02-05-2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bbilheimer
What about the differences between du and ls?
man du, man ls
The former tells you about "disk usage", that is: how much space is used by a file or a part of a directory tree. The following method will tell you how much space is used by which part of the file hierarchy:
cd to a directory
issue "du -ks * | sort -rn"
You will get a list of files/directories with their respective space used sorted reversely by size. If you find a directory in this list with an abnormal size, then change into it and repeat the command there to see which files/directory is responsible for that, and so forth.
The latter command (ls) is to list directory information: my system (AIX) lacks the -h option you seem to find so useful, but it has ~20 other options to tailor the output to exactly your needs. Most of the times i use "ls -l" or "ls -lai", "ls -lrt" to get the files sorted by time and for everything else i look into the manpage for reference. Nobody knows all the options of "ls" by heart, it is for most of us a mixture of having a general grasp of what to use and a knowledge of where to find additional information when it is needed.
Quote:
Do most people use the latter even though it's not a very simple output?
Most common is "ls -l", but only because there is all the information you "normally" need. Use whatever is suited to your needs, there is no "One True Way" as with churches: UNIX is an ecumenical system, so to say. ;-))
Quote:
Are there better ways of doing it? I ask because I'm always surprised by little neat tricks and tips people have here and there.
What is "better" is defined by what you want to accomplish: there is no "better" way to get the information "ls -l" provides than issuing "ls -l", etc. The "neat little tricks" are just to strip some abundance of information down to the very minimum you need for a specific task.
If you think you need that set of info on a regular basis use "alias" and "function" to make it easier accessible, as ghostdog74 has already told you.
bakunin
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LEARN ABOUT POSIX
mkfontdir
MKFONTDIR(1) General Commands Manual MKFONTDIR(1)
NAME
mkfontdir - create an index of X font files in a directory
SYNOPSIS
mkfontdir [-n] [-x suffix] [-r] [-p prefix] [-e encoding-directory-name] ... [--] [directory-name ... ]
DESCRIPTION
For each directory argument, mkfontdir reads all of the font files in the directory searching for properties named "FONT", or (failing
that) the name of the file stripped of its suffix. These are converted to lower case and used as font names, and, along with the name of
the font file, are written out to the file "fonts.dir" in the directory. The X server and font server use "fonts.dir" to find font files.
The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depend on configuration parameters, but typically include PCF (suffix ".pcf"), SNF (suffix
".snf") and BDF (suffix ".bdf"). If a font exists in multiple formats, mkfontdir will first choose PCF, then SNF and finally BDF.
The first line of fonts.dir gives the number of fonts in the file. The remaining lines list the fonts themselves, one per line, in two
fields. First is the name of the font file, followed by a space and the name of the font.
SCALABLE FONTS
Because scalable font files do not usually include the X font name, the file "fonts.scale" can be used to name the scalable fonts in the
directory. The fonts listed in it are copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir. "fonts.scale" has the same format as the "fonts.dir" file, and
can be created with the mkfontscale(1) program.
FONT NAME ALIASES
The file "fonts.alias", which can be put in any directory of the font-path, is used to map new names to existing fonts, and should be
edited by hand. The format is two white-space separated columns, the first containing aliases and the second containing font-name pat-
terns. Lines beginning with "!" are comment lines and are ignored.
If neither the alias nor the value specifies the size fields of the font name, this is a scalable alias. A font name of any size that
matches this alias will be mapped to the same size of the font that the alias resolves to.
When a font alias is used, the name it references is searched for in the normal manner, looking through each font directory in turn. This
means that the aliases need not mention fonts in the same directory as the alias file.
To embed white space in either name, simply enclose it in double-quote marks; to embed double-quote marks (or any other character), precede
them with back-slash:
"magic-alias with spaces" ""font name" with quotes"
regular-alias fixed
If the string "FILE_NAMES_ALIASES" stands alone on a line, each file-name in the directory (stripped of its suffix) will be used as an
alias for that font.
ENCODING FILES
The option -e can be used to specify a directory with encoding files. Every such directory is scanned for encoding files, the list of
which is then written to an "encodings.dir" file in every font directory. The "encodings.dir" file is used by the server to find encoding
information.
The "encodings.dir" file has the same format as "fonts.dir". It maps encoding names (strings of the form CHARSET_REGISTRY-CHARSET_ENCODING
) to encoding file names.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-e Specify a directory containing encoding files. The -e option may be specified multiple times, and all the specified directories
will be read. The order of the entries is significant, as encodings found in earlier directories override those in later ones;
encoding files in the same directory are discriminated by preferring compressed versions.
-n do not scan for fonts, do not write font directory files. This option is useful when generating encoding directories only.
-p Specify a prefix that is prepended to the encoding file path names when they are written to the "encodings.dir" file. The prefix is
prepended as-is. If a `/' is required between the prefix and the path names, it must be supplied explicitly as part of the prefix.
-r Keep non-absolute encoding directories in their relative form when writing the "encodings.dir" file. The default is to convert rel-
ative encoding directories to absolute directories by prepending the current directory. The positioning of this options is signifi-
cant, as this option only applies to subsequent -e options.
-x suffix
Ignore fonts files of type suffix.
-- End options.
FILES
fonts.dir List of fonts in the directory and the files they are stored in. Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server and font
server each time the font path is set (see xset(1)).
fonts.scale List of scalable fonts in the directory. Contents are copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir. Can be created with
mkfontscale(1).
fonts.alias List of font name aliases. Read by the X server and font server each time the font path is set (see xset(1)).
encodings.dir List of known encodings and the files they are stored in. Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server and font server each
time a font with an unknown charset is opened.
SEE ALSO
X(7), Xserver(1), mkfontscale(1), xfs(1), xset(1)
X Version 11 mkfontdir 1.0.7 MKFONTDIR(1)