How to Use This Book

This book has been designed to be used as a tutorial and as a reference. Each major topic stands by itself, so you can read each chapter back to back or hopscotch around. If you're not interested in a particular chapter now, feel free to skip ityou can always come back later when you need to set up something new.

Each chapter begins with an overview of a new topic, followed by specific step-by-step tasks accompanied by illustrations and examples of the code you're being asked to input and the resulting output from the computer. Commands you type appear as the text at the beginning of the numbered steps, with a description after. For example:

1.

This is a command, as you'd type it.

This is a description about this step, the options available to you, and the consequences of your actions.

 code text 

Used for Unix command-line text, including Unix commands and filenames. If you see something in code text, it is literally what would be typed into or would come out of the computer. If a line of text is too long for this book's margins, it wraps to the next line. Just continue typing without pressing the Enter key until you get to the end of the line.

A Note to Mac Users

For simplicity's sake, I'm going to refer to your Control key as Ctrl, and your Return key as Enter (even though some Mac applications might treat Return and Enter differently). Most of the keyboards out there will have those. (In fact, my iBook's keyboard has Ctrl instead of Control, and the Enter key also has Return printed on it.) Please don't feel slighted . . . remember, you're using the most popular desktop Unix in the world!

 code highlight 

Used in code listings to distinguish the text you type in from text that comes from the computer.

 code italics 

These indicate text that you must type into the computer, but where you must substitute the appropriate value for the italicized text. For example, if you see

 ls -lF filename 

you would type the ls -lF part literally, and then the name of a file instead of filename.

body-text italics

Used for emphasis and also for unfamiliar words and phrases.

Code continuation

Wrapped lines begin with a continuation arrow that lets you know the line continues.

 SET PASSWORD FOR 'user' @ 'host' =  PASSWORD('pass'); 

Case-sensitivity

In Unix, filenames and command names are case-sensitive. Mac OS X and Windows preserve the case when they store filenames, though they're case-insensitive. This means that there are some situations in which COMMAND and command are the same, but because those are exceptions and because case-sensitivity is the Unix standard, we assume that all commands and filenames are case-sensitive unless otherwise noted.

Keyboard combinations, such as Ctrl-C, mean you need to hold down the Control key, then press C while still holding down Control.

Tip

• There are also handy tips, interesting (I hope!) tidbits, and more detailed information scattered throughout the chapters in notes. Look for these to increase your immersion in the land of Unix