Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition

Preface

A Book for Browsing

Technical books can be boring. But this is not an ordinary technical book! This book is like an almanac, a news magazine, and a hypertext database all rolled into one. Instead of trying to put the topics in perfect order — and expecting you to start at the beginning, then read through to the end — we hope that you’ll browse. Start anywhere. Read what you want. (That’s not quite true. First, you should read this Preface and the pages before it titled How to Use This Book. They will help you get the most out of your time with this book. Next, you may want to skim through the Unix fundamentals in Chapter 1. Then read what you want.)

Like an Almanac

The book is full of practical information. The main purpose isn’t to teach you concepts (though they’re in here). We’ve picked a lot of common problems, and we’ll show you how to solve them.

Even though it’s not designed to be read in strict order, the book is organized into chapters with related subject matter. If you want to find a specific subject, the table of contents is still a good place to start. In addition, several of the chapters contain shaded boxes. These are like small tables of contents on a particular subject, which might be even more limited than the scope of the chapter itself. Use the Index when you’re trying to find a specific piece of information instead of a general group of articles about a topic.

Like a News Magazine

This book has short articles. Most show a problem and a solution — in one page ...