Very Computer

by **Crai** » Sun, 23 Feb 2003 05:19:24

I've recently installed RH 8 and am relative newbie to Linux. I've
worked out a bunch of problems over the last week but haven't figured out on
e that seemed to happen more and more often of the command line being so
mewhat scrambled. I can use it but I'd sure like for it to be right.
Example of way it look:
cd './root'
t'arg]# cd '/roo'
ion-20.6]# stati
ion-20.6]# stati
ion-20.6]# [s]tati

With the [s] is where the cursor will be and carry on like that ever
y time I hit enter. The stuff ahead of the cursor just goes away as I ty
pe and whatever I type works even if I don't bother to erase some of that
stuff that is still on screen ahead of what commands I typed.
Sure would appreciate any insight on the whole affair.

by **Tony Gree** » Sun, 23 Feb 2003 05:37:48

> I've recently installed RH 8 and am relative newbie to Linux. I've
> worked out a bunch of problems over the last week but haven't figured out on
> e that seemed to happen more and more often of the command line being so
> mewhat scrambled. I can use it but I'd sure like for it to be right.
> Example of way it look:
> cd './root'
> t'arg]# cd '/roo'
> ion-20.6]# stati
> ion-20.6]# stati
> ion-20.6]# [s]tati

> With the [s] is where the cursor will be and carry on like that ever
> y time I hit enter. The stuff ahead of the cursor just goes away as I ty
> pe and whatever I type works even if I don't bother to erase some of that
> stuff that is still on screen ahead of what commands I typed.
> Sure would appreciate any insight on the whole affair.

It sounds like something somewhere is setting the $COLUMNS environment
variable to a silly figure.

If you type:
echo $COLUMNS
I reckon it'll return a small number.
Short term fix would be to type:
COLUMNS=80
or a similar suitable figure. Then try to work out where it's being set
and remove it. My guess would be that it's probably in your
$HOME/.profile or $HOME/.bashrc file, unless it happens whatever user
you log in as, in which case have a look in /etc/profile and the files
in /etc/profile.d.

--
Tony Green
Please remove .clothing to reply
http://www.beermad.org.uk/
No Micro$oft products were used in the generation of this communication
*** A little something to keep the CIA spooks at Echelon busy: Pentagon,
Socialist Revolution

by **Crai** » Mon, 24 Feb 2003 03:45:22

> It sounds like something somewhere is setting the $COLUMNS environment
> variable to a silly figure.

> If you type:
> echo $COLUMNS
> I reckon it'll return a small number.
> Short term fix would be to type:
> COLUMNS=80
> or a similar suitable figure. Then try to work out where it's being set
> and remove it. My guess would be that it's probably in your
> $HOME/.profile or $HOME/.bashrc file, unless it happens whatever user
> you log in as, in which case have a look in /etc/profile and the files
> in /etc/profile.d.

Thanks - But now the * is acting right - so guess I'll have t
o wait until it mess up again to have at a fix. - Searched around for wh
at you said but never found anything that say "COLUMNS=anything" - "echo $CO
LUMNS" did show a thing other than as if I'd hit enter without typing anything.

Got a couple other issues but guess I will hassle with trying to
figure them out for a few more days before whining for advice about them.
Seems that even when I can't figure out a particular problem on my own I fi
nd out a lot of other stuff in the pursuit. ;-)

by **Crai** » Tue, 25 Feb 2003 08:10:24

snip

Quote:> It sounds like something somewhere is setting the $COLUMNS environment
> variable to a silly figure.

Yup. When it was screwed up again $COLUMNS came back with 16.
COLUMNS=80 didn't do anything though.
$HOMW/.profile does not exist and /etc/profile does not exist. None of
the other things contained anything about "COLUMNS"
??? where else to look? - I searched a lot and came up with nothing.

Quote:
> If you type:
> echo $COLUMNS
> I reckon it'll return a small number.
> Short term fix would be to type:
> COLUMNS=80
> or a similar suitable figure. Then try to work out where it's being set
> and remove it. My guess would be that it's probably in your
> $HOME/.profile or $HOME/.bashrc file, unless it happens whatever user
> you log in as, in which case have a look in /etc/profile and the files
> in /etc/profile.d.

> --
> Tony Green
> Please remove .clothing to reply
> http://www.beermad.org.uk/
> No Micro$oft products were used in the generation of this communication
> *** A little something to keep the CIA spooks at Echelon busy: Pentagon,
> Socialist Revolution

by **Tony Gree** » Tue, 25 Feb 2003 08:30:02

> snip

>>It sounds like something somewhere is setting the $COLUMNS environment
>>variable to a silly figure.

> Yup. When it was screwed up again $COLUMNS came back with 16.
> COLUMNS=80 didn't do anything though.
> $HOMW/.profile does not exist and /etc/profile does not exist. None of
> the other things contained anything about "COLUMNS"
> ??? where else to look? - I searched a lot and came up with nothing.

I'm assuming that $HOMW/.profile is a typo and you actually looked at
$HOME/.profile (ie the .profile file in your home directory) - is there
a .bashrc file? Which is significant will depend on what shell you're
using. Make sure you're looking for the .profile file with "ls -a"
rather than just "ls" as any file starting with a dot doesn't appear
without using the "-a" argument.

I'd be very surprised if you haven't got an /etc/profile file - if that
isn't there, you've got a seriously screwed installation as that's about
as fundamental as /etc/passwd.

It might be worth trying:
COLUMNS=80
export COLUMNS

That isn't necessary with ksh, which I use, but might be neccessary with
your shell - they do vary quite a bit.

--
Tony Green
Please remove .clothing to reply
http://www.beermad.org.uk/
Resist US aggression in the Gulf http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
*** A little something to keep the CIA spooks at Echelon busy: Anthrax,
World Trade Center

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