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+This is the Bash FAQ, version 1.2, for Bash version 1.14.6.
+
+This document contains a set of frequently-asked questions concerning
+Bash, the GNU Bourne-Again Shell.  Bash is a freely-available command
+interpreter with advanced features for both interactive use and shell
+programming.
+
+Another good source of basic information about shells is the collection
+of FAQ articles periodically posted to comp.unix.shell.
+
+Questions and comments concerning this document should be set to
+chet@po.cwru.edu.
+
+Contents:
+1)  What is it?
+2)  What's the latest version?
+3)  Where can I get it?
+4)  What's the `Posix 1003.2 standard'?
+5)  On what machines will bash run?
+6)  How does bash differ from sh, the Bourne shell?
+7)  How does bash differ from the Korn shell?
+8)  What is the bash `posix mode'?
+9)  How can I build bash with gcc?
+10) Why does bash run a different version of `command' than
+    `which command' says it will?
+11) How can I make my csh aliases work when I convert to bash?
+12) Now that I've converted from ksh to bash, are there equivalents to
+    ksh features like autoloaded functions and the `whence' command?
+13) Why is the bash builtin `test' slightly different from /bin/test?
+14) Why does bash sometimes say `Broken pipe'?
+15) How can I get bash to read and display eight-bit characters?
+16) Why can't I use command line editing in my `cmdtool'?
+17) How do I write a function `x' to replace builtin command `x', but
+    still invoke the command from within the function?
+18) When I have terminal escape sequences in my prompt, why does bash
+    wrap lines at the wrong column?
+19) I built bash on Solaris 2.  Why do globbing expansions and filename
+    completion chop off the first few characters of each filename?
+20) Why doesn't bash treat brace expansions exactly like csh?
+21) Why does bash dump core after I interrupt username completion?
+22) I'm running SVR4.2.  Why is the line erased every time I type `@'?
+23) How can I find the value of a shell variable whose name is the value
+    of another shell variable?
+24) If I pipe the output of a command into `read variable', why doesn't
+    the output show up in $variable when the read command finishes?
+25) I just changed my shell to bash, and now I can't FTP into my machine.
+    Why not?
+26) I have a bunch of shell scripts that use backslash-escaped characters
+    in arguments to `echo'.  Bash doesn't interpret these characters.  Why
+    not, and how can I make it understand them?
+27) Why doesn't bash have csh variable modifiers?
+28) Why does bash report syntax errors when my C News scripts use a
+    redirection before a subshell command?
+29) How do I report bugs in bash, and where should I look for fixes and
+    advice?
+30) What kind of bash documentation is there?
+31) What's coming in future versions?
+32) What's on the bash `wish list'?
+33) When will the next release appear?
+
+1)  What is it?
+
+Bash is a Unix command interpreter (shell).  It is an implementation of
+the Posix 1003.2 shell standard, and resembles the Korn and System V
+shells.
+
+Bash contains a number of enhancements over those shells, both
+for interactive use and shell programming.  Features geared
+toward interactive use include command line editing, command
+history, job control, aliases, and prompt expansion.  Programming
+features include additional variable expansions, shell
+arithmetic, and a number of variables and options to control
+shell behavior.
+
+Bash was originally written by Brian Fox of the Free Software
+Foundation.  The current developer and maintainer is Chet Ramey
+of Case Western Reserve University.
+
+2)  What's the latest version?
+
+The latest version is 1.14.6, first made available on December 19, 1995.
+
+3)  Where can I get it?
+
+Bash is the GNU project's shell, and so is available from the
+master GNU archive site, prep.ai.mit.edu, and its mirrors.  The
+latest version is also available for FTP from slc2.ins.cwru.edu,
+the maintainer's machine.  The following URLs tell how to get
+version 1.14.6:
+
+ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/bash-1.14.6.tar.gz
+ftp://slc2.ins.cwru.edu/pub/dist/bash-1.14.6.tar.gz
+
+4)  What's the `Posix 1003.2 standard'?
+
+POSIX is a name originally coined by Richard Stallman for a
+family of open system standards based on UNIX.  There are a
+number of aspects of UNIX under consideration for
+standardization, from the basic system services at the system
+call and C library level to applications and tools to system
+administration and management.  Each area of standardization is
+assigned to a working group in the 1003 series. 
+
+The POSIX Shell and Utilities standard has been developed by IEEE
+Working Group 1003.2 (POSIX.2).  It concentrates on the command
+interpreter interface and utility programs commonly executed from
+the command line or by other programs.  An initial version of the
+standard has been approved and published by the IEEE, and work is
+currently underway to update it. 
+
+Bash is concerned with the aspects of the shell's behavior
+defined by POSIX.2.  The shell command language has of course
+been standardized, including the basic flow control and program
+execution constructs, I/O redirection and pipelining, argument
+handling, variable expansion, and quoting. 
+
+The `special' builtins, which must be implemented as part of the
+shell to provide the desired functionality, are specified as
+being part of the shell; examples of these are `eval' and
+`export'.  Other utilities appear in the sections of POSIX.2 not
+devoted to the shell which are commonly (and in some cases must
+be) implemented as builtin commands, such as `read' and `test'. 
+POSIX.2 also specifies aspects of the shell's interactive
+behavior as part of the UPE, including job control and command
+line editing.  Only vi-style line editing commands have been
+standardized; emacs editing commands were left out due to
+objections.
+
+5)  On what machines will bash run?
+
+Bash has been ported to nearly every version of UNIX.  All you
+should have to do to build it on a machine for which a port
+exists is to type `make'.  The build process will attempt to
+discover the version of UNIX you have and tailor itself
+accordingly, using a combination of saved definitions in the file
+`machines.h' and a file `sysdefs.h' created by inspecting the
+environment for various things. 
+
+More information appears in the file `INSTALL' in the distribution.
+
+6)  How does bash differ from sh, the Bourne shell?
+
+This is a non-comprehensive list of features that differentiate bash
+from the SVR4 shell.  The bash manual page explains these completely.
+
+Things bash has that sh does not:
+	long invocation options
+	`!' reserved word to invert pipeline return value
+	the select compound command
+	the $(...) form of command substitution
+	the ${#param} parameter value length operator
+	expansions to perform substring removal (${p%[%]w}, ${p#[#]w})
+	variables: BASH, BASH_VERSION, UID, EUID, REPLY, PPID, PWD,
+		   OLDPWD, SHLVL, RANDOM, SECONDS, LINENO, HISTCMD,
+		   HOSTTYPE, OSTYPE, ENV, MAIL_WARNING, PS3, PS4,
+		   HISTSIZE, HISTFILE, HISTFILESIZE, PROMPT_COMMAND,
+		   FCEDIT, FIGNORE, IGNOREEOF, INPUTRC, HISTCONTROL,
+		   command_oriented_history, allow_null_glob_expansion,
+		   glob_dot_filenames, histchars, nolinks, auto_resume,
+		   HOSTFILE, noclobber, TMOUT, no_exit_on_failed_exec,
+		   cdable_vars
+	redirections: <>, &>, >|
+	prompt string special char translation and variable expansion
+	auto-export of modified values of variables in initial environment
+	command search finds functions before builtins
+	bash return builtin will exit a file sourced with `.'
+	builtins: cd -, exec -, echo -e/-E, export -n/-f/-p/name=value,
+		  pwd -P, read -r, readonly -f, trap -l, ulimit -n/-p/-u,
+		  set -b/-m/-o option/-p/-l/-d/-C/-H/-P, unset -f/-v,
+		  umask -S, type -all/-path/-type, suspend -f, kill -s
+	bash reads ~/.bashrc for interactive shells, $ENV for non-interactive
+	bash restricted shell mode is more extensive
+	bash allows functions and variables with the same name
+	brace expansion
+	tilde expansion
+	arithmetic expansion and `let' builtin
+	process substitution
+	aliases and alias/unalias builtins
+	local variables in functions and `local' builtin
+	readline and command-line editing
+	history and history/fc builtins
+	csh-like history expansion
+	other new bash builtins: bind, command, builtin, declare/typeset,
+				 dirs, enable, fc, help, history, logout,
+				 popd, pushd
+	exported functions
+	filename generation when using output redirection (command >a*)
+
+Things sh has that bash does not:
+	uses variable SHACCT to do shell accounting
+	includes `stop' builtin (bash can use alias stop='kill -s STOP')
+	`newgrp' builtin
+	turns on job control if called as `jsh'
+	ulimit attempts to set both soft & hard limits if -S/-H not given
+
+New things in the SVR4.2 sh:
+	internationalization: $LANG, $LC_CTYPE, $LC_MESSAGES, setlocale, etc.
+	$TIMEOUT (like bash $TMOUT)
+	new builtins: mldmode, priv
+	`read' builtin has -r
+	cannot trap SIGALRM or SIGCHLD
+	kill -s is present
+
+Implementation differences:
+	redirection to/from compound commands causes sh to create a subshell
+	bash does not allow unbalanced quotes; sh silently inserts them at EOF
+	bash does not mess with signal 11
+	sh sets (euid, egid) to (uid, gid) if -p not supplied and uid < 100
+	bash splits only the results of expansions on IFS
+	sh does not allow MAILCHECK to be unset (?)
+
+7)  How does bash differ from the Korn shell?
+
+Things bash has or uses that ksh does not:
+	long invocation options
+	`!' reserved word
+	posix mode and posix conformance
+	command hashing
+	tilde expansion for assignment statements that look like $PATH
+	process substitution with named pipes if /dev/fd is not available
+	variables: BASH, BASH_VERSION, UID, EUID, SHLVL, HISTCMD, HOSTTYPE,
+		   OSTYPE, MAIL_WARNING, HISTFILESIZE, OPTERR,
+		   PROMPT_COMMAND, IGNOREEOF, FIGNORE, INPUTRC, HISTCONTROL,
+		   notify, command_oriented_history, glob_dot_filenames,
+		   allow_null_glob_expansion, histchars, nolinks, HOSTFILE,
+		   noclobber, auto_resume, no_exit_on_failed_exec, cdable_vars
+	prompt expansion with backslash escapes and command substitution
+	redirection: &> (stdout and stderr)
+	more extensive and extensible editing and completion
+	builtins: bind, builtin, command, declare, dirs, echo -e/-E, enable,
+		  exec -, fc -s, export -n/-f/-p, hash, help, history,
+		  jobs -x, kill -s, local, logout, popd, pushd,
+		  readonly -n/-f/-p, set -o braceexpand/-o histexpand/
+		  -o interactive-comments/-o notify/-o physical/-o posix/
+		  -l/-d/-C/-b/-H/-P, suspend, trap -l, type, ulimit -u,
+		  umask -S
+	$[...] synonym for $((...))
+	`!' csh-style history expansion
+
+Things ksh has or uses that bash does not:
+	new version of test: [[...]]
+	((...)) equivalent to let "..."
+	time keyword to let pipelines be timed
+	tracked aliases
+	$(<file)	
+	one-dimensional arrays and appropriate expansions
+	variables: ERRNO, FPATH, COLUMNS, LINES, EDITOR, VISUAL
+	extended pattern matching with egrep-style pattern lists
+	co-processes (|&, >&p, <&p)
+	weirdly-scoped functions
+	typeset +f to list all function names without definitions
+	text of command history kept in a file, not memory
+	builtins: alias -x, cd old new, fc -e -, newgrp, print,
+		  read -p/-s/u/var?prompt, set -A/-o gmacs/-o keyword/
+		  -o bgnice/-o markdirs/-o nolog/-o trackall/-o viraw/-s,
+		  typeset -H/-L/-R/-A/-ft/-fu/-fx/-l/-u/-t, whence
+
+Implementation differences:
+	ksh runs last command of a pipeline in parent shell context
+	ksh ulimit sets hard and soft limits by default
+	bash has brace expansion by default
+	bash has fixed startup file for all interactive shells; ksh reads $ENV
+	bash has exported functions
+	bash command search finds functions before builtins
+
+8)  What is the bash `posix mode'?
+
+Although bash is an implementation of the Posix.2 shell
+specification, there are areas where the bash default behavior
+differs from that spec.  The bash `posix mode' changes the bash
+behavior in these areas so that it obeys the spec more closely. 
+
+Posix mode is entered by starting bash with the -posix option or
+executing `set -o posix' after bash is running.
+
+The specific aspects of bash which change when posix mode is
+active are listed in the file CWRU/POSIX.NOTES in the bash
+distribution. 
+
+9) How can I build bash with gcc? 
+
+Type
+	make CC=gcc CPPNAME='$(CC) -E'
+
+10) Why does bash run a different version of `command' than
+    `which command' says it will?
+
+`which' is actually a csh script that assumes you're running csh. 
+It reads the csh startup files from your home directory and uses
+those to determine which `command' will be invoked.  Since bash
+doesn't use any of those startup files, there's a good chance
+that your bash environment differs from your csh environment. 
+
+11) How can I make my csh aliases work when I convert to bash?
+
+Bash uses a different syntax to support aliases than csh does. 
+The details can be found in the documentation.  We have provided
+a shell script which does most of the work of conversion for you;
+this script can be found in ./examples/alias-conv.sh.  Here is
+how you use it:
+  
+Start csh in the normal way for you.  (e.g., `csh')
+  
+Pipe the output of `alias' through `alias-conv.sh', saving the
+results into `bash_aliases':
+  
+	alias | alias-conv.sh >bash_aliases
+  
+Edit `bash_aliases', carefully reading through any created
+functions.  You will need to change the names of csh specific
+variables (like $cwd) to the bash equivalents (like $PWD).  You
+will also need to remove recursive references to commands which
+are defined as functions.  For example, the csh alias:
+  
+	alias cd 'cd \!*;echo $cwd'
+  
+is converted to the bash function:
+
+	cd () 
+	{ 
+		cd $*;
+		echo $cwd
+	}
+  
+This function contains a self-pointing reference to `cd', which
+should be changed to use the `builtin' version.  It also uses
+the csh variable `$cwd' which has an equivalent in bash.
+Precede the recursive reference with the word `builtin', and
+change the name of the variable:
+  
+        cd () { builtin cd $*; echo $PWD; }
+  
+Merge the edited file into your ~/.bashrc.
+
+12) Now that I've converted from ksh to bash, are there equivalents to
+    ksh features like autoloaded functions and the `whence' command?
+
+There are features in ksh-88 that do not have direct bash equivalents.
+Most, however, can be emulated with very little trouble.
+
+ksh-88 feature		Bash equivalent
+--------------		---------------
+[[...]]			can usually use [...]; minor differences
+compiled-in aliases	set up aliases in .bashrc; some ksh aliases are
+			bash builtins (hash, history, type)
+$(<file)		$(cat file)
+arrays			no good subsitute yet
+((...))			let "..."
+time			use external command; GNU time is particularly useful
+			use time bash -c '...' for complicated constructs
+extended patterns	no good substitute
+coprocesses		named pipe pairs (one for read, one for write)
+typeset +f		declare -f |
+			     sed -n 's:^declare -[a-z]* \([^ ]*\).*$:\1:p'
+cd, print, whence	function subsitutes in examples/functions/kshenv
+autoloaded functions	examples/functions/autoload is the same as typeset -fu
+read var?prompt		[ -t 0 ] && echo -n prompt >&2; read var
+
+13) Why is the bash builtin `test' slightly different from /bin/test?
+
+The specific example used here is [ ! x -o x ], which is false.
+
+Bash's builtin `test' implements the Posix.2 spec, which can be
+summarized as follows (the wording is due to David Korn):
+   
+Here is the set of rules for processing test arguments.
+  
+    0 Args: False
+    1 Arg:  True iff argument is not null.
+    2 Args: If first arg is !, True iff second argument is null.
+	    If first argument is unary, then true if unary test is true
+	    Otherwise error.
+    3 Args: If second argument is a binary operator, do binary test of $1 $3
+	    If first argument is !, negate two argument test of $2 $3
+	    Otherwise error.
+    4 Args: If first argument is !, negate three argument test of $2 $3 $4.
+	    Otherwise unspecified
+    5 or more Args: unspecified.  (Historical shells would use their
+    current algorithm).
+   
+The operators -a and -o are considered binary operators for the purpose
+of the 3 Arg case.
+   
+As you can see, the test becomes (not (x or x)), which is false.
+
+14) Why does bash sometimes say `Broken pipe'?
+
+If a sequence of commands appear in a pipeline, and one of the
+reading commands finishes before the writer has finished, the
+writer receives a SIGPIPE signal.  Many other shells special-case
+SIGPIPE as an exit status in the pipeline and do not report it. 
+For example, in:
+  
+      ps -aux | head
+  
+`head' can finish before `ps' writes all of its output, and ps
+will try to write on a pipe without a reader.  In that case, bash
+will print `Broken pipe' to stderr when ps is killed by a
+SIGPIPE. 
+
+15) How can I get bash to read and display eight-bit characters?
+
+This is a process requiring several steps.
+
+First, you must ensure that the `physical' data path is a full eight
+bits.  For xterms, for example, the `vt100' resources `eightBitInput'
+and `eightBitOutput' should be set to `true'.
+
+Once you have set up an eight-bit path, you must tell the kernel and
+tty driver to leave the eigth bit of characters alone when processing
+keyboard input.  Use `stty' to do this:
+
+	stty cs8 -istrip -parenb
+
+For old BSD-style systems, you can use
+
+	stty pass8
+
+You may also need
+
+	stty even odd
+
+Finally, you need to tell readline that you will be inputting and
+displaying eight-bit characters.  You use readline variables to do
+this.  These variables can be set in your .inputrc or using the bash
+`bind' builtin.  Here's an example using `bind':
+
+	bash$ bind 'set convert-meta off'
+	bash$ bind 'set meta-flag on'
+	bash$ bind 'set output-meta on'
+
+The `set' commands between the single quotes may also be placed
+in ~/.inputrc.
+
+16) Why can't I use command line editing in my `cmdtool'?
+
+The problem is `cmdtool' and bash fighting over the input.  When
+scrolling is enabled in a cmdtool window, cmdtool puts the tty in
+`raw mode' to permit command-line editing using the mouse for
+applications that cannot do it themselves.  As a result, bash and
+cmdtool each try to read keyboard input immediately, with neither
+getting enough of it to be useful.
+
+This mode also causes cmdtool to not implement many of the
+terminal functions and control sequences appearing in the
+`sun-cmd' termcap entry.  For a more complete explanation, see
+that file examples/suncmd.termcap in the bash distribution. 
+
+`xterm' is a better choice, and gets along with bash much more
+smoothly.
+
+17) How do I write a function `x' to replace builtin command `x', but
+    still invoke the command from within the function?
+
+This is what the `command' and `builtin' builtins are for.  The
+`command' builtin executes the command supplied as its first
+argument, skipping over any function defined with that name.  The
+`builtin' builtin executes the builtin command given as its first
+argument directly. 
+
+For example, to write a function to replace `cd' that writes the
+hostname and current directory to an xterm title bar, use
+something like the following:
+
+	cd()
+	{
+		builtin cd "$@" && xtitle $HOST: $PWD
+	}
+
+This could also be written using `command' instead of `builtin';
+the version above is marginally more efficient. 
+
+18) When I have terminal escape sequences in my prompt, why does bash
+    wrap lines at the wrong column?
+
+Bash does not know that the terminal escape sequences do not take
+up space on the screen.  The redisplay code assumes, unless told
+otherwise, that each character in the prompt is a `printable'
+character that takes up one character position on the screen. 
+
+You can use the bash prompt expansion facility (see the PROMPTING
+section in the manual page) to tell readline that sequences of
+characters in the prompt strings take up no screen space. 
+
+Use the \[ escape to begin a sequence of non-printing characters,
+and the \] escape to signal the end of such a sequence. 
+
+19) I built bash on Solaris 2.  Why do globbing expansions and filename
+    completion chop off the first few characters of each filename?
+
+This is the consequence of building bash on SunOS 5 and linking
+with the libraries in /usr/ucblib, but using the definitions
+and strutures from files in /usr/include. 
+
+The actual conflict is between the dirent structure in
+/usr/include/dirent.h and the struct returned by the version of
+`readdir' in libucb.a (a 4.3-BSD style `struct direct'). 
+
+Make sure you've got /usr/ccs/bin ahead of /usr/ucb in your $PATH
+when building bash.  This will ensure that you use /usr/ccs/bin/cc
+or acc instead of /usr/ucb/cc and that you link with libc before
+libucb.
+
+If you have installed the Sun C compiler, you may also need to
+put /usr/ccs/bin and /opt/SUNWspro/bin into your $PATH before
+/usr/ucb.
+
+20) Why doesn't bash treat brace expansions exactly like csh?
+
+The only difference between bash and csh brace expansion is that
+bash requires a brace expression to contain at least on unquoted
+comma if it is to be expanded.  Any brace-surrounded word not
+containing an unquoted comma is left unchanged by the brace
+expansion code.  This affords the greatest degree of sh
+compatibility. 
+
+Bash, ksh, zsh, and pd-ksh all implement brace expansion this way. 
+
+21) Why does bash dump core after I interrupt username completion on a
+    machine running NIS?
+
+This is a famous and long-standing bug in the SunOS YP (sorry, NIS)
+client library, which is part of libc.
+
+The YP library code keeps static state -- a pointer into the data
+returned from the server.  When YP initializes itself (setpwent),
+it looks at this pointer and calls free on it if it's non-null. 
+So far, so good. 
+
+If one of the YP functions is interrupted during getpwent (the
+exact function is interpretwithsave()), and returns NULL, the
+pointer is freed without being reset to NULL, and the function
+returns.  The next time getpwent is called, it sees that this
+pointer is non-null, calls free, and the bash free() blows up
+because it's being asked to free freed memory. 
+
+The traditional Unix mallocs allow memory to be freed multiple
+times; that's probably why this has never been fixed.  You can
+probably stop it by adding an #undef USE_GNU_MALLOC to the
+appropriate machine description in machines.h. 
+
+22) I'm running SVR4.2.  Why is the line erased every time I type `@'?
+
+The `@' character is the default `line kill' character in most
+versions of System V, including SVR4.2.  You can change this
+character to whatever you want using `stty'.  For example, to
+change the line kill character to control-u, type
+
+	stty kill ^U
+
+where the `^' and `U' can be two separate characters.
+
+23) How can I find the value of a shell variable whose name is the value
+    of another shell variable?
+
+Use the `eval' builtin.  The important thing to remember is that
+`eval' expands the arguments you give it again, so you need to
+quote the parts of the arguments that you want `eval' to act on. 
+
+For example, this expression prints the value of the last positional
+parameter:
+
+	eval echo \$\{$#\}
+
+The expansion of the quoted portions of this expression will be
+deferred until `eval' runs, while the `$#' will be expanded
+before `eval' is executed. 
+
+24) If I pipe the output of a command into `read variable', why doesn't
+    the output show up in $variable when the read command finishes?
+
+This has to do with the parent-child relationship between Unix
+processes. 
+
+Each element of a pipeline runs in a separate process, a child of
+the shell running the pipeline.  A subprocess cannot affect its
+parent's environment.  When the `read' command sets the variable
+to the input, that variable is set only in the subshell, not the
+parent shell.  When the subshell exits, the value of the variable
+is lost. 
+
+Many pipelines that end with `read variable' can be converted
+into command substitutions, which will capture the output into a
+variable:
+
+	grep ^gnu /usr/lib/news/active | wc -l | read ngroup
+
+can be converted into
+
+	ngroup=$(grep ^gnu /usr/lib/news/active | wc -l)
+
+This does not, unfortunately, work to split the text among
+multiple variables, as read does when given multiple variable
+arguments.
+
+25) I just changed my shell to bash, and now I can't FTP into my machine.
+    Why not?
+
+You must add the full pathname to bash to the file /etc/shells. 
+Many versions of ftpd use this file to prohibit `special' users
+such as `uucp' and `news' from using FTP. 
+
+26) I have a bunch of shell scripts that use backslash-escaped characters
+    in arguments to `echo'.  Bash doesn't interpret these characters.  Why
+    not, and how can I make it understand them?
+
+This is the behavior of echo on most Unix System V machines.
+
+The bash builtin `echo' is modelled after the 9th Edition
+Research Unix version of `echo'.  It does not interpret
+backslash-escaped characters in its argument strings by default,
+but requires the use of the -e option to enable the
+interpretation.  The System V echo provides no way to disable the
+special characters; the bash echo has a -E option to disable
+them. 
+
+There is a compile-time option that will make bash behave like
+the System V echo and interpret things like \t by default. 
+Change config.h so that DEFAULT_ECHO_TO_USG is defined, remove
+builtins/libbuiltins.a and builtins/echo.o, and rebuild.
+
+27) Why doesn't bash have csh variable modifiers?
+
+Posix has specified a more powerful, albeit somewhat more confusing,
+mechanism cribbed from ksh, and bash implements it.
+
+${parameter%word}
+        Remove smallest suffix pattern.  The WORD is expanded to produce
+        a pattern.  It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+        smallest portion of the suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+        x=file.c
+        echo ${x%.c}.o
+        -->file.o
+
+${parameter%%word}
+
+        Remove largest suffix pattern.  The WORD is expanded to produce
+        a pattern.  It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+        largest portion of the suffix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+        x=posix/src/std
+        echo ${x%%/*}
+        -->posix
+
+${parameter#word}
+        Remove smallest prefix pattern.  The WORD is expanded to produce
+        a pattern.  It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+        smallest portion of the prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+        x=$HOME/src/cmd
+        echo ${x#$HOME}
+        -->/src/cmd
+
+${parameter##word}
+        Remove largest prefix pattern.  The WORD is expanded to produce
+        a pattern.  It then expands to the value of PARAMETER, with the
+        largest portion of the prefix matched by the pattern deleted.
+
+        x=/one/two/three
+        echo ${x##*/}
+        -->three
+
+
+Given
+	a=/a/b/c/d
+	b=b.xxx
+
+	csh			bash		result
+	---			----		------
+	$a:h			${a%/*}		   /a/b/c
+	$a:t			${a##*/}	   d
+	$b:r			${b%.*}		   b
+	$b:e			${b##*.}	   xxx
+
+
+28) Why does bash report syntax errors when my C News scripts use a
+    redirection before a subshell command?
+
+The actual command in question is something like
+
+	< file ( command )
+
+According to the grammar given in the Posix.2 standard, this construct
+is, in fact, a syntax error.  Redirections may only precede `simple
+commands'.  A subshell construct such as the above is one of the shell's
+`compound commands'.  A redirection may only follow a compound command.
+
+The file CWRU/sh-redir-hack in the 1.14.6 distribution is an (unofficial)
+patch to parse.y that will modify the grammar to support this construct.
+Note that if you apply this, you must recompile with -DREDIRECTION_HACK.
+This introduces a large number of reduce/reduce conflicts into the shell
+grammar.
+
+29) How do I report bugs in bash, and where should I look for fixes and
+    advice?
+
+Use the `bashbug' script to report bugs.  It is built and
+installed at the same time as bash.  It provides a standard
+template for reporting a problem and automatically includes
+information about your configuration and build environment. 
+
+`bashbug' sends its reports to bug-bash@prep.ai.mit.edu, which
+is a large mailing list gatewayed to the usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug. 
+
+Bug fixes, answers to questions, and announcements of new releases
+are all posted to gnu.bash.bug.  Discussions concerning bash features
+and problems also take place there.
+
+To reach the bash maintainers directly, send mail to
+bash-maintainers@prep.ai.mit.edu.
+
+30) What kind of bash documentation is there?
+
+First, look in the documentation directory in the bash distribution.
+It should contain the following files:
+
+bash.1		an extensive, thorough Unix-style manual page
+builtins.1	a manual page covering just bash builtin commands
+features.texi	a Gnu-style info file overview
+FAQ		this file
+article.ms	text of an article written for The Linux Journal
+readline.3	a man page describing readline
+
+Postscript files created from the above source are also present in
+the distribution.
+
+There is additional documentation available for anonymous FTP from host
+slc2.ins.cwru.edu in the `pub/bash' directory.
+
+Cameron Newham is in the midst of writing a book on bash, to be
+published by O'Reilly and Associates.  Look for it sometime this
+year.
+
+31) What's coming in future versions?
+
+There will be no new features in future releases of version 1.14.
+
+The next major release, bash-2.0, will contain extensive changes and new
+features.  Here's a short list:
+
+one-dimensional arrays with a new compound assignment statement,
+        appropriate expansion constructs and modifications to some
+	of the builtins (read, declare, etc.) to use them
+new expansions to do ANSI-C string expansion, substring extraction,
+	pattern replacement, and indirect variable expansion
+new builtins: `disown' and `shopt'
+new variables: HISTIGNORE, SHELLOPTS, PIPESTATUS, DIRSTACK
+special handling of many unused or redundant variables removed
+dynamic loading of new builtin commands; many loadable examples provided
+new prompt expansions: \e, \n, \H, \T
+new readline variables: enable-keypad, mark-directories, input-meta
+new readline commands to manipulate the mark and operate on the region
+new readline emacs mode commands and bindings for ksh-88 compatibility
+updated and extended builtins
+new DEBUG trap
+expanded (and now documented) restricted shell mode
+
+implementation stuff:	
+autoconf-based configuration
+nearly all of the bugs reported since version 1.14 have been fixed
+most builtins converted to use builtin `getopt' for consistency
+most builtins use -p option to display output in a reusable form
+	(for consistency)
+grammar tighter and smaller (66 reduce-reduce conflicts gone)
+lots of code now smaller and faster
+test suite greatly expanded
+
+32) What's on the bash `wish list'?
+
+internationalization with a variable expansion to translate a string
+	according to a particular message catalog
+Programmable completion a la zsh
+menu completion a la tcsh
+the ksh egrep-style extended pattern matching operators
+associative arrays (not really all that hard)
+breaking some of the shell functionality into embeddable libraries
+a bash debugger
+
+Much of this will not be in bash-2.0.
+
+33) When will the next release appear?
+
+Version 1.14.6 will probably be the last release for version 1.14.
+
+The next version will appear sometime in 1996.  Never make predictions.
+
+
+This document is copyright Chester Ramey, 1995.
+
+Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and
+without license or royalty fees, to use, copy, and distribute
+this document for any purpose, provided that the above copyright
+notice appears in all copies of this document and that the
+contents of this document remain unaltered.