Basic Unix commands (vs. DOS)

1
Basic Unix commands (vs. DOS)

• cat file Concatenate or type out a file
• cat file1 file2 ... Type out a number of
  files
• cd directory1 Change current directory to
  directory1
• cd /usr/bin Change current directory to
  /usr/bin
• cd Change back to your home directory
• clear Clear the current screen
• cp file1 file2 Copy file1 to file2
• cp file1 file2 ... dir Copy a number of files
  to a directory
• ls List the files in the current directory
• ls /usr/bin List the files in the /usr/bin
  directory
• lpr file1 Print file1 out
• lpr file1 file2 ... Print a number of files
  out
• more file Look at the content of a file with
  paging, use q to get out
• mkdir directory Create a directory
• mv file1 file2 Move file1 to file2, like rename.
• mv file1 file2 ... dir Move a number of files
  into a directory
• mv dir1 dir2 Move or rename a directory

2

• rm file Remove a file
• rm file1 file2 ... Remove a number of files
• rm -r directory Remove a directory include the
  sub-directory
• rmdir directory Remove a directory

3
Who, When, Why, What and Where?

• man cp Display on-line manual for the cp
  command
• man -k keyword Display manual help file
  related to the keyword
• passwd Change your login password
• pwd Display the path name of where you are
• uptime Tell you how long the machine has been up
  and running
• users Tell you who is logging in
• who Tell you who is logging-in in detail
• w Tell you who is logging in and doing what!
• whoami Show you the owner of this account
• finger user Find out the personal information of
  a user
• finger name Try to find the persons info. by
  his/her name
• finger email-address Try to find the persons
  info across the network
• write user Write a message on somebodys screen
• talk user Talk to the person logging in the same
  system with you
• talk email-address Talk to somebody logging in
  the network
• date Display todays time and date
• cal year Display the calendar of the specified
  year (e.g. 1997)