1. Log on to UNIX if needed.

2. Create a new directory with any name at the level of the 

machine directory, and then change directories to this new 

directory.

3. Create three files containing the current date in this directory; 

provide a name for each file so that you can use an ambiguous file 

name to refer to all three.

4. Copy the three new files to the machine directory using their 

ambiguous file name.  Check the machine directory listing for their 

appearance there.

5. Remove all files in your home directory that start with the letter 

t; use the -i option so you see which ones are deleted.

6. Create a file named year.1901 in the machine directory.  Then 

move all files containing year in their names to the new directory 

created in step 2.  Check the directory listing.

7. Use an ambiguous file name with square brackets to print a few 

files from your home directory.  Notice that the print ID lets you 

know how many files will be printed.


If it doesn't work:

A.  If you don't get the effect that you want, try pwd to be sure 
where you are in the directory hierarchy.

B.  Don't worry too much if you remove and rearrange the files 
differently from the ways mentioned in this tutorial.  Just 
insure you can control what happens when you specify ambiguous 
file names.

C. If the printing facility is not available, substitute the cat or 
more command to display the contents of the files.

Questions? Robert Katz:rkatz@ned.highline.edu
Last Update July 9, 2002