UNIT-2

Linux Utilities-
File handling utilities, Security by file permissions,
Process utilities, Disk utilities, Networking commands,
Filters, Text processing utilities and Backup utilities.
sed – scripts, operation, addresses, commands, awk –
execution, fields and records.scripts, operation, patterns,
actions, associative arrays, string & mathematical
functions, system commands in awk,applications.
Shell programming with Bourne again shell(bash):
Introduction, shell responsibilities, pipes and Redirection,
here documents,
running a shell script, the shell as a programming
language, shell meta characters, file name
substitution, shell variables, command substitution,
shell commands, the environment, quoting, test
command, control structures, arithmetic in shell,
shell script examples, interrupt processing,
functions, debugging shell scripts. environment,
quoting, test command, control structures,
arithmetic in shell, shell script examples, interrupt
processing, functions, debugging shell scripts
What is UNIX?
A computer operating system. It is designed
to be used by many people at the same
time (multi-user).
Runs on a variety of processors
It provides a number of facilities:
– management of hardware resources
– directory and file system
– loading / execution / suspension of programs
1.3. Why Use UNIX?
multi-tasking / multi-user networking
capability graphical (with command line)
easy to program
portable (PCs, mainframes, super-
computers)

continued
File: s a container for storing information.
A file is of 3 types.
Ordinary file: It contains data as a stream
of characters. It is of 2 types.
Text file: contains printable characters.
Binary file: contains both printable & non
printable characters.
Directory file: contains no data but it
maintains some details of the files &
subdirectories that it contains.
Every directory entry contains 2
components.
1.file name.
2.a unique identification number for the file
or directory.
Device file: It represents the device or
peripheral.
The UNIX File System
A simplified UNIX directory/file system:
/

bin dev lib usr

tmp
...
User ...

User3
User1 User2
/Bin: contains executable files for most of the
unix commands.
/Dev: contain files that control various input &
output devices.
/Lib: contains all the library functions in binary
form.
/Usr: contains several directories each
associated with a particular user.
/Tmp: contain the temporary files created by unix
or by any user.
/Etc: contains configuration files of the system.
Editor
vi is a full screen text editor. It
was created by Bill Joy.
Bram Moolenaor improved it and
called it vim (vi improved).
Invoking vi:
$Vi file name
Modes of operation
Vi has 3 mode of operation.
1.Command mode: In this mode all
the keys pressed by the user are
interpreted as commands. It may
perform some actions like move cursor,
save, delete text, quit vi, etc.
2.Input/Insert mode: used for inserting
text.
– start by typing i; finish with ESC
Modes of operation

Ex mode or last line mode:

Used for giving commands at command
line.
The bottom line of vi is called the
command line.
Basic Cursor Movements
h move cursor one place to left
j down one
k up one
l right one
w move forward one
b word back one word
Finishing a vi Session
Get to command mode (press ESCs)

ZZ save changes to the file and quit

(no RETURN)
:q! quit without saving
(press RETURN)
:wq! Saves the file & quit.
Inserting Text

Move to insertion point

Switch to input mode: i

Start typing; BACKSPACE or DELETE

for deletion

ESCfinish; back in command mode

Deletion

Must be in command mode.

x Delete character that cursor is on.

dd Delete current line.
D Delete from cursor position
to end of line
u Undo last command
File handling utilities
Cp (Copying Files)
– To create an exact copy of a file you can
use the “cp” command. The format of this
command is:
cp [-option] source destination
Eg:
Cp file1 file2
Here file1 is copied to file2.
Eg:
Cp file1 file2 dir
File1 file2 are copied to dir.
Copying Files
Cp turns to interactive when –i option is used
& destination file also exists.
$cp -i file1 file2
overwrite file2 (yes/no)?
Y at this prompt overwrites
the file.
mv (Moving and Renaming Files)
Used to rename the
files/directories.
$mv test sample
Here test is renamed as sample.
ln (link):
Used to create links (both soft & hard
links).
It creates the alias & increase the link
count by one.
$ln file1 file2
ln won’t work if the destination file also
exists.
Rm (Deleting Files and Directories)
– To delete or remove a file, you use the “rm”
command. For example,
$rm my. listing
will delete “my.listing”.
With –i option removes the files interactively.
$rm –i file1
With –r option recursively removes directories.
$rm –r dir1
mkdir: used to create one or more
directories.
$mkdir book
Creates the directory named book.
$mkdir dbs doc dmc
Creates three directories.
mdir (remove directories ):
Removes empty directories.
$rmdir book
removes directory named book if it is empty.
$rmdir dbs doc dmc
Removes 3 directories.
find: It recursively examines a directory
tree to look for matching some criteria
and then takes some action on the
selected files.
Syntax:
find path_list selection_criteria action
To locate all files named a. out use
$find / -name a. out –print
‘/’ indicates search should start from root
directory.
To locate all c files in current directory
$find . -name “*.c” –print
To find all files begin with an uppercase
letter use
$find . –name ‘[A-Z]*’ –print
Find operators:
Find uses 3 operators
!,-a ,-o
Security by file permissions
Unix follows a 3-tiered file protection system.
owner’s permission other’s permission

-rwx r-x r--

Type of file group’s permissions

Each group represents a category. There

are 3 categories-owner ,group ,others.
Security by file permissions
Each category contains read ,write
,execute permissions .
rwx->presence of all permissions.
r-x->absence of write permission
r-- -> absence of write ,execute permission
Chmod: changing file permission
chmod sets a file’s permissions (read, write
and execute) for all three categories
of users (owner, group and others)
Syntax:
chmod category operation permission file(s)
The command contains three components:
category of a user (owner, group or
others)
operation to be performed (assign or
remove a permission)
Permission type (read, write or execute)
Abbreviations used by chmod:
Categoryoperation
u-user +-assign permission
g-group --remove permission
o-others =-assigns absolute permission
a-all
permissions
r-read permission
w-write permission
x-execute permission
Absolute assignment:
Absolute assignment by chmod is done
with the = operator. Unlike the + or –
operator s, it assigns only those
permissions that are specified along with
it and removes other permissions.
If u want to assign only read permission to
all three categories and remove all other
permissions from the file small use
chmod g-wx,o-x small
Or simply use = operator in any of the
following ways.
chmod ugo=r small
chmod a=r small
Chmod =r small
The octal notation:
Chmod also takes a numeric argument
that describes both the category and the
permission. The notation uses octal
numbers. Each permission is assigned a
number like
read permission-4, write permission-
2, execute permission-1
Process utilities

Ps (process status):
Display some process attributes.
$ps
PID TTY TIME CMD
1078 pts/2 0:00 bash
Ps presents a snapshot of the process
table.
Process utilities
Ps with –f option displays a fuller listing
that includes the PPID.
Ps with –u option followed by user-id
displays the processes owned by the
user-id.
Ps with –e option displays the system
processes.
Who: know the users
Displays the users currently logged in the
system.
$who
Whoami: Show you the owner of this
account
$whoami
W: Tell you who is logging in and doing
what!
$w
Finger: Displays the information about the
users.
$finger user
Find out the personal information of a user
$finger name
Try to find the person’s info. by
his/her name
finger email-address
Try to find the person’s info across
the network
Disk utilities
Du: disk usage
Du estimate the file space usage on the
disk.
It produces a list containing the usage of
each subdirectory of its argument and
finally produces a summary.
$du /home/usr1
Disk utilities
Df: displays the amount of free space
available on the disk. The output
displays for each file system separately.
$df
Mount:
Used to mount the file systems.
Takes 2 arguments-device name ,mount
point.
Disk utilities
Mount uses an option to specify the type
of file system.
To mount a file system on the /oracle
directory on Linux system use
$mount –t ext2 /dev/hda3 /oracle
$mount –t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /mnt
/cdrom $mount –t vfat /dev/hda1 /msdos
$mount –t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
Disk utilities
Umount: unmounting file systems
Unmounting is achieved with the umount
command. which requires either file
system name or the mount point as
argument.
$umount /oracle
$umount /dev/hda3
Unmounting a file system is not possible if
the file is opened.
ulimit: user limit
It contains a value which signifies the
largest file that can be created by the
user in the file system.
When used by itself it displays the current
setting.
$ulimit
unlimited
User can also set the ulimit value by
using $ulimit 10
unmask:
When u create files and directories, the
default permissions that are assigned to
them depend on the system’s default
setting. Actually this default is transformed
By subtracting the user mask from it to
remove one or more permissions.
This value is evaluated by umask
without arguments.
$umask
022
Networking commands
ftp: file transfer protocol
ftp is used to transfer files. It can be used
with host name.
$ftp Saturn
Connected to Saturn
220 Saturn ftp server
Name (Saturn: summit ): Henry
Password: ******
To quit ftp use close and then bye or quit.
ftp>close
221 good bye
ftp>bye
Transferring files:
Files can be of 2 types.
Uploading( put & mput):
To upload ur web pages & graphic files to
website.
The put command sends a single file to
the remote machine.
ftp>binary
200 type set to I
ftp>put penguin. gif
To copy multiple files use mput.
ftp>mput t*.sql
Downloading files: get & mget
To download the files from remote
machine use get & mget.
ftp>get ls-lR.gz
ftp>_
Networking commands
telnet: Remote login
If u have an account on the host in a
local network (or on internet ),u can use
this with the host name or the ip
address as argument.
$telnet Saturn
Trying to 192.168.0.1…
Connected to Saturn
Login:----
Password:-----
U can quit telnet by using exit command.
telnet prompt:
When telnet used without Ip address the
system displays a telnet> prompt . U
can invoke a login session from here
with open.
telnet> open 192.168.0.8
Trying to 192.168.0.8…
Connected to 192.168.0.8
Networking commands
rlogin: remote login without password
rlogin is the Berkley's implementation of the
remote login facility.
U can log on to ur own identical remote account
without using either the user name or password.
$rlogin Jupiter
Last login :….
rlogin is terminated with ctrl+d or exit or logout.
Text processing utilities
cat: cat is used to create the files.
$cat> filename
Type some text here
Press ctrl+d
$
Cat can also be used to display the
contents Of a file.
$cat filename
Cat can alsoconcatenate
the contents of 2 files and
store them in third file.
Cat>file1 file2>new file
To append thecontents of
two files into another file
use
Cat>file1 file2>>new file
tail:
tail command displays the end of the file.
It displays the last ten lines by default.
$tail file
To display last 3 lines use
$tail –n 3 file or
$tail -3 file
We can also address the lines from the
beginning of the file instead of the end.
The + count allows to do that.
head:
head command as the name implies,
displays the top of the file. When used
without an option, it displays the first
10 lines of the file.
$head file
We can use –n option to specify a line
count and display, say first 3 lines of
the file.
$head –n 3 file or
$head -3 file
Sort:
Sort can be used for sorting the contents
of a file.
$sort shortlist
Sorting starts with the first character of
each line and proceeds to the next
character only when the characters in
two lines are identical.
Sort options:
With –t option sorts a file based on the
fields.
$sort –t “|” +2 shortlist
The sort order can be reversed with –
r option.
Sorting on secondary key:
U can sort on more than one field i.e. u
can provide a secondary key to sort.
If the primary key is the third field and
the secondary key the second field, we
can use
$sort –t \| +2 -3 +1 shortlist
Numeric sort (-n):
To sort on number field use sort with –n
option.
$sort –t: +2 -3 –n group1
Removing duplicate lines (-u):
The –u option u purge duplicate lines from
a file.
nl:
nl is used for numbering lines of a file.
Nl numbers only logical lines –those
containing something other apart from
the new line character.
$nl file
nl uses a tab as a default delimiter, but we
can change it with –s option.
$nl –s: file
nl won’t number a line if it contains
nothing.
Grep: globally search for a regular
expression and print.
Grep scans a file for the occurrence of a
pattern and depending on the options
used, displays
Lines containing the selected pattern.
Lines not containing the selected pattern (-
v).
Line numbers where pattern occurs (-n)
No. of lines containing the pattern (-c)
File names where pattern occurs (-l)
Syntax:
grep option pattern filename(s)
Egrep: extended grep
Egrep extended set includes 2
special characters + and ?.
--matches one or more occurrences of the
pervious character.
?-- matches zero or more occurrences of
the pervious character.
fgrep: fast grep
If search criteria requires only sequence
expressions, fgrep is the best utility.
Fgrep supports only string patterns, no
regular expressions.
To extract all the lines that contain an
apostrophe use fgrep as follows:
$fgrep “’” file
Cut: slitting the file vertically
U can slice a file vertically with
cut command.
Cutting columns(-c):
Cut with –c option cuts the columns.
To extract first 4 columns of the group file :
$cut –c 1-4 group1
The specification –c 1-4 cuts columns 1 to 4.
Cutting fields:
st rd
To cut 1 and 3 fields
use $cut –d: -f1,3 group1
Paste: pasting files
What u cut with the cut can be pasted
back with paste command-but vertically
rather than horizontally. u can view two
files side by side by pasting them.
To join two files calc.lst and result.lst use
$paste –d= calc.lst result.lst
Join:
is a command in Unix-like operating systems
that merges the lines of two sorted text files
based on the presence of a common field.
The join command takes as input two text files
and a number of options. If no command-line
argument is given, this command looks for a
pair of lines from the two files having the
same first field (a sequence of characters that
are different from space), and outputs a line
composed of the first field followed by the rest
of the two lines.
$join file1 file2
tee:
Unix tee command breaks up its input into two components;
one component is saved in a file, and other is connected to the
standard output.
tee doesn’t perform any filtering action on its input; it gives exactly
what it takes.
tee can be placed any where in a pipeline.
u can use tee to save the output of the who command in a file
and display it as well:
$who |tee user.lst
The tee command reads standard input, writes its content to
standard output and simultaneously copies it into the
specified file or files.
Flags
-a Adds the output to the end of File instead of writing over it.
-i Ignores interrupts.
Comm:
Suppose if u have 2 list of people, u are
asked to find out the names available in
one and not the other or even those
common to both. Comm is the
command that u need to for this work.
It requires two sorted file and lists the
differing entries in different columns.
$comm file1 file2
Comm display a three-column output.
Cmp: comparing two files
The two files are compared byte by byte
and the location of the first mismatch is
echoed to the screen using cmp.
Cmp when invoked without options it does
not bother about possible subsequent
mismatches.
$cmp group1 group2
If two files are identical cmp display s no
message, but simply returns the $ prompt.
diff: converting one file to another
diff takes different approach to displaying
the differences.
It tells u which lines in one file have to be
changed to make two files identical.
When used with the same files it produces
a detailed output.
$diff group[12]
diff uses certain special symbols with its
instructions to indicate the changes
needed to make two files identical.
Backup utilities
tar: the tape archive program
Tar doesn’t normally write to the standard
output but creates an archive in the media.
Tar accepts file and directory names as
arguments.
It operates recursively.
It can create several versions of same file in
a single archive.
It can append to an archive without
overwriting the entire archive.
-c option is used to copy files to backup
device.
$tar –cvf /dev/rdsk/foq18dt
/home/sales/sql/*.sql
The verbose option (-v) shows the no. of
blocks used by each file.
Files are restored with the –x (extract) key
option. when no file or directory name is
specified it restores all files from the
backup device.
Cpio: copy input-output
Cpio command copies files to and from a
backup device. It uses standard input to
take the list of filenames.
It then copies them with their contents and
headers into stream which can be
redirected to a file or a device.
Cpio can be used with redirection and
piping.
Cpio uses two options-o (output) and –i
(input) either of which must be there in
the command line.
Awk: Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan
Awk is not just a command, but a programming
language too.
Syntax:
awk options ‘selection criteria {action}’ file(s)
Simple filtering
awk ‘/Simpsons/ { print }’ homer |Simpsons
Splitting a line into fields
awk –F ”|” ‘/Simpsons/ {print $1}’ homer
tr: translating characters tr command manipulates
individual characters in a character stream.
tr options expr1 expr2< standard input It takes input
only from the standard input, it does not take input a
file name as its argument.
When executed, the program reads from the standard
input and writes to the standard output.
It takes as parameters two sets of characters, and
replaces occurrences of the characters in the first set
with the corresponding elements from the other set.
Examples: $ tr "[a-z]" "z[a-y]" < computer.txt $tr –d
‘|/’ < shortlist |head -3 pg: pg is used to display the
output of a file in page by page. $pg file1