2010-12-13, 12:04(+00), Marc Herbert: [...] >> True, bash does not come with a vast library of ready-to-use functions. > > Neither is there any such "reference" library available externally. Or > is there?
Yes, they're called "commands" or "programs" or "software". People tend to forget that before all a shell is a command line interpreter. If you're finding yourself writing complex shell functions that don't make use of external commands, then you're heading the wrong direction with your shell, or you are heading in one direction with the wrong medium (i.e. you need a programming language, not a shell). -- Stephane
