OK. idl has some built-in unix-like commands, but then others require a ‘$’ beforehand which I think summons the unix shell. The various unix-like commands that an idl user might like are a mixture thereof, so see below whether or not there is a $ (See also a third option, spawn, below.):
cd, ‘/data/psrdata/ note no $ : this is a native idl command made to look like its unix cousin
pwd ” ” ” ” ” (This and previous command often go together ,
since this one returns the “present working directory” which should
verify that your cd command did as you wished! (There is supposedly a
way to get the idl prompt to show the pwd but I haven’t yet figured it out.)
printd or popd or pushd are all native idl directory-oriented commands made to look like their unix cousins (or in printd case, just print the current directory name – no unix cousin exists.)
$ls Needs the dollar sign which I think invoked the unix shell.
The idl spawn command can also be useful:
spawn,’ls -als | grep arecibowapp’ is a way to do the idl version of the unix ls with flags, and even then pipe it into another command. This looks like the most flexible!.
spawn,’ps aux’ ditto
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