UNIX Commands - The Basics
This tutorial is intended to give you the basics about a
few simple, easy to learn UNIX commands that will enable
you to use your Deer River WebHosting server better. This is
in no way intended to be comprehensive, but you do not
need to know a lot to use your server. If you find your
knowledge needs to be seriously increased further than we
have here, we encourage you to get a good book on UNIX
commands.
Command List
pwd | ls | mkdir | rmdir | cp | mv | rm
| grep | tar | zip | unzip | compress
If you find you are using many commands that aren't
listed here, let us know and we will add them to the
list. The UNIX Bible (compressed version):
1. Command: pwd
Usage: The pwd command tells you what the current working
directory you are in.
Example: Simply type "pwd" at a telnet command
prompt and it will return something like
"/home/sites/yahoo.com"
2. Command: ls
Usage: The ls command lists the files and subdirectories
of the current directory you are in. You can also add
some arguments to the ls command to make it more
meaningful.
If you type "ls -F" it will append a forward
slash to the subdirectory names so you can easily
distinguish them from file names.
If you type "ls -a" it will show all hidden
files such as .htaccess files.
If you type "ls -l" it will show detailed
information about each file and directory, including
permissions, owners, size, and when the file was last
modified.
Example: Type "ls -al" at a telnet command
prompt and it will return your file names including
hidden files, and a forward slash will be inserted in
front of subdirectories.
DOS Equivalent: dir
3. Command: mkdir
Usage: The mkdir command makes a new directory. Simply
type "mkdir directory" at a telnet command
prompt and replace directory with the name of the
directory you want to create.
Example: Type "mkdir temp" at a telnet command
prompt to create a new directory called temp.
DOS Equivalent: md, mkdir
4. Command: rmdir
Usage: The rmdir command deletes (removes) a directory.
Simply type "rmdir directory" at a telnet
command prompt and replace directory with the name of the
directory you want to delete.
Example: Type "rmdir temp" at a telnet command
prompt to remove a directory called temp.
DOS Equivalent: rd, rmdir
5. Command: cp
Usage: The cp command copies a file to a new location or
filename. Simply type "cp filename copyname" at
a telnet command prompt and replace filename with the
name of the file you want to copy, and copyname with the
name of the new copy.
You can also add a directory structure if you want to
copy the file to a completely new location. Simply type
"cp filename directory/copyname" and replace
directory with the name of the directory in which you
want the new copy placed.
Example: Type "cp home.htm index.html" at a
telnet command prompt to copy a file called home.htm to a
file called index.html
DOS Equivalent: copy
6. Command: mv
Usage: The mv command renames a file or moves it to a new
location. Simply type "mv oldfile newfile" at a
telnet command prompt and replace oldfile with the name
of the file you want to rename or move, and newfile with
the new name of the new file.
You can also add a directory structure if you want to
move the file to a completely new location. Simply type
"mv oldfile directory/newfile" and replace
directory with the name of the directory in which you
want the file moved.
Example: Type "mv test.conf test.old.conf" at a
telnet command prompt to move a file called test.conf to
a file called test.old.conf
DOS Equivalent: move, rename
7. Command: rm
Usage: The rm command deletes (removes) a file. Simply
type "rm filename" at a telnet command prompt
and replace filename with the name of the file you want
to delete.
Example: Type "rm test.html" at a telnet
command prompt to remove a file called test.html.
DOS Equivalent: del
8. Command: grep
Usage: The grep command finds lines in files that match
specified text patterns. Simply type "grep
"text" filenames" at a telnet command
prompt and replace "text" with the word or
phrase you want to search for, and replace filenames with
the files you want to search in. To search all files in
the current directory, simply replace filenames with *
Example: Type "grep "for sale" *" at
a telnet command prompt to find any files in the current
directory that contain the text "for sale" in
them.
9. Command: tar
Usage: The tar command copies a file or files to or from
an archive. To put all the files in a directory into one
tar format file, simply type "tar cvf tarfile
directory" at a telnet command prompt and replace
tarfile with the name you want to call your archived
file, and replace directory with the name of the
directory that contains the files you want to tar.
To extract the files fram a tar format archive, simply
type "tar xvf tarfile at a telnet command prompt and
replace tarfile with the name of the archived file you
are extracting.
Example: Type "tar cvf pages.tar htdocs" at a
telnet command prompt to archive the files in the htdocs
directory to a tar format file called pages.tar.
You could also type "tar xvf pages.tar" at a
telnet command prompt to extract into the current
directory the files in the archive pages.tar.
10. Command: zip
Usage: The zip command compresses a file or list of files
into a zip format archive file. This command is
compatable with pkzip on a pc. Simply type "zip
zipfile file1 file2 file3" at a telnet command
prompt and replace zipfile with the name you want to use
for your compressed zip archive file, and replace fileX
with the name of the file(s) you want to compress into
the zip archive.
Example: Type "zip back.zip home.html
index.html" at a telnet command prompt to compress
and archive the files called home.html and index.html
into the file called back.zip.
DOS Equivalent: pkzip
11. Command: unzip
Usage: The unzip command extracts a zip format archive
file. This command is compatible with pkunzip files from
a pc. Simply type "unzip zipfile" at a telnet
command prompt and replace zipfile with the name of your
zip format archive file.
Example: Type "unzip old.zip at a telnet command
prompt to extract the archive called old.zip.
DOS Equivalent: pkunzip
12. Command: compress
Usage: The compress command shrinks a file or files into
compressed versions to save space on your virtual server.
This command is good for you to use on your log files
when they get very large. Simply type "compress
filename(s)" at a telnet command prompt and replace
filename(s) with the name of your files you want to
compress.
Example: Type "compress access_log agent_log at a
telnet command prompt to compress the access_log and
agent_log files. The compressed files will then be
access_log.Z and agent_log.Z
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