1994-05-26 06:18:55 +00:00
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.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
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.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)csh.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/8/93
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1999-08-27 23:15:48 +00:00
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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1994-05-26 06:18:55 +00:00
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.\"
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.EH 'USD:4-%''An Introduction to the C shell'
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.OH 'An Introduction to the C shell''USD:4-%'
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.\".RP
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.TL
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An Introduction to the C shell
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.AU
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William Joy
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(revised for 4.3BSD by Mark Seiden)
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.AI
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Computer Science Division
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.br
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Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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.br
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University of California, Berkeley
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.br
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Berkeley, California 94720
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.AB
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.I Csh
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is a new command language interpreter for
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.UX
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systems.
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It incorporates good features of other shells and a
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.I history
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mechanism similar to the
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.I redo
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of \s-2INTERLISP\s0.
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While incorporating many features of other shells which make
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writing shell programs (shell scripts) easier,
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most of the features unique to
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.I csh
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are designed more for the interactive \s-2UNIX\s0 user.
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.PP
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\s-2UNIX\s0
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users who have read a general introduction to the system
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will find a valuable basic explanation of the shell here.
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Simple terminal interaction with
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.I csh
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is possible after reading just the first section of this document.
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The second section describes the shell's capabilities which you can
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explore after you have begun to become acquainted with the shell.
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Later sections introduce features which are useful, but not necessary
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for all users of the shell.
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.PP
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Additional information includes an appendix listing special characters of the shell
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and a glossary of terms and commands introduced in this manual.
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.AE
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.SH
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.if n .ND
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Introduction
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.PP
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A
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.I shell
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is a command language interpreter.
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.I Csh
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is the name of one particular command interpreter on
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\s-2UNIX\s0.
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The primary purpose of
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.I csh
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is to translate command lines typed at a terminal into
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system actions, such as invocation of other programs.
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.I Csh
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is a user program just like any you might write.
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Hopefully,
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.I csh
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will be a very useful program for you
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in interacting with the \s-2UNIX\s0 system.
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.PP
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In addition to this document, you will want to refer to a copy
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of the \s-2UNIX\s0 User Reference Manual.
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The
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.I csh
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documentation in section 1 of the manual provides a full description of all
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features of the shell and is the definitive reference for questions
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about the shell.
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.PP
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Many words in this document are shown in
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.I italics.
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These are important words;
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names of commands, and words which have special meaning in discussing
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the shell and \s-2UNIX\s0.
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Many of the words are defined in a glossary at the end of this document.
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If you don't know what is meant by a word, you should look
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for it in the glossary.
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.SH
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Acknowledgements
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.PP
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Numerous people have provided good input about previous versions
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of
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.I csh
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and aided in its debugging and in the debugging of its documentation.
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I would especially like to thank Michael Ubell
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who made the crucial observation that history commands could be
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done well over the word structure of input text, and implemented
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a prototype history mechanism in an older version of the shell.
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Eric Allman has also provided a large number of useful comments on the
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shell, helping to unify those concepts which are present and to identify
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and eliminate useless and marginally useful features.
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Mike O'Brien suggested the pathname hashing
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mechanism which speeds command execution.
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Jim Kulp added the job control and directory stack primitives and
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added their documentation to this introduction.
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.br
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.bp
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.NH
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Terminal usage of the shell
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.NH 2
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The basic notion of commands
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.PP
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A
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.I shell
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in
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\s-2UNIX\s0
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acts mostly as a medium through which other
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.I programs
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are invoked.
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While it has a set of
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.I builtin
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functions which it performs directly,
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most commands cause execution of programs that are, in fact,
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external to the shell.
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The shell is thus distinguished from the command interpreters of other
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systems both by the fact that it is just a user program, and by the fact
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that it is used almost exclusively as a mechanism for invoking other programs.
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.PP
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.I Commands
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in the \s-2UNIX\s0 system consist of a list of strings or
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.I words
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interpreted as a
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.I "command name"
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followed by
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.I arguments.
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Thus the command
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.DS
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mail bill
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.DE
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consists of two words.
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The first word
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.I mail
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names the command to be executed, in this case the
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mail program which sends messages to other users.
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The shell uses the name of the command in attempting to execute it for you.
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It will look in a number of
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.I directories
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for a file with the name
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.I mail
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which is expected to contain the mail program.
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.PP
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The rest of the words of the command are given as
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.I arguments
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to the command itself when it is executed.
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In this case we specified also the argument
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.I bill
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which is interpreted by the
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.I mail
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program to be the name of a user to whom mail is to be sent.
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In normal terminal usage we might use the
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.I mail
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command as follows.
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.DS
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% mail bill
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I have a question about the csh documentation.
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My document seems to be missing page 5.
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Does a page five exist?
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Bill
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EOT
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%
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.DE
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.PP
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Here we typed a message to send to
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.I bill
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and ended this message with a ^D which sent an end-of-file to
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the mail program.
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(Here and throughout this document, the notation ``^\fIx\fR''
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is to be read ``control-\fIx\fR'' and represents the striking of the \fIx\fR
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key while the control key is held down.)
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The mail program
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then echoed the characters `EOT' and transmitted our message.
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The characters `% ' were printed before and after the mail command
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by the shell to indicate that input was needed.
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.PP
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After typing the `% ' prompt the shell was reading command input from
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our terminal.
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We typed a complete command `mail bill'.
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The shell then executed the
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.I mail
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program with argument
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.I bill
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and went dormant waiting for it to complete.
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The mail program then read input from our terminal until we signalled
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an end-of-file via typing a ^D after which the shell noticed
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that mail had completed
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and signaled us that it was ready to read from the terminal again by
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printing another `% ' prompt.
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.PP
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This is the essential pattern of all interaction with \s-2UNIX\s0
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through the shell.
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A complete command is typed at the terminal, the shell executes
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the command and when this execution completes, it prompts for a new command.
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If you run the editor for an hour, the shell will patiently wait for
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you to finish editing and obediently prompt you again whenever you finish
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editing.
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.PP
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An example of a useful command you can execute now is the
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.I tset
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command, which sets the default
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.I erase
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and
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.I kill
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characters on your terminal \- the erase character erases the last
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character you typed and the kill character erases the entire line you
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have entered so far.
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By default, the erase character is the delete key (equivalent to `^?')
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and the kill character is `^U'. Some people prefer to make the erase character
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the backspace key (equivalent to `^H').
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You can make this be true by typing
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.DS
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tset \-e
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.DE
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which tells the program
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.I tset
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to set the erase character to tset's default setting for this character
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(a backspace).
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.NH 2
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Flag arguments
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.PP
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A useful notion in \s-2UNIX\s0 is that of a
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.I flag
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argument.
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While many arguments to commands specify file names or user names,
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some arguments rather specify an optional capability of the command
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which you wish to invoke.
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By convention, such arguments begin with the character `\-' (hyphen).
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Thus the command
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.DS
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ls
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.DE
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will produce a list of the files in the current
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.I "working directory" .
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The option
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.I \-s
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is the size option, and
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.DS
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ls \-s
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.DE
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causes
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.I ls
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to also give, for each file the size of the file in blocks of 512
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characters.
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The manual section for each command in the \s-2UNIX\s0 reference manual
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gives the available options for each command.
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The
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.I ls
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command has a large number of useful and interesting options.
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Most other commands have either no options or only one or two options.
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It is hard to remember options of commands which are not used very
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frequently, so most \s-2UNIX\s0 utilities perform only one or two functions
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rather than having a large number of hard to remember options.
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.NH 2
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Output to files
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.PP
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Commands that normally read input or write output on the terminal
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can also be executed with this input and/or output done to
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a file.
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.PP
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Thus suppose we wish to save the current date in a file called `now'.
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The command
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.DS
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date
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.DE
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will print the current date on our terminal.
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This is because our terminal is the default
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.I "standard output"
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for the date command and the date command prints the date on its
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standard output.
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The shell lets us
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.I redirect
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the
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.I "standard output"
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of a command through a
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notation using the
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.I metacharacter
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`>' and the name of the file where output is to be placed.
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Thus the command
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.DS
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date > now
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.DE
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runs the
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.I date
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command such that its standard output is
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the file `now' rather than the terminal.
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Thus this command places the current date and time into the file `now'.
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It is important to know that the
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.I date
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command was unaware that its output was going to a file rather than
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to the terminal.
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The shell performed this
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.I redirection
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before the command began executing.
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.PP
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One other thing to note here is that the file `now'
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need not have existed before the
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.I date
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command was executed; the shell would have created the file if it did
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not exist.
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And if the file did exist?
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If it had existed previously these previous contents would have been discarded!
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A shell option
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.I noclobber
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exists to prevent this from happening accidentally;
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it is discussed in section 2.2.
|
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.PP
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|
The system normally keeps files which you create with `>' and all other files.
|
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|
Thus the default is for files to be permanent. If you wish to create a file
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which will be removed automatically, you can begin its name with a `#'
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character, this `scratch' character denotes the fact that the file will
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be a scratch file.*
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.FS
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*Note that if your erase character is a `#', you will have to precede the
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`#' with a `\e'. The fact that the `#' character is the old (pre-\s-2CRT\s0)
|
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standard erase character means that it seldom appears in a file name, and
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allows this convention to be used for scratch files. If you are using a
|
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\s-2CRT\s0, your erase character should be a ^H, as we demonstrated
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in section 1.1 how this could be set up.
|
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|
.FE
|
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|
The system will remove such files after a couple of days,
|
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|
or sooner if file space becomes very tight.
|
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|
Thus, in running the
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.I date
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command above, we don't really want to save the output forever, so we
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would more likely do
|
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|
.DS
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date > #now
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|
.DE
|
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|
.NH 2
|
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|
|
Metacharacters in the shell
|
|
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|
.PP
|
|
|
|
The shell has a large number of
|
|
|
|
special characters (like `>')
|
|
|
|
which indicate special functions.
|
|
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|
We say that these notations have
|
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.I syntactic
|
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|
and
|
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|
.I semantic
|
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|
meaning to the shell.
|
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|
In general, most characters which are neither letters nor digits
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|
have special meaning to the shell.
|
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|
We shall shortly learn a means of
|
|
|
|
.I quotation
|
|
|
|
which allows us to use
|
|
|
|
.I metacharacters
|
|
|
|
without the shell treating them in any special way.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Metacharacters normally have effect only when the shell is reading
|
|
|
|
our input.
|
|
|
|
We need not worry about placing shell metacharacters in a letter
|
|
|
|
we are sending via
|
|
|
|
.I mail,
|
|
|
|
or when we are typing in text or data to some other program.
|
|
|
|
Note that the shell is only reading input when it has prompted with
|
|
|
|
`% ' (although we can type our input even before it prompts).
|
|
|
|
.NH 2
|
|
|
|
Input from files; pipelines
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
We learned above how to
|
|
|
|
.I redirect
|
|
|
|
the
|
|
|
|
.I "standard output"
|
|
|
|
of a command
|
|
|
|
to a file.
|
|
|
|
It is also possible to redirect the
|
|
|
|
.I "standard input"
|
|
|
|
of a command from a file.
|
|
|
|
This is not often necessary since most commands will read from
|
|
|
|
a file whose name is given as an argument.
|
|
|
|
We can give the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
sort < data
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
to run the
|
|
|
|
.I sort
|
|
|
|
command with standard input, where the command normally
|
|
|
|
reads its input, from the file
|
|
|
|
`data'.
|
|
|
|
We would more likely say
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
sort data
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
letting the
|
|
|
|
.I sort
|
|
|
|
command open the file
|
|
|
|
`data'
|
|
|
|
for input itself since this is less to type.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
We should note that if we just typed
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
sort
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
then the sort program would sort lines from its
|
|
|
|
.I "standard input."
|
|
|
|
Since we did not
|
|
|
|
.I redirect
|
|
|
|
the standard input, it would sort lines as we typed them on the terminal
|
|
|
|
until we typed a ^D to indicate an end-of-file.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
A most useful capability is the ability to combine the standard output
|
|
|
|
of one command with the standard input of another, i.e. to run the
|
|
|
|
commands in a sequence known as a
|
|
|
|
.I pipeline.
|
|
|
|
For instance the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
ls \-s
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
normally produces a list of the files in our directory with the size
|
|
|
|
of each in blocks of 512 characters.
|
|
|
|
If we are interested in learning which of our files is largest we
|
|
|
|
may wish to have this sorted by size rather than by name, which is
|
|
|
|
the default way in which
|
|
|
|
.I ls
|
|
|
|
sorts.
|
|
|
|
We could look at the many options of
|
|
|
|
.I ls
|
|
|
|
to see if there was an option to do this but would eventually discover
|
|
|
|
that there is not.
|
|
|
|
Instead we can use a couple of simple options of the
|
|
|
|
.I sort
|
|
|
|
command, combining it with
|
|
|
|
.I ls
|
|
|
|
to get what we want.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
The
|
|
|
|
.I \-n
|
|
|
|
option of sort specifies a numeric sort rather than an alphabetic sort.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
ls \-s | sort \-n
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
specifies that the output of the
|
|
|
|
.I ls
|
|
|
|
command run with the option
|
|
|
|
.I \-s
|
|
|
|
is to be
|
|
|
|
.I piped
|
|
|
|
to the command
|
|
|
|
.I sort
|
|
|
|
run with the numeric sort option.
|
|
|
|
This would give us a sorted list of our files by size, but with the
|
|
|
|
smallest first.
|
|
|
|
We could then use the
|
|
|
|
.I \-r
|
|
|
|
reverse sort option and the
|
|
|
|
.I head
|
|
|
|
command in combination with the previous command doing
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
ls \-s | sort \-n \-r | head \-5
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
Here we have taken a list of our files sorted alphabetically,
|
|
|
|
each with the size in blocks.
|
|
|
|
We have run this to the standard input of the
|
|
|
|
.I sort
|
|
|
|
command asking it to sort numerically in reverse order (largest first).
|
|
|
|
This output has then been run into the command
|
|
|
|
.I head
|
|
|
|
which gives us the first few lines.
|
|
|
|
In this case we have asked
|
|
|
|
.I head
|
|
|
|
for the first 5 lines.
|
|
|
|
Thus this command gives us the names and sizes of our 5 largest files.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
The notation introduced above is called the
|
|
|
|
.I pipe
|
|
|
|
mechanism.
|
|
|
|
Commands separated by `\||\|' characters are connected together by the
|
|
|
|
shell and the standard output of each is run into the standard input of the
|
|
|
|
next.
|
|
|
|
The leftmost command in a pipeline will normally take its standard
|
|
|
|
input from the terminal and the rightmost will place its standard
|
|
|
|
output on the terminal.
|
|
|
|
Other examples of pipelines will be given later when we discuss the
|
|
|
|
history mechanism;
|
|
|
|
one important use of pipes which is illustrated there is in the
|
|
|
|
routing of information to the line printer.
|
|
|
|
.NH 2
|
|
|
|
Filenames
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Many commands to be executed will need the names of files as arguments.
|
|
|
|
\s-2UNIX\s0
|
|
|
|
.I pathnames
|
|
|
|
consist of a number of
|
|
|
|
.I components
|
|
|
|
separated by `/'.
|
|
|
|
Each component except the last names a directory in which the next
|
|
|
|
component resides, in effect specifying the
|
|
|
|
.I path
|
|
|
|
of directories to follow to reach the file.
|
|
|
|
Thus the pathname
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
/etc/motd
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
specifies a file in the directory
|
|
|
|
`etc'
|
|
|
|
which is a subdirectory of the
|
|
|
|
.I root
|
|
|
|
directory `/'.
|
|
|
|
Within this directory the file named is `motd' which stands
|
|
|
|
for `message of the day'.
|
|
|
|
A
|
|
|
|
.I pathname
|
|
|
|
that begins with a slash is said to be an
|
|
|
|
.I absolute
|
|
|
|
pathname since it is specified from the absolute top of the entire
|
|
|
|
directory hierarchy of the system (the
|
|
|
|
.I root ).
|
|
|
|
.I Pathnames
|
|
|
|
which do not begin with `/' are interpreted as starting in the current
|
|
|
|
.I "working directory" ,
|
|
|
|
which is, by default, your
|
|
|
|
.I home
|
|
|
|
directory and can be changed dynamically by the
|
|
|
|
.I cd
|
|
|
|
change directory command.
|
|
|
|
Such pathnames are said to be
|
|
|
|
.I relative
|
|
|
|
to the working directory since they are found by starting
|
|
|
|
in the working directory and descending to lower levels of directories
|
|
|
|
for each
|
|
|
|
.I component
|
|
|
|
of the pathname. If the pathname contains no slashes at all then the
|
|
|
|
file is contained in the working directory itself and the pathname is merely
|
|
|
|
the name of the file in this directory.
|
|
|
|
Absolute pathnames have no relation
|
|
|
|
to the working directory.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Most filenames consist of a number of alphanumeric characters and
|
|
|
|
`.'s (periods).
|
|
|
|
In fact, all printing characters except `/' (slash) may appear in filenames.
|
|
|
|
It is inconvenient to have most non-alphabetic characters in filenames
|
|
|
|
because many of these have special meaning to the shell.
|
|
|
|
The character `.' (period) is not a shell-metacharacter and is often used
|
|
|
|
to separate the
|
|
|
|
.I extension
|
|
|
|
of a file name from the base of the name.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
prog.c prog.o prog.errs prog.output
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
are four related files.
|
|
|
|
They share a
|
|
|
|
.I base
|
|
|
|
portion of a name
|
|
|
|
(a base portion being that part of the name that is left when a trailing
|
|
|
|
`.' and following characters which are not `.' are stripped off).
|
|
|
|
The file
|
|
|
|
`prog.c'
|
|
|
|
might be the source for a C program,
|
|
|
|
the file `prog.o' the corresponding object file,
|
|
|
|
the file
|
|
|
|
`prog.errs' the errors resulting from a compilation of the program
|
|
|
|
and the file
|
|
|
|
`prog.output' the output of a run of the program.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
If we wished to refer to all four of these files in a command, we could
|
|
|
|
use the notation
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
prog.*
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
This expression is expanded by the shell, before the command to which it is
|
|
|
|
an argument is executed, into a list of names which begin with `prog.'.
|
|
|
|
The character `*' here matches any sequence (including the empty sequence)
|
|
|
|
of characters in a file name.
|
|
|
|
The names which match are alphabetically sorted and placed in the
|
|
|
|
.I "argument list"
|
|
|
|
of the command.
|
|
|
|
Thus the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo prog.*
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
will echo the names
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
prog.c prog.errs prog.o prog.output
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
Note that the names are in sorted order here, and a different
|
|
|
|
order than we listed them above.
|
|
|
|
The
|
|
|
|
.I echo
|
|
|
|
command receives four words as arguments, even though we only typed
|
1996-10-05 22:27:30 +00:00
|
|
|
one word as an argument directly.
|
1994-05-26 06:18:55 +00:00
|
|
|
The four words were generated by
|
|
|
|
.I "filename expansion"
|
|
|
|
of the one input word.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Other notations for
|
|
|
|
.I "filename expansion"
|
|
|
|
are also available.
|
|
|
|
The character `?' matches any single character in a filename.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo ? \|?? \|???
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
will echo a line of filenames; first those with one character names,
|
|
|
|
then those with two character names, and finally those with three
|
|
|
|
character names.
|
|
|
|
The names of each length will be independently sorted.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Another mechanism consists of a sequence of characters between `[' and `]'.
|
|
|
|
This metasequence matches any single character from the enclosed set.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
prog.[co]
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
will match
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
prog.c prog.o
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
in the example above.
|
|
|
|
We can also place two characters around a `\-' in this notation to denote
|
|
|
|
a range.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
chap.[1\-5]
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
might match files
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
chap.1 chap.2 chap.3 chap.4 chap.5
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
if they existed.
|
|
|
|
This is shorthand for
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
chap.[12345]
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
and otherwise equivalent.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
An important point to note is that if a list of argument words to
|
|
|
|
a command (an
|
|
|
|
.I "argument list)"
|
|
|
|
contains filename expansion syntax, and if this filename expansion syntax
|
|
|
|
fails to match any existing file names, then the shell considers this
|
|
|
|
to be an error and prints a diagnostic
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
No match.
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
and does not execute the command.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Another very important point is that files with the character `.' at the
|
|
|
|
beginning are treated specially.
|
|
|
|
Neither `*' or `?' or the `[' `]' mechanism will match it.
|
|
|
|
This prevents accidental matching of the filenames `.' and `..'
|
|
|
|
in the working directory which have special meaning to the system,
|
|
|
|
as well as other files such as
|
|
|
|
.I \&.cshrc
|
|
|
|
which are not normally
|
|
|
|
visible.
|
|
|
|
We will discuss the special role of the file
|
|
|
|
.I \&.cshrc
|
|
|
|
later.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Another filename expansion mechanism gives access to the pathname of
|
|
|
|
the
|
|
|
|
.I home
|
|
|
|
directory of other users.
|
|
|
|
This notation consists of the character `~' (tilde) followed by another user's
|
|
|
|
login name.
|
|
|
|
For instance the word `~bill' would map to the pathname `/usr/bill'
|
|
|
|
if the home directory for `bill' was `/usr/bill'.
|
|
|
|
Since, on large systems, users may have login directories scattered over
|
|
|
|
many different disk volumes with different prefix directory names,
|
|
|
|
this notation provides a convenient way of accessing the files
|
|
|
|
of other users.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
A special case of this notation consists of a `~' alone, e.g. `~/mbox'.
|
|
|
|
This notation is expanded by the shell into the file `mbox' in your
|
|
|
|
.I home
|
|
|
|
directory, i.e. into `/usr/bill/mbox' for me on Ernie Co-vax, the UCB
|
|
|
|
Computer Science Department VAX machine, where this document was prepared.
|
|
|
|
This can be very useful if you have used
|
|
|
|
.I cd
|
|
|
|
to change to another directory and have found a file you wish to
|
|
|
|
copy using
|
|
|
|
.I cp.
|
|
|
|
If I give the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cp thatfile ~
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
the shell will expand this command to
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cp thatfile /usr/bill
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
since my home directory is /usr/bill.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
There also exists a mechanism using the characters `{' and `}' for
|
|
|
|
abbreviating a set of words which have common parts but cannot
|
|
|
|
be abbreviated by the above mechanisms because they are not files,
|
|
|
|
are the names of files which do not yet exist,
|
|
|
|
are not thus conveniently described.
|
|
|
|
This mechanism will be described much later,
|
|
|
|
in section 4.2,
|
|
|
|
as it is used less frequently.
|
|
|
|
.NH 2
|
|
|
|
Quotation
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
We have already seen a number of metacharacters used by the shell.
|
|
|
|
These metacharacters pose a problem in that we cannot use them directly
|
|
|
|
as parts of words.
|
|
|
|
Thus the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo *
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
will not echo the character `*'.
|
|
|
|
It will either echo an sorted list of filenames in the
|
|
|
|
current
|
|
|
|
.I "working directory,"
|
|
|
|
or print the message `No match' if there are
|
|
|
|
no files in the working directory.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
The recommended mechanism for placing characters which are neither numbers,
|
|
|
|
digits, `/', `.' or `\-' in an argument word to a command is to enclose
|
|
|
|
it with single quotation characters `\'', i.e.
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo \'*\'
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
There is one special character `!' which is used by the
|
|
|
|
.I history
|
|
|
|
mechanism of the shell and which cannot be
|
|
|
|
.I escaped
|
|
|
|
by placing it within `\'' characters.
|
|
|
|
It and the character `\'' itself can be preceded by a single `\e'
|
|
|
|
to prevent their special meaning.
|
|
|
|
Thus
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo \e\'\e!
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
prints
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
\'!
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
These two mechanisms suffice to place any printing character into a word
|
|
|
|
which is an argument to a shell command. They can be combined, as in
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
echo \e\'\'*\'
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
which prints
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
\'*
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
since the first `\e' escaped the first `\'' and the `*' was enclosed
|
|
|
|
between `\'' characters.
|
|
|
|
.NH 2
|
|
|
|
Terminating commands
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
When you are executing a command and the shell is
|
|
|
|
waiting for it to complete there are several ways
|
|
|
|
to force it to stop.
|
|
|
|
For instance if you type the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cat /etc/passwd
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
the system will print a copy of a list of all users of the system
|
|
|
|
on your terminal.
|
|
|
|
This is likely to continue for several minutes unless you stop it.
|
|
|
|
You can send an
|
|
|
|
\s-2INTERRUPT\s0
|
|
|
|
.I signal
|
|
|
|
to the
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
command by typing ^C on your terminal.*
|
|
|
|
.FS
|
|
|
|
*On some older Unix systems the \s-2DEL\s0 or \s-2RUBOUT\s0 key
|
|
|
|
has the same effect. "stty all" will tell you the INTR key value.
|
|
|
|
.FE
|
|
|
|
Since
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
does not take any precautions to avoid or otherwise handle this signal
|
|
|
|
the
|
|
|
|
\s-2INTERRUPT\s0
|
|
|
|
will cause it to terminate.
|
|
|
|
The shell notices that
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
has terminated and prompts you again with `% '.
|
|
|
|
If you hit \s-2INTERRUPT\s0 again, the shell will just
|
|
|
|
repeat its prompt since it handles \s-2INTERRUPT\s0 signals
|
|
|
|
and chooses to continue to execute commands rather than terminating
|
|
|
|
like
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
did, which would have the effect of logging you out.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Another way in which many programs terminate is when they get an end-of-file
|
|
|
|
from their standard input.
|
|
|
|
Thus the
|
|
|
|
.I mail
|
|
|
|
program in the first example above was terminated when we typed a ^D
|
|
|
|
which generates an end-of-file from the standard input.
|
|
|
|
The shell also terminates when it gets an end-of-file printing `logout';
|
|
|
|
\s-2UNIX\s0 then logs you off the system.
|
|
|
|
Since this means that typing too many ^D's can accidentally log us off,
|
|
|
|
the shell has a mechanism for preventing this.
|
|
|
|
This
|
|
|
|
.I ignoreeof
|
|
|
|
option will be discussed in section 2.2.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
If a command has its standard input redirected from a file, then it will
|
|
|
|
normally terminate when it reaches the end of this file.
|
|
|
|
Thus if we execute
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
mail bill < prepared.text
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
the mail command will terminate without our typing a ^D.
|
|
|
|
This is because it read to the end-of-file of our file
|
|
|
|
`prepared.text' in which we placed a message for `bill' with an editor program.
|
|
|
|
We could also have done
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cat prepared.text \||\| mail bill
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
since the
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
command would then have written the text through the pipe to the
|
|
|
|
standard input of the mail command.
|
|
|
|
When the
|
|
|
|
.I cat
|
|
|
|
command completed it would have terminated,
|
|
|
|
closing down the pipeline
|
|
|
|
and the
|
|
|
|
.I mail
|
|
|
|
command would have received an end-of-file from it and terminated.
|
|
|
|
Using a pipe here is more complicated than redirecting input
|
|
|
|
so we would more likely use the first form.
|
|
|
|
These commands could also have been stopped by sending an \s-2INTERRUPT\s0.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Another possibility for stopping a command is to suspend its execution
|
|
|
|
temporarily, with the possibility of continuing execution later. This is
|
|
|
|
done by sending a \s-2STOP\s0 signal via typing a ^Z.
|
|
|
|
This signal causes all commands running on the terminal
|
|
|
|
(usually one but more if a pipeline is executing) to become suspended.
|
|
|
|
The shell notices that the command(s) have been suspended, types
|
|
|
|
`Stopped' and then prompts for a new command.
|
|
|
|
The previously executing command has been suspended, but otherwise
|
|
|
|
unaffected by the \s-2STOP\s0 signal. Any other commands can be executed
|
|
|
|
while the original command remains suspended. The suspended command can
|
|
|
|
be continued using the
|
|
|
|
.I fg
|
|
|
|
command with no arguments. The shell will then retype the command
|
|
|
|
to remind you which command is being continued, and cause the command
|
|
|
|
to resume execution. Unless any input files in use by the suspended
|
|
|
|
command have been changed in the meantime, the suspension has no effect
|
|
|
|
whatsoever on the execution of the command. This feature can be very useful
|
|
|
|
during editing, when you need to look at another file before continuing. An
|
|
|
|
example of command suspension follows.
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
% mail harold
|
|
|
|
Someone just copied a big file into my directory and its name is
|
|
|
|
^Z
|
|
|
|
Stopped
|
|
|
|
% ls
|
|
|
|
funnyfile
|
|
|
|
prog.c
|
|
|
|
prog.o
|
|
|
|
% jobs
|
|
|
|
.ta 1.75i
|
|
|
|
[1] + Stopped mail harold
|
|
|
|
% fg
|
|
|
|
mail harold
|
|
|
|
funnyfile. Do you know who did it?
|
|
|
|
EOT
|
|
|
|
%
|
|
|
|
.so tabs
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
In this example someone was sending a message to Harold and forgot the
|
|
|
|
name of the file he wanted to mention. The mail command was suspended
|
|
|
|
by typing ^Z. When the shell noticed that the mail program was
|
|
|
|
suspended, it typed `Stopped' and prompted for a new command. Then the
|
|
|
|
.I ls
|
|
|
|
command was typed to find out the name of the file. The
|
|
|
|
.I jobs
|
|
|
|
command was run to find out which command was suspended. At this time the
|
|
|
|
.I fg
|
|
|
|
command was typed to continue execution of the mail program. Input
|
|
|
|
to the mail program was then continued and ended with a ^D
|
|
|
|
which indicated the end of the message at which time the mail
|
|
|
|
program typed EOT. The
|
|
|
|
.I jobs
|
|
|
|
command will show which commands are suspended.
|
|
|
|
The ^Z should only be typed at the beginning of a line since
|
|
|
|
everything typed on the current line is discarded when a signal is sent
|
|
|
|
from the keyboard. This also happens on \s-2INTERRUPT\s0, and \s-2QUIT\s0
|
|
|
|
signals. More information on
|
|
|
|
suspending jobs and controlling them is given in
|
|
|
|
section 2.6.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
If you write or run programs which are not fully debugged then it may
|
|
|
|
be necessary to stop them somewhat ungracefully.
|
|
|
|
This can be done by sending them a \s-2QUIT\s0
|
|
|
|
signal, sent by typing a ^\e.
|
|
|
|
This will usually provoke the shell to produce a message like:
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
Quit (Core dumped)
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
indicating that a file
|
|
|
|
`core' has been created containing information about the running program's
|
|
|
|
state when it terminated due to the \s-2QUIT\s0 signal.
|
|
|
|
You can examine this file yourself, or forward information to the
|
|
|
|
maintainer of the program telling him/her where the
|
|
|
|
.I "core file"
|
|
|
|
is.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
If you run background commands (as explained in section 2.6) then these
|
|
|
|
commands will ignore \s-2INTERRUPT\s0 and \s-2QUIT\s0 signals at the
|
|
|
|
terminal. To stop them you must use the
|
|
|
|
.I kill
|
|
|
|
command. See section 2.6 for an example.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
If you want to examine the output of a command without having it move
|
|
|
|
off the screen as the output of the
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cat /etc/passwd
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
command will, you can use the command
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
more /etc/passwd
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
The
|
|
|
|
.I more
|
|
|
|
program pauses after each complete screenful and types `\-\-More\-\-'
|
|
|
|
at which point you can hit a space to get another screenful, a return
|
|
|
|
to get another line, a `?' to get some help on other commands, or a `q' to end the
|
|
|
|
.I more
|
|
|
|
program. You can also use more as a filter, i.e.
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
cat /etc/passwd | more
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
works just like the more simple more command above.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
For stopping output of commands not involving
|
|
|
|
.I more
|
|
|
|
you can use the
|
|
|
|
^S key to stop the typeout. The typeout will resume when you
|
|
|
|
hit ^Q or any other key, but ^Q is normally used because
|
|
|
|
it only restarts the output and does not become input to the program
|
|
|
|
which is running. This works well on low-speed terminals, but at 9600
|
|
|
|
baud it is hard to type ^S and ^Q fast enough to paginate
|
|
|
|
the output nicely, and a program like
|
|
|
|
.I more
|
|
|
|
is usually used.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
An additional possibility is to use the ^O flush output
|
|
|
|
character; when this character is typed, all output from the current
|
|
|
|
command is thrown away (quickly) until the next input read occurs
|
|
|
|
or until the next shell prompt. This can be used to allow a command
|
|
|
|
to complete without having to suffer through the output on a slow
|
|
|
|
terminal; ^O is a toggle, so flushing can be turned off by
|
|
|
|
typing ^O again while output is being flushed.
|
|
|
|
.NH 2
|
|
|
|
What now?
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
We have so far seen a number of mechanisms of the shell and learned a lot
|
|
|
|
about the way in which it operates.
|
|
|
|
The remaining sections will go yet further into the internals of the
|
|
|
|
shell, but you will surely want to try using the
|
|
|
|
shell before you go any further.
|
|
|
|
To try it you can log in to \s-2UNIX\s0 and type the following
|
|
|
|
command to the system:
|
|
|
|
.DS
|
|
|
|
chsh myname /bin/csh
|
|
|
|
.DE
|
|
|
|
Here `myname' should be replaced by the name you typed to
|
|
|
|
the system prompt of `login:' to get onto the system.
|
|
|
|
Thus I would use `chsh bill /bin/csh'.
|
|
|
|
.B
|
|
|
|
You only have to do this once; it takes effect at next login.
|
|
|
|
.R
|
|
|
|
You are now ready to try using
|
|
|
|
.I csh.
|
|
|
|
.PP
|
|
|
|
Before you do the `chsh' command, the shell you are using when
|
|
|
|
you log into the system is `/bin/sh'.
|
|
|
|
In fact, much of the above discussion is applicable to `/bin/sh'.
|
|
|
|
The next section will introduce many features particular to
|
|
|
|
.I csh
|
|
|
|
so you should change your shell to
|
|
|
|
.I csh
|
|
|
|
before you begin reading it.
|
|
|
|
.bp
|