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51a. Basic Unix Commands

• ls
• pwd
• mkdir
• rmdir
• cat
• cp
• mv
• rm
• cd

ls

ls stands for list directory. It is the equivalent of DOS's dir command. Available options are:

-a	lists all files including hidden files

-l	gives a long listing including rights

"ls" by itself will not display hidden files. There are many other options available but these are the most commonly used ones.

Ex. 	ls

	.	..	readme.txt	Krustys_revenge	more_stuff



Ex.	ls -a

	.	..	readme.txt	Krustys_revenge	more_stuff

	.signature	.profile



Ex.	ls -l

	total 956

	drwxr-xr-x	6 arh	other	1024	Dec 16 09:44	.

	drwxrwxr--x	5 root	sys	96	Dec 12 09:05	..

	-rw-r--r--	1 arh	other	681	Jan 28 04:56	.profile

	etc...

pwd

pwd stands for Print Working Directory. pwd displays on the screen the current directory that you are in. Before CRTs, all communication with mainframes was printed out on "teletype" style terminals thus the origins of the name pwd.

ex		pwd



		/home/bart

mkdir

mkdir stands for make directory. It is similar to DOS's "md" command. In actual fact, originally DOS's make directory command was mkdir for pre-DOS 3.x.

ex.	mkdir homer		makes the directory "homer"

				in the current working directory.

rmdir

rmdir stands for remove directory. It is similar to DOS's "rd" command. In actual fact, originally DOS's remove directory command was rmdir for pre-DOS 3.x.

ex. 	rmdir homer		removes or erases the directory "homer"

				from the current directory.

cat

cat stands for catalog and is used for displaying files to the screen similar to DOS's "type" command. "cat" allows single screen paging, it waits for a response before displaying the next screen of information.

Ex. 	cat readme.txt			this will display the file readme.txt onto the

					screen one page at a time.

cp

cp stands for copy. It is used to copy files similar to DOS's "copy" command.

Ex. 	cp readme.txt springfield.txt	copies the file readme.txt and

					names the new file springfield.txt

mv

mv stands for move. It is used to move files from one directory to another and it is also used to rename files.

Ex. 	mv readme.txt /home/x-files	moves readme.txt from current

					directory to directory called /home/x-files



Ex.	mv agent.sculley agent.muldar	renames file agent.sculley to new

					name agent.muldar

rm

rm stands for remove. It is used to delete files similar to the DOS "del" command. It will verify that you want to delete the file. Wildcards can be used with rm.

Ex.	rm dana.sculley			deletes file named dana.sculley

cd

cd stands for change directory. It is used to change the current directory similar to DOS's "cd" command. Note: to use the double dots requires a space - cd ..

Ex.		cd /x-files/fox.muldar		Makes /x-files/fox.muldar the

							current directory

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