- Using the man Command
- Using InfoExplorer
- Message of the Day
- Local System Information: the news Command
- Computing Center Documentation
- Computing Center Consulting
Some popular introductory books on Unix as well as books
that document more advanced topics are listed in
References.
Unix systems provide a variety of online
information to provide assistance to
new and experienced users. The available online assistance programs
will be the subject of the remainder of this chapter.
Using the man Command
The command reference manual for most Unix systems
is maintained online and may be
accessed with the man (MANual) command.
For the chosen command,
man displays
successive manual pages
one at a time.
After the first page is displayed, you may view the next page
by pressing the space bar. You must press the space bar
after each page in order to view the next page.
Syntax for the man command is:
man command_name
For example, to obtain help on the "man" command, enter:
man man
man will
continue displaying successive manual pages for the chosen
command until the last page is displayed.
On some systems you may go backward by pressing <b>.
You may exit at any time before the last page by pressing <q>.
For a listing of the commands available within man, press <h>.
The functions associated with each of the above keys takes effect
immediately after the indicated key is pressed; it is not necessary
to press <Return> after any of the man sub-commands.
Pressing <Return>,
within man, results in the screen scrolling down one line for each time
the <Return> key is pressed.
On many Unix systems, you can locate a specific test string within the
displayed man pages by entering a slash (/) followed by the text you
wish to locate.
man will typically display the following
information about each command:
- PURPOSE:
- provides a brief description of
the function(s) performed by the command.
- SYNTAX:
- describes how the command is entered.
- DESCRIPTION:
- provides a more complete description of how the
command is used.
- FLAGS:
- lists the options that are available for use with the
command.
- EXAMPLES:
- illustrates some of the most common applications of the
command with an example and description of the results you would expect.
- FILES:
- lists the files related to use of this command.
- RELATED INFORMATION:
- suggests references to other commands which
perform similar or related functions.
Exercise: Using man to Learn about the "ls" Command
If you have not done so already, copy the sample files to your userid
(see Sample Files).
Then enter the following commands and
observe the differences in the formatted output display
resulting from each command:
ls -F
ls -a
ls -l
ls -R
ls -laF
A dash is used to specify options to most Unix commands.
The last example illustrates how more than one option may be
specified when entering a command; it is not necessary to precede each
option with a dash.
Now read the man pages for the ls command and pay attention to the
descriptions for each of the above command flags:
man ls
Using InfoExplorer
The "info" command is available with the AIX operating system to
invoke the IBM InfoExplorer and is typically not found on other
implementations of Unix.
InfoExplorer enables you to access its data by a variety of paths,
e.g., by task, command name, or documentation source. It is thus a
powerful tool for exploring the capabilities of the AIX operating system.
It is most convenient to use InfoExplorer
as an X application.
After invoking the "info" command and the
introductory messages are displayed, a menu panel will appear.
If you have invoked InfoExplorer as an X application, you can use your
mouse to make selections; otherwise, you can move between menu options
using the <tab> key, press <Return> to make a selection, press
<Ctrl-W> to back through your prior selections, and press <Ctrl-C> to
exit.
Message of the Day
When you first logon to a Unix system a
welcome message
will typically
be displayed. The display may also include information about recent
changes to the system and the location of more detailed information
regarding the significance of these changes. Some Unix administrators
update their systems daily and it is important to read these messages.
If you would like to review the Message Of The Day later in your logon
session, enter:
cat /etc/motd
Local System Information: the news Command
The "news" command enables you to review the most currently posted system
information. Typically you will receive notification upon logon if
there is "news" waiting to be read. If so, simply enter:
news
If you have already read the most recent news, nothing will be displayed
in response to this command.
If you would like to reread some news that you had read previously,
enter:
news -a
If a news item is long, you may wish to
pipe
the output through the
more command
so that you can read it one
page at a time:
news -a | more
The Computing Center publishes a weekly online newsletter which describes
changes in the computing environment at Virginia Tech. You can access
current and past articles from this newsletter by entering the command:
fastline
Computing Center Documentation
You can access documentation prepared by the Virginia Tech Computing
Center staff by entering the command:
ccdocs
A listing of the guides currently available will be displayed.
Functions for viewing and printing these guides are listed at the bottom
of the screen display.
"ccdocs" is a Virginia Tech Computing Center specific command.
Computing Center Consulting
Consulting assistance for VTAIX and for general Unix questions is
available from the Virginia Tech Computing Center Consulting.
If you have system specific questions about a non-Computing Center
Unix system, contact your system administrator.
On-line help from Computing Center Consulting for VTAIX
is available by entering the command:
4help
"4help" provides a screen to enter information. This
information is put in a queue for attention by Computing Center
consultants. 4help requests may be entered at any time. During
consulting hours, most requests will be answered within 20 minutes.
After hours questions will remain in the queue and be attended to on
the morning of the next consulting day.
You may also obtain help from Computing Center Consulting by calling
231-HELP or 4-HELP (from on campus phones).
If you are using another VT Unix system which is connected to
Internet, you can request assistance for general Unix questions by
including a description of the problem in a mail message sent to
4help@vt.edu.
System specific questions
regarding non-Computing Center Unix systems should be forwarded to the corresponding system administrator.
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