UNIX 98 Command Reference

Command

UNIX98

UNIX95

POSIX.2

SVID3

4.3BSD

GNU

See Related

Description

cite

comments

admin

d

d

.

m

.

-

cvs

Add files to SCCS or change options of SCCS files.

1

alias

m

m

m

.

m

m

unalias

Assign a short name as a synonym for a command

2

ar

m

m

o

m

m

o

Maintain a group of files that are combined into a file archive. Used most commonly to create and update library files as used by the loader (ld).

3

asa

m

m

o

.

.

-

fpr

Prints FORTRAN files to in line-printer conventions.

4

at

m

m

m

m

m

m

batch, crontab

Execute commands entered on standard input at a specified time and optional date.

3

awk

m

m

m

m

m

m

nawk, gawk

Use the pattern-matching program to process the specified files.

3

basename

m

m

m

m

m

m

dirname

Given a pathname, strip the path prefix and leave just the filename, which is printed on standard output.

3

batch

m

m

m

m

.

m

at

Execute commands entered on standard input. End with EOF. Unlike at, which executes commands at a specific time, batch executes commands one after another (waiting for each one to complete).

3

bc

m

m

m

.

m

o

Interactively perform arbitrary-precision arithmetic or convert numbers from one base to another.

3

bg

m

m

m

.

m

m

fg,jobs

Put current job or jobIds in the background.

5

c89

m

m

o

.

.

o

cc,c99,gcc

ANSI X3.159-1989 (ANSI C Language) standard-conforming compilation system..

6

c99

.

.

.

.

.

o

cc,c89,gcc

ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (ISO C Language, adopted by ANSI in 2000) standard-conforming compilation system

cal

m

m

.

m

m

m

Cal displays a simple calendar.

7

calendar

l

m

.

m

m

-

Read your calendar file and display all lines that contain the current date.

3

cancel

l

m

.

m

.

l

lp

Cancel print requests made with lp.

3

cat

m

m

m

m

m

m

Read one or more files and print them on standard output.

3

cc

l

m

.

m

m

o

c89,c99,gcc

Compile one or more C source files (file.c), assembler source files (file.s), or preprocessed C source files (file.i).

3

cd

m

m

m

m

m

m

Change directory. Cd is a built-in shell command.

3

cflow

d

d

.

m

.

o

Produce an outline (or flowchart) of external function calls for the C, lex, yacc, assembler, or object files.

3

chgrp

m

m

m

m

m

m

Change the group ownership of one or more files.

3

chmod

m

m

m

m

m

m

Change the access mode of one or more files.

3

chown

m

m

m

m

m

m

Change the user ownership of one or more files

3

cksum

m

m

m

.

.

o

Calculate and print a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for each file.

3

cmp

m

m

m

m

m

m

Compare file1 with file2.

3

col

l

m

.

m

m

o

Col filters out reverse (and half reverse) line feeds so the output is in the correct order

7

comm

m

m

m

m

m

m

Compare lines common to the sorted files file1 and file2.

3

command

m

m

m

.

.

m

alias,hash

Bypass any aliases or functions that may be defined

5

compress

m

m

.

m

m

-

gzip

Reduce the size of one or more files using adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding and move to file.Z.

3

Unisys Patent

cp

m

m

m

m

m

m

Copy SOURCE to DEST, or multiple SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.

8

cpio

l

m

.

m

.

m

Copy file archives in from, or out to, tape or disk, or to another location on the local machine.

3

crontab

m

m

m

m

.

m

Run crontab on your current crontab file

3

csplit

m

m

m

m

.

m

Split a file into sections determined by context lines

8

ctags

d

d

m

m

m

o

Create a list of function and macro names that are defined in the specified C, Pascal, FORTRAN, yacc, or lex source files.

3

cu

l

m

.

m

.

-

uugetty?

Call another UNIX system (via phone modem)

9

cut

m

m

m

m

.

m

paste, join

Select a list of columns or fields from one or more files.

3

cxref

d

d

.

m

.

-

Build a cross-reference table for each of the C source files.

3

date

m

m

m

m

m

m

Print or set the system date and time

8

dd

m

m

m

m

m

m

Convert and copy a file

8

useful to dump block device images to backup file

delta

d

d

.

m

.

-

cvs, diff

Incorporate changes (add a delta) to one or more SCCS files.

1

df

m

m

m

m

m

m

Report filesystem disk space usage

8

diff

m

m

m

m

m

o

delta

Reports lines that differ between file1 and file2.

3

dircmp

l

m

.

m

.

-

Compare the contents of dir1 and dir2.

3

dirname

m

m

m

m

.

m

Print pathname, excluding last level.

3

dis

o

o

.

m

.

-

as

Disassemble the object or archive files.

3

du

l

m

m

m

m

m

Print disk usage

3

echo

m

m

m

m

m

m

Write string to standard output

5

ed

m

m

m

m

m

m

The standard text editor.

3

egrep

l

m

m

m

.

m

Search one or more files for lines that match a regular expression

3

env

m

m

m

m

.

m

Display the current environment

3

ex

m

m

m

m

m

m

ed,vi

A line-oriented text editor; A superset of ed and the root of vi.

3

expand

m

m

m

.

m

m

Expand tab characters into appropriate number of spaces.

3

expr

m

m

m

m

m

m

Evaluate arguments as [mathematical] expressions and print the result.

3

false

m

m

m

m

m

m

A do-nothing command that returns an unsuccessful (nonzero) exit status.

3

fc

m

m

m

.

m

m

hist

Display or edit commands in the history list.

5

fix command

fg

m

m

m

.

m

m

bg

Bring current job or jobIds to the foreground.

5

fgrep

l

m

m

m

.

m

grep

Search one or more files for lines that match a literal, text-string pattern.

3

fast grep, does not support regex

file

m

m

m

m

m

m

Classify the named files according to the type of data they contain. File checks the magic file (usually /etc/magic) to identify many common file types.

3

find

m

m

m

m

m

m

locate, whereis, whatis

Find descends the directory tree beginning at each pathname and locates files that meet the specified conditions.

3

fold

m

m

m

.

m

m

wrap each input line to fit in specified width

8

fort77

f

f

o

.

.

.

ar, asa, c89, c99

ANSI X3.9-1978 (ANSI FORTRAN) compilation system

10

fuser

m

.

.

.

m

lsof, ps

identify processes using files or sockets

11

gencat

m

m

.

.

.

m

iconv

Append (or merge) messages contained in one or more msgfiles with the formatted message database file.

10

compiles multi-lingual text prompts into a message object (*.mo) database which can be linked into an executable

get

d

d

.

m

.

.

cvs

Retrieve a text version of an SCCS file.

1

getconf

m

m

.

.

.

m

Print the values of all system configuration variables.

3

getopts

m

m

.

.

.

m

Process command-line arguments (or args, if specified) and check for legal options.

5

grep

m

m

m

m

m

m

fgrep

Search one or more files for lines that match a regular expression regexp.

3

hash

m

m

.

.

m

m

alias, command

List, add, or remove commands in the hash table. As the shell finds commands along the search path ($PATH), it remembers the found location in an internal hash table.

5

Bourne Shell command. Korn's "alias -t" option emulates this behavior.

head

m

m

m

m

m

m

tail

Print first 10 lines of each FILE to standard output.

8

iconv

m

m

.

.

.

m

gencat

Convert the contents of file from one character set (from_encoding) to another (to_encoding).

3

id

m

m

m

m

.

m

w, who, whoami

Prints information about the given user, or the process running it if no user is specified.

8

ipcrm

m

.

.

.

.

m

ipcs

Remove a message queue, semaphore set, or shared memory identifier as specified by the options.

3

ipcs

m

.

.

.

.

m

ipcrm

Print data about active interprocess communication facilities.

3

jobs

m

m

m

.

m

m

bg, fg

List all running or stopped jobs, or list those specified by jobIds.

5

join

m

m

m

m

m

m

join lines of two files on a common field

8

kill

m

m

m

m

m

m

killall,ps,lsof,fuser

Terminate one or more process Ids. You must own the process or be a privileged user.

3

lex

d

d

o

m

m

o

yacc, bison,flex

Generate a lexical analysis program (named lex.yy.c) based on the regular expressions and C statements contained in one or more input files.

3

line

l

m

.

m

.

.

Read the next line from standard input and write it to standard output.

3

link

m

.

.

.

m

m

ln

Make a hard link via the link syscall

8

lint

ld

d

.

m

m

.

Detect bugs, portability problems, and other possible errors in the specified C programs.

3

ln

m

m

m

m

m

m

link

Create pseudonyms (links) for files, allowing them to be accessed by different names.

3

"ln -s" will create symbolic links which can span across filesystems.

locale

m

m

m

.

.

m

localedef

Summarizes the current locale environment for each locale category defined by the LC_* environment variables.

13

3rd BSD

localedef

m

m

m

.

.

m

locale

Localedef reads a locale definition either on standard input or from the file named with the -i option.

3

logger

m

m

m

.

m

m

a shell command interface to the syslog(3) system log module

13

4.3 BSD

logname

m

m

m

m

.

m

who, whoami

Display your login name.

3

lp

m

m

m

m

.

m

Send files to the printer.

3

lpstat

l

m

.

m

.

m

Print the lp print queue status.

3

ls

m

m

m

m

m

m

List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).

8

m4

d

d

.

m

m

mail

l

m

.

m

m

mailx

m

m

m

m

.

make

d

d

m

m

m

man

m

m

m

.

m

mesg

m

m

m

m

m

mkdir

m

m

m

m

m

mkfifo

m

m

m

.

.

more

m

m

m

m

m

mv

m

m

m

m

m

newgrp

m

m

m

m

.

nice

m

m

m

m

m

nl

m

m

.

m

.

nm

d

d

m

m

m

nohup

m

m

m

m

.

od

m

m

m

m

m

pack

l

m

.

m

.

paste

m

m

m

m

.

patch

m

m

m

.

m

pathchk

m

m

m

.

.

pax

m

m

m

.

.

pcat

l

m

.

m

.

pg

l

m

.

m

.

pr

m

m

m

m

m

printf

m

m

m

m

.

prs

d

d

.

m

.

ps

m

m

m

m

m

pwd

m

m

m

m

m

read

m

m

m

.

m

renice

m

m

m

.

m

rm

m

m

m

m

m

rmdel

d

d

.

m

.

rmdir

m

m

m

m

m

sact

d

d

.

m

.

sccs

d

d

.

m

sed

m

m

m

m

m

sh

m

m

m

m

m

sleep

m

m

m

m

m

sort

m

m

m

m

m

spell

l

m

.

m

m

split

m

m

m

m

m

strings

m

m

m

.

m

strip

d

d

o

m

m

stty

m

m

m

m

m

sum

l

m

.

m

m

tabs

m

m

m

m

m

tail

m

m

m

m

m

talk

m

m

m

.

m

tar

l

m

m

m

m

tee

m

m

.

m

m

test

m

m

m

m

m

time

m

m

m

m

m

touch

m

m

m

m

m

tput

m

m

m

.

m

tr

m

m

m

m

m

TRUE

m

m

m

m

m

tsort

m

m

.

m

m

tty

m

m

m

m

m

type

m

m

.

.

m

ulimit

m

m

.

.

m

umask

m

m

m

m

.

unalias

m

m

m

.

m

uname

m

m

m

m

.

uncompress

m

m

.

m

.

unexpand

m

m

m

.

.

unget

d

d

.

m

.

uniq

m

m

m

m

m

unlink

m

.

.

.

m

unpack

l

m

.

m

.

uucp

m

m

.

m

m

uudecode

m

m

m

m

m

uuencode

m

m

m

m

m

uulog

l

m

.

m

m

uuname

l

m

.

m

m

uupick

l

m

.

m

.

uustat

m

m

.

m

.

uuto

l

m

.

m

.

uux

m

m

.

m

m

val

d

d

.

m

.

vi

m

m

m

m

m

wait

m

m

m

m

m

wc

m

m

m

m

m

what

d

d

.

m

m

who

m

m

m

m

m

write

m

m

m

m

m

xargs

m

m

m

m

.

yacc

d

d

o

m

m

zcat

m

m

.

m

.

sources cited

cite	source	Additional Info	Copyright
1	O'Reilly & Associates, Unix in a Nutshell 3rd Edition	Chapter 18. The Source Code Control System	2000
2	O'Reilly & Associates, Linux in a Nutshell 2nd Edition	Chapter 4. The Bourne Again Shell	1999
3	O'Reilly & Associates, Unix in a Nutshell 3rd Edition	Chapter 2. Unix Commands	2000
4	IBM AIX Commands Reference, Volume 1	asa or fpr Command, aixcmds1/asa.htm	1984-1994
5	O'Reilly & Associates, Unix in a Nutshell 3rd Edition	Chapter 4. The Bourne Shell and Korn Shell	2000
6	Sun Solaris System Manual	standards(5)	????
7	BSD General Commands Manual		1993-06-6
8	Free Software Foundation	CoreUtils 4.5.3 Manual	2003-02
9	Silicon Graphics	Irix System Manual	1994
10	The Open Group	The Single UNIX ® Specification, Version 2	1997
11	Linux	man page	1992-current
12	Free Software Foundation	GNU man or info page	1984-current
13	UC Berkeley	Berkeley Software Distribution man or info page	1984-current