i>
</pre>
<p>behave differently. The interaction with functions is even more complex. What is more, the <b>-k</b> flag is never needed, since
the command line could have been reordered.</p>
</dd>
<dt><b>-t</b></dt>
<dd>The <b>-t</b> flag is hard to specify and almost never used. The only known use could be done with here-documents. Moreover,
the behavior with <i>ksh</i> and <a href="../utilities/sh.html"><i>sh</i></a> differs. The
reference page says that it exits after reading and executing one command. What is one command? If the input is <i>date</i>;
<i>date</i>, <a href="../utilities/sh.html"><i>sh</i></a> executes both <a href="../utilities/date.html"><i>date</i></a> commands
while <i>ksh</i> does only the first.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Consideration was given to rewriting <i>set</i> to simplify its confusing syntax. A specific suggestion was that the <a href=
"../utilities/unset.html"><i>unset</i></a> utility should be used to unset options instead of using the non- <a href=
"../functions/getopt.html"><i>getopt</i>()</a> -able + <i>option</i> syntax. However, the conclusion was reached that the
historical practice of using + <i>option</i> was satisfactory and that there was no compelling reason to modify such widespread
historical practice.</p>
<p>The <b>-o</b> option was adopted from the KornShell to address user needs. In addition to its generally friendly interface,
<b>-o</b> is needed to provide the <a href="../utilities/vi.html"><i>vi</i></a> 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 <b>-o</b> provides ample name space for describing such extensions.)</p>
<p>Historical implementations are inconsistent in the format used for <b>-o</b> option status reporting. The <b>+o</b> 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.</p>
<p>Historically, <a href="../utilities/sh.html"><i>sh</i></a> did trace the command <i>set</i> <b>+x</b>, but
<i>ksh</i> did not.</p>
<p>The <i>ignoreeof</i> setting prevents accidental logouts when the end-of-file character (typically &lt;control&gt;-D) is
entered. A user shall explicitly <a href="../utilities/exit.html"><i>exit</i></a> to leave the interactive shell.</p>
<p>The <i>set</i> <b>-m</b> option was added to apply only to the UPE because it applies primarily to interactive use, not shell
script applications.</p>
<p>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:</p>
<pre>
<tt>trap "jobs -n" CLD
</tt>
</pre>
<p>The C shell provides two different levels of an asynchronous notification capability. The environment variable <i>notify</i> is
analogous to what is done in <i>set</i> <b>-b</b> or <i>set</i> <b>-o</b> <i>notify</i>. When set, it notifies the user immediately
of background job completions. When unset, this capability is turned off.</p>
<p>The other notification ability comes through the built-in utility <i>notify</i>. The
syntax is:</p>
<pre>
<tt>notify [%job ... ]
</tt>
</pre>
<p>By issuing <i>notify</i> with no operands, it causes the C shell to notify the user
asynchronously when the state of the current job changes. If given operands, <i>notify</i>
asynchronously informs the user of changes in the states of the specified jobs.</p>
<p>To add asynchronous notification to the POSIX shell, neither the KornShell extensions to <a href=
"../utilities/trap.html"><i>trap</i></a>, nor the C shell <i>notify</i> environment variable
seemed appropriate ( <i>notify</i> is not a proper POSIX environment variable name).</p>
<p>The <i>set</i> <b>-b</b> option was selected as a compromise.</p>
<p>The <i>notify</i> built-in was considered to have more functionality than was required
for simple asynchronous notification.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_19"></a>FUTURE DIRECTIONS</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>None.</p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_20"></a>SEE ALSO</h4>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_14"><i>Special Built-In Utilities</i></a></p>
</blockquote>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_21"></a>CHANGE HISTORY</h4>
<h4><a name="tag_04_127_22"></a>Issue 6</h4>
<blockquote>
<p>The obsolescent <i>set</i> command name followed by <tt>'-'</tt> has been removed.</p>
<p>The following new requirements on POSIX implementations derive from alignment with the Single UNIX Specification:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The <i>nolog</i> option is added to <i>set</i> <b>-o</b>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>IEEE PASC Interpretation 1003.2 #167 is applied, clarifying that the options default also takes into account the description of
the option.</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="box"><em>End of informative text.</em></div>
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