The df command

Do you want to see how much stupid space you have chucked full of lard since you first partitioned your hard drive? Do you not like stat's strange responses? Then use the df command. Short for disk-free, this command shows how large your Unix partition is and how much space is left within it. This is one of the simplest Unix commands.

Command posts

For sometime I will be focusing on particular commands and utilities that can be used at the shell prompt. I have already began an article on mt, and plan to add ones on tcopy, rndctl, wsconsctl (I think that's the right spelling), df, gzip, cron, inetd, motd, rmail, etc. Mt and tcopy, specifically, are very interesting because they are tape drive commands. Anyway, posts on those commands and others will come up soon.

xatapu

Archives

If you are new to this blog, feel free to look through the archives. I have plenty of posts on every thing from Apple machines to vi to zsh (well, not yet zsh). Also please subscribe to the blog's feed. I think the one on the main page doesn't work, so go to http://feeds.feedburner.com/unixcomputing and subscribe there. I will also have that link up in the sidebar very soon.

New stuff: My Discovery of Ubuntu!

Let's see......today I discovered Ubuntu. I had heard of Xubuntu, Ubuntu with Xfce (the mini, mousey Unix desktop environment) from a friend at the Computer Club, and, after asking a few questions, decided to learn more about Ubuntu. So I googled it and went to Ubuntu's homepage, www.ubuntu.org (I could have guessed that url). I learned there that Ubuntu is a free, simple ("Linux for Humans") distro of Linux that normally comes with GNOME, but can also come with either KDE or XFCE. It also is available as either a server or a desktop package. Hmmm........a bit of a better interface than sash :) . Maybe I will consider using this on a small notebook......
Still, I think NetBSD suits me well and I will stick with that system for now.

Command of the week: ! ls

Yes, this week's command is (gasp!) ls. This seemingly simple Unix command actually is very useful and efficient (especially compared to its DOS counterpart, dir). Ls simply shows the contents of a present directory (list to ls), but with options it can be very adjustable and "pliant." For example, ls -l lists files in the directory and their accessibiltiy conditions, like this:


drwx------ 2 users 4096 Nov 2 19:51 mail/
drwxr-s--- 35 www 32768 Jan 20 22:39 public_html/
-rw------- 1 users 3 Nov 25 02:58 test.txt

(example from http://www.computerhope.com/unix/uls.htm)

Or, for another example, ls -a will show all hidden system files, like this:

$ (or % or >) ls -a
.cshrc .history .bash coolstuff.vi HelloWorld.c a.out
$

While........

$ ls
coolstuff.vi HelloWorld.c a.out
$

There are many other ls options. For more info. about them, do man ls at your shell prompt or go to these other sites:

Linux and UNIX ls command help / Concise chart of ls options / http://www.computerhope.com/unix/uls.htm
Ls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia / Wiki article about ls / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ls
Unix ls command / Technical details about ls and explanation of its useage / http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/law/UnixStuff/ls.html
Unix man pages : ls () / the technical man explanation of ls / http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?ls

Shells

No, I'm not talking about seashells. I'm talking about Unix shells. You know, tcsh, bash, csh, ksh, sh, etc. Maybe you change shells regularly, or maybe you just stick to one shell. I personally like the bash shell, or the GNU Born Again shell. I use bash 3.1. Shells differ in syntax, in style, in purpose, and in quality (of course). What shell(s) do you like? What shell(s) do you like to hate?

Command of the week: grep

I have decided to post a short article each week on a particular Unix command. This will be helpful to you readers out there, as you may review on your Unix scripting and shell commands (maybe for those of you users out there who stick to X and KDE for most of your work;) ), and it may also teach you new things that you didn't know about the command. It will also teach me new commands (I am not that "well versed", but I can get by pretty easily when I use the shell) and Unix techniques. Usually there will be a description of the command, but for today you can refer to my grep post.