The [[syntax:basicgrammar#lists|list]] ''<LIST>'' is simply executed in the **current** shell environment. The list must be terminated with a **newline** or **semicolon**. For parsing reasons, the curly braces must be separated from ''<LIST>'' by a **semicolon** and **blanks** if they're in the same line! ((Actually any properly terminated compound command will work without extra separator (also in some other shells), **example**: ''{ while sleep 1; do echo ZzZzzZ; done }'' is valid. But this is not documented, infact the documentation explicitly says that a semicolon or a newline must separate the enclosed list. -- thanks ''geirha'' at Freenode))((The main reason is the fact that in shell grammar, the curly braces are not control operators but reserved words -- TheBonsai))
This compound command also usually is the body of a [[syntax:basicgrammar#shell_function_definitions | function definition]], though not the only compound command that's valid there:
