Managing Files in Unix


When you send files across the Internet through email, update your website, store files on a home-based intranet, or play movies on your computer, you are working with data that takes up space on your system. Regardless of what system, Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, Unix, or Linux, you will need to have a spot to keep all this information you want to store.

This data is kept in storage space in the form of hard disks where your Unix system is most likely installed and where your data probably resides. Hard disks are commonly filled up and close to capacity in most cases. It always seems like you need more spacealthough over the years the amount of space that you can purchase seems incredibly high, most folks still pile on the data. However, there is no need to worry. That's why almost every operating system created comes with some form of archiving and compression utility. There are third party tools galore to perform this function as well. You may even find compression and archiving tools in your email client as well!

There are other reasons for knowing how to manage files in Unix when considering archiving and compression. For example, when you get updates, or need to install software on your Unix system, most likely you will receive this update in a compressed or archived manner and you will need to know how to utilize tools like tar. The tar tool allows you to install things on your Unix system. This is common if you are a systems administrator. As a Unix end user, you may not need to install anything but this is good to know regardless.

In this chapter, we will cover the Unix compression and archiving tools that you will need to use or become familiar with as Unix users. Before we move on, let's quickly review some of the commands you will need to know.



    SAMS Teach Yourself Unix in 10 Minutes
    Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 10 Minutes (2nd Edition)
    ISBN: 0672327643
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 170

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