Basic UNIX Commands

All commands must be typed in lowercase.

Operation                       command

copy                            cp
move                            mv
rename                          mv
directory list                  ls
change directories              cd
create directory                mkdir
list a file                     more, cat
show curent directory           pwd
change file permissions         chmod
change password                 passwd
logging off                     exit

The commands and examples

ls (list).  Does a directory listing.
ls			lists a directory in columns
ls -l   		gives a fuller listing including file permissions, size, date created
ls -al  		similar to the above but includes "dot" files

cd (change directory).
cd                      return to the home directory
cd ..                   move up one directory level
cd ../..                move up two directory levels
cd subdirectory         move to subdirectory

cp (copy).
cp file1 file2                  copy file1 to file2
cp file1 subdirectory           copy file1 to subdirectory
cp file1 file2 directory        copy file1 and file2 to directory

mv (move).  Moves or renames one or more files.
mv file1 newname                        renames file1
mv directory newname                    renames directory
mv directory existing-directory         moves directory to a subdirectory of target
mv file1 file2 directory                move files to directory

mkdir (make directory).
mkdir subdirectory              creates a subdirectory in the current directory

more.  Lists files one screen at a time.  Pressing the space bar dislays the 
next screenful and pressing q or ctrl-c cancels the listing.
more filename

cat (catenate).  Display, combine or append files.
cat file1                       		display file1
cat file1 file2 > file1and2     		combines file1 and file2
cat file1 >> file2              		append file1 to file2

chmod (change mode).  Change file permissions.
chmod u+w file1         add write permission for the user to file1
chmod g+x file1         add execute permission for the group to file1
chmod o-r file1         remove read permission for the world from file1

man (manual).  Display reference manual documentation for the specified command.
man chmod               display manual information for the chmod command
man -K keyword          shows all of the man pages that contain keyword

pwd (print working directory).  The default setup on nun is to have the
system prompt display the current directory.  This means that there isn't
much need to use the pwd command. 

rm (remove).  Deletes files.  Never use rm * (it will delete all of your
files).  rm filename will remove the specified file.  There is no
undelete.  Some files may be recoverable from backups. 
rm filename     		deletes the file with the specified filename
rm -i filename  		deletes the file after prompting

rmdir (remove directory).  Deletes empty directories.

passwd (password).  Changes your password.  We recommend password of two 
three letter words connected with a punctuation symbol or a number.
passwd newpassword       	changes your password

exit    Terminates a session.