Audience

This book should be of interest to Unix users and Unix programmers, as well as to anyone (such as a system administrator) who might offer direct support to users and programmers. The presentation is geared mainly toward people who are already familiar with the Unix system; that is, you know what you want to do, and you even have some idea how to do it. You just need a reminder about the details. For example, if you want to remove the third field from a database, you might think, "I know I can use thecut command, but what are the options?" In many cases, specific examples are provided to show how a command is used.

We have purposely chosen to omit system administration commands. System administration is a complicated topic in its own right, and the Bibliography lists several good books on this important subject.

This reference might also help people who are familiar with some aspects of Unix but not with others. Many chapters include an overview of the particular topic. While this isn't meant to be comprehensive, it's usually sufficient to get you started in unfamiliar territory.

Finally, if you're new to the Unix operating system, and you're feeling bold, you might appreciate this book as a quick tour of what Unix has to offer. The "Beginner's Guide" section in Chapter 1 can point you to the most useful commands, and you'll find brief examples of how to use them, but take note: this book should not be used in place of a good beginner's tutorial on Unix. (You might try Learning the Unix Operating System for that.) This reference should be a supplement, not a substitute. (There are references throughout the text to other relevant O'Reilly books that will help you learn the subject matter under discussion; you may be better off detouring to those books first. Also, see the Bibliography.)