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(8) Getting Help

Getting Help

research . computing @ dartmouth

System error messages

foo: Command not found.
Probably the commonest error message you will see. Every command given to a Unix system, whether it is typed at a command line, read from a script, or generated by clicking an icon, actually tells Unix to find a program and run it. If the command is mistyped, or incorrectly installed, or your account tells the system to look in the wrong places, you will see this error message.

If you are getting a repeatable error message from any Unix command, and you mail us for help, try to include the exact error message (cut and paste it into a mail program if possible).

Panic Buttons.

logoff
To stop a program
To stop output
When in doubt
exit, ctrl-d, logout
ctrl-c
'q', or quit (works on man pages, more, etc)
'?' or help or 'h' will sometimes bring up help.

Learning to fish

Man pages: The 'man'(ual) pages provide in- depth documentation of most of the systems features. There is also a database of man pages that you can search. Type in man -k process. Man pages have a standard format that we will look at.
Graphical user interface usually has online help available somewhere. On the SGI Indys and O2s, help is in the "toolchest" menu. On CDE, it is in the main toolbar.
Learn: Found on many UNIX systems but not all. "Learn" provides text-based tutorials on some aspects of Unix.
Help: Typing the command "help" on some UNIX systems will bring up some form of help (non-standard)
Application-specific help: Many applications, particularly those with X-windows interface, have extensive online help available within the program. This doesn't help if you are having trouble finding or starting the program, so we try to ensure standard man pages exist too.

slide09.src last modified Feb 1, 2011

Introduction

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