Newbie Tips: (Changing to / Hidden Directories) 1.1 =================================================== I've only done this with Unix, emacs, & ftp (not ncftp), but I know it's probably doable in the same/different way on other systems like VMS, NeXT, etc. I assume you know what ascii, vt codes, etc are so just skim through this, & maybe it'll help you out if you're caught on something. This isn't a complete guide or anything.. it's just a few basic things that might be useful if you don't already know them. There'll probably be a few people who won't like this getting around to every new person on the 'net (there's enough competition out there for sitez as it is), but it's nothing anyone shouldn't already now a bit about (If I gave out a new site list with each file or something THEN I could see some ChAos happening! :-) Enjoy.. ____________________________________________________________________________ Changing to a directory with spaces, tabs, or anything really wierd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All you do is use quotes, ie. cd incoming/".."/"^Z"/"" To change to a dir with an space--------^ tab---^ ascii seq--^ 'Ascii sequence', simply hold down the Alt key & hit the appropriate numers. *Note: this may be tricky if your term prog, or machine uses ALT keys for LOCAL actions. ____________________________________________________________________________ Figuring out what a hidden directory actually IS (you KNOW it's there, but don't know what to type to change to it) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What I do is redirect it to a file, then look at the file with emacs! In ftp type 'ls -al '.. this saves the directory listing to a file. Then either shell, exit, or use another process & look at the file with emacs. Emacs will actually show you the "^H^A" chars. You can even distinguish the spaces from tabs.. if you move the cursor accross the directory name & it 'jumps' accross a bit.. it's a tab! I'm pretty sure emacs can saftly display those nasty VT-wrecking control codes (^E^N ?). ____________________________________________________________________________ How to change to directories with tricky chars like '^Z','^C', etc.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While at the prompt in the shell, type 'stty -a'. This gives you the 'mapping' of the few special control chars. All you do is remap 'suspend' from ^Z to something else (say ^K): type 'stty susp ^K'. Now ^K is the suspend char, NOT ^Z.. you can now type ^Z while in ftp without it getting thrown into the background! The same goes for ^C, ^R, etc.. 'stty susp ^K' ^^-- when you type this, use the char '^' and the char 'K'.. you don't really type the actual control code when you 'remap' them from the shell prompt. ____________________________________________________________________________ Making directories, files with Color ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pretty much like changing to them. I.e. mkdir "^[[7mHello^[[0m" will make a directory in 'reverse video' (it'll look like junk if your NOT using some kind of VT-100 term) but remember the actual dir is the escape codes, not JUST 'hello'. Unix is interesting, because filenames can be pretty much any length, and have any kind of characters in them.. even Line Feeds!. ____________________________________________________________________________ Handling " characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quote char's can't be specified in quotes obviously. Like in Tcsh, the '\' char can be used to prefix unusual chars instead of using quotes. The '\' method can be handy if the quote method doesn't work.. ie: to change to: .^L type: cd \\.\^L to change to: "mydir^Hi type: cd \"mydir\\^Hi etc.. I know this is sort of brief but it should give you a general idea of what to look for and what to expect on when your poking around sitez. HaveFun! -Dec 17, 1994.