Tiny Shell (tsh)

Overview

Tiny Shell (tsh) is a minimal shell implementation designed to support basic shell functionality, including executing built-in commands, handling user input, and managing processes. This project is an educational exercise to understand how shells work at the system level.

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Features

• Prompt Display: Displays a custom prompt (tsh> ) to take user commands.
• Built-in Commands:
  • cd <directory>: Change the current working directory.
  • exit: Exit the shell.
  • help: Display information about the shell.
• Process Execution: Supports running external programs.
• Background Processes: Supports running processes in the background using &.
• Signal Handling: Gracefully handles SIGINT (Ctrl+C) and other signals.
• Error Handling: Handles invalid commands and arguments gracefully.

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File Information

Files used to test your shell:

• sdriver.pl : The trace-driven shell driver
• trace*.txt : The 17 trace files that control the shell driver
• tshref.out : Example output of the reference shell on all 17 traces

Little C programs that are called by the trace files:

• myspin.c : Takes argument and spins for seconds
• mysplit.c : Forks a child that spins for seconds
• mystop.c : Spins for seconds and sends SIGTSTP to itself
• myint.c : Spins for seconds and sends SIGINT to itself

Build and Usage Instructions

Prerequisites

• GCC or any C compiler
• Linux or macOS environment (not tested on Windows)
• Make utility

Build the Shell

make

Run the Shell

./tsh

How to Use

1. Launch the Shell: Run ./tsh to start the Tiny Shell. The shell prompt will appear as tsh>.
2. Execute Commands:

• To run a command in the foreground:

  tsh> ls -l

• To run a command in the background:

  tsh> sleep 10 &

3. Built-in Commands:

• Quit the Shell:

  tsh> exit

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues or pull requests to improve this program.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.