Basic Unix commands
DOS to Unix command translations, plus the essentials
DOS Command
Unix Command
Descriptions
CD
cd
Change directory
CHKDSK
du
Disk usage
CLS
clear
Clear the current screen
COPY
cp
Copying files
DEL
rm
Removing files or directories
DIR
ls
File listing of directories
MD
mkdir
Create a directory
MORE
more
Type out a file with paging
lpr
Print out a file
RD
rmdir
Remove a directory
RENAME
mv
Moving files around
TYPE
cat
Type out files
Unix Command
Descriptions
rm file
Remove a file
rm file1 file2 …
Remove a number of files
rm -r directory
Remove a directory include the sub-directory
rmdir directory
Remove a directory
Unix Command
Descriptions
man cp
Display on-line manual for the “cp” command
man -k keyword
Display manual help file related to the keyword
passwd
Change your login password
pwd
Display the path name of where you are
uptime
Tell you how long the machine has been up and running
users
Tell you who is logging in
who
Tell you who is logging-in in detail
w
Tell you who is logging in and doing what!
whoami
Show you the owner of this account
finger user
Find out the personal information of a user
finger name
Try to find the person’s info. by his/her name
finger email-address
Try to find the person’s info across the network
write user
Write a message on somebody’s screen
talk user
Talk to the person logging in the same system with you
talk email-address
Talk to somebody logging in the network
date
Display today’s time and date
cal year
Display the calendar of the specified year (e.g. 1997)