A Minimal Set of UNIX Commands

The following is a very small but useful subset of UNIX operating system commands. Throughout, fname stands for the name of a file.

exit  Logs you off the system: ALWAYS log off before leaving!
passwd  Lets you change your password.
man command name   HELP: explains command name (like man passwd ).
ls   Lists file names.
less fname   Displays fname on screen, one page at a time. q for quit
lpr fname   Prints fname on the laser printer in room 2105.
rm fname   Removes fname, erasing it forever.
cp fname1 fname2   Copies fname1 to fname2
mv fname1 fname2   Moves (renames) fname1 to fname2
netscape &   Starts the Netscape web browser. Use this command only in room 2105 (or in an X-window environment). Be patient. It can take a while for Netscape to start up.
pico fname   Starts the PICO text editor, editing fname (can be new file). The PINE email program uses pico to edit messages, so it may be familiar.
emacs -nw fname   Starts the EMACS text editor, editing fname (can be new file) in the current terminal window.
emacs fname &   Starts the EMACS text editor, editing fname (can be new file) in a new window; you can use the mouse. Use only in room 2105 (or in an X-window environment).
sas fname   Executes SAS commands in fname.sas, yielding fname.log and (if no errors) fname.lst
ps   Shows active processes.
kill -9 #   Kills process (job) number # : Sometimes you must do this when you can't log off because there are stopped jobs.

If you are in an X-window environment (for most people this means being in room 2105), you can get a useful menu by positioning the cursor over the background area and depressing the right mouse button. This is another way to get Netscape. The left mouse button gives a different menu, including log out.