COP 3344-01 Introduction to Unix: Lecture 11

Learning objectives

After this class, you should be able to:

1. Explain the purpose of the following environment variables: (i) DISPLAY, (ii) HOME, (iii) MANPATH, (iv) PATH, (v) SHELL, (vi) TERM, and (vii) USER.
2. Explain the difference between a regular variable and an environment variable.
3. Give the order in which startup files are executed when using tcsh.
4. Use the the following commands in tcsh: (i) alias, (ii) limit, (iii) set, and (iv) setenv.
5. Set the prompt to have a desired format in tcsh.
6. Set the path to have a desired value in tcsh.

Reading assignment

1. JEA: chapters 28, 30.
2. Lecture slides: Lecture 11.

Exercises and review questions

• Questions on current lecture's material
  1. Set an environment variable called MYBIN to have the value ~/bin in (i) bash and (ii) tcsh.
  2. Set the path in your .tcshrc file so that it appends the following directories to your current path: ~/bin and ..
  3. Give the order in which startup files are executed on (i) linprog and (ii) program when using tcsh.
  4. Alias cd ~/bin to cdb.
  5. Set your tcsh prompt to so that it displays the machine name and at most two directories, followed by a $ sign.

• Questions on next lecture's material
  1. None. Prepare for the final exam.