Configuring and working with the shells

This topic describes the different shells you may be working in. It explains the special features they provide to make your work easier, how to use variables to store information used by programs, and how to use aliases to define new commands recognized by the shells. It also describes how the shells process your instructions.

This information is contained in the following topics:

• what is a shell?

• what the different shells are for

• understanding variables

• some features to make life easier

• using aliases

• how the shell works