[Techtalk] New to the list...new to linux

[Tianna Thomas]

OK, I DID IT!  My files have been copied...now I have to figure out how to
get access to those files to edit them.  I might need help but I'm going to
TRY to get it on my own.

Thanks SO MUCH for your help.  Figuring out how to do even that simple
procedure would have taken me all weekend.  I have to say that I've never
gotten quite this calibre of assistance from any of my ASP or NT lists.  I
might actually make it through this as long as you guys don't get tired of
*stupid* questions.

Oh yeah, I called my boss...we have a meeting Monday to discuss bringing in
a consultant.  I want to learn this now, the box and I are at war.

Tianna

-----Original Message-----
From: techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org
[mailto:techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org]On Behalf Of Kai MacTane
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 7:19 PM
To: techtalk at linuxchix.org
Subject: RE: [Techtalk] New to the list...new to linux


At 9/29/01 06:08 PM , Tianna Thomas wrote:
>Ok, I think I got it but I've got one minor detail to clear up.  Where do I
>need to be in the tree?  Let me explain it like this.
>
>I need to copy the contents of (sub-dirs and everything)
>
>/hsphere/local/home/cpanel/shiva/shiva-templates
>to
>/hsphere/local/home/cpanel/shiva/custom-templates
>
>so that I can access and work with the files without affecting the live
>application.  Should I execute the command from the SHIVA or from within
the
>SHIVA-TEMPLATES dir?

If you're copying rather than moving, you can do it from either place.
However, it will be easier to explain and understand if you do it from the
/hsphere/local/home/cpanel/shiva directory. Then the command is simply:

    cp -a shiva-templates custom-templates

You can include a trailing slash on shiva-templates/ or not, as you choose;
in this case, it shouldn't make any difference.

You can quit reading now and run that command, if you just want to get
things done. Or, if you want to really understand some stuff about the Unix
file structure, read on...

If you want to run the command from the shiva-templates directory, the easy
way to do it is:

    cp -a . ../custom-templates

This is because every Unix (including Linux) directory contains at least
two entries, which you don't see in ls unless you throw the -a switch.
Those entries are . and ..; . represents the current directory, while ..
represents the parent directory. So, if you're in
/hsphere/local/home/cpanel/shiva/shiva-templates, you can type "cd ..", and
you'll be in /hsphere/local/home/cpanel/shiva/ . Another cd .. will bring
you up to /hsphere/local/home/cpanel/ -- or, you could have gotten there in
one shot by typing cd ../.. and executing that.

cd . is a perfectly legitimate command, too, although it's also a pretty
useless one. For that matter, ls .. will show you the contents of the
parent directory. I think you get the idea by now.

Finally, I should explain why I said "If you're copying rather than moving,
you can do it from either place." What would be different if you were
moving the directory? Simple: then you couldn't do it from within the
directory, because once you'd moved it, your CWD (current working
directory) would no longer exist. I *think* that mv would give you an error
if you tried it, but I haven't checked.

>I appreciate all the detailed help.  This is worse than trying to learn a
>new programming language alone.

It's a fairly big project, I'll agree. When I was learning Unix, I had the
advantage of previous DOS experience. This not only meant I had experience
with a language that had been based on Unix; it also meant that I had
experience with a command-line interface, which I think was actually much
more important. If all you're used to is GUIs, the command-line way of
thinking will take some time to get used to.

                                                 --Kai MacTane
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lucretia, my reflection, dance the ghost with me."
                                                 --Sisters of Mercy,
                                                  "Lucretia, My
                                                   Reflection"



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