Qshell

Qshell is a command environment based on POSIX and X/Open standards. It consists of two parts:

• The shell interpreter (or qsh) is a program that reads commands from an input source, interprets each command, and then runs the command using the services of the operating system.
• The utilities (or commands) are external programs that provide additional functions and can be quite simple or very complex.

Together, the shell interpreter and utilities provide a powerful, standards-based scripting environment. As you use the new programming models offered by i5/OS^(TM), Qshell provides an extensible command environment that allows you to:

• Manage files in any file system supported by the Integrated File System.
• Run threaded programs that do thread-safe I/O to and from an interactive session.
• Write shell scripts that can be run without modification on other systems using a cross-platform command language.
• Write your own utilities to extend the functions provided by Qshell.

This topic provides both new and experienced users with the information needed to use Qshell commands and write Qshell scripts.

Note: By using the code examples, you agree to the terms of the Code license and disclaimer information.

What's New
Select this link to learn about what is new in Qshell this release.

Print this topic
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Tutorial
Select this link to learn about using the Qshell command language and utilities. Start here if you are a new to using shells and shell commands.

Command language
Select this link to view the detailed reference information for the Qshell command language. Start here if you are writing shell scripts or are an experienced user of shells.

Using Qshell
Select this link to find out how to use the QSH CL command, how to configure the Qshell environment, and how to develop utilities.

Utilities
Select this link to view the list of utilities provided with Qshell.

Application Programming Interfaces
Select this link to view the list of application programming interfaces (APIs) provided with Qshell.

Remote client examples
Select this link to view an example of a remote client and server for starting an interactive Qshell session.

Note: In this information, the terms "job" and "process" are used interchangeably. The term "job" is from i5/OS^(TM) and the term "process" is from POSIX.