Managing files in Unix

Part of using your Unity account involves organizing your files in your home directory and its subdirectories. Whether your files were created from a word processor, spreadsheet or electronic mail program, having them organized makes your account and your work much more manageable.

To see your home directory, move your cursor into an xterm window. If you don't have one open already, hold down MB2 and when the menu appears, drag your mouse down to the first option "new terminal window." Once this option is highlighted, release your mouse button. If you are dialing in, your cursor is already located at your home directory. You'll see a system prompt like one of the following:

unity%
                 
eos%

The prompt tells you that the computer is waiting for you to enter a command. At this point you could type the name of a program you want to run (for example an email program), or you could perform a file management task.

Here are links to various file management tasks you can accomplish in Unix.

• Andrew File System (AFS) at NC State
• Basic operations with files
  • Copying
  • Deleting (removing)
  • Directories
  • Listing
  • Moving
  • Naming
  • Renaming
  • Saving to a floppy disk
  • Saving to your AFS space
  • Types of files
  • Viewing
• Allowing access to your files
• Commands
  • Basics
  • Most-used commands
  • Index of commands
  • Combining commands (piping)
  • Redirecting commands (<>)
• Decompression/decoding
• Directing input/output
  • Moving processes around (fg/bg)
  • Listing your processes (ps/jobs)
  • Suspending processes
  • Killing processes (kill)
• Directories
  • Home, root and path explained
  • Creating
  • Copying
  • Changing from one to another
  • Moving files from one to another
  • Removing
  • Attaching
  • Shortcuts
• Printing
• Text editor (PICO)

For additional help with managing files in Unix, contact the NC State Help Desk.

Last modified June 18, 2007 by cawalker