In fact, I do this now.
I use a .htaccess file with an ErrorDocument line
to redirect 404's to a CGI script.
The CGI script does a case insensitive and partial-line match
on a pre-built list of all URLs.
e.g. Try something hopelessly wrong like:
You type commands, UNIX runs them:
$ command (arg1) (arg2) ...You can use this as an adjunct to (rather than replacement of) the menu-driven utilities.
The "prompt" may be anything, not necessarily "$".
Most commands are not in-built, but are programs,
found somewhere in the "path" variable:
echo $pathThis makes the command-line "shell" a reasonably simple program:
Note: The complete list of executable files in the path is normally read once and cached in memory for fast access every time a command is typed.
pwd Print working directory
e.g. /users/ca2/loginid.ca2
cd Change directory
ls List files
cd .. Go to parent directory
e.g /users/ca2/
. Current directory
/ root directory
$home home directory
$home/.cshrc personal initialisation file
/var/mail/$user incoming email
/tmp system temporary files
Hierarchical file system - /directory/sub-directory/file See also the name of slashdot.org
Directory Command Directory before after ---- Absolute path commands: --------------------------- /users/cae2/user cd /users/ca2 /users/ca2 ---- Relative path commands: --------------------------- /users/ca2 cd user/shell /users/ca2/user/shell /users/ca2 cd ../cae2 /users/cae2
Case matters in filenames in UNIX (this is why case matters on Web).
Advantages:
In fact, I do this now.
I use a .htaccess file with an ErrorDocument line
to redirect 404's to a CGI script.
The CGI script does a case insensitive and partial-line match
on a pre-built list of all URLs.
e.g. Try something hopelessly wrong like:
http://computing.dcu.ie/~humphrys/NOTES//Unix///INTRO/nonexist.htmlor:
http://computing.dcu.ie/~humphrys///Somewhere-In-Notes///intro.htmlThis works for my sub-site only.
http://computing.dcu.ie/~humphrys/*
Useful tip: If IE 5 receives a return code of 404, it may override the server error handling with its own useless error message. You can turn this off at Tools-Options-Advanced- "Show friendly HTTP error messages". But obviously you can't get every client to do that. So to get my script to work, you have to tell IE 5 that it is not an error. i.e. The first 2 lines output by the script are:
Returning 200 does have problems, though, because then spiders do not realise this link is broken. Everything seemed to work just fine. So, for example, all error URLs will be archived in the Internet Archive as well as all real URLs, since the archive cannot tell they are just error screens.Status: 200 Content-type: text/html
Long file names and multiple periods OK, e.g. "product.4652.suppliers.us.html", typically 32 chars allowed (Windows has caught up with this now. Some people on Web learnt with old Windows - seen in their awful web filenames, "p4652sus.htm").
But spaces in filenames not ok. Also, because files are designed to be worked with on the command-line, rather than just point-and-click, some non-alphanumeric chars in filenames may get confused with the instructions for the command-line programs:
# comment < redirection > redirection ` result of a program | pipe & detach process ; separate multiple commands on the same line * wildcard ^ start of line $ end of line [ pattern matching ] pattern matching \ "quoted" character / should be in pathname, not filename ' string delimiter " string delimiterIf you do actually just point-and-click your UNIX files (which is possible too) then you can probably allow most (perhaps all) of these characters, and spaces too.
But if you're going to use the command-line, best to just use alphanumeric and '.' and '-' and '_'.
Explore all these by typing "man (command)", e.g. "man ps"
ls List files
ls -a Show "hidden" files (begin with ".")
ls -l Detailed
ls -alR Recursive
cat (file) Type file out in command-line window
more (file) Type file, pause for each screenful
cp Copy files
mv Move / Rename files
rm Remove files
mkdir Make directory
rmdir Remove directory
clear Clear screen
(prog) & Launch a process detached
from command-line (e.g. windowed)
(prog) Command-line frozen until prog exits.
netscape & Launch Netscape from command-line
(can read email with Netscape Mail
and can read usenet newsgroups
with Netscape News)
xedit (file) & Edit file textedit (file) & Edit file To edit in command-line window (e.g. when logged in through telnet): vi, emacs grep Search for a string in a file or files grep (string) (file) find Find files by name or date which (prog) What runs if "prog" is typed which ls which xcalc whereis (prog) Where the binary, source, manual pages are for this prog whereis perl
tar Bundle a lot of files or directories
into an archive file
gzip (file) Compress a file (e.g. an archive file)
gzip -d (file.gz) Uncompress file
ghostview (file.ps) & View a PostScript file
To view Windows-type files see StarOffice.
xcalc & Calculator
cal Calendar
cal 11 1818 Calendar for Nov 1818
lp (file) Print lpr (file) Print lpq See print queue lprm Remove job from queue printers ps See what processes are running kill (process id) Terminate some of your processes kill -1 All my processes kill -KILL (pid) Definite kill xkill & Kill the next thing I click on nice Run something at low priority deliberately time Time a run of some programIn the setup at DCU, you each have your own CPU and memory, sharing a central filesystem. So "ps" will show that the only processes running on the client machine are yours and the Operating System's.
Ctrl-Z EOF Ctrl-S Pause Ctrl-C Interrupt Ctrl-D Kill, Logout df -k Show space on all disks du Space used by me w Who is logged in finger (user) See if someone is logged in finger (user@host) talk (user@host) Chat to someone (command) ; (command) Multiple commands on same linefinger was what people used for self-expression before the Web and personal home pages. You would put your "home page" in your ".plan" file, which finger would display when called.