---
name: "zsh30misc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "zsh30"
version: "3.0.8-14"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zsh30misc"
---

# zsh30misc(1)

Everything and then some

## NAME

zshmisc - Everything and then some

## SYNOPSIS

Everything I haven't put somewhere else

## SHELL GRAMMAR

A *simple command* is a sequence of optional parameter assignments followed by blank-separated words, with optional redirections interspersed. The first word is the command to be executed, and the remaining words, if any, are arguments to the command. If a command name is given, the parameter assignments modify the environment of the command when it is executed. The value of a simple command is its exit status, or 128 plus the signal number if terminated by a signal.

A *pipeline* is a sequence of one or more commands separated by **\|** or **\|&**.  **\|&** is shorthand for **2\>&1 \|**. The standard output of each command is connected to the standard input of the next command in the pipeline.  If a pipeline is preceded by **coproc**, it is executed as a coprocess; a two-way pipe is established between it and the parent shell.  The shell can read from or write to the coprocess by means of the **\>&p** and **\<&p** redirection operators. The value of a pipeline is the value of the last command.  If a pipeline is preceded by a **!**, the value of that pipeline is the logical NOT of the value of the last command.

A *sublist* is a sequence of one or more pipelines separated by **&&** or **\|\|**.  If two pipelines are separated by **&&**, the second pipeline is executed only if the first is successful (returns a zero value). If two pipelines are separated by **\|\|**, the second is executed only if the first is unsuccessful (returns a nonzero value).  Both operators have equal precedence and are left associative.

A *list* is a sequence of zero or more sublists separated by, and optionally terminated by, **;**, **&**, **&\|**, **&!** or a newline. Normally the shell waits for each list to finish before executing the next one. If a list is terminated by **&**, **&\|** or **&!**, the shell executes it in the background, and does not wait for it to finish.

## PRECOMMAND MODIFIERS

A simple command may be preceded by a *precommand* modifier which will alter how the command is interpreted.  These modifiers are shell builtin commands with the exception of **nocorrect** which is a reserved word.

- **-**

  **The command is executed with a - prepended to its** **argv\[0\] string.**

- **noglob**

  **Filename generation (globbing) is not performed on any of** **the words.**

- **nocorrect**

  **Spelling correction is not done on any of the words.**

- **exec**

  **The command is executed in the parent shell without forking.**

- **command**

  **The command word is taken to be the name of an external command,** **rather than a shell function or builtin.**

## COMPLEX COMMANDS

**A** *complex command* **in zsh is one of the following:**

- **if** *list* **then** *list* **\[ elif** *list* **then** *list* **\] ... \[ else** *list* **\] fi**

  **The if** *list* **is executed, and,** **if it returns a zero exit status,** **the then** *list* **is executed.** **Otherwise, the elif** *list* **is** **executed and, if its value is zero,** **the then** *list* **is executed.** **If each elif** *list* **returns** **nonzero, the else** *list* **is executed.**

- **for** *name* **\[ in** *word* **...** *term* **\] do** *list* **done**

  **where** *term* **is one ore more newline or ;.** **Expand the list of** *word***s, and set the parameter** *name* **to each of them in turn, executing** *list* **each time.  If the in** *word* **is omitted,** **use the positional parameters instead of the** *word***s.**

- **while** *list* **do** *list* **done**

  **Execute the do** *list* **as long as the while** *list* **returns a zero exit status.**

- **until** *list* **do** *list* **done**

  **Execute the do** *list* **as long as until** *list* **returns a nonzero exit status.**

- **repeat** *word* **do** *list* **done**

  *word* **is expanded and treated as an arithmetic expression,** **which must evaluate to a number** *n***.** *list* **is then executed n times.**

- **case** *word* **in \[ \[(\]** *pattern* **\[ \|** *pattern* **\] ... )** *list* **;; \] ... esac**

  **Execute the** *list* **associated with the first** *pattern* **that matches** *word***, if any.  The form of the patterns** **is the same as that used for filename generation.  See** *Filename Generation* **below.**

- **select** *name* **\[ in** *word* **...** *term* **\] do** *list* **done**

  **where** *term* **is one ore more newline or ;.** **Print the set of** *word***s, each preceded by a number.** **If the in** *word* **is omitted, use the positional parameters.** **The PROMPT3 prompt is printed and a line is read from standard** **input.  If this line consists of the number of one of the listed** *word***s, then the parameter** *name* **is set to the** *word* **corresponding to this number.** **If this line is empty, the selection list is printed again.** **Otherwise, the value of the parameter** *name* **is set to null.** **The contents of the line read from standard input is saved** **in the parameter REPLY.**  *list* **is executed** **for each selection until a break or end-of-file is encountered.**

- **(** *list* **)**

  **Execute** *list* **in a subshell.  Traps set by the trap builtin** **are reset to their default values while executing** *list***.**

- **{** *list* **}**

  **Execute** *list***.**

- **function** *word* **... \[ () \] \[** *term* **\] {** *list* **}**

  - *word* **... () \[** *term* **\] {** *list* **}**

  - *word* **... () \[** *term* **\]** *command*

  **where** *term* **is one or more newline or ;.** **Define a function which is referenced by any one of** *word***.** **Normally, only one** *word* **is provided; multiple** *word***s** **are usually only useful for setting traps.** **The body of the function is the** *list* **between** **the { and }. See FUNCTIONS below.**

  **If the option SH\_GLOB is set for compatibility with other** **shells, then whitespace may appear between between the left and** **right parentheses when there is a single** *word***; otherwise,** **the parentheses will be treated as forming a globbing pattern** **in that case.**

- **time \[** *pipeline* **\]**

  **The** *pipeline* **is executed, and timing statistics are** **reported on the standard error in the form specified** **by the TIMEFMT parameter.** **If** *pipeline* **is omitted, print statistics about the** **shell process and its children.**

- **\[\[** *exp* **\]\]**

  **Evaluates the conditional expression** *exp* **and return a zero exit status if it is true.** **See Conditional Expressions below for a description** **of** *exp***.**

## ALTERNATE FORMS FOR COMPLEX COMMANDS

**Many of zsh's complex commands have alternate forms.  These particular** **versions of complex commands should be considered deprecated and may be** **removed in the future.  The versions in the previous section should be** **preferred instead.  The short versions below only work if** *sublist* **is of the form {** *list* **} or if the NO\_SHORT\_LOOPS** **option is not set.**

- **if** *list* **{** *list* **} \[ elif** *list* **{** *list* **} \] ... \[ else {** *list* **} \]**

  **An alternate form of if.**

- **if** *list* *sublist*

  **A short form of previous one.**

- **for** *name* **(** *word* **... )** *sublist*

  **A short form of for.**

- **for** *name* **\[ in** *word* **...** *term* **\]** *sublist*

  **where** *term* **is one ore more newline or ;.** **Another short form of for.**

- **foreach** *name* **(** *word* **... )** *list* **end**

  **Another form of for.**

- **while** *list* **{** *list* **}**

  **An alternative form of while.**

- **until** *list* **{** *list* **}**

  **An alternative form of until.**

- **repeat** *word* *sublist*

  **This is a short form of repeat.**

- **case** *word* **{ \[ \[(\]** *pattern* **\[ \|** *pattern* **\] ... )** *list* **;; \] ... }**

  **An alternative form of case.**

- **select** *name* **\[ in** *word* *term* **\]** *sublist*

  **where** *term* **is one ore more newline or ;.** **A short form of select.**

## RESERVED WORDS

**The following words are recognized as reserved words when used as the** **first word of a command unless quoted or disabled using disable -r:**

**do done esac then elif else fi for case** **if while function repeat time until** **select coproc nocorrect foreach end ! \[\[ { }**

**Additionally } is recognized in any position if the** **IGNORE\_BRACES option is not set.**

## COMMENTS

**In noninteractive shells, or in interactive shells with the** **INTERACTIVE\_COMMENTS option set, a word beginning** **with the third character of the histchars parameter** **(\`#' by default) causes that word and all the following** **characters up to a newline to be ignored.**

## ALIASING

**Every token in the shell input is checked to see if there** **is an alias defined for it.** **If so, it is replaced by the text of the alias if it is in command** **position (if it could be the first word of a simple command),** **or if the alias is global.** **If the text ends with a space, the next word in the shell input** **is treated as though it were in command position for purposes of alias** **expansion.** **An alias is defined using the alias builtin; global aliases** **may be defined using the -g option to that builtin.**

**Alias substitution is done on the shell input before any** **other substitution except history substitution.  Therefore,** **if an alias is defined for the word foo, alias substitution** **may be avoided by quoting part of the word, e.g. \\foo.** **But there is nothing to prevent an alias being defined** **for \\foo as well.**

## QUOTING

**A character may be** *quoted* **(that is, made** **to stand for itself) by preceding it with a \\.** **\\ followed by a newline is ignored.** **All characters enclosed between a pair of single quotes ('')** **are quoted. A single quote cannot appear within single quotes.** **Inside double quotes (""), parameter and command substitution** **occurs, and \\ quotes the characters \\, \`, ", and $.**

## REDIRECTION

**Before a command is executed, its input and output** **may be redirected.** **The following may appear anywhere in a simple command** **or may precede or follow a complex command.** **Substitution occurs before** *word* **or** *digit* **is used except as noted below.** **If the result of substitution on** *word* **produces more than one filename,** **redirection occurs for each** **separate filename in turn.**

- **\<***word*

  **Open file** *word* **as standard input.**

- **\<\>***word*

  **Open file** *word* **for reading and writing as standard input.** **If the file does not exist then it is created.**

- **\>***word*

  **Open file** *word* **as standard output.** **If the file does not exist then it is created.** **If the file exists, and the** **CLOBBER** **option is unset,** **this causes an error;** **otherwise, it is truncated to zero length.**

- **\>\|** *word*

  - **\>!** *word*

  **Same as** **\>**, **except that the file is truncated to zero length** **if it exists, even if** **CLOBBER** **is unset.**

- **\>\>***word*

  **Open file** *word* **as standard output.** **If the file exists then output is appended to it.** **If the file does not exist, and the** **CLOBBER** **option is unset,** **this causes an error;** **otherwise, the file is created.**

- **\>\>\|** *word*

  - **\>\>!** *word*

  **Same as** **\>\>**, **except that the file is created if it does not** **exist, even if** **CLOBBER** **is unset.**

- **\<\<\[-\]** *word*

  **The shell input is read up to a line that is the same as** *word*, **or to an end-of-file.** **No parameter substitution, command substitution or** **filename generation is performed on** *word*. **The resulting document,** **called a** *here-document*, **becomes** **the standard input.** **If any character of** *word* **is quoted with** **single or double quotes or a \\,** **no interpretation** **is placed upon the characters of the document.** **Otherwise, parameter and command substitution** **occurs, \\ followed by a newline is removed,** **and \\ must be used to quote the characters** **\\, $, \`, and the first character of** *word***.** **If \<\<- is used, then all leading** **tabs are stripped from** *word* **and from the document.**

- **\<\<\<***word*

  **Perform shell expansion on** *word* **and pass the result** **to standard input.**

- **\<&***digit*

  **The standard input** **is duplicated from file descriptor** *digit* **(see** [*dup*(2)](/dup/2.md)). **Similarly for standard output using** **\>&***digit***.**

- **\>&***word*

  **Same as** **\>***word* **2\>&1.**

- **\>\>&***word*

  **Same as** **\>\>***word* **2\>&1.**

- **\<&-**

  **Close the standard input.**

- **\>&-**

  **Close the standard output.**

- **\<&p**

  **The input from the coprocess is moved to the standard input.**

- **\>&p**

  **The output to the coprocess is moved to the standard output.**

**If one of the above is preceded by a digit, then the file** **descriptor referred to is that specified by the digit** **(instead of the default 0 or 1).** **The order in which redirections are specified is significant.** **The shell evaluates each redirection in terms of the** (*file descriptor*, *file*) **association at the time of evaluation.** **For example:**

**... 1\>***fname* **2\>&1**

**first associates file descriptor 1 with file** *fname*. **It then associates file descriptor 2 with the file associated with file** **descriptor 1 (that is,** *fname*). **If the order of redirections were reversed, file descriptor 2 would be associated** **with the terminal (assuming file descriptor 1 had been) and then file descriptor** **1 would be associated with file** *fname*.

**If the user tries to open a file descriptor for writing more than once,** **the shell opens the file descriptor as a pipe to a process that copies** **its input to all the specified outputs, similar to [tee(1)](/tee/1.md),** **provided the MULTIOS option is set.  Thus:**

**date \>foo \>bar**

**writes the date to two files, named "foo" and "bar".** **Note that a pipe is an implicit indirection; thus**

**date \>foo \| cat**

**writes the date to the file "foo", and also pipes it to cat.**

**If the** **MULTIOS** **option is set, the word after a redirection operator is also subjected** **to filename generation (globbing).  Thus**

**: \> \***

**will truncate all files in the current directory,** **assuming there's at least one.** **(Without the** **MULTIOS** **option, it would create an empty file called "\*".)**

**If the user tries to open a file descriptor for reading more than once,** **the shell opens the file descriptor as a pipe to a process that copies** **all the specified inputs to its output in the order** **specified, similar to [cat(1)](/cat/1.md),** **provided the MULTIOS option is set.  Thus**

**sort \<foo \<fubar**

**or even**

**sort \<f{oo,ubar}**

**is equivalent to "cat foo fubar \| sort".  Similarly, you can do**

**echo exit 0 \>\> \*.sh**

**Note that a pipe is in implicit indirection; thus**

**cat bar \| sort \<foo**

**is equivalent to "cat bar foo \| sort" (note the order of the inputs).**

**If the** **MULTIOS** **option is** *un*set, **each redirection replaces the previous redirection for that file descriptor.** **However, all files redirected to are actually opened, so**

**echo foo \> bar \> baz**

**when** **MULTIOS** **is unset will truncate bar, and write "foo" into baz.**

**If a simple command consists of one or more redirection operators** **and zero or more parameter assignments, but no command name,** **the command cat is assumed.  Thus**

**\< file**

**copies the contents of file to the standard output.**

**If a command is followed by** **&** **and job control is not active,** **then the default standard input** **for the command** **is the empty file** **/dev/null**. **Otherwise, the environment for the execution of a command contains the** **file descriptors of the invoking shell as modified by** **input/output specifications.**

## COMMAND EXECUTION

**If a command name contains no slashes, the shell attempts to locate** **it.  If there exists a shell function by that name, the function** **is invoked as described below in FUNCTIONS.  If there exists** **a shell builtin by that name, the builtin is invoked.**

**Otherwise, the shell searches each element of path for a** **directory containing an executable file by that name.  If the** **search is unsuccessful, the shell prints an error message and returns** **a nonzero exit status.**

**If execution fails because the file is not in executable format,** **and the file is not a directory, it is assumed to be a shell** **script.  /bin/sh is spawned to execute it.  If the program** **is a file beginning with #!, the remainder of the first line** **specifies an interpreter for the program.  The shell will** **execute the specified interpreter on operating systems that do** **not handle this executable format in the kernel.**

## FUNCTIONS

**Shell functions are defined with the function reserved word or the** **special syntax "funcname()".** **The** **function** **reserved word is used to define shell functions.** **Shell functions are read in and stored internally.** **Alias names are resolved when the function is read.** **Functions are executed like commands with the arguments** **passed as positional parameters.** **(See** *Execution* **below).**

**Functions execute in the same process as the caller and** **share all files** **and present working directory with the** **caller.** **A trap on** **EXIT** **set inside a function** **is executed after the function completes in the environment** **of the caller.**

**The** **return** **builtin is used to return** **from function calls.**

**Function identifiers** **can be listed with the** **functions** **builtin.** **Functions can be undefined with the** **unfunction** **builtin.**

**The following functions, if defined, have special meaning to** **the shell:**

- **chpwd**

  **Executed whenever the current working directory is changed.**

- **precmd**

  **Executed before each prompt.**

- **preexec**

  **Executed just after a command has been read and is about to be** **executed.  If the history mechanism is active, the string to be** **executed is passed as an argument.**

- **periodic**

  **If the parameter** **PERIOD** **is set, this function is executed every** **PERIOD** **seconds, just before a prompt.**

- **TRAPxxx**

  **If defined and non-null,** **this function will be executed whenever the shell** **catches a signal SIGxxx, where xxx is a signal** **name as specified for the kill builtin (see below).** **The signal number will be passed as the first parameter to the function.** **In addition, TRAPZERR is executed whenever a command has a non-zero** **exit status, TRAPDEBUG is executed after each command, and** **TRAPEXIT** **is executed when the shell exits,** **or when the current function exits if defined** **inside a function.** **If a function of this form is defined and null,** **the shell and processes spawned by it will ignore SIGxxx.**

## JOBS

**If the** **MONITOR** **option is set,** **an interactive shell associates a** *job* with each pipeline. It keeps a table of current jobs, printed by the **jobs** command, and assigns them small integer numbers. When a job is started asynchronously with **&**, the shell prints a line which looks like:

	\[1\] 1234

indicating that the job which was started asynchronously was job number 1 and had one (top-level) process, whose process id was 1234.

If a job is started with **&\|** or **&!**, then that job is immediately disowned.  After startup, it does not have a place in the job table, and is not subject to the job control features described here.

If you are running a job and wish to do something else you may hit the key **^Z** (control-Z) which sends a TSTP signal to the current job. The shell will then normally indicate that the job has been \`suspended', and print another prompt. You can then manipulate the state of this job, putting it in the background with the **bg** command, or run some other commands and then eventually bring the job back into the foreground with the foreground command **fg**. A **^Z** takes effect immediately and is like an interrupt in that pending output and unread input are discarded when it is typed.

A job being run in the background will suspend if it tries to read from the terminal. Background jobs are normally allowed to produce output, but this can be disabled by giving the command \`\`stty tostop''. If you set this tty option, then background jobs will suspend when they try to produce output like they do when they try to read input.

There are several ways to refer to jobs in the shell. A job can be referred to by the process id of any process of the job or by one of the following:

- **%***number*

  The job with the given number.

- **%***string*

  Any job whose command line begins with *string*.

- **%?***string*

  Any job whose command line contains *string*.

- **%%**

  Current job.

- **%+**

  Equivalent to **%%**.

- **%-**

  Previous job.

The shell learns immediately whenever a process changes state. It normally informs you whenever a job becomes blocked so that no further progress is possible.  If **notify** is not set, it waits until just before it prints a prompt before it informs you.

When the monitor mode is on, each background job that completes triggers any trap set for **CHLD**.

When you try to leave the shell while jobs are running or suspended, you will be warned that \`You have suspended (running) jobs.' You may use the **jobs** command to see what they are. If you do this or immediately try to exit again, the shell will not warn you a second time; the suspended jobs will be terminated, and the running jobs will be sent a **SIGHUP** signal. To avoid having the shell terminate the running jobs, either use the [**nohup**(1)](/nohup/1.md) command or the **disown** builtin (see below).

## SIGNALS

The INT and QUIT signals for an invoked command are ignored if the command is followed by **&** and the job **MONITOR** option is not active. Otherwise, signals have the values inherited by the shell from its parent (but see the **TRAPxxx** special function above).

## ARITHMETIC EVALUATION

An ability to perform integer arithmetic is provided with the builtin **let**. Evaluations are performed using *long* arithmetic. A leading *0x* or *0X* denotes hexadecimal. Otherwise, numbers are of the form \[*base***#**\]*n* where *base* is a decimal number between two and thirty-six representing the arithmetic base and *n* is a number in that base (for example, \`16#ff' is 255 in hexadecimal). If *base* is omitted then base 10 is used.  For backwards compatibility the form \`\[16\]ff' is also accepted.

An arithmetic expression uses nearly the same syntax, precedence, and associativity of expressions in C. The following operators are supported (listed in decreasing order of precedence):

- **+ - ! ∼ ++ --**

  unary plus/minus, logical NOT, complement, {pre,post}{in,de}crement

- **\<\< \>\>**

  bitwise shift left, right

- **&**

  bitwise AND

- **^**

  bitwise XOR

- **\|**

  bitwise OR

- **\*\***

  exponentiation

- **\* / %**

  multiplication, division, modulus (remainder)

- **+ -**

  addition, subtraction

- **\< \> \<= \>=**

  comparison

- **== !=**

  equality and inequality

- **&&**

  logical AND

- **\|\| ^^**

  logical OR, XOR

- **? :**

  ternary operator

- **= += -= \*= /= %= &= ^= \|= \<\<= \>\>= &&= \|\|= ^^= \*\*=**

  assignment

- **,**

  comma operator

The operators &&, \|\|, &&=, and \|\|= are short-circuiting, and only one of the latter two expressions in a ternary operator is evaluated.  Note the precedence of the bitwise AND, OR, and XOR operators.

An expression of the form **#\\x** where **x** is any character gives the ascii value of this character and an expression of the form **#foo** gives the ascii value of the first character of the value of the parameter **foo**.

Named parameters and subscripted arrays can be referenced by name within an arithmetic expression without using the parameter substitution syntax.

An internal integer representation of a named parameter can be specified with the **integer** builtin. Arithmetic evaluation is performed on the value of each assignment to a named parameter declared integer in this manner.

Since many of the arithmetic operators require quoting, an alternative form of the **let** command is provided. For any command which begins with a **((**, all the characters until a matching **))** are treated as a quoted expression. More precisely, **((**...**))** is equivalent to **let** **"**...**"**.

## CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS

A *conditional expression* is used with the **\[\[** compound command to test attributes of files and to compare strings. Each expression can be constructed from one or more of the following unary or binary expressions:

- **-a** *file*

  true if *file* exists.

- **-b** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a block special file.

- **-c** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a character special file.

- **-d** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a directory.

- **-e** *file*

  true if *file* exists.

- **-f** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is an ordinary file.

- **-g** *file*

  true if *file* exists and has its setgid bit set.

- **-h** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a symbolic link.

- **-k** *file*

  true if *file* exists and has its sticky bit set.

- **-n** *string*

  true if length of *string* is non-zero.

- **-o** *option*

  true if option named *option* is on. *option* may be a single character, in which case it is a single letter option name. (See the **SPECIFYING OPTIONS** section of the [*zshoptions*(1)](/zshoptions/1.md) man page.)

- **-p** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a fifo special file or a pipe.

- **-r** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is readable by current process.

- **-s** *file*

  true if *file* exists and has size greater than zero.

- **-t** *fd*

  true if file descriptor number *fd* is open and associated with a terminal device. (note: *fd* is not optional)

- **-u** *file*

  true if *file* exists and has its setuid bit set.

- **-w** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is writable by current process.

- **-x** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is executable by current process. If *file* exists and is a directory, then the current process has permission to search in the directory.

- **-z** *string*

  true if length of *string* is zero.

- **-L** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a symbolic link.

- **-O** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is owned by the effective user id of this process.

- **-G** *file*

  true if *file* exists and its group matches the effective group id of this process.

- **-S** *file*

  true if *file* exists and is a socket.

- **-N** *file*

  true if *file* exists and its access time is not newer than its modification time.

- *file1* **-nt** *file2*

  true if *file1* exists and is newer than *file2*.

- *file1* **-ot** *file2*

  true if *file1* exists and is older than *file2*.

- *file1* **-ef** *file2*

  true if *file1* and  *file2* exist and refer to the same file.

- *string* **==** *pattern*

  - *string* **=** *pattern*

  true if *string* matches *pattern*. The first form is the preferred one.  The other form is for backward compatibility and should be considered obsolete.

- *string* **!=** *pattern*

  true if *string* does not match *pattern*.

- *string1* **\<** *string2*

  true if *string1* comes before *string2* based on ASCII value of their characters.

- *string1* **\>** *string2*

  true if *string1* comes after *string2* based on ASCII value of their characters.

- *exp1* **-eq** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is equal to *exp2.*

- *exp1* **-ne** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is not equal to *exp2.*

- *exp1* **-lt** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is less than *exp2.*

- *exp1* **-gt** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is greater than *exp2.*

- *exp1* **-le** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is less than or equal to *exp2.*

- *exp1* **-ge** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* is greater than or equal to *exp2.*

- **(** *exp* **)**

  true if *exp* is true.

- **!** *exp*

  true if *exp* is false.

- *exp1* **&&** *exp2*

  true if *exp1* and *exp2* are both true.

- *exp1* **\|\|** *exp2*

  true if either *exp1* or *exp2* is true.

In each of the above expressions, if *file* is of the form **/dev/fd/***n*, where *n* is an integer, then the test applied to the open file whose descriptor number is *n*, even if the underlying system does not support the **/dev/fd** directory.

## COMPATIBILITY

*Zsh* tries to emulate *sh* or *ksh* when it is invoked as *sh* or *ksh* respectively.  In this mode the following parameters are not special and not initialized by the shell: **ARGC**, **argv**, **cdpath**, **fignore**, **fpath**, **HISTCHARS**, **mailpath**, **MANPATH**, **manpath**, **path**, **prompt**, **PROMPT**, **PROMPT2**, **PROMPT3**, **PROMPT4**, **psvar**, **status**, **watch**.

The usual *zsh* starup/shutdown scripts are not executed.  Login shells source **/etc/profile** followed by **$HOME/.profile**.  If the **ENV** environment variable is set on invocation, **$ENV** is sourced after the profile scripts.  The value of **ENV** is subjected to parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion before being interpreted as a pathname.  Note that the **PRIVILEGED** option also affects the execution of startup files.  See [*zshoptions*(1)](/zshoptions/1.md) for more details.

The following options are set if the shell is invoked as *sh* or *ksh*: **NO\_BAD\_PATTERN**, **NO\_BANG\_HIST**, **NO\_BG\_NICE**, **NO\_EQUALS**, **NO\_FUNCTION\_ARGZERO**, **GLOB\_SUBST**, **NO\_HUP**, **INTERACTIVE\_COMMENTS**, **KSH\_ARRAYS**, **NO\_MULTIOS**, **NO\_NOMATCH**, **RM\_STAR\_SILENT**, **POSIX\_BUILTINS**, **SH\_FILE\_EXPANSION**, **SH\_GLOB**, **SH\_OPTION\_LETTERS**, **SH\_WORD\_SPLIT**. Additionally the **BSD\_ECHO** and the **IGNORE\_BRACES** options are set if *zsh* is invoked as *sh* and the **KSH\_OPTION\_PRINT**, **LOCAL\_OPTIONS**, **PROMPT\_SUBST** and **SINGLE\_LINE\_ZLE** options are set if *zsh* is invoked as *ksh*.
