Re: while loop grammar question

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2024-12-09 17:30, Mark J. Reed wrote:
> Being built-in doesn't stop something from being a command. `cd` is no 
> less a command just because it has to be built into the shell to work! 
> Anything you can run is a command, whether it's a binary executable 
> somewhere on disk, a shell builtin, a script, a function, or an alias.
>
> Which makes the shell's idea of condition very powerful. It's kind of 
> like how everything in C is an expression, including things that are 
> valueless statements in other languages. The shell itself doesn't 
> really have expressions as a concept; it just has commands. So 
> everything is a command. And for convenience, it includes some 
> commands which interpret their parameters as expressions. So you can 
> have your cake and eat it, too.
It's a whole new subject.  Blank slate.  Nothing prepares you for any of 
this.  Or I should rather say nothing prepares an amateur.  I guess you 
pick these concepts up in class.