Misc commands
* man ls will explain about the ls command and how you can use it.
* man -k pattern command will search for the pattern in given command.
Banner command.
banner prints characters in a sort of ascii art poster, for example to print wait in big
letters. I will type
banner wait at unix command line or in my script. This is how it will look.
# # ## # #####
# # # # # #
# # # # # #
# ## # ###### # #
## ## # # # #
# # # # # #
Cal command
cal command will print the calander on current month by default. If you want to print
calander of august of 1965. That's eightht month of 1965.
cal 8 1965 will print following results.
August 1965
S M Tu W Th F S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31
Clear command
clear command clears the screen and puts cursor at beginning of first line.
Calendar command
calendar command reads your calendar file and displays only lines with current day.
For example in your calendar file if you have this
On dec 20th the first line will be displayed. you can use this command with your crontab
file or in your login files.
Nohup command.
nohup command if added in front of any command will continue running the command or
process even if you shut down your terminal or close your session to machine. For
exmaple, if I want to run a job that takes lot of time and must be run from terminal and is
called update_entries_tonight .
nohup update_entries_tonight will run the job even if terminal is shut down in middle of
this job.
Tty command
Tty command will display your terminal. Syntax is
tty options
Pwd command.
pwd command will print your home directory on screen, pwd means print working
directory.
/u0/ssb/sandeep
* options ls will list all the files in your home directory, this command has many
options.
* ls -l will list all the file names, permissions, group, etc in long format.
* ls -a will list all the files including hidden files that start with . .
* ls -lt will list all files names based on the time of creation, newer files bring first.
* ls -Fxwill list files and directory names will be followed by slash.
* ls -Rwill lists all the files and files in the all the directories, recursively.
* ls -R | more will list all the files and files in all the directories, one page at a time.
Mkdir command.
mkdir sandeep will create new directory, i.e. here sandeep directory is created.
Cd command.
cd sandeep will change directory from current directory to sandeep directory.
Use pwd to check your current directory and ls to see if sandeep directory is there or not.
You can then use cd sandeep to change the directory to this new directory.
Cat command
cat cal.txt cat command displays the contents of a file here cal.txt on screen (or standard
out).
Head command.
head filename by default will display the first 10 lines of a file.
If you want first 50 lines you can use head -50 filename or for 37 lines head -37 filename
and so forth.
Tail command.
tail filename by default will display the last 10 lines of a file.
If you want last 50 lines then you can use tail -50 filename.
More command. more command will display a page at a time and then wait for input
which is spacebar. For example if you have a file which is 500 lines and you want to read
it all. So you can use
more filename
Wc command
wc command counts the characters, words or lines in a file depending upon the option.
resume1.doc: data
file cal.txt
Cp command.
cp command copies a file. If I want to copy a file named oldfile in a current directory to a
file named newfile in a current directory.
cp oldfile newfile
If I want to copy oldfile to other directory for example /tmp then
cp oldfile /tmp/newfile. Useful options available with cp are -p and -r . -p options
preserves the modification time and permissions, -r recursively copy a directory and its
files, duplicating the tree structure.
Rcp command.
rcp command will copy files between two unix systems and works just like cp command
(-p and -i options too).
For example you are on a unix system that is called Cheetah and want to copy a file
which is in current directory to a system that is called lion in /usr/john/ directory then you
can use rcp command
rcp filename lion:/usr/john
You will also need permissions between the two machines. For more infor type man rcp
at command line.
Mv command.
mv command is used to move a file from one directory to another directory or to rename
a file.
Ln command.
Instead of copying you can also make links to existing files using ln command.
If you want to create a link to a file called coolfile in /usr/local/bin directory then you can
enter this command.
ln mycoolfile /usr/local/bin/coolfile
* Some examples: ln -s fileone filetwo will create a symbolic link and can exist across
machines.
* ln -n option will not overwrite existing files.
* ln -f will force the link to occur.
Rm command.
To delete files use rm command.
Rmdir command.
rmdir command will remove directory or directories if a directory is empty.
* Options: rm -r directory_name will remove all files even if directory is not empty.
* rmdir sandeep is how you use it to remove sandeep directory.
* rmdir -p will remove directories and any parent directories that are empty.
* rmdir -s will suppress standard error messages caused by -p.
Diff command.
diff command will compare the two files and print out the differences between.
Here I have two ascii text files. fileone and file two.
Contents of fileone are
filetwo contains
4c4
< this is different as;lkdjf
---
> this is different xxxxxxxas;lkdjf
Cmp command.
cmp command compares the two files. For exmaple I have two different files fileone and
filetwo.
cmp fileone filetwo will give me
no changes
Dircmp Command.
dircmp command compares two directories. If i have two directories in my home
directory named
dirone and dirtwo and each has 5-10 files in it. Then
dircmp dirone dirtwo will return this
./cal.txt ./fourth.txt
./dohazaar.txt ./rmt.txt
./four.txt ./te.txt
./junk.txt ./third.txt
./test.txt
Grep Command
grep command is the most useful search command. You can use it to find processes
running on system, to find a pattern in a file, etc. It can be used to search one or more
files to match an expression.
It can also be used in conjunction with other commands as in this following example,
output of ps command is passed to grep command, here it means search all processes in
system and find the pattern sleep.
ps -ef | grep sleep will display all the sleep processes running in the system as follows.
* Options: -b option will precede each line with its block number.
* -c option will only print the count of matched lines.
* -i ignores uppercase and lowercase distinctions.
* -l lists filenames but not matched lines.
other associated commands with grep are egrep and fgrep. egrep typically runs faster. for
more information type man egrep or man fgrep in your system.
Find command.
Find command is a extremely useful command. you can search for any file anywhere
using this command provided that file and directory you are searching has read write
attributes set to you ,your, group or all. Find descends directory tree beginning at each
pathname and finds the files that meet the specified conditions. Here are some examples.
Some Examples:
find $HOME -print will lists all files in your home directory.
find /work -name chapter1 -print will list all files named chapter1 in /work directory.
find / -type d -name 'man*' -print will list all manpage directories.
find / -size 0 -ok rm {} \; will remove all empty files on system.
conditions of find
* -atime +n |-n| n will find files that were last accessed more than n or less than -n days
or n days.
* -ctime +n or -n will find that were changed +n -n or n days ago.
* -depth descend the directory structure, working on actual files first and then
directories. You can use it with cpio command.
* -exec commad {} \; run the Unix command on each file matched by find. Very useful
condition.
* -print print or list to standard output (screen).
* -name pattern find the pattern.
* -perm nnnfind files whole permission flags match octal number nnn.
* -size n find files that contain n blocks.
* -type c Find file whole type is c. C could be b or block, c Character special file, d
directory, p fifo or named pipe, l symbolic link, or f plain file.
Cut command.
cut command selects a list of columns or fields from one or more files.
Option -c is for columns and -f for fields. It is entered as
cut options [files]
for example if a file named testfile contains
this is firstline
this is secondline
this is thirdline
Examples:
cut -c1,4 testfile will print this to standard output (screen)
ts
ts
ts
It is printing columns 1 and 4 of this file which contains t and s (part of this).
Paste Command.
paste command merge the lines of one or more files into vertical columns separated by a
tab.
for example if a file named testfile contains
this is firstline
this is testfile2
Sort command.
sort command sort the lines of a file or files, in alphabetical order. for example if you
have a file named testfile with these contents
zzz
aaa
1234
yuer
wer
qww
wwe
Then running
sort testfile
will give us output of
1234
aaa
qww
wer
wwe
yuer
zzz
Uniq command.
uniq command removes duplicate adjacent lines from sorted file while sending one copy
of each second file.
Examples
sort names | uniq -d will show which lines appear more than once in names file.
Sed command.
sed command launches a stream line editor which you can use at command line.
you can enter your sed commands in a file and then using -f option edit your text file. It
works as
sed [options] files
for more information about sed, enter man sed at command line in your system.
Vi editor.
vi command launches a vi sual editor. To edit a file type
vi filename
vi editor is a default editor of all Unix systems. It has several modes. In order to write
characters you will need to hit i to be in insert mode and then start typing. Make sure that
your terminal has correct settings, vt100 emulation works good if you are logged in using
pc.
Once you are done typing then to be in command mode where you can write/search/ you
need to hit :w filename to write
and in case you are done writing and want to exit
:w! will write and exit.
Csh or C shell
csh is second most used shell.
Echo command
echo command in shell programming.
Line command.
line command in shell programming.
Sleep command.
sleep command in shell programming.
Test Command.
test command in shell programming.
ftp hostname by default will connect you to the system, you must have a login id to be
able to transfer the files. Two types of files can be transferred, ASCII or Binary. bin at
ftp> prompt will set the transfer to binary. Practice FTP by ftping to nic.funet.fi loggin in
as anomymous with password being your e-mail address.
Login command.
login command invokes a login session to a Unix system, which then authenticates the
login to a system. System prompts you to enter userid and password.
Rlogin command.
rlogin command is used to log on to remote Unix systems, user must have permissions on
both systems as well as same userid, or an id defined in .rhosts file. Syntax is
rlogin options host
Talk command.
talk command is used to invoke talk program available on all unix system which lets two
users exchange information back and forth in real time. Syntax is
talk userid@hostname
Telnet command.
Telnet command invokes a telnet protocol which lets you log on to different unix, vms or
any machine connected over TCP/IP protocol, IPx protocol or otherwise. Syntax is
telnet hostname
Vacation command.
vacation command is used when you are out of office. It returns a mail message to sender
announcing that you are on vacation. to disable this feature, type mail -F " " .
syntax is
vacation options
Compress command.
Compress command compresses a file and returns the original file with .z extension, to
uncompress this filename.Z file use uncompress filename command. syntax for compress
command is
compress options files
Uncompress command.
Uncompress file uncompresses a file and return it to its original form.
syntax is
uncompress filename.Z this uncompresses the compressed file to its original name.
Cpio command.
cpio command is useful to backup the file systems. It copy file archives in from or out to
tape or disk, or to another location on the local machine. Its syntax is
cpio flags [options]
* Options 0-9 This number is dump level. 0 option causes entire filesystem to be
dumped.
* b blocking factor taken into argument.
* d density of tape default value is 1600.
* f place the dump on next argument file instead of tape.
* This example causes the entire file system (/mnt) to be dumped on
/dev/rmt/c0t0d0BEST and specifies that the density of the tape is 6250 BPI.
o /usr/sbin/dump 0df 6250 /dev/rmt/c0t0d0BEST /mnt
* for more info type man dump at command line.
Pack command.
pack command compacts each file and combine them together into a filename.z file. The
original file is replaced. Pcat and unpack will restore packed files to their original form.
Syntax is
Pack options files
* Options - Print number of times each byte is used, relative frequency and byte code.
* -f Force the pack even when disk space isn't saved.
Tar command.
tar command creates an archive of files into a single file.
Tar copies and restore files to a tape or any storage media. Synopsis of tar is
tar [options] [file]
Examples:
tar cvf /dev/rmt/0 /bin /usr/bin creates an archive of /bin and /usr/bin, and store on the
tape in /dev/rmt0.
tar tvf /dev/rmt0 will list the tape's content in a /dev/rmt0 drive.
tar cvf - 'find . -print' > backup.tar will creates an archive of current directory and store it
in file backup.tar.
Mt command
Mt command is used for tape and other device functions like rewinding, ejecting, etc. It
give commands to tape device rather than tape itself. Mt command is BSD command and
is seldom found in system V unix versions.
syntax is
mt [-t tapename] command [count]
* mt for HP-UX accept following commands eof write count EOF marks.
* fsf Forward space count files.
* fsr Forward space count records.
* bsf Backward space count files.
* bsr Backward space count records.
* rew Rewind tape.
* offl Rewind tape and go offline.
* eod Seek to end of data (DDS and QIC drives only).
* smk Write count setmarks (DDS drives only).
* fss Forward space count setmarks (DDS drives only).
* bss Backward space count setmarks (DDS drives only).
* Examples
o mt -t /dev/rmt/0mnb rew will rewind the tape in this device.
o mt -t /dev/rmt/0mnb offl will eject the tape in this device.
At command.
at command along with crontab command is used to schedule jobs.
at options time [ddate] [+increment] is syntax of at command.
for example if I have a script named usersloggedin which contains.
#!/bin/ksh
who | wc -l
echo "are total number of people logged in at this time."
and I want to run this script at 8:00 AM. So I will first type at 8:00 %lt;enter>
usersloggedin %lt;enter>
I will get following output at 8:00 AM
30
are total number of people logged in at this time.
Chmod command.
chmod command is used to change permissions on a file.
for example if I have a text file with calender in it called cal.txt.
initially when this file will be created the permissions for this file depends upon umask
set in your profile files. As you can see this file has 666 or -rw-rw-rw attributes.
ls -la cal.txt
In this line above I have -rw-rw-rw- meaning respectively that owner can read and write
file, member of the owner's group can read and write this file and anyone else connected
to this system can read and write this file., next ssb is owner of this file dxidev is the
group of this file, there are 135 bytes in this file, this file was created on December 3 at
time16:14 and at the end there is name of this file. Learn to read these permissions in
binary, like this for example Decimal 644 which is 110 100 100 in binary meand rw-r--r--
or user can read,write this file, group can read only, everyone else can read only.
Similarly, if permissions are 755 or 111 101 101 that means rwxr-xr-x or user can read,
write and execute, group can read and execute, everyone else can read and execute. All
directories have d in front of permissions. So if you don't want anyone to see your files or
to do anything with it use chmod command and make permissions so that only you can
read and write to that file, i.e.
chmod 600 filename.
Chgrp command.
chgrp command is used to change the group of a file or directory.
You must own the file or be a superuser.
chgrp [options] newgroup files is syntax of chgrp.
Newgroup is either a group Id or a group name located in /etc/group .
Chown command.
chown command to change ownership of a file or directory to one or more users.
Syntax is
chown options newowner files
Crontab command.
crontab command is used to schedule jobs. You must have permission to run this
command by unix Administrator. Jobs are scheduled in five numbers, as follows.
Minutes 0-59
Hour 0-23
Day of month 1-31
month 1-12
Day of week 0-6 (0 is sunday)
so for example you want to schedule a job which runs from script named backup_jobs
in /usr/local/bin directory on sunday (day 0) at 11.25 (22:25) on 15th of month. The entry
in crontab file will be. * represents all values.
25 22 15 * 0 /usr/local/bin/backup_jobs
Date command.
Date displays todays date, to use it type date at prompt.
Df command.
df command displays information about mounted filesystems. It reports the number of
free disk blocks. Typically a Disk block is 512 bytes (or 1/2 Kilobyte).
syntax is
df options name
Du command.
du command displays disk usage.
Env command.
env command displays all the variables.
Finger command.
finger command.
PS command
ps command is probably the most useful command for systems administrators. It reports
information on active processes.
ps options
* options. -a Lists all processes in system except processes not attached to terminals.
* -e Lists all processes in system.
* -f Lists a full listing.
* -j print process group ID and session ID.
Ruptime command.
ruptime command tells the status of local networked machines.
ruptime options
* options. -a include user even if they've been idle for more than one hour.
* -l sort by load average.
* -r reverse the sort order.
* -t sort by uptime.
* -i sort by number of users.
Shutdown command.
Shutdown command can only be executed by root. To gracefully bring down a system,
shutdown command is used.
Stty command
stty command sets terminal input output options for the current terminal. without options
stty reports terminal settings.
stty options modes < device
cal > cal.txt To create a new file called cal.txt that has calendar for current month. > sign
redirects output from stdout (screen) to a file.