Python SimpleShell

A lightweight, customisable command-line interface built with Python.

Features

• Custom prompt showing username, hostname, and current directory
• Built-in commands (cd, help, exit)
• System command execution
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Error handling for common issues

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/NathanPoultney/Python-SimpleShell
   cd simpleshell
   

2. No additional dependencies required - uses Python standard library only.

Usage

Linux/MacOS

# Make the script executable
chmod +x simple_shell.py

# Run the shell
./simple_shell.py

Windows

Simply double-click the run_shell.bat file or run it from the command prompt:

run_shell.bat

Examples

Basic Navigation

user@localhost:/home/user$ cd /tmp
user@localhost:/tmp$ cd ..
user@localhost:/$ cd
user@localhost:/home/user$

Running System Commands

Linux/MacOS

user@localhost:/home/user$ ls -la
total 20
drwxr-xr-x 3 user user 4096 May 16 12:34 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 May 16 12:00 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user  220 May 16 12:00 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 3771 May 16 12:00 .bashrc
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user  807 May 16 12:00 .profile

Windows

user@localhost:C:\Users\user$ dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is 1234-5678

 Directory of C:\Users\user

05/16/2025  12:34 PM    <DIR>          .
05/16/2025  12:00 PM    <DIR>          ..
05/16/2025  12:00 PM             1,543 example.txt
05/16/2025  12:15 PM    <DIR>          Documents
               1 File(s)          1,543 bytes
               3 Dir(s)  256,123,456 bytes free

user@localhost:C:\Users\user$ echo Hello from SimpleShell
Hello from SimpleShell

user@localhost:C:\Users\user$ ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : example.com
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Built-in Help

user@localhost:/home/user$ help
Available commands:
  cd: Change the current working directory
  exit: Exit the shell
  help: Show available commands
  Any other input will be executed as a system command

Windows Command Examples

For Windows users, here are additional commands you can try:

# List directory contents
dir

# Echo text to console
echo Hello from SimpleShell

# View system information
systeminfo

# Display network configuration
ipconfig

# List running processes
tasklist

Extending the Shell

You can easily add custom commands by extending the commands dictionary in the SimpleShell class:

def __init__(self):
    self.running = True
    self.commands = {
        'cd': self.change_directory,
        'exit': self.exit_shell,
        'help': self.show_help,
        'mycommand': self.my_custom_function
    }

def my_custom_function(self, args):
    """Description of my custom command"""
    # Your implementation here
    print("Custom command executed with args:", args)

License

MIT License - Feel free to modify and distribute as needed.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.