The Linux Command Line

Part 1 - Learning The Shell

1 - What Is The Shell

date  --  cal

df  --  to see the current amount of free space on your disk driver 

free  --  to display the amount of free momery   

2 - Navigation

pwd
cd  --  relative path
cd ~[user_name]  --  home directory

3 - Exploring The System

ls ~ /usr  --  multiple directories
ls -l  --  long format
ls -lt  -- sort by the file's modification time

Option	Description
-F	Append a “/” if the name is a directory.
-S	Sort results by file size.
-t	Sort by modification time.
-r	Reverse.

drwxr-x---   4 sty   staff    136  6  3 10:11 .android
1-3-3-3  --  access rights to the file
1  --  indicates the type of file, "/" means a regular file, "d" indicates a directory
3  --  access rights for the file's owner
3  --  for the file's group
3  --  for everyone else

file filename  --  determining a file's type 

macbook:EBooks sty$ file TLCL-16.07.pdf 
TLCL-16.07.pdf: PDF document, version 1.4

less  --  view file contents
less is more

Directory	Comments
/	The root directory. Where everything begins.
/bin	Contains binaries programs that must be present for the system to boot and run.
/boot	Contains the Linux kernel, initial RAM disk image, and the boot loader.
/dev	“Everything is a file”.
/etc	Contains all of the system-wide configuration files.
/opt	Used to install “optional” software. Mainly used to hold commercial software products.
/usr	Contains all the programs and support files used by regular users.
/usr/bin	Contains the executable programs installed by your linux distribution.
/usr/lib	The shared libraries for the programs in /usr/bin.
/usr/local	Where programs that are not included with your distribution but are intended for system-wide use are installed.
/usr/sbin	Contains more system administration programs.
/usr/share	Contains all the shared data by programs in /usr/bin. Includes things like default configuration files, icons, screen backgrounds, sound files, etc.

4 - Manipulating Files And Directories

cp
mv
mkdir
rm
ln  -- create hard and symbolic links

wildcards

Wildcards	Matches
Data???	Any file beginning with Data followed by exactly three characters
[abc]*	Any file beginning with either an “a”, “b”, or “c”
Backup.[0-9]	Any file beginning with Backup followed by one number
[[:upper:]]*	Beginning with an uppercase letter
[![:digit:]]*	Not beginning with a numera
*[[:lower:]123]	Ending with a lowercase letter or the numerals 1, 2, or 3

mkdir

mkdir dir1 dir2 dir3

cp

cp item... directory. -- to copy multiple items

Command	Results
cp file1 file2	If file2 exists, it is overwritten with the contents of file1, if not, create file2.
cp -i file1 file2	Same as above, except that if file2 exists, the user is prompted before it is overwritten.
cp file1 file2 dir1	Copy file1 and fie2 into directory dir1.
cp dir1/* dir2	Using a wildcard, all the files in dir1 are copied into dir2.
cp -r dir1 dir2	After the copy, dir2 will contain the same contents as directory dir1.

mv

mv item1 item2  --  to move or rename file or directory item1 to item2
mv item... directory  --  move one or more items from one directory to another

rm

Command	Results
rm file1	Delete file1 silently.
rm -i file1	Prompt while deleting.
rm -r file1 dir1	Delete file1 and dir1 and its contents.
rm -rf file1 file2	^_^

ln — create links

ln file link  --  hard link
ln -s item link  --  symbolic link where item is either a file or a directory

To be continue

To To To.