--- man1/intro.1 | 222 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 120 insertions(+), 102 deletions(-) diff --git a/man1/intro.1 b/man1/intro.1 index decaab161..96eb3b7fc 100644 --- a/man1/intro.1 +++ b/man1/intro.1 @@ -7,40 +7,41 @@ intro \- introduction to user commands .SH DESCRIPTION Section 1 of the manual describes user commands and tools, -for example, file manipulation tools, shells, compilers, -web browsers, file and image viewers and editors, and so on. +for example file manipulation tools, shells, compilers, +web browsers, file and image viewers, editors, and so on. .SH NOTES -Linux is a flavor of UNIX, and as a first approximation -all user commands under UNIX work precisely the same under -Linux (and FreeBSD and lots of other UNIX-like systems). +Linux is a flavor of UNIX, and many user commands under UNIX work +approximately the same under Linux (along with other UNIX-like systems, +such as the BSDs). .P -Under Linux, there are GUIs (graphical user interfaces), where you -can point and click and drag, and hopefully get work done without -first reading lots of documentation. -The traditional UNIX environment -is a CLI (command line interface), where you type commands to -tell the computer what to do. -That is faster and more powerful, -but requires finding out what the commands are. -Below a bare minimum, to get started. +Under Linux, there are graphical user interfaces (GUIs), +where, using a mouse, you click and drag buttons and sliders and icons, +and hopefully get work done without first reading much documentation. +The traditional UNIX environment is a command line interface (CLI), +where you type commands to tell the computer what to do. +The command line interface is faster and more powerful than +a graphical interface, +but first requires finding out what commands you have and how they are used. +A minimal guide is provided below to help you get started. .SS Login -In order to start working, you probably first have to open a session by -giving your username and password. -The program +In order to start working, you'll probably have to open a session +by typing your username and password. +After this, the program .BR login (1) -now starts a +starts a .I shell (command interpreter) for you. -In case of a graphical login, you get a screen with menus or icons -and a mouse click will start a shell in a window. +In case of a graphical login, you'll get a screen with menus and/or icons. +By using your mouse to click on one of these menus or icons, +you can start a shell in a window. See also .BR xterm (1). .SS The shell -One types commands to the +One types commands into the .IR shell , the command interpreter. -It is not built-in, but is just a program -and you can change your shell. +It isn't built-in, but it's just a program included with the operating system. +There are many different shells. Everybody has their own favorite one. The standard one is called .IR sh . @@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ See also .BR ksh (1), .BR zsh (1). .P -A session might go like: +A session might look like this: .P .in +4n .EX @@ -99,89 +100,96 @@ $ .EE .in .P -Here typing Control-D ended the session. +Pressing Control-D ended the session. .P -The +The symbol .B $ here was the command prompt\[em]it is the shell's way of indicating that it is ready for the next command. -The prompt can be customized -in lots of ways, and one might include stuff like username, -machine name, current directory, time, and so on. +The prompt can be customized in lots of ways, and one might include +information like the username, machine name, current directory, the time, +and so on. An assignment PS1="What next, master? " would change the prompt as indicated. .P -We see that there are commands +From this example we can see that there is the command .I date -(that gives date and time), and +(which outputs the date and time), and the command .I cal -(that gives a calendar). +(which outputs a calendar). .P The command .I ls lists the contents of the current directory\[em]it tells you what files you have. -With a +Given a .I \-l -option it gives a long listing, -that includes the owner and size and date of the file, and the -permissions people have for reading and/or changing the file. -For example, the file "tel" here is 37 bytes long, owned by aeb -and the owner can read and write it, others can only read it. -Owner and permissions can be changed by the commands +option +.I ls +outputs a long listing, +which includes the owner of the file, its size, the date it was last +modified, as well as the permissions people have for reading and/or +writing to the file. +For example, the file "tel" here is 37 bytes long, owned by the user aeb. +The owner can read and write to it, but others can only read it. +The owner and permissions of a file can be changed by the commands .I chown and -.IR chmod . +.I chmod +respectively. .P The command .I cat will show the contents of a file. -(The name is from "concatenate and print": all files given as -parameters are concatenated and sent to "standard output" +The name is from "concatenate and print": all files given as +parameters are concatenated and written to "standard output" (see .BR stdout (3)), here -the terminal screen.) +the terminal screen. .P The command .I cp -(from "copy") will copy a file. +(from "copy") copies a file. .P The command .I mv -(from "move"), on the other hand, only renames it. +(from "move"), on the other hand, renames a file. .P The command .I diff lists the differences between two files. -Here there was no output because there were no differences. +In this example there was no output because there were no differences +between the two. .P The command .I rm -(from "remove") deletes the file, and be careful! it is gone. -No wastepaper basket or anything. +(from "remove") deletes a file, but be careful! +Any file you remove with +.I rm +will be gone forever. +No rubbish bin or anything. Deleted means lost. .P The command .I grep (from "g/re/p") finds occurrences of a string in one or more files. -Here it finds Maja's telephone number. +In this example, we use it to find Maja's telephone number. .SS Pathnames and the current directory -Files live in a large tree, the file hierarchy. -Each has a +Files live in a large tree, called the file hierarchy. +Each file has a .I "pathname" -describing the path from the root of the tree (which is called -.IR / ) -to the file. -For example, such a full pathname might be +describing the location of the file from the root of the tree +(whose pathname is +.IR / ). +For instance, a full pathname might be .IR /home/aeb/tel . -Always using full pathnames would be inconvenient, and the name -of a file in the current directory may be abbreviated by giving -only the last component. -That is why +Using full pathnames all the time would be very inconvenient. +The name of a file in the current directory may be shortened by only +using the last component (the part relative to the current directory). +That's why .I /home/aeb/tel -can be abbreviated -to +can be shortened to .I tel when the current directory is .IR /home/aeb . @@ -194,13 +202,11 @@ The command .I cd changes the current directory. .P -Try alternatively +Try using the .I cd and .I pwd -commands and explore -.I cd -usage: "cd", "cd .", "cd ..", "cd /", and "cd \[ti]". +commands in different ways. .SS Directories The command .I mkdir @@ -208,67 +214,79 @@ makes a new directory. .P The command .I rmdir -removes a directory if it is empty, and complains otherwise. +removes an empty directory. If the directory is not empty, +.I rmdir +outputs an error message. .P The command .I find -(with a rather baroque syntax) will find files with given name -or other properties. -For example, "find . \-name tel" would find -the file -.I tel -starting in the present directory (which is called +(which has a rather strange syntax) will find files with a given name +or other specified properties. +For example, "find . \-name tel" would find files with the name +.I tel , +starting the search in the current directory (which is represented by .IR . ). -And "find / \-name tel" would do the same, but starting at the root -of the tree. -Large searches on a multi-GB disk will be time-consuming, -and it may be better to use +Using the command "find / \-name tel" would do the same, +except it would it would start at the root of the directory tree. +Large searches on a multi-gigabyte disk can be time-consuming; +if you find yourself doing this, it may be more efficient to use .BR locate (1). .SS Disks and filesystems The command .I mount -will attach the filesystem found on some disk (or floppy, or CDROM or so) -to the big filesystem hierarchy. -And +will attach the filesystem found on a disk (or a USB drive, CD-ROM etc.) +to a directory in the filesystem hierarchy. +When you are finished working with your disk, you can use .I umount -detaches it again. +to detach it again. The command .I df -will tell you how much of your disk is still free. +will tell you how much of your disk's space is free. .SS Processes -On a UNIX system many user and system processes run simultaneously. -The one you are talking to runs in the +On a UNIX system, many user and system processes run simultaneously. +The one you are currently using (e.g. your shell) runs in the .IR foreground , -the others in the +while other processes run in the .IR background . The command .I ps -will show you which processes are active and what numbers these -processes have. +will list active processes and each one's ID. The command .I kill -allows you to get rid of them. -Without option this is a friendly -request: please go away. -And "kill \-9" followed by the number -of the process is an immediate kill. +allows you to stop processes. +Running +.I kill +without any options sends a friendly request to a process: +"please clean up and finish now". +If this doesn't work, you can use "kill \-9" followed by the ID of the +process to immediately kill it; the process will have no time to clean up. Foreground processes can often be killed by typing Control-C. .SS Getting information There are thousands of commands, each with many options. -Traditionally commands are documented on -.IR "man pages" , -(like this one), so that the command "man kill" will document -the use of the command "kill" (and "man man" document the command "man"). +Traditionally, commands are documented on +.I "man pages" +like this one. +Man pages can be accessed via the +.I man +command. +For example, the command "man kill" will bring up a manual +for the "kill" command. +"man man" will bring up a manual for +.I man +itself. The program .I man -sends the text through some +sends the text through a .IR pager , usually .IR less . -Hit the space bar to get the next page, hit q to quit. +Using +.IR less , +you can press the space bar to see the next page, the "b" key to see +the previous page, and "q" to quit. .P In documentation it is customary to refer to man pages -by giving the name and section number, as in +by using the name followed by the section number in brackets, as in .BR man (1). Man pages are terse, and allow you to find quickly some forgotten detail. @@ -280,10 +298,10 @@ Type "info info" for an introduction on the use of the program .IR info . .P -Special topics are often treated in HOWTOs. -Look in -.I /usr/share/doc/howto/en -and use a browser if you find HTML files there. +Some topics can be documented in HOWTO files. +To find these, look for HTML files in +.IR /usr/share/doc/howto/en , +and use a web browser to view them. .\" .\" Actual examples? Separate section for each of cat, cp, ...? .\" gzip, bzip2, tar, rpm -- 2.44.0
