Summary

This chapter discussed how the fork(2) function is able to create new UNIX processes. The wait(2) family of functions permits you to find out how your child processes terminate. Finally, the exec(2) family of functions provides you with the ability to start a new executable program or interpreted script.

In addition to starting new commands, a shell process must usually perform wildcard expansion for filenames on the command line. The next chapter will look at the pattern matching facilities that are used by the shell for this purpose.