try:

/usr/bin/whereis echo

If that output a valid path to 'echo' then:

$output_path/echo "test"

Normally echo resides in /bin:

/bin/echo "test"

__________________
Patrick Van der Veken - UNIX consultant (c) 2001 - 2001 http://www.baanboard.com - http://www.ux-core.com
'True strength lies in gentleness' - Irish proverb

Thanks again, but still no joy

These are the commands I've found to be active so far:

cat filename (no switches.)
echo (printing $input but not its contents to the shell.)
finger username
who
whoami
cd (permission denied for most movement.)
ls directoryname (no switches.)
vi (displays Must be root.)
pine (displays cannot connect to host.)
pico (displays Must be root.)
StartX (displays cannot access terminal.)

I've found a shadowed password file, although the passwd file contains user who do not have passwords attached to their usernames. However I cannot change user.

Unsuccessful commands:

su
find
grep
mkdir
mv
cp
lp
chfn
chmod
chuser
chsh
find
FTP
talk
ypcat passwd
passwd
rmdir
man

As you can see, it is pretty restrictive. I've even grabbed myself a free shell account at sdf.lonestar.org, and it's not helping me. I'm not sure if 'obscure' commands are being called for or not.

Any other suggestions?

hellz.

Mmm, are you sure you are running a Linux shell and not some weird DOS program? I give up!

__________________
Patrick Van der Veken - UNIX consultant (c) 2001 - 2001 http://www.baanboard.com - http://www.ux-core.com
'True strength lies in gentleness' - Irish proverb

lol, nope it's definitely a csh I wish it was DOS, I wouldn't have a problem with that! The most irritating thing for me is that I can't use any scripting at all and I've got no idea how Unix/Linux systems work.

Thanks for trying though, I really appreciate it

hellz.

I'm not sure what useful information can be
gleened from trying to find holes in an
extremely restrictive environment but anyway,
I'd be curious to know if "env" or "set"
gives you any information about your environment.
Since most of your commands are "disabled" or
unusable, I'm not sure what help I (or anyone
else) will be. Sorry about that

Thanks for the replies everyone, it looks like I'm at a dead end. I'll post back if I find the answer! Thank you all so very very much!

hellz.

You mentioned that whoami works... who does it say you are?