Programming language · 1989

Bash

GNU Project implementation of the standard Unix shell.

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Bash logo
CWritten in
1989First released
Brian FoxDeveloper
dynamicTyping
GNU General Public License v3.0 or laterLicense
Built from Bash CBourne Shell
RuntimeInfluence

What is Bash written in?

Its runtime is implemented in C (well-documented).

What Bash is used for

Bash is the default shell on most Linux and macOS systems, and the everyday language of automation: install scripts, build and deploy pipelines, and gluing command-line tools together.

Notable use: the startup, build, and CI scripts behind a huge share of servers and developer machines.

Quick Facts

Designed by
Brian Fox
Developer
GNU Project
First released
1989
Typing
dynamic
License
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later

About Bash

Bash is a GNU Project implementation of the standard Unix shell. It is a dynamically typed language. It supports scripting and imperative programming.

Bash first appeared in 1989 and was designed by Brian Fox. Development is led by GNU Project.

How Bash is implemented

In the Language Lineage dataset, its runtime is implemented in C.

Bash in the language family tree

Bash drew on ideas from C and Bourne Shell.

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata · Official site

Frequently Asked Questions

What language is Bash written in?
Bash is primarily implemented in C.
What languages influenced Bash?
Bash was influenced by C, Bourne Shell among others. See the influence section above for the full list.
When was Bash first released?
Bash was first released in 1989. It was designed by Brian Fox.

Evidence Sources

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<iframe src="https://www.languagelineage.org/embed?lang=bash" width="100%" height="500" loading="lazy" style="border:0" title="Bash relationship graph"></iframe>

Please attribute the visualization to Language Lineage and link to the Bash source record. See the embed guide for parameters and sizing.

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