Your Home Directory

• Each user has a unique "home" directory. Your home directory is that part of the file system reserved for your files.

• After login, you are "put" into your home directory automatically. This is where you start your work.

• You are in control of your home directory and the files which reside there. You are also in control of the file access permissions (discussed later) to the files in your home directory. Generally, you alone should be able to create/delete/modify files in your home directory. Others may have permission to read or execute your files as you determine.

• In most UNIX systems, you can "move around" or navigate to other parts of the file system outside of your home directory. This depends upon how the file permissions have been set by others and/or the System Administrator, however.

1. Try a few simple commands which require no arguments or options:

   
        date      - show date and time 
        whoami    - show your userid 
        who       - show who is logged onto the system 
        w         - show who is logged onto the system 
        pwd       - print the working directory's name 
        clear     - clear the screen 
        

2. Now try some commands which require arguments and/or options:

   
        ls -a                - list all files in current directory  
        ls -al               - long list of current directory  
        cat .cshrc           - display contents of .cshrc file 
        mkdir dir1           - make a directory called dir1 
        cd dir1              - change directory to dir1 
        cd ..                - change to parent directory  
        rmdir dir1           - remove directory dir1 
        cp .login new.login  - copy the .login file to new.login 
        wc new.login         - count the lines, words and 
                               characters in the new.login file 
        wc -l new.login      - count just the lines 
        rm new.login         - remove the new.login file 
        
        

3. Try using multiple commands on one line. Don't forget to include the semi-colon between commands.

   
        cp .login testfile ; cat testfile
             - copy a file and then show its contents 
   
        ls -l testfile ; rm testfile ; ls -l testfile
             - list (long) a file,  remove it, and then try to 
               list it again 
        

4. You can get more information on the various types of UNIX commands here .

1. Using the "*" wildcard character, list all of the files in the present working directory:

   
        ls *
        

2. Using the "?" wildcard character, list all files with 3 character names:

   
        ls ???
        

3. Using square brackets and wildcard characters, try listing files several different ways:

   
        ls [a-c]* 
        ls [abcde]* 
        ls [a-z]*
        ls [z]*
        ls ??[c]* 
        ls ?[e]*
        

4. Using the right angle bracket ">" and the semi-colon ";", concatenate three files into a single new file and then display it:

   
        cat alpha beta gamma  >  newfile ; cat newfile
        

5. You can get more information on special characters here .

1. Erasing the command line: At the command prompt, begin typing several characters. It doesn't matter what you type (but don't press the Return key) because you will then erase the line by typing CTRL-u.

2. Killing a command: Start the command sleep 300 which simply "sleeps" for 300 seconds. After it is started, try using another UNIX command such as "ls". What happens? Kill the sleep process by using CTRL-c, and try it again. What happens now?

3. Backspacing: At the command prompt, begin typing several characters. It doesn't matter what you type (but don't press the Return key). After typing several characters, try using CRTL-h to backspace. Most keyboards will allow you to backspace by using a "backspace" or "delete" key also.

4. Screen Scrolling: Issue a command which will send lots of information to the screen: ls -R / While the information is being displayed, use CTRL-s to stop it and then CTRL-q to restart it. Try CTRL-s and CTRL-q a couple times. Then kill the process with CTRL-c.

5. You can get more information on terminal control keys here

1. Each student should have received an initial password. If you are not sure of yours, ask the instructor.

2. Think of a new password. Remember what it is.

3. Change your initial password by issuing the passwd command. As your are prompted, supply your old password and then your new password. You will be asked to type the new password twice for confirmation. Notice that nothing appears on the screen as you type.

4. Now change your password back to the original password. Please don't forget to do this step!

1. Use the man command to read in depth about some common UNIX utilities:

   
        man ls
        man cp
        man rm
        man man
        

2. Use the following commands to find out about users on the system, including yourself:

   
        who
        whoami
        who am i
        finger
        finger your userid
        

3. Refer to tutorial to know more about these commands.

1. In your open window, type either of the following commands to logout:

   
        logout
        exit
        

2. This will cause your window to disappear. In other UNIX systems, without a windows environment, these same commands would terminate your entire session.

3. On the SUN and the DEC workstations, move the mouse outside the X window and press the left button. Go to the logout option and relaase the mouse button. This will log you out of the session.