| INTRO(1) | User Commands | INTRO(1) |
intro - introduction to commands
The Heirloom Toolchest is a collection of standard Unix utilities that is intended to provide maximum compatibility with traditional Unix while incorporating additional features necessary today. To achieve this, utilities are derived from original Unix sources if permitted by its licenses. This means that material from Unix 6th Edition, Unix 7th Edition, and Unix 32V was used, since these systems were put under an Open Source license by Caldera in January 2002. In addition, 4BSD source (governed by the University's copyright and partially derived from 32V) has been used. (Other sources were Sun's `OpenSolaris', Caldera's `Open Source Unix[tm] Tools', the MINIX utility collection, Plan 9, and Info-ZIP's compression codes.) If no freely available Unix sources were available (for example, for tools introduced in System III or System V), utilities were rewritten from scratch. (The exact license terms are provided in a separate document.)
The tools in this collection are oriented on the specifications or systems named below. Since there are some incompatibilities between them, some tools are present in more than one version.
To use the Heirloom Toolchest, select one of these personalities and put the corresponding directory at the beginning of the PATH environment variable, immediately followed by the toolchest base directory, /usr/5bin (which contains the tools that are the same for all personalities). For example, to use the toolchest with a SVID4 personality, execute
PATH=/usr/5bin/s42:/usr/5bin:$PATH export PATH
You must select exactly one of the personalities above; you do not have access to the complete set of tools otherwise.
The manual pages generally note which behavior corresponds to which utility version. They also mark whether options and arguments were part of System V, were introduced with POSIX.2 or POSIX.1-2001, or if they are extensions provided by the Heirloom Toolchest, (possibly oriented at extensions introduced by other vendors). Such extensions are subject to change without a grace period; they are only intended for interactive usage and should not be included in scripts.
The toolchest also includes some utilities modeled after the BSD Compatibility environment of System V; these roughly correspond to 4.3BSD or SunOS 4 systems. These tools can be found in /usr/ucb; since they do not form a full personality set as the ones described above, they should be used in addition, as e.g.
PATH=/usr/ucb:/usr/5bin/s42:/usr/5bin:$PATH export PATH
While the Heirloom Toolchest is intended to be as compatible as possible with historical practice in general, annoying static limits of historical implementations are not present any longer. Input lines of unlimited length are generally accepted (as long as enough memory is available); most utilities are also able to handle binary input data (i.e. ASCII NUL characters in the input stream).
The Heirloom Toolchest includes support for multibyte character encodings; if the underlying C library supports this and the LC_CTYPE locale (see locale(7) for an introduction) is set appropriately, multiple input bytes can form a single character and are handled as such in regular expressions, display width computations etc.
Multibyte character support was designed with special regard to the UTF-8 encoding. Additional supported encodings are EUC-JP, EUC-KR, Big5, Big5-HKSCS, GB 2312, and GBK. Other encodings may also work, with the following restrictions:
Character comparison, regular expression matching and similar tasks are generally performed on the character representation obtained from the locale processing of the C library. A glyph formed by the application of combining characters to a base character will thus not normally be considered equal to the same glyph represented by a single base character. For string comparison, the results depend on the collation mechanism of the locale, which might or might not respect such relations.
Processing of multibyte character encodings is often notably slower than that of singlebyte character encodings. Since many widely-used languages (especially European ones based on Latin letters) contain few multibyte characters if encoded in UTF-8, and since experience shows that large amounts of textual data tend to be machine generated and to contain mostly ASCII characters (e.g. log files), while international language texts are mostly created by humans and tend to be smaller, processing of text in multibyte locales has generally been optimized for ASCII text. The performance penalty for using a multibyte locale is thus usually low if no or few multibyte characters actually occur in the data processed.
A problem with multibyte encodings that does not normally occur in singlebyte encodings is that of illegal byte sequences. In a singlebyte locale, each byte is treated as a character entity even if its value is not defined in the coded character set. For example, bytes with their highest bit set are simply passed through in the default `C' or `POSIX' locale, and can appear in option arguments as well as in input data. In multibyte locales however, byte sequences that do not form a valid character cannot be handled this way, because it is not always clear which bytes are to be grouped together. As an example, suppose that the `\200' byte introduces a multibyte sequence. If this byte occurs in a string to be matched by a utility but is not followed by a valid continuation byte, it is unclear if it should match any byte sequence containing this byte, including valid ones that form a character, or if matches should be restricted to occurences in other incomplete sequences. For this reason, this implementation generally treats illegal byte sequences in command line arguments or programming scripts as syntax errors. Utilities do not issue a warning or even terminate with an error if such sequences appear in input data, though, since this frequently occurs in practice when processing binary or foreign-locale files. In most cases, the sequences are passed to the output unaltered. That data is accepted or generated by a utility can thus not be taken as an indication for its validity in respect to the current character encoding.
| Name | Appears on Page | Description |
| apply | apply(1B) | repeatedly apply a command to a group of arguments; select arguments |
| apropos | apropos(1) | locate commands by keyword lookup |
| banner | banner(1) | make posters |
| basename | basename(1) | return non-directory portion of a pathname |
| basename | basename(1B) | (BSD) return non-directory portion of a pathname |
| bc | bc(1) | arbitrary-precision arithmetic language |
| bdiff | bdiff(1) | big diff |
| bfs | bfs(1) | big file scanner |
| cal | cal(1) | print calendar |
| calendar | calendar(1) | reminder service |
| cat | cat(1) | concatenate and print files |
| catman | catman(8) | create the formatted files for the reference manual |
| chgrp | chown(1) | change owner or group |
| chmod | chmod(1) | change mode |
| chown | chown(1) | change owner or group |
| chown | chown(1B) | (BSD) change file ownwer |
| chroot | chroot(8) | change system's root directory and execute a command there |
| cksum | cksum(1) | write file checksums and sizes |
| cmp | cmp(1) | compare two files |
| col | col(1) | filter reverse line feeds |
| comm | comm(1) | select or reject lines common to two sorted files |
| copy | copy(1XNX) | (XENIX) copy groups of files |
| cp | cp(1) | copy files |
| cpio | cpio(1) | copy file archives in and out |
| csplit | csplit(1) | context split |
| cut | cut(1) | cut out selected fields of each line of a file |
| date | date(1) | print or set the date |
| dc | dc(1) | desk calculator |
| dd | dd(1) | convert and copy a file |
| deroff | deroff(1) | remove nroff/troff, tbl, and eqn constructs |
| deroff | deroff(1B) | (BSD) remove nroff, troff, tbl and eqn constructs |
| df | df(1) | disk free |
| df | df(1B) | (BSD) disk free |
| dfspace | df(1) | disk free |
| diff | diff(1) | differential file comparator |
| diff3 | diff3(1) | 3-way differential file comparison |
| dircmp | dircmp(1) | directory comparison |
| dirname | dirname(1) | return the directory portion of a pathname |
| du | du(1) | summarize disk usage |
| du | du(1B) | (BSD) summarize disk usage |
| echo | echo(1) | echo arguments |
| echo | echo(1B) | (BSD) echo arguments |
| ed | ed(1) | text editor |
| egrep | egrep(1) | search a file for a pattern using full regular expressions |
| env | env(1) | set environment for command invocation |
| expand | expand(1) | convert tabs to spaces |
| expr | expr(1) | evaluate arguments as an expression |
| factor | factor(1) | factor a number |
| false | true(1) | provide truth values |
| fgrep | fgrep(1) | search a file for a character string |
| file | file(1) | determine file type |
| find | find(1) | find files |
| fmt | fmt(1) | simple text formatter |
| fmtmsg | fmtmsg(1) | display a message in standard format |
| fold | fold(1) | fold long lines |
| getconf | getconf(1) | get configuration values |
| getopt | getopt(1) | parse command options |
| grep | grep(1) | search a file for a pattern |
| groups | groups(1) | show group memberships |
| groups | groups(1B) | (BSD) show group memberships |
| hd | hd(1XNX) | (XENIX) display files in hexadecimal format |
| head | head(1) | display first few lines of files |
| hostname | hostname(1) | set or print name of current host system |
| id | id(1) | print user and group IDs and names |
| install | install(1B) | (BSD) install files |
| join | join(1) | relational database operator |
| kill | kill(1) | terminate a process |
| lc | ls(1) | list contents of directory |
| line | line(1) | read one line |
| listusers | listusers(1) | print a list of user logins |
| ln | ln(1) | make a link |
| ln | ln(1B) | (BSD) make links |
| logins | logins(1) | list login information |
| logname | logname(1) | get login name |
| ls | ls(1) | list contents of directory |
| ls | ls(1B) | (BSD) list contents of directory |
| mail(1) | send or receive mail among users | |
| man | man(1) | find and display reference manual pages |
| mesg | mesg(1) | permit or deny messages |
| mkdir | mkdir(1) | make a directory |
| mkfifo | mkfifo(1) | make FIFO special file |
| mknod | mknod(1M) | build special file |
| more | more(1) | browse or page through a text file |
| mt | mt(1) | magnetic tape utility |
| mv | mv(1) | move or rename files and directories |
| mvdir | mvdir(1) | move a directory |
| nawk | nawk(1) | pattern scanning and processing language |
| newform | newform(1) | change the format of a text file |
| news | news(1) | print news items |
| nice | nice(1) | run a command at low priority |
| nl | nl(1) | line numbering filter |
| nohup | nohup(1) | run a command immune to hangups |
| oawk | oawk(1) | pattern scanning and processing language |
| od | od(1) | octal dump |
| page | more(1) | browse or page through a text file |
| paste | paste(1) | merge same lines of several files or subsequent lines of one file |
| pathchk | pathchk(1) | check pathnames |
| pax | pax(1) | portable archive interchange |
| pg | pg(1) | file perusal filter for CRTs |
| pgrep | pgrep(1) | find or signal processes by name and other attributes |
| pick | apply(1B) | repeatedly apply a command to a group of arguments; select arguments |
| pkill | pgrep(1) | find or signal processes by name and other attributes |
| pr | pr(1) | print files |
| printenv | printenv(1) | print out the environment |
| printf | printf(1) | print a text string |
| priocntl | priocntl(1) | process scheduler control |
| ps | ps(1) | process status |
| ps | ps(1B) | (BSD) process status |
| psrinfo | psrinfo(1) | displays information about processors |
| ptime | time(1) | time a command |
| pwd | pwd(1) | working directory name |
| random | random(1XNX) | (XENIX) generate a random number |
| readlink | readlink(1) | displays the target of a symbolic link |
| readlink | readlink(1B) | (BSD) displays the target of a symbolic link |
| renice | renice(1) | alter priority of running processes |
| rev | rev(1) | reverse lines of a file |
| rm | rm(1) | remove directory entries |
| rmdir | rmdir(1) | remove directories |
| sdiff | sdiff(1) | print file differences side-by-side |
| sed | sed(1) | stream editor |
| seq | seq(1) | print a sequence of numbers |
| setpgrp | setpgrp(1) | set process group ID and session ID |
| settime | settime(1XNX) | (XENIX) change the access and modification dates of files |
| shl | shl(1) | shell layer manager |
| sleep | sleep(1) | suspend execution for an interval |
| sort | sort(1) | sort or merge files |
| spell | spell(1) | find spelling errors |
| split | split(1) | split a file into pieces |
| stty | stty(1) | set the options for a terminal |
| stty | stty(1B) | (BSD) set the options for a terminal |
| su | su(1) | become super-user or another user |
| sum | sum(1) | sum and count blocks in a file |
| sum | sum(1B) | (BSD) sum and count blocks in a file |
| sync | sync(1M) | update the super block |
| tabs | tabs(1) | set terminal tabs |
| tail | tail(1) | deliver the last part of a file |
| tape | tape(1) | magnetic tape maintenance |
| tapecntl | tapecntl(1) | tape control for tape devices |
| tar | tar(1) | tape archiver |
| tcopy | tcopy(1) | copy a magnetic tape |
| tee | tee(1) | pipe fitting |
| test | test(1) | condition command |
| test | test(1B) | (BSD) condition command |
| time | time(1) | time a command |
| timeout | timeout(1) | execute a command with a time limit |
| touch | touch(1) | update file access and modification times |
| tr | tr(1) | translate characters |
| tr | tr(1B) | (BSD) translate characters |
| true | true(1) | provide truth values |
| tsort | tsort(1) | topological sort |
| tty | tty(1) | get terminal name |
| ul | ul(1) | underline |
| uname | uname(1) | get system name |
| unexpand | unexpand(1) | convert spaces to tabs |
| uniq | uniq(1) | report repeated lines in a file |
| units | units(1) | conversion program |
| uptime | uptime(1) | show how long system has been up |
| users | users(1) | display a compact list of users logged in |
| w | w(1) | who is on and what they are doing |
| wall | wall(1M) | write to all users |
| watch | watch(1) | Keep an eye on a command output. |
| wc | wc(1) | word count |
| what | what(1) | extract SCCS version information from a file |
| whatis | whatis(1) | display a one-line summary about a keyword |
| who | who(1) | who is on the system |
| whoami | whoami(1) | display the effective current username |
| whodo | whodo(1) | who is doing what |
| write | write(1) | write to another user |
| xargs | xargs(1) | construct argument list(s) and execute command |
| yes | yes(1XNX) | (XENIX) print string repeatedly |
| Page | Description |
| fspec(5) | format specification in text files |
| man(7) | macros to typeset manual |
| 1/22/06 | Heirloom Toolchest |