Scribd
Upload
4 views3 pages

Linux Shell Basics 1 - Tsanderdev

The document provides an overview of basic Linux shell commands and navigation techniques. It covers creating, deleting, and managing directories and files, as well as using commands like ls, cp, mv, and curl. Additionally, it explains the use of options and flags in commands and suggests using the 'man' command for more detailed information on applications.

Uploaded by

Matt Graham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views3 pages

Linux Shell Basics 1 - Tsanderdev

The document provides an overview of basic Linux shell commands and navigation techniques. It covers creating, deleting, and managing directories and files, as well as using commands like ls, cp, mv, and curl. Additionally, it explains the use of options and flags in commands and suggests using the 'man' command for more detailed information on applications.

Uploaded by

Matt Graham
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

tsanderdev Blogs Linux Glossary

Linux Shell Basics


Dec 20, 2022

To interact with a terminal1, you need shell to accept your commands and run them.
The most popular standard shell on Linux is Bash.
Also commonly installed is a minimal set of programs:

the GNU coreutils


ls
echo
cat
cp
mv
mkdir
rmdir
rm
touch
and many more…
find to search in files and folders
GNU grep to search for text with regular expressions
curl or wget
a command line editor
a package manager

Navigating Directories
For every line you can write commands in the shell (that is, not for every line that another
program outputs), a prompt with some information will be displayed.
Shells typically display the user you are logged in as and the path to the directory you are
currently in.
When you see ~ in the current path it means the user’s home directory.

To change the directory you can use the cd “command” (quotes, because it’s not an actual
program you can run, but rather provided by the shell itself).
In contrast to windows, subdirectories and files are separated with / from the parent
directory, not \ .
To change the directory, use cd PATH :
cd ~
cd linux
cd ..
cd linux/blog
cd ../..

A new line in these code snippets means you have to press enter. Pressing enter lets the
shell know you finished your command and the shell can now run it.

This snippet first navigates to your home directory, then to the directory named “linux”, then
back out again. .. is a special directory that means “the parent directory”, so you can easily
navigate to parent directories.

Then it navigates to the blog subdirectories of the linux directory. That demonstrates
that you have to use / to separate a folder name from the sub-folder name.

The last command navigates back to your home directory. It navigates to the parent directory
of the parent directory, so 2 levels up, which is the home directory in this case.

When your names include spaces, you have to enclose them with "" : cd "my path with
spaces" .
The shell would interpret each word separated by the spaces as its own path otherwise.
If your path includes " or $, you have to use '' instead.

Shells also support something called tab completion, so you don’t have to type as much.
When you enter a command or path and hit enter, the shell looks for command names or
files/directories that match what you typed. If there is only 1 result to this search, the shell
will complete the command or path for you.

Creating and Deleting Directories


The above snippet likely doesn’t work for you, as you may not have the directory
~/linux/blog .
To create a directory, use mkdir PATH , or mkdir -p PATH if your path contains a parent
directory that doesn’t exist.
To delete an empty directory, use rmdir PATH .

Creating and Deleting Files


To create an empty file, use touch PATH .
To delete a file, use rm PATH .
If you want to delete a folder with contents, use rm -r PATH (make sure you want to delete
everything in it though).
Options
The -r in rm -r PATH is an option. Options are optional information you can pass to
programs. There are 2 types of options:

Flags: These can be enabled with - and the option letter or --LONGER_OPTION_NAME
for options with more than one letter
Values: Like flags, but the next thing you specify is the value: curl -o google.html
https://www.google.com would download https://www.google.com to the file
google.html .

Copying and Moving


To copy use cp SOURCE DESTINATION . To move, use mv instead.

Listing Directory Contents


But how do you know which files and folders you can copy and move?
You can use ls PATH to list them.
For the current directory ls is enough.

File Content
You can print files to the terminal with cat FILE , or edit them with an editor of your choice.
Personally I use nano because displays the keys you need and I’m too lazy to learn a full
terminal text editor.

Downloading
To download files, you can use curl or wget with the URL you want to download:
curl -o google.html https://www.google.com

Advanced Usage
If you want do do something in the general theme of one of the applications I showed,
chances are it can actually do it.
Most applications support the flags -h or --help which shows more information about
the application.
For more in-depth information there is the separate command man , which you may have to
install yourself. Use it with man COMMAND_NAME .

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy