NEW BRUNSWICK COMPUTING SERVICES
USER SERVICES GROUP

Getting Started With The UNIX Operating System
Exercise 2

Using the man Command for Help

After completing this practice, you will be able to use "man" and "man -k" to find on-line help; you will also explore the use of some essential UNIX commands.

  1. Use the man command to get help for the "ls" command. What command did you type?


  2. What ls option displays the size of files in blocks (other than the -l option, for long listing)?


  3. What do you do to change your login password?


  4. Issue the command:

    man -k date | grep "(1)"

    to list user commands having to do with dates (for now consider the "| grep" to be a filter that will display the lines from the output of the "man -k date" to show only those with the string of characters (1) in them). Select one of the listed commands and use it to get the current date and time according to the computer. Which command did you use to get the system date and time?


  5. Find commands that show who is logged onto the system you are on (hint see #4). What commands will do this?


  6. What command will display a calendar for January, 2001 (hint see #4)? Use man to learn how to use that command, then use it to make sure, finally write the command here.


  7. EXTRA: What command will display the calendar for the entire first year of this millennium?
After attempting the above look here for answers

End of Practice 2 - Using the man Command for Help