Computing & Communications Unix information

Caution:  Some commands shown here were added by C&C and are not available on the MSCC Unix system, hilbert.  Most prominently, there won't be a "help" command.  (If you want to use "help", you can log in to your C&C uniform access account.)

Pico information

If you want a very simple text editor, try pico -- it's the same editor that comes with pine.  You can run it by itself by typing:

pico xxx

where xxx is the name of the file.

If you want a complicated, awkward-to-use editor that does everything, try emacs.  One very useful feature of emacs is that you can start a Unix shell session in an emacs window, and thus save a log of your session.  This can be helpful for remebering how you did things, and documenting your work.

Emacs contains an implementation of Lisp.  You can use this to add your own new commands to emacs.

This wouldn't be complete without including vi and it's big brother vim (vi improved).  Vi is the classic Unix editor.  Some of us prefer it because it's less painful to use than emacs.  (It's literally less painful for those of us who have RSI (repetitive strain injury) from typing.  In vi / vim, most commands are single ordinary characters so you don't have to move your hand off the "row" -- good for touch typing and not wrenching your wrist around.  It also uses some control characters and escape, but not nearly as often as emacs.  Many Unix users swap the meanings of the control and caps-lock keys on PC keyboards, so they can have the control key comfortably beside their left pinky.  That makes escape more convenient as well -- escape is control-I.  If you'd like to try this, ask a TA.)

If you're going to try one of these, you may as well use vim.  The best vim information is inside vim.  Start it up (by typing "vim") then type ":help".  (As with most editors, if you're working on a file, include the file name on the command line to open that file right away.)

These are the notes from the training courses offered by C&C -- there may be other useful information here.

Pat Tressel
5-Apr-2002