The Bourne Shell or HS , was the Shell by defect of the version 7 of Unix, it replaced the Thompson Shell whose achievable file had the same name: HS . Bourne Shell was programmed by Stephen Bourne (from where the name) of AT&T Bell Laboratories and made its appearance for the first time in 1977 on version 7 of Unix which was distributed to the universities and academies. It has remained for this time Shell by defect for the Unix accounts. The achievable file of Bourne Shell or any other compatible Shell is in with the site /bin/sh on the majority of the Unix system and is always Shell by defect of the Compte root on many implementations of Unix.

With its system of tubes connecting the exit of an order to the entry of another, it makes it possible to write complex scripts starting from simple orders. A version improved of this Shell is the Bourne-Again Shell.