Unix Commands
Some Basic UNIX Commands NB*”Rm”
The UNIX operating system has for many years formed the backbone of the Internet, especially for large servers and most major university campuses. However, a free version of UNIX called Linux has been making significant gains against Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT environments, so often associated with personal computers. Developed by a number of volunteers on the Internet such as the Linux group and the GNU project, much of the open-source software is copyrighted, but available for free. This is especially valuable for those in educational environments where budgets are often limited.
UNIX commands can often be grouped together to make even more powerful commands with capabilities known as I/O redirection ( for outputing to a file ) and piping using | to feed the output of one command as input to the next. Please investigate manuals in the lab for more examples than the few offered here.
The following charts offer a summary of some simple UNIX commands. These are certainly not all of the commands available in this robust operating system, but these will help you get started.
Ten ESSENTIAL UNIX Commands
These are ten commands that you really need to know in order to get started with UNIX. They are probably similar to commands you already know for another operating system.
Command
Example
Description
1. ls ls ls -alF
Lists files in current directory
List in long format
2. cd cd tempdir cd .. cd ~dhyatt/web-docs
Change directory to tempdir
Move back one directory
Move into dhyatt's web-docs directory
3. mkdir mkdir graphics
Make a directory called graphics
4. rmdir rmdir emptydir
Remove directory (must be empty)
5. cp cp file1 web-docs cp file1 file1.bak
Copy file into directory
Make backup of file1
6. rm rm file1.bak rm *.tmp
Remove or delete file
Remove all file
7. mv mv old.html new.html
Move or rename files
8. more more index.html
The UNIX operating system has for many years formed the backbone of the Internet, especially for large servers and most major university campuses. However, a free version of UNIX called Linux has been making significant gains against Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT environments, so often associated with personal computers. Developed by a number of volunteers on the Internet such as the Linux group and the GNU project, much of the open-source software is copyrighted, but available for free. This is especially valuable for those in educational environments where budgets are often limited.
UNIX commands can often be grouped together to make even more powerful commands with capabilities known as I/O redirection ( for outputing to a file ) and piping using | to feed the output of one command as input to the next. Please investigate manuals in the lab for more examples than the few offered here.
The following charts offer a summary of some simple UNIX commands. These are certainly not all of the commands available in this robust operating system, but these will help you get started.
Ten ESSENTIAL UNIX Commands
These are ten commands that you really need to know in order to get started with UNIX. They are probably similar to commands you already know for another operating system.
Command
Example
Description
1. ls ls ls -alF
Lists files in current directory
List in long format
2. cd cd tempdir cd .. cd ~dhyatt/web-docs
Change directory to tempdir
Move back one directory
Move into dhyatt's web-docs directory
3. mkdir mkdir graphics
Make a directory called graphics
4. rmdir rmdir emptydir
Remove directory (must be empty)
5. cp cp file1 web-docs cp file1 file1.bak
Copy file into directory
Make backup of file1
6. rm rm file1.bak rm *.tmp
Remove or delete file
Remove all file
7. mv mv old.html new.html
Move or rename files
8. more more index.html