The general format for a UNIX command is command option(s) filename(s)
Commands are in lower case. File names are not limited to 8 characters in the prefix and 3 in the extension. Use the following UNIX commands from a UNIX shell by typing after the prompt the following.
cat files
displays a file
cat > file
create file. Enter text
followed by Ctrl Dto end
cat file 1 >> file
2
append file 1 to end of file
2
cd
changes to home
directory
cd ..
change to directory above
current directory
cd pathname
changes working directory to
pathname
cp old new
copy old file to new
file
jot files
text editor for files
lp
send files to file; see
instructions on
login
for printing to different
printers.
Ls
list names of files in
working directory
ls - l
list files names in long
form (-l is a modifier)
A typical output from this command is shown below:
total 15 drwxr-xr-x 2 john doc 512 Jul 10 22:25 -rw-r--r-- 1 john doc 136 Jul 8 14:46 .exrc
where the first symbol in the line (d or -) shows whether the "file" is a directory (d) or a plain file (-), and the next letters specify 3 groups (yourself, your group, and all others who are allowed to read (r), write (w) and execute (x) your files; john shows the owner who created or owns the file; doc is the group that owns the file; the last set of characters is the name of the file or directory.
man command
display manual page of
command
mkdir pathname
create a new directory with
pathname
more files' display one
screenful of each file at a time
mv old new
move or rename old file to
new file
passwd
change password
pwd
print working (current)
directory name
rm files
remove (delete) files
rmdir pathname
remove empty directory with
pathname
vi file
the standard UNIX file
editor
whoami
if you don't know how do you
expect thecomputer to know?
Ctrl C
will get you out of any
program
Ctrl D
will get you out of a UNIX
shell
Special symbols:
/ separator used in pathnames
* match any number of characters in a filename
? match any single character in a filename
Moving and renaming files is accomplished most readily by clicking you file folder on your desktop. You can transfer files by moving the icons representing the files from one window to another. Change files name by clicking on the filename and editing it.