| The HintMe page,
the one with simple
explanatory. |
| First of all, login as
a regular user, not as
root. Do Not get out of your home directory. After the logon procedure the simplest commands a user can type are: (remember to hit enter after each command) Some useful commands for starting whoami (returns the username you are logged in with) users The users currently logged in pwd print the working directory ls list files of the working directory, if unspecified. du report file space of all files in the current dir (if applied alone). Try it with the -h option. date returns current date and time. cal calendar. Try cal 1998 touch create a file if noexistent or update an existing one's save timestamp. mv rename/move one or many specified files. Parameter usage Some examples: ls -a list all (also hidden files) ls -l detailed listing ls -h human readable listing du -h as above, but in a human readable format. du -s report only the sum. mv -v performs verbosely the move/rename on the specified filename. Hints Smart combinations of parameters can be understood. ls -l -a -h would definetly work but programs understand combinations of parameters: So, ls -lah is a better way of combining parameters. Or, du -sh as an alternative example. Try it :) GNU programs have a tradition in specifying special parameters. ls --help don't worry if the results exceed the console. see ImpressMe page. ls --version In these cases, the program displays the requested and exits successfully now try: cp --version All GNU programs respond to --help and --version. Examples Let's try simple file management commands: touch test.txt create a new empty file. mv test.txt .test.txt rename/move this file. We simply renamed it. ls list command. notice that the file .test.txt is not listed. Files beginning with a dot are considered "hidden". Q: It reminds me of hidden system read only etc. A: The "." hidden status is just symbolic. It really means "stand out of my way" when listing. "Hidden" "system" "read only" and "archive" files don't exist the way the average user is used to. These attributes are good in single user operating systems, as a last measure for protection in an environment that you are always a "root", which is not the case in any Unix Compatible OS. In all unixes, the ability of a user to manipulate a file is depended on the file's permissions (read write execute) as well as ownership (user:group) and locked-unlocked condition.
---- to be continued ------------ |