This chapter provides general information on a number of basic Unix
commands. All of these commands contain numerous options. Some of the more
common options will be discussed. For further information on commands,
view the on-line help information using the man command. You can
also sometimes obtain information on command syntax by entering a command
with incorrect options. In some cases, the system will respond by displaying
the correct syntax.
3.1 On-Line Help
3.1.1 The man Command
To obtain information on any Unix command, use the on-line manual pages.
Syntax: man command
If you do not know the name of the actual command you need, execute man
with the -k option.
man -k keyword
For example, to find out all the commands related to directories, type
man -k directory
This command outputs information to your screen about the commands that
pertain to directories, along with a brief description of each command's
functions. To access man pages for local utilities, add /usr/local/man
to your path variable.
3.1.2 Printing a Hardcopy of a man page
To print a hardcopy of a manual page, redirect the output to a file, and
then send this file to a printer using one of the printing commands, as
in the following example:
To generate a file for hardcopy output of the ls command, type
man ls > ls.txt
(SGI, Sun, HP Alpha)
You can then send the formatted file to a printer using qpr
ls.txt.
Return to top of page
3.2 Directory Commands
The Unix file system allows users to create several levels of subdirectories
for logically grouping files. This section describes the basic utilities
for creating these directories and moving around within them.
3.2.1 Creating a Directory (mkdir)
The mkdir command allows you to create directories.
Syntax: mkdir [options] directory
From a login directory, such as /users/jones, create a subdirectory,
memos, with the following command.
This creates the directory, /users/jones/memos
You can create multiple directories with one command. From the login
directory, /users/jones, the command,
creates the directories, /users/jones/projects and /users/jones/samples.
You can also specify a directory that is not under your current directory
by specifying its absolute position. From the directory, /users/jones/samples,
the following command would create the directory, /users/jones/memos/old.
mkdir /users/jones/memos/old
3.2.2 Removing Directories (rmdir)
To remove a directory, use the rmdir command. Note that you must
first delete all files within a directory before deleting the directory
itself.
From the directory, /users/jones/memos, the following command would
delete the subdirectory, old.
To remove that same directory from the directory, /users/jones,
use the command
An alternative is the recursive option with the remove command (rm).
Note: Use the above command with extreme caution, as it will very
quickly delete every file and subdirectory below the specified directory.
3.2.3 Moving around Directories (cd)
To move around in your directory structure, use the change-directory command,
cd. The cd command specified by itself without any arguments
will always return you to your login directory.
For example, from the main directory, /users/jones, change to the
sub-directory, /users/jones/memos, with the command
From the subdirectory, /users/jones/memos, change to the directory,
/users/jones/samples with the command,
3.2.4 Directory Shortcuts
You can use shortcuts when specifying your directory pathname. Examples
here show how to use these shortcuts with the cd command, but they
can be used with any of the Unix commands when specifying filenames. Your
home directory can be used as a starting point when specifying pathnames
by using a tilde (~). The tilde instructs the shell to start the pathname
from your home directory.
For example, from the directory, /users/jones/memos/old, change
to the subdirectory, /users/jones/samples with the command
You can also use cd to move to the home directory of another user.
In addition, use the .. notation for moving around directories.
The .. refers to the parent directory of your current directory.
For example, from the directory, /users/jones/memos, change to
the subdirectory, /users/jones/samples, with the command,
The .. says to move up to the parent directory, in this case /users/jones,
and then down to the sub-directory, samples. You can also use cd
.. to back up from subdirectories level by level.
3.2.5 Present Working Directory (pwd)
When moving around the Unix file system, it is helpful to check your present
working directory, with the pwd command.
On-line Information
man mkdir
man rmdir
man cd
man pwd
man rm (see option -ri)
Return to top of page
3.3 File Commands
3.3.1 Listing Directory Files (ls)
To list the files in any directory, use the ls command.
Syntax: ls [options] [filename_spec]
The ls command by itself will list the files in your present working
directory. By default, the ls command lists only the names of the
files in the directory. The following examples show some of the more commonly
used options.
- To list all the Unix hidden files, such as .login or .cshrc in
your home directory, enter
- For a long listing that shows file protections, size, and date,
enter
- To recursively list all the files in the current directory and
any subdirectories of the current directory, enter
- It is sometimes useful to use the ls command in conjunction
with other Unix commands. For instance, if there are too many files
in a directory to fit on one screen, the output can display to the
screen a page at a time.
- To search for a subset of files, use the ls command with
the Unix search command, grep. To find all files written
on a particular date, enter
3.3.2 File Protections (chmod)
Following are the protections that can be set on a file with their symbolic
or numeric representations.
Symbolic Numeric Protection
r 4 Read access
w 2 Write access
x 1 Execute access
With the chmod command, you can modify protections on a file for
three classes of users: the user (u), group (g), or others
(o) by entering
Syntax: chmod ugo filename
The protection for each class of user can be obtained by adding the numerical
equivalent for each type of access. For instance, to give the owner read,
write, and execute access, it would be 4+2+1 or 7. To give group read and
write access to the file would be 4+2 or 6, and to give world read access
would be 4. The resulting command would be
You can use wild card characters in the filename specification, or specify
multiple files separating them by spaces.
The following sample listing of a file shows owner with read/write access
and group and world with read only. The command, chmod 644 would
produce these protections.
-rw-r--r-- 1 waukau 5417 Jun 6 05:28 test
To include execute access to this file for all user classes, enter chmod
755, which produces these protections.
-rwxr-xr-x 1 waukau 5417 Jun 6 05:28 test
You can also use the symbolic representation for adding or removing access
to files. For example, to give execute access to all categories (user,
group, and others), enter
To remove write access to a file for group and others, enter
3.3.3 Default File Protections (umask)
You can set up a default file protection for all new files created by using
the umask command in your .login file.
The access modes specified in the umask command are the complement
of the chmod command. You specify those access modes you do not
want a particular class to have, as in the following examples.
- To remove write access for group and others, specify
umask 022
- To remove all access for group and others, specify
umask 077
3.3.4 Copying Files (cp)
Use the cp command to make a copy of a file.
Syntax: cp [options] old_filename new_filename
3.3.5 Renaming Files (mv)
To rename a file, use the mv command.
Syntax: mv [options] old_filename new_filename
3.3.6 Deleting Files (rm)
To delete a file or files, use the rm command.
Syntax: rm [options] filename
You can use wild cards to remove multiple files. When deleting with wild
cards, it is best to have the rm command ask you whether you want
to delete each individal file. To do this, enter
You are prompted for a response for each file that matches this criterion
(in this case, all files that have the suffix, .f). If you answer
y, the file is deleted. If you answer n (or any other response),
the file is not deleted.
3.3.7 File Searches (grep)
At times, it is necessary to search through your files for a particular
string of characters. The command to perform searches is grep.
Syntax: grep string file1 [file2 . . .]
By default, the grep command matches the letter case of the string
specified, as in the following examples.
- To search all files in the directory for the string, "May," enter
grep May *
- To find any occurrence of the string, "May," regardless of letter
case, use the -i option.
grep -i May *
This would find strings such as "may," "maybe," or "MAY," along
with any other occurrence of that string.
It is useful to pipe (|) the output of the grep command into the
more command to see the listing one screen
at a time, as shown below. For further information on pipes, see Section
3.7.1.
Note: Certain special characters must be "escaped" with a "\" when searching
for them in regular expressions.
3.3.8 Viewing Files (more, cat, head and tail)
There are a number of commands that can be used for viewing files in the
Unix operating system. This section will describe a few of these.
The more Command
The more command outputs a file to the screen a page at a time.
To view the next page, press the space bar. To see just one new line at
a time, press RETURN. The more utility also allows you to
perform some basic editing functions such as string searches, moving forward
and backward in the file, and entering the vi editor. CTRL-c
aborts a more session.
Syntax: more [options] filename
Following are some helpful options to use with the more utility.
q Exit immediately from more.
ib Move backward by screens, where i is the number
of screens
if Move forward by screens, where i is the number
of screens
/string Search forward for string. Backward searches are not
possible.
The cat Command
The cat command will also display file contents to a screen.
Also, use cat for quickly creating a short file, by entering the
following.
After pressing the return key, type in the text. To save and exit the file,
press CTRL-D.
An additional feature of cat is that it allows you to concatenate
two files together by entering the following
This command appends file1 to the end of file2.
The head Command
To view the first ten lines in a file, use the head command.
Syntax: head [-count] filename
If the -count option is specified, you can display more than ten
lines. The following command would display the first 20 lines.
The tail Command
To view the last ten lines in a file, use the tail command.
Syntax: tail [-count] filename
If the -count option is specified, you can display more than ten
lines. The following command would display the last 20 lines.
It is helpful to "pipe" the head and tail
command outputs into the more command when -count exceeds
20. See Section 3.7.1.
3.3.9 Pattern Matching
In the previous sections, examples were given for matching exact strings.
There are also certain metacharacters available in Unix that allow more
flexibility in performing string searches.
Matching Any Single Character in a String Expression
You can use a period (.) to match any single character in an expression,
and concatenate periods to represent an exact number of characters, as
in the following example.
To search a file for dollar amounts in the ten-thousand-dollar range,
enter
This would find matches such as 10,234 and 10,456. However, 10234, typed
without a comma, would not match.
Matching Any Single Character in a File Name Specification
When specifying file names, use a question mark (?) to match any single
character, and concatenate question marks to represent an exact number
of characters. For example, entering
would find files such as plot1.dat, plot2.dat or plots.dat.
It would not find the file plot22.dat.
Matching Any Number of Occurrences of a Character
In an expression or filename specification, an asterisk (*) stands
for any string of characters, even a null one. For example, to find all
derivatives of the word meteorology in a file, enter
This would show occurrences of the words, "meteorological", "meteorologist",
"meteors", etc.
As another example, to find all files with the file extension .f,
enter
On-line Information
man ls
man chmod
man umask
man cp
man mv
man rm
man grep
man more
man cat
man head
man tail
Return to top of page
3.4 Process Monitoring
It is important to recognize that in an X Window environment, a single
user can generate a minimum of five processes just by logging on to a system,
and can expand this number exponentially, depending on the number of windows
open and software being executed. Therefore, you need to be conscientious
about the number of CPU and memory resources you are using. This section
will describe some of the Unix commands that you can use to monitor your
processes.
3.4.1 The ps Command
The ps command is a general utility for checking process status.
It reports information such as current percentage of the CPU being used
by processes, percent of memory, accumulated CPU time, and other statistics.
It is not a real-time display, but takes a snapshot of the system.
The ps command specified by itself will display your current processes.
To display information about all processes on the system, enter
ps -ef (on SGI, Sun, and HP Alpha)
If there is more information than will fit on one screen, use the ps
option with the more utility, as follows:
To find information about a specific user on the system, use the ps
command with the grep search utility, as follows:
Below is a sample output from the ps command and a table that explains
the information displayed.
| UID |
PID |
PPID |
C |
STIME |
TTY |
TIME |
CMD |
| root |
157 |
1 |
0 |
Mar 18 |
? |
0:03 |
/usr/sbin/inetd -s |
| root |
260 |
1 |
0 |
Mar 18 |
? |
0:02 |
/usr/sbin/vold |
| smith |
10566 |
10564 |
0 |
07:02:31 |
pts/4 |
0:01 |
/usr/local/bin/tcsh |
| jones |
11741 |
11739 |
1 |
11:12:30 |
pts/8 |
0:00 |
-csh |
| smith |
10644 |
10510 |
0 |
07:09:25 |
pts/2 |
0:14 |
emacs NEW_CUTILS.c |
| brown |
11656 |
11440 |
0 |
10:53:33 |
pts/7 |
0:00 |
idt -soft ppi-cesar.cgm |
| Column |
Description |
| UID |
User ID of process |
| PID |
Process id number |
| PPID |
Process ID of parent process |
| C |
Processor utilization for scheduling (obsolete) |
| STIME |
Starting time of process |
| TTY |
Controlling terminal of process, ? when no controlling terminal |
| TIME |
Cumulative execution time for the process |
| CMD |
Command name |
The columns and information displayed varies between architectures.
Use the man command to check for specifics.
3.4.2 The top Command
The top command is a pseudo-real-time command that is useful for
examining current processes on the system and for changing process priorities.
To exit the top command, type q. To show other options, type h.
3.4.3 The who and w Commands
Other commands to determine who is currently on the system are the who
and w commands. The w command provides additional information
about login and idle times for different processes.
3.4.4 Killing Processes
There are a number of ways to kill processes on a workstation. To kill
a job that is in the foreground, press CTRL-c.
Use the kill command along with the process ID (PID). (PID information
can be obtained from the ps command).
Syntax: kill -9 pid
To kill a background job, use the jobs command to find its job ID
(n) and enter
Another useful utility is pkill, available on the Sun, Linux, and SGI
architectures. Your current processes will be
listed to the screen one at a time sorted by the age of the process, with
your oldest process (most likely your login shell) appearing first. You
will be given the option to kill each process. Responding yes to the inquiry
will kill the process; a carriage return will retain the process.
3.4.5 Checking the Load on Other Workstations
If a workstation appears to be heavily loaded, you can check the load on
other workstations with the ruptim command.
Syntax: ruptim [workstation]
Following is a sample output from this utility.
oak number of users: 1 load average: 0.26, 0.16, 0.00
fir number of users: 15 load average: 0.26, 0.06, 0.00
pine number of users: 25 load average: 0.21, 0.03, 0.01
juniper number of users: 15 load average: 0.39, 0.12, 0.01
cypress number of users: 9 load average: 0.22, 0.04, 0.00
balsam number of users: 15 load average: 0.18, 0.15, 0.00
walnut number of users: 3 load average: 2.00, 1.94, 1.56
beech number of users: 4 load average: 1.17, 1.15, 1.00
The last three columns are 1-, 5-, and 15-minute averages. Values indicate
whether the CPU is underutilized (< 1.0), 100% utilized (1.0), or processes
are waiting (> 1.0). If you receive the error message, permission denied
when executing this command, you need to modify your .rhosts
file. The .rhosts file should include the systems being checked
as well as the system you are logged on to.
3.4.6 Changing Process Priority
All Unix processes have a dynamically calculated priority. This priority
changes over time as a process accumulates CPU time. To execute a program
that will use several minutes of CPU time over a short wall-clock period,
change the process priority so that it does not monopolize the machine.
To do this, use the nice command when executing your process:
Syntax: nice -number argument
The higher the number specified, the lower the priority of the process.
The default is 10, and you can specify numbers as high as 20. Note that
you can only increase this number. For example, a process started with
a value of 18 cannot be lowered to 10 with nice -10, except by root.
For instance, to execute a program called a.out at a low priority,
enter
If you have already started a process without the nice command,
you can use the renice command to change the priority of the process.
Syntax: renice -number process_id
Processes can also be reniced from the top command (see Section
3.4.2) by typing r followed by the priority number and process
ID (PID).
On-line Information
man ps
man top
man who
man w
man kill
man nice
man renice
Return to top of page
3.5 Disk Usage
3.5.1 The df Command
The df command lists the current total disk usage for all file systems
accessible by your workstation.
3.5.2 The du Command
To determine your current disk quota usage, use the du command.
Syntax: du [options] directory
By default, the du command by itself will give a summary of quota
usage for the directory specified and all subdirectories below it.
For a summary of total disk usage, use the -s option.
For a summary of your own disk usage, enter
3.5.3 The quota Command
On the Sun, HP Alpha, and Linux workstations, the quota command
displays your current usage. This command does not display relevant information
on the SGI systems.
Syntax: quota -v username
On-line Information
Return to top of page
3.6 Command History
The shell keeps a history list of recently executed commands if you
instruct it to do so. The following line should be placed in your .login
and .cshrc files.
where nn is the number of lines you wish to retain; 40 is a good
number. There are a number of ways to re-execute commands maintained in
the history file. !! entered on the command line executes the most
recently executed command.
If you enter the history command, a list of your most recently
executed commands will be displayed with a line number next to each command.
To re-execute a specific command, enter
!line_number
Another mechanism for recalling a previously executed command is to enter
the first few letters of the previous command. For example, if you had
previously entered a command to recursively look through your directory
structure for all directory files, using
You could recall that command with the following.
The shell would then reexecute the most recent command line that began
with ls.
Return to top of page
3.7 Unix Tools
The Unix operating system provides a variety of utilities that allow
you to perform functions such as combining multiple commands and redirecting
your output.
3.7.1 Pipes
Pipes allow you to connect various combinations of Unix commands together.
The pipe symbol is the vertical line, |, on your keyboard.
For example, to search a directory listing for a particular string,
and output the information to the screen a page at a time, enter
ls -l | grep 'string' | more
To search the current system processes for a particular user, enter
3.7.2 I/O Redirection
In general, Unix commands send output to "standard out" (stdout), your
terminal screen. At times, you may want this information written to a file
instead. Unix allows you to either redirect output to a file or to have
a Unix command read input from a file. The symbol > outputs information
to a file, and < reads input from a file.
For example, to perform a search on a directory listing and write that
output to a file called "source.txt," enter
ls -l |grep '*.f' > source.txt
To have the Mail utility
read in information from a file called "input.txt," enter
mail user@host < input.txt
3.7.3 The sort Command
The sort utility sorts the lines in a file. By default, it sorts
the file in ASCII order, with numbers preceding alphabetic characters.
You can also use the sort command in combination with other commands
using pipes. To sort the output from a who
command, enter
3.7.4 File Differences (diff)
It is sometimes useful to check the differences between two files. The
diff command performs this function.
Syntax: diff [options] file1 file2
3.7.5 Counting Lines, Words, and Characters (wc)
It is often useful to know the number of lines, words, and characters in
a file. The wc utility accomplishes this task. By default, it prints
out all three of these fields.
Syntax: wc [options] filename
This command is useful when combined with other commands. For example,
to find the number of files in a directory, enter
On-line Information
Return to top of page
3.8 Miscellaneous Utilities
There are several general-purpose utilities developed either within
MMM or obtained from other sources. This section briefly describes some
of these commands.
3.8.1 The phone Command
The phone utility accesses the on-line NCAR phone directory. It
performs a search on an ASCII file and takes a string as its argument.
For example, to search for information on a person with the last name of
jones, enter
For numbers of all MMM staff, enter
3.8.2 NCAR Central E-mail Database
To obtain e-mail information for individuals at NCAR that are not in the
MMM Division, you can also access the NCAR central e-mail database with the
following procedure.
- Enter telnet directory
- At the login prompt, enter directory
- A menu will appear. Choose the appropriate option for searching for
an individual name.
Some non-NCAR individuals may also be listed in this database, especially
if they have an SCD account.
3.8.3 The ispell Command
The ispell utility checks a file for misspelled words. To use this
command, enter
The ispell utility will flag each word that it does not find in
its dictionary. The flagged word will be displayed at the top of the screen
followed by a list of numbered words that are possible options.To select
one of the suggested spellings, enter the number of the appropriate word.
If none of the suggested words is correct, and you wish to enter a replacement
word, enter R. If the flagged word is correct, either press the
space bar or enter I to put the word in your personal dictionary.
When using ispell on a TeX file, use the -t option.
Syntax: ispell -t filename
3.8.4 The mmminfo Command
As there are a large number of systems of varying architectures within
the division, we have developed a utility for checking to find out what
architecture a particular machine is as well as other pertinent information
such as location and IP address. To find out information about a particular
system enter the mmminfo command.
where string can be the information you want to check on, such as
a system name, IP address, or individual's name. This will display basic
information about the system. If you want information related to networking
use the -n option. For complete information on a system enter the
-a option. There is also a man page available for the mmminfo
command.
3.8.5 The assist Command
Assist can also be accessed through our website.
The assist utility will allow users to report problems or view problems
that have been reported.
Following is a list of the available options. More detailed information
can be found in the man pages man assist .
-e editor
To log a problem, use the -e option, where the editor is
either "vi" or "emacs".
It will ask you specific questions and
place you in an editing
session to type in information. After you
have submitted a problem
report, you should receive mail stating
that your report has
been received and informing you of a
reference ID for future
reference.
-s Displays a listing of short-term
entries in the assist database.
Short-term entries are
those that will be addressed within a short
time frame (a day to
a couple of weeks).
-l Displays a listing of all
requests in the assist database.
-r request-id
List a complete description
of specified request.
-u username
List brief descriptions
of all requests submitted by the specified
user.
-w Show who is on-duty.
This person is responsible for monitoring
the assist database for that day, and can also
be contacted directly for immediate
problems.
Return to top of page
3.9 Changing Your Password
3.9.1 The mmmpasswd Command
New accounts within MMM are initially set up with a temporary password.
When you first log in to a new account you should change the password.
The standard Unix command for changing your password is passwd,
however, this only changes your password on a single machine. Most MMM
users access a variety of systems within the division. In order to change
your password and have it propagated to all divisional systems, use the
mmmpasswd utility.
You will be prompted for your old password, new password, and verificiation
of the new password. Password information will not be displayed to the
screen as it is entered.
This information will then be propagated to other
systems within a half hour.
3.9.2 Account Security
The security of your account is primarily your responsibility. To maintain
account security, change your password often, at least twice a year, and
use the following guidelines to select a password.
- Your password should be at least six characters in length and contain
least one non-alphabetic character.
- Avoid using proper names, especially those associated with yourself or
members of your family.
- Do not write your password down.
- Do not give your password to others.
- Do not use words found in dictionaries, as many password-breaking
programs use these dictionaries for guessing passwords.
You should always change your password using the mmmpasswd
command. Passwords will then be propagated to other systems.
On-line Information
Hardcopy References
Unix Made Easy
Unix Primer Plus
Sun OS User's Guide, Getting Started
The Little Gray Book: Ultrix Primer
The Big Gray Book: The Next Step with Ultrix
Return to the top of page
Copyright
© UCAR 1998 - Disclaimer
- mmminfo@ncar.ucar.edu
Last Modified: 1 July 2000
