Preface

This book describes how to use the command line interface (CLI) of the Solaris^TM operating environment to perform various system tasks.

Note –

The Solaris operating environment runs on two platforms, SPARC^TM and IA. The information in this document pertains to both platforms unless otherwise specified in a special chapter, section, note, bulleted item, figure, table, or example.

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for users of the Solaris 9 operating environment who want learn how to use the command line interface.

Before You Read This Book

Your system should be installed and ready for use. If the Solaris operating environment is not installed on your system, see the installation manual specific to your system before you read this book.

How This Book Is Organized

The Solaris Advanced User's Guide describes the following topics.

Chapter 1, Differences Between Command Line Interface and Graphical User Interface briefly describes the command line interface and the two graphical user interfaces supported by the Solaris operating environment, the Common Desktop Environment and GNOME.
Chapter 2, Logging In and Using Basic SunOS Commands describes how to log in and out of your system and how to use basic commands to perform system tasks.

To view license terms, attribution, and copyright statements for bash, tcsh, and zsh, the default path is /usr/share/src. If the Solaris operating environment has been installed anywhere other than the default, modify the given path to access the file at the installed location.
Chapter 3, Working With Files and Directories describes how to create, copy, move, and delete files and directories. This chapter also describes how to search for files, compare differences between files, and how to set permissions on files and directories.
Chapter 4, Searching Files describes how to use the grep command to search through files for specific character strings.
Chapter 5, Managing Processes and Disk Usage describes how to monitor and manage your system's processes and disk usage.
Chapter 6, Using the vi Editor describes how to use the vi text editor to create, edit, save, and print text files.
Chapter 7, Using Mail describes how to use the mailx tool to read, create, send, and print email.
Chapter 8, Using Printers describes how to print files and manage printer status.
Chapter 9, Using the Network describes how to perform system tasks from a remote machine.
Chapter 10, Customizing Your Working Environment describes how to customize your working environment by modifying your system initialization files and environment variables.
Appendix A, Modifying the Keyboard describes how to customize the key mapping on your keyboard.

Related Books

The Solaris operating environment documentation set provides access to a number of books about the Solaris software. These books are organized into the following related sets:

Solaris 9 System Administrator Collection

This set offers detailed installation and system administration information for a variety of system configurations, including larger networks of Sun workstations.
Solaris 9 Software Developer Collection

This set gives software developers the information they need to write, debug, and maintain programs on the system.
Solaris 9 Reference Manual Collection

This set contains a description of every SunOS command. This collection, often referred to as man pages, can optionally be installed as online documentation.
Solaris 9 User Collection

This set offers a detailed description of various aspects of the Solaris operating environment. These aspects include:
- How to use SunOS^TM commands
- How to work with window environments
- How to customize your work environment
- How to write shell scripts
- How to use email
- How to work on the network

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com^SM Web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is http://docs.sun.com.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions


Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. `machine_name% you have mail.`
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	`machine_name%` `su` `Password:`
`AaBbCc123`	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words, or terms, or words to be emphasized.	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
C shell prompt	`machine_name%`
C shell superuser prompt	`machine_name#`
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	`$`
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	`#`