UNIX Introduction

What is UNIX?
UNIX is an operating system which was first developed in the 1960s, and has been under
constant development ever since !y operating system, we mean the suite of programs
which ma"e the computer wor" It is a stable, multi#user, multi#tas"ing system for
servers, des"tops and laptops
UNIX systems also have a graphical user interface $%UI& similar to 'icrosoft (indows
which provides an easy to use environment )owever, "nowledge of UNIX is re*uired
for operations which aren+t covered by a graphical program, or for when there is no
windows interface available, for e,ample, in a telnet session
Types of UNIX
-here are many different versions of UNIX, although they share common similarities
-he most popular varieties of UNIX are .un .olaris, %NU/0inu,, and 'ac1. X
)ere in the .chool, we use .olaris on our servers and wor"stations, and 2edora 3ore
0inu, on the servers and des"top 43s
The UNIX operating system
-he UNIX operating system is made up of three parts5 the "ernel, the shell and the
programs
The kernel
-he "ernel of UNIX is the hub of the operating system6 it allocates time and memory to
programs and handles the filestore and communications in response to system calls
7s an illustration of the way that the shell and the "ernel wor" together, suppose a user
types rm myfile $which has the effect of removing the file myfile& -he shell searches the
filestore for the file containing the program rm, and then re*uests the "ernel, through
system calls, to e,ecute the program rm on myfile (hen the process rm myfile has
finished running, the shell then returns the UNIX prompt 8 to the user, indicating that it
is waiting for further commands
The shell
-he shell acts as an interface between the user and the "ernel (hen a user logs in, the
login program chec"s the username and password, and then starts another program called
the shell -he shell is a command line interpreter $30I& It interprets the commands the
user types in and arranges for them to be carried out -he commands are themselves
programs6 when they terminate, the shell gives the user another prompt $8 on our
systems&
-he adept user can customise his/her own shell, and users can use different shells on the
same machine .taff and students in the school have the tcsh shell by default
-he tcsh shell has certain features to help the user inputting commands
2ilename 3ompletion # !y typing part of the name of a command, filename or directory
and pressing the 9Tab: "ey, the tcsh shell will complete the rest of the name
automatically If the shell finds more than one name beginning with those letters you
have typed, it will beep, prompting you to type a few more letters before pressing the tab
"ey again
)istory # -he shell "eeps a list of the commands you have typed in If you need to repeat
a command, use the cursor "eys to scroll up and down the list or type history for a list of
previous commands
Files and processes
;verything in UNIX is either a file or a process
7 process is an e,ecuting program identified by a uni*ue 4I< $process identifier&
7 file is a collection of data -hey are created by users using te,t editors, running
compilers etc
;,amples of files6
a document $report, essay etc&
the te,t of a program written in some high#level programming language
instructions comprehensible directly to the machine and incomprehensible to a
casual user, for e,ample, a collection of binary digits $an e,ecutable or binary
file&5
a directory, containing information about its contents, which may be a mi,ture of
other directories $subdirectories& and ordinary files
The Directory Structure
7ll the files are grouped together in the directory structure -he file#system is arranged in
a hierarchical structure, li"e an inverted tree -he top of the hierarchy is traditionally
called root $written as a slash / &
In the diagram above, we see that the home directory of the undergraduate student
ee!"#n contains two sub#directories $docs and pics& and a file called report$doc
-he full path to the file report$doc is %home%its%ug"%ee!"#n%report$doc
Starting an UNIX terminal
-o open an UNIX terminal window, clic" on the =-erminal= icon from the drop#down
menus
UNIX Tutorial &ne
"$" 'isting files and directories
ls (list)
(hen you first login, your current wor"ing directory is your home directory >our home
directory has the same name as your user#name, for e,ample, ee*"ab, and it is where
your personal files and subdirectories are saved
-o find out what is in your home directory, type
8 ls
-he ls command lists the contents of your current wor"ing directory
-here may be no files visible in your home directory, in which case, the UNIX prompt
will be returned 7lternatively, there may already be some files inserted by the .ystem
7dministrator when your account was created
ls does not, in fact, cause all the files in your home directory to be listed, but only those
ones whose name does not begin with a dot $& 2iles beginning with a dot $& are "nown as
hidden files and usually contain important program configuration information -hey are
hidden because you should not change them unless you are very familiar with UNIX???
-o list all files in your home directory including those whose names begin with a dot,
type
8 ls #a
7s you can see, ls #a lists files that are normally hidden
ls is an e,ample of a command which can ta"e options6 +a is an e,ample of an option
-he options change the behaviour of the command -here are online manual pages that
tell you which options a particular command can ta"e, and how each option modifies the
behaviour of the command $.ee later in this tutorial&
"$, -aking Directories
mkdir (make directory)
(e will now ma"e a subdirectory in your home directory to hold the files you will be
creating and using in the course of this tutorial -o ma"e a subdirectory called uni,stuff in
your current wor"ing directory type
8 m"dir uni,stuff
-o see the directory you have @ust created, type
8 ls
"$. /hanging to a different directory
cd (change directory)
-he command cd directory means change the current wor"ing directory to 'directory'
-he current wor"ing directory may be thought of as the directory you are in, ie your
current position in the file#system tree
-o change to the directory you have @ust made, type
8 cd uni,stuff
-ype ls to see the contents $which should be empty&
01ercise "a
'a"e another directory inside the uni1stuff directory called backups
"$2 The directories $ and $$
.till in the uni1stuff directory, type
8 ls #a
7s you can see, in the uni1stuff directory $and in all other directories&, there are two
special directories called $$& and $$$&
The current directory ($)
In UNIX, $$& means the current directory, so typing
8 cd
N1-;6 there is a space between cd and the dot
means stay where you are $the uni1stuff directory&
-his may not seem very useful at first, but using $$& as the name of the current directory
will save a lot of typing, as we shall see later in the tutorial
The parent directory ($$)
$$$& means the parent of the current directory, so typing
8 cd
will ta"e you one directory up the hierarchy $bac" to your home directory& -ry it now
Note6 typing cd with no argument always returns you to your home directory -his is very
useful if you are lost in the file system
"$! 3athnames
p4d (print 4orking directory)
4athnames enable you to wor" out where you are in relation to the whole file#system 2or
e,ample, to find out the absolute pathname of your home#directory, type cd to get bac" to
your home#directory and then type
8 pwd
-he full pathname will loo" something li"e this #
%home%its%ug"%ee!"#n
which means that ee!"#n $your home directory& is in the sub#directory ug" $the group
directory&,which in turn is located in the its sub#directory, which is in the home sub#
directory, which is in the top#level root directory called = / "
01ercise "b
Use the commands cd, ls and pwd to e,plore the file system
$Aemember, if you get lost, type cd by itself to return to your home#directory&
"$5 -ore about home directories and pathnames
Understanding pathnames
2irst type cd to get bac" to your home#directory, then type
8 ls uni,stuff
to list the conents of your uni,stuff directory
Now type
8 ls bac"ups
>ou will get a message li"e this #
bac"ups6 No such file or directory
-he reason is, backups is not in your current wor"ing directory -o use a command on a
file $or directory& not in the current wor"ing directory $the directory you are currently in&,
you must either cd to the correct directory, or specify its full pathname -o list the
contents of your bac"ups directory, you must type
8 ls uni,stuff/bac"ups
6 (your home directory)
)ome directories can also be referred to by the tilde 6 character It can be used to specify
paths starting at your home directory .o typing
8 ls B/uni,stuff
will list the contents of your uni,stuff directory, no matter where you currently are in the
file system
(hat do you thin"
8 ls B
would listC
(hat do you thin"
8 ls B/
would listC
Summary
/ommand -eaning
ls list files and directories
ls #a list all files and directories
m"dir ma"e a directory
cd directory change to named directory
cd change to home#directory
cd B change to home#directory
cd change to parent directory
pwd display the path of the current directory
UNIX Tutorial T4o
,$" /opying Files
cp (copy)
cp file1 file2 is the command which ma"es a copy of file" in the current wor"ing
directory and calls it file,
(hat we are going to do now, is to ta"e a file stored in an open access area of the file
system, and use the cp command to copy it to your uni,stuff directory
2irst, cd to your uni1stuff directory
8 cd B/uni,stuff
-hen at the UNIX prompt, type,
8 cp /vol/e,amples/tutorial/sciencet,t
Note6 <on+t forget the dot $ at the end Aemember, in UNIX, the dot means the current
directory
-he above command means copy the file science$t1t to the current directory, "eeping the
name the same
$Note6 -he directory %#ol%e1amples%tutorial% is an area to which everyone in the school
has read and copy access If you are from outside the University, you can grab a copy of
the file here Dsciencet,tE Use +2ile/.ave 7s+ from the menu bar to save it into your
uni1stuff directory&
01ercise ,a
3reate a bac"up of your science$t1t file by copying it to a file called science$bak
,$, -o#ing files
m# (mo#e)
mv file1 file2 moves $or renames& file" to file,
-o move a file from one place to another, use the mv command -his has the effect of
moving rather than copying the file, so you end up with only one file rather than two
It can also be used to rename a file, by moving the file to the same directory, but giving it
a different name
(e are now going to move the file scienceba" to your bac"up directory
2irst, change directories to your uni,stuff directory $can you remember howC& -hen,
inside the uni1stuff directory, type
8 mv scienceba" bac"ups/
-ype ls and ls bac"ups to see if it has wor"ed
,$. 7emo#ing files and directories
rm (remo#e)8 rmdir (remo#e directory)
-o delete $remove& a file, use the rm command 7s an e,ample, we are going to create a
copy of the science$t1t file then delete it
Inside your uni1stuff directory, type
8 cp sciencet,t tempfilet,t
8 ls
8 rm tempfilet,t
8 ls
>ou can use the rmdir command to remove a directory $ma"e sure it is empty first& -ry
to remove the backups directory >ou will not be able to since UNIX will not let you
remove a non#empty directory
01ercise ,b
3reate a directory called tempstuff using m"dir , then remove it using the rmdir
command
,$2 Displaying the contents of a file on the screen
clear (clear screen)
!efore you start the ne,t section, you may li"e to clear the terminal window of the
previous commands so the output of the following commands can be clearly understood
7t the prompt, type
8 clear
-his will clear all te,t and leave you with the 8 prompt at the top of the window
cat (concatenate)
-he command cat can be used to display the contents of a file on the screen -ype6
8 cat sciencet,t
7s you can see, the file is longer than than the siFe of the window, so it scrolls past
ma"ing it unreadable
less
-he command less writes the contents of a file onto the screen a page at a time -ype
8 less sciencet,t
4ress the 9space+bar: if you want to see another page, and type 99: if you want to *uit
reading 7s you can see, less is used in preference to cat for long files
head
-he head command writes the first ten lines of a file to the screen
2irst clear the screen then type
8 head sciencet,t
-hen type
8 head #G sciencet,t
(hat difference did the #G do to the head commandC
tail
-he tail command writes the last ten lines of a file to the screen
3lear the screen and type
8 tail sciencet,t
H )ow can you view the last 1G lines of the fileC
,$! Searching the contents of a file
Simple searching using less
Using less, you can search though a te,t file for a "eyword $pattern& 2or e,ample, to
search through science$t1t for the word :science:, type
8 less sciencet,t
then, still in less, type a forward slash 9%: followed by the word to search
/science
7s you can see, less finds and highlights the "eyword -ype 9n: to search for the ne,t
occurrence of the word
grep (don:t ask 4hy it is called grep)
grep is one of many standard UNIX utilities It searches files for specified words or
patterns 2irst clear the screen, then type
8 grep science sciencet,t
7s you can see, grep has printed out each line containg the word science
1r has it CCCC
-ry typing
8 grep .cience sciencet,t
-he grep command is case sensitive5 it distinguishes between .cience and science
-o ignore upper/lower case distinctions, use the #i option, ie type
8 grep #i science sciencet,t
-o search for a phrase or pattern, you must enclose it in single *uotes $the apostrophe
symbol& 2or e,ample to search for spinning top, type
8 grep #i +spinning top+ sciencet,t
.ome of the other options of grep are6
+# display those lines that do N1- match
+n precede each matching line with the line number
+c print only the total count of matched lines
-ry some of them and see the different results <on+t forget, you can use more than one
option at a time 2or e,ample, the number of lines without the words science or .cience
is
8 grep #ivc science sciencet,t
4c (4ord count)
7 handy little utility is the wc command, short for word count -o do a word count on
science$t1t, type
8 wc #w sciencet,t
-o find out how many lines the file has, type
8 wc #l sciencet,t
Summary
/ommand -eaning
cp file1 file2 copy file1 and call it fileI
mv file1 file2 move or rename file1 to fileI
rm file remove a file
rmdir directory remove a directory
cat file display a file
less file display a file a page at a time
head file display the first few lines of a file
tail file display the last few lines of a file
grep 'keyword' file search a file for "eywords
wc file count number of lines/words/characters in file
UNIX Tutorial Three
.$" 7edirection
'ost processes initiated by UNIX commands write to the standard output $that is, they
write to the terminal screen&, and many ta"e their input from the standard input $that is,
they read it from the "eyboard& -here is also the standard error, where processes write
their error messages, by default, to the terminal screen
(e have already seen one use of the cat command to write the contents of a file to the
screen
Now type cat without specifing a file to read
8 cat
-hen type a few words on the "eyboard and press the 97eturn: "ey
2inally hold the 9/trl: "ey down and press 9d: $written as ;D for short& to end the input
(hat has happenedC
If you run the cat command without specifing a file to read, it reads the standard input
$the "eyboard&, and on receiving the +end of file+ $;D&, copies it to the standard output
$the screen&
In UNIX, we can redirect both the input and the output of commands
.$, 7edirecting the &utput
(e use the E symbol to redirect the output of a command 2or e,ample, to create a file
called list" containing a list of fruit, type
8 cat E list1
-hen type in the names of some fruit 4ress 97eturn: after each one
pear
banana
apple
J< Kthis means press 93trl: and 9d: to stopL
(hat happens is the cat command reads the standard input $the "eyboard& and the E
redirects the output, which normally goes to the screen, into a file called list"
-o read the contents of the file, type
8 cat list1
01ercise .a
Using the above method, create another file called list, containing the following fruit6
orange, plum, mango, grapefruit Aead the contents of list,
.$,$" <ppending to a file
-he form EE appends standard output to a file .o to add more items to the file list", type
8 cat EE list1
-hen type in the names of more fruit
peach
grape
orange
J< $3ontrol < to stop&
-o read the contents of the file, type
8 cat list1
>ou should now have two files 1ne contains si, fruit, the other contains four fruit
(e will now use the cat command to @oin $concatenate& list" and list, into a new file
called biglist -ype
8 cat list1 listI E biglist
(hat this is doing is reading the contents of list" and list, in turn, then outputing the te,t
to the file biglist
-o read the contents of the new file, type
8 cat biglist
.$. 7edirecting the Input
(e use the D symbol to redirect the input of a command
-he command sort alphabetically or numerically sorts a list -ype
8 sort
-hen type in the names of some animals 4ress 9Aeturn: after each one
dog
cat
bird
ape
J< $control d to stop&
-he output will be
ape
bird
cat
dog
Using D you can redirect the input to come from a file rather than the "eyboard 2or
e,ample, to sort the list of fruit, type
8 sort D biglist
and the sorted list will be output to the screen
-o output the sorted list to a file, type,
8 sort D biglist E slist
Use cat to read the contents of the file slist
.$2 3ipes
-o see who is on the system with you, type
8 who
1ne method to get a sorted list of names is to type,
8 who E namest,t
8 sort D namest,t
-his is a bit slow and you have to remember to remove the temporary file called names
when you have finished (hat you really want to do is connect the output of the who
command directly to the input of the sort command -his is e,actly what pipes do -he
symbol for a pipe is the vertical bar M
2or e,ample, typing
8 who M sort
will give the same result as above, but *uic"er and cleaner
-o find out how many users are logged on, type
8 who M wc #l
01ercise .b
Using pipes, display all lines of list" and list, containing the letter +p+, and sort the result
7nswer available here DpipeanswerhtmlE
Summary
/ommand -eaning
command E file redirect standard output to a file
command EE file append standard output to a file
command D file redirect standard input from a file
command1 M command2 pipe the output of command1 to the input of commandI
cat file1 file2 E file0 concatenate file1 and fileI to file0
sort sort data
who list users currently logged in
UNIX Tutorial Four
2$" Wildcards
The = 4ildcard
-he character N is called a wildcard, and will match against none or more character$s& in
a file $or directory& name 2or e,ample, in your uni1stuff directory, type
8 ls listN
-his will list all files in the current directory starting with list$$$$
-ry typing
8 ls Nlist
-his will list all files in the current directory ending with $$$$list
The ? 4ildcard
-he character C will match e,actly one character
.o ?ouse will match files li"e house and mouse, but not grouse
-ry typing
8 ls Clist
2$, Filename con#entions
(e should note here that a directory is merely a special type of file .o the rules and
conventions for naming files apply also to directories
In naming files, characters with special meanings such as % = > ? , should be avoided
7lso, avoid using spaces within names -he safest way to name a file is to use only
alphanumeric characters, that is, letters and numbers, together with O $underscore& and
$dot&
@ood filenames Aad filenames
pro@ectt,t pro@ect
myObigOprogramc my big programc
fredOdavedoc fred P davedoc
2ile names conventionally start with a lower#case letter, and may end with a dot followed
by a group of letters indicating the contents of the file 2or e,ample, all files consisting of
3 code may be named with the ending $c, for e,ample, prog"$c -hen in order to list all
files containing 3 code in your home directory, you need only type ls Nc in that directory
2$. @etting Belp
&n+line -anuals
-here are on#line manuals which gives information about most commands -he manual
pages tell you which options a particular command can ta"e, and how each option
modifies the behaviour of the command -ype man command to read the manual page for
a particular command
2or e,ample, to find out more about the wc $word count& command, type
8 man wc
7lternatively
8 whatis wc
gives a one#line description of the command, but omits any information about options
etc
<propos
(hen you are not sure of the e,act name of a command,
8 apropos "eyword
will give you the commands with "eyword in their manual page header 2or e,ample, try
typing
8 apropos copy
Summary
/ommand -eaning
N match any number of characters
C match one character
man command read the online manual page for a command
whatis command brief description of a command
apropos keyword match commands with "eyword in their man pages
UNIX Tutorial Fi#e
!$" File system security (access rights)
In your uni1stuff directory, type
8 ls #l $l for long listing?&
>ou will see that you now get lots of details about the contents of your directory, similar
to the e,ample below
;ach file $and directory& has associated access rights, which may be found by typing ls #l
7lso, ls #lg gives additional information as to which group owns the file $beng9G in the
following e,ample&6
#rw,rw#r## 1 eeG1ab beng9G IQG0 .eptI9 116GI file1
In the left#hand column is a 10 symbol string consisting of the symbols d, r, w, ,, #, and,
occasionally, s or . If d is present, it will be at the left hand end of the string, and
indicates a directory6 otherwise # will be the starting symbol of the string
-he 9 remaining symbols indicate the permissions, or access rights, and are ta"en as three
groups of R
-he left group of R gives the file permissions for the user that owns the file $or
directory& $eeG1ab in the above e,ample&5
the middle group gives the permissions for the group of people to whom the file
$or directory& belongs $eebeng9G in the above e,ample&5
the rightmost group gives the permissions for all others
-he symbols r, w, etc, have slightly different meanings depending on whether they refer
to a simple file or to a directory
<ccess rights on files$
r $or #&, indicates read permission $or otherwise&, that is, the presence or absence
of permission to read and copy the file
w $or #&, indicates write permission $or otherwise&, that is, the permission $or
otherwise& to change a file
, $or #&, indicates e,ecution permission $or otherwise&, that is, the permission to
e,ecute a file, where appropriate
<ccess rights on directories$
r allows users to list files in the directory5
w means that users may delete files from the directory or move files into it5
, means the right to access files in the directory -his implies that you may read
files in the directory provided you have read permission on the individual files
.o, in order to read a file, you must have e,ecute permission on the directory containing
that file, and hence on any directory containing that directory as a subdirectory, and so
on, up the tree
Some e1amples
#rw,rw,rw, a file that everyone can read, write and e,ecute $and delete&
#rw####### a file that only the owner can read and write # no#one else can read or write and
no#one has e,ecution rights $eg your mailbo, file&
!$, /hanging access rights
chmod (changing a file mode)
1nly the owner of a file can use chmod to change the permissions of a file -he options
of chmod are as follows
Symbol -eaning
u user
g group
o other
a all
r read
w write $and delete&
, e,ecute $and access directory&
S add permission
# ta"e away permission
2or e,ample, to remove read write and e,ecute permissions on the file biglist for the
group and others, type
8 chmod go#rw, biglist
-his will leave the other permissions unaffected
-o give read and write permissions on the file biglist to all,
8 chmod aSrw biglist
01ercise !a
-ry changing access permissions on the file science$t1t and on the directory backups
Use ls #l to chec" that the permissions have changed
!$. 3rocesses and Cobs
7 process is an e,ecuting program identified by a uni*ue 4I< $process identifier& -o see
information about your processes, with their associated 4I< and status, type
8 ps
7 process may be in the foreground, in the bac"ground, or be suspended In general the
shell does not return the UNIX prompt until the current process has finished e,ecuting
.ome processes ta"e a long time to run and hold up the terminal !ac"grounding a long
process has the effect that the UNIX prompt is returned immediately, and other tas"s can
be carried out while the original process continues e,ecuting
7unning background processes
-o bac"ground a process, type an > at the end of the command line 2or e,ample, the
command sleep waits a given number of seconds before continuing -ype
8 sleep 10
-his will wait 10 seconds before returning the command prompt 8 Until the command
prompt is returned, you can do nothing e,cept wait
-o run sleep in the bac"ground, type
8 sleep 10 P
91: 6IG9
-he > runs the @ob in the bac"ground and returns the prompt straight away, allowing you
do run other programs while waiting for that one to finish
-he first line in the above e,ample is typed in by the user5 the ne,t line, indicating @ob
number and 4I<, is returned by the machine -he user is be notified of a @ob number
$numbered from 1& enclosed in s*uare brac"ets, together with a 4I< and is notified when
a bac"ground process is finished !ac"grounding is useful for @obs which will ta"e a long
time to complete
Aackgrounding a current foreground process
7t the prompt, type
8 sleep 1000
>ou can suspend the process running in the foreground by typing ;D, iehold down the
9/trl: "ey and type 9E: -hen to put it in the bac"ground, type
8 bg
Note6 do not bac"ground programs that re*uire user interaction eg vi
!$2 'isting suspended and background processes
(hen a process is running, bac"grounded or suspended, it will be entered onto a list
along with a @ob number -o e,amine this list, type
8 @obs
7n e,ample of a @ob list could be
91: .uspended sleep 1000
9I: Aunning netscape
9R: Aunning matlab
-o restart $foreground& a suspended processes, type
8 fg 8jobnumber
2or e,ample, to restart sleep 1000, type
8 fg 81
-yping fg with no @ob number foregrounds the last suspended process
!$! Filling a process
kill (terminate or signal a process)
It is sometimes necessary to "ill a process $for e,ample, when an e,ecuting program is in
an infinite loop&
-o "ill a @ob running in the foreground, type ;/ $control c& 2or e,ample, run
8 sleep 100
J3
-o "ill a suspended or bac"ground process, type
8 "ill 8jobnumber
2or e,ample, run
8 sleep 100 P
8 @obs
If it is @ob number Q, type
8 "ill 8Q
-o chec" whether this has wor"ed, e,amine the @ob list again to see if the process has
been removed
ps (process status)
7lternatively, processes can be "illed by finding their process numbers $4I<s& and using
"ill PID_number
8 sleep 1000 P
8 ps
4I< -- . -I'; 31''7N<
I00TT pts/G . 060G sleep 1000
I1G6R pts/G - 0600 netscape
I1UTR pts/G . 06IG nedit
-o "ill off the process sleep "GGG, type
8 "ill I00TT
and then type ps again to see if it has been removed from the list
If a process refuses to be "illed, uses the +* option, ie type
8 "ill #9 I00TT
Note6 It is not possible to "ill off other users+ processes ???
Summary
/ommand -eaning
ls #lag list access rights for all files
chmod 9options: file change access rights for named file
command P run command in bac"ground
J3 "ill the @ob running in the foreground
JV suspend the @ob running in the foreground
bg bac"ground the suspended @ob
@obs list current @obs
fg 81 foreground @ob number 1
"ill 81 "ill @ob number 1
ps list current processes
"ill I61GI "ill process number I61GI
UNIX Tutorial Si1
&ther useful UNIX commands
9uota
7ll students are allocated a certain amount of dis" space on the file system for their
personal files, usually about 100'b If you go over your *uota, you are given T days to
remove e,cess files
-o chec" your current *uota and how much of it you have used, type
8 *uota #v
df
-he df command reports on the space left on the file system 2or e,ample, to find out
how much space is left on the fileserver, type
8 df
du
-he du command outputs the number of "ilobyes used by each subdirectory Useful if
you have gone over *uota and you want to find out which directory has the most files In
your home#directory, type
8 du #s N
-he +s flag will display only a summary $total siFe& and the N means all files and
directories
gEip
-his reduces the siFe of a file, thus freeing valuable dis" space 2or e,ample, type
8 ls #l sciencet,t
and note the siFe of the file using ls #l -hen to compress sciencet,t, type
8 gFip sciencet,t
-his will compress the file and place it in a file called science$t1t$gE
-o see the change in siFe, type ls #l again
-o e,pand the file, use the gunFip command
8 gunFip sciencet,tgF
Ecat
Fcat will read gFipped files without needing to uncompress them first
8 Fcat sciencet,tgF
If the te,t scrolls too fast for you, pipe the output though less
8 Fcat sciencet,tgF M less
file
file classifies the named files according to the type of data they contain, for e,ample ascii
$te,t&, pictures, compressed data, etc -o report on all files in your home directory, type
8 file N
diff
-his command compares the contents of two files and displays the differences .uppose
you have a file called file" and you edit some part of it and save it as file, -o see the
differences type
8 diff file1 fileI
0ines beginning with a H denotes file1, while lines beginning with a I denotes fileI
find
-his searches through the directories for files and directories with a given name, date,
siFe, or any other attribute you care to specify It is a simple command but with many
options # you can read the manual by typing man find
-o search for all fies with the e,tention $t1t, starting at the current directory $& and
wor"ing through all sub#directories, then printing the name of the file to the screen, type
8 find #name =Nt,t= #print
-o find files over 1'b in siFe, and display the result as a long listing, type
8 find #siFe S1' #ls
history
-he 3 shell "eeps an ordered list of all the commands that you have entered ;ach
command is given a number according to the order it was entered
8 history $show command history list&
If you are using the 3 shell, you can use the e,clamation character $J& to recall commands
easily
8 ?? $recall last command&
8 ?#R $recall third most recent command&
8 ?G $recall Gth command in list&
8 ?grep $recall last command starting with grep&
>ou can increase the siFe of the history buffer by typing
8 set historyW100
UNIX Tutorial Se#en
K$" /ompiling UNIX soft4are packages
(e have many public domain and commercial software pac"ages installed on our
systems, which are available to all users )owever, students are allowed to download and
install small software pac"ages in their own home directory, software usually only useful
to them personally
-here are a number of steps needed to install the software
0ocate and download the source code $which is usually compressed&
Unpac" the source code
3ompile the code
Install the resulting e,ecutable
.et paths to the installation directory
1f the above steps, probably the most difficult is the compilation stage
/ompiling Source /ode
7ll high#level language code must be converted into a form the computer understands
2or e,ample, 3 language source code is converted into a lower#level language called
assembly language -he assembly language code made by the previous stage is then
converted into ob@ect code which are fragments of code which the computer understands
directly -he final stage in compiling a program involves lin"ing the ob@ect code to code
libraries which contain certain built#in functions -his final stage produces an e,ecutable
program
-o do all these steps by hand is complicated and beyond the capability of the ordinary
user 7 number of utilities and tools have been developed for programmers and end#users
to simplify these steps
make and the -akefile
-he ma"e command allows programmers to manage large programs or groups of
programs It aids in developing large programs by "eeping trac" of which portions of the
entire program have been changed, compiling only those parts of the program which have
changed since the last compile
-he ma"e program gets its set of compile rules from a te,t file called -akefile which
resides in the same directory as the source files It contains information on how to
compile the software, eg the optimisation level, whether to include debugging info in
the e,ecutable It also contains information on where to install the finished compiled
binaries $e,ecutables&, manual pages, data files, dependent library files, configuration
files, etc
.ome pac"ages re*uire you to edit the 'a"efile by hand to set the final installation
directory and any other parameters )owever, many pac"ages are now being distributed
with the %NU configure utility
configure
7s the number of UNIX variants increased, it became harder to write programs which
could run on all variants <evelopers fre*uently did not have access to every system, and
the characteristics of some systems changed from version to version -he %NU configure
and build system simplifies the building of programs distributed as source code 7ll
programs are built using a simple, standardised, two step process -he program builder
need not install any special tools in order to build the program
-he configure shell script attempts to guess correct values for various system#dependent
variables used during compilation It uses those values to create a -akefile in each
directory of the pac"age
-he simplest way to compile a pac"age is6
cd to the directory containing the pac"age+s source code
-ype /configure to configure the pac"age for your system
-ype ma"e to compile the pac"age
1ptionally, type ma"e chec" to run any self#tests that come with the pac"age
-ype ma"e install to install the programs and any data files and documentation
1ptionally, type ma"e clean to remove the program binaries and ob@ect files from the
source code directory
-he configure utility supports a wide variety of options >ou can usually use the ++help
option to get a list of interesting options for a particular configure script
-he only generic options you are li"ely to use are the ++prefi1 and ++e1ec+prefi1 options
-hese options are used to specify the installation directories
-he directory named by the ++prefi1 option will hold machine independent files such as
documentation, data and configuration files
-he directory named by the ++e1ec+prefi1 option, $which is normally a subdirectory of
the ++prefi1 directory&, will hold machine dependent files such as e,ecutables
K$, Do4nloading source code
2or this e,ample, we will download a piece of free software that converts between
different units of measurements
2irst create a download directory
8 m"dir download
<ownload the software here D/-eaching/Uni,/units#1TQtargFE and save it to your new
download directory
K$. 01tracting the source code
%o into your do4nload directory and list the contents
8 cd download
8 ls #l
7s you can see, the filename ends in targF -he tar command turns several files and
directories into one single tar file -his is then compressed using the gFip command $to
create a targF file&
2irst unFip the file using the gunFip command -his will create a tar file
8 gunFip units#1TQtargF
-hen e,tract the contents of the tar file
8 tar #,vf units#1TQtar
7gain, list the contents of the do4nload directory, then go to the units+"$K2 sub#
directory
8 cd units#1TQ
K$2 /onfiguring and creating the -akefile
-he first thing to do is carefully read the 70<D-0 and INST<'' te,t files $use the less
command& -hese contain important information on how to compile and run the software
-he units pac"age uses the %NU configure system to compile the source code (e will
need to specify the installation directory, since the default will be the main system area
which you will not have write permissions for (e need to create an install directory in
your home directory
8 m"dir B/units1TQ
-hen run the configure utility setting the installation path to this
8 /configure ##prefi,WX)1';/units1TQ
N1-;6 -he LB&-0 variable is an e,ample of an environment variable -he value of
LB&-0 is the path to your home directory Yust type
8 echo X)1';
to show the contents of this variable (e will learn more about environment variables in a
later chapter
If configure has run correctly, it will have created a 'a"efile with all necessary options
>ou can view the 'a"efile if you wish $use the less command&, but do not edit the
contents of this
K$! Auilding the package
Now you can go ahead and build the pac"age by running the ma"e command
8 ma"e
7fter a minute or two $depending on the speed of the computer&, the e,ecutables will be
created >ou can chec" to see everything compiled successfully by typing
8 ma"e chec"
If everything is o"ay, you can now install the pac"age
8 ma"e install
-his will install the files into the 6%units"K2 directory you created earlier
K$5 7unning the soft4are
>ou are now ready to run the software $assuming everything wor"ed&
8 cd B/units1TQ
If you list the contents of the units directory, you will see a number of subdirectories
bin -he binary e,ecutables
info %NU info formatted documentation
man 'an pages
share .hared data files
-o run the program, change to the bin directory and type
8 /units
7s an e,ample, convert 6 feet to metres
>ou have6 6 feet
>ou want6 metres
N 1UIUU
If you get the answer 1UIUU, congratulations, it wor"ed
-o view what units it can convert between, view the data file in the share directory $the
list is *uite comprehensive&
-o read the full documentation, change into the info directory and type
8 info ##fileWunitsinfo
K$K Stripping unnecessary code
(hen a piece of software is being developed, it is useful for the programmer to include
debugging information into the resulting e,ecutable -his way, if there are problems
encountered when running the e,ecutable, the programmer can load the e,ecutable into a
debugging software pac"age and trac" down any software bugs
-his is useful for the programmer, but unnecessary for the user (e can assume that the
pac"age, once finished and available for download has already been tested and debugged
)owever, when we compiled the software above, debugging information was still
compiled into the final e,ecutable .ince it is unli"ey that we are going to need this
debugging information, we can strip it out of the final e,ecutable 1ne of the advantages
of this is a much smaller e,ecutable, which should run slightly faster
(hat we are going to do is loo" at the before and after siFe of the binary file 2irst change
into the bin directory of the units installation directory
8 cd B/units1TQ/bin
8 ls #l
7s you can see, the file is over 100 "bytes in siFe >ou can get more information on the
type of file by using the file command
8 file units
units6 ;02 RI#bit 0.! e,ecutable, Intel U0RU6, version 1, dynamically lin"ed $uses
shared libs&, not stripped
-o strip all the debug and line numbering information out of the binary file, use the strip
command
8 strip units
8 ls #l
7s you can see, the file is now R6 "bytes # a third of its original siFe -wo thirds of the
binary file was debug code???
3hec" the file information again
8 file units
units6 ;02 RI#bit 0.! e,ecutable, Intel U0RU6, version 1, dynamically lin"ed $uses
shared libs&, stripped
.ometimes you can use the ma"e command to install pre#stripped copies of all the binary
files when you install the pac"age Instead of typing ma"e install, simply type ma"e
install#strip
UNIX Tutorial 0ight
M$" UNIX Nariables
Zariables are a way of passing information from the shell to programs when you run
them 4rograms loo" =in the environment= for particular variables and if they are found
will use the values stored .ome are set by the system, others by you, yet others by the
shell, or any program that loads another program
.tandard UNIX variables are split into two categories, environment variables and shell
variables In broad terms, shell variables apply only to the current instance of the shell
and are used to set short#term wor"ing conditions5 environment variables have a farther
reaching significance, and those set at login are valid for the duration of the session !y
convention, environment variables have U44;A 37.; and shell variables have lower
case names
M$, 0n#ironment Nariables
7n e,ample of an environment variable is the 1.->4; variable -he value of this is the
current operating system you are using -ype
8 echo X1.->4;
'ore e,amples of environment variables are
U.;A $your login name&
)1'; $the path name of your home directory&
)1.- $the name of the computer you are using&
7A3) $the architecture of the computers processor&
<I.407> $the name of the computer screen to display X windows&
4AIN-;A $the default printer to send print @obs&
47-) $the directories the shell should search to find a command&
Finding out the current #alues of these #ariables$
;NZIA1N';N- variables are set using the setenv command, displayed using the
printenv or env commands, and unset using the unsetenv command
-o show all values of these variables, type
8 printenv M less
M$. Shell Nariables
7n e,ample of a shell variable is the history variable -he value of this is how many shell
commands to save, allow the user to scroll bac" through all the commands they have
previously entered -ype
8 echo Xhistory
'ore e,amples of shell variables are
cwd $your current wor"ing directory&
home $the path name of your home directory&
path $the directories the shell should search to find a command&
prompt $the te,t string used to prompt for interactive commands shell your login
shell&
Finding out the current #alues of these #ariables$
.);00 variables are both set and displayed using the set command -hey can be unset by
using the unset command
-o show all values of these variables, type
8 set M less
So 4hat is the difference bet4een 3<TB and path ?
In general, environment and shell variables that have the same name $apart from the case&
are distinct and independent, e,cept for possibly having the same initial values -here
are, however, e,ceptions
;ach time the shell variables home, user and term are changed, the corresponding
environment variables )1';, U.;A and -;A' receive the same values )owever,
altering the environment variables has no effect on the corresponding shell variables
47-) and path specify directories to search for commands and programs !oth variables
always represent the same directory list, and altering either automatically causes the other
to be changed
M$2 Using and setting #ariables
;ach time you login to a UNIX host, the system loo"s in your home directory for
initialisation files Information in these files is used to set up your wor"ing environment
-he 3 and -3 shells uses two files called login and cshrc $note that both file names
begin with a dot&
7t login the 3 shell first reads $cshrc followed by $login
$login is to set conditions which will apply to the whole session and to perform actions
that are relevant only at login
$cshrc is used to set conditions and perform actions specific to the shell and to each
invocation of it
-he guidelines are to set ;NZIA1N';N- variables in the $login file and .);00
variables in the $cshrc file
W<7NIN@O N;Z;A put commands that run graphical displays $eg a web browser& in
your cshrc or login file
M$! Setting shell #ariables in the $cshrc file
2or e,ample, to change the number of shell commands saved in the history list, you need
to set the shell variable history It is set to 100 by default, but you can increase this if you
wish
8 set history W I00
3hec" this has wor"ed by typing
8 echo Xhistory
)owever, this has only set the variable for the lifetime of the current shell If you open a
new ,term window, it will only have the default history value set -o 4;A'7N;N-0>
set the value of history, you will need to add the set command to the cshrc file
2irst open the $cshrc file in a te,t editor 7n easy, user#friendly editor to use is nedit
8 nedit B/cshrc
7dd the following line 72-;A the list of other commands
set history W I00
.ave the file and force the shell to reread its cshrc file buy using the shell source
command
8 source cshrc
3hec" this has wor"ed by typing
8 echo Xhistory
M$5 Setting the path
(hen you type a command, your path $or 47-)& variable defines in which directories the
shell will loo" to find the command you typed If the system returns a message saying
=command6 3ommand not found=, this indicates that either the command doesn+t e,ist at
all on the system or it is simply not in your path
2or e,ample, to run units, you either need to directly specify the units path
$6%units"K2%bin%units&, or you need to have the directory 6%units"K2%bin in your path
>ou can add it to the end of your e,isting path $the Lpath represents this& by issuing the
command6
8 set path W $Xpath B/units1TQ/bin&
-est that this wor"ed by trying to run units in any directory other that where units is
actually located
8 cd
8 units
-o add this path 4;A'7N;N-0>, add the following line to your cshrc 72-;A the list
of other commands
set path W $Xpath B/units1TQ/bin&