UNIX in a Nutshell ^{2nd Ed.}

You may have seen UNIX quick reference guides, but you've never seen anything like UNIX in a Nutshell. Not a scaled-down quick-reference of common commands, UNIX in a Nutshell is a complete reference containing all commands and options, plus generous descriptions and examples that put the commands in context. For all but the thorniest UNIX problems, this one reference should be all the documentation you need.

The second edition of UNIX in a Nutshell starts with thorough coverage of System V Release 3. To that we've added many new commands that were added to Release 4, and additional commands that were added to Solaris 2.0.

Contents include:

• All user and programmer commands
• New Korn shell documentation
• Expanded text editing section, including GNU Emacs and nawk
• Shell syntax (sh and csh)
• Pattern-matching syntax
• vi and ex commands
• sed and awk commands
• troff and related commands and macros
• sdb and dbx commands
• make, SCCS, and RCS commands

If you currently use either SVR3 or SVR4, or are planning to in the future, you'll want this book. And if you're a Sun user facing the transition to Solaris, you'll want this book. UNIX in a Nutshell is the most comprehensive quickref on the market, a must for any UNIX user.

• Part I: Commands and Shells
1. Introduction
• Merging the Traditions
• Bundling
• What's in the Quick Ref
• Beginner's Guide
• Communication
• Comparisons
• File Management
• Miscellaneous
• Printing
• Programming
• Searching
• Shell Programming
• Storage
• System Status
• Text Processing
• Troff
• Guide for Users of BSD-derived Systems
2. UNIX Commands
• Alphabetical Summary of Commands
3. The UNIX Shell: An Overview
• Introduction to the Shell
• Purpose of the Shell
• Interactive Use
• Customization of Your UNIX Session
• Programming
• Shell Flavors
• Common Features
• Differing Features
4. The Bourne Shell and Korn Shell
• Overview of Features
• Syntax
• Special Files
• Filename Metacharacters
• Quoting
• Command Forms
• Redirection Forms
• Coprocesses
• Variables
• Variable Substitution
• Built-in Shell Variables
• Other Shell Variables
• Arrays
• Arithmetic Expressions
• Operators
• Examples
• Command History
• Line-edit Mode
• The fc Command
• Built-in Commands (Bourne and Korn Shell)
• Job Control
• Invoking the Shell
• Restricted Shells
5. The C Shell
• Overview of Features
• Syntax
• Special Files
• Filename Metacharacters
• Quoting
• Command Forms
• Redirection Forms
• Variables
• Variable Substitution
• Variable Modifiers
• Predefined Shell Variables
• Example .cshrc File
• Environment Variables
• Expressions
• Operators
• Examples
• Command History
• Command Substitution
• Command Substitution Examples
• Word Substitution
• Word Substitution Examples
• History Modifiers
• History Modifier Examples
• Built-in C Shell Commands
• Job Control
• Invoking the Shell
• Part II: Text Editing
6. Pattern Matching
• Filenames Versus Patterns
• Metacharacters, Listed by UNIX Program
• Metacharacters
• Examples of Searching
• Example of Searching and Replacing
7. The Emacs Editor
• Introduction
• Notes on the Tables
• Absolutely Essential Commands
• Summary of Commands by Group
• File-handling Commands
• Cursor Movement Commands
• Deletion Commands
• Paragraphs and Regions
• Stopping and Undoing Commands
• Transposition Commands
• Capitalization Commands
• Incremental Search Commands
• Word Abbreviation Commands
• Buffer Manipulation Commands
• Window Commands
• Special Shell Characters
• Indentation Commands
• Centering Commands
• Macro Commands
• Basic Indentation Commands
• Detail Information Help Commands
• Help Commands
• Summary of Commands by Key
• Control-key Sequences
• Meta-key Sequences
• Summary of Commands by Name
8. The Vi Editor
• Review of Vi Operations
• Command-line Syntax
• Command Mode
• Insert Mode
• Syntax of Vi Commands
• Status-line Commands
• Movement Commands
• Edit Commands
• Saving and Exiting
• Accessing Multiple Files
• Interacting with UNIX
• Macros
• Miscellaneous Commands
• Alphabetical Commands
• Setting Up Vi
• The :set Command
• Options Used by :set
• Example .exrc File
9. The Ex Editor
• Syntax of Ex Commands
• Options
• Addresses
• Address Symbols
• Alphabetical Summary of Ex Commands
10. The Sed Editor
• Command-line Syntax
• Conceptual Overview
• Syntax of Sed Commands
• Pattern Addressing
• Group Summary of Sed Commands
• Alphabetical Summary of Sed Commands
11. The Awk Scripting Language
• Command-line Syntax
• Conceptual Overview
• Patterns and Procedures
• Patterns
• Procedures
• Simple Pattern-Procedure Examples
• Awk System Variables
• Operators
• Variables and Array Assignments
• Group Listing of Awk Commands
• Alphabetical Summary of Commands
• Part III: Text Formatting
12. Nroff and Troff
• Introduction
• Command-line Invocation
• Using the Requests: An Overview
• Common Requests
• Specifying Measurements
• Requests That Cause a Line break
• Default Operation of Requests
• Group Summary of Requests
• Alphabetical Summary of Requests
• Escape Sequences
• Predefined Number Registers
• Read-only Registers
• Read-write Registers
• Special Characters
13. mm Macros
• Alphabetical Summary of mm Macros
• Predefined String Names
• Number Registers Used in mm
• Other Reserved Macro Names and String Names
14. ms Macros
• Alphabetical Summary of ms Macros
• Number Registers for Page Layout
• Reserved Macro and String Names
• Reserved Number Register Names
15. me Macros
• Alphabetical Summary of me Macros
• Predefined Strings
16. Preprocessors
• Tbl
• General Coding Scheme
• Tbl Macros
• Options
• Format
• Data
• A Tbl Example
• Eqn
• Eqn Macros
• Mathematical Characters
• Mathematical Text
• Greek Characters
• Diacritical Marks
• Keywords Recognized by Eqn
• Precedence
• Eqn Examples
• Pic
• Pic Macros
• Declarations
• Primitives
• Options
• Text
• Object Blocks
• Macros
• Positioning
• Arithmetic Operators
• Default Values
• A Pic Example
• Part IV: Software Development
17. The SCCS Utility
• Overview of Commands
• Basic Operations
• Creating an SCCS File
• Retrieving a File
• Creating New Releases and Branches
• Recording Changes
• Identification Keywords
• Data Keywords
• Alphabetical Summary of SCCS Commands
• sccs and Pseudo-commands
18. The RCS Utility
• Overview of Commands
• Basic Operation
• General RCS Specifications
• Keyword Substitution
• Revision Numbering
• Specifying the Date
• Specifying States
• Standard Options
• Conversion Guide for SCCS Users
• Alphabetical Summary of Commands
19. The make Utility
• Command-line Syntax
• Description File Lines
• Macros
• Internal Macros
• Macro Modifiers
• Macro String Substitution
• Macros with Special Handling
• Special Target Names
• Sample Default Macros, Suffixes, and Rules
20. Program Debugging
• The Sdb Debugger
• Command Specifiers
• Commands
• The Dbx Debugger
• Alphabetical Summary of Commands
• Part V: Loose Ends
21. ASCII Character Set
22. Commands Index

A good book just got better.

Recommended reading if you want to understand the daily grind of UNIX.