exec

Execute a command

Syntax
      exec [-cl] [-a name] [command [arguments]]

Options
      -c   Causes command to be executed with an empty environment.

      -l   Place a dash at the beginning of the zeroth arg passed to command.
           (This is what the login program does.)

      -a   The shell passes name as the zeroth argument to command.

If command is supplied, it replaces the shell without creating a new process. If no command is specified, redirections can be used to affect the current shell environment.

If there are no redirection errors, the return status is zero; otherwise the return status is non-zero.

To run an executable file or a shell script from the command line it is often not necessary to use exec at all, just prefix the filename with ./
bash will only search the path not the current working directory for the file.

To execute a program/script in the current working directory use:

./file_name
or
./ScriptName

You might be tempted to 'fix' this by adding '.' to $PATH but this is widely considered to be bad practice for security reasons.
A better plan is putting all shell scripts into a folder and adding that one folder to your $PATH

This is a BASH shell builtin, to display your local syntax from the bash prompt type: help [e]xec

“In art the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can inspire” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Related Linux commands

exit - Exit the shell.
builtin - Run a shell builtin.
crontab - Schedule a command to run at a later time.
chroot - Run a command with a different root directory.
if - Conditionally perform a command.
nohup - Run a command immune to hangups.
Run a bash script
.source - Run commands from a file.
su - Run a command with substitute user and group id.
type - Describe a command.
watch - Execute/display a program periodically.
Equivalent Windows command: START / CMD - Start a new CMD shell.