Unix Quick Commands

 

Environment Control

 

Command

Description

cd d

Change to directory d

mkdir d

Create new directory d

rmdir d

Remove directory d

mv f1 [f2...] d

Move file f to directory d

mv d1 d2

Rename directory d1 as d2

passwd

Change password

alias name1 name2

Create command alias (csh/tcsh)

alias name1="name2"

Create command alias (ksh/bash)

unalias name1[na2...]

Remove command alias na

ssh nd

Login securely to remote node

exit

End terminal session

setenv name v

Set env var to value v (csh/tcsh)

export name="v"

set environment variable to value v (ksh/bash)

 

 

 

 

Output, Communication, & Help

 

Command                     

Description

lpr -P  printer f   

or

lp -d printer f

Output file f to line printer

script  [f]  

Save terminal session to f

exit

Stop saving terminal session

mailx username

Send mail to user

man name

Unix manual entry for name

 

 

 

 

Process Control

 

Command

Description

CTRL/c *

Interrupt processes

CTRL/s *

Stop screen scrolling

CTRL/q *

Resume screen output

sleep n

Sleep for n seconds

jobs

Print list of jobs

kill %

Kill job n

ps

Print process status stats

kill  -9 n

Remove process n

CTRL/z *

Suspend current process

stop  %n

Suspend background job n

cmmd&

Run cmmd in background

bg  [%n]

Resume background job n

fg  [%n]

Resume foreground job n

exit

Exit from shell

 

 

 

 

Environment Status

 

Command

Description

ls  [d]  [f...]

List files in directory

ls -1  [f...]

List files in detail

alias  [name]

Display command aliases

printenv  [name]

Print environment values

quota

Display disk quota

date

Print date & time

who

List logged in users

whoami

Display current user

finger  [username]

Output user information

chfn

Change finger information

pwd

Print working directory

history

Display recent commands

! n

Submit recent command n

 

 

 

 

File Manipulation

 

Command

Description

vi  [f]

Vi fullscreen editor

emacs  [f]

Emacs fullscreen editor

ed  [f]

Text editor

wc  f

Line, word, & char count

cat  f

List contents of file

more  f

List file contents by screen

cat f1 f2 >f3

Concatenates f1 & f2 into f3

chmod mode f

Change protection mode of f

cmp f1 f2

Compare two files

cp f1 f2

Copy file f1 into f2

sort f

Alphabetically sort f

split  [-n]  f

Split f into n-line pieces

mv f1  f2

Rename file f1 as f2

rm f

Delete (remove) file f

grep 'ptn'  f

Outputs lines that match ptn

diff f1 f2

Lists file differences

head f

Output beginning of f

tail f

Output end of f

 

 

 

 

Compiler

 

Command

Description

cc  [-o f1]  f2

C compiler

lint f

Check C code for errors

f77  [-o f1] f2

Fortran77 compiler

pc  [-o f1]  f2

Pascal compiler

 

 

 

 

Working with NFS files

 

Files saved on the UITS central Unix computers Steel, the Parallel PC cluster, Solar/Lunar, and the Research SP are stored on the Network File Server (NFS). That means that your files are really on one disk, in directories named for the central Unix hosts on which you have accounts.

 

No matter which of these computers you are logged into, you can get to your files on any of the others. Here are the commands to use to get to any system directory from any other system:

 

cd /N/u/username/PPPC/

cd /N/u/username/Cobalt/

cd /N/u/username/Solar/

cd /N/u/username/Steel/

cd /n/u/username/SP/

 

Be sure you use the capitalization just as you see above, and substitute your own username for "username".

 

For example, if Jessica Rabbit is logged into her account on Steel, and wants to get a file on her SP account, she would enter:

 

cd /N/u/jrabbit/SP/

 

Now when she lists her files, she'll see her SP files, even though she's actually logged into Steel.

 

You can use the ordinary Unix commands to move files, copy files, or make symbolic links between files. For example, if Jessica Rabbit wanted to move "file1" from her Steel directory to her SP directory, she would enter:

 

mv -i /N/u/jrabbit/Steel/file1 /N/u/jrabbit/SP/

 

This shared file system means that you can access, for example, your SP files even when you are logged into Steel, and vice versa. However, if you are logged into the SP, you can only use the software installed on SP -- only users' directories are linked together, not system directories.

 

 

Abbreviations used in this document

 

CTRL/x       hold down control key and press x

d            directory

env          environment

f            filename

n            number

nd           computer node

prtr         printer

ptn          pattern

var          variable

[y/n]        yes or no

[]           optional arg

...          list