UNIX Tutorial Six

Other useful UNIX commands

df

The df command reports on the space left on the file system. For example, to find out how much space is left on the fileserver, type

% df .

du

The du command outputs the number of kilobyes used by each subdirectory. Useful if you have gone over quota and you want to find out which directory has the most files. In your home-directory, type

% du

gzip

This compresses a file. For example, to zip science.txt, type

% gzip science.txt

This will zip the file and place it in a file called science.txt.gz

To unzip the file, use the gunzip command.

% gunzip science.txt.gz

history

The C shell keeps an ordered list of all the commands that you have entered. Each command is given a number according to the order it was entered.

% history (show command history list)

If you are using the C shell, you can use the exclamation character (!) to recall commands easily.

% !! (recall last command)

% !-3 (recall third most recent command)

% !5 (recall 5th command in list)

% !grep (recall last command starting with grep)

You can increase the size of the history buffer by typing

% set history=100