Create a shell variable and set it equal to some value.
Syntax
set [--abefhkmnptuvxBCHP] [-o option] [arg ...]
Key
-a Automatically mark variables and functions which are modified or created for export to
the environment of subsequent commands.
-b Report the status of terminated background jobs immediately, rather than before the
next primary prompt. This is effective only when job control is enabled.
-e Exit immediately if a simple command (see SHELL GRAMMAR) exits with a non-zero
status. The shell does not exit if the command that fails is part of the command list
immediately following a while or until keyword, part of the test in an if statement,
part of a && or || list, or if the command's return value is being inverted via !. A
trap on ERR, if set, is executed before the shell exits.
-f Disable pathname expansion.
-h Remember the location of commands as they are looked up for execution. This is enabled
by default.
-k All arguments in the form of assignment statements are placed in the environment for a
command, not just those that precede the command name.
-m Monitor mode. Job control is enabled. This option is on by default for interactive
shells on systems that support it (see JOB CONTROL). Background processes run in a
separate process group and a line containing their exit status is printed upon their
completion.
-n Read commands but do not execute them. This may be used to check a shell script for
syntax errors. This is ignored by interactive shells.
-o option-name
The option-name can be one of the following:
allexport Same as -a.
braceexpand Same as -B.
emacs Use an emacs-style command line editing interface. This is enabled by default
when the shell is interactive, unless the shell is started with --noediting
errtrace Same as -E.
functrace Same as -T.
errexit Same as -e.
hashall Same as -h.
histexpand Same as -H.
history Enable command history, as described above under HISTORY. This option is on
by default in interactive shells.
ignoreeof The effect is as if the shell command `IGNOREEOF=10' had been executed
keyword Same as -k.
monitor Same as -m.
noclobber Same as -C.
noexec Same as -n.
noglob Same as -f. nolog Currently ignored.
notify Same as -b.
nounset Same as -u.
onecmd Same as -t.
physical Same as -P.
pipefail If set, the return value of a pipeline is the value of the last (rightmost)
command to exit with a non-zero status, or zero if all commands in the pipeline
exit successfully. This option is disabled by default.
posix Change the behavior of bash where the default operation differs from the POSIX
standard to match the standard (posix mode).
privileged Same as -p.
verbose Same as -v.
vi Use a vi-style command line editing interface.
xtrace Same as -x.
If -o is supplied with no option-name, the values of the current options are printed.
If +o is supplied with no option-name, a series of set commands to recreate the current option settings is displayed on the standard output.
-p Turn on privileged mode. In this mode, the $ENV and $BASH_ENV files are not processed,
shell functions are not inherited from the environment, and the SHELLOPTS variable,
if it appears in the environment, is ignored. If the shell is started with the
effective user (group) id not equal to the real user (group) id, and the -p option
is not supplied, these actions are taken and the effective user id is set to the real
user id. If the -p option is supplied at startup, the effective user id is not reset.
Turning this option off causes the effective user and group ids to be set to the real
user and group ids.
-t Exit after reading and executing one command.
-u Treat unset variables as an error when performing parameter expansion. If expansion
is attempted on an unset variable, the shell prints an error message, and, if not
interactive, exits with a non-zero status.
-v Print shell input lines as they are read.
-x After expanding each simple command, for command, case command, select command, or
arithmetic for command, display the expanded value of PS4, followed by the command and
its expanded arguments or associated word list.
-B The shell performs brace expansion (see Brace Expansion above). This is on by
default.
-C If set, bash does not overwrite an existing file with the >, >&, and <> redirection
operators. This may be overridden when creating output files by using the redirection
operator >| instead of >.
-E If set, any trap on ERR is inherited by shell functions, command substitutions, and
commands executed in a subshell environment. The ERR trap is normally not inherited
in such cases.
-H Enable ! style history substitution. This option is on by default when the shell is
interactive.
-P If set, the shell does not follow symbolic links when executing commands such as cd
that change the current working directory. It uses the physical directory structure
instead. By default, bash follows the logical chain of directories when performing
commands which change the current directory.
-T If set, any traps on DEBUG and RETURN are inherited by shell functions, command substitutions,
and commands executed in a subshell environment. The DEBUG and RETURN traps are
normally not inherited in such cases.
-- If no arguments follow this option, then the positional parameters are unset. Otherwise,
the positional parameters are set to the args, even if some of them begin with a -.
- Signal the end of options, cause all remaining args to be assigned to the positional
parameters. The -x and -v options are turned off. If there are no args, the positional
parameters remain unchanged.
The options are off by default unless otherwise noted. Using + rather than - causes these options to be turned off.
Without options, the name and value of each shell variable are displayed in a format that can be reused as input for setting or resetting the currently-set variables.
Read-only variables cannot be reset.
In posix mode, only shell variables are listed.
The output is sorted according to the current locale.
When options are specified, they set or unset shell attributes. Any arguments remaining after the options are processed are treated as values for the positional parameters and are assigned, in order, to $1, $2, ...
The options can also be specified as arguments to an invocation of the shell. The current set of options may be found in $-.
The return status is always true.
set is a bash builtin command.
"Have no friends not equal to yourself." - Confucious (Analects)
Related:
unset - Remove variable or function names
