unix_guide

next up previous
Next: Getting Started

Physics Linux System
User's Guide

A short introduction to the most commonly used Unix (Linux) commands. For more info, read a book¹or read the info pages.

Welcome to McGill.

Before we start, let's talk about a few basic rules you must respect.

The computer on your desktop is not yours. It belongs to the Department. It is loaned to you so that you can do physics. Please do not abuse this privilege.
If any serious problem occurs, do not try to deal with it yourself. Contact the operators at operators@physics.mcgill.ca (Paul and Juan).
Never turn off, reset or reboot your computer. Our computers are shared resources. Others may be running jobs on your desktop. In case of emergency, contact the system operators.
The above principles also apply to the printers. In addition, our printers need special transparency films. Never use ordinary transparency films in the printers. It will jam. Ask the system operators for the transparency films.
Never unplug anything or plug in anything without permission.
If you bring your laptop, you must ask your supervisor to get you a new ethernet socket to connect to the Net. Never unplug the ethernet connection from your desktop. In addition, if your laptop is running Windows, it is your responsibility to make sure that it is properly firewalled and updated constantly with the latest Microsoft patches.
You are not allowed to set up switches, hubs or your own wireless networks.
Do not abuse your disk space. Keep only the necessary files on your disk. Personal items should be promptly transferred to your own computer.

Quick Reference

Changing Password

Information

info : To find out about a command.
(ex) info lpr
To search info pages for a keyword
info --apropos=keyword
man : To read a manual page about a command.
(ex) man lpr

Directory related commands

File & Directory related commands

cp : To copy a file or a directory.
(ex) cp original copy
(ex) cp -r original_dir copy_dir (Be careful with this!)
mv : To move a file or a directory.
(ex) mv old_name new_name
rm : To remove a file.
(ex) rm file
more or less : To read a file.
(ex) less unix.txt
nedit, kdedit, vi, emacs : To edit a file.
(ex) nedit unix.txt
tar : To collect a number of files and directories in one big file.
To make : tar cvf all_files.tar file1 file2 files*
To un-tar : tar xvf all_files.tar
gzip or bzip2 : To compress a big file.
(ex) gzip all.tar
gunzip or bunzip2 : To decompress a zipped file.
(ex) gunzip all.tar.gz

Compiling and running programs

gcc or cc : C Compiler.
(ex) gcc -o prog_name file.c files.*.c -lm
g77 or f77 : Fortran 77 Compiler.
(ex) g77 -o prog_name file.f files.*.f
qsub : To submit to the batch que.
<ctrl>c : To interrupt a running program.
<ctrl>z : To suspend a running program.
bg : To run the suspended job in the background.
fg : To run the suspended job in the foreground or to bring a job in the background to the foreground.
jobs : To list your jobs running in the background.
ps -u : To list all of your processes
kill : To kill a job or a process

L^ATEX, PostScript, PDF, Printing

latex : To latex a L^ATEXfile.
(ex) latex unix.tex
xdvi : To preview a .dvi file on an X-terminal.
(ex) xdvi unix.dvi
dvips : To make a PostScript (ps) file from a dvi file to preview or to print.
(ex) dvips unix.dvi -o unix.ps
gv: To preview a ps file or a pdf file.
(ex) gv unix.ps
dvips -Ppdf : To make a pdf-ready ps file
(ex) dvips -Ppdf unix.dvi -o unix.ps
ps2pdf: To make a pdf file from a ps file.
(ex) ps2pdf unix.ps
acroread, xpdf, gv: To preview and print a pdf file.
(ex) acroread unix.pdf
(ex) xpdf unix.pdf
lpr : To print a PostScript file or a text file.
(ex) lpr unix.ps
lpstat or lpq : To ask a printer how it is doing.

E-mail, WWW, Connecting

pine : To read and send e-mails.
- To read an email, just enter.
- To `compose' a new email, press c.
- To `reply', press r.
- To `delete', press d.
- To `save', press s.
- To change levels, use <, >
- To send files, use `attachment'.
- To quit pine, press q.
mail person@some.where.com < file : To send an ascii file without going through an e-mail program.
mozilla & : To run the web-browser Mozilla in the background
~/WWW : Your McGill homepage location if you are with HEP/TNP/ASTRO.
/WWW/user_name : Your McGill homepage location if you are with CMP/GANG.
ssh user_name@other.machine.some.where : To securely login to other computers. Also use this to connect from home.
scp : To securely copy a file from one machine to another.
(ex) scp file_1 user_name@other.machine.some.where:file_2
(ex) scp user_name@other.machine.some.where:file_1 file_2
sftp : To securely transfer files from one account another
To get your mails from outside McGill: Log in using ssh and do pine.
Or, configure your browser/outlook with IMAP with SSL and set the Incoming server to hepmailhost.physics.mcgill.ca (for HEP/TNP/ASTRO)
or imap.physics.mcgill.ca (for CMP/GANG). SMTP is mx1.hep.physics.mcgill.ca port number 587.

Other useful commands and programs

ypchsh : To switch your shell globally. Default is tcsh.
chmod : To change the attribute of a file or a directory.
Usage: chmod [ugoa][+-][rwx] file
df : To check filesystem disk space usage
du : To check your own disk space usage
convert : To convert one graphics format to another.
(ex) convert picture.eps picture.jpg
display : To view a graphics file
(ex) display picture.jpg
nice : To be nice to other people using the same machine
(ex) nice convert huge_picture.eps huge_picture.jpg
< : Treat the lines in a file as keyboard inputs (STDIN: standard input).
(ex) prog < input_dat
> : To redirect the standard output (STDOUT) of a program to a file.
(ex) prog < input_data > output_data
>> : To append the output of a program to a file.
(ex) prog < input_data >> output_data
| : Pipe. To pass STDOUT as a file.
(ex) grep verb unix.tex | less
grep : To globally search for a regular expression and print the lines containing it.
(ex) grep verb unix.tex

next up previous
Next: Getting Started

Sangyong Jeon 2007年09月18日