Softpanorama (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society

May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)

Selected Solaris Commands
Man Pages Map

There are just too many commands in Solaris. Many of then are never used. Here I listed those that more or less often used. It still too many, over 200 commands in this shortened list. My God what a memory Unix admins are expected to have to deal with all this complexity and variety :-).

And what this semi-useless organization called POSIX is thinking about all this mess and proliferation of commands in Unix. 

As for viewer good old man is not the only one and not the best one. Tkman is a better tool (see Reading Manual Pages in Style).  But any command line or GUI WEB browser is miles ahead regular man reader (and conversion of man into HTML can be done with many utilities some of them can convert the whole tree at once (for those who cannot find command with option -exec can be used). It is pretty pathetic that Linux which actually came to life simultaneously with WWW did not adopt a better format (there was a stillborn FSF project to use info pages advocated by RMS that probably helped to prevent this move).  Sun used to provides HTML version of pages via special web server but it was unfortunately abandoned after a couple of security holes were found in it (why it couldn't be converted to serve only local host is beyond me). 

Please also note that man pages were not thought as static documents by Unix designers.  And on your own workstation you can (and probably should) annotate them using them as a kind of notepad.  I personally prefer to do it in HTML (IMHO troff format belongs to prev. century; HTML dominates in the XXI century ;-), but for those who prefer native format there is a nice little utility:

freshmeat.net Project details for ManEdit

The ManEdit UNIX Manual Page Editor is an editor specifically tailored for UNIX manual pages. It has a preview viewer, uses the manual page XML format for easy editing, and comes with a tutorial and reference guide. It uses the GTK+ widget set and features syntax highlighting, a complete drag and drop system for easy viewing and editing, a crash recovery system, and sample manual page templates.

Also man utility has some features that many does not suspect that they exist (like -M path option, that helps to overcome many misconfigurations).  I compiled an additional page devoted to the man command and its infrastructure.

A  : Full list of user commands :  Full list of System commands (1M)

B  : Full list of user commands :  Full list of System commands

C  : Full list of user commands :  Full list of System commands

• cd - change working directory
• chdir - change working directory
• chgrp - change file group ownership
• chmod - change the permissions mode of a file
• chown - change file ownership
• clear - clear the terminal screen
• cmp(1) – compare two files
• compress - compress, uncompress files
• cp - copy files.  See also Unix cp command
• cpio - copy file archives in and out. See also Unix cpio
• crontab(1) – user crontab file.  See also Cron and Other Command Schedulers
• crypt - encode or decode a file
• csplit - split files based on context
• ctags - create a tags file for use with ex and vi
• cut - cut out selected fields of each line of a file. See also Unix cut command

D

• date - write the date and time
• df - display status of disk space on file systems
• diff - display line-by-line differences between pairs of text files. See also Unix diff
• diff3 - 3-way differential file comparison
• dircmp - directory comparison
• dirname - deliver portions of path names
• dos2unix - convert text file from DOS format to ISO format
• du - display the number of disk blocks used per directory or file

E

• echo - echo arguments
• ed - text editor
• egrep - search a file for a pattern using full regular expressions
• eject - eject media such as CD-ROM and floppy from drive
• env - set environment for command invocation. See also Unix env command
• eval - shell built-in functions to execute other commands. See also Unix eval command
• exec - shell built-in functions to execute other commands. See also Unix exec commnad
• exit - shell built-in functions to enable the execution of the shell to advance beyond its sequence of steps
• expand - expand TAB characters to SPACE characters, and vice versa. See also Unix expand/unexpand commands
• export - shell built-in functions to determine the characteristics for environmental variables of the current shell and its descendents
• expr(1) – evaluate arguments as an expression

F

• false - provide truth values
• fc - process command history list. See also Unix fc command
• fdformat - format floppy diskette or PCMCIA memory card
• fg - control process execution
• fgrep - search a file for a fixed-character string.
• file - determine file type
• find - find files. See also Unix Find Command
• finger - display information about local and remote users
• for - shell built-in functions to repeatedly execute action(s) for a selected number of times
• foreach - shell built-in functions to repeatedly execute action(s) for a selected number of times
• ftp - file transfer program
• function - shell built-in command to define a function which is usable within this shell

G

• getfacl(1) – display discretionary file information
• getopt - parse command options
• getopts(1) – parse utility options
• glob - shell built-in function to expand a word list
• goto(1) – shell built-in functions to enable the execution of the shell to advance beyond its sequence of steps
• grep - search a file for a pattern. See also Unix Grep Command
• groups - print group membership of user
• grpck - check group database entries

H

• head - display first few lines of files. See also Unix head command
• history - process command history list
• hostid - print the numeric identifier of the current host
• hostname - set or print name of current host system

I

• if - evaluate condition(s) or make execution of actions dependent upon the evaluation of condition(s)

J

• jobs - control process execution
• join - relational database operator

K

• kill - terminate or signal processes

L

• last - display login and logout information about users and terminals
• link(1M) – link and unlink files and directories
• ln - make hard or symbolic links to files
• logger - add entries to the system log
• login - sign on to the system
• logname - return user's login name
• ls - list contents of directory. See also Listing Files and Directories

M

• m4 - macro processor. See also m4 Macroprocessor
• mail - interactive message processing system
• mailstats - print statistics collected by sendmail
• mailx - interactive message processing system.
• make - maintain, update, and regenerate related programs and files
• man - find and display reference manual pages
• mkdir - make directories
• more - browse or page through a text file
• mv - move files

N

• nawk - pattern scanning and processing language
• netscape - start Netscape Communicator for Solaris
• newgrp - log in to a new group
• nice - invoke a command with an altered scheduling priority
• nohup - run a command immune to hangups

O

P

• pack - compress and expand files
• page - browse or page through a text file
• passwd - change login password and password attributes
• paste - merge corresponding or subsequent lines of files. See also Unix paste command
• patch - apply changes to files
• pathchk - check path names
• pax - portable archive interchange
• perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language
• pfexec - execute a command in a profile
• pfiles - proc tools
• pgrep - find or signal processes by name and other attributes
• pkginfo - display software package information
• pkgparam - display package parameter values
• pkill - find or signal processes by name and other attributes
• plimit - get or set the resource limits of running processes
• pmap - proc tools
• printf - write formatted output
• priocntl - display or set scheduling parameters of specified process(es)
• proc - proc tools
• profiles - print execution profiles for a user
• prun - proc tools
• ps - report process status
• ptree - proc tools
• pwd - return working directory name

Q

R

• rcp - remote file copy
• rdist - remote file distribution program
• read - read a line from standard input
• readonly - shell built-in function to protect the value of the given variable from reassignment
• regex - match patterns against a string
• renice - alter priority of running processes
• repeat - shell built-in functions to repeatedly execute action(s) for a selected number of times
• reset - establish or restore terminal characteristics
• return - shell built-in functions to enable the execution of the shell to advance beyond its sequence of steps
• rksh - KornShell, a standard/restricted command and programming language
• rlogin - remote login
• rm - remove directory entries
• rmdir - remove directory entries
• roles - print roles granted to a user
• rsh - remote shell
• run - run an executable

S

• sed - stream editor
• select - shell built-in functions to choose from among a list of actions
• set - shell built-in functions to determine the characteristics for environmental variables of the current shell and its descendents
• set - set and unset local or global environment variables
• setenv - shell built-in functions to determine the characteristics for environmental variables of the current shell and its descendents
• setfacl - modify the Access Control List (ACL) for a file or files
• settime - change file access and modification times
• sh - Borne shell: standard and job control shell and command interpreter
• shell - run a command using shell
• shell_builtins - shell command interpreter built-in functions
• shift - shell built-in function to traverse either a shell's argument list or a list of field-separated words
• shutdown - close down the system at a given time
• sleep - suspend execution for an interval
• sort - sort, merge, or sequence check text files. See also Unix sort command
• spell - report spelling errors
• split - split a file into pieces
• ssh(1) – OpenSSH secure shell client (remote login program)
• stop - control process execution
• strings - find printable strings in an object or binary file
• stty - set the options for a terminal
• sum - print checksum and block count for a file
• sum - calculate a checksum for a file
• suspend - shell built-in function to halt the current shell
• switch - shell built-in functions to choose from among a list of actions

T

• tail - deliver the last part of a file
• talk - talk to another user
• tar - create tape archives and add or extract files. See also Unix tape archiver (Tar)
• tee - replicate the standard output. See also Unix tee command
• telnet - user interface to a remote system using the TELNET protocol
• test - evaluate condition(s) or make execution of actions dependent upon the evaluation of condition(s)
• tftp - trivial file transfer program
• time - time a simple command
• times - shell built-in function to report time usages of the current shell
• timex - time a command; report process data and system activity
• tip - connect to remote system
• touch - change file access and modification times
• touch - change file access and modification times
• tr - translate characters. See also Unix tr command
• trap - shell built-in functions to respond to (hardware) signals
• troff - typeset or format documents
• truss - trace system calls and signals
• tsort - topological sort
• tty - return user's terminal name
• type - write a description of command type
• typeset - shell built-in functions to set/get attributes and values for shell variables and functions

U

• ufsdump(1M) – incremental file system dump
• ufsrestore(1M) – incremental file system restore
 
• umask - get or set the file mode creation mask
• unalias - create or remove a pseudonym or shorthand for a command or series of commands
• uname - print name of current system
• uncompress - compress, uncompress files or display expanded files
• unexpand - expand TAB characters to SPACE characters, and vice versa
• uniq - report or filter out repeated lines in a file. See also Unix uniq command
• units - converts quantities expressed in standard scales to other scales
• unix2dos - convert text file from ISO format to DOS format
• unpack - compress and expand files
• unset - shell built-in functions to determine the characteristics for environmental variables of the current shell and its descendents
• unset - set and unset local or global environment variables
• unsetenv - shell built-in functions to determine the characteristics for environmental variables of the current shell and its descendents
• until - shell built-in functions to repetitively execute a set of actions while/until conditions are evaluated TRUE
• uptime - show how long the system has been up
• users(1B) – display a compact list of users logged in
• uudecode - encode a binary file, or decode its encoded representation
• uuencode - encode a binary file, or decode its encoded representation

V

• vacation - reply to mail automatically
• vi - screen-oriented (visual) display editor based on ex
• view - screen-oriented (visual) display editor based on ex
• vipw - edit the password file
• volcancel - cancel user's request for removable media that is not currently in drive
• volcheck - checks for media in a drive and by default checks all floppy media
• volmissing - notify user that volume requested is not in the CD-ROM or floppy drive
• volrmmount - call rmmount to mount or unmount media

W

• w - display information about currently logged-in users
• wait - await process completion
• wc - display a count of lines, words and characters in a file. See also Unix wc command
• what - extract SCCS version information from a file
• whatis - display a one-line summary about a keyword
• whence - shell built-in functions to set/get attributes and values for shell variables and functions
• whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command
• which - locate a command; display its pathname or alias
• while - shell built-in functions to repetitively execute a set of actions while/until conditions are evaluated TRUE
• who - who is on the system
• whoami - display the effective current username
• whois - Internet user name directory service
• write - write to another user

X

• xargs - construct argument lists and invoke utility. See also Unix Xargs Piping Toolkit Utility

Y

• yacc - yet another compiler-compiler
• yes(1) – generate repetitive affirmative output

Z

• zcat - compress, uncompress files or display expanded files

Last modified: March 11, 2008