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131 lines
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<!Converted with LaTeX2HTML 95.1 (Fri Jan 20 1995) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds >
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<TITLE>3.3.2 Looking at the contents of directories</TITLE>
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<meta name="description" value="3.3.2 Looking at the contents of directories">
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<BR> <HR><A NAME=tex2html3132 HREF="node109.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3130 HREF="node106.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3124 HREF="node107.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3134 HREF="node1.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3135 HREF="node250.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
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<B> Next:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3133 HREF="node109.html">3.3.3 Creating new directories</A>
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<B>Up:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3131 HREF="node106.html">3.3 First Steps into </A>
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<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3125 HREF="node107.html">3.3.1 Moving around</A>
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<BR> <HR> <P>
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<H2><A NAME=SECTION00532000000000000000>3.3.2 Looking at the contents of directories</A></H2>
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<A NAME=secls> </A>
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<A NAME=2196> </A>
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<A NAME=2356> </A>
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<A NAME=2198> </A>
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<A NAME=2199> </A>
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Now that you know how to move around directories you probably think,
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``So what?'' The basic skill of moving around directories is fairly
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useless, so let's introduce a new command, <tt>ls</tt>. <tt>ls</tt> prints
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a listing of files and directories, by default from your current
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directory. For example:
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<P>
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<P><TT> /home/larry# <em>ls</em> <BR>
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Mail <BR>
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letters <BR>
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papers <BR>
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/home/larry#
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<P></TT>
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<P>
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Here we can see that Larry has three entries in his current
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directory: <tt>Mail</tt>, <tt>letters</tt>, and <tt>papers</tt>. This
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doesn't tell us much---are these directories or files? We can use the
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<tt>-F</tt> option on the <tt>ls</tt> command to tell us more.
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<P>
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<P><TT> /home/larry# <em>ls --F</em> <BR>
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Mail/ <BR>
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letters/ <BR>
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papers/ <BR>
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/home/larry#
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<P></TT>
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From the <tt>/</tt> appended to each filename, we know that these three
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entries are in fact subdirectories.
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<P>
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<A NAME=2214> </A>
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<A NAME=2215> </A>
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Using <tt>ls -F</tt> may also append ``<tt>*</tt>'' to the end of a filename.
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This indicates that the file is an <b>executable</b>, or a program which
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can be run. If nothing is appended to the filename using <tt>ls -F</tt>, the
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file is a ``plain old file'', that is, it's neither a directory, or an
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executable.
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<P>
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In general, each UNIX command may take a number of options in addition
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to other arguments. These options usually begin with a ``<tt>-</tt>'',
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as demonstrated above with <tt>ls -F</tt>. The <tt>-F</tt> option tells <tt>ls</tt>
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to give more information about the type of the files involved---in
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this case, printing a <tt>/</tt> after each directory name.
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<P>
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If you give <tt>ls</tt> a directory name, it will print the contents of
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that directory.
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<P><TT> /home/larry# <em>ls --F papers</em> <BR>
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english-lit <BR>
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history-final <BR>
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masters-thesis <BR>
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notes/ <BR>
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/home/larry#
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<P></TT>
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<P>
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Or, for a more interesting listing, let's see what's in the
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system's <tt>/etc</tt> directory.
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<P>
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<P><TT> /home/larry# <em>ls /etc</em>
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<PRE>Images ftpusers lpc rc.new shells
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adm getty magic rc0.d startcons
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bcheckrc gettydefs motd rc1.d swapoff
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brc group mount rc2.d swapon
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brc~ inet mtab rc3.d syslog.conf
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csh.cshrc init mtools rc4.d syslog.pid
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csh.login init.d pac rc5.d syslogd.reload
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default initrunlvl passwd rmt termcap
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disktab inittab printcap rpc umount
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fdprm inittab.old profile rpcinfo update
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fstab issue psdatabase securetty utmp
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ftpaccess lilo rc services wtmp
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/home/larry#
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</PRE> <P></TT>
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<P>
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(For those MS-DOS users out
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there, notice how the filenames can be longer than 8 characters, and can
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contain periods in any position. It is even possible to have more than one
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period in a filename.)
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<P>
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Let's <tt>cd</tt> up to the top of the directory tree, using ``<tt>cd ..</tt>'',
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and then down to another directory: <tt>/usr/bin</tt>.
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<P>
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<P><TT> /home/larry# <em>cd ..</em> <BR>
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/home# <em>cd ..</em> <BR>
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/# <em>cd usr</em> <BR>
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/usr# <em>cd bin</em> <BR>
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/usr/bin#
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<P></TT>
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You can also move into directories in multiple steps, as in <tt>cd /usr/bin</tt>.
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<P>
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Try moving around various directories, using <tt>ls</tt> and <tt>cd</tt>.
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In some cases, you may run into a foreboding ``<tt>Permission denied</tt>''
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error message. This is simply the concept of UNIX security kicking in:
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in order to <tt>ls</tt> or to <tt>cd</tt> into a directory, you must have
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permission to do so. We'll talk more about this in
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<A NAME=2248> </A>
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<A NAME=2357> </A>
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<A NAME=2250> </A>
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<A NAME=2251> </A>
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Section <A HREF="node124.html#secfileperms">3.9</A>.
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<P>
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<BR> <HR><A NAME=tex2html3132 HREF="node109.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="next" SRC="next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3130 HREF="node106.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="up" SRC="up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3124 HREF="node107.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="previous" SRC="previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3134 HREF="node1.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME=tex2html3135 HREF="node250.html"><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="index" SRC="index_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
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<B> Next:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3133 HREF="node109.html">3.3.3 Creating new directories</A>
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<B>Up:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3131 HREF="node106.html">3.3 First Steps into </A>
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<B> Previous:</B> <A NAME=tex2html3125 HREF="node107.html">3.3.1 Moving around</A>
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<BR> <HR> <P>
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<BR> <HR>
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<P><ADDRESS>
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<I>Matt Welsh <BR>
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mdw@sunsite.unc.edu</I>
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</ADDRESS>
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