OpenVMS commands for the Unix/Linux minded

As an OpenVMS Enthusiast, I would recommend anyone on Unix/Linux to move to OpenVMS. You might, or might not want to do so, but that is up to you. Anyway, if you want to try and play with it, you can always get an account at the DEATHROW OpenVMS Cluster.

OpenVMS does not by default have a shell like Unix/Linux. Instead, it has a command interpreter, which is very powerful. Most users that come from a different platform have problems with the command syntax. I recently found this link on Stack Overflow in an answer about the equivalent of the history command.

The page on the link above was not very well formatted, I provide the list of command equivalents here in a more readable form (btw. not verified any of them). The other information on the page is for some other post. There are several of these lists on the internet, so maybe I will post another one later.

OpenVMS	Unix/Linux	Description
APPEND	cat	Concatenates files. If contencs of file1 need to be placed at the end of file2 issue the following unix command.cat file1 >> file2
ASSIGN or DEFINE	=(Bourne & Korn) set (C shell)	in Bourne or Korn shell DIR = ls in C shell set DIR ls
DIR	ls	List file in the current directory
ATTACH	fg
BACKUP	tar pax	back up files into a tar file.
/INIT	tar -c pax	Restore files.
/LIST	tar -t	List contents.
/LOG	tar -v	Report progress.
/NOREWIND	tar -r	Write at end of existing backup (tar) files.
/RECORD	tar -m	Update file's modification date upon restore.
COPY	cp	Copy a file
COPY	ftp	Copy to/from a nontrusted remote host.
COPY	rcp	Copy to/from a remote host.
COPY /CONFIRM	cp -i	Confirm before copying.
CREATE	touch	Create or update a file.
/DIRECTORY	mkdir	Create a subdirectory.
CREATE filename	cat << filename	Create a file from the keyboard.
CREATE filename	cat
DEBUG	dbx	Debug a program.
DELETE	rm	Delete a file.
DELETE	rmdir	Delete an empty subdirectory.
/CONFIRM	rm -i	Confirm deletion.
/ENTRY	lprm	Remove queued line printer job.
/QUEUE	lprm -P	Remove all jobs from the queue.
/LOG	rm -e	Delete files and list them as they are deleted.
/SYMBOL	unset	Get rid of an environment variable.
DIFFERENCES	diff	Display all differences in files or directories.
/MAXIMUM_DIFF= 1	cmp	Display first difference in two files (typically used with binary files).
/NUMBER NL:	cat -n	Display a file with line numbers.
/SLP	diff - e	Generate editing changes for the ed editor.
DIRECTORY	ls	List files.
DIRECTORY [...]	ls -R	Do a recursive directory/list of files.
DIRECTORY [...]	find	Find a file
DIRECTORY *.DIR	ls -d	List directory name(s) only ls -Rd
/BY_OWNER	ls -l dir | grep owner	List only those files owned by a specifed user.
/COLUMN	ls -1	List one file per line.
/DATE	ls -c	List by creation/last modification.
/FULL	ls -l	Long listing.
/FULL /TOTAL	du	Summarize disk usage.
/MODIFIED /SINCE [...]	find -mtime +n	Modified more than n days ago.
/MODIFIED /BEFORE [...]	find -mtime +n	Modified more than n days ago.
/OWNER	ls -g	Include group (used with |).
/SIZE	ls -s	Include size.
DISMOUNT /UNLOAD	mt rewofmt offline	Rewind and unload the tape.
DUMP	od	Dump a file in various formats.
/HEXADECIMAL	od -h	Hexadecimal dump.
/OCTAL	od -o	Octal dump.
EDIT /EDT,EDIT /EVE, EVE	vi	Screen editor session.
EDIT /RECOVER	vi -r	Recover a screen editing session.
EXCHANGE	dd	Back up, restore, and convert nonstandard files.
EXIT	exit	Terminate a script.
HELP	man	Display online reference pages.
HELP HINTS	man -k topic	Display a list of commands that correspond to the specified topic.
INQUIRE /NOPUNCTUATION	read choice?	Prompt for a responce and put the response into an environment variable.
INITIALIZE device:	fddisk -fmt device	Format a diskette.
LIBRARY	ar	Library maintainer.
/CREATE	ar -cr	Create library.
/EXTRACT	ar -x	Extract modules.
/INSERT	ar -q	Insert modules.
/LIST	ar -t	List modules.
/REPLACE	ar -r	Replace modules.
LINK	ld	Link compiled source code into an executable image.
login procedure LOGIN.COM	.login .cshrc .profile .kshrc	Set of commands automatically executed at login time.  On OpenVMS, LOGIN/CLI specifies an alternate command language interpreter.
LOGOUT	logout C shell exit Bourne & Korn shell	Terminate a terminal session.
MAIL	mail	Invoke the mail utility.
MERGE	sort -m	Merge sorted files.
MOUNT	mount	Mount a tape.
ON CONTROL_C THEN	trap 2	Enable handler for Stop signal.
ON CONTROL_Y	onintr	On interrupt.
PHONE	talk tty name	Communicate interactively with another user.
PRINT	lpr	Print a file on the default line printer.
/COPIES=N	lpr -#n	Print n copies.
/DELETE	lpr -r	Remove file after printing
/FORM	lpr -ln	Make page n lines (default = 66)
/FORM	lpr -n	Print n column output.
/FORM	lpr -wn	Set line width to n
/HEADER	pr -h string | lpr	Print a header on each page.
/NAME=jobname	lpr -Jjobname	Include job name on the first page of the job.
/NOFLAG	lpr -h	Print with no header page.
/NOTIFY	lpr -m	Send mail upon completion.
/PAGES=(n,"")	lpr +n	Begin printing on page n.
/QUEUE	lpr -Pqueue	Print a file on the specified queue.
READ	read	Read input (korn shell)
RECALL /ALL	history	Recall command lines
REPLY /USER	write	Send a brief message to a logged-in user
RENAME	mv	move/rename a file(s)
/CONFIRM	mv -i	confirm the move/rename of a file(s)
SEARCH	grep	Search files for strings.
/MATCH=NOR	grep -v	List only lines that do not match
/NOEXACT	grep -i	Ignore case distinctions.
/NUMBERS	grep -n	Precede each match with line number.
/STATISTICS	grep -c	List only a file name that contains match
/WINDOW = 0	grep -l	Return only file name(s) that contains match
file pattern /WINDOW=5	more -5 +/pattern file	Display search line plus two lines before and after. (Terminate with q).
file pattern /WIND=(5,0)	cat file | more -5+pattern	Display search line plus next five lines.
SET DEFAULT	cd	Change directory.
SET FILE/OWNER	chgrp	Change group ownership of a file.
SET HOST	rlogin	Network login to trusted host.
SET HOST /DTE	tip	Dial remote host.
SET HOST 0 /LOG	script	Record a transcript of a terminal session.
SET PASSWORD	passwd	Change you local password.
SET PROCESS /PRIORITY	nice renice	Change the priority of a process.
SET PROTECTION	chmod	Change file protection.
/DEFAULT	umask	Change default protection for files not yet created.
SET TERMINAL	tset stty	Set terminal characteristics.
SET VERIFY	ksh -x csh -x	Verify command or script execution. Echo after variable substitution.
SHOW DEFAULT	pwd	Display current directory.
SHOW DEVICE /FULL	df filesystem	Display information on a file system
SHOW LOGICAL	printenv	Display environment characteristics.
SHOW PROCESS /ALL	ps -l	Dislay all processes on system.
SHOW /QUEUE	lpq	Display default print queue status.
SHOW STATUS	time	Display resources used by a process.
SHOW TIME	date	Display date and time
SHOW USERS	who	Display the list of current system users.
SORT	sort	Sort and merge.
/KEY	sort +fskip.cskip sort -fskip.cskip	Starting/ending porint of sort key.
/OUTPUT	sort -o file	Direct output to file.
SPAWN /NOWAIT	bg	Move a process to the background.
STOP /ID	kill -9	Remove a process.
SUBMIT	at	Start a process at a latter time.
TYPE	cat	Display a file
/PAGE	more	Display a file, pausing after each page.
/PAGE NL:	clear	Clear the terminal screen.
WRITE	echo var > file	Create a file and write a string or the contents of a variable to it.
WRITE	echo var >> file	Append a string or the contents of a variable to an existing file.
WRITE SYS$OUTPUT	echo (c Shell) print (Korn)	Write to standard output.

Of course it is possible to have a bash shell on OpenVMS. That requires the installation of GNV (open source project at SourceForge).