Disclaimer: This project is a work in progress and is not yet complete. It is still in early parts of development. Contributions, suggestions, and feedback are welcome!

C-Shell

Welcome to C-Shell, a simple shell implementation in C! This project is a learning exercise aimed at understanding how shells work under the hood. The goal is to create a functional shell with most of the basic capabilities of bash, excluding advanced features like piping and custom prompts (for now).

🚀 Features (Planned)

• Basic command execution (e.g., ls, cd, pwd)
• Built-in commands (e.g., exit, help)
• Command history (up/down arrow support)
• Input/output redirection (e.g., >, <)
• Background process execution (e.g., &)
• Environment variable support (e.g., $HOME)
• Tab completion (stretch goal)

🛠️ How to Build and Run

To build and run the C-Shell locally, follow these steps:

Prerequisites

• A C compiler (e.g., gcc)
• A Unix-like operating system (Linux or macOS recommended)

Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Brollemolle/c-shell.git
   cd c-shell

2. Compile the shell:

   gcc -o cshell src/main.c

3. Run the shell:

   ./cshell

4. Test the shell:

   • Try running basic commands like ls, cd, and pwd.
   • Use exit to quit the shell.

Why This Project?

This project is a great way to:

• Learn how shells work internally.
• Understand process management in Unix-like systems.
• Practice C programming, especially working with system calls like fork(), execvp(), and wait().
• Gain experience in building a real-world tool from scratch.

What I’m Trying To Learn

• System Calls: Using fork(), execvp(), wait(), and chdir().
• String Parsing: Tokenizing user input into commands and arguments.
• Process Management: Handling foreground and background processes.
• Error Handling: Gracefully handling errors and edge cases.

🤝 Contributing

This project is primarily for learning purposes, but if you’d like to contribute, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request! Here are some areas where contributions would be welcome:

• Adding new features (e.g., piping, tab completion).
• Improving error handling.
• Writing test cases.

📜 License

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

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out.