exec

NAME

SYNOPSIS

exec [-cl] [-a name] [command [arguments]]

DESCRIPTION

If command is specified, it replaces the shell.  No new process is created.  The arguments become the arguments to command.  If the -l option is supplied, the shell places a dash at the beginning of the zeroth argument passed to command.  This is what login(1) does.  The -c option causes command to be executed with an empty environment.  If -a is supplied, the shell passes name as the zeroth argument to the executed command.  If command cannot be executed for some reason, a non-interactive shell exits, unless the execfail shell option is enabled.  In that case, it returns failure.  An interactive shell returns failure if the file cannot be executed.  If command is not specified, any redirections take effect in the current shell, and the return status is 0.  If there is a redirection error, the return status is 1.

SEE ALSO

This is extracted from the main bash man page, see there for more details.