The exec
built-in command mirrors functions in the kernel, there are a family of them based on execve
, which is usually called from C.
exec
replaces the current program in the current process, without fork
ing a new process. It is not something you would use in every script you write, but it comes in handy on occasion. Here are some scenarios I have used it;
We want the user to run a specific application program without access to the shell. We could change the sign-in program in /etc/passwd, but maybe we want environment setting to be used from start-up files. So, in (say) .profile
, the last statement says something like:
exec appln-program
so now there is no shell to go back to. Even if appln-program
crashes, the end-user cannot get to a shell, because it is not there - the exec
replaced it.
We want to use a different shell to the one in /etc/passwd. Stupid as it may seem, some sites do not allow users to alter their sign-in shell. One site I know had everyone start with csh
, and everyone just put into their .login
(csh start-up file) a call to ksh
. While that worked, it left a stray csh
process running, and the logout was two stage which could get confusing. So we changed it to exec ksh
which just replaced the c-shell program with the korn shell, and made everything simpler (there are other issues with this, such as the fact that the ksh
is not a login-shell).
Just to save processes. If we call prog1 -> prog2 -> prog3 -> prog4
etc. and never go back, then make each call an exec. It saves resources (not much, admittedly, unless repeated) and makes shutdown simplier.
You have obviously seen exec
used somewhere, perhaps if you showed the code that's bugging you we could justify its use.
Edit: I realised that my answer above is incomplete. There are two uses of exec
in shells like ksh
and bash
- used for opening file descriptors. Here are some examples:
exec 3< thisfile # open "thisfile" for reading on file descriptor 3
exec 4> thatfile # open "thatfile" for writing on file descriptor 4
exec 8<> tother # open "tother" for reading and writing on fd 8
exec 6>> other # open "other" for appending on file descriptor 6
exec 5<&0 # copy read file descriptor 0 onto file descriptor 5
exec 7>&4 # copy write file descriptor 4 onto 7
exec 3<&- # close the read file descriptor 3
exec 6>&- # close the write file descriptor 6
Note that spacing is very important here. If you place a space between the fd number and the redirection symbol then exec
reverts to the original meaning:
exec 3 < thisfile # oops, overwrite the current program with command "3"
There are several ways you can use these, on ksh use read -u
or print -u
, on bash
, for example:
read <&3
echo stuff >&4