Classic Shell Scripting - Arnold Robbins [7]
Appendix C
This chapter provides several lists of Unix commands. We recommend that you learn these commands and what they do to improve your skills as a Unix developer.
Bibliography
Here we list further sources of information about shell scripting with Unix.
Glossary
The Glossary provides definitions for the important terms and concepts introduced in this book.
Conventions Used in This Book
We leave it as understood that, when you enter a shell command, you press Enter at the end. Enter is labeled Return on some keyboards.
Characters called Ctrl-X, where X is any letter, are entered by holding down the Ctrl (or Ctl, or Control) key and then pressing that letter. Although we give the letter in uppercase, you can press the letter without the Shift key.
Other special characters are newline (which is the same as Ctrl-J), Backspace (the same as Ctrl-H), Esc, Tab, and Del (sometimes labeled Delete or Rubout).
This book uses the following font conventions:
Italic
Italic is used in the text for emphasis, to highlight special terms the first time they are defined, for electronic mail addresses and Internet URLs, and in manual page citations. It is also used when discussing dummy parameters that should be replaced with an actual value, and to provide commentary in examples.
Constant Width
This is used when discussing Unix filenames, external and built-in commands, and command options. It is also used for variable names and shell keywords, options, and functions; for filename suffixes; and in examples to show the contents of files or the output from commands, as well as for command lines or sample input when they are within regular text. In short, anything related to computer usage is in this font.
Constant Width Bold
This is used in the text to distinguish regular expressions and shell wildcard patterns from the text to be matched. It is also used in examples to show interaction between the user and the shell; any text the user types in is shown in Constant Width Bold. For example:
$ pwd
User typed this
/home/tolstoy/novels/w+p System printed this
$
Constant Width Italic
This is used in the text and in example command lines for dummy parameters that should be replaced with an actual value. For example:
$ cd
directory
* * *
Tip
This icon indicates a tip, suggestion, or general note.
* * *
* * *
Warning
This icon indicates a warning or caution.
* * *
References to entries in the Unix User's Manual are written using the standard style: name(N), where name is the command name and N is the section number (usually 1) where the information is to be found. For example, grep(1) means the manpage for grep in section 1. The reference documentation is referred to as the "man page," or just "manpage" for short.
We refer both to Unix system calls and C library functions like this: open( ), printf( ). You can see the manpage for either kind of call by using the man command:
$ man open
Look at open(2) manpage
$ man printf
Look at printf(3) manpage
When programs are introduced, a sidebar, such as shown nearby, describes the tool as well as its significant options, usage, and purpose.
* * *
Example
Usage
whizprog [ options ... ] [ arguments ... ]
This section shows how to run the command, here named whizprog.
Purpose
This section describes why the program exists.
Major options
This section lists the options that are important for everyday use of the program under discussion.
Behavior
This section summarizes what the program does.
Caveats
If there's anything to be careful of, it's mentioned here.
* * *
Code Examples
This book is full of examples of shell commands and programs that are designed to be useful in your everyday life as a user or programmer, not just to illustrate the feature being explained. We especially encourage you to modify and enhance them yourself.
The code in this book is published under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which allows copying, reuse, and modification of the programs.