UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi All,
I am new to this forum and a beginner in unix. Please correct me if I put the question in a wrong way..
How to use emacs editor? Also how to open existing emacs files with .cgi format?

I have the following link :-

http link i.e. url and path : /abc/xyz.dev/xyz/documents

What do I click to get there?

Also, have a couple of cgi scripts.. abc.cgi etc.. how do i open them and understand the scripts without making any changes to the script..

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

If you don't know enough about emacs to even know how to start it, I would be very wary of editing a real file. You might get stuck, or damage it by mistake. Learn how to use the editor on some test files.

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If you get past the learning stage, are you in a command window or using some kind of GUI? If a command window, how about:

Code:

cd /abc/xyz.dev/xyz/documents
emacs abc.cgi

There is no such thing as an "emacs file", to my understanding. It is just a text file you are editing. Any text editor, including emacs, will edit the file. And there is no such thing as ".cgi format". If a cgi file is a text file, you can edit it. If it's a binary file, you will just see gobbledy-gook.

Thanks so much for your reply.

Since you meant damage .. Can you pls let me know dos and donts while i edit a file?
From your post i understand that in emacs editor- we edit text.. and it is just another editor in unix..

so given a unix path-
we type cd and - followed by that path mentioned /ab/c...docs

and then we type

2) emacs space and then name of file .cgi

correct me if i am wrong..

Once i open a .cgi file how do i understand the code??

Yes, you are correct, the emacs editor just edits text, it's just another unix editor.

I should disclose that I do not normally use emacs. I use vi (vim). But there is nothing wrong with emacs. emacs works fine. But it's probably a good idea to pick one or other other (vi or emacs), really concentrate on it, get it into your fingers. There is a topic about "favorite editor" that seems to indicate a strong preference for vi, so just possibly it might be a good idea to consider learning vi instead:

https://www.unix.com/unix-dummies-que...ryone-use.html

Yes, you just type cd, space, path, and then press Enter key. And the same thing for the file: emacs, space, then abc.cgi or whatever the name is.

Do's and dont's are just to make sure you don't mess anything up. For example, even besides being very counter-intuitive for new users, vi is infamous because it's easy to press the CAPS-LOCK key by mistake, and then all the commands are totally different and extremely confusing. Once it's happened a few times, the user knows about it. But the first time, it can be pretty scary.

That is a very complicated topic. You probably know that the CGI program sits on the server. The CGI program can be written in a compiled language, bash, perl, python, etc. The CGI program reads data from the browser (using either POST or GET), and then sends data back to the browser (for example, sends a new web page). The only way you are going to understand the CGI code is start with something simple, and read a book about CGI. I should note that CGI is pretty complex, especially because it can be hard to troubleshoot, because there are multiple things going on (client, server, CGI program). CGI is very useful and important.

Ok awesome reply! Thanks so much for crisp and clear ans.. Your reply is really appreciated.

Thank you for the kind words!

Also, can you suggest some good cgi ebooks?

---------- Post updated at 10:25 PM ---------- Previous update was at 10:09 PM ----------

How to get some test files for emacs.. where to download emacs and try out.. pls let me know..