How to find current Shell in Linux?

A very simple question that most of the Linux beginners have. Which shell am i using? How can i change it?When you write any shell script you need to specify which shell you want to use to execute your script(Given as an argument to Shebang).

    Be default on most of the distros the shell you have is BASH(Bourne-Again SHell). You can have other shells like CSH(C SHell), KSH (Korn SHell) etc.

Default BASH is as follows -

How to install other Shells?

  Let us first see how can we install other shells, change from BASH(default) to new shell and back.Lets say you want to install KSH (Korn SHell) . Simply type ksh in your console. If it is installed you will directly see $ symbol instead of your normal aniket@aniket-Compaq-610:~$  representation.If you do not get such a change you will see program not installed. So now you need to install it.
     Type sudo apt-get install ksh . Your ksh will now be installed. Again type in ksh which will bring you to korn shell with a $ symbol.To return back to your BASH shell simple type exit and enter.

KSH (Korn SHell) looks like below -

Now lets get to our main question. How do we figure out what shell are we using.

What Shell I am using?

There are  3 Ways in which users generally check their Shell. Let me explain each of them.Note all the snapshots here after will be executed in KSH (Korn SHell) so ksh must be the answer we are interested in.This is just FYI but point is to find what shell are we using.

1. Just type echo $SHELL in your console(Not recommended method).
   
   What this will give is your default Shell not your current shell. So in both BASH as well as KSH you will get output as /bin/bashScreen shot for the same is -
   
   



2. Type in echo $0 in your console(Simplest)
   
   $0 gives you name of the Shell or Shell script you are using. Screen shot -
   
   
3. Type ps -p $$ in your console(the smart way)
   
   $$ symbol gives you the PID of the process running your current Shell. PS command gives you the PID of various running process(Try ps -ax to see yourself). -p argument take the specific PID you wish to see. So ps -p $$ whill give you your Current Shell with PID.
   Screen shot -
   
   
 

 Play around with different Shells. Each have their own flavor.