Popular UNIX Commands

by Martin Elsman last modified Aug 30, 2000

Here is a list of some popular UNIX commands, which might turn out useful for the Database-based Web-publishing course.

cat: concatenate and display files
chmod: change the permissions mode of a file
cp: copy files
ls: list contents of directory
ls -F: list contents of directory (show file types)
ls -a: list contents of directory (show all files, including .-files)
ls -l: list contents of directory (long format, including size, permissions, and ownership)
man: find and display reference manual pages
more, less: browse or page through a text file
passwd: change your password
pwd: return working directory name
ps: report process status
top: display and update information about processes
rm: remove files (sit on your hands first!)
rm -r: remove a directory (sit on your hands first!)
mv: move files or directories
who: who is on the system

For more information about UNIX commands under Linux, see http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/.