The UNIX Environment and UNIX

Structure
UNIX is an operating system consisting of three important features; a kernel, the shell and a file system.
As its name implies, the kernel is at the core of each UNIX system and is loaded in whenever the system
is started up - referred to as a boot of the system. It manages the entire resources of the system,
presenting them to you and every other user as a coherent system. You do not need to know
anything about the kernel in order to use a UNIX system. Amongst the functions performed by the kernel are:

 managing the machine's memory and allocating it to each process.

 scheduling the work done by the CPU so that the work of each user is carried out as efficiently as is possible.

 organizing the transfer of data from one part of the machine to another.

 accepting instructions from the shell and carrying them out.

 enforcing the access permissions that are in force on the file system.
• create an environment that meets your needs
• write shell scripts
• define command aliases
• manipulate the command history
• automatically complete the command line
• edit the command line
Posix
• POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) is a set of standard operating system interfaces based on the 
Unix operating system. The need for standardization arose because enterprises using computers wanted to be
able to develop programs that could be moved among different manufacturer's computer systems without
having to be recoded. Unix was selected as the basis for a standard system interface partly because it was
"manufacturer-neutral." However, several major versions of Unix existed so there was a need to develop a
common denominator system.

• POSIX.1 and POSIX.2 interfaces are included in a somewhat larger interface known as the X/Open
Programming Guide (also known as the "Single UNIX Specification" and "UNIX 03"). The Open Group, an
industry standards group, owns the UNIX trademark and can thus "brand" operating systems that conform to
the interface as "UNIX" systems. IBM's OS/390 is an example of an operating system that includes a branded
UNIX interface. (Note that the trademark is "UNIX"; the generic terms for these operating systems is
"Unix.")
Single Unix specification
• The Single UNIX Specification is the standard in which the core interfaces of a UNIX OS are measured. The
UNIX standard includes a rich feature set, and its core volumes are simultaneously the IEEE Portable
Operating System Interface (POSIX) standard and the ISO/IEC 9945 standard.  The specification
encompasses the base operating system environment, networking services, windowing system services, and
internationalization aspects and programming languages. The latest version of the certification standard is
UNIX V7, aligned with the Single UNIX Specification Version 4, 2018 Edition

• The Open Group Governing Board UNIX Systems Work Group sets the strategy and influences the direction
for the evolution of the Single UNIX Specification. The Work Group is comprised of The Open Group
Platinum Members, all industry leaders each with a representative on The Open Group Governing Board.  A
few examples of UNIX based operating systems are IBM® AIX®, HPE™ HP-UX®, Oracle® Solaris®, and
Inspur® K-UX.
General features of Unix commands/
command structure.
• A command is a program that tells the Unix system to do something. It has the form:command [options]
[arguments]
• where an argument indicates on what the command is to perform its action, usually a file or series of files.
An option modifies the command, changing the way it performs.
• Commands are case sensitive. command and Command are not the same.
• Options are generally preceded by a hyphen (-), and for most commands, more than one option can be
strung together, in the form:
• command -[option][option][option]
• e.g.:
• ls -alR
• will perform a long list on all files in the current directory and recursively perform the list through all sub-
directories.
• For most commands you can separate the options, preceding each with a hyphen, e.g.:
• command -option1 -option2 -option3
as in:
• ls -a -l -R
• Some commands have options that require parameters. Options requiring parameters are
usually specified separately, e.g.:
• lpr -Pprinter3 -# 2 file
• will send 2 copies of file to printer3.
• These are the standard conventions for commands. However, not all Unix commands will
follow the standard. Some don't require the hyphen before options and some won't let
you group options together, i.e. they may require that each option be preceded by a
hyphen and separated by whitespace from other options and arguments.
• Options and syntax for a command are listed in the man page for the command.