Unix Basic Commands

UNIX PROGRAMMING
UNIT-1
Introduction
Prepared By: G.S.Mishra

UNIX
 What is Unix?
 Unix is an operating system.
 It manages the resources of a system and performs tasks of the users.
 Unix was created in the late 1960s as a multiuser, multitasking system
INTRODUCTION CONTD…
 Unix is designed for multiple users
 Multiple users may have multiple tasks running simultaneously.
 We shall use a Linux OS preferably Ubuntu
 Linux works on the kernel of Unix
 Linux is developed by user contributions
 Several flavors : Red Hat, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian etc.

ARCHITECTURE OF OS
ARCHITECTURE OF UNIX OS
ARCHITECTURE CONTD…
 Kernel − The kernel is the heart of the operating system.
 It interacts with the hardware and most of the tasks like memory
management, task scheduling and file management, etc.
 Shell − The shell is the utility that processes user requests.
 When you type in a command at your terminal, the shell

interprets the command and calls the program that you want.
 The shell uses standard syntax for all commands. C Shell, Bourne
Shell and Korn Shell are the most famous shells which are
available with most of the Unix variants.
ARCHITECTURE CONTD…
 Commands − There are various commands which you can make
use of in your day to day activities.
 cp, mv, cat and grep, etc. are few examples of commands
 There are over 250 standard commands plus numerous others
provided through 3rd party software.
 All the commands come along with various options.
 Files and Directories − All the data of Unix is organized into
files.
 All files are then organized into directories. These directories are
further organized into a tree-like structure called the file system.
UNIX KERNEL
ARCHITECTURE
KERNEL ARCHITECTURE
 User programs can invoke operating system services either

directly or through library programs.
 The system call interface is the boundary with the user and allows
higher-level software to gain access to specific kernel functions.
At the other end, the operating system contains primitive routines
that interact directly with the hardware.
 Between these two interfaces, the system is divided into two main
parts, one concerned with process control and the other concerned
with file management and I/O.
KERNEL ARCHITECTURE CONTD…
 The process control subsystem is responsible for memory
management, the scheduling and dispatching of processes, and
the synchronization and inter-process communication of
processes.
 The file system exchanges data between memory and external
devices either as a stream of characters or in blocks. To achieve
this, a variety of device drivers are used.
 For block-oriented transfers, a disk cache approach is used: a
system buffer in main memory is interposed between the user
address space and the external device.
FEATURES OF UNIX
 Multiuser: A multi-user Operating system allows more than one
user to share the same computer system at the same time.
 Multi Tasking: More than one program can be run at a time. The
main concept of multitasking is maximum utilizing CPU
resources
 Open System: The UNIX is open source code i.e Any user can
modified Unix open source code according there ideas and
requirements
FEATURES OF UNIX CONTD…
 Security: One of the most valued advantages of linux over the

other plat forms lies with the high security levels it ensures.
 UNIX/LINUX has given two levels of securities.
 System level Security: Its controlled by system Administrator.
 File level Security: Its controlled by owner of the file.

FEATURES OF UNIX CONTD…
 Portability: Portability means Independent of hardware &
processors
 Communication: The main concept of communication facility
Exchanging of information or files form one user account to other
user account.
 Programming Facility: UNIX o/s provides shell. Shell works
like a programming language. It provides commands and
keywords.
 Help facility : It is the beautiful feature of UNIX/ LINUX
Operating systems. Don’t know the information about given
command just go through the help line.
INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COMMANDS
 The UNIX system is command-based i.e things happen because

of the commands that you key in.
 They are grouped into two categories
 Internal Commands : Commands which are built into the shell.
 For all the shell built-in commands, execution of the same is fast
in the sense that the shell doesn’t have to search the given path
for them in the PATH variable and also no process needs to be
spawned for executing it.
Examples: cd, fg etc.
 External Commands : Commands which aren’t built into the
shell. When an external command has to be executed, the shell
looks for its path given in PATH variable and also a new process
has to be spawned and the command gets executed.
 They are usually located in /bin or /usr/bin. For example, when

you execute the “cat” command, which usually is at /usr/bin, the
executable /usr/bin/cat gets executed.
 Examples: ls, cat etc.

BASIC UNIX COMMANDS
 pwd : stands for print working directory / present working
directory
 It prints the path of the working directory, starting from the root.
 Example: $ pwd
 cd: change directory , This command is used to change the
current working directory
 cd without any parameter takes you to your home directory, with a

given path takes you to the directory given in parameter
 Example: $ cd or, $ cd /xx/yy/zz

BASIC UNIX COMMANDS CONTD…
 mkdir : mkdir command (make directory) in UNIX allows users
to create directories or folders
 The mkdir command can create multiple directories
 To create a directory in UNIX or Linux using the mkdir command

pass the name of directory to the mkdir command. e.g. $ mkdir
mydirectory
 To create multiple directories in UNIX or Linux using the mkdir

command pass the names of directories to be created to the mkdir
command. The names of directories should be separated by
spaces. e.g.
 $ mkdir mydirectory1 mydirectory2 mydirectory3

 ls : This command is used for listing the contents of a directory or
directories given to it via standard input.
 e.g. dir1 dir2 file1 file2 …….
 It writes results to standard output.
 The ls command supports showing a variety of information about
files, sorting on a range of options and recursive listing.
 ls -a: list all files including hidden files.
 E.g. . .. .hfile dir1 dir2 file1 file2 ……
 ls -R: list all files recursively, descending down the directory tree
from the given path.
 e.g.
dir1 dir2 file1 file2
./dir1:
file3
./dir2:
 ls -l: list the files in long format i.e. with an index number, owner
name, group name, size, and permissions.
 e.g.
drwxr-xr-x 1 user staff 224 Jun 21 15:04 .
drwxrwxrwx 1 user staff 576 Jun 21 15: 02.
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 6 Jun 21 15:04 .hfile
drwxr-xr-x 2 user staff 96 Jun 21 15:08 dir1
drwxr-xr-x 2 user staff 64 Jun 21 15:04 dir2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 6 Jun 21 15:04 file1
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 4 Jun 21 15:08 file2

 ls -i: list the files along with their index number.
 ls -s: list the files along with their size.
 ls -t: sort the list by time of modification, with the newest at the
top.
 ls -S: sort the list by size, with the largest at the top.
 help :
 The new users of Unix generally use “help” command to get the
information about the command
 This also describes the purpose of using the command along with
the options in a simple way
 e.g. ls --help
 man :
 man command in Unix is used to display the user manual of any

command that we can run on the terminal.
 It provides a detailed view of the command which includes
NAME, SYNOPSIS, DESCRIPTION, OPTIONS etc.
 e.g. man ls
GENERAL PURPOSE COMMANDS
 cal
 If a user wants a quick view of calendar in Linux terminal, cal is

used. By default, cal command shows current month calendar as
output.
 To display the calendar of a specific month or a whole year.

 cal January 2020
 cal 08 2000 : Shows calendar of selected month and year.
 cal jan 2020 : shows the calander of January 2020
 cal 2020 : Shows the whole calendar of the year.
 cal 2020 | more : But year may not be visible in the same screen
use more with cal use spacebar to scroll down.
GENERAL PURPOSE COMMANDS CONTD…
 date :
 date command is used to display the system date and time.
 By default the date command displays the date in the time zone
on which unix/linux operating system is configured.
 You can also change the format, default is month-date year
format
 date “+%d-%m-%Y”
 The format specifiers are :
 %D: Display date as mm/dd/yy.
 %d: Display the day of the month (01 to 31).
 %a: Displays the abbreviated name for weekdays (Sun to Sat )
 %A: Displays full weekdays (Sunday to Saturday).
 %h: Displays abbreviated month name (Jan to Dec).
 %b: Displays abbreviated month name (Jan to Dec).
 %B: Displays full month name(January to December).
 %m: Displays the month of year (01 to 12).
 %y: Displays last two digits of the year(00 to 99).
 %Y: Display four-digit year.
 %T: Display the time in 24 hour format as HH:MM:SS.
 %H: Display the hour.
 %M: Display the minute.
 %S: Display the seconds.
 echo :
 echo command in Unix is used to display line of text/string that are
passed as an argument
 echo “Sharda University”
 \b : it removes all the spaces in between the text
 Example : echo -e " Sharda \bUniversity "
 \n : this option creates new line from where it is used.
 Example : echo -e " Sharda \nUniversity "
 \t : this option is used to create horizontal tab spaces.
 Example : echo -e " Sharda \tUniversity "
 \v : this option is used to create vertical tab spaces.
 Example : echo -e " Sharda \vUniversity "
 \a : alert return with backspace interpretor ‘-e‘ to have sound alert.
 Example : echo -e "\a Sharda University "
 bc:
 bc command is used for command line calculator.
 It is similar to basic calculator by using which we can do basic

mathematical calculations.
 The bc command supports the following features:
 Arithmetic operators
 Increment or Decrement operators
 Assignment operators
 Comparison or Relational operators
 Logical or Boolean operators
 Math functions
 Conditional statements
 Iterative statements
 Arithmetic Operators
 Example: $ echo "12+5" | bc Output : 17
 $ echo "10^2" | bc Output : 100
 How to store the result of complete operation in variable?
 Example:
 $ x=`echo "12+5" | bc`
 $ echo $x Output:17
 Assignment Operators
 The list of assignments operators supported are:
 var = value : Assign the vale to the variable
 var += value : similar to var = var + value
 var -= value : similar to var = var – value
 var *= value : similar to var = var * value
 var /= value : similar to var = var / value
 var ^= value : similar to var = var ^ value
 var %= value : similar to var = var % value
 Examples:
 $ echo "var=10;var" | bc Output: 10
 $ echo "var=10;var^=2;var" | bc Output: 100
 How to store the result of complete operation in variable?
 Example: $ x=`echo "var=500;var%=7;var" | bc`
$ echo $x Output:3
 Explanation: Stores the result of 500 modulo 7 i.e. remainder of
500/7 in variable x and then display variable x as $x.
Increment Operators
 There are 2 kinds of increment operators:
 ++var : Pre increment operator, variable is increased first and

then result of variable is stored.
 var++ : Post increment operator, result of the variable is used
first and then variable is incremented.
 Examples: $ echo "var=10;++var" | bc Output: 11
 Input: $ echo "var=10;var++" | bc Output: 10
Decrement Operators
 There are 2 kinds of decrement operators:
 – – var : Pre decrement operator, variable is decreased first and

then result of variable is stored.
 var – – : Post decrement operator, result of the variable is used
first and then variable is decremented.
 Examples: $ echo "var=10;--var" | bc Output: 9

 Explanation: Variable is decreased first and then result of
variable is stored.
 $ echo "var=10;var--" | bc Output: 10

 Explanation: Result of the variable is used first and then
variable is decremented.
Comparison or Relational Operators

 Relational operators are used to compare 2 numbers. If the
comparison is true, then result is 1. Otherwise(false), returns 0.
These operators are generally used in conditional statements
like if.
 The list of relational operators supported in bc command are
shown below:
 expr1<expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is strictly less than expr2.
 expr1<=expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is less than or equal to expr2.
 expr1>expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is strictly greater than expr2.
 expr1>=expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is greater than or equal to expr2.
 expr1==expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is equal to expr2.
 expr1!=expr2 : Result is 1 if expr1 is not equal to expr2.
 Examples: $ echo "10>5" | bc Output: 1
 $ echo "1==2" | bc Output: 0
Logical or Boolean Operators
 Logical operators are mostly used in conditional statements. The
result of the logical operators is either 1(TRUE) or 0(FALSE).
 expr1 && expr2 : Result is 1 if both expressions are non-zero.

 expr1 || expr2 : Result is 1 if either expression is non-zero.
 ! expr : Result is 1 if expr is 0 and vice-versa.
 Examples: $ echo "10 && 5" | bc Output: 1

 $ echo "0 || 0" | bc Output: 0
 $ echo "! 0" | bc Output: 1
Mathematical Functions
 The built-in math functions supported are :
 s (x): The sine of x, x is in radians.
 c (x) : The cosine of x, x is in radians.
 l (x) : The natural logarithm of x.
 e (x) : The exponential function of raising e to the value x.
 sqrt(x) : Square root of the number x. If the expression is negative, a

run time error is generated.
 $ echo "s($pi/3)" | bc –l Output: .86602540378443864675
 $ echo "c($pi/3)" | bc –l Output: .50000000000000000001
 $ echo "e(3)" | bc –l Output:20.08553692318766774092
 Explanation: Gives exponential^value as output.

 In addition to the math functions, the following functions are also
supported :
 length(x) : returns the number of digits in x.
 read() : Reads the number from the standard input.
 scale(expression) : The value of the scale function is the number of digits
after the decimal point in the expression.
 ibase and obase define the conversion base for input and output numbers.
The default for both input and output is base 10.
 last (an extension) is a variable that has the value of the last printed
number.
 Examples:
 $ echo $pi Output: 3.14159265358979323844
 $ echo "scale($pi)" | bc –l Output: 20
 Explanation: Gives the number of digits after decimal point in
value of “pi” calculated in previous example.
 $ echo "l(e(1))" | bc -l
 Output: .99999999999999999999
 Explanation: Gives natural logarithm of the value i.e. w.r.t. base

‘e’.
 $ echo "obase=2;15" | bc –l Output: 1111
 Explanation: Convert Decimal to Binary.
 $ echo "obase=8;9" | bc –l Output: 11

 Explanation: Convert Decimal to Octal.
 $ echo "ibase=2;1111" | bc –l Output: 15
 Explanation: Convert Binary to Decimal.

 $ echo "ibase=2;obase=8;10" | bc –l Output: 2
 Conditional Statements
 Conditional Statements are used to take decisions and execute
statements based on these decisions. bc command supports the
if condition.
 Syntax: if(condition) {statements} else {statemnts}
 Example:
 $ echo 'n=8;m=10;if(n>m) print "n is greater" else print "m is

greater" ' | bc -l
 Output: m is greater
 Iterative statements
 bc command supports the for loop and while loop for doing
iterations.
 Syntax:
for(assignment; condition; updation)

{ statements.....
.......
}
 OR
while(condition)
{
statements.....
}
 Examples:
 $ echo "for(i=1; i<=5; i++) {i;}" | bc
 Output:
1
2
3
4
5
 $ echo "i=1;while(i<=5) {i; i+=1}" | bc
 Output:
1
2
3
4
5
 script
 script command in Unix is used to make typescript or record all
the terminal activities. After executing the script command it
starts recording everything printed on the screen including the
inputs and outputs until exit.
 By default, all the terminal information is saved in the file

typescript , if no argument is given.
 Syntax: script [options] [file]
 In order to stop the typescript, we just need to execute exit

command and script will stop the capturing process.
 passwd:
 passwd command in Unix is used to change the user account

passwords.
 who:
 who command is used to find out the information about logged
in users
 whoami : your user name
 who –u : all the users logged into the system
 who –a : logged in users with time and date

 tty:
 Unix operating system represents everything in a file system,

the hardware devices that we attach are also represented as a
file.
 The tty command basically prints the file name of the terminal

connected to standard input.
 tty represents teletype, but popularly known as a terminal
 stty :
 shows the settings of teletype
PROCESS BASICS
 Whenever you issue a command in Unix, it creates, or starts, a
new process. When you tried out the ls command to list the
directory contents, you started a process. A process, in simple
terms, is an instance of a running program.
 The operating system tracks processes through a number known

as the pid or the process ID. Each process in the system has a
unique pid.
 Pids eventually repeat because all the possible numbers are

used up and the next pid rolls or starts over. At any point of
time, no two processes with the same pid exist in the system
because it is the pid that Unix uses to track each process.
PROCESS BASICS CONTD…
 Foreground Processes
 By default, every process that you start runs in the foreground.
It gets its input from the keyboard and sends its output to the
screen.
 A program runs in the foreground and if it is time-consuming,

no other commands can run because the prompt would not be
available until the program finishes processing and comes out.
 Background Processes
 A background process runs without being connected to your
keyboard. If the background process requires any keyboard
input, it waits.
 The advantage of running a process in the background is that
you can run other commands; you do not have to wait until it
completes to start another!
 The simplest way to start a background process is to add an

ampersand (&) at the end of the command.
 $ls ch*.doc &

 This displays all those files the names of which start with ch
and end with .doc −
 ch01-1.doc ch010.doc ch02.doc ch03-2.doc
 ch04-1.doc ch040.doc ch05.doc ch06-2.doc
 ch01-2.doc ch02-1.doc
 Listing Running Processes
 It is easy to see your own processes by running the ps (process
status) command as follows −
 $ps
 PID TTY TIME CMD

 18358 ttyp3 00:00:00 sh
 18361 ttyp3 00:01:31 abiword
 18789 ttyp3 00:00:00 ps
 One of the most commonly used flags for ps is the -f ( f for full)
option, which provides more information
 $ps -f
 Stopping Processes
 Ending a process can be done in several different ways. Often,
from a console-based command, sending a CTRL + C keystroke
(the default interrupt character) will exit the command. This
works when the process is running in the foreground mode.
 If a process is running in the background, you should get its Job
ID using the ps command. After that, you can use the kill
command to kill the process as follows −
 $ps -f
 UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD

 sharda 6738 3662 0 10:23:03 pts/6 0:00 first_one
 sharda 6739 3662 0 10:22:54 pts/6 0:00 second_one
 $kill 6738
 Parent and Child Processes
 Each unix process has two ID numbers assigned to it: The Process ID
(pid) and the Parent process ID (ppid). Each user process in the system
has a parent process.
 Most of the commands that you run have the shell as their parent. Check
the ps -f example where this command listed both the process ID and the
parent process ID.
 Zombie and Orphan Processes

 Normally, when a child process is killed, the parent process is updated
via a SIGCHLD signal. Then the parent can do some other task or restart
a new child as needed. However, sometimes the parent process is killed
before its child is killed. In this case, the "parent of all processes," the init
process, becomes the new PPID (parent process ID). In some cases, these
processes are called orphan processes.
 When a process is killed, a ps listing may still show the process
with a Z state. This is a zombie or defunct process. The process
is dead and not being used. These processes are different from
the orphan processes. They have completed execution but still
find an entry in the process table.
 nice
 To set the priority of a process we can use nice command
 The priority ranges from -20 to 19
 -20 is the most prior process
 nice -n -20 ./test.sh
 To set the priority of a running process, use renice
 renice -n -10 -p 941

 kill
 To terminate a process, use kill command
 kill 6567
 6567 is the process id of the process
UNIX FILE SYSTEM
 Unix file system is a logical method of organizing and
storing large amounts of information in a way that makes it
easy to manage. A file is a smallest unit in which the
information is stored. Unix file system has several important
features. All data in Unix is organized into files. All files are
organized into directories. These directories are organized into a
tree-like structure called the file system.
 Files in Unix System are organized into multi-level hierarchy

structure known as a directory tree. At the very top of the file
system is a directory called “root” which is represented by a
“/”. All other files are “descendants” of root.
FILE PERMISSION
 File ownership is an important component of Unix that provides
a secure method for storing files. Every file in Unix has the
following attributes −
 Owner permissions − The owner's permissions determine what

actions the owner of the file can perform on the file.
 Group permissions − The group's permissions determine what

actions a user, who is a member of the group that a file belongs
to, can perform on the file.
 Other (world) permissions − The permissions for others

indicate what action all other users can perform on the file.
FILE PERMISSION CONTD…
 The permissions are broken into groups of threes, and each
position in the group denotes a specific permission, in this
order: read (r), write (w), execute (x) −
 The first three characters (2-4) represent the permissions for the
file's owner. For example, -rwxr-xr-- represents that the owner
has read (r), write (w) and execute (x) permission.
 The second group of three characters (5-7) consists of the
permissions for the group to which the file belongs. For
example, -rwxr-xr-- represents that the group has read (r) and
execute (x) permission, but no write permission.
 The last group of three characters (8-10) represents the
permissions for everyone else. For example, -rwxr-
xr-- represents that there is read (r) only permission.
FILE HANDLING COMMANDS
 Cat(concatenate) command is very frequently used in Unix. It

reads data from the file and gives their content as output. It
helps us to create, view, concatenate files. So let us see some
frequently used cat commands.
 To view a single file: $ cat filename
 To view multiple files: $ cat file1 file2
 Create a file : $ cat > newfile
CONTD…
 touch :
 The touch command is a standard command used in
UNIX/Linux operating system which is used to create, change
and modify timestamps of a file. Basically, there are two
different commands to create a file in the Linux system which
is as follows:
 touch command: It is used to create a file without any content.
The file created using touch command is empty. This command
can be used when the user doesn’t have data to store at the time
of file creation.
 Syntax:
 touch file_name
CONTD…
 cp:
 cp stands for copy. This command is used to copy files or
group of files or directory. It creates an exact image of a file on
a disk with different file name. cp command require at least two
filenames in its arguments.
 $ cp Src_file Dest_file
CONTD…
 rm:
 rm stands for remove here. rm command is used to remove
objects such as files, directories, symbolic links and so on from
the file system like UNIX. To be more precise, rm removes
references to objects from the filesystem, where those objects
might have had multiple references (for example, a file with
two different names). By default, it does not remove
directories.
 This command normally works silently and you should be very
careful while running rm command because once you delete
the files then you are not able to recover the contents of files
and directories.
 $ rm a.txt
CONTD…
 mv :
 mv stands for move. mv is used to move one or more files or
directories from one place to another in file system like UNIX.
It has two distinct functions:
(i) It rename a file or folder. $ mv a.txt b.txt
 (ii) It moves group of files to different directory.

No additional space is consumed on a disk during renaming.
This command normally works silently means no prompt for
confirmation. Example given in unit-2.
CONTD…
 more :
 more command is used to view the text files in the command prompt,
displaying one screen at a time in case the file is large (For example log files).
The more command also allows the user do scroll up and down through the
page. The syntax along with options and command is as follows. Another
application of more is to use it with some other command after a pipe. When
the output is large, we can use more command to see output one by one.
 -d : Use this command in order to help the user to navigate. It displays “[Press
space to continue, ‘q’ to quit.]” and displays “[Press ‘h’ for instructions.]”
when wrong key is pressed.
 more –d sample.txt
CONTD…
 less :
 Less command is linux utility which can be used to read
contents of text file one page(one screen) per time. It has faster
access because if file is large, it don’t access complete file, but
access it page by page.
 For example, if it’s a large file and you are reading it using any
text editor, then the complete file will be loaded to main
memory, but less command don’t load entire file, but load it
part by part, which makes it faster.
 less filename
CONTD…
 lp :
 lp command arranges for the files specified by the Files parameter and their
associated information (called a request) to be printed by a line printer. If you do
not specify a value for the Files parameter, the lp command accepts standard
input. The file name - (dash) represents standard input and can be specified on
the command line in addition to files. The lp command sends the requests in the
order specified. If the job is submitted to a local print queue, the lp command
displays the following to standard output: Job number is: nnn where nnn is the
assigned job number. To suppress the job number use the -s flag.
 To print the /etc/motd file on printer lp0 attached to device dlp0, enter:
 $ lp /etc/motd
 To print 30 copies of the /etc/motd file using a copy of the file, and to notify the user that the job is
completed using mail, enter:
 $ lp -c -m -n30 -dlp0:lpd0 /etc/motd
CONTD…
 cmp :
 cmp command in Linux/UNIX is used to compare the two files
byte by byte and helps you to find out whether the two files are
identical or not.
 When cmp is used for comparison between two files, it reports
the location of the first mismatch to the screen if difference is
found and if no difference is found i.e the files compared are
identical.
 cmp displays no message and simply returns the prompt if the
the files compared are identical.
 $ cmp file1.txt file2.txt
CONTD…
 diff :
 diff stands for difference. This command is used to display the
differences in the files by comparing the files line by line. Unlike
its fellow members, cmp and comm, it tells us which lines in one
file have is to be changed to make the two files identical.
 The important thing to remember is that diff uses certain special

symbols and instructions that are required to make two files
identical. It tells you the instructions on how to change the first
file to make it match the second file.
 $ diff File1 File2
CONTD…
 comm :
 Before 'comm' can be used, the input files must be sorted using the collating
sequence specified by the 'LC_COLLATE' locale, with trailing newlines
significant. If an input file ends in a non-newline character, a newline is
silently appended. The 'sort' command with no options always outputs a file
that is suitable input to 'comm'. With no options, 'comm' produces three
column output. Column one contains lines unique to FILE1, column two
contains lines unique to FILE2, and column three contains lines common to
both files. Columns are separated by a single TAB character.
 The options -1, -2, and -3 suppress printing of the corresponding columns.
Unlike some other comparison utilities, 'comm' has an exit status that does
not depend on the result of the comparison. Upon normal completion 'comm'
produces an exit code of zero. If there is an error it exits with nonzero status.
CONTD…
 OPTIONS
 -1 suppress lines unique to file1.
 -2 suppress lines unique to file2.
 -3 suppress lines that appear in both files.
 EXAMPLES
 Show the lines unique to words.txt
 $ cat words.txt
 Apple
 Banana
 Orange
 India
 US
 Canada
 $ cat countries.txt
 India
 US
 Canada
CONTD…
 $ comm -23 < (sort words.txt | uniq) < (sort countries.txt | uniq)
 Apple
 Banana
 Orange
 Show the lines common to words.txt and countries.txt.
 $ comm -12 < (sort words.txt | uniq) < (sort countries.txt | uniq)
 India
 US
 Canada
CONTD…
 gzip :
 gzip command compresses files. Each single file is compressed
into a single file. The compressed file consists of a GNU zip
header and deflated data.
If given a file as an argument, gzip compresses the file, adds a
“.gz” suffix, and deletes the original file. With no arguments,
gzip compresses the standard input and writes the compressed
file to standard output.
 $ gzip mytext.txt
 zip :
 ZIP is a compression and file packaging utility for Unix. Each file is stored in
single .zip {.zip-filename} file with the extension .zip.
 zip is used to compress the files to reduce file size and also used as file package
utility. zip is available in many operating systems like unix, linux, windows etc.
 If you have a limited bandwidth between two servers and want to transfer the
files faster, then zip the files and transfer.
 The zip program puts one or more compressed files into a single zip archive,
along with information about the files (name, path, date, time of last
modification, protection, and check information to verify file integrity). An entire
directory structure can be packed into a zip archive with a single command.
 Compression ratios of 2:1 to 3:1 are common for text files. zip has one
compression method (deflation) and can also store files without compression. zip
automatically chooses the better of the two for each file to be compressed.
 The program is useful for packaging a set of files for distribution; for archiving
files; and for saving disk space by temporarily compressing unused files or
directories.
 Difference between Gzip and zip command in Unix and when to use which
command
 ZIP and GZIP are two very popular methods of compressing files, in order to save
space, or to reduce the amount of time needed to transmit the files across the network,
or internet.
 In general, GZIP is much better compared to ZIP, in terms of compression, especially
when compressing a huge number of files.
 The common practice with GZIP, is to archive all the files into a single tarball before
compression. In ZIP files, the individual files are compressed and then added to the
archive.
 When you want to pull a single file from a ZIP, it is simply extracted, then
decompressed. With GZIP, the whole file needs to be decompressed before you can
extract the file you want from the archive.
 When pulling a 1MB file from a 10GB archive, it is quite clear that it would take a lot
longer in GZIP, than in ZIP.
 GZIP’s disadvantage in how it operates, is also responsible for GZIP’s advantage.
Since the compression algorithm in GZIP compresses one large file instead of
multiple smaller ones, it can take advantage of the redundancy in the files to reduce
the file size even further.
 If you archive and compress 10 identical files with ZIP and GZIP, the ZIP file would
be over 10 times bigger than the resulting GZIP file.
 gunzip :
 gunzip takes a list of files on its command line and replaces each file whose
name ends with .gz, -gz, .z, -z, _z or .Z and which begins with the correct magic
number with an uncompressed file without the original extension. gunzip also
recognizes the special extensions .tgz and .taz as shorthands
for .tar.gz and .tar.Z respectively. When compressing, gzip uses
the .tgz extension if necessary instead of truncating a file with a .tar extension.
 gunzip can currently decompress files created by gzip, zip, compress, compress

-H or pack. The detection of the input format is automatic. When using the first
two formats, gunzip checks a 32 bit CRC. For pack, gunzip checks the
uncompressed length. The standard compress format was not designed to allow
consistency checks. However gunzip is sometimes able to detect a bad .Z file. If
you get an error when uncompressing a .Z file, do not assume that the .Z file is
correct simply because the standard uncompress does not complain. This
generally means that the standard uncompress does not check its input, and
happily generates garbage output. The SCO compress -H format (lzh
compression method) does not include a CRC but also allows some consistency
checks.
CONTD…
 unzip :
 unzip will list, test, or extract files from a ZIP archive,
commonly found on MS-DOS systems. The default behavior
(with no options) is to extract into the current directory (and
subdirectories below it) all files from the specified ZIP archive.
A companion program, zip(1L), creates ZIP archives; both
programs are compatible with archives created by
PKWARE’s PKZIP and PKUNZIP for MS-DOS, but in many
cases the program options or default behaviors differ.
CONTD…
 tar :
 The Linux ‘tar’ stands for tape archive, is used to create
Archive and extract the Archive files. tar command in Linux is
one of the important command which provides archiving
functionality in Linux. We can use Linux tar command to create
compressed or uncompressed Archive files and also maintain
and modify them.
 An Archive file is a file that is composed of one or more files

along with metadata. Archive files are used to collect multiple
data files together into a single file for easier portability and
storage, or simply to compress files to use less storage space.
CONTD…
 Examples:
 1. Creating an uncompressed tar Archive using option -cvf :
This command creates a tar file called file.tar which is the
Archive of all .c files in current directory.
 $ tar cvf file.tar *.c

 2. Extracting files from Archive using option -xvf : This
command extracts files from Archives.
 $ tar xvf file.tar
END OF UNIT-1
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Unix Basic Commands

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Unix Basic Commands

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UNIX PROGRAMMING

Prepared By: G.S.Mishra

 Unix is designed for multiple users

 Multiple users may have multiple tasks running simultaneously.

 We shall use a Linux OS preferably Ubuntu

 Linux works on the kernel of Unix

 Linux is developed by user contributions

 Several flavors : Red Hat, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian etc.

 Shell − The shell is the utility that processes user requests.

 When you type in a command at your terminal, the shell

 User programs can invoke operating system services either

 Security: One of the most valued advantages of linux over the

 System level Security: Its controlled by system Administrator.

 File level Security: Its controlled by owner of the file.

 The UNIX system is command-based i.e things happen because

 They are usually located in /bin or /usr/bin. For example, when

 Examples: ls, cat etc.

 cd without any parameter takes you to your home directory, with a

 Example: $ cd or, $ cd /xx/yy/zz

 The mkdir command can create multiple directories

 To create a directory in UNIX or Linux using the mkdir command

 To create multiple directories in UNIX or Linux using the mkdir

 $ mkdir mydirectory1 mydirectory2 mydirectory3

drwxr-xr-x 1 user staff 224 Jun 21 15:04 .

drwxrwxrwx 1 user staff 576 Jun 21 15: 02.

-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 6 Jun 21 15:04 .hfile

drwxr-xr-x 2 user staff 96 Jun 21 15:08 dir1

drwxr-xr-x 2 user staff 64 Jun 21 15:04 dir2

-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 6 Jun 21 15:04 file1

-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 4 Jun 21 15:08 file2

 ls -i: list the files along with their index number.

 ls -s: list the files along with their size.

 man command in Unix is used to display the user manual of any

 If a user wants a quick view of calendar in Linux terminal, cal is

 To display the calendar of a specific month or a whole year.

 It is similar to basic calculator by using which we can do basic

 Increment or Decrement operators

 Comparison or Relational operators

 Logical or Boolean operators

 ++var : Pre increment operator, variable is increased first and

 – – var : Pre decrement operator, variable is decreased first and

 Examples: $ echo "var=10;--var" | bc Output: 9

 $ echo "var=10;var--" | bc Output: 10

Comparison or Relational Operators

 expr1 && expr2 : Result is 1 if both expressions are non-zero.

 ! expr : Result is 1 if expr is 0 and vice-versa.

 Examples: $ echo "10 && 5" | bc Output: 1

 s (x): The sine of x, x is in radians.

 c (x) : The cosine of x, x is in radians.

 l (x) : The natural logarithm of x.

 e (x) : The exponential function of raising e to the value x.

 sqrt(x) : Square root of the number x. If the expression is negative, a

 $ echo "c($pi/3)" | bc –l Output: .50000000000000000001

 $ echo "e(3)" | bc –l Output:20.08553692318766774092

 Explanation: Gives exponential^value as output.

 Explanation: Gives natural logarithm of the value i.e. w.r.t. base

 $ echo "obase=8;9" | bc –l Output: 11

 $ echo "ibase=2;1111" | bc –l Output: 15

 Explanation: Convert Binary to Decimal.

 $ echo 'n=8;m=10;if(n>m) print "n is greater" else print "m is

for(assignment; condition; updation)

 By default, all the terminal information is saved in the file

 Syntax: script [options] [file]

 In order to stop the typescript, we just need to execute exit

 passwd command in Unix is used to change the user account

 who –u : all the users logged into the system

 who –a : logged in users with time and date

 Unix operating system represents everything in a file system,

 The tty command basically prints the file name of the terminal

 tty represents teletype, but popularly known as a terminal

 The operating system tracks processes through a number known

 Pids eventually repeat because all the possible numbers are

 A program runs in the foreground and if it is time-consuming,

 The simplest way to start a background process is to add an

 $ls ch*.doc &

 ch04-1.doc ch040.doc ch05.doc ch06-2.doc