This chapter explains how to view, edit, and create files, as well as how to organize them into directories. The sections are:
You can open a directory in several ways:
If the folder icon is visible, place the cursor over the folder icon, then double-click the left mouse button. A new Directory View window appears.
If an arrow appears next to the folder icon, place the cursor over the arrow then click the left mouse button. The contents of that directory are listed underneath the folder icon. This arrow appears only when you're viewing icons in a Directory View window as a list. See “Viewing Icons as a List.”
If the folder icon is not visible in the Directory View window, enter a new directory name into the icon finder at the top of the window. Figure 4-1 shows the icon finder.
The icon finder displays the pathname of the current directory. You can type in a new directory name, or you can use the bar above the field to select a new directory. See “Opening a Directory Using the Icon Finder” for details.
For information on alternate methods, see “Opening a Directory: A Summary of Available Methods.”
This section lists the ways in which you can open a directory.
Place the cursor over a folder icon, then double-click the left mouse button.
Select a folder icon, then choose “Open Icon” from the Selected menu on the window that contains the icon. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Open Icon” from the Selected toolchest. See “Opening a Directory Using the “Open Icon” Command” for step-by-step instructions.
Place the cursor over the arrow that appears next to the folder icon, then click the left mouse button. The contents of that directory are listed underneath the folder icon. This arrow appears only when you're viewing icons in a Directory View window as a list. See “Viewing Icons as a List.”
Drag and drop a folder icon into the drop pocket on a Directory View window. The window changes to display the contents of the directory whose folder icon you dropped. See “Opening a Directory Using the Icon Finder” for details.
Type a new pathname into the icon finder at the top of the Directory View window. See “Opening a Directory Using the Icon Finder” for details.
Choose “Home Directory” from the Desktop toolchest. This opens a Directory View window that displays the contents of your home directory.
Choose “Remote Directory” from the Desktop toolchest. This opens a form into which you type the name of the directory you want to open and the remote system on which it's located.
Choose “Find an Icon” from a Selected menu or “an Icon” from the Find toolchest. This opens a form into which you can type the name of the directory you want to open.
The “Open Icon” command opens the selected icons. You can use this to open a directory.
Select the folder icon that represents the directory you want to open. The folder icon turns yellow when it's selected.
Choose “Open Icon” from the Selected menu on the window that contains the icon. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Open Icon” from the Selected toolchest.
A green Directory View window appears. It displays the contents of the selected directory.
The icon finder appears at the top of each Directory View window. You can open a new directory in one of three ways: type a directory name in the type in-field, drop a folder icon into the drop pocket, or use the pathbar above the type-in field to select a directory name.
The icon finder shows the pathname of the directory that is displayed. See Figure 4-2.
You can edit the name, as follows:
To replace the existing directory name, place the cursor in the pink type-in field, then double-click to select the existing text. Begin typing. The existing name disappears, and the new name appears as you type.
To edit a portion of the directory name, place the cursor within the name. Press the left mouse button and drag the cursor to highlight the section you want to change, or press the <Backspace> key to delete characters to the left of the cursor.
 | Note: If your system is on a network, you can open directories on other systems. See “The Pathname Field” for more information. |
The drop pocket is the small square to the left of the pink type-in field. See Figure 4-3.
When you place an icon in the drop pocket, the Directory View window changes.
Drag a folder icon and place it in the drop pocket. The window displays the contents of that folder.
Drag a file or application icon and place it in the drop pocket. The window displays the contents of the directory in which that icon is stored. For example, suppose you drag the IRIS Showcase icon into the drop pocket. The window displays the contents of the /usr/sbin directory.
The path bar is the gray bar above the pink type-in field. It lets you move from one directory to another, without typing. It contains a small button representing each directory in the pathname. Click a button to display the contents of that directory. See Figure 4-4.
If your machine is on a network, you can open directories on other systems on the network. You can do so in any of several ways:
In the pathname field at the top of a Directory View window, type /hosts/remotesystemname followed by the name of a remote directory. If you have permission to view that directory, the contents of the remote directory appear in the current window. See “The Pathname Field” for further instructions.
Choose the “Remote Directory” command from the Desktop toolchest. In the form that appears, specify the system name, the directory name, and the name of the user as whom you want to view the directory contents. Click the Help button on the form for more details.
Choose “NFS Mount Manager” from the System toolchest to make a permanent NFS mount. With a permanent mount, you can specify a specific location within your own filesystem from which you can access the remote directory. Permanent NFS mounts must be made by a Privileged User. Click the Help button on the form for more details.
To create a new directory, choose “New Directory” from the Selected menu. The new directory appears as a folder icon in the window. Detailed instructions follow.
Open the directory in which you want to create a new directory. For this example, suppose it's your home directory. Place the cursor over the folder icon that represents your home directory, then double-click the left mouse button.
Choose “New Directory” from the Selected menu. A folder icon appears in the window. It's labeled empty.dir. If you create another new directory, it is named empty1.dir.
See “Renaming Files and Directories” for instructions on renaming a directory.
| Note: If you want the folder icon to automatically appear on the desktop, choose “New Directory” from the Selected toolchest. The folder icon appears on the desktop; the directory is stored in your home directory. For example, suppose your user name is dorothy and you create a directory named oz on the desktop. The pathname for the directory is /usr/people/dorothy/oz. |
Open a file when you want to view or edit the file. You can open it in one of several ways: using the “Open Icon” command, double-clicking the file's icon, or using the drag-and-drop technique.
The easiest way to open a file is to place the cursor over the file icon, then double-click with the left mouse button. If you use a file frequently, place the icon on a shelf, or drag the icon onto the desktop so it is easily accessible. See also “Giving Yourself Easy Access to Icons.”
You can open a file by using the “ Open Icon” command on the Selected menu.
Place the cursor over the icon, then click the left mouse button to select the icon. The icon turns yellow when it's selected.
Choose “Open Icon” from the Selected menu on the window that contains the icon. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Open Icon” from the Selected toolchest.
You can open a file by dragging its icon onto an application icon and then dropping it. See also “Running Applications by Dragging and Dropping Icons.”
Most applications display a File Browser when you choose the “Save” or “Save As...” command. The File Browser makes it easy for you to save a file in a particular directory. If you do not specify a directory, the system places files in a default location, depending on the place from which you run the application.
If you run an application from the desktop, the file is saved in your home directory.
If you run an application from a Directory View window, the file is saved in that Directory View window.
If you run an application from a page in the Icon Catalog or Search tool, the file is saved in your home directory.
When naming icons, follow these guidelines:
Use only letters, characters, and underscores in your file name.
Take note of capitalization. file and File are two different names.
Blank spaces are replaced with underscores when you change the name of an icon in a Directory View window. Do not use blank spaces if you rename a file using an IRIX command in a shell window. IRIX does not replace blank spaces with underscores, so you'll have problems accessing the file later.
Each file, directory, and application in a directory must have a unique name. If you try to name a file Test and a file named Test already exists in that directory, one of two things happens: you get a notifier warning you that you're about to overwrite an existing file, or the existing file is replaced with another of the same name. You can specify which behavior you want. See “Turning File Overwrite Messages On and Off.”
Many applications let you rename a file using a “Save As...” command. If you are not running an application, you can rename a file from the desktop. Select the icon, edit the name, and then press the <Enter> key or click the left mouse button in the window. Detailed instructions follow.
Select the icon you want to rename.
The icon turns yellow and a white rectangle appears around the name. If you do not have permission to change the name, the white rectangle does not appear.
Edit the name. For advice on choosing a name, see also “Naming Icons: A Few Guidelines.”
To replace the existing name, begin typing. The existing name disappears, and the new name appears as you type.
To edit a portion of the name, place the cursor within the white rectangle surrounding the name, then click the left mouse button to place a marker. Begin typing to add characters after the marker; press the <Back Space> key to delete characters preceding the marker.
To replace or delete several characters, press the left mouse button and drag the cursor over the characters. Release the mouse button when the characters you want to delete or replace are selected. A white rectangle surrounds these characters.To delete the characters, press the <Back Space> key; to replace the characters, begin typing.
To apply the name, press <Enter> or click the left mouse button in the window.
If you do not press < Enter> or click the mouse button, the original name returns.
You can move icons into a different directory when you want to change their location in the file system. To do so, drag the icon from one Directory View window into another Directory View window or onto a folder icon. (If you have placed an icon on the desktop and want to move it off of the desktop, see “Putting Away an Icon.”)
Place the cursor over the icon, then press and hold down the left mouse button. The icon turns yellow.
Continue pressing the mouse button, then drag the cursor into a different Directory View window or on top of a folder icon. The icon travels with the cursor, leaving behind a gray outline.
Release the mouse button.
If you have a Directory View open, release the mouse button when the cursor is inside the window.
If you're dragging the icon onto a folder icon, release the mouse button when the folder icon turns blue.
The icon moves. It disappears from the original directory and appears in the new directory.
You can copy an icon in one of two ways:
Select the icon that you want to copy, then choose “Make Copy” from the Selected menu. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Make Copy” from the Selected toolchest. A copy of the selected icon appears. It's labeled copy_of_filename.
Press the < Ctrl> key, then select an icon. Continue pressing the < Ctrl> key and drag the icon to a new location. Release the mouse button and < Ctrl> key a copy of the icon appears. It's labeled copy_of_filename. (If you drag the icon into a new directory before releasing the mouse button, the icon doesn't have the copy_of_ prefix.)
See “Renaming Files and Directories” to learn how to change the name of the file you copied. For instructions on copying an icon on another system, see “Copying Files Across the Network.” For instructions on copying files to and from a floppy disk or tape, see “Copying Files to and From a Floppy Disk” and “Copying Files to and From a Tape.”
| Note: If you copy an icon that is on a page in the Icon Catalog or on the desktop, the copied icon appears next to the original icon and in your home directory. If you copy an icon on a shelf, the copied icon appears next to the original icon, and also appears in the directory to which the shelf is attached. |
You can access an icon from several different places by putting it on the desktop, on a shelf, or on a page in the Icon Catalog. For details, see “Giving Yourself Easy Access to Icons.” You can also use the “Make Linked Copy” command. A link lets you access an icon from several different places, and give it a unique name in each place. See “Understanding the Difference Between Referenced Icons and Linked Copies” for details on the two techniques.
To make a linked copy:
Select the icon that you want to copy. The icon turns yellow when it's selected.
Choose “Make Linked Copy” from the Selected menu. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Make Linked Copy” from the Selected toolchest.
A linked copy of the icon appears next to the old one. It's named link.to.originalname and has an “L” next to the icon.
Rename the file. See “Renaming Files and Directories” for details.
Move the linked copy as you would move any other icon. See “Moving Icons.”
| Note: When you change the original file, all linked copies are changed as well. The same is true if you change a linked copy; the original and all other linked copies are changed. If you delete the original file, the linked copy no longer has a place to point. The icon changes into a ring to indicate that it is an empty file. If you try to open the link, a notifier appears telling you that the link points to a file that doesn't exist. |
When you place an icon on the desktop, on a shelf, or on a page in the Icon Catalog, you give yourself another reference to or place from which to access the icon. You can also use the “Make Linked Copy” command to make linked copies of an icon. The result is slightly different:
A small “L” appears next to linked copies.
You can rename a linked copy so it has a unique name in each location. When you drag an icon onto the desktop, a shelf, or a page in the Icon Catalog, you maintain the same name in all locations.
When you remove a linked copy, only that linked copy is removed; the original and any other links still exist. When you remove an icon on the desktop, a shelf, or a page in the Icon Catalog, you remove the original icon and all other references to it.
If you delete the original file, a linked copy no longer has a place to point. The icon changes into a ring to indicate that it is an empty file. If you try to open the link, a notifier appears telling you that the link points to a file that doesn't exist.
Deleting a file or directory is a two-step process. You place the file in the dumpster, then you empty the dumpster.
To place an icon in the dumpster, you can drag the icon and drop it onto the dumpster icon, or you can use the “Remove” command. To use the “Remove” command:
Select the icon that you want to remove. The icon turns yellow when it's selected.
Choose “Remove” from the Selected menu on the window that contains the icon. If the icon is on the desktop, choose “Remove” from the Selected toolchest.
The icon disappears from the window and is placed in the dumpster. This behavior applies to all icons that you have permission to remove, no matter where they are located— in a Directory View window, on a page in the Icon Catalog, or on the desktop.
The dumpster icon is stored in your home directory and is placed on the desktop so you can easily access it.
Choose “Empty Dumpster” from the Desktop toolchest.
This permanently deletes the file from the system's disk.
| Note: You can also empty the dumpster by doing the following: Select the dumpster icon in a Directory View window, then choose “Empty Dumpster” from the Selected menu on the window that contains the dumpster icon. You can change the behavior of the “Remove” command so that it automatically deletes files from the system's disk. For information, see “Disabling the Dumpster.” |