Here are some basic commands available on the unix systems: Replace with appropriate words. man -k give a list of commands possibly related to keyword man give further information about command ls equivalent to dir/w in MS-DOS ls -l equivalent to dir in MS-DOS pwd Print the current Working Directory name cd Change Directory mkdir MaKe a DIRectory vi edit file with the VIsual editor emacs another editor (exit emacs with ctrl-x ctrl-c) locate use this to find any file file determine what kind of file this is more print a file to the crt one screenful at a time cat print out a file to the crt all at once cp copy a file from one place to another mv move/rename a file rm remove/delete a file quota -v check your current disk space use mail enter the mail facility and read mail mail username send a user a mail message lp filename print a file to the printer passwd change your password exit or ^D log out lpclear clear print queue You can use the 'man' command to read documentation on any of these commands. Vi is the system editor. You can edit a file called fred by saying: vi fred Vi has several modes, the most important of which are command and insert mode. In command mode, the keys listed below work. In insert mode, you can enter text. The escape key will get you back to command mode. h move left (arrow keys also work) (ONLY in command mode) j move down k move up l move right ^F (ctrl-f) move one screen FORWARD ^B move one screen BACK G GO to the end of the file o open a new line and put you in insert mode on that new line i enter insert mode at the cursor position A insert at the end of the line esc exit insert mode x delete the character you are on dd delete the line you are on ZZ save changes and exit :q quit if you don't need to save :q! quit without saving, even if you need to save :w write file to disk without exiting editor These should get you started. Read vi_help in HINTS for more information.