Introduction to Unix, Part 1

Other MCSR Seminars

Description

Unix is the operating system for cypress, sunset, sweetgum, magnolia, willow, cedar, and redwood. This seminar will give an overview of Unix and its function in the context of the Internet. The following topics will be covered: Logging on to the system; Logging off the system; Changing your password; The UNIX file system; Understanding commands and processes; The shell; Using UNIX commands; Looking-up commands in the on-line manual.

Scope

The most recent offering of this seminar was February, 2005, at the University of Mississppi. The general information presented here will be valid indefinitely; however, the exercises, where present, are only meant to be valid for the date of the seminar, as the student account will be disabled after the seminar. To request another offering of this seminar, please contact the MCSR staff.

Text in red denotes commands to be entered at the command prompt by the workshop student.

Outline

1. Getting Started
   • Logging on to the system
     1. Start the secure shell client:
        Start->Programs->SSH Secure Shell->Secure Shell Client
     2. Connect to willow:
        From the secure shell window, click Quick Connect.
        Then, from the Connect to Remote Host pop-up window, enter:
        Hostname: willow.olemiss.edu
        User Name: student
        and click Connect.
        

2. Concepts
   • What is an operating system?
   • The UNIX file system
     Linux File Hierarchy
   • Understanding commands and processes
   • The shell
     
3. Commands
   • A few essential UNIX commands
     • pwd - print working directory - print the contents of the working directory
     • ls - list - list contents of directory
     • cd - change directory - changes the working directory
     • cat - catenate - print the contents of a file
     • more - print the contents of a file ... with scrolling
     • cp - copy of a file
     • rm - remove one or more files
   • Practice
     6. What is your working directory?
        willow> pwd
     7. What files and directories are in your working directory?
        willow> ls
     8. Change your working directory to be the directory corresponding to your student number. Confirm your success, and list the files in your new working directory.
        willow> cd [your number]
        willow> pwd
        willow> ls
     9. What is in the file called myfile ?
        willow> cat myfile
     10. Make a copy of myfile in the same directory, and call the new file mynewfile
         Confirm your success by listing the files in your new working directory.
         willow> cp myfile mynewfile
         willow> ls
     11. Remove myfile
         Confirm your success by listing the files in your new working directory.
         willow> rm myfile
         willow> ls
     12. Change your working directory back to your home directory. Confirm your success, and list the files in your working (home) directory.
         willow> cd
         willow> pwd
         willow> ls
     13. What is in the file called goodfile?
         willow> cat goodfile
         
         • more - Displays text one screen at a time.
           
         willow> more goodfile
   • Using UNIX commands
     1. About commands
        
        • man - The man command which is short for manual provides in depth information about the requested command or allows users to search for commands related to a particular keyword.
          
        willow> man ls
     2. Where are commands located?
        
        • echo - Echo's to the screen what you type after echo. Echo is useful for producing diagnostics in command files, for sending known data into a pipe, and for displaying the contents of environment variables.
          
        willow> echo $PATH
        willow> which ls
        willow> which man
        willow> man which
        
     3. Entering commands
     4. Command substitution
        willow> cd [your number]
        willow> date
        willow> echo The date is
        willow> echo The date is `date`
        willow> man date
     5. Redirecting standard input and output
        willow> date > today
        willow> cat today
        willow> date >> today
        willow> cat today
        willow> date > today
        willow> cat today
        willow> echo today
        willow> mail email < today
     6. Connecting commands together
        
        • who - Displays who is on the system.
          
        willow> who
        
        • wc - Short for word count, wc displays a count of lines, words, and characters in a file.
          
        willow> wc hello.c
        willow> man wc
        willow> wc -l hello.c
        willow> who | wc -l
        willow> who | wc -l | wc -l
        willow> who | wc -l | wc -l | wc -l
   • Looking-up commands in the on-line manual
4. For Further Information
   • UnixHelp