Nova Shell

A simple Unix-like shell implemented in C. It supports command execution, pipelines, redirection, background execution, and built-in commands like cd, exit, clear, help, history, set, and unset.

Requirements

• GNU Readline Library
  • On Ubuntu, install it with:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install libreadline-dev
    

• GCC Compiler

Features

• Prompt: Displays the current user and working directory.
• Command Parsing:
  • Pipelines (|)
  • Input (<) and output (>) redirection
  • Background execution (&)
  • Quoted arguments and environment variable expansion ($VAR)
• Built-in Commands:
  • cd: Change the current directory.
  • exit / bye: Exit the shell.
  • clear / cls: Clear the terminal.
  • help: Display help information.
  • history: Show command history.
  • set VAR=value: Set an environment variable.
  • unset VAR: Unset an environment variable.
• History Support: Command history is managed with GNU Readline.
• Error Handling: Syntax and execution errors are reported to the user.

Build and Run

Compile and run the project with the following command:

g++ nova.c main.c -o nova -lreadline && ./nova

Usage

When you run Nova Shell, you'll see a welcome banner and a prompt displaying your current directory. You can then type commands as in any Unix shell. For example:

• List files:

  ls -l
  

• Execute a pipeline:

  ls | grep "txt"
  

• Redirect output:

  ls > files.txt
  

• Run a background process:

  sleep 10 &
  

To see all available commands, type help.

License

This project is released under the MIT License.

Author

Imran AKKI