| The Command | What it Means | Example | Output |
| man command | “Manual.” This displays the help pages for a command. Hit the space bar to scroll through each screen, and hit “q” to quit. | man ls | Displays help for the command “ls”. |
| ls | “List.” Displays the contents of your current directory (folder). | ls | A list of file names. |
| ls -l | “List.” The “-l” means “list in long format.” Information such as the time a file was last modified is displayed. | ls -l | A list of file names with info about each file is displayed. |
| cd dirname | “Change Directory.” Changes your current directory (folder) to ~~dirname~~. | cd mySasProgs | You are now in folder “mySasProgs.” |
| pwd | “Print Working Directory.” Prints the name of the directory (folder) you are in. | pwd | Displays the name of a folder. |
| cd ~ | “Change Directory.” Changes your current directory (folder) to your home directory. Your home directory is the folder you are in when you first login. | cd ~ | You are now in your home directory. |
| cd .. | “Change Directory.” Makes your current directory move up one directory. | cd .. | If you were in folder “mySasProgs/Prog1/”, after you enter “cd ..”, you will be in “mySasProgs/”. |
| mkdir dirname | “Make Directory.” Makes a new directory (folder) called dirname. | mkdir sasPrograms | No output, but a directory called “sasPrograms” has been created. |
| cat filename | “Concatenate”. Displays the contents of ~~filename~~. | cat prog1.sas | The contents of “prog1.sas” |
| more filename | “More”. Displays the contents of ~~filename~~ a screen at a time. Hit the space bar to scroll through each screen, and hit “q” to quit. | more prog1.sas | Displays “prog1.sas” a screen at a time. |
| pico filename | This is a program to let you edit a file. It is a very basic Word Processor (like Notepad). For more info on how to use this editor, see: http://www.udel.edu/topics/software/general/editors/unix/pico/picotips.html. | pico program1.sas | Opens “program1.sas” for editing. |
| !letters | Repeats the last command that started with ~~letters~~. | !s | Repeats the last command that started with s. |
| cp source destination | “Copy”. Copies source to destination (-p : perserve timestamp). | cp program1.sas program1Backup.sas | Makes a copy of “program1.sas” and calls it “program1Backup.sas” |
| mv source destination | “Move”. Moves source to destination. You can also think of this command as the “Rename” command. | mv program1.sas sampleProgram.sas | Renames “program1.sas” to “sampleProgram.sas” |
| rm filename | “Remove.” Deletes filename. | rm testProgram.sas | Removes testProgram.sas |
| rmdir dirname | “Remove Directory.” Deletes the directory (folder) ~~dirname~~. | rm temp | Removes the directory called “temp.” |
| msas9 filename | Runs SAS in batch mode on file filename. | msas9 program1.sas | Runs SAS on “program1.sas”. |
| grep patternfilename | Displays all of the lines in filename that contain pattern. | grep obs a.log | Displays any line in “a.log” that contains the word “obs” |
| chmod g+s dirname | enable sticky bit for group(a: all, u: user) ownership | chmod g+s data | files created under data/ will now by default share group ownership with data |
| pts membership username | Displays all of the AFS groups of which user username is a member | pts membership vanbusum | A list of groups, such as “workfirst” and “graduate” |
| pts membership groupname | Displays all the users of the AFS group | pts membership workfirst | |
| fs la(sa) dir userid acesslist | list (set) access for dir for userid | fs la . workfirst rlikwa or fs sa . kum none | permission changes |
| pts adduser uid gid | add user to group | . | . |
| pts removeuser uid gid | remove user to group | . | . |
| pts creategroup gid | create group | group name kum:grp | . |
| pts delete gid | delete group | group name kum:grp | . |
| ln -s path fn | create a symbolic link. when you want to make a direct link to a dir | ln -s /afs/isis/projects/workfirst/workfirst/data/ wf | a link to paht named fn is created |
| du -h | Disk Usage | ||
| df -h | Disk status on NFS | ||