| General Commands | Directory Commands | File Commands | Unix Programs | Other Unix Pages | Questions/Comments |
| who | Tells you who else is on your system. |
|---|---|
| whoami | Tell you who YOU are. |
| who am i | Information on what computer you're on, the time, etc. |
| w | Tells you the last thing that each of them has typed. (Keyboard voyerism, but you can learn from it.) |
| passwd | The way to update your password. (You must know your current password.) |
| uname | Gives the type of UNIX system your running on. uname -a gives all system information (op system, version, processor type, etc) |
| finger (address) | Gives you information about some person, if available. Also tells you if they are logged on. |
| clear | Clears the screen, helps you to relax, increases alpha brain waves. |
| h | Lists a history of previously typed commands. If you type h 5 it will return the last 5 commands. |
| date | Returns the date |
| time | Returns the time |
| pwd | This stands for "present working directory." Tells you where you are in the great directory of life. |
|---|---|
| cd (directory) | Changes to the directory of your choice. |
| cd .. | Takes you "back" one directory in the great disk space tree of life. |
| ls | Short form of a directory listing of where you're at. |
| ls -l | Long form of the directory listing. Also gives you the file sizes. |
| ls -las | A longer form with lots of good information, like the user/group rights. |
| du | Tells you how much disk space this branch of the directory tree has eaten up, including all the subbranches that are attached to it. |
| mkdir (name) | Make a directory. |
| rmdir (name) | Remove a directory after the fun of creating it wears off. |
| rm (filename) | Removes a file of your choice. |
|---|---|
| more (filename) | Will type out the contents of this file. |
| pico (filename) | UNIX editor program. Some help on the bottom of screen. If the filename you put in doesn't exist, it creates it. For a manual from somewhere else, click here |
| vi (filename) | Another UNIX text editor with more features, but less intuitive. For manuals from other sources, click here or, perhaps, here |
| mv | The ominus move command: doubles for the rename command.
To use it to rename a file:
mv (old filename) (new filename) To use it to just move it somewhere else: mv (filename) /(directory of your choice)/ which leaves the filename the same, or to move and rename: mv (old filename) /directory/(new filename) |
| cp | Copy command. Works similar to mv but leaves original: cp (filename) (new filename) Or, to copy it and move to another directory: cp (filename) /directory/(new filename) |
| diff (file1) (file2) | Compares two files and shows you what's different between them.
It also tells which lines are different. Helpfull when trying to decide
why you have two files named almost the same thing, and you can't
remember why, or you're trying to decide which copy to keep, etc. Some convenient switches are:
diff -i (file1) (file2) - ignores upper/lower case distinctions |
| man (command) | The system's on-line Manual. If you're confused about some command, or just want to see if a command exists, use this. Slightly unreadable for the most part, but can do if you can't find someone to explain it in your native tongue. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pine | One of the more popular ways to do some UNIX emailing. Just type pine and it starts up. The instuctions on how to use it are on-screen. | ||||||||
| talk (address) | The great time waster, if your other party is on-line, and is compatible with your server's protocols. If that doesn't seem to do it, there are a couple of common alternative ways of trying the same thing: Either ytalk or ntalk which are as well multiple user options for "talk"ing. | ||||||||
| ftp (place) | The UNIX way to ftp some place, from back in the
cave-computing era. Stands for "file transfer protocol."
With this, you can look at public directories of files and
take any of them you like.
Ex: ftp ftp.netscape.com Once inside:
open (place) | ||||||||
| ncftp (place) |
Just a better way of doing ftp. Friendlier, with those
great percentage-done transfer bars included. More help too.
If you're trying to get into some hard-to-reach place, like Netscape, try the "repeat" option: ncftp -r ftp.netscape.com Gets you in as soon as possible. |