Simple Shell

Overview

The Simple Shell project is a UNIX command-line interpreter built in C. It is designed to mimic the basic functionality of the standard shell (sh) while demonstrating an in-depth understanding of process creation, execution, and environment manipulation using system calls. The shell was developed as part of the ALX Software Engineering program in collaboration with Ahmed ELSHARKWAY and Wisdom Honest.

Features

• Displays a command prompt and waits for user input.
• Executes commands with and without arguments.
• Supports interactive and non-interactive modes.
• Implements essential built-in commands such as exit and env.
• Searches for executables in the PATH environment variable.
• Proper error handling for command execution failures.
• Efficient memory management with no memory leaks.

Installation

To install and run Simple Shell, follow these steps:

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (or any Linux distribution)
• GCC compiler
• Git

Steps

1. Clone the repository on your linux terminal:

   git clone https://github.com/wishon1/simple_shell.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd simple_shell

3. Compile the source code:

   gcc -Wall -Werror -Wextra -pedantic -std=gnu89 *.c -o hsh

Usage

Interactive Mode

Run the shell and type commands interactively:

./hsh
$ ls -l
$ pwd
$ exit

Non-Interactive Mode

Execute commands from a file or another command:

echo "/bin/ls" | ./hsh
cat script.sh | ./hsh

Built-in Commands

• exit - Exits the shell.
• env - Prints the current environment variables.

System Calls Used

The following system calls are used in Simple Shell:

• fork(), execve(), wait(), access()
• open(), read(), write(), close()
• malloc(), free(), getline()
• isatty(), perror(), strtok()

Coding Style

The project follows the Betty coding style and adheres to best practices for readability and maintainability.

Contributors

• Ahmed ELSHARKWAY
• Wisdom Honest

License

This project is released under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the ALX Software Engineering program for providing guidance and inspiration for this project.