finding_help
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- | ====== Finding Help From Within the Shell ====== | ||
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- | Note: Please look [[finding_help# | ||
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- | While the UNIX shell may seem a bit daunting and cold with cryptic two-letter commands, dozens of command line switches, and no animated paper clips to show you the way, there are several different ways of getting help from the system. | ||
- | |||
- | ---- | ||
- | |||
- | ====== Using Manpages ====== | ||
- | |||
- | ===== The Definitive Guide to RTFMing ===== | ||
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- | The easiest and most comprehensive way of getting help is reading the manpage. You've probably heard RTFM (Read The Fscking Manual) somewhere throughout your computer use, well, this is that Manual. Manpages are the standard form of documentation for every UNIX. Learn to use them. Learn to love them. | ||
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- | Where can you find them? It's pretty simple. Think of a command. (ls, rm, chmod, kill, grep) or a program (vi, mutt, snarf, majordomo) So go ahead, type | ||
- | < | ||
- | % man command | ||
- | </ | ||
- | command being the name of the command you want to learn about. As you can see, manpages are broken down into sections. We'll use mkdir as an example. | ||
- | < | ||
- | % man mkdir | ||
- | </ | ||
- | |||
- | < | ||
- | MKDIR(1) | ||
- | MKDIR(1) | ||
- | |||
- | NAME | ||
- | mkdir - make directories | ||
- | |||
- | SYNOPSIS | ||
- | mkdir [-p] [-m mode] directory_name ... | ||
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- | DESCRIPTION | ||
- | mkdir creates the directories named as operands, in the order specified, | ||
- | using mode rwxrwxrwx (0777) as modified by the current umask(2). | ||
- | |||
- | The options are as follows: | ||
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- | | ||
- | the specified mode. The mode argument can be in any of the for- | ||
- | mats specified to the chmod(1) utility. | ||
- | | ||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | | ||
- | not specified, the full path prefix of each operand must already | ||
- | | ||
- | of rwxrwxrwx (0777) as modified by the current umask, plus write | ||
- | and search permission for the owner. | ||
- | if the argument directory already exists. | ||
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- | The user must have write permission in the parent directory. | ||
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- | EXIT STATUS | ||
- | mkdir exits 0 if successful, and >0 if an error occurred. | ||
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- | SEE ALSO | ||
- | | ||
- | |||
- | STANDARDS | ||
- | The mkdir utility is expected to be IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'' | ||
- | ible. | ||
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- | NetBSD 2.0.2 | ||
- | 2.0.2 | ||
- | </ | ||
- | For our '' | ||
- | |||
- | The manual is divided up into nine sections: | ||
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- | - User commands. | ||
- | - | ||
- | - | ||
- | - | ||
- | - File formats. | ||
- | - Games and other diversions. | ||
- | - | ||
- | - | ||
- | - | ||
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- | In some cases, the same topic will appear on more than one section of the manual. For example, there is a chmod user command and a chmod() system call. How would you find the appropriate manpage? You can tell man which section you'd like to look under. If you wanted to find the user command you would type: | ||
- | < | ||
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- | This would display the manpage for the user command chmod. References to the specific sections are traditionally placed in parenthesis after the command name like so: chmod(1) | ||
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- | Well, this is all fine and good if you know the name of the command, but what if you can't remember the name? 'man -k' can be used to search for keywords in the command descriptions. So, if you want to find a mail program you would type: | ||
- | < | ||
- | |||
- | A list of commands with the keyword " | ||
- | |||
- | ---- | ||
- | |||
- | ====== The GNU Info system ====== | ||
- | |||
- | For programs of the [[http:// | ||
- | In fact, you can use info as an alias to man, because the info reader will simply display the man page if it cannot find an info entry (but you cannot specify the manpage section). | ||
- | |||
- | However, navigation is different in the standard info reader, as it is based on the emacs text editor. | ||
- | Quick key help (for more, consult '' | ||
- | |||
- | |**SPACE, BACKSPACE**|page forward, backward| | ||
- | |**TAB**|place cursor onto next menu item or link (info files are hyperlinked)| | ||
- | |**RETURN**|jump to the place where the link the cursor is sitting on points to| | ||
- | |**l** (the letter ell)|get back to the spot from where last jump started| | ||
- | |**u n p**|up, next, previous node (info files are hierarchically structured)| | ||
- | |**q**|quit the info reader| | ||
- | |||
- | With most terminals, you can also move around using the cursor keys (arrows). | ||
- | |||
- | ---- | ||
- | |||
- | ====== SDF specific help ====== | ||
- | |||
- | There are also a number of tools at SDF that you can use to get more help. Type the following commands at a shell prompt. | ||
- | |||
- | |**help**|The SDF help system.| | ||
- | |**faq**|A collection of frequently asked questions. Type 'g ' to enter a topic, ' | ||
- | |**helpdesk**|If you cannot find your answer in the man pages, help, faq, or googling post a question to the helpdesk and a friendly member of the community will answer your question. Any member with ARPA status can login as an attendent to answer questions. Please note: in helpdesk you should only post questions directly related to SDF's systems, but not about general UNIX, programming or gardening - these belong to the bboard!| | ||
- | |**[[bboard]]**|To enter the SDF Bulletin Board System (BBOARD), type bboard at the command line. Help on using BBOARD may be found by typing h and ? at the bboard Command: prompt or at the [[bboard | bboard tutorial]]. If you have a general question about using the SDF system, post in < | ||
- | |**[[com]]**|Com and bboard are meeting places for the SDF community. You could also pose your question there. Bboard and faq have the same interface. See [[com|COM is not IRC]] for how to use com.| | ||
- | |||
- | ---- | ||
- | ====== SDF Specific Commands ====== | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Informative Commands ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |address|prints out an address & paypal information for sending money to SDF; used by some other commands| | ||
- | |arpa|prints out information about the ARPA membership level| | ||
- | |bbs|gives information about purchasing a BBS documentary DVD set from SDF; seems to be a bit outdated| | ||
- | |commands|prints out a list of basic Unix commands; also available as " | ||
- | |dba|prints out information about the DBA membership| | ||
- | |dialup|gives information on SDF's dialup internet service| | ||
- | |downtime|displays the reason(s) for recent server downtime| | ||
- | |dsl|refers the user to " | ||
- | |editors|displays the list of text editors from FAQ BASICS #09| | ||
- | |faq|interactive command for viewing the SDF Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers); uses the same command set as bboard| | ||
- | |gallery|lists some of the commands that users can use to contribute to the SDF galleries (see below)| | ||
- | |games|prints a list of some of the games installed on SDF| | ||
- | |getdialup|lists dialup internet services available in your area code| | ||
- | |help|a small interactive program listing useful commands from certain categories. Note that this program is located at / | ||
- | |how|gives an overview of the types of memberships available| | ||
- | |maxusers|displays the current record for the maximum number of users logged into SDF at once| | ||
- | |meta|prints out information about the MetaARPA membership level| | ||
- | |mil|gives information on how the validation process can be waived for those on active military duty| | ||
- | |music|prints out information about purchasing the SDF music compilations| | ||
- | |order|outdated command; now consists of a pointer to the store on SDF's website| | ||
- | |software|lists the software packages available to the various membership levels| | ||
- | |sticker|prints information on obtaining an SDF bumper sticker| | ||
- | |twenex|prints out summaries of (most of) the user-contributed software in / | ||
- | |unix|same as commands| | ||
- | |vhost|prints out information about the VHOST membership| | ||
- | |vpn|prints out information about the VPN membership| | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Inter-User Communication & Social Networking ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Account Management Commands ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Account Information ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ==== User Information ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Gallery Commands ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Other ==== | ||
- | |||
- | ^Command^ Description^ | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |**'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |'' | ||
- | |||
- | ^Credit:^ | ||
- | |Much of this //SDF Specific Commands// list was pulled from jwodder' | ||
- | |||
- | And of course there are the online tutorials that you are reading right now! | ||
- | * The top level page for this wiki is [[start]]. | ||
- | * The top level page for the existing HTML tutorials is http:// | ||
- | |||
- | ---- | ||
- | [[http:// | ||
finding_help.txt · Last modified: 2024/02/25 22:16 by hc9