How to Use This Book


We designed this book so that it can be used by different kinds of users. Use the following guidelines to find what is right for your needs.

If you are a new user, begin with Chapter 1, where you can read about the UNIX philosophy, what the UNIX System is, and what it does. Then read Chapter 2 to learn how to get started on your system including sending electronic mail. Chapters 3 and 4 will help you master basic UNIX System concepts, including files, directories, and command shells. Move on to Chapter 5 to learn how to use text editing on your files, and then continue with other chapters corresponding to your interests and needs.

If you have used command-line interfaces up until now and want to understand how to use graphical user interfaces (GUIs) such as GNOME, CDE, or KDE, read either Chapter 6 or 7 depending on which GUI you want to use.

If you want to understand basic user networking, read Chapters 8 through 10. These will help you to send mail, communicate with other systems, and use the Internet.

If you are either a new or experienced system administrator, read Chapters 11 through 14. These chapters will help you to perform your job more effectively.

If you are a network administrator, or a system administrator who also needs to administer networks, read Chapters 15 through 18. These chapters will help you manage your network, and help you to build a web server for your users.

If you are a developer, read Chapters 19 through 25. These chapters are designed to help you use tools, scripting, and programming languages to create useful applications for your environment.

If you manage a UNIX installation, want to use UNIX for professional work, or plan to develop a web site, read Chapters 26 and 27. Chapter 26 will help you locate and acquire some useful applications for your system, and Chapter 27 will help you develop web applications.

Conventions Used in This Book

The notation used in a technical book should be consistent and uniform. Unfortunately, the notation used by authors of books and manuals on UNIX varies widely. In this book we have adopted a consistent and uniform set of notations. For easy reference, we summarize these notation conventions here:

  • Commands, options, arguments, and user input appear in bold-for example ls.

  • Names of variables to which values must be assigned are in italics. Directory and filenames are also shown in italics. Electronic mail address, USENET newsgroups, and URLs of web sites are also in italics-for example, filename1.

  • Information displayed on your terminal screen is shown in constant width font. This includes command lines and responses from UNIX.

  • Input that you type in a command line, but that does not appear on the screen, for example, passwords, is shown within angle brackets-for example, < >.

  • Keys and key combinations are represented in small capitals-for example, CTRL-D, ESC, and ENTER.

  • In command-line and shell script illustrations, comments are set off by a # (pound sign)-for example, # THIS IS A COMMENT.

  • User input that is optional, such as command options and arguments, is enclosed in square brackets-for example, [option].




UNIX. The Complete Reference
UNIX: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Complete Reference Series)
ISBN: 0072263369
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 316

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