Linux Command Line Essentials
A 2 day introduction to the Linux command line environment for staff working with Linux servers and/or workstations. The course covers the Linux shell command line (Bash and Korn Shell), filename wildcards, I/O redirection, pipelines, filesystem structure, process environment, common filter commands, using X-Windows applications and customizing the login environment. The focus is on an improved understanding of the shell’s command line parsing mechanism, as well as familiarity with the most commonly used Linux utilities. Optionally this course can be customized by combining it with the companion course Linux Shell Scripting.
Objectives
- Logging in and using the command line interface
- Customizing the shell login environment ( Bash and Korn Shell)
- Managing files and directories
- Understanding the Linux process model including environment variables
- Working effectively with wildcards and quotes
- Building command lines using I/O redirection and pipelines
- Familiarity with common filter commands
- Understanding the capabilities of the command file editors
- Using local and remote X-windows applications
Prerequisites
- Some experience of working with a computer operating system.
Contents
Getting started
- Logging in
- Command history
- Command line format
- The ls and ps commands
- Manual pages and other sources of help
Filesystem structure
- The home directory and standard system directories
- Relative and absolute paths
- Paging files with less/more
- Creating, renaming and deleting files and directories
- Symbolic links
Shell command line parsing
- Meta characters
- Filename generation
- Quotes
- Environment variables
Common commands
- Using filter commands such as cut
- Examining files with file, od, wc, etc.
- The grep command and regular expressions
- The find command
Editors
- Using the vi family
- Using emacs
- Other editors such as pico/nano
Login environment
- The login profile
- Customizing the prompt
- Search PATH
- Aliases
Processes
- Looking at processes
- Background commands
- Killing processes
GUI Applications
- X-Windows architecture
- The DISPLAY variable
- GUI applications and editors
- Mouse key shortcuts
