1.2. Unix system programs.   

mail: Occasionally when you login, you will also get the message: 


      You have mail.

This means that someone has sent you a letter or a memo and it is waiting to be read. You may read your mail by typing: 

      % mail<return>

Any messages for you will now be typed out on your terminal. They will be dated and have the user name of the sender. You may normally be able to type "?" to get help in the mail program.

Most mail will be from me indicating assignments, etc, but it is possible to send mail to other people. If you save your mail it is put into a file on your area called mbox.

To send mail to someone, you must know their user name: 


      % mail saila <return>

      got your last message. See you sunday <return>

      bye-bye for now. Jocelyn<return>

      ^D

      %

This has sent the message "got your.... Jocelyn" to user saila i.e me. 

Note: The ^D is a standard Unix input terminator. It even

terminates your job!! Some Unix mail systems also ask for a subject

heading so that the receiver can categorise his/her mail (and

perhaps reject "junk" mail).

There are other mail programs, notably elm but I will let you find out how to use that yourself.

Do not abuse the mail system or you will be charged for it!! You may save your mail but if disk space is limited then it will be deleted by the system guru.

Changing or setting your password - passwd: 


        % passwd<return>

        Old password:                  Not echoed

        New password:                  "      "

        Check:                         "      "

        %

Note :If you had no password then the old password is not asked for.
:Check means type in your new password again in case you made a mistake the first time.
:None of the password is echoed.
:This is definitely a command you will use in the first week of semester else you will lose your account.

Who else is on the system at the moment - who 


      % who<return>

      [ information indicating user name

      their terminal number and when

      they logged on, of each user.  ]

      %

By typing "who am I" you may find out who you are. This is useful when someone leaves their terminal logged in. Send them some nasty mail indicating that next time you will delete all their files!!


How do I look at a file page by page - more 


     % more file.p<return>

     [ The file page at a time  ]

     By hitting the space bar you can get the next page of

     information. By typing 'q', you can quit the more program.

How do I get help? Use the man or manual program! 

      % man ls<return>

      [ Information on ls program  ]

      By hitting the space bar you can get the next page of

      information. By typing 'q', you can quit the man program.

      Try man more<return>.

What files do I have on my area? 

      % ls<return>

      [ name of all the files  ]

This is the list subdirectory program called ls.

To get more information than just the name of the file: 


      % ls -l<return>

This gives a long listing. To get information on just one or two files 

      % ls -l file1 file2 file3....... <return>