Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

As an open operating system, Unix can be improved on by anyone and everyone: individuals, companies, universities, and more. As a result, the very nature of Unix has been altered over the years by numerous extensions formulated in an assortment of versions. Today, Unix encompasses everything from Sun's Solaris to Apple's Mac OS X and more varieties of Linux than you can easily name.

The latest edition of this bestselling reference brings Unix into the 21st century. It's been reworked to keep current with the broader state of Unix in today's world and highlight the strengths of this operating system in all its various flavors.

Detailing all Unix commands and options, the informative guide provides generous descriptions and examples that put those commands in context. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Unix in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition :

As Unix has progressed, certain commands that were once critical have fallen into disuse. To that end, the book has also dropped material that is no longer relevant, keeping it taut and current.

If you're a Unix user or programmer, you'll recognize the value of this complete, up-to-date Unix reference. With chapter overviews, specific examples, and detailed command.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• I Commands and Shells
• 1 Introduction Unix in the 21st Century Obtaining Compilers Building Software What's in the Quick Reference Beginner's Guide Solaris: Standard Compliant Programs
• 2 Unix Commands Introduction Alphabetical Summary of Common Commands Alphabetical Summary of Solaris Commands Alphabetical Summary of GNU/Linux Commands Alphabetical Summary of Mac OS X Commands Alphabetical Summary of Java Commands
• 3 The Unix Shell: An Overview Introduction to the Shell Purpose of the Shell Shell Flavors Shell Source Code URLs Common Features Differing Features
• 4 The Bash and Korn Shells Overview of Features Invoking the Shell Syntax Functions Variables Arithmetic Expressions Command History Job Control Command Execution Restricted Shells Built-in Commands (Bash and Korn Shells)
• 5 tcsh: An Extended C Shell Overview of Features Invoking the Shell Syntax Variables Expressions Command History Command-Line Manipulation Job Control Built-in Commands
• 6 Package Management Linux Package Management The Red Hat Package Manager Yum: Yellowdog Updater Modified up2date: Red Hat Update Agent The Debian Package Manager Mac OS X Package Management Solaris Package Management
• II Text Editing and Processing
• 7 Pattern Matching Filenames Versus Patterns Metacharacters Metacharacters, Listed by Unix Program Examples of Searching
• 8 The Emacs Editor Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Summary of Commands by Group Summary of Commands by Key Summary of Commands by Name
• 9 The vi, ex, and vim Editors Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Review of vi Operations vi Commands vi Configuration ex Basics Alphabetical Summary of ex Commands
• 10 The sed Editor Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Syntax of sed Commands Group Summary of sed Commands Alphabetical Summary of sed Commands
• 11 The awk Programming Language Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Patterns and Procedures Built-in Variables Operators Variable and Array Assignment User-Defined Functions Gawk-Specific Features Implementation Limits Group Listing of awk Functions and Commands Alphabetical Summary of awk Functions and Commands Output Redirections Source Code
• III Software Development
• 12 Source Code Management: An Overview Introduction and Terminology Usage Models Unix Source Code Management Systems Other Source Code Management Systems
• 13 The Revision Control System Overview of Commands Basic Operation General RCS Specifications Alphabetical Summary of Commands
• 14 The Concurrent Versions System Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax and Options Dot Files Environment Variables Keywords and Keyword Modes Dates CVSROOT Variables Alphabetical Summary of Commands
• 15 The Subversion Version Control System Conceptual Overview Obtaining Subversion Using Subversion: A Quick Tour The Subversion Command Line Client: svn Repository Administration: svnadmin Examining the Repository: svnlook Providing Remote Access: svnserve Other Subversion Components
• 16 The GNU make Utility Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Makefile Lines Macros Special Target Names Writing Command Lines
• 17 The GDB Debugger Conceptual Overview Command-Line Syntax Initialization Files GDB Expressions The GDB Text User Interface Group Listing of GDB Commands Summary of set and show Commands Summary of the info Command Alphabetical Summary of GDB Commands
• 18 Writing Manual Pages Introduction Overview of nroff/troff Alphabetical Summary of man Macros Predefined Strings Internal Names Sample Document
• IV References ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) Character Set
• Bibliography
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Arnold Robbins, an Atlanta native, is a professional programmer and technical author. He has worked with Unix systems since 1980, when he was introduced to a PDP-11 running a version of Sixth Edition Unix. He has been a heavy AWK user since 1987, when he became involved with gawk, the GNU project's version of AWK. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. He is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is also coauthor of the sixth edition of "Learning the vi Editor" from O'Reilly.