what is shell

Shell is a UNIX term for interaction users and operating system. Shell's tools provides interface with command syntax for users to manage, control operating system's layer.

Shell is also called command interpreter.

Simply said, shell is a program that reads input from keyboard and sends it to operating system to process.

There are 2 major types of shells: The Bourne shell (character $ in prompt) and the C shell (character % in prompt).

Shell can be used interactively or non-interactively. Interactive mode reads input typed from the keyboard. Non-interactive mode read and execute commands from a file.

Shell provides variables, conditional constructs, quoting and functions like any other high level language (C, java).

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