Special Variables in BASH ---- $0 - The name of the Bash script. $1 - $9 - The first 9 arguments to the Bash script. (As mentioned above.) $# - How many arguments were passed to the Bash script. $@ - All the arguments supplied to the Bash script. $? - The exit status of the most recently run process. $$ - The process ID of the current script. $USER - The username of the user running the script. $HOSTNAME - The hostname of the machine the script is running on. $SECONDS - The number of seconds since the script was started. $RANDOM - Returns a different random number each time is it referred to. $LINENO - Returns the current line number in the Bash script. TIP: If you type the command env on the command line you will see a listing of other variables which you may also refer to.