introduction.9 (2010 09)

ManualsBrandsHP ManualsSoftwareHP-UX Manpages

introduction(9) introduction(9)

NAME

introduction - HP-UX operating system and HP-UX Reference

INTRODUCTION

HP-UX is the Hewlett-Packard Company’s implementation of a UNIX operating system that is compati-

ble with various industry standards. It is based on the System V Release 4 operating system (SVR4) and

includes important features from the Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD).

Improvements include enhanced capabilities and other features, developed by HP to make HP-UX a very

powerful, useful, and reliable operating system, capable of supporting a wide range of applications rang-

ing from simple text processing to sophisticated engineering graphics and design. It can readily be used

to control instruments and other peripheral devices. Real-time capabilities further expand the ﬂexibility

of HP-UX as a powerful tool for solving tough problems in design, manufacturing, business, and other

areas where responsiveness and performance are important.

Extensive international language support enables HP-UX to interact with users in any of dozens of

human languages. HP-UX interfaces easily with local area networks and resource-sharing facilities. By

using industry-standard protocols, HP-UX provides ﬂexible interaction with other computers and operat-

ing systems. Optional software products extend HP-UX capabilities into a broad range of specialized

needs.

The HP-UX Reference is not a learning tool for beginners. It is primarily a reference tool that is most

useful for experienced users of UNIX or UNIX-like systems. If you are not already familiar with UNIX or

HP-UX, refer to the series of Beginner’s Guides, tutorial manuals, and other learning documents supplied

with your system or available separately. System implementation and maintenance details are explained

in the HP-UX System Administrator’s Guide.

OTHER MANPAGES

This introduction and the section intro manpages describe the "core" manpages that are delivered with

HP-UX. Other manpages may be delivered separately with optional HP-UX and third-party software and

may reside in the same directories as the core manpages, or in other directories.

MANPAGE ORGANIZATION

The contents of the HP-UX Reference and its on-line counterpart are a number of independent entries

called manpages. These are also called manual entries or reference pages.

For convenient reference, the manpages are divided into eight specialized sections. The printed manual

also has a table of contents for each volume and a composite index.

Each manpage consists of one or more printed pages, with the manpage name and section number

printed in the upper corners. Manpages are arranged alphabetically within each section of the reference,

except for the intro page at the beginning of each section. Manpages are referred to by name and section

number, in the form pagename(section ).

The manpages are available on-line through the

man command if the manpages are present on the sys-

tem. Refer to the man(1) manpage in Section 1 for more information.

Each page in the printed manual has two page numbers, printed at the bottom of the page. The center

page number starts over with page 1 at the beginning of each new manpage; it is placed between two

dashes in normal typeface. The number printed at the outside corner on each page is the sequence

number of the page within the volume. Users usually locate manpages by the alphabetic headings at the

top of the page as when reading a dictionary.

Some manpages describe two or more commands or routines. In such cases, the manpage is usually

named for the ﬁrst command or function that appears in the NAME section. Occasionally, a manpage

name appears as a group descriptor in the NAME section. In such instances, the name describes the com-

mands or functions in more general terms. For example, the acct (1M) manpage with group descriptor

acct: describes the acctdisk, acctdusg, accton, and other commands, while the string (3C) man-

page with group descriptor string: describes many character string functions.

SECTIONS OF THE HP-UX REFERENCE

The HP-UX Reference contains the following sections:

Volume Table of Contents (Printed Volumes)

A complete listing of all manpages in the order they appear in each section, as well as alphabetically

intermixed lists of all command, function, and feature names that are different from the manpage

where they appear.

HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1

Summary of content (8 pages)

PAGE 1
introduction(9) introduction(9) NAME introduction - HP-UX operating system and HP-UX Reference INTRODUCTION HP-UX is the Hewlett-Packard Company’s implementation of a UNIX operating system that is compatible with various industry standards. It is based on the System V Release 4 operating system (SVR4) and includes important features from the Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (4BSD).
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introduction(9) introduction(9) Section 1: User Commands Programs that are usually invoked directly by users or from command language procedures (scripts). Section 1M: System Administration Commands Commands used for system installation and maintenance, including boot processes, crash recovery, system integrity testing, and other needs. Most commands in this section require the superuser privilege. Section 2: System Calls A A Entries into the HP-UX kernel, including the C-language interface.
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introduction(9) introduction(9) Italic strings represent variable elements that should be replaced with appropriate values. Roman square brackets ([ ]) indicate that the contents are optional. Roman braces ({ }) indicate a required element, usually in a choice. Ellipses (...) indicate that the previous element and its preceding whitespace (if any) can be repeated.
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introduction(9) introduction(9) WARNINGS Potential problems and deficiencies. DEPENDENCIES Variations in HP-UX operation that are related to the use of specific hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. AUTHOR Indicates the principal developer of the software documented by the manpage. Unless noted otherwise, the source of an entry is System V. FILES The file names that are used or affected by the program or command.
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introduction(9) introduction(9) uppercase input as lowercase. When you log in successfully, the system starts your login shell. The default is the POSIX shell, /usr/bin/sh. The POSIX shell (and its predecessors, the Korn and Bourne shells) use $ as the default prompt for users. The C shell uses %. All the shells use # as the default superuser prompt. See login (1) for more on login, passwd (1) to change your password, chsh (1) to change your login shell.
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introduction(9) introduction(9) they bypass the keyboard command-line buffer and are not passed to the program. However, any other characters typed on the keyboard are saved and used as input later in the program. The eof, erase, and kill characters can be used as normal text characters if you escape them with a preceding \, as in \ˆD. Therefore, to erase a \, you need two erases. The intr, quit, start, and stop characters cannot be escaped on the input line.
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introduction(9) introduction(9) cc_bundled (1) and cc(1)), FORTRAN (see f77 (1)), and aC++ (see aCC(1)). After the program text has been entered with the editor and written into a file (whose name has the appropriate suffix), you can give the name of that file to the appropriate language processor as an argument. Normally, the output of the language processor will be left in a file named a.out in the current directory. Since the results of a subsequent compilation may also be placed in a.
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(Notes) (Notes) A A 8 Hewlett-Packard Company −1− HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010