The following is a list of commands that you might find helpful when modifying your files on the server.
For more complete information on using commands, you can refer to the manual by typing man [command] at the shell prompt, where ""[command]"" represents the command you would like more information about. You can also type [command] -? and [command] --help.
Note: When something is specified in brackets, such as [command] or [filename], it is used to indicate that you must input your desired information here. Do NOT include brackets in your command.
pwd Shows the full path of the current directory
ls Lists all the files in the current directory
ls -al Lists all files and information
ls -lR Lists all files and information in all subdirectories
ls -alR | more Same as ls -lR, pausing when screen becomes full
ls -alR > filename.txt Same as ls -alR, outputs the results to a file
ls *.html Lists all files ending with .html
cd [directory name] Changes to a new directory
cd .. Changes to directory above current one
clear Clears the screen
vdir Gives a more detailed listing than the ""ls"" command
exit Log off your shell
mv [old filename] [new filename] Move/rename a file
cp [filename] [new filename] Copies a file
rm [filename] Deletes a file
rm * Deletes all files in current directory
rm *.html Deletes all files ending in .html
mkdir [directory name] Creates a new directory
ls -d */ Lists all directories within current directory
cp -r [directory] [new directory] Copies a directory and all files/directories in it
find . -name [filename] -print Searches for a file starting with current directory
grep [text] [filename] Searches for text within a file
File permissions:
0 = --- No permission
1 = --X Execute only
2 = -W- Write only
3 = -WX Write and execute
4 = R-- Read only
5 = R-X Read and execute
6 = RW- Read and write
7 = RWX Read, write and execute
chmod 640 [filename] Minimum permissions for HTML file
chmod 755 [filename] Minimum permissions for scripts & programs
du (disk usage)
The Unix command
du -s directory
shows how much disk space is used by a directory and everything below it. While we work on creating the complicated command needed to automatically check all the directories you are associated with, you can find out how much space is in use by the WWW files for a domain with
du -s /home/domain/www
If you don't have anything much in your home directory or mail spool, this comes close to the total space you have in use. (You would know if you did have other things in your home directory, and could use du -s $HOME to check on that.)
locate (find files)
The normal Unix methods of locating files have one thing in common, they are slower than molasses on a winter night in Alaska. So instead, we use a powerful program called locate. Type locate file_name and the server will immediately locate all files that contain the file_name. (Provided such files have been on the machine at least one day.)
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