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 (for example, ./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 (for example, ./my_program). For more information, see Utilities.
-
Why does
root
have access to different commands?
- The root user has a different
PATH setting that includes such directories as
/sbin and /usr/sbin. These directories contain executables and managers that
(typically) only root can use.
If you aren't logged in as root, you can still run some of the utilities in /sbin if you have the right permission, but you'll
have to specify the full path (for example, /sbin/logger) or add the directory to your PATH.
-
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 BlackBerry 10 OS, 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
(for example, 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?
-
BlackBerry 10 OS utilities use the hyphen (-) to
denote an option (for example, 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 Utility Conventions.
-
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.