Mac OS X & Unix.


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Special Forums UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers Mac OS X & Unix.
# 1  
Old 04-16-2002
Mac OS X & Unix.

Are the Terminal commands used in Mac OS 10.1.3 the same as those found on a real Unix system? if they are, what book would you recommend as a terminal refferance guide?

I already have 'The Missing Manual' by O'Reilly, but there ain't much in terms of managing the system via the terminal Smilie

Many Thanks. Smilie
# 2  
Old 04-16-2002
MAX OS X is a real UNIX system like every other of the myriad generic flavors of UNIX in the market, including LINUX systems.

In all flavors of UNIX/LINUX there are numerous variations of command line utilities and maturity of different software ports.

It is safe to say that MAC OS X is growing very fast, but does not have as many command line utilities (Yet!) as older UNIX systems. After all, MAC OS X is barely a year old!!!
# 3  
Old 04-16-2002
Ok...

¿ how do i call up the list of terminal commands ?


Cheers again Smilie
# 4  
Old 04-16-2002
You don't 'call up a list of terminal commands' in UNIX operating systems. The list is too long and exhaustive.

Most people with little experience buy a beginners or advanced reference book .....
# 5  
Old 04-17-2002
If you're using the "bash" shell (as I understand, bash isn't on an OS X system by default, you have to install it), you can get a fairly complete list by typing the tab key twice on a line all by itself.

For example, on a linux system, I did this:
$ [tab][tab]
Display all 2246 possibilities? (y or n)

If I typed "y", it would very quickly scroll a list of possible commands - I don't know of a way to capture it though, unless you used a telnet or ssh client that would log your connection...
# 6  
Old 04-20-2002
You can check out Fink (a MacOSX-based source and package manager) at http://fink.sourceforge.net

It will help you install and use hundreds of UNIX programs, more and more are added everyday. You can install the 'bash' shell if you like (MacOSX ships with 'tcsh' by defaut). There is a good bash manual http://www.linuxdoc.org on the 'Guides' section.

You can also check out various GUI UNIX frontends for MacOSX at http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx
Check out 'OpenMan' wich is a good manual page ('man page') frontend for MacOSX, very useful to learn CLI commands.

Quote:
It is safe to say that MAC OS X is growing very fast, but does not have as many command line utilities (Yet!) as older UNIX systems. After all, MAC OS X is barely a year old!!!
MacOSX is a year old but as you know it is NeXTSTEP based which is fairly old in itself (not mentioning its FreeBSD roots). There are so many commands and utilites that it's easy to get lost... Smilie Just installing 'cpan' opens a vast perl universe.


dani++
# 7  
Old 04-26-2002
here is a nice way to list all commands available to you.
Code:
% ls `echo $PATH | sed 's/:/ /g'` | more

NB: those are back-quotes enclosing front-quotes. you might be best served by just cutting and pasting this to your terminal.

this will list all commands available to you at your terminal, one screen at a time. this is not really a good way to begin using and understanding UNIX, because there will probably be lots of commands (100?), and you won t learn too much from just seeing them. most of them will have esoteric names that you won t understand. but you asked for it and here it is.

if you see a command that looks interesting, type:
Code:
% man commandname

to learn more

understanding how this command works will go a long way towards teaching you about how to use UNIX. here we have most basic UNIX concepts: piping, shell variables, regexpressions with sed, command substitution and basic file commands like ls, echo, and more.

Last edited by lethe; 04-26-2002 at 01:07 AM..
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

6 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

[solved] Where & what bash env file, Mac OS?

Hi! I wanted to simplify my bash prompt, so I edited my etc/bashrc file. I thought this was the file that would override any other env files. When I opened it, I saw that the way it was setup was not what my prompt looked like, although I forget exactly what was there. But i edited it the way I... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: sudon't
1 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to write If statement using && and operator in Unix

Hi What is the syntax for if statement using && and || operator? if && ] || here its giving me an error to this if statement any suggestion?? (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: Avi
2 Replies

3. OS X (Apple)

Mac OS X & UNIX

I just joined the Forum a few days ago! :) I have a mac book and decided to look under the hood. Low and behold, UNIX! To be honest, I know nothing about unix, but I want to learn. I have no real goals as of yet, other than to learn what I can. I do own a few domains hosted by a good company. ... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: fellojello
4 Replies

4. OS X (Apple)

MAC OS X : Q & A :

:confused: = :mad: = :eek: = We have the answear ;) (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: i[c]e
1 Replies

5. UNIX Desktop Questions & Answers

what is the difference between Unix & linux, what are the advantages & disadvantages

ehe may i know what are the difference between Unix & Linux, and what are the advantages of having Unix as well as disadvantages of having Unix or if u dun mind i am dumb do pls tell me what are the advantages as well as the disadvantages of having linux as well. thanks (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: cybertechmkteo
1 Replies

6. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Mac OS X & Web Dev

Could someone recommend a good book? Regarding Unix and Mac os X? I know the OS is new, but Unix ain't. I would like to know more about setting up the webserver on my machine. All the HTML works fine, it's just when i try to execute a cgi, php or a pl script.. :( I have tried and tried to... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: Chojin
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question