One of the most significant parts of A2osX is its shell which can perform both interactive and scripted tasks. With the interactive part of the shell you can perform many common and complex tasks using both built-in (native or internal to shell) and external (BINs or executables) commands. Internal commands include CD (change directory), MD (make directory), DATE, TIME, etc. External commands include CP (copy), RM (remove), CAT (display file contents), TELNET, etc.
It should be noted, that it is possible to create and execute short scripts right on the interactive command line (these are run once and not saved like true scripts). An example
The 32-bit int data type can hold integer values in the range of −2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. If you add to or subtract from INTs that would cause a RANGE error, you actually get a result that wraps around the range, so if you add 1 to 2,147,483,647 you will get −2,147,483,648.
Strings can be up to 255 characters in length. Note, like INTs, if you try to store more then 255 chars in a string, you get the same wraparound affect where the first 255 chars are tossed out the string is set to the remaining chars, so if you concatenate 3 strings of 100 chars the resulting string will be the last 45 chars of the 3rd original string.
| BACKSPACE | Deletes character under the cursor. Note this key does not exist on Apple keyboards, but may on terminals connected via an SSC or through a Telnet Session |
| DELETE | Deletes character to left of cursor and moves cursor/rest of line to the left |
| Control-C | Erases entire command line |
| Control-D | Exits SHell and if the top most SHell logs you out of your session |
| Control-Z | Deletes character under the cursor |
| Up Arrow | Displays previous command from history. Multiple Up Arrows scrolls progressively through history |
| Down Arrow | Displays next command from history. Multiple Down Arrows scrolls progressively through history |
| Left Arrow | Moves cursor to the left to edit current command |
| Right Arrow | Moves cursor to the right to edit current command |
| Open Apple-0 | Switches you to the console display |
| Open Apple-1 to 4 | Switches you to Virtual Terminals 1 through 4 if so configured |
