Re: bash manual

[Chet Ramey]

V. Mark Lehky wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I can't find this text in my manual. Is there a more recent version
> somewhere than <http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html>?

Sure.  The 2.05b manual is over four years old.  Try
http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/bash/bashref.html
for the current (bash-3.2) edition.

> 
> So, since 'export -f' apparently does the same thing as 'declare -xf',
> I'm just wondering why have two commands do the same thing? Or did I
> interpret that wrong?

`export' exists because it is historical and because POSIX requires it.
`declare' is a way, much like the ksh `typeset', to have one mechanism
to manipulate variables and their attributes.

Chet
-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                       Live Strong.  No day but today.
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/