Technology Support Center

Using the Korn Shell (ksh) on BGResearch

The following table describes some common Unix commands and features of the Korn (ksh) used on bgresearch.

Command or feature	ksh (on bgresearch)
Commands executed when logging in	.profile
Commands executed with each process	.kshrc
Display the contents of a file on the screen	cat
Return to the login directory	cd
Change default directory to directory-name	cd directory-name
Clear the terminal screen	clear
Copy file source to dest	cp source dest
Interrupt the execution of the current program	[Control]-c
Log off the system	exit or [Control]-d
List files waiting to be printed	lpq
Send a file to the printer	cslpr filename
Lists the files in the current directory	ls
Lists the files in the current directory, with more info.	ls -l
Create a subdirectory called dir-name	mkdir dir-name
Display information about a unix command	man command
View a file one page at a time	more filename
Rename a file	mv old-name new-name
Change your password	passwd
Save a session in a photo file	photo log-file-name
Create or edit a file	vi filename or pico filename
Display the current default directory	pwd
Delete (remove) a file	rm filename
Delete (remove) an empty directory	rmdir dirname
Redirect standard output to a file	command > file
Redirect standard output and errors to a file	command > file 2>&1
Create an alias	alias m='more'
Remove an alias	unalias m
List command history	history
Reexecute the previous command	r
Reexecute the previous command changing ab to xy	r ab=xy
Reexecute the fifth command in the history list	r 5
Reexecute the last command that started with vi	r vi
Define a function	function fun { commands }
Execute a function	fun
Delete a function	unset -f fun
Represents home directory of current user	~
Represents home directory of user jsmith	~jsmith
Represents current working directory	. (period) or ~+
Represents previous working directory	~-
Compile a C++ program	g++ prog.cpp
Compile a C++ program for use with debugger	g++ -g prog.cpp
Complete a partial filename	Press [Esc] then \

To set your bgunix prompt to be the current working directory, add the following line to $HOME/.profile : export PS1='$PWD>'

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