hey guys, i'm a beginner at linux and i'm learning about it from a book called "Running Linux"(O.Reilly Publications). It was going real smooth but now i'm stuck at the part where i save my output :/ the command, "ls /home/user >> `/Name" is not running as expected.... what am i doing wrong?

Well, from a quick glance, you're trying to redirect the output of the ls command to a file called "Name" in your root directory. Only root (should) be able to modify files and directories there. You should have received an error message; when I try I get:

It's not a good idea to save files in /. Nothing's likely to happen, but then it looks like a mess like on other operating systems (ahem, Windows, why do you insist on saving Update Installtion, and other logs in C:\???).

Your other problem is if you are not replacing "/home/user" with your own directory, if in fact you typed into the terminal exactly what you described.

You must remember when following examples from books, the web, &c.; that certain words (usually boldface in books, or some other distinct type) are to be replaced with your own username, filename, etc.

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Perhaps you meant but bash ~/Name would NOT run ls -al /home/user but just give you the ls output.

If you wish to run /home/user/Name and have it run like ls -al /home/user then use

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thanks Habitual, your suggestion really helped...... the thing is that i've been following the content in the book religiously and its been correct so far..... anyway, thanks a ton you guys

One more thing, I don't think I understand the functioning of can you break it down for me?

Man, that backtick in the OP was so small on my screen, I didn't even see that typo. Oops!