UNIX and DOS Command Utilities

Advanced Oracle Utilities: The Definitive Reference by Rampant TechPress is written by top Oracle database experts (Bert Scalzo, Donald Burleson, and Steve Callan).  The following is an excerpt from the book.

Before the advent of Windows, PCs were operated from a keyboard using a command line.  PC users were required to learn these commands in order to perform any tasks using a PC.  During the 1980s, Microsoft DOS dominated the PC market, while the early UNIX command systems were used on larger multi-processing servers.  The main difference between UNIX and DOS is that DOS was originally designed for single-user systems, while UNIX was designed for systems with multiple users.

 

While PCs have evolved into GUI interfaces such as Microsoft Windows, X-Windows, the windowed interface for UNIX systems, has never really gained general acceptance.  Hence, The Oracle professional must master a bewildering number of cryptic UNIX commands in order to manage and master the Oracle database.

One of the most difficult issues for the UNIX neophyte is being confronted with a complex, and usually undocumented UNIX command.  The cryptic nature of UNIX is such that even the most seasoned UNIX professional may have trouble deciphering the purpose of the command.  In addition, there is often more than one single way to perform any number of operations within Unix. Some Unix professionals delight in finding the most obscure method to perform a simple operation or spend hours trying to reduce a complex operation into the absolute minimum number of commands, almost as if obscurity is one of the goals to be achieved in completing the operation. Now examine a typical cryptic UNIX command and then apply a simple set of rules to decipher the command.

 

Since UNIX and MS-DOS were developed at the same time and must accomplish similar functions they share some common syntax, the UNIX beginner will be happy to find many common commands and concepts.  Table 2.1 shows some of the commonality between UNIX and MS-DOS commands:

 

UNIX	MS-DOS	COMMAND FUNCTIONS
--	cd -	Switch between current and last directory
cat	Type	Displays the contents of a file
cd	Cd	Moves from one directory to another
cd /u01/test	cd c:\u01\test	Change directory paths
cd ..	cd..	Go up in directory
chmod	Attrib	Sets file permissions
clear	Cls	Clear the screen
cp	copy	Copies a file (or a group of files)
diff	fc	Compare two files
cpio	xcopy	Backs up and recovers files
date	date	Display the system date
doskey	<ctl> k (3)	Display command history
export PS1='xx'	prompt	Change the command prompt text
find	grep	Find a character string in a file
gzip	dblspace	Compress a data file
ln	--	Forms a link to a file
lp	print	Queues a file for printing
lpstat	print	Displays the printing queue
ls -al	dir	Displays the contents of a directory
mem	lsdev (2)	Display RAM memory
mkdir	md	Creates a new subdirectory
move	cp  (4)	Move a file to another directory
mv	rename	Renames a file
rm	del	Deletes a file (or group of files)
rmdir	rd	Deletes an existing directory
setenv  (1)	set	Set an environment variable
sort	sort	Sorts lines in a file
ver	uname -a	Display OS version
Vi (emacs?)	edit	Creates and edits text

 

1.      C-Shell command

2.      Solaris command

3.      With "set –o vi" command

4.      No direct UNIX equivalent

 

As can be seen here, being productive with UNIX involves learning many commands and combinations of commands.  Rather than attempting to teach every possible UNIX command, this chapter will focus on those commands most useful to perform basic Oracle database management commands.

 

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