Some Basic UNIX Commands

Unix commands are cryptic, usually between two to five characters in length. However, they represent the function they perform. For example, ls is the command to get a directory listing.

The general format for Unix commands is:


        command -options arguments

where "command" is the name of some command followed by a number of options or arguments.
Options are generally single characters that represent specific options. The minus sign "-" should be entered before an option.


        Type in ls 
        and then type in ls -l

Notice that the "-l" option results in a 'long' listing showing file permissions etc..

List of Commands

List of UNIX commands
UNIX Tutorial for Beginners

Note that you can obtain the Manual entry for any Unix command by simply typing in:

man unix_command

e.g.

man rm

Note also that some systems have aliases set up, e.g. del for rm. However, these are not standard Unix commands, and you should be wary of them because they will not work on all Unix systems. If you want to verify that a command is standard try to obtain a Manual entry for it. The following example illustrates a non-standard Unix alias:

hercules[5]% man del
No manual entry for del.
hercules[6]%

Copyright: Department of Computer Science, University of Regina.