Using CSH & Tcsh: Type Less, Accomplish More

by Paul DuBois

Book Overview

If you use UNIX, you probably use csh to type commands even if you've never heard of it. It's the standard shell (command line) on most UNIX systems. tcsh is an enhanced version that's freely available and highly recommended. Using csh & tcsh describes from the beginning how to use these shells interactively. More important, it shows how to get your work done faster with less typing. Even if you've used UNIX for years, techniques...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565921321
• ISBN13: 9781565921320
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.8" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A great book for command line usage of tcsh and csh

This book is for learning how to use the tcsh and csh shells from the command line, not for scripting. If you want scripting look elsewhere. You will be as disappointed as all of the one and two star reviewers you see here. However, in particular if you want information on the turbo C shell (tcsh), this is one of the few books on the subject, even if it is 13 years old. As with all O'Reilly books on Unix, in particular the ones written before the year 2000, this one knows its audience and has plenty of practical information. Turbo refers to speed though, not clarity. If you are not willing to memorize some shortcuts that are not exactly straightforward looking, maybe you should stick with plain old C shell (csh). The table of contents can be hard to find for this old book, so I include it next: Part I, Learning the Basics Chapter 1, Introduction, discusses the purpose of the shell and describes how to change your login shell to one of those discussed in this handbook. Chapter 2, A Shell Primer, provides a summary of introductory essentials. If you already know something about running commands, you can skim this chapter as a review or skip it. Chapter 3, Using the Shell Effectively, is an overview of many of the facilities that the shell provides to help you work more efficiently--easy, practical ways to get more out of the command line. Often, even experienced users are not aware of all of these features. This chapter gives you a glimpse of the kinds of techniques that are covered in detail in the rest of the book. Part II, Becoming More Efficient Chapter 4, The Shell Startup Files, describes ~/.cshrc and ~/.login, the files that the shell uses to initialize your working environment. This chapter also provides guidelines for modifying the startup files to suit your preferences. Chapter 5, Setting Up Your Terminal, discusses how to find out what your terminal's special characters are (e.g., for backspacing) and how to change them if you don't like the default settings. Chapter 6, Using Your Command History, discusses how to type less by using your command history. Chapter 7, The tcsh Command-Line Editor, describes the facilities offered by the editor which enable you to edit commands interactively. Chapter 8, Using Aliases To Create Command Shortcuts, discusses how to type less by using the shell's alias mechanism to create command shortcuts. Chapter 9, File-Naming Shortcuts, describes ways in which the shell can supply filename arguments for you so that you don't have to type them all out yourself. Chapter 10, Filename and Programmed Completion, describes how to use the shell for completing filenames after you type just the leading prefix. It also discusses how tcsh can complete other types of words besides filenames and how to set up programmed completions. Chapter 11, Quoting and Special Characters, describes the shell's quoting rules. By following these rules, you can type any characters in a command line, even special ones, with

One of the best book on LEARNING to USE the shell

I've seen many books on unix shells, however almost all the other books focus on shell programming instead of actually using shell to work more effectively and efficiently. This book fills the gap (hence the name "Using...". I personally recommend Zsh if you are looking for the most comprehensive shell. However zsh is too comprehensive and there is no book on it. Tcsh shell is an EXCELLENT shell to do your work (type in commands, listing files, and etc). It has all the essential goodies: command line completion, command-line editor, history, and etc. It found it more friendly than ksh and less complex than bash and/or zsh. This book teaches you step by step how to use the shell to do your every day work effectively. The author explains everything clearly which is more than what I can say about many books that just touches a little bit of using the shell as a command interpreter aspect of the shell as if everyone spend more time writing the shell scripts than using the command line. These aspect of the csh/tcsh are the basis for similar utilities in the other shells: ksh, bash, and zsh. I find that even if you use bash or zsh, you'll appreciate the information in the book. The other reason the author didn't write much on programming is because c-shell is less frequently used in shell programming because of the now famous posting of "C shell programming considered harmful", which is also on the book's homepage. If you have the patience to read through the book, you will find it an excellent investment of time. (The only other book I would say this for sure is the "Learning the vi Editor."

I can explain the wide disparity in reviews of this book!

The five reviews of this book that have come in ahead of mine range from 1 star to 5! The reason is simple, but the people panning the book didn't explain (or understand?) the problem very well. Here's the dope: a Unix shell is both an interactive command interpreter, and an environment for writing scripts, which are basically programs using the interactive commands and some logical control structures to automate tasks that don't really need to be run interactively. The author of this book, Paul Dubois, is of the opinion that neither csh nor tcsh are appropriate environments for shell scripting. I happen to disagree with him, at least insofar as I teach a little shell scripting in tcsh in my sophomore level software course. However, his opinion is worthy...making the argument that csh and tcsh shouldn't be used for shell scripting. Dubois recommends sh and perl for scripting. So it boils down to this: this is an excellent book for learning how to make the most of the interactive environment of csh and tcsh. It's loaded with neat tricks and good insights. And it's a particularly good reference for tcsh, which usually gets little mention in other books. If, on the other hand, you want a book about shell scripting, save your money: THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU. It has no material on shell scripting.

Excellent summary of csh / tcsh

I've been a csh and tcsh user for many years now, using tcsh on a daily basis. This book taught me even more about my familiar shell. The author makes it clear that his intent is to make the reader more productive in the shell environment, and he provides all the information and examples necessary to do just that.As noted, this book does not cover csh-style shell scripting at all. If you're looking for a scripting reference, look elsewhere.If, however, you're looking to improve your overall knowledge of csh and tcsh as far as daily is concerned, look no further. When combined with the manpage, this book makes both an excellent tutorial and reference.

"Type Less, Accomplish More" is right!

This is the book I wish I had found years ago. It is a no-nonsense approach to using a Unix utility that few people exploit to its full potential. I've often thought in the past, while performing some tedious, repetitive task: "There's *got* to be a better way to do this!" Paul DuBois' book has shown me how.One thing I particularly like about his approach is that he doesn't try to sell csh as some kind of "mega language" that can be adapted to all scripting tasks. Its states explicitly on the back cover: "This book does not cover programming or script writing in csh or tcsh because these tasks are better done with a different shell, such as sh (the Bourne shell) or a language like Perl." The emphasis is on interactive use, an area in which tcsh shines.Speaking of tcsh, I appreciate that the author comes right out in Chapter 1, pg. 5 and says: "I recommend you make tcsh your login shell for daily work. tcsh is more powerful and convenient than csh, and can help you get your work done more effectively." The first book I bought on this subject ("Unix C Shell Field Guide") didn't even mention the extended features of tcsh, and it went into *way* more scripting examples than I cared to read (i.e., the Swiss Army knife approach to csh). I was just looking for a way to minimize my typing and maximize productivity, like the Unix wizards I used to see hanging around the computer labs in college.I remember watching those guys and being amazed at the pages and pages of data that would scroll by as they calmly typed in keystrokes. I thought they must be typing a mile-a-minute to be getting all that output, but they never broke a sweat. It was almost like watching a jazz musician or something; they made it look so--effortless! Now I know why. They weren't typing nearly as much as I thought. They'd merely mastered the ins and outs of using their shell to streamline their work.That's exactly the focus of "csh & tcsh": how to "Type Less, Accomplish More". If you use unix daily, and haven't already mastered a shell that works for you, this book is a great place to start. I finally "get it" now, finally understand why your shell is your best friend in unix, and becomes very much like a custom-tailored suit.The only caveats I have in recommending the book are: 1) if you're already very adept at using ksh, bash or some other feature-rich shell, you probably need it less than I did, and 2) if you don't have the option of using tcsh on your system, it'll probably depress you to no end!