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Home > Documentation > Operating Systems > Unix Documentation > Unix Tutorial

Documentation - Operating Systems

Basic Unix - Table of Contents

Getting Started

If you are just starting with Unix, you should probably begin by reading the Unix: Getting Your Feet Wet document. If you're already using Unix, or know the information in the "Unix: Getting Your Feet Wet" document, this "Basic Unix" document includes a lot of further information.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
   • About your account
2. So what is Unix, exactly?
3. The Unix file system
   • Directories
     • Directory-name abbreviations: . .. ~
   • Naming conventions
     • Wildcards: ? * [ ] { }
   • Paths
   • Navigating around in the file system
     • Checking current directory: pwd
     • Changing from one directory to another: cd
     • Listing files: ls
     • Copying, moving, and removing files: cp, mv, rm
     • Creating and removing directories: mkdir, rmdir
     • Finding files: find
   • Files
     • Showing contents of files: cat, more/less
     • Showing beginnings/ends of files: head/tail
     • Comparing files: diff
     • Searching for strings in files: grep
   • Simple file creation
     • Using an application, such as 'script'
     • Using input/output redirection, such as 'cat >>file'
     • Using an editor
   • Controlling disk use
     • Showing disk usage and disk free: du -s, df
     • Showing the size of files: du (-a); ls -s; wc
     • Compressing files: compress/uncompress
4. File and directory permissions
   • Listing file permissions
   • Changing privileges
5. Editing files
   • vi
   • emacs
   • pico
6. Printing files
   • Printing: lpr, enscript
   • Handling printer queues: lpq, lprm
7. Communicating with others
   • Who's on?
     • finger
     • chfn; .project/.plan files
   • Sending messages to other terminals
     • write
     • talk (and ntalk)
     • 'mesg n'
   • Electronic mail
     • mail
     • mm
8. Networking
   • Networked sources of information
   • Transferring files
     • kermit
     • ftp
9. Learning more
   • Online help
     • The man pages, revisited
     • Printing man pages
   • NSIT Resource Guide
   • Books and manuals
   • Doing your homework
10. Appendices:
    • Appendix A: Comparing basic Unix, DOS, Mac commands
    • Appendix B: Intermediate command reference
    • Appendix C: Working with .login and .cshrc
    • Appendix D: Killing inactive processes
    • Appendix E: Using regular expressions
    • Appendix F: Redirecting Input and Output

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