rc
rc (for "run commands") is the command line interpreter for Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs operating systems. It resembles the Bourne shell, but its syntax is somewhat simpler. It was created by Tom Duff, who is better known for an unusual C programming language construct ("Duff's device").
| Paradigm | imperative, pipeline |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Tom Duff |
| Developer | Bell Labs |
| First appeared | 1989 |
| Typing discipline | weak |
| OS | Cross-platform (Version 10 Unix, Plan 9, Plan 9 from User Space) |
| Website | doc |
| Dialects | |
| Byron's rc | |
| Influenced by | |
| Bourne shell | |
| Influenced | |
| es, The Inferno shell. | |
A port of the original rc to Unix is part of Plan 9 from User Space. A rewrite of rc for Unix-like operating systems by Byron Rakitzis is also available but includes some incompatible changes.
Rc uses C-like control structures instead of the original Bourne shell's ALGOL-like structures, except that it uses an if not construct instead of else, and has a Bourne-like for loop to iterate over lists. In rc, all variables are lists of strings, which eliminates the need for constructs like "$@". Variables are not re-split when expanded. The language is described in Duff's paper.