HP-UX Reference (11i v2 04/09) - 7 Device (Special) Files, 9 General Information, Index (vol 10)

glossary(9) glossary(9)

UTC

See Epoch.

utility

An executable ﬁle, which might contain executable object code (that is, a program), or a list of com-

mands to execute in a given order (that is, a shell script). You can write your own utilities, either as

executable programs or shell scripts (which are written in the shell programming language).

volume number

Part of an address used for devices. A number whose meaning is software- and device-dependent, but

which is often used to specify a particular volume on a multivolume disk drive. See the System Adminis-

trator manuals supplied with your system for details.

whitespace

One or more characters which, when displayed, cause a movement of the cursor or print head, but do not

result in the display of any visible graphic. The whitespace characters in the ASCII code set are space,

tab, newline, form feed, carriage return, and vertical tab. A particular command or routine might inter-

pret some, but not necessarily all, whitespace characters as delimiting ﬁelds, words, or command options.

working directory

Each process has associated with it the concept of a current working directory. For a shell, this appears

as the directory in which you currently "reside". This is the directory in which relative path name (that is,

a path name that does not begin with

/) searches begin. It is sometimes referred to as the current

directory,orthecurrent working directory.

zombie process

The name given to a process which terminates for any reason, but whose parent process has not yet

waited for it to terminate (via wait (2)). The process which terminated continues to occupy a slot in the

process table until its parent process waits for it. Because it has terminated, however, there is no other

space allocated to it either in user or kernel space. It is therefore a relatively harmless occurrence which

will rectify itself the next time its parent process waits. The ps(1) command lists zombie processes as

defunct.