csh Command in Linux

---

---

csh stands for C Shell. It is a Unix shell that provides a command-line interface for interacting with the operating system. As a Unix-like command-line interpreter and scripting language, its syntax is inspired by the C programming language. It was introduced back in the 1970s by Bill Joy at the University of California, Berkeley.

csh is considered one of the first Unix shells. It offers a robust and flexible environment for executing commands, scripting, and automating processes in a Linux system.

Table of Contents

In this tutorial, we’ll discuss what csh is and how to use it in Linux, including its basic syntax, scripting capabilities, and common use cases.

• How to Install csh Command in Linux?
• How to Use csh Command in Linux?
• Examples of csh Command in Linux

How to Install csh Command in Linux?

csh is not installed by default in most modern Linux distributions. Therefore, to use this command in Linux, we first need to install it. For this purpose, different package managers are used, depending on the distribution we are using.

Installing csh Command in Ubuntu

To install csh on a Debian-based system, we must use the apt package manager as follows −

sudo apt install csh

Installing csh Command in Arch Linux

To install csh command in Arch Linux, you must use the Pacman package manager as follows −

sudo pacman -S tcsh

Installing csh Command in CentOS, RHEL, or Fedora

Similarly, you can install csh command in centOS, RHEL, or Fedora using the dnf package manager, as shown below −

sudo dnf install tcsh

How to Use csh Command in Linux?

To use the csh command on Linux, ensure that the csh package is installed on your system. Then, start a new csh session. After this, you can use csh according to your program’s requirements.

Basic Syntax of csh Command

We can follow the below-mentioned syntax to use csh command in Linux −

csh [-bcefimnstVvXx] [argument ...]
csh [-l]

The “csh -l” is used to start a login shell. The “bcefimnstVvXx” are different options that are used to achieve specific functionalities. “argument…” represents any additional arguments or commands that can be passed to the shell.

csh Command in Linux

The table below illustrates some commonly used options for the csh command −

csh Files

In csh, various files are used for configuring and customizing the shell’s behavior. Some of them are listed below −

Man Page of csh Command

To learn more about the csh command, you can access the general commands manual page using the following command −

man csh

The manual page shows the command name, synopsis, description, options, and much more −

Examples of csh Command in Linux

Let’s learn how the csh command works in Linux using some practical examples −

• Running Basic csh Commands
• Executing Csh Scripts

Running Basic csh Commands

First, run the following command to start the csh session −

csh

Now you can type any command in the csh. For example, we run the pwd command in the csh to get the current working directory −

Similarly, you can run any command you want.

Executing Csh Scripts

In this example, we’ll show you how to create and execute a csh script in Linux. First, start the csh session and create a script with the “.csh” extension, as follows −

nano exampleScript.csh

Now specify the “/bin/csh” at the start of the script to tell the system to run the script in the c shell −

#!/bin/csh

After this, write a simple script like this −

echo "This is a simple example of the C shell script"
set domainName = "tutorialspoint"
echo "Hi, $domainName"

After specifying the code, press Ctrl + X to exit. If prompted to save changes, press Y to save, then Enter to confirm the filename −

Make the script executable by running the following command −

chmod +x exampleScript.csh

Now run the script using the below-mentioned command −

./exampleScript.csh

Finally, you’ll get the output something like this −

Now to exit the c shell and return to the default shell, type exit or press “CTRL + D” from your keyboard −

exit

This is how you can create a C shell script in Linux using the csh command.

Conclusion

Csh, or C Shell, is a Unix shell that provides a user-friendly command-line interface. It supports scripting with a syntax inspired by the C programming language. It provides a flexible environment for executing commands, scripting, and automating tasks.

In this tutorial, we covered how to install Csh on various Linux distributions, explained its basic syntax and options, and explored configuration files that customize its behavior. Additionally, we considered some practical examples that demonstrate how to run basic commands and scripts in Csh.