Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX)

The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a set of interface

standards specified by the IEEE computer society and based on UNIX. It
provides the definition for the application programming interfaces, the
associated utility interfaces and command line shells for compatibility of
different applications and software with different operating systems and
variants of UNIX. POSIX is an evolving family of computer standards that
consists of a wide spectrum of operating system components ranging from
the C programming language and interfaces based on shell to
administration of computer systems.

The Portable Operating System Interface evolved from the requirement of

different organizations to have applications and programs that could be
moved to different computer systems without the need for recoding. The
UNIX operating system was selected as the standard system interface as it
was capable of being manufacturer neutral. Although there have been
many releases for portable operating system interface, POSIX 1 which
defines system calls and POSIX 2 which defines command line interfaces
are important ones.

The Portable Operating System Interface is recognized by standards such

as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and American
National Standards Institute (ANSI). One of the biggest roles of POSIX is
to ensure code portability and compatibility between the different systems
and hardware platforms. This is increasingly checked for many
government agreements and commercial applications. Modern commercial
implementations based on UNIX and even free ones based on UNIX are
mostly POSIX compliant.

Commands with Description and Format:

ar
Administer libraries
ar[_-V]_mainkey[modifier]...[posname]_afile[_filename]...

asa
Convert control characters for positioning
asa[_file ...]

alias
Define or display alias
alias[_-t][_name]

at
Execute commands at a later date
at[_-m][_-f_script][_-q_queue]_time

awk
Programmable processing of text files
awk[_-F_ERE][_-v_initialization]..._prog[_initialization]...[_file]...

basename
Separate file name from path
basename[_string[_suffix]]

batch
Execute commands at a later date
batch
command ...
[END] or @@d

bg
Process jobs in background
bg[_job-id...]

bs2cmd
Execute BS2000 command
bs2cmd[_-h]_cmd

bs2cp
Copy BS2000 files
bs2cp[_-k|_-t_table][_-f][_-l][_-h]_bs2:file_filecopy
bs2do
Calling BS2000 procedures from POSIX
bs2do[_-DV] [_-o_outfile]_procedure_[[(]parameter[)]]

bs2file
Define file attributes for BS2000 files
bs2file[_-h]file,operand_list

bs2lp
Print files
bs2lp[_option]...[_file] ...

bs2pkey
Assign P keys
bs2pkey

cal
Display calendar
cal[[_month]_year]

cancel
Delete print jobs
cancel[_jobno...]_printer...

cat
Concatenate and output files
cat[_-s][_-u][_file]...

cd
Change current directory
cd[_directory]

chgrp
Change group number of file
chgrp[_-h][_-R]_gid_file_...

chmod
Change access rights
Chmod_[-R]_mode_file_...

chown
Change owner of file
chown[_-h][_-R]_uid[:gid]_file_..

cksum
Write checksums and file sizes
cksum[_-C][_file...]

cmp
Compare files character by character
cmp[_-l|_-s]_file1_file2

comm
Search for identical lines in two sorted files
comm[_-123]_file1_file2

command
Execute simple command
command [_-v |_-V]_command_name

compress
Compress files
compress [_-fv][_-b_bits][_file ...]

cp
Copy files
cp[_-fip]_file_copyfile

cpio
Swap files and directories in and out
Cpio_-o[Bacv][_-Darchive]

crontab
Execute commands at regular intervals
crontab[_file]

csplit
Split file according to specific criteria
csplit[_-ks][_-f_name][_-n_numberl]_file_arg1...argn

cut
Cut bytes, characters or fields from the lines of a file
Cut_-b_ist_[-n][_file..]
date
Display time and date
date[_-u][_+format]

dd
Copy and convert files
dd[_option...]

debug
Test POSIX programs
debug[_-e]_program[_arguments]...

df
Display number of free and occupied disk blocks
df[_-F_FSType]_ -P[_-klV][_file]

diff
Compare files line by line
dif[_option]_file1_file2

dirname
Separate path prefix from file name
dirname[_string]

du
Display occupied memory space
du[_a |_s][_-kx][_-r]...[_file...]

dumpfs
Display internal file system information
Dumpfs_file_system

echo
Output call arguments
echo[_argument...]

ed
Line editor in interactive mode
ed[_-|_-s][_-p_string][_file]
egrep
Find pattern
egrep[_-bchilnvy]_-e_patternlist[_file...]

env
Change environment when executing commands
env[_-i|_-][_name=value]...[_command[_arg...]]

eval
Process call arguments and execute them as commands
Eval_[argument_...]

exit
Terminate shell procedure
exit[_n]

expand
Convert tab character to blanks
expand[_-t_tablist][_file...]

export
Export shell variables
export[_name[=value]]...

expr
Evaluate expressions
Expr_expression_...

fc
Access to history file
fc[_-r][_-e_editor][_first[_last]]

fgrep
Find strings
fgrep[_-bchilnrvxy]_-e_patternlist[_file...]

file
Define file type
File_-c[_-m_magicfile]
find
Search directories
Find_directory_expression

fold
Split up long lines
fold[_-bs][_-w_width][_file...]

fsck
Check consistency of file system and correct interactively with user
fsck[_-F_ufs|UFS][_-y|-n|-m][[_special_file ...]

fsexpand
Expand existing file systems
fsexpand[_-i][_-p_pam pages|_-c_cylinder groups]_device

ftyp
Define types of file processing (BS2000)
ftyp[_-h][_text|binary|textbin]

gencat
Generate binary coded message catalog
gencat[_-lm]_catfile[_msgfile...]

getconf
Call up configuration values
getconf_system_var

getopts
Search procedure arguments for options
getopts_optstring_name[_arg]...

hash
Process shell hash table
hash[_name]...

head
Output start of a file
head[_-n_number][_file]

iconv
Convert code
Iconv_-f_fromcode_-t_tocode[_file]

id
Output user identification
id[_-a][_user]

ipcrm
Remove setup for interprocess communications
ipcrm[_option]...

ipcs
Output state of interprocess communications setup
ipcs[_option]...

jobs
Output job information
jobs[-l|p][-n][job-id]...

kill
Send signals to processes
jobs[_-l|p][_-n][_job-id]...

locale
Call up information on the locale
locale[_-a|_-m]

logname
Query login name
logname

mesg
Forbid or permit receipt of messages
mesg[_y_n]

mkdir
Create directory
mkdir[_-m_mode][_-p]_directory_..

mkfifo
Create FIFO
mkfifo[_-m_mode]_file..

mknod
Create device file
mknod_name_p

mv
Move or rename files
mv[_-f][_-i]_file_..._dir

newgrp
Modify group membership
newgrp[_-l][_group]

paste
Merge lines
paste[_-d_list]_file_...

pax
Process portable archives
pax[_-cdnv][_-f_archive][_-s_instruction] ...[pattern...]

pdbl
Administer private POSIX loader
pdbl{_-s[_sid]|_-u}_-i

pkginfo
Display information about software packages
pkginfo[_-l|-q][[_-v_version][_-P_package][_-I_ipath]_product]

posdbl
Administer POSIX loader
Posdbl_-b_path

pr
Format files and output to standard output
pr[_option][_file]...
print
Output mechanism similar to echo
print[_-Rnprsu[filedes]][_arg]...

printf
Formatted output
Printf_format[_arg]...

pwd
Output path name of current working directory
pwd

rcp
Copy files from or to a remote computer
rcp[_-p][_-b]_file1_file2

read
Read arguments of standard input and assign shell Variables
read_[-option][_name?prompt][_name]..

readonly
Protect shell variables
readonly_-p

renice
Change priority of current processes
renice[_-n_increment][_-g|_-p|_-u]_ID...

rm
Delete files
rm[_option]_file...

rmdir
Delete directories
rmdir[_-p]_directory_...

rmpart
Remove partition
rmpart[_-V]_unitnumber