# Rc shell

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Rc shell and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Plan 9 shell that people recommend for cleaner syntax than Bourne-style shells, simpler scripting with functions instead of aliases, and good editing features. It is free.

## Why people recommend it

- Cleaner syntax than Bourne-style shells (3 comments): "avoids semicolons that Bourne requires in odd places, and the syntax characters better set off the active parts of the command" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46531010)) "Plan9's rc(1) it's much saner than Bash, Ksh and PowerShell." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48991585)) "Plan 9 rc was nicer even before POSIX even really got going" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962145))
- Quick to learn for scripting (2 comments): "Understanding 16 pages of Duff's rc manual was enough for me to start writing scripts faster than I did in bash." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45935053)) "Here's rc. No aliases there, just functions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47556921))
- Good editing and REPL features (2 comments): "You get a shell not bound to sizes. Scripts run in the same way, but with superior editing capabilities." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47071243)) "you get the rc shell and a few more languages with a REPL" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47064693))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Bash](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bash.md): 171 recommend
- [PowerShell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/powershell.md): 156 recommend
- [fish shell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fish-shell.md): 97 recommend
- [Nushell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nushell.md): 92 recommend
- [zsh](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zsh.md): 52 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Rc shell", https://hackerapproved.com/p/rc-shell/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).