Linux Commands & Editors

Module-2
OSSD (21B12CS320)
B.Tech.(CSE-6th Sem)

JIIT, Noida
Where are these commands
located?

Directories:
 /bin

 /sbin

 /usr/bin

 /usr/sbin
Command Structure

command [-option(s)] [argument(s)]
 the command;
 any options required by the command
 the command's arguments (if required).
 OptionsMUST come after the command and before any command
arguments
 Options SHOULD NOT appear after the main argument(s)
 However, some options can have their own arguments!
More About Options

All options are preceded by a hyphen (-)

Options without arguments may be grouped after the
hyphen

The first option argument, following an option, must be
preceded by white space. For example -o sfile is valid but
-osfile is illegal.

Option arguments are not optional
More About Options

All options must precede other arguments on the command
line

A double hyphen -- may be used to indicate the end of the
option list

The order of the options are order independent

The order of arguments may be important

A single hyphen - is used to mean standard input
man
• Manual Pages
• Contains information about almost everything
- Other Commands
- System Calls
- C Library Functions
Syntax:
man <command name>
Example:
$ man ls
which
• Displays a path name of a command
• Searches a path environmental variable for the
command and displays the absolute path
Syntax:
which <command name/app>
Example:
$ which sh (shows which sh is actually in use)
whereis
• Display all locations of a command (or some other
binary, man page, or a source file).
• Searches all directories to find commands that
match the argument
Syntax:
whereis <command name>
Example:
$ whereis sh
passwd
• Change your login password.
Syntax:
passwd
passwd <username>
Example:
$ passwd user1
date
• Displays dates in various formats
Example :

$ date (in IST)

$ date -u ( in GMT )
clear
• To clear the screen
Syntax:
$ clear or ctrl + L
alias
• Defines a new name for a command
Syntax:
alias <newcommand>='<oldcommand>'

Example:
$ alias dt='date'
$ dt
history
• Display a history of recently used commands
Syntax:
history <option>
Example:
$history 10
exit
• Exit from your login session.

• Example :
• $ exit
shutdown
• Causes system to shutdown or reboot
• May require super-user privileges

• Example:
$ shutdown -h now ( stop )
$ shutdown -r now ( reboot )
File Management Commands
ls
• Lists directory contents
Syntax:
ls <option>
Examples:
$ ls (lists all files except those starting with a “.”)
$ ls -a
$ ls -l
$ ls -al
cat
• Takes a copy of a file and sends it to the
standard output
Syntax:
cat <filename>
Example:
$ cat link.txt
more
• Display contents of large files page by page
or scroll line by line up and down.
• Syntax:
more <option> <filename>

Examples:
$ more a.txt (press enter to see next page content)
$ more -s a.txt (squeeze multiple space line into single)
cp
• Copies files/directories
Syntax:
$ cp <options><source> <destination>
Example:
$ cp a.txt b.txt

(Useful option: -i to prevent overwriting existing files and prompt the

user to confirm)
mv
• Moves or renames files/directories
Syntax:
% mv <source> <destination>
(The <source> file gets removed)
Example:
% mv b.txt d.txt
rm
• Removes file(s) and/or directories.
Syntax:
$ rm <options> <filename>
Example:
$ rm d.txt
diff
• Compares file and, shows where they differ.
Syntax:
$ diff <filename1> <filename2>
Example:
$ diff a.txt b.txt
find
•Searching a file in a directory tree
Syntax:
$find <option> <filename>
Example:
$ find -name "a.txt"
cd
• Changes your current directory to a new one.
Syntax:
cd <dirname>
Example:
$ cd /usr/home/example
mkdir
• Creates a directory
Syntax:
$ mkdir <dirname>
Example:
$ mkdir etcs lab
rmdir
• Removes a directory
Syntax:
$ rmdir <dirname> (empty)
$ rm -r <dirname>
Example:
$ rm -r etcs
wc
• Tells you how many lines, words, and
characters there are in a file
Syntax:
$ wc filename
Example:
$ wc a.txt (line words char)
pwd
• Displays the present working directory, i.e.
your current directory.
Example:
$ pwd
chown
• To change the owner and owning group of files
Syntax:
• chown <owner/user> <filename>
• chown <owner-user:owner-group >
<filename>
Example:
$ chown abc link.txt
chmod
• To change permissions of files or directories
Syntax:
$ chmod <option> <permission> <filename>
Example:
$ chmod 777 link.txt
grep
• To print lines of input matching a specified
pattern
Syntax:
$ grep <option> <pattern> <file>
Example:
$ grep include link.txt
User/Group Management
Commands
useradd
• To add a new user
Syntax:
useradd <username>
Example:
$ useradd xyz
userdel
• To delete a user
Syntax:
$ userdel <username>
Some Other Commands
zip
• Compresses files, so that they take up much less
space
Syntax:
$ zip -r <filenames.zip> <file1> <file2>
Example:
$ zip -r foo.zip a.txt b.txt etcs
unzip
• Uncompress the files compressed by gzip
Syntax:
% unzip <options> filename
(zipfile name without extension)
Example:
% unzip foo
who
• Tells you who's logged on, and where they're
coming from.
Example:
$ who
whoami
• Displays the same information as who, but only
for the terminal session from where the
command was issued.
Example:
$ whoami
last
• Tells you when the user last logged on and off and
from where.
Syntax:
$ last -1 username
(Without any options, last will give you a list of everyone's
logins)
echo
• Displays a line of text
Syntax:
echo <option> <string>
Example:
$ echo Hello, World!
$ x=10
$ echo The value of x is $x.
ps
• Displays information about a selection of the active
processes.
• Contains lots of information about them including the
process ID
• Syntax:
$ ps <options>
Example:
$ ps -a
ifconfig
To see the IP Address
Syntax:
$ ifconfig <option>
Example:
$ ifconfig -a
telnet
• To connect to a remote host
Syntax:
$ telnet <hostname/ipaddress>
Example:
$ telnet myhost.com
ftp
• To download/upload files from/to a remote
host which is set up as an ftp-server
• Syntax:
$ ftp <hostname/ipaddress>
Example:
$ ftp 172.31.128.116
Important Commands for OpenSource
Development Support
System Monitoring

Display and manage the running processes
$ top

Display processor related statistics
$ mpstat 1

Display virtual memory statistics
$ vmstat 1

Display disk I/O statistics
$ iostat 1
System Monitoring

List all open files on the system
 $ lsof
 $ lsof -u USER [file open by specific user]

Display disk space occupied by current directory
 $ du -sh

Execute periodically:
 $ watch
Files Related

Creating empty files:
$ touch

List directory tree
$ tree

Create symbolic link (shortcut/pointer)
$ ln -s file1 file1-link

Display first few/ last few lines of a file
$ head -n <num> file
$ tail -n <num> file
Process Related

Display your currently running processes
$ ps

Display every process on the system.
$ ps auxf

Display process information for the process name
$ ps uf -C processname

Display interactive real-time view of running processes
$ top
$ htop
Process Related

Look-up process ID based on a name
$ pgrep <processname>

Kill a process with a given process ID. By default TERM signal is
sent
$ kill PID

Kill a process based on a name
$ kill <processname>

Run a command as a background job
$ <command> &
Process Related

List background jobs
$ jobs

Display stopped or background jobs
$ bg

Brings the most recent background job to the foreground
$ fg
Download files from a remote HTTP
server

wget

curl
Text/File Search

Search for a pattern in a text file
$ grep pattern file

Find files within a directory with a matching filename
$ find directory -iname 'pattern'

Find files based on filesize
$ find <directory> -size <+1M>
$ find <directory> -size <+1M>
Redirection

Redirect normal output (stdout) from a
command to a file
$ echo "hello" > a.txt

Append normal output (stdout) from a command
to a file unlike > which overwrites the file
$ echo "world" >> a.txt
Communication between
Commands (Pipes)

The shell pipe (|) is a way to communicate between commands.

Basically it passes output of first command as input to second
and so on.

Examples:
$ cat a.txt | sort -n
$ cat a.txt | sort -nr
$ cat a.txt | sort -n | head -n 5 # show the first 5 lines
$ cat a.txt | sort -nr | head -n 5 # show the first 5 lines
Linux Editors
Editor Concepts

Editing a file is to modify the content of a file

Text editor:
 Enter and modify text in a text file

Word processor:
 Enter, modify and format text in a document

Line editor:
 Edit file one line at a time
 Unix examples: ex, ed and sed

Full screen editor
 Shows a whole screen of text at a time
Editor Features

enter text

search and replace

copy, cut and paste

undo and redo

importing and exporting text

save and cancel
Text Files

Linux file name does not require file extension

Linux file system does not consider the extension when treating files

However, some extensions are commonly used

Program source code: .c .cc .cpp .f .f77 .f95

Compiled object code: .o .a .so .sa

Compressed files: .z .gz .zip

Archive files: .tar .tz

Web site source code: .html .shtml .php

Executable files typically have no extension

Text files that will be moved to Windows: .txt
Unix Text Editors

Console Based
 vi
 emacs
 nano

GUI editors
 Gedit
 Xedit
vi Editor

short for: visual editor

available on all Linux systems
 original vi part of BSD Unix

written by Bill Joy in 1976
 many derived, improved versions available
 open source vim (vi improved)

is part of GNU/Linux

vi has multiple modes of operation:
 input mode, command mode, last-line mode
vi Editor Editing Modes
vi Editor

To end vi tutorial in the middle of the session, execute the command :q!
 :q! = quit without saving
 :wq = write out (save) and quit


F1 = help
 or :help
 :help <command>
 :q to exit help window
vi Editor Commands

Delete characters
 x deletes character under the cursor


Insert characters
 i converts to insert mode
 then type characters
 <esc> to exit insert mode
vi Editor Commands

Insert lines
 o = open line below cursor
 O = open line above cursor
 <esc> to exit insert mode


Append characters
 A converts to insert mode at end of a line
 then type characters
 <esc> to exit insert mode
vi Editor Commands

Deletion
 d$ deletes to end of line
 dw deletes to beginning of next word
 de deletes to end of current word
 d + motion

Using motions for movement
 Use any of the motions above
 Use count for repetition
 2w = move cursor two words forward
 0 = start of line
vi Editor Commands

Using repetition as part of deletion
 2dw deletes next two words

Deleting a line
 dd = delete line
 2dd = delete two lines

Undo
 u = undo one command
 U = restore a line
 cntl-R = redo a command
vi Editor Commands

p = put back the deleted text (in new place)
 one of the delete command above + put = cut-and-paste


More general cut-and-paste
 v = start visual mode (start block)
 move cursor to end of block
 y = yank (copy to buffer)
 then p = put in new place
vi Editor Commands

Location
 ctrl-g = show position in file
 G = go to bottom of file
 gg = go to top of file
 <number>G = go to line <number>
vi Editor Commands

Search
 /<phrase> = search
 /<phrase>\c = ignore case
 ?<phrase> = search backwards
 n = repeat search
 N = repeat search in the other direction
 cntl-o = move backward one instance
 cntl-i = move forward one instance

Search for matching parentheses
 Put cursor on (, [ or {
 % = go to matching one
 % = go to first one again
vi Editor Commands

Files
 :w filename = write a file (save)
 :!ls = list directory
 :!xx = any command


Substitute (replace)
 :s/thee/the = changes first one
 :s/thee/the/g = changes all (global change)
 :s/thee/the/gc = change all with query
 :#,#/thee/the/g = only change within that line range
Emacs Editor

originally started as editor macros in 1976

Gosling Emacs available for Unix in 1981

GNU Emacs created by Richard Stallman in 1984
 very popular editor on Unix until recently
 history: editor war: emacs vs. vi

uses lisp-like macro language for powerful features and extensions:
 programming language sensitive editing
 email client
 news reader

has built-in tutorial: ^h-t
THE PICO AND NANO EDITORS

part of the popular pine mail utility on UNIX

developed by the University of Washington


pico = pine email composer


nano is improved open source of pico available for GNU/Linux
 very intuitive operation
 on-screen guide and help
GUI Editors

use onscreen direct manipulation via mouse and menus

 gedit
 xedit


require to run X11 window server
What’s Next?

Shell, AWK, SED


Some Linux Utilities