Next: Your Login name Up: An Introduction to UNIX Previous: What is UNIX?   Contents

The Basics

The UNIX operating system offers a large array of facilities and tools to its users. For the most part your time will be spent on the following types of tasks:

• Using an editor to type in programs and data and edit them.
• Compiling your programs.
• Running your programs.
• Printing the contents of your files on one of the printers.
• Displaying the contents of files on your terminal.
• Listing the files in your directory hierarchy.
• Reading and sending email.

Some simple UNIX commands and facilities that will allow you to do the above tasks will be covered in this section. What is covered in this section is by no means the definitive set of UNIX commands, merely a set of commands that will get you started without too much aggravation.

Further information relating to the use of shells can be found in the section starting on page .

• Your Login name
• Logging On and Off
• Files
• Directories
• Home Directories
• The Current Directory
• Creating a File
• Creating a Directory
• Manipulating Files and Directories
• Creating a Symbolic Link
• Printing
• Finding the Nearest Printer
• Sending a Job to the Printer
• Checking the Printer Queue
• Removing a Job from the Printer Queue
• Permissions
• Changing Permissions
• Finding and Killing Your Processes