W
wildcard character
A metacharacter that is used to allow wildcard matching in file names or regular
expressions.
See also metacharacter, regular expression
word identifier
A piece of a command line delimited by blanks and recognized as a unique entity
by the shell. Used to save keystrokes. By using word identifiers, a user can select
part of a previous command line for use in the current command line.
wordlist
A C shell variable consisting of more than one word.
working directory
1. The directory from which a file is read or into which a file is written when a
program does not include a directory path in the name of the file when operating
on it.
2. The user's current directory.
See also home directory
worm
A computer program designed to replicate itself and spread through a network
into other computers. Worms are not attached to other programs or files. Worms
are usually designed to damage or destroy "infected" systems and are often
programmed to become destructive at a specific time, such as the birthday of the
worm's programmer. Some worms are not designed to cause damage, but they
are still harmful because they occupy resources intended for legitimate use.
See also Trojan Horse, virus
WORM
Refers to storage media that can be written once and read many times, such as a
CD-R recordable compact disc.
