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1 ;;; eshell.el --- the Emacs command shell -*- lexical-binding:t -*-
3 ;; Copyright (C) 1999-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
5 ;; Author: John Wiegley <johnw@gnu.org>
6 ;; Version: 2.4.2
7 ;; Keywords: processes
9 ;; This file is part of GNU Emacs.
11 ;; GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
12 ;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
13 ;; the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
14 ;; (at your option) any later version.
16 ;; GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
17 ;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
18 ;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
19 ;; GNU General Public License for more details.
21 ;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
22 ;; along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
24 ;;; Commentary:
26 ;;;_* What does Eshell offer you?
28 ;; Despite the sheer fact that running an Emacs shell can be fun, here
29 ;; are a few of the unique features offered by Eshell:
31 ;; @ Integration with the Emacs Lisp programming environment
33 ;; @ A high degree of configurability
35 ;; @ The ability to have the same shell on every system Emacs has been
36 ;; ported to. Since Eshell imposes no external requirements, and
37 ;; relies upon only the Lisp functions exposed by Emacs, it is quite
38 ;; operating system independent. Several of the common UNIX
39 ;; commands, such as ls, mv, rm, ln, etc., have been implemented in
40 ;; Lisp in order to provide a more consistent work environment.
42 ;; For those who might be using an older version of Eshell, version
43 ;; 2.1 represents an entirely new, module-based architecture. It
44 ;; supports most of the features offered by modern shells. Here is a
45 ;; brief list of some of its more visible features:
47 ;; @ Command argument completion (tcsh, zsh)
48 ;; @ Input history management (bash)
49 ;; @ Intelligent output scrolling
50 ;; @ Pseudo-devices (such as "/dev/clip" for copying to the clipboard)
51 ;; @ Extended globbing (zsh)
52 ;; @ Argument and globbing predication (zsh)
53 ;; @ I/O redirection to buffers, files, symbols, processes, etc.
54 ;; @ Many niceties otherwise seen only in 4DOS
55 ;; @ Alias functions, both Lisp and Eshell-syntax
56 ;; @ Piping, sequenced commands, background jobs, etc...
58 ;;;_* How to begin
60 ;; To start using Eshell, simply type `M-x eshell'.
62 ;;;_* Philosophy
64 ;; A shell is a layer which metaphorically surrounds the kernel, or
65 ;; heart of an operating system. This kernel can be seen as an engine
66 ;; of pure functionality, waiting to serve, while the user programs
67 ;; take advantage of that functionality to accomplish their purpose.
69 ;; The shell's role is to make that functionality accessible to the
70 ;; user in an unformed state. Very roughly, it associates kernel
71 ;; functionality with textual commands, allowing the user to interact
72 ;; with the operating system via linguistic constructs. Process
73 ;; invocation is perhaps the most significant form this takes, using
74 ;; the kernel's `fork' and `exec' functions.
76 ;; Other programs also interact with the functionality of the kernel,
77 ;; but these user applications typically offer a specific range of
78 ;; functionality, and thus are not classed as "shells" proper.
79 ;; (What they lose in quiddity, they gain in rigidity).
81 ;; Emacs is also a user application, but it does make the
82 ;; functionality of the kernel accessible through an interpreted
83 ;; language -- namely, Lisp. For that reason, there is little
84 ;; preventing Emacs from serving the same role as a modern shell. It
85 ;; too can manipulate the kernel in an unpredetermined way to cause
86 ;; system changes. All it's missing is the shell-ish linguistic
87 ;; model.
89 ;; Enter Eshell. Eshell translates "shell-like" syntax into Lisp
90 ;; in order to exercise the kernel in the same manner as typical
91 ;; system shells. There is a fundamental difference here, however,
92 ;; although it may seem subtle at first...
94 ;; Shells like csh and Bourne shell were written several decades ago,
95 ;; in different times, under more restrictive circumstances. This
96 ;; confined perspective shows itself in the paradigm used by nearly
97 ;; all command-line shells since. They are linear in conception, byte
98 ;; stream-based, sequential, and confined to movement within a single
99 ;; host machine.
101 ;; Emacs, on the other hand, is more than just a limited translator
102 ;; that can invoke subprocesses and redirect file handles. It also
103 ;; manages character buffers, windowing frames, network connections,
104 ;; registers, bookmarks, processes, etc. In other words, it's a very
105 ;; multi-dimensional environment, within which eshell emulates a highly
106 ;; linear methodology.
108 ;; Taking a moment, let's look at how this could affect the future of
109 ;; a shell allowed to develop in such a wider field of play:
111 ;; @ There is no reason why directory movement should be linear, and
112 ;; confined to a single file-system. Emacs, through w3 and ange-ftp,
113 ;; has access to the entire Web. Why not allow a user to cd to
114 ;; multiple directories simultaneously, for example? It might make
115 ;; some tasks easier, such as diff'ing files separated by very long
116 ;; pathnames.
118 ;; @ Data sources are available from anywhere Emacs can derive
119 ;; information from: not just from files or the output of other
120 ;; processes.
122 ;; @ Multiple shell invocations all share the same environment -- even
123 ;; the same process list! It would be possible to have "process
124 ;; views", so that one buffer is watching standard output, another
125 ;; standard error, and another the result of standard output grep'd
126 ;; through a regular expression...
128 ;; @ It is not necessary to "leave" the shell, losing all input and
129 ;; output history, environment variables, directory stack, etc.
130 ;; Emacs could save the contents of your eshell environment, and
131 ;; restore all of it (or at least as much as possible) each time you
132 ;; restart. This could occur automatically, without requiring
133 ;; complex initialization scripts.
135 ;; @ Typos occur all of the time; many of them are repeats of common
136 ;; errors, such as 'dri' for `dir'. Since executing non-existent
137 ;; programs is rarely the intention of the user, eshell could prompt
138 ;; for the replacement string, and then record that in a database of
139 ;; known misspellings. (Note: The typo at the beginning of this
140 ;; paragraph wasn't discovered until two months after I wrote the
141 ;; text; it was not intentional).
143 ;; @ Emacs's register and bookmarking facilities can be used for
144 ;; remembering where you've been, and what you've seen -- to varying
145 ;; levels of persistence. They could perhaps even be tied to
146 ;; specific "moments" during eshell execution, which would include
147 ;; the environment at that time, as well as other variables.
148 ;; Although this would require functionality orthogonal to Emacs's
149 ;; own bookmarking facilities, the interface used could be made to
150 ;; operate very similarly.
152 ;; This presents a brief idea of what the fuller dimensionality of an
153 ;; Emacs shell could offer. It's not just the language of a shell
154 ;; that determines how it's used, but also the Weltanschauung
155 ;; underlying its design -- and which is felt behind even the smallest
156 ;; feature. I would hope the freedom provided by using Emacs as a
157 ;; parent environment will invite rich ideas from others. It
158 ;; certainly feels as though all I've done so far is to tie down the
159 ;; horse, so to speak, so that he will run at a man's pace.
161 ;;;_* Influences
163 ;; The author of Eshell has been a long-time user of the following
164 ;; shells, all of which contributed to Eshell's design:
166 ;; @ rc
167 ;; @ bash
168 ;; @ zsh
169 ;; @ sh
170 ;; @ 4nt
171 ;; @ csh
173 ;;;_* Speeding up load time
175 ;; If you find that Eshell loads too slowly, there is something you
176 ;; can do to speed it up.
178 ;; Create a file, named /tmp/elc, containing this filelist:
180 ;; esh-util.elc
181 ;; eshell.elc
182 ;; esh-module.elc
183 ;; esh-var.elc
184 ;; esh-proc.elc
185 ;; esh-arg.elc
186 ;; esh-io.elc
187 ;; esh-ext.elc
188 ;; esh-cmd.elc
189 ;; esh-mode.elc
190 ;; esh-opt.elc
191 ;; em-alias.elc
192 ;; em-banner.elc
193 ;; em-basic.elc
194 ;; em-cmpl.elc
195 ;; em-dirs.elc
196 ;; em-pred.elc
197 ;; em-glob.elc
198 ;; em-hist.elc
199 ;; em-ls.elc
200 ;; em-prompt.elc
201 ;; em-rebind.elc
202 ;; em-script.elc
203 ;; em-smart.elc
204 ;; em-term.elc
205 ;; em-unix.elc
206 ;; em-xtra.elc
208 ;; The order is very important. Remove from the filelist any features
209 ;; you don't use. These all begin with "em-". If you don't use
210 ;; Eshell's key rebinding module, you can remove "em-rebind.elc" from
211 ;; the filelist. The modules you are currently using are listed in
212 ;; `eshell-modules-list'.
214 ;; Now, concatenating all of the above mentioned .elc files, in that
215 ;; order, to another file. Here is how to do this on UNIX:
217 ;; cat `cat /tmp/elc` > tmp.elc ; mv tmp.elc eshell.elc
219 ;; Now your eshell.elc file contains all of the .elc files that make
220 ;; up Eshell, in the right load order. When you next load Eshell, it
221 ;; will only have to read in this one file, which will greatly speed
222 ;; things up.
224 (eval-when-compile
225 (require 'cl-lib))
226 (require 'esh-util)
227 (require 'esh-mode)
229 (defgroup eshell nil
230 "Command shell implemented entirely in Emacs Lisp.
231 It invokes no external processes beyond those requested by the
232 user, and is intended to be a functional replacement for command
233 shells such as bash, zsh, rc, 4dos."
234 :link '(info-link "(eshell)Top")
235 :version "21.1"
236 :group 'applications)
238 ;;;_* User Options
240 ;; The following user options modify the behavior of Eshell overall.
241 (defvar eshell-buffer-name)
243 (defun eshell-add-to-window-buffer-names ()
244 "Add `eshell-buffer-name' to `same-window-buffer-names'."
245 (declare (obsolete nil "24.3"))
246 (add-to-list 'same-window-buffer-names eshell-buffer-name))
248 (defun eshell-remove-from-window-buffer-names ()
249 "Remove `eshell-buffer-name' from `same-window-buffer-names'."
250 (declare (obsolete nil "24.3"))
251 (setq same-window-buffer-names
252 (delete eshell-buffer-name same-window-buffer-names)))
254 (defcustom eshell-load-hook nil
255 "A hook run once Eshell has been loaded."
256 :type 'hook
257 :group 'eshell)
259 (defcustom eshell-unload-hook '(eshell-unload-all-modules)
260 "A hook run when Eshell is unloaded from memory."
261 :type 'hook
262 :group 'eshell)
264 (defcustom eshell-buffer-name "*eshell*"
265 "The basename used for Eshell buffers."
266 :type 'string
267 :group 'eshell)
269 (defcustom eshell-directory-name
270 (locate-user-emacs-file "eshell/" ".eshell/")
271 "The directory where Eshell control files should be kept."
272 :type 'directory
273 :group 'eshell)
275 ;;;_* Running Eshell
277 ;; There are only three commands used to invoke Eshell. The first two
278 ;; are intended for interactive use, while the third is meant for
279 ;; programmers. They are:
281 ;;;###autoload
282 (defun eshell (&optional arg)
283 "Create an interactive Eshell buffer.
284 The buffer used for Eshell sessions is determined by the value of
285 `eshell-buffer-name'. If there is already an Eshell session active in
286 that buffer, Emacs will simply switch to it. Otherwise, a new session
287 will begin. A numeric prefix arg (as in `C-u 42 M-x eshell RET')
288 switches to the session with that number, creating it if necessary. A
289 nonnumeric prefix arg means to create a new session. Returns the
290 buffer selected (or created)."
291 (interactive "P")
292 (cl-assert eshell-buffer-name)
293 (let ((buf (cond ((numberp arg)
294 (get-buffer-create (format "%s<%d>"
295 eshell-buffer-name
296 arg)))
297 (arg
298 (generate-new-buffer eshell-buffer-name))
300 (get-buffer-create eshell-buffer-name)))))
301 (cl-assert (and buf (buffer-live-p buf)))
302 (pop-to-buffer-same-window buf)
303 (unless (derived-mode-p 'eshell-mode)
304 (eshell-mode))
305 buf))
307 (defun eshell-return-exits-minibuffer ()
308 (define-key eshell-mode-map [(control ?g)] 'abort-recursive-edit)
309 (define-key eshell-mode-map [return] 'exit-minibuffer)
310 (define-key eshell-mode-map [(control ?m)] 'exit-minibuffer)
311 (define-key eshell-mode-map [(control ?j)] 'exit-minibuffer)
312 (define-key eshell-mode-map [(meta return)] 'exit-minibuffer)
313 (define-key eshell-mode-map [(meta control ?m)] 'exit-minibuffer))
315 (defvar eshell-non-interactive-p nil
316 "A variable which is non-nil when Eshell is not running interactively.
317 Modules should use this variable so that they don't clutter
318 non-interactive sessions, such as when using `eshell-command'.")
320 (declare-function eshell-add-input-to-history "em-hist" (input))
322 ;;;###autoload
323 (defun eshell-command (&optional command arg)
324 "Execute the Eshell command string COMMAND.
325 With prefix ARG, insert output into the current buffer at point."
326 (interactive)
327 (require 'esh-cmd)
328 (unless arg
329 (setq arg current-prefix-arg))
330 (let ((eshell-non-interactive-p t))
331 ;; Enable `eshell-mode' only in this minibuffer.
332 (minibuffer-with-setup-hook #'(lambda ()
333 (eshell-mode)
334 (eshell-return-exits-minibuffer))
335 (unless command
336 (setq command (read-from-minibuffer "Emacs shell command: "))
337 (if (eshell-using-module 'eshell-hist)
338 (eshell-add-input-to-history command)))))
339 (unless command
340 (error "No command specified!"))
341 ;; redirection into the current buffer is achieved by adding an
342 ;; output redirection to the end of the command, of the form
343 ;; 'COMMAND >>> #<buffer BUFFER>'. This will not interfere with
344 ;; other redirections, since multiple redirections merely cause the
345 ;; output to be copied to multiple target locations
346 (if arg
347 (setq command
348 (concat command
349 (format " >>> #<buffer %s>"
350 (buffer-name (current-buffer))))))
351 (save-excursion
352 (let ((buf (set-buffer (generate-new-buffer " *eshell cmd*")))
353 (eshell-non-interactive-p t))
354 (eshell-mode)
355 (let* ((proc (eshell-eval-command
356 (list 'eshell-commands
357 (eshell-parse-command command))))
358 intr
359 (bufname (if (and proc (listp proc))
360 "*EShell Async Command Output*"
361 (setq intr t)
362 "*EShell Command Output*")))
363 (if (buffer-live-p (get-buffer bufname))
364 (kill-buffer bufname))
365 (rename-buffer bufname)
366 ;; things get a little coarse here, since the desire is to
367 ;; make the output as attractive as possible, with no
368 ;; extraneous newlines
369 (when intr
370 (if (eshell-interactive-process)
371 (eshell-wait-for-process (eshell-interactive-process)))
372 (cl-assert (not (eshell-interactive-process)))
373 (goto-char (point-max))
374 (while (and (bolp) (not (bobp)))
375 (delete-char -1)))
376 (cl-assert (and buf (buffer-live-p buf)))
377 (unless arg
378 (let ((len (if (not intr) 2
379 (count-lines (point-min) (point-max)))))
380 (cond
381 ((= len 0)
382 (message "(There was no command output)")
383 (kill-buffer buf))
384 ((= len 1)
385 (message "%s" (buffer-string))
386 (kill-buffer buf))
388 (save-selected-window
389 (select-window (display-buffer buf))
390 (goto-char (point-min))
391 ;; cause the output buffer to take up as little screen
392 ;; real-estate as possible, if temp buffer resizing is
393 ;; enabled
394 (and intr temp-buffer-resize-mode
395 (resize-temp-buffer-window)))))))))))
397 ;;;###autoload
398 (defun eshell-command-result (command &optional status-var)
399 "Execute the given Eshell COMMAND, and return the result.
400 The result might be any Lisp object.
401 If STATUS-VAR is a symbol, it will be set to the exit status of the
402 command. This is the only way to determine whether the value returned
403 corresponding to a successful execution."
404 ;; a null command produces a null, successful result
405 (if (not command)
406 (ignore
407 (if (and status-var (symbolp status-var))
408 (set status-var 0)))
409 (with-temp-buffer
410 (let ((eshell-non-interactive-p t))
411 (eshell-mode)
412 (let ((result (eshell-do-eval
413 (list 'eshell-commands
414 (list 'eshell-command-to-value
415 (eshell-parse-command command))) t)))
416 (cl-assert (eq (car result) 'quote))
417 (if (and status-var (symbolp status-var))
418 (set status-var eshell-last-command-status))
419 (cadr result))))))
421 ;;;_* Reporting bugs
423 ;; If you do encounter a bug, on any system, please report
424 ;; it -- in addition to any particular oddities in your configuration
425 ;; -- so that the problem may be corrected for the benefit of others.
427 ;;;###autoload
428 (define-obsolete-function-alias 'eshell-report-bug 'report-emacs-bug "23.1")
430 ;;; Code:
432 (defun eshell-unload-all-modules ()
433 "Unload all modules that were loaded by Eshell, if possible.
434 If the user has require'd in any of the modules, or customized a
435 variable with a :require tag (such as `eshell-prefer-to-shell'), it
436 will be impossible to unload Eshell completely without restarting
437 Emacs."
438 ;; if the user set `eshell-prefer-to-shell' to t, but never loaded
439 ;; Eshell, then `eshell-subgroups' will be unbound
440 (when (fboundp 'eshell-subgroups)
441 (dolist (module (eshell-subgroups 'eshell))
442 ;; this really only unloads as many modules as possible,
443 ;; since other `require' references (such as by customizing
444 ;; `eshell-prefer-to-shell' to a non-nil value) might make it
445 ;; impossible to unload Eshell completely
446 (if (featurep module)
447 (ignore-errors
448 (message "Unloading %s..." (symbol-name module))
449 (unload-feature module)
450 (message "Unloading %s...done" (symbol-name module)))))
451 (message "Unloading eshell...done")))
453 (run-hooks 'eshell-load-hook)
455 (provide 'eshell)
457 ;;; eshell.el ends here