for command =========== Synopis ------- :: for in ; do ; done Description ----------- The for command is used to loop over a list of values and execute a series of commands for each of these. The counter variable of the loop is a shell variable. Please, keep in mind that an environment variable takes precedence over a shell variable of the same name. variable name of the counter variable items space separated item list commands commands to execute Example ------- :: => setenv c => for c in 1 2 3; do echo item ${c}; done item 1 item 2 item 3 => echo ${c} 3 => setenv c x => for c in 1 2 3; do echo item ${c}; done item x item x item x => The first line ensures that there is no environment variable *c*. Hence in the first loop the shell variable *c* is printed. After defining an environment variable of name *c* it takes precedence over the shell variable and the environment variable is printed. Return value ------------ The return value $? after the done statement is the return value of the last statement executed in the loop. :: => for i in true false; do ${i}; done; echo $? 1 => for i in false true; do ${i}; done; echo $? 0