Mdthbs

What makes a character irredeemable?

How Concerning Is This X-CU-modified: FAKECU Text Attack?

Was there an autocomplete utility in MS-DOS?

What benefits are there to blocking most search engines?

TIKZ Macro to draw hundredth of a quare

Is American Sign Language phonetic?

What would the EU’s position be with respect to a United Ireland?

How to cope with being on standby

Sum of series with addition

Determining if auto stats update is in progress

Should I hang doors before or after drywall?

Could the Queen overturn the UK Supreme Court ruling regarding prorogation of Parliament?

Why is my vegetable stock bitter, but the chicken stock not?

What is the origin of the minced oath “Jiminy”?

Redirect output on-the-fly - looks not possible in Linux, why?

Does the US Armed Forces refuse to recruit anyone with an IQ less than 83?

How do I know how many sub-shells deep I am?

Can I voluntarily exit from the US after a 20 year overstay, or could I be detained at the airport?

Crazy Cool Categories

Check reference list in pandas column using numpy vectorization

How can I find places to store/land a private airplane?

Is there a pattern for handling conflicting function parameters?

What is the difference between increasing volume and increasing gain?

From Art to Offices

How do I know how many sub-shells deep I am?

Shell does not show typed in commands, “reset” works, but what happened?Ubuntu two users logged with same nameHow do I log out specific sessions?Quit all instances of `gnome-terminal` via a commandhow can I recursively run chmod -x?How do I move window buttons from left to right using command line or by editing a specific file?How often can I type exit without logging out?script to concatenate multiple text files found in zip archives nested in multiple foldersHow can I count files with a particular extension, and the directories they are in?Opening .desktop file outside of desktop immediately logs out

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{
margin-bottom:0;
}

4

Sometimes I do things such as starting a sub-shell from vim with :sh. How do I know if I'm in a sub-shell where exit will just return me out one level, vs. being in the outermost shell where exit will log me out or close my session.

Is there some kind of Inception totem I can spin or something to know how many levels deep I am?

command-line

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Related at vi.stackexchange.com : How do I know i am in a shell from vi command :sh?
  
  – steeldriver
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

4

Sometimes I do things such as starting a sub-shell from vim with :sh. How do I know if I'm in a sub-shell where exit will just return me out one level, vs. being in the outermost shell where exit will log me out or close my session.

Is there some kind of Inception totem I can spin or something to know how many levels deep I am?

command-line

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Related at vi.stackexchange.com : How do I know i am in a shell from vi command :sh?
  
  – steeldriver
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

Sometimes I do things such as starting a sub-shell from vim with :sh. How do I know if I'm in a sub-shell where exit will just return me out one level, vs. being in the outermost shell where exit will log me out or close my session.

Is there some kind of Inception totem I can spin or something to know how many levels deep I am?

command-line

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

New contributor

Wyck is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 8 hours ago

WyckWyck

12122 bronze badges

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

4

You can use the command pstree. Here is example - currently I'm having only one open terminal window on WSL:

user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───pstree

     └─{init}



user@wsl:~$ bash



user@wsl:~$ sh



$ bash



user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───bash───sh───bash───pstree

     └─{init}

Within an actual Linux/Ubuntu environment the process tree will be more complicated. We can filter the tree by the option -s that will show the parents of a selected process. So our command could be pstree -s $$, where $$ is an environment variable that contains the current PID:

user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──pstree



user@ubuntu:~$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ sh



$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──bash──sh──bash──pstree

References:

• SuperUser: How to get parent PID of a given process in GNU/Linux from command line?


• HowtoForge: Linux pstree Command Tutorial for Beginners

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Here is an ugly way how to count the levels: pstree -s $$ | grep -Po 'gnome-terminal----K.*' | sed 's/-+-grep//' | sed -r 's/[-]+/n/g' | wc -l.
  
  – pa4080
  5 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

1

Check the value of the SHLVL shell variable:

echo $SHLVL

Quoting from bash's manual page:

SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

It is also supported by zsh.

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  But sh is not counted, so the example given, with sh, would not have incremented SHLVL. Still, this is something that might be useful for those not switching shells too much
  
  – ubfan1
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ubfan1 unless there's an overriding vimrc definition, :sh defaults to the user's login shell I think (it's really an abbreviated form of :shell rather than the name of a specific shell binary)
  
  – steeldriver
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "89"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"u003ecc by-sa 4.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});

Wyck is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1177123%2fhow-do-i-know-how-many-sub-shells-deep-i-am%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

4

You can use the command pstree. Here is example - currently I'm having only one open terminal window on WSL:

user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───pstree

     └─{init}



user@wsl:~$ bash



user@wsl:~$ sh



$ bash



user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───bash───sh───bash───pstree

     └─{init}

Within an actual Linux/Ubuntu environment the process tree will be more complicated. We can filter the tree by the option -s that will show the parents of a selected process. So our command could be pstree -s $$, where $$ is an environment variable that contains the current PID:

user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──pstree



user@ubuntu:~$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ sh



$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──bash──sh──bash──pstree

References:

• SuperUser: How to get parent PID of a given process in GNU/Linux from command line?


• HowtoForge: Linux pstree Command Tutorial for Beginners

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Here is an ugly way how to count the levels: pstree -s $$ | grep -Po 'gnome-terminal----K.*' | sed 's/-+-grep//' | sed -r 's/[-]+/n/g' | wc -l.
  
  – pa4080
  5 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

4

You can use the command pstree. Here is example - currently I'm having only one open terminal window on WSL:

user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───pstree

     └─{init}



user@wsl:~$ bash



user@wsl:~$ sh



$ bash



user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───bash───sh───bash───pstree

     └─{init}

Within an actual Linux/Ubuntu environment the process tree will be more complicated. We can filter the tree by the option -s that will show the parents of a selected process. So our command could be pstree -s $$, where $$ is an environment variable that contains the current PID:

user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──pstree



user@ubuntu:~$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ sh



$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──bash──sh──bash──pstree

References:

• SuperUser: How to get parent PID of a given process in GNU/Linux from command line?


• HowtoForge: Linux pstree Command Tutorial for Beginners

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Here is an ugly way how to count the levels: pstree -s $$ | grep -Po 'gnome-terminal----K.*' | sed 's/-+-grep//' | sed -r 's/[-]+/n/g' | wc -l.
  
  – pa4080
  5 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

You can use the command pstree. Here is example - currently I'm having only one open terminal window on WSL:

user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───pstree

     └─{init}



user@wsl:~$ bash



user@wsl:~$ sh



$ bash



user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───bash───sh───bash───pstree

     └─{init}

Within an actual Linux/Ubuntu environment the process tree will be more complicated. We can filter the tree by the option -s that will show the parents of a selected process. So our command could be pstree -s $$, where $$ is an environment variable that contains the current PID:

user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──pstree



user@ubuntu:~$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ sh



$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──bash──sh──bash──pstree

References:

• SuperUser: How to get parent PID of a given process in GNU/Linux from command line?


• HowtoForge: Linux pstree Command Tutorial for Beginners

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───pstree

     └─{init}



user@wsl:~$ bash



user@wsl:~$ sh



$ bash



user@wsl:~$ pstree

init─┬─init───bash───bash───sh───bash───pstree

     └─{init}

user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──pstree



user@ubuntu:~$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ sh



$ bash



user@ubuntu:~$ pstree -s $$

systemd──lightdm──lightdm──upstart──gnome-terminal-──bash──bash──sh──bash──pstree

share|improve this answer

edited 5 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

answered 7 hours ago

pa4080pa4080

17.2k77 gold badges3535 silver badges8282 bronze badges

1

Check the value of the SHLVL shell variable:

echo $SHLVL

Quoting from bash's manual page:

SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

It is also supported by zsh.

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  But sh is not counted, so the example given, with sh, would not have incremented SHLVL. Still, this is something that might be useful for those not switching shells too much
  
  – ubfan1
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ubfan1 unless there's an overriding vimrc definition, :sh defaults to the user's login shell I think (it's really an abbreviated form of :shell rather than the name of a specific shell binary)
  
  – steeldriver
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

1

Check the value of the SHLVL shell variable:

echo $SHLVL

Quoting from bash's manual page:

SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

It is also supported by zsh.

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  But sh is not counted, so the example given, with sh, would not have incremented SHLVL. Still, this is something that might be useful for those not switching shells too much
  
  – ubfan1
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @ubfan1 unless there's an overriding vimrc definition, :sh defaults to the user's login shell I think (it's really an abbreviated form of :shell rather than the name of a specific shell binary)
  
  – steeldriver
  2 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment
 | 

Check the value of the SHLVL shell variable:

echo $SHLVL

Quoting from bash's manual page:

SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

It is also supported by zsh.

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

echo $SHLVL

SHLVL  Incremented by one each time an instance of bash is started.

share|improve this answer

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges

answered 3 hours ago

egmontegmont

5,28711 gold badge1212 silver badges2828 bronze badges