Graphical root login-- be fore warned im a total noob --

[LT72884]

Identify the command, options and arguments in the following:
ls -al /etc

Answer:
The command is: ls
There are two options: a and l
The argument is: /etc

hello there, here is an odd question. i know what these commands do but i dont understand what he means by arguments. ls lists the files and folders in a specific directory, a and l are the options, but how is /etc an argument. what does the term argument mean?

[OErjan]

/etc is the searchpath to the dir where most (90%+) of systemwide configfiles are situated.
remaining configfiles you have to read the manual for ther specific program.

there is a bunch of files in your /home/username aswell, these are for the users settings.

[LT72884]

interesting. well what does the term argument mean though. i was reading the floppix stuff and the guy said to identify the options and arguments in this command. i know what the options are but i dont know what the argument is and why. thanx in advance

[OErjan]

cp /home/username/text.txt cp /home/username/text2.txt
there cp is copy., /home/username/text.txt is argument 1 and /home/username/text2.txt argument 2.

that is copy 1 to 2, not much more than that.

even a regular expression could be an argument, say cp -a /home/usernamne/* /home/usernamebackup/ the -a is preserve permisions and be recursive (for more look in man cp),
that would copy everything including dirs subdirs with permision preserved... from /home/username to the dir /home/usernamebackup.
and as you know /home/usernamebackup can be a different disk temporarily mounted there, or a diferent partition/disk in the computer...
these things will becoe more clear after a time of use.

[LT72884]

lol, nice. these are all new terms to me. lol as you can tell. so i take it that the * means everything with in the/username folder. this is going to be tough to do full time work and also school.