Some Linux Commands
Connecting to a Unix/Linux system
⚫ Open up a terminal:
Connecting to a Unix/Linux system
⚫ Open up a terminal:
The “prompt”
The current directory (“path”)
The host
What exactly is a “shell”?
⚫ After logging in, Linux/Unix starts another
program called the shell
⚫ The shell interprets commands the user types
and manages their execution
⚫ The shell communicates with the internal part of the
operating system called the kernel
⚫ Shell commands are CASE SENSITIVE!
Help!
⚫Whenever you need help with a command
type “man” and the command name
Help!
Help!
Help!
Command: pwd
⚫To find your current path use “pwd”
System Information
Command: cd
⚫To change to a specific directory use “cd”
Command: cd
⚫ “~” is the location of your home directory
"cd ~" is a convenient way to quickly navigate
to your home directory from anywhere in the
file system.
Command: cd
⚫“..” is the location of the directory below
current one
`..` this as an argument in `cd` command
which is used to move to the parent
directory of current directory, or the
directory one level up from the current
directory.
Command: ls
⚫ To list the files in the current directory use “ls”
Command: ls
⚫ ls has many options
-l long list (displays lots of info)
-t sort by modification time
-S sort by size
-h list file sizes in human readable format
-r reverse the order
⚫“man ls” for more options
⚫Options can be combined: “ls -ltr”
Command: ls -ltr
⚫ List files by time in reverse order with long listing
"ls -ltr" is used to list the files and directories in
the current directory in long format, sorted by
their modification time in reverse order (oldest
first).
General Syntax: *
⚫“*” can be used as a wildcard in unix/linux
Command: mkdir
⚫To create a new directory use “mkdir”
Command: rmdir
⚫To remove and empty directory use “rmdir”
Displaying a file
⚫Various ways to display a file in Unix
cat
less
head
tail
Command: cat
⚫ Dumps an entire file to standard output
⚫Good for displaying short, simple files
Command: less
⚫ “less” displays a file, allowing
forward/backward movement within it
return scrolls forward one line, space one page
y scrolls back one line, b one page
⚫ use “/” to search for a string
⚫Press q to quit
Command: head
⚫“head” displays the top part of a file
⚫ By default it shows the first 10 lines
⚫ -n option allows you to change that
⚫ “head -n50 file.txt” displays the first 50
lines of file.txt
Command: head
⚫Here’s an example of using “head”:
Command: tail
⚫Same as head, but shows the last lines
File Commands
⚫Copying a file: cp
⚫Move or rename a file: mv
⚫Remove a file: rm
Command: cp
⚫To copy a file use “cp”
Command: mv
⚫ To move a file to a different location use “mv”
Command: mv
⚫mv can also be used to rename a file
Command: rm
⚫To remove a file use “rm”
Command: rm
⚫To remove a file “recursively”: rm –r
⚫Used to remove all files and directories
⚫Be very careful, deletions are permanent
in Unix/Linux
File permissions
⚫Each file in Unix/Linux has an associated
permission level
⚫This allows the user to prevent others from
reading/writing/executing their files or
directories
⚫Use “ls -l filename” to find the permission
level of that file
Permission levels
⚫“r” means “read only” permission
⚫“w” means “write” permission
⚫“x” means “execute” permission
In case of directory, “x” grants permission to list
directory contents
File Permissions
User (you)
File Permissions
Group
File Permissions
“The World”
Command: chmod
⚫ If you own the file, you can change it’s permissions with
“chmod”
Syntax: chmod [user/group/others/all]+[permission] [file(s)]
Below we grant execute permission to all:
⚫chmod u+x filename, Guess the output
Command: ps
⚫To view the processes that you’re running:
Command: top
⚫To view the CPU usage of all processes:
Command: kill
⚫To terminate a process use “kill”
Command: grep
⚫To search files in a directory for a specific
string use “grep”
