A better Linux shell? [closed]

Question

I use bash, and have done so for over a decade - but occasionally I wonder whether there has been any significant new developments in the world of Linux shells.

A few years back Microsoft released PowerShell, which seemed very interesting. Is there any comparable innovation going on in Linux shells?

Answer 1

You do realize bash 4 has very recently been released with a load of new features and language additions?

• Shell options globstar (**/foo) does a recursive search, dirspell fixes typos during pathname expansion.
• Associative arrays, map strings to strings, instead of just numbers to strings.
• The autocd shell option allows changing directories by just typing the directory path instead of having to put cd in front.
• Coprocesses
• &>> and |& redirection operators that redirect both stdout and stderr
• Loads of additions to existing builtins for improved scripting convenience.

Check out:

• The "official" changelog: http://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/bash/CHANGES
• A short guide to some of the new features: http://bash-hackers.org/wiki/doku.php/bash4