Unit – 2 Unix Shell, Text Editing

Unix Architecture
Unix Architecture
The core part of unix structure is hardware. Kernal can directly
communicate with hardware. Above kernal, there is a shell to perform
applications such as database packages, internet tools, compilers, system
softwares & unix commands.

(1) KERNAL:

The kernel is the heart of OS. The kernel can directly communicate with
hardware. Kernal works as an interpreter between hardware & shell.
There are 2 most basic functions of kernel.
1. process management
2. resource management
It allocates the resources to process, manage process scheduling and
manage system calls and communicates with hardware. Thus, it hides the
complexity of hardware to user.
Shell
User can not directly communicate with hardware. User
communicate with shell.
Shell analyses the user’s commands & its arguments &
convert it into language which the kernel can
understand.
Shell also provides programming facilities, in which
user can write the shell scripts. This shell script
contains shell commands to perform specific task.
Features of unix
1. multi user
2. multi tasking
3. portable
4. pattern matching
5. tool kit
6. programing facilities
7. system call & libraries
8. Windowing system
9. documentation
10. networking
11. organized file system
12. device independence
(1) multi user.
Unix allows multiple users to concurrently share the resources like
main memory, processor or hard disk. Each user gets equal
opportunity to use resources by allocating a specific amount of time
for each user.
(2) multi tasking:
This feature allows more than one task to run concurrently.
(3) portable:
Unix is developed using a higher level language. So, it is not
dependent on hardware design and its architecture. If unix system
is developed on one system, it can easily be implemented on
another system.
(4) pattern matching:
There are several meta characters used for pattern matching like
*,?,[],^,! Etc.
(5) Tool kit:
Unix provides built in tools for various applications like
database applications, filters, file compression,
communication with other users and various file
management applications.
(6) programming facility:
Unix provides necessary programing facility like case
structure, control structure, loops, condition checking etc.
(7) system call & library:
Like any other programing language, unix provides
system calls and a built in set of library with various
commands. Communication with kernal is called system
call.
(8) windowing system:
Unix provides GUI which allows multiple applications to
run in separate windows. It provides symbols, menus,
buttons etc.
(9) Documentation:
user can get complete information about any commands, its
usage, option, behavior, author of this command &
description of commands in detail.
(10) networking :
Networking allows multiple user to login to the system.
Access system resources like files, devices, database etc.
users can communicate with each other & share their
information.
(11) organized file system:
Unix has its own directory structure, where each
directory contains specific files. For example, bin
directory contains software, dev directory contains
device files.
(12) device independence:
Every device is treated as a file in Unix. Using this
feature, we can get inputs from devices or files and also
sends output to any devices or files.
File structure of unix

ROOT

bin dev etc home tmp var

File structure of unix
BIN:
◦ It includes software for shell & most common unix commands.

DEV
◦ This directory includes files for device such as printer, terminal, etc.
ETC
◦ It contains various administrative files such as list of usernames & passwords.
USER
◦ It contains home directories of all users.
HOME
◦ It contains files & directories of logged in (current) user.
TMP
◦ It is used to store temporary files.
VAR
It includes files that contains information that varies frequently.
File & directory permissions
Permission includes 3 permissions.
1. read (r)
2. write (w)
3. execute (x)
When we use long listing command (ls –l), we can see
permissions for each file & directory.
Among first 10 characters, first character identifies file or
directory. Remaining 9 characters shows the permissions.
For exa : rwx
Rwx rwx rwx
User group others
We can change these permissions using chmod command.
Log in commands
1. who
It displays all the users who are currently logged into
system. It returns user name, terminal & login time of
each user.
Syntax : who [options]
-h : shows the header of each column.
-u : shows the idle time of each user.
This command is generally used to monitor that the
terminals are utilized effectively and identify the
activities of user and their idle time.
2. Who am i
It displays only information about currently logged in
user.
Example : who am i
3. passwd
This command is used to change the password .
First, it ask for old password. If It is correct, then ask
for new password.
Syntax : passwd
◦ Old password ******
◦ New password *****
◦ Re – enter new password *****
◦ -d : deletes user’s password
◦ -e : expires an account’s password
◦ -s : display account status information.
Rules for Password
Minimum length 3 characters & maximum length is
255 characters.
Must contains at least 1 numeric or special char within
first 8 characters.
Must contains 2 alphabets.
Must not be based on directory name.
Must not be same as old password.
Must not be same as log in id.
Passwords are case sensetive.
4. Log out
To terminate the session and quit the current user login.
Syntax : logout
File & directory related commands
Ls(list):
It shows the list of files & directories in current directory.
Syntax : ls [options] [file name]
-l : display long listing.
-d : display name of working directory.
-ld : long list of working directory attributes.
-nd : display user group id with long list.
-lt : sorts files according to last modification time.
-p : used to identify directory & files.
cat
It is used to display contents of file. It is also used to create a new
file and append to file.

1. creating a new file:

Syntax : cat > filename
The file will be created with given file name. it takes input from
keyboard and send to file. After writing, press ctrl+d to save data to
file.
2. appending to a file
Syntax : cat >> filename
3. display file:
Syntax : cat filename.
Options :
-c : prints $ at the end of file.
-n prints line number.
Cd : (change directory)
The user can move from one directory to other specific
directory.

Syntax: cd dir_name (or path)

Pwd: (present working directory)

Pwd: (Present Working Directory)

It displays the absolute path of current directory.
mv: (moving)
It performs following 2 tasks:
(1) Rename a file:
Syntax : mv oldfilename newfilename
(2) Move a file: mv file1 file2
If destination file does not exists, then it work as rename.
But if destination file exists, then by default the contents
of file1 will be overwritten to file2.
Options:
-I : ask the user if file has to be overwritten or not. (yes /
no)
Cp : (Copy)
This command is used to copy a file to another file.
If source file does not exists, then error message is
generated.
If destination file does not exists, copy command
creates a new file.
Syntax : cp [option] source_file desti_file
Options:
-I : ask for overwritten
-r : recursive. It copies directory and all its sub
directories and files into a new directory.
Cp *.sh bca: it copies all file with .sh extension to
“bca” directory.
rm: (remove)
It is used to delete a file.
Syntax : rm [option] filename

Options:
-r: recursive removal. Means, removes whole directory
with files.
-f : force removal.
Rmdir (remove directory):
It is used to remove directories. if directory contains the
files, it can not be removed. First, files & sub
directories have to be removed.
Syntax : rmdir directory_name

Mkdir: (make directory)

This command is used to create directories under the
current directories.
Syntax : mkdir directory_name
Umask : (user mask)
This command is used to display current umask user
settings. We can set user mask values to default
permissions, given to files.
Following octal format is used in umask.
R + w + x
4 + 2 + 1=7
This octal values is deducted from default values (777).
if umask value is 242, then
777-242 = 535 will be new permission

user group other

 Chmod : (change mode)
This command is used to add or remove file permissions.
Syntax :chmod octal_number filename
Or
Syntax :
chmod usertype operation permission file

User type Operations Permissions

U- user + : assign permission R – read
G- group - : remove permission W – write
O- other X – execute
A- Examples:
all

Chmod u+x,g+r,o+w filename

Chown : (change owner)
When file is created, the creator of file becomes the owner
of file. So, only owner of file can change ownership.
Any other user can not change the ownership of file.
Chown command is used to change the ownership of file
Syntax : chown new_owner_name filename

Chgrp : (change group)

This command is used to change the group without
changing the owner.
Syntax : chgrp groupname filename
Find :
This command is used for locating the file. It displays
the path.
It examines the directory tree to look for files, that
matching criteria.
Syntax : find –type filename
More :
This command is used to paging the output or files.
If the size of file is larger than the screen size, the contents of file
will scroll up and user can see only end lines of file.
This command is used to view them into pages which can be
viewed according to screen scale.
Syntax : more [option] filename
Options :
-c : clear screen before display
-d : display error message
-w : waits for user key stroke at the end
-Lines : lines per page
Less :
Less command is similar to more, but it allows backward
movement. Means, it starts from end line.
Head :
It is used to display the lines from top of the file.
If no argument is passed to this command, by default it
displays first 10 lines of file.
Syntax : head –n filename

Tail :
This command is used to display bottom lines of file.
If no argument is specified, it displays 10 lines from
bottom of file.
Syntax : tail –n filename
Touch :
This command is used to change last modification time
and last access time of given file.
By default, it changes both time.
Syntax : touch [option] filename
Options:
-a : change last access time
-m : change last modification time
Vi editor
Introduction :
Unix provides editors to process the contents of files containing
text, source code, or shell programs.
There are 2 types of editors: (1) line editor and (2)screen editor.
Vi is a screen editor, which displays a part of file on the screen. Vi
editor was developed by William Joy at university of California,
Berkeley.
Following things need to be remembered while using vi editor.
(1) commands are case sensitive.
(2) commands are not seen by user on screen while typing.
(3) commands do not require “enter” after command is typed.
Vi editor is generally used to edit text file or shell
scripts. It copies file to buffer, and this buffer is
displayed on the screen. The addition, deletion or
modifications are done in this buffer.
When user save the file, this edited buffer is copied to a
permanent file. If already exists, the previous contents
are overwritten by new buffer contents.
Vi editor is used to invoke vi editor for creating a new
for creating a new file or opening an existing file.
Syntax : vi filename
Switching the modes of vi editor
There are 3 modes of vi editors:

I,a,r,o,s : (colon)
input command exit
Esc Enter
(1) command mode:
Initially when user opens a file in vi editor, it is command
mode. Which contains name of file, number of lines, number
of characters entered in file are displayed in left bottom side,
and cursor is placed top left corner of file.
If user press any key, it is considered as a command. Entered
command will not display, only changes can be seen.
Here, user can not enter or modify the text, but only can move
cursor or delete the text.
Entered character will be considered as command, and execute
automatically. Means, enter key is not required.
To enter some text or modify, user has to enter in input mode.
(2) Input mode:
To enter into input mode, any of characters from
I,a,r,o,s or insert key is used.
Now, user is able to enter or change the text of file.
After completion, if user wants to switch from insert
mode to command mode, “escape (Esc)” key is used.
(3) Exit mode
This exit mode is also known as last line mode. To
enter in this mode from command mode, type (:) colon.
The cursor will move to left bottom of the screen.
Here, after writing exit command, press enter to exit vi
exit mode, and user moved to command mode.
 Following list shows different exit commands
Commands Meaning use
:q Quit Exits vi editor. But if there have
been changes made, it will give
warning message.
:q! Quit without saving Exit editor without saving changes
made to file.
:w Save file Write contents of file from buffer to
file without quitting vi editor.

:wq Save & exit Write contents of buffer to file, save

it and close the exit mode.

:w filename Save to new file Write contents of buffer to newly

specified file name.
:w>>filename Append to filename Append contents of file from buffer
to filename.
:vi filename Start edditing If changes have not been saved, it
gives warning.
 Cursor movement commands in
command mode
❖ Horizontal cursor movement (character)
✔ h: left side 1 char.
✔ l : right side 1 char.
❖ Horizontal cursor movement (word)
✔ B: move backward to beginning of word
✔ W: move forward to beginning of word
✔ E:Move forward to end of word
❖ Vertical cursor movement (sentence)
✔ ) : move to next sentence
✔ ( : move to previous sentence
❖ Vertical cursor movement (paragraphs)
✔ } : move to next paragraph
✔ { : move to previous paragraph
Vertical cursor movement (line)
◦ + : beginning of next line
◦ - : beginning of previous line
◦ O : beginning of current line
◦ $ : end of current line
◦ K : one line up
◦ J : one line down.
Entering text, cut, copy, & paste in vi
editor. (screen control command)
❖ Entering text & new line:
i: insert text before current character.
I: insert text before current line.
a: append text after current character.
A: append text at the end of current line.
o: open new line after current line.
O: open new line before current line.
❖ Deleting Text:
x: delete current character.
dd: delete current line.
dw: delete current word with following space.
de: delete from current character to the end of word.
db: delete from current character to the beginning of
current word.
d$: delete all characters to the end of file.
d}: delete all characters to the end of paragraph.
:m,nd : delete lines starting from mth line to nth line.
❖ Copy the text:
yy: copy current line
yw: copy current word

❖ Paste the text:

P: paste text before current position
p: paste text after current position.
I/O Redirection & piping
(1) REDIRECTION:
Generally, Unix commands prints their output on standard output
device(screen). By using concept of redirection, we can redirect
output of many commands to file, device or to the input of other
command.
It means, i/o redirection lets you to tell a command to read its input
from file, writes output to a file or both.
There are 4 redirection operators are used:
> : sends output of command to file.
Example : cat > filename
>> : append output of command to end of file.
Example : cat >> filename
< : get input for command from file
Example: wc < filename
<< : get input for command from standard input device.
(2) PIPING:
Piping is used to tell a command to read its input from
another command’s output.
Syntax : another_command | command.
In above syntax, first, another command will execute and
its output will become input for next command.
Example : ls –l | wc.
Here, ls command will execute, which display list of files
& directories. This output will become input for wc
command. It counts characters, words & lines and
displayed on screen.
Getting inputs from string of commands
Syntax :
First_com | second_com| last_com.
Here, output of first command is passed as an input for
second command, and output of second command is
passed as an input for last command.

Second Third
First command o/p i/p o/p i/p
command command
Finding patters of file:
Regular expression:
Regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of
string which can be constructed by using various
operators to combine smaller expression.
Expression + operator = regular expression
These regular expressions are used for finding different
patterns of file. Followings are 3 file finding patterns.
(1) grep
(2) fgrep
(3) egrep
(1) Grep
(Global Regular Expression Print)
Grep means globally search for regular expression and print
matching lines.
This command searches for a pattern in one or more text files. It
scans files line by line for finding patterns.
For example : grep ch myfile
Here grep search fro the expression “ch” in myfile. It scans line
by line, and if matches to “ch”, then it displays that line on
standard output.
Syntax grep [option] regular_expression filename
Options :
-i : ignoring case
-c : counting occurrence
-l : display file names
-n : display line numbers
(2) Fgrep (Fixed grep)
It is known as fast grep. It is used for multiple string
searching. It accepts mltiple patterns from command
line.
Syntax : fgrep [option] [pattern] [file]
Fgrep searches for a string and prints all lines that
contain that string.
Fgrep is different from grep & egrep, because it
searches for string, instead of searching for pattern
matches in expression.
(3) Egrep
(Extended Grep)
The egrep utility searches files for a pattern of
characters and prints all lines that contains that patterns.
Regular expression with following symbols are used
with egrep.
+ : matches one or more occurrence of regular
expression.
? : matches one occurrence of regular expression
| : matches string with any of regular expressions.
Working with columns & fields
Cut :
Cut command is basically used for extracting vertical
columns or set of characters either from standard input
or file.
Cut command looks for character positions, specified
by option –c.
For example, following stud.txt file contains data like

Rollno Name Email_id

101 Abc [email protected]
102 Def [email protected]
103 Xyz [email protected]
Syntax : cut [option] filename
Options:
-c : extract characters in range. Exa. –c 1-4.
-f : extract columns. Exa –f 2.
-f 2 will display second column of name. we can also
specify more than one fields in range like : -f 2-5.
If we want to display only user names, who are
currently logged in, then
Who | cut –c 1-6
Cut command is used to cut file vertically, while head
& tail commands are used to cut file horizontally.
Paste:
Paste command is used to combine lines together from
multiple files.
Syntax: paste file1 file2
Example: paste file1 file2 output
File1 File2
1 Abc 101 junagadh 1 Abc 101 junagadh
2 Def 102 Rajkot 2 Def 102 Rajkot
3 ghi 103 junagadh 3 ghi 103 junagadh

It combines first line of file1 with first line of file2 and

display combination on output. Two lines are separated
by tab.
Join :
Join command joins two files based on common columns. In join
command, common columns should exists in both files, and data
must be stored in same order.
The join command reads first line of first file, then reads first line
of second file. If matches, the line from first file & second file and
second file are combined and displayed on screen. If not match,
display nothing. This process continuous until the end of file1.
Syntax:
Options:
-n : n specifies the file number. This will display all data from file
‘n’ and only matching data from another file.
-jn m: join is performed on mth field of file n.
Tools for sorting
Sort:
Sort command is used for arranging data in ascending or
descending order. It sorts data according to ascii values of
characters. In compares first character of each line and arrange
them.
Syntax sort [option] filename
Options:
-r : sorts file in reverse order.
-c : checks if file is sorted.
-n : numeric sort.
-k : stops sort after kth field.
+k : starts sort after kth field.
-u : removes duplicate records.
Uniq:
Uniq command selects one non-repeated line and
removes other duplicate lines from output. This
command requires sorted file as an input. So that, the
lines which are needs to be removed, must be adjacent
to each other.
Syntax : uniqu [option] filename
Option :
-u : display only uniq lines.
-d : display only duplicate lines.
-c : count duplicate lines.
Comparing files
Cmp :
This command compares two files byte by byte. It means, first byte
of first file compare with first byte of second file, and continuous.
Whenever bytes are not match, display message that :
file1 and file differ : byte no, line no
Comm:
this command is useful to compare 2 sorted files line by line and
displaying the common lines between these 2 files.
Syntax : comm [option] file1 file2
Options:
-1 : display lines unique to file1
-2 : display lines unique to file2
-3 : display lines common in both files.
Changing information in files
Tr:
This command is useful for changing the case from upper case to lower or
vice versa, delete or translate characters from standard input and writing to
standard output.
Syntax :
tr [option] ‘set1’ ‘set2’ standard input.
Tr takes input only from standard input device. It does not take filename as
an argument.
‘set1’ characters are replaced by ‘set2’.
Example : tr ‘abcd’ ‘pqrs’
or
tr ‘a-d’ ‘p-s’
In range, characters of set2 must have higher ascii value than set1.
Options :
-c : works on complement of listed char
-d : delete characters in the output.
Examining file contents
Od : (octal dump)
Od command displays contents as octal number. This is used to hide original
contents.
To make these characters visible to us, -c option with od that display ascii values
of octal file.
Syntax : od [option] filename
Options:
-b : display octal value of each character in file
-a :display named character
-c : display ascii character
-d : display signed decimal
-f : display floating point
-o : display octal value (default)
-x : display hexadecimal 2 bytes unit
-s : display decimal 2 bytes unit
-i : display integer
-l : display long integer
Monitoring input & output
Tee:
Using tee command, standard output can be saved in a file. This can be used
anywhere between input & output using pipeline.
Tee command break up input into two components.
(1) save input content in file
(2) sends input to standard output

std input tee Std output

file
Syntax : tee [option] filename
Options:
-a appends output to existing file
Example : who | tee userlogin.txt | wc -l
Script :

With the user of script command, you can record your

sessions. Script saves all dialogues in a given file.
Syntax : script [option] filename
Options :
-a : append output to the file
-f : flush output after each write.
When we start script, it displays the message that “THE
SCRIPT STARTED, FILE IS : FILENAME”. Now, what
ever commands are executed, will be saved in specified file.
When we complete the typing, type “exit” to complete the
script and it displays the message. “script done and file is
filename”.
Tools for displaying date & time
Cal : (calendar)
Cal command is used to display simple calendar. If no arguments
are supplied, by default it displays the calendar of the current
month.
Syntax : cal [option] [month] [year]
Options:
-j : it displays Julian dates. (1to365 days)
-s : it displays Sunday as first day of the week
-m : it display Monday as first day of the week
Examples :
Cal
Cal 3 2021
Cal –j 2021
Cal –s 1 2021
Date:
This command is used to change or print system date &
time.
The default format is:
Day month date hour :minute:second timezone year
This command is used with format specifiers, which allows
the users to change the format of the date. These specifiers are
used with “+” sign followed by “%” and format code.
Example : date “+ %h %m %s”
Communication commands:
telnet:
telnet is used to connect to remote system using telnet protocol.
When this command is used, it enters in command mode and
displays a telnet prompt. In this mode, it accepts the commands
to be executed.
When telnet is used with IP address of remote system, it ask for
username and password to enter the system.
After login, whatever modifications are done would be on remote
computer and you local computer would be like terminal
(screen). This is known as “remote login”.
Syntax : telnet [ip address]
Wall:
This command is used to send a message to terminals of
each user who are currently logged in. the message is passed
as an argument to wall command.
The message that displayed on user’s terminals also
contains header information like “broadcast message from
user” : message
The length of message is limited to 20 lines. After writing
message, press “ctrl+d” to send a message.
Motd : (message of the day)
To display messageof the day at login time.
The message displayed after successful login of each user,
but before it execute the login shell.
Write :
Write command allows the user to communicate with specific user.
Syntax : write username [terminal]
Write command read lines from standard input and rite them to the terminal of
specified user.
News :
This command is used by users to send messages received from system
administrator. It displays the current news, with most recent news first.
Each news will be preceded by a header line which gives title and its date.
Syntax : news [options] [news name]
Example:
News [option] [news name]
News
Hello Friday january 147:10:55 2020
Meeting at 4:00 pm (message).
Options:
-a : display all news
-n : display only names of news
-s : display sum of current news.
Process related commands
Ps : (process)
This command displays the information about active
processes. By default ps selects processes of only single
user who executes this command.
It displays process identification (PID), terminal associated
with this process(TTY), CPU cumulative time, and
executable name of process.
Syntax : ps [options]
Options:
-A: shows all processes
-f : full details.
Nice :
This command is used to modify or print the scheduling
priority of process.
Syntax: nice [-n increment] command
When nice command is used without any argument, it
displays current scheduling priority.
If we use increment option where “n” shows the increment
value in current priority value.
The value of priority can be in range from
-20 to -19. -20 is most favorable scheduling with priority,
while 19 is less favorable with lowest priority.
If value is not specified, it assumes 10.
Example : nice -15 cat file1.txt
Kill:
This command terminates the process, associated with specified “pid”
value.
This process id (pid) can be displayed using ‘ps’ command. If any
program runs longer than expected time, and if it has to be terminated,
kill command is used.
Syntax: kill pid
Example kill 3504 2866 4572
at:
It reads command from standard input and execute it at specified time.
Time specification can be hh: am/pm, midnight, noon, teatime (4 pm).
Examples:
At 10:30 am
At 10:30 am + 2 days
At 10:30 am tomorrow
At does not take any argument, but it schedules the execution time of
process.
Batch:
Batch executes the command when system overhead level permint or
when load levels are bellow 0.8.

Cron:
Cron command is used to execute command at specified time
interval.Cron wakes up periodically and executes command.
At & batch executes command only one time. Cron executes process at
regular interval.
After executing the command, during that minute, cron goes to sleep
and again wakes up next minute.
Cron file contains following information with 6 fields.
Cron minute hour dayofmonth month dayofweek
0-59 23 1-31 1-12 0-7
Options:
-l : to view contents of cron file.
-r : to remove cron file.
Wait :
Wait command is used to enter the specific process in
waiting state.
Syntax : wait pid
The wait command make process wait until all other
processes are terminated.
Sleep:
Suspend the execution of process for an interval of
time. Means, it is used to execute a command after
certain amount of time.
Syntax : sleep n
Where n is seconds.
Mounting & un mounting
(de- mounting)
Mounting :
All files in unix are arranged in file hierarchy with root as main directory. The
mount command serves the file system found on some other device to this file
hierarchy.
Stand form of mount is :
Mount –t type device dir
It tells the kernal to attach the file system found on device at directory dir. The
previous contents & owner mode of this directory become invisible.
Un mounting:
The un mount command detaches the file system mentioned from file
hierarchy. A file system is specified by giving directory where it has been
mounted.
File system can not be un mounted when it is busy. Files are opened or some
processes are executing that directory.
-f : force unmount
-n : if un mounting fails, try to remount.
 Assignment -2
Q.no Questions marks
1 Write a short note on kernel & shell 3
2 List out and explain features of unix 5
3 Explain file structure of unix 3
4 Explain login commands 3
5 List out and explain file & directory commands. 3
6 Write a short note on vi editor 3
7 Explain different modes of vi editor 5
8 List out the cursor movement commands 1
9 List out and explain screen control commands 1
10 Explain redirection & piping. 5
11 Explain file finding patterns (grep,fgrep,egrep) 5
12 Explain cut & paste command 3
13 Explain join command 3
14 Explain tee command. 3
15 Explain script command. 3
16 Explain date & time commands 3
17 Explain communication commands 3
18 Explain process related commands 1
19 What is mounting & unmounting? 1