UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello guys, I'm brand new to UNIX. I've installed Cygwin as recommended, but here are some problems. Well, man command doesn't work and I also don't know how to create a file or even how to type (). With () the program gives me an error message. Please tell me how to do all these things. Best regards, Wade

What shell are you using? Did man ever get installed? Did you install any sort of editor? What program gives you what error message when you type ()?

Since you are really confused let's try:
1. type in the commands exactly as given below- to type a command use lowercase, press the ENTER key at the end of the line - note: the words in uppercase HAVE to be uppercase. The $ is required in front of $SHELL.

Code:

echo $SHELL
which man

2. Next, copy the results (or transcribe them) and post them here so we can see the results.

and with regard () all by itself like that - it is two characters: open paren ( and close paren ). As you wrote it, for most shells (what the $SHELL thing shows) ( ) does nothing. Those characters are shift-9 and shift-0 on most keyboards.

echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

which man
/usr/bin/man

Did you install any sort of editor? What program gives you what error message when you type ()?