42Minishell: A Minimal Bash-like Shell

Overview

Minishell is a project aimed at creating a simple, yet functional shell. By developing our own shell, we gained a deeper understanding of processes, file descriptors, and the fundamentals of command-line interfaces.

Features

• Interactive Command Prompt: Displays a prompt and waits for user commands.
• Command Execution: Executes commands using:
  • PATH environment variable.
  • Absolute or relative paths.
• Built-in Commands:
  • echo (with -n option).
  • cd (with relative or absolute paths).
  • pwd (prints current directory).
  • export (manages environment variables).
  • unset (removes environment variables).
  • env (displays environment variables).
  • exit (exits the shell).
• Redirections:
  • Input redirection <.
  • Output redirection >.
  • Append output redirection >>.
  • Here-document redirection <<.
• Pipes: Supports pipelines (|) to chain commands.
• Quoting:
  • Single quotes (') prevent interpretation of special characters.
  • Double quotes (") prevent interpretation except for $ (variable expansion).
• Environment Variables: Expands variables (e.g., $VAR) and special variable $? (last command's exit status).
• Signal Handling:
  • Ctrl-C: Displays a new prompt.
  • Ctrl-D: Exits the shell.
  • Ctrl-\: Does nothing in interactive mode.

Prerequisites

• C Compiler: Ensure a compatible C compiler (e.g., gcc) is installed.
• Makefile: Provided to simplify compilation.
• GNU Readline: Ensure readline is installed for line editing and history management.

Setup and Usage

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/staskine/42Minishell.git
cd 42Minishell

2. Build the project:

make

Running Minishell

Start the shell by executing:

./minishell

Development Guidelines

• Norm Compliance: Code must adhere to the 42 coding norm.
• Memory Management: All allocated memory must be freed properly to avoid memory leaks.
• Error Handling: Code should not crash unexpectedly (e.g., segmentation faults).

Example Usage