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Unix Mini Tutorial

UNIX is an operating system invented in the 1960s. It uses a command line interface and hierarchical directory structure. Some key UNIX commands include ls to list files, cd to change directories, mkdir to create directories, and rm to delete files. Understanding basic file navigation commands and the directory structure is important for using UNIX systems.

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20 views

Unix Mini Tutorial

UNIX is an operating system invented in the 1960s. It uses a command line interface and hierarchical directory structure. Some key UNIX commands include ls to list files, cd to change directories, mkdir to create directories, and rm to delete files. Understanding basic file navigation commands and the directory structure is important for using UNIX systems.

Uploaded by

bravichandra24
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Mini UNIX Tutorial

What’s UNIX?

 An operating system run on many


servers/workstations
 Invented by AT&T Bell Labs in late 60’s
 Currently there are different versions and
variants of UNIX such as SunOS, Linux,
Solaris, BSD, …
Basic UNIX

 Most UNIX functionality is accessed through the


UNIX prompt.
 Text based, like MS-DOS
 Mastery of UNIX comes from being familiar with
different commands
 We will cover some of the basic commands in this
class
 Goal: to be able to navigate through the directories
UNIX Directory Structure
 Files are grouped in the directory structure.
The file-system is arranged like hierarchical
tree structure.

 The top of the tree is called “root” which


usually contains several sub-directories.
 “/”(forward slash) is used to present the
“root”.
What is Directory?

Directories can hold files and other directories


/ root

users tmp
bin etc backup
usern

user2 file1
user1 …… public_html

index.html
Pathnames

 Absolute  Relative pathnames


Pathnames  If you are already in
 In the previous the users directory,
tree the relative
/users/usern/file1 is pathname for file1 is
an absolute usern/file1
pathname
More on UNIX paths
 “~” (tilda) points to the user’s home directory.
Useful if you are logging into a workstation with
many users.
 Many of the other paths are inaccessible and
unimportant to you
 ~ is the default working directory when you log in.
 If you are user “usern”, then /users/usern/file1 is the
same as ~/file1.
 “.” refers to the current directory
 “..” refers to the parent directory.
 If you are in /users/usern/, then ../ refers to /users/.
UNIX – Basic commands

 man – manual. Use “man name” to bring up a manual entry for


command or program name.
 clear – clear. Clears the screen.
Navigation
 ls – list. Lists folders/files in a directory
 cd – change directory.
Use “cd name” to navigate to directory name.
 pwd – print working directory. Prints the path of the current
directory.
 du – disk usage. Shows the disk usage of the current directory
UNIX – More commands

Creation
 mkdir – make directory. Use “mkdir name” to create a new
directory in the current directory named name. Can also
create multiple directories.
 cp – copy. Use “cp file1 file2” to create a new file, file2
which is a copy of file1. Can also use “cp file(s) directory”
to copy all file(s) to directory.
 mv – move. Same as copy, but deletes the original file.
UNIX – More commands

Deletion – Be careful with these!


 rm – remove. Use “rm file(s)” to delete files
 rmdir – remove directory. Use it to delete an empty
directory

 You can not recover your files after you removed them!
Some tips

 “tab” is used for auto-complete.


 If a file/directory name was partly typed in, tab will auto-
complete it.
 If there are multiple options, tab will auto-complete up to
the point where the options branch and show you a list of
possible options
 “*” is used as a wild card.
 “rm blah*” removes all files which start with blah, so blah1,
blah2, and blahblah would all be removed
 Using “cp public/* private/” copies all files in your public
directory into your private directory, and keeps all file
names intact.
More tips

 “-r” is a common option that usually makes a


command recursive, that is, it will execute the
same command on all subdirectories.
 Commonly used to perform file commands on
directories
 Using “cp private/* public/ -r” copies everything from
the private folder to the public folder, and also copies
all subdirectories.
 Using “rm –r *” deletes everything in the current
directory and all sub-directories. Never use this in the
root directory!
Programs

 Some basic UNIX programs:


 emacs – text editing
 pico – another text editor
 gcc – C compiler
 pine – program for internet news and email

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