This repository presents a guidance and examples of the usage of GNU/Linux operative system.
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Gerardo Marx Chávez-Campos d1f87a749a File system commands 2 years ago
Readme.md File system commands 2 years ago

Readme.md

Basics of GNU/Linux

First we will introduce some of the most used Bash commands. By using this command we will learn how to manage files, directories, and modify the contents of files. Later, the terminal is introduced. The terminal will be our most used front-end frame to work in mobile devices or servers. Thus, few improvements are going to be make, to support our daily task in the Bash terminal. Finally, we will work with the package manger tool. We are going to install some useful packages that will be used later, and we will make some data science in terminal by creating our first on-liner task.

Basic File System Commands

The most used commands at the terminal are listed below. These are know as File System Commands, because they mainly handle file in our system

Name Command options example
List files ls -a shows all ls -la
-l long format
-R recursive
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Current directory pwd -P prints the physical location pwd
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Change cd .. takes you up a level cd /home/gmarx
directory ~ takes you to home directory cd ~
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Make mkdir -p make parent directories as needed mkdir -p test/example
directory -v print a message for each directory mkdir -p /test/example
*first example creates
folders inside the
current folder, other one
creates folder in root directory
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Delete a rm -r recursive (use for directories) rm sample.txt
file or directory -d remove empty directory rm -r test
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Copy a file cp -r recursivec copy cp a.txt b.txt
or directory -u copy only if the source is newer cp test-a test-b
-v verbose (show output)
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Move a file or mv -i prompts before overwrite mv a.txt c.txt
directory No -r; Moving into the same directory mv test example
performs a renaming
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touch
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more
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cal
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Terminal

There are several Terminal emulators that will help to visualize and work better during a connection to our local or remote system.

I have tested some of them and I can recommend some of they:

  • ConEmu. ConEmu is a powerful and fast window based terminal manager that can handle all the shell in your Windows system (cmd, PowerShell, Git Bash, Python). However the colors and text make an ugly tool to work with for several hours.
  • Hyper. Hyper is a terminal built on web technologies, based on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS providing a beautiful and extensible experience for command-line interface users. The application has a lot of APIs and extension and is highly configurable for several tasks. However, the emulator requieres a complex configuration file and the speed of the emulator is not good enough compared with other projects.
  • Alacritty. Alacritty is a modern terminal emulator that comes with sensible defaults, but allows for extensive configuration. By integrating with other applications, rather than reimplementing their functionality, it manages to provide a flexible set of features with high performance. The supported platforms currently consist of BSD, Linux, macOS and Windows. The project is in Beta version but actually used by several users daily. However, the first approach for new user and lack of information make roughly first contact.

Once you have decided and installed a terminal emulator, we can start typing commands and improving the Bash. Below, there are some terminal commands to move around in the daily typing task.

Command Description
CTRL-c Stop current command
CTRL-z Sleep program
CTRL-a Go to start of line
CTRL-e Go to end of line
CTRL-u Cut from start of line
CTRL-k Cut to end of line
CTRL-r Search history
!! Repeat last command
Tab key Autocompletes
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Remember that the terminal is the front-end window of the back-end shell system. The system can be Shell, Bash, Fish, Z-Shell, or any other. The most standard used or pre-installed one is the Bash (Bourne-again Shell), Bash is a command processor that typically runs in a text window where the user types commands that cause actions. Bash can also read and execute commands from a file, called a shell script. Like most Unix shells, it supports filename globbing (wildcard matching), piping, here documents, command substitution, variables, and control structures for condition-testing and iteration. The keywords, syntax, dynamically scoped variables and other basic features of the language are all copied from sh. Other features, e.g., history, are copied from csh and ksh. Bash is a POSIX-compliant shell, but with a number of extensions.

*** Package management

Command Debian
Install a package sudo apt install vim
Upgrade the package in your system sudo apt upgrade
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*** Basic file editing with VIM *** Expanding the file system