Here are some common problems you might encounter while working on the
command line.
- Why can't I run my program called test?
- The shell has a builtin command called test.
When the shell parses the command line, it matches any builtin commands
before it looks for executable files.
You have two choices: rename your program, or specify the path to it
(e.g., ./test).
- Why do I get a “not found” message when I try to run my program?
- The program is likely in a directory that isn't listed in your PATH.
In particular, your current directory isn't in your PATH
for security reasons.
Either add the executable's directory to your PATH or
specify the path to the command (e.g., ./my_program).
For more information, see
“Utilities,”
earlier in this chapter.
- When I list a directory, I don't see files that start with a dot.
- Files whose names start with a dot (.) are called
hidden files.
To list them, use the -a option to
ls.
- Why am I getting a “No such file or directory” message?
- The shell can't find the file or directory that you specified.
Here are some things to check:
- Have you typed the name correctly?
In QNX Neutrino, the names of files and directories are
case-sensitive.
- Does the name contain spaces or other special characters?
If you have a file called my file and you don't escape the
meaning of the space, the shell uses the space when breaking the command
line into tokens, so the command looks for one file called my
and another called file.
Use quoting to escape the meaning of the special characters
(e.g., less "my file" or less my\ file).
For information about the other characters that you need to quote, see
“Quoting special characters.”
- How do I work with a file whose name starts with a hyphen?
- QNX Neutrino utilities use the hyphen (-) to denote an option
(e.g., head -n 10 some_file).
If you create a file whose name starts with a hyphen, and you pass that filename
as an argument to a utility, the utility parses the filename as one or more options.
Most utilities recognize a double hyphen (--) to mean “end of options.”
Put this before your filename:
head -- -my_file
For more information, see the
Utility Conventions
chapter in the Utilities Reference.
- Why do I get a “Unrecognized TERM type” message when I start programs such as
vi?
- Either your TERM environment variable isn't set
correctly, or there isn't an entry for your terminal type in
/usr/lib/terminfo/ (or possibly /etc/termcap);
see
“Terminal support,”
earlier in this chapter.