Learning Unix for Mac OS X, Second Edition

Format

The following sections describe conventions used in this handbook.

Graphical User Interface Features

While this book spends most of its time on the Unix command line, we do sometimes need to tell you how to run programs from the GUI. We may do this with a compact syntax such as:

Finder → Applications → Utilities → Terminal

This shorthand should be read as: open the Finder, then choose Applications, then Utilities, then Terminal. We use the same syntax whether the user interface feature to be selected is a window, a menu item, or an icon. The meaning should be obvious from the context. If you don’t see a window or icon with the name we give, look at the menu bar. (For example, Terminal → Preferences means to select the Preferences item from the Terminal’s menu bar.)

Unix Commands

We introduce each main concept first, then break it down into task-oriented sections. Each section shows the best command to use for a task, explains what it does, and shows the syntax (how to put the command line together). The syntax is given like this:

rm filename

Commands appear in constant width type (in this example, rm). You should type the command exactly as it appears in the example. The variable parts (here, filename) will appear in constant width italic type; you must supply your own value. To enter this command, you would type rm followed by a space and the name of the file that you want to remove, then press the Return key. (Your keyboard may have a key labeled Enter or an arrow with a right-angle ...