BasicLinuxCommands

by
B.Prathibha
prathibhab@cdac.in

15thSeptember,2010

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BasicLinuxCommands
calCommandtoseecalenderforanyspecificmonthoracompleteyear
usage:cal[month][year]
eg:calsep2010

dateprintsthedateandtime
date+"%D%H:%M:%S"
09/14/1014:19:43
Options:
dThedateofthemonth(131)
yThelasttwodigitsoftheyear
H,M,SHourMinuteandsecondrespectively
Dthedateinmm/dd/yy
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BasicLinuxCommands
echo:Printmessageontheterminal
usage:echo<message>
eg:echo"Welcometotheworkshop"
o/p:Welcometotheworkshop

passwdallowsyoutochangeyourpassword

mandisplaysthedocumentationforacommand
usage:man<commandname>
eg:manmkdir

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LinuxFileSystem

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Standarddirectorystructure
Standarddirectorystructure
/thetopmost
/devallthedevicesareaccessibleasfiles
/varvariabledatasuchasmails,logfiles,databases
/usralmostallthepackagesinstalled
/etcconfigurationfiles
/homehomedirectoriesforalltheusers
/roothomedirectoryoftheprivilegeduserroot
/mntusedtomountotherdirectories/partitions.

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ShellMetacharacters

MetacharactersThesearespecialcharactersthatarerecognisedbytheshell.

*matches0ormorecharacters.

eg:ls*.c

?matchesanysinglecharacter

eg:lsab?.c

[]Thiswillmatchanysinglecharacterintherange.

eg:lstut[09].m
Thiswillfindfilessuchastut0.m,tut9.metc.,

>Redirectstandardoutputtoafile.

echohelloworld>hello.txt

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ShellMetacharacters

>>Appendsstandardoutputtoafile.

eg:echoHelloAgain>>hello.txt

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<Takesstandardinputfromafile
|Thisispipecharacter.Sendstheoutputoffirstcommandasinputforthe
secondcommand.

FileSystemCommands

mkdirmakedirectory

usage:mkdir<dirname>
eg:mkdirppath/test/test1
p>noerrorifexisting,makeparentdirectoriesasneeded

cdchangedirectories

Usecdtochangedirectories.Typecdfollowedbythenameofadirectoryto
accessthatdirectory.

mvchangethenameofadirectory

Typemvfollowedbythecurrentnameofadirectoryandthenewnameof
thedirectory.
Ex:mvtestdirnewnamedir
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FileSystemCommands

cpcopyfilesanddirectories
usage:cpsourcedestination

cpimyfileyourfile
Withthe"i"option,ifthefile"yourfile"exists,youwillbepromptedbeforeitis
overwritten.
cprsrcdirdestdir
Copyallfilesfromthedirectory"srcdir"tothedirectory"destdir"recursively.

rmdirRemoveanexistingdirectory

rmremovefilesordirectories

Usage:rmrname
Removesdirectoriesandfileswithinthedirectoriesrecursively.

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FileHandlingCommands

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FileHandlingCommands

catusedtodisplaythecontentsofasmallfileonterminal

usage:cat<filename>
catwhensuppliedwithmorethanonefilewillconcatenatethefileswithout
anyheaderinformation

moreandlesscommandsareusedtoviewlargefilesonepageatatime

usage:more<filename>
usage:less<filename>

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FileHandlingCommands

wccommandisusedtocountlines,wordsandcharacters,dependingonthe
optionused.

usage:wc[options][filename]
Youcanjustprintnumberoflines,numberofwordsornumberofcharcters
byusingfollowingoptions:
l:Numberoflines
w:Numberofwords
c:Numberofcharacters

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SimpleFilters

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Filters

Filtersarecommandswhichacceptdatafromstandardinput,manupulateit
andwritetheresultstostandardoutput.
Headdisplaysthelinesatthetopofthefile

whenusedwithoutanyoptionitwilldisplayfirst10linesofthefile
usage:headfilename
n>printthefirstNlinesinsteadofthefirst10

taildisplaysthelinesattheendofthefile.Bydefaultitwilldisplaylast10
linesofthefile

usage:tailfilename

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cut&paste

cutcommandcanbeusedtocutthecolumnsfromafilewithcoption.

eg:cutc1,35/etc/passwd

Withfoptionyoucancutthefeildsdelemitedbysomecharacter

eg:cutd:f2/etc/passwd
doptionisusedtospecifythedelimiterandfoptionusedtospecifythe
feildnumber

pastecommandwillpastethecontentsofthefilesidebyside

eg:pastea.txtb.txt

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Orderingafile

sortreorderslinesinthefile

whitespacesfirst,thennumerals,uppercaseandfinallylowercase
youcansortthefilebasedonafieldbyusingtandkoption.
Eg:sortt""k2students.txt
sortsthefilebasedonthesecondfieldusingthedelimiterasspace
r>reversestheresult

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Searchingforapattern

grepscansitsinputforapattern,displaysthelinecontainingthatpattern

usage:grepoptionspatternfilename(s)

searchingforatextstringinone

grep'boss'/etc/passwd
searchesforthepatternbossinthe/etc/passwdfile

searchingforatextstringinmultiplefiles

greproot*.txt

CaseinsensitivefilesearchingwiththeUnixgrepcommand

grepihellohello.txt

Reversingthemeaningofagrepsearch

grepvboss/etc/passwd
Displaysallthelinesthatdonotcontainthespecifiedpattern
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Searchingforapattern

UsinggrepinaUnix/Linuxcommandpipeline

lsal|grep^d
printthelinesthatstartswithd

Linuxgrepcommandtosearchformultiplepatternsatonetime

egrepboss|root/etc/passwd

greppatternmatchingandregularexpressions(regexpatterns)

grep'[FG]oo'*
grep'[09][09][09]'*
grep'^fred'/etc/passwd

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sed

sededitorforfilteringandtransformingtext

i>editthefilesinplace

sedi'1,10d'hello.txt

deletedthefirst10linesfromhello.txt

sedi2ihaihello.txt

Insertsthetexthaiinthesecondline

sedi'/hello/d'hello.txt

Deletedthelinecontainingthepatternhello.

sed's/hello/world/'hello.txt

Replacesthefirstoccurrenceofhellooneachlinetoworld.

sed's/hello/world/g'hello.txt

Replacesalltheoccurrencesofhellooneachlinetoworld.
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LinuxCommands

pwdprintworkingdirectory

willshowyouthefullpathtothedirectoryyouarecurrentlyin.

shredoverwriteafiletohideitscontents

Theresultisthatyourfileissothoroughlydeleteditisveryunlikelytoeverbe
retrievedagain.

lnstestsymlink

Createsasymboliclinknamedsymlinkthatpointstothefiletest

freeDisplaystheamountofusedandfreesystemmemory.

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LinuxCommands

wshowwhoisloggedonandwhattheyaredoing
usage:w
whoshowwhoisloggedin
usage:who
whob>lastsystemboottime

whoamiprintstheeffectiveuserid.
whereisls Locatesbinariesandmanualpagesforthelscommand.
catdisplaysthecontentsofthefileonthescreen.

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LinuxCommands

dfreportfilesystemdiskspaceusage

Usage:dfh
h>printsizesinhumanreadableformat

dusummarizediskusageofeachfile,recursivelyfordirectories.

Usage:duh

findFindlocationsoffiles/directoriesquicklyacrossentirefilesystem

Usage:find/nameappnametypedxdev
typedsearchforthedirectorynamedappname
xdevDon'tdescenddirectoriesonotherfilesystems.
searchagainstalldirectoriesbelow/fortheappnamefoundindirectoriesbutonly
ontheexistingfilesystem.
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LinuxCommands

Commandtofindandremovefiles
find.name"FILETOFIND"execrmrf{}\;

lspciautilityfordisplayinginformationaboutPCIbusesinthe
systemanddevicesconnectedtothem.

vdisplaysadetailedinformation.

lsusbautilityfordisplayinginformationaboutUSBbusesinthe
systemandthedevicesconnectedtothem.

vdisplaysadetailedinformation.

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LinuxCommands

lshwlistthehardware

hwinfoprobsforthehardware

cat/proc/cpuinfogivesinformationaboutcpu

cat/proc/meminfogivesinformationaboutmemory

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pscommand

ps(i.e.,processstatus)commandisusedtoprovideinformationaboutthe
currentlyrunningprocesses,includingtheirprocessidentificationnumbers
(PIDs).

pslistsalltheprocesses
usage:psaux

killtokillaprocess

psismostoftenusedtoobtainthePIDofamalfunctioningprocessinorder
toterminateitwiththekillcommand
usage:kill9pid
wherepidprocessidoftheprocesstobekilled.

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TaskAutomation

Cronisthenameofprogramthatenableslinuxuserstoexecutecommands
orscripts(groupsofcommands)automaticallyataspecifiedtime/date.
Youcansetupsetupcommandsorscripts,whichwillrepeatedlyrunataset
time.
Thecronservice(daemon)runsinthebackgroundandconstantlychecksthe
/etc/crontabfile,/etc/cron.*/directories.
Italsochecksthe/var/spool/cron/directory.
Toeditthecrontabfile,typethefollowingcommandattheLinuxshell
prompt:
crontabe

Syntaxofcrontab(FieldDescription)
mhdommondow/path/to/commandarg1arg2
where

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TaskAutomation
m:Minute(059)
h:Hours(023)
dom:Date(031)
mon:Month(012[12==December])
dow:weekdays(07[0or7sunday])
/path/to/commandScriptorcommandnametoschedule
Ifyouwishedtohaveascriptnamed/root/backup.shruneverydayat3am,
yourcrontabentrywouldlooklikeasfollows:
03***/root/backup.sh
Executeeveryminute
*****/bin/script.sh
Thisscriptisbeingexecutedeveryminute.
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TaskAutomation
ExecuteeveryFriday1AM
Toschedulethescripttorunat1AMeveryFriday,wewouldneedthefollowing
cronjob:
01**5/bin/execute/this/script.sh
Thescriptisnowbeingexecutedwhenthesystemclockhits:
1.minute:0
2.ofhour:1
3.ofdayofmonth:*(everydayofmonth)
4.ofmonth:*(everymonth)
5.andweekday:5(=Friday)

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TaskAutomation
Executeonworkdays1AM
ToschedulethescripttorunfromMondaytoFridayat1AM,wewouldneed
thefollowingcronjob:
01**15/bin/script.sh
Thescriptisnowbeingexecutedwhenthesystemclockhits:
1.minute:0
2.ofhour:1
3.ofdayofmonth:*(everydayofmonth)
4.ofmonth:*(everymonth)
5.andweekday:15(=MondaytillFriday)

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TaskAutomation
Execute10pastaftereveryhouronthe1stofeverymonth
10*1**/bin/script.sh
ifyouwanttorunsomethingevery10minutes:
0,10,20,30,40,50****/bin/script.sh
or
*/10****/bin/script.sh
SpecialWords
Ifyouusethefirst(minute)field,youcanalsoputinakeywordinsteadofa
number:
@rebootRunonce,atstartup
@yearlyRunonceayear"0011*"
@annually(sameas@yearly)
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TaskAutomation
@monthlyRunonceamonth"001**"
@weeklyRunonceaweek"00**0"
@dailyRunonceaday"00***"
@midnight(sameas@daily)
@hourlyRunonceanhour"0****
Eg:@daily/bin/script.sh
Storingthecrontaboutput
Tostoretheoutputinaseparatelogfile.Here'show:
*/10****/bin/script.sh2>&1>>/var/log/script_output.log

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Howtousevieditor

Startingvi

Youmayusevitoopenanalreadyexistingfilebytyping
vifilename

viModes

vihastwomodes:
*commandmode
*insertmode
Incommandmode,thelettersofthekeyboardperformeditingfunctions
(likemovingthecursor,deletingtext,etc.).Toentercommandmode,press
theescape<Esc>key.
Ininsertmode,thelettersyoutypeformwordsandsentences.Unlikemany
wordprocessors,vistartsupincommandmode.
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Howtousevieditor

EnteringText

Inordertobeginenteringtextinthisemptyfile,youmustchangefrom
commandmodetoinsertmode.Todothis,type
I

DeletingWords

Todeleteaword,movethecursortothefirstletteroftheword,andtype
dw
Thiscommanddeletesthewordandthespacefollowingit.
Todeletethreewordstype
3dw

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Howtousevieditor

DeletingLines

Todeleteawholeline,type
dd
Thecursordoesnothavetobeatthebeginningoftheline.Typingdddeletes
theentirelinecontainingthecursorandplacesthecursoratthestartofthe
nextline.Todeletetwolines,type
2dd
Todeletefromthecursorpositiontotheendoftheline,type
D(uppercase)

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Howtousevieditor

ReplacingCharacters

Toreplaceonecharacterwithanother:
1.Movethecursortothecharactertobereplaced.
2.Typer
3.Typethereplacementcharacter.
Thenewcharacterwillappear,andyouwillstillbeincommandmode.

ReplacingWords

Toreplaceonewordwithanother,movetothestartoftheincorrectwordand
type
cw

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Howtousevieditor
Youarenowininsertmodeandmaytypethereplacement.Thenewtextdoes
notneedtobethesamelengthastheoriginal.Press<Esc>togetbackto
commandmode.Toreplacethreewords,type
3cw

ReplacingLines

Tochangetextfromthecursorpositiontotheendoftheline:
1.TypeC(uppercase).
2.Typethereplacementtext.
3.Press<Esc>.

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Howtousevieditor

Movingaroundinafile
Htotoplineofscreen
Mtomiddlelineofscreen
Ltolastlineofscreen
Gtolastlineoffile
1Gtofirstlineoffile

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Howtousevieditor

MovingbySearching

Tomovequicklybysearchingfortext,whileincommandmode:
1.Type/(slash).
2.Enterthetexttosearchfor.
3.Press<Return>.
Thecursormovestothefirstoccurrenceofthattext.
Torepeatthesearchinaforwarddirection,type
n
Torepeatthesearchinabackwarddirection,type
N
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Howtousevieditor

Tosavetheeditsyouhavemade,butleavevirunningandyourfileopen:
1.Press<Esc>.
2.Type:w
3.Press<Return>.

Toquitvi,anddiscardanychangesyourhavemadesincelastsaving:
1.Press<Esc>.
2.Type:q!
3.Press<Return>.

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ThankYou

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