Basic Unix User Commands

Option arguments are in brackets [ ], and user supplied arguments are italicized. REMEMBER, unix commands are CASE SENSITIVE!!!!!

File Operations

ls [filename]: Basic list of files in the current directory (non-hidden files), or the specific filename (if provided). Other options/switches you can use with this are:

-l      long list (same as ll command below)
-a      all files, including hidden files (those that start with ".")
-t      list files in date order (newest files first)
-tr     list files in reverse date order (oldest files first)
-R      recursive list of all files and any files in subdirectories

ll: Long list of files in the current directory, with information such as date, size, ownership, protection, etc. included. Options listed for the ls command (above) may also be used here.
pico [filename]: Edit a file using the Pico (Pine) editor (system default editor).
mv [oldfilename newfilename]: rename a file in Unix. The mv command also can move a file into another directory
file filename: The system's best guess as to what type of file it is. Wildcards permitted.
less filename: Display the contents of a file on the screen, page by page with the additional ability to use vi editor commands to move UP and DOWN through the file. (space to page down, "b" to go back a page)
cat filename: Display the contents of a file on the screen - NO PAGE BREAKS
^p, ^n: Recall previous command (^p) and next command (^n)
To edit the line within the recalled command you must use the cursor control sequences for backward (^b) and forward (^f) instead of the arrow keys

Users and User Maintenance Functions

cd "directory name": The cd command changes your current working directory to the one specified in "directory name". Using ".." moves you up one directory in the directory hierarchy. If no directory is specified then cd will move you to your home directory.
e.g. cd/bin <RETURN> would move you to the "/bin" directory.
e.g. cd..<RETURN> would move you to the previous directory, for instance to "/finearts/home" from "/finearts/home/fflinstone".
e.g. cd <RETURN> would move you to your home directory.
exit: Logs you out of the system if you are at the system prompt
passwd: Allows you to change your password. It will prompt for the old password, and prompt for the new one twice. Unix passwords can be a MAXIMUM of 8 characters, and can include special characters. Passwords are CASE SENSITIVE! Good passwords should include combinations of upper/lower case letters and/or numbers or special characters such as $, %, @, ^, (, etc.
who: See who is currently logged into this system
grep -i username /etc/passwd: Search Falcon to see if a specific user's account has been created
grep pattern filename: Search a specific file(s) for the specified pattern. If the pattern contains special characters, enclose it in quotes "". Wildcards are permitted in the filename. (example: grep -i davi /etc/passwd) The -i disables the case sensitive search.
finger [name]: List a particular user or person if a userid or name is given (must be currently logged in), and if no arguments are given, list all users currently logged into this system.
the .profile file: The .profile file is a hidden file that contains user-settable options and commands that are executed each time the user logs in. It is comparable to the DOC autoexec.bat file, or the VAX/VMS login.com file. To customize your login environment, you may modify this file.

Manipulating Text in Unix

: There are several text editors available to the Unix user on Falcon. The most commonly known and easy to use is "Pico". The following commands are efficient ways to select blocks of text and move them around in your document while in Unix.
: Cntrl - Shift - 6
: To highlight or select blocks or lines of text .
: Cntrl - K
: To cut the highlighted text.
: Cntrl - U
: To uncut or "paste" text.

Space Usage

quota -v: Report on your disk space usages and quotas
du: Report disk usage, summaried by subdirectory

Printing

lp filename [filename filename ...]: Print the specified file (or files) to the default system printer. Other options/switches you can specify with this are:

 
-dprintername    printer destination, where "printername" is the print 
                 queue where you want it printer.  Include it after 
                 the "-d", with NO SPACES (ex: lp -dmiller_hp4 myfile ) 
-n##             number of copies to print (ex: lp -n3 myfile)

   for more information on the lp command, see the man pages.

lpstat -p: Displays a list of valid print queues, and their status. NOTE: Some of these printers are restricted to certain users only
Using the lpstat command with no arguments (leave off the -p) will give you information about any jobs you have pending in those queues, but can take a long time to finish executing.
Changing your default printer: To change your default printer so it is set each time you login, you must edit your .profile file (see above) and add the lines listed below. Be sure to use UPPERCASE/lowercase as noted below.

LPDEST=printername
export LPDEST

Applications

menu: User menu. New users get this menu by default, but if you quit the menu to the system prompt, you can get back into the menu with this command. To set your environment so that you do NOT get the menu when you first login, modify your .profile file and remove this command from the bottom.
mail [address]: Electronic mail. If an address is specified, you are put into the editor in Pine to compose a message to that person. If no address is specified, you enter the mail utility menu.
ph [firstname] [lastname]: Ph client to lookup directory information about people, etc. If you don't know the spelling, you can use wildcarding, like c* mill* for the names. The server will not return more than 25 entries, so you may need to choose a more specific search, such as ca* millst*.

Basic Unix User Commands

File Operations

Users and User Maintenance Functions

Space Usage

Printing

Applications

Online Help