Trim lines ??

Question

Hello anyone
I'm trying to learn illustrator cs2 on my own and am having some issues with a few basic functions.  I am drawing shapes using the rectangle, ellipses and trying to join them together.  How do i trim 2 lines together to make a corner.  I would like to cut off the exess at the ends by cutting to the other lines.  I know this seems basic but I can't figure it out.  In the end I want to make a figure using all the drawing tools  ( pen, line, shapes etc) and have the outline just one feature.  help please

Answer 1

Interesting workaround. Thanks for the link.
Seems to effectively 'fool' Illustrator into using pathfinder by 'filling' the lines, which seems like a contradiction. Still quite alot of steps to accomplish a simple corner trim, haven't counted the 'clicks' but suspect it is about the same - or perhaps more by the time you've reallocated the line thicknesses - than using the Scisors.
Anyhow, I'm not sure if either of the previous replies were yours.  IMHO the following:
"Have you looked through the online help at all? You don't learn a program like Illustrator by just poking around in it.
You are misunderstanding the most basic principles of the program."
Is neither polite nor helpful. 
"How do i trim 2 lines together to make a corner.  I would like to cut off the exess at the ends by cutting to the other lines." seems like a perfectly legitimate question that does not "misunderstand the most basic principles of the program."  It simply seems to be asking how to perform a basic line-work function that Illustrator just happens to make a right old meal out of.  AI deals with complex filled forms in any number of clever ways, but there is an anomaly by which two simple crossed lines that one wants to trim back seem to require multiple steps.
The next section of text gives lots of possibilities but no method or sequence.
You say that "What is rude to one is valuable advice to others." I would suggest that advice can be rude and valuable simultaneously, but that the best advice is also valuable but does not make the recipient feel belittled.
Anyhow, I suspect Shorrtty would be the best judge of that. However, I note there was no grateful thanks as has been for some of his other answered questions.