Commands Essay, Research Paper

list of commands and a quick description

alias …….. this allows the user view the current aliases

awk …….. this allows the user to search for a pattern within a file

bdiff ……… compares two large files

bfs ………. scans a large file

cal ……… shows a calendar

cat ……… concatenates and prints a file

cc ……… c compiler

cd …….. changes directories

chgrb ……… changes a file groups ownership

chmod ……. changes the permission on a file

chown ………. changes the individual ownership of a file

cmp ……… compairs two files

comm ………. compares two files so as to determine which lines are common to both

cp ………. copies file to another location

cu ……… calls another unix sysytem

date ………. returns the date and time

df ……… shows all mounted drives on your machine

diff ……… displays the diference between two files

du ……… shows the disk usage in blocks for a directory

echo …….. echoes the data to the screen or file

ed …….. text editor

env ……… lists the current environment variables

ex …….. another text editor

expr …….. evaluates a mathmatical formula

find …….. finds a file

f77 ………. fortran complier

format …….. initializes a floppy disk

grep ……… searches for a pattern within a file

help ……… gives help

kill …….. stops a running process

ln …….. creates a link between two files

lpr ……… copies the file to the line printer

ls ……… lists the files in a directory

mail …….. allows the user to send/receive mail

mkdir ………. makes directory

more ……… displays a data file to the screen

mv ……….. used to move or rename files

nohup …….. allows a command to continue running even when you log out

nroff ……… used to format text

passwd …….. changes your password

pkgadd ……… installs a new program onto your machine

ps ……….. Lists the current processes running

pwd …….. displays the name of the working directory

rm …….. removes files

rmdir …….. removes directories

set ……… lists all the variables in the current shell

setenv ……… sets the environment variables

sleep ……… causes a process to become inactive

source ……… allows the user to execute a file and update any changed values in that file

sort ………. sorts files

spell ……… checks for spelling errors in a file

split …….. divides a file

stty ……… sets the terminal options

tail ……… displays the end of a file

tar ……… copies all specified files into one

touch …….. creates an empty file or updates the time/date stamp on a file

troff ……… outputs formatted output

tset …….. sets the terminal type

umask ……… specify a new creation mask

uniq ……… compairs two files

uucp …….. unix to unix execute

vi …….. full screen editor

vipw ……… opens the vi editor as well as password file for editing

volcheck ……… checks to see if there is a floppy disk mounted to your machine

wc ……… displays detail in the full size

who …….. inf. on other people online

write ……… send a message to another user

! ……. repeats commands