manual pages
man ls

 changing passwords

 system date

 lists all users logged in

 who am i - lists who you are (ucb)

 displays the calendar

 examples: cal 1990

 cal 6 1990

 present working directory

 change directory

 examples: cd (go to home directory)

 cd .. (move to the parent directory)

 cd . (stay in the current directory)

 cd /usr/bin (changing to a different directory)

 list contents

 options: ls -l (long listing)

 ls -lg (long listing including group)

 ls -ld (long listing of directory)

 ls -a (list dot files)

 ls -lt (sort files by timestamp -
 useful for oracle trace files)

 ls -L (listing soft links)

 list a file a screenful at a time

 example: more tempfile

 Note: On many att machines you may have to use pg instead

 continuous listing

 options: cat -b (ucb - lists line numbers)

 cat -vt (lists hidden tabs as ^I and formfeeds as ^L)

 make a new directory

 options: mkdir -p (create intermediate directories also)

move a file

 options: mv -i (prompt in case you are overwriting a file)

 mv -f (override prompt)

 copy a file

 options: cp -i (prompt in case you are overwriting a file)

 cp -f (override prompt)

 cp -r (recursive copy for directories)

 remove a file

 options: rm -i (prompt before deletion)

 rm -f (override prompt)

 rm -r (remove files recursively -
 useful to remove non-empty directories)

 remove an empty directory

 change the permissions mode of a file.

 examples: chmod +x tempfile (add execute permission)

 chmod u+x tempfile (add execute for user only)

 chmod 400 tempfile (change permissions explicitly)

 chmod 4755 oracle (set the setuid bit on)

 Note: By setting the setuid bit, other processes can run with
 an effective uid to be that of the owner of the file.

 search a file for a string or expression.

 options: grep -n (print line numbers)

 grep -v (print lines that don't contain pattern)

 grep -i (ignore case sensitivity)

 find files by name or by other characteristics

 example: find . -name sqlplus -print

 (find the full pathname of sqlplus starting from the
 current directory)

 word count

 options: wc -l (line count)

 wc -w (word count)

 wc -c (character count)

 print name, ID, group and group ID

 display process status

 options: ps -aux (ucb)

 ps -ef (att)

 send a signal to terminate a process.

 options: kill -9 (signal will always be caught)

 Note: /usr/include/signal.h contains list of legal signals.

 disk space on file systems.

 disk usage in blocks

 options: du -s (prints total usage in blocks of directory)

 du -a (prints usage for each file recursively)

 Note: a directory itself occupies one block.

 send a job to the printer

 options: -Pprintername (printername is the name of the printer)

 -h (suppress banner page)

 -# (number of copies)

 prints release information

 options: uname -a

 print name list

 Note: T = text
 U = undefined

 example: nm libpls.a | grep pcidcl

 (this is a symbol in libpls.a on some ports)

 create library archives, add or extract files

 options: ar d (delete archive)

 ar x (extract archive)

 ar t (list contents of archive)

 ar l (divert temp files to current directory instead
 of /tmp)

 example: ar x libpls.a plsima.o (extracts plsima.o from
 libpls.a and places it in the current directory -
 the .o file is still in the archive. To delete it, use
 the d option)

 interprocess communication facilities status

 options: ipcs -s (print semaphore information)

 ipcs -m (print shared memory information)

 ipcs -q (print message queue information)

 ipcs -b (print size information)

 Note: SEGSZ - max shared memory size
 NSEMS - number of semaphores in set.

 delete ipc facilities

 options: ipcrm -s 

 ipcrm -m 

 lists login id from env variable LOGNAME

 lists host name (ucb)

 change ownership

 examples: chown joe myfile

 Note: In ucb, only root can run this command
 In att, either root or owner of file can run it

 Suns have chown -R (for recursive chown of directories)

 change group

 examples: chgrp hisgroup myfile

 new group

 Notes: Switch group to that specified. Password may be required.
 Creates a new shell.

 lists type of file

 example: file sqlplus (run on a sun)

 sqlplus: sparc demand paged executable not stripped

 Note: the type of file may be misleading.

 links

 options: ln -s (create a softlink - saves space)

 super-user or switch user

 file conversion and copy utility

 example: dd if=myfile of=newfile conv=ucase

 This converts all lower case letters in myfile to uppercase
 and puts the results into newfile.

 Note: Useful with raw devices.

 file differences.

 sets default permissions for new files and directories

 terminal settings

 options: stty -a (att)

 stty all (ucb)

 example: stty erase h (resets erase character to 'h')

 lists terminal

 copy file archives

 options: cpio -icBdvmu

 (i = input,
 c = file header information
 B = blocking
 d = create recursive directories
 v = verbose
 m = retain modification time
 u = unconditional)

 tape archives

 options: tar xvt

 (x = extract
 t = list contents
 v = verbose)

 use TELNET protocol to access another machine

 remote login

 options: rlogin hostname -l accountname

 echo command

 (att) - defines the max size of files on some systems.

 report virtual memory statistics.

 do determine resource such as swap etc ..

 options: pstat -t

 this is a command generator. All executables used in
 oracle are generated from makefiles. Although an understanding
 of make is not required, it would help to pick up some simple
 information about makefiles.

 list environment variables (printenv on some machines.)
 The following list discusses some of the important ones.