What is Linux

Linux is an operating system that evolved from a kernel created by Linus Torvalds when he was
a student at the University of Helsinki. To say that Linux is an operating system means that it's
meant to be used as an alternative to other operating systems, Windows, Mac OS, MS-DOS,
Solaris and others. Linux is not a program like a word processor and is not a set of programs like
an office suite. Linux is an interface between computer/server hardware, and the programs
which run on it.
Essentially, what an operating system does is provide a platform for everything else on your
computer to run on top of.
This platform is made up of lots of different parts. Some parts are responsible for making the
hardware work, others for displaying the user interface, and still other parts for ensuring that
applications can work with the hardware and each other. Just like Windows etc., Linux performs
all of these functions.
You may be asking, "If Linux does all the same things that Windows or Mac OS X does, why
bother switching?". The answer is that Linux has its own way of doing things, and for some
people, the Linux way suits them better.
It's modular and so infinitely flexible - for example, while Windows limits you to a single user
interface (what the system looks like), on Linux you can choose from a dozen different options.
It runs well on very old and slow hardware, as well as on super-computers and modern laptops
(by some counts, 90% of the world's super-computers are currently running a variant of Linux).
It's designed with security in mind, providing advanced features, such as strong encryption, as
standard.

A brief History of Linux

When Linus Torvalds was studying at the University of Helsinki; he was using a version of the
UNIX operating system called 'Minix'. Linus and other users sent requests for modifications and
improvements to Minix's creator, Andrew Tanenbaum, but he felt that they weren't necessary.
That's when Linus decided to create his own operating system that would take into account
users' comments and suggestions for improvements.

Why Linux
Following are few reasons on why Linux is preferred
Stable & reliable operating system
OS crash, shut down, automatic restart, hang, slowing down is common for windows. However,
some operating systems can be so stable that most users never see their systems crash, even
after several years. This is true for Linux. You can go on like that for years without having any
trouble. Linux is a very stable operating system.

No Viruses
Your computer always has a risk for a virus. Linux hardly has any viruses. Linux makes it very
hard for this to happen. Most people use Windows, so the hackers keep on targeting Windows.
However, if anybody tries to make a virus for Linux, it will not work on Linux. The reason is Linux
doesn't allow any information deletion or system change without authorization from the user.
Whenever a new file has to do something with the system, an administrator password is
required (and if you're not an administrator on this system, you simply can't do it). So the
viruses can't just go around and delete or modify as they do not have the authorization for that.

Open source
Many of Linux's large quantity of programs are "open source," allowing the holder of the
software to improve the software in whatever way they want as long as credit is given.

Fast & Efficient

Another interesting fact about Linux is how fast and effective it is, its the ideal solution for an
older computer which struggles with other operating systems, it is much faster in start up to
browsing Reason being: The basic hardware requirements for Linux to run is very low when
compared to other OS.

Approximately 90% of the Servers across the globe run on Linux.

Introduction to the Linux Command Shell

1. What is a command shell?
-

A program that interprets commands

Allows a user to execute commands by typing them manually at a terminal, or
automatically in programs called shell scripts.
A shell is not an operating system. It is a way to interface with the operating system and
run commands.

2. What is BASH?
BASH = Bourne Again Shell
-

Bash is a shell written as a free replacement to the standard Bourne Shell (/bin/sh)
originally written by Steve Bourne for UNIX systems.
It has all of the features of the original Bourne Shell, plus additions that make it easier to
program with and use from the command line.
Since it is Free Software, it has been adopted as the default shell on most Linux systems.

3. How is BASH different from the DOS command prompt?

Case Sensitivity:

In Linux/UNIX, commands and filenames are case sensitive, meaning that

typing EXIT instead of the proper exit is a mistake.

\ vs. /:

In DOS, the forward-slash / is the command argument delimiter, while the

backslash \ is a directory separator. In Linux/UNIX, the / is the directory
separator, and the \ is an escape character. More about these special
characters in a minute!

Filenames:

The DOS world uses the eight dot three filename convention, meaning that all
files followed a format that allowed up to 8 characters in the filename, followed
by a period (dot), followed by an option extension, up to 3 characters long (e.g.
FILENAME.TXT). In UNIX/Linux, there is no such thing as a file extension. Periods
can be placed at any part of the filename, and extensions may be interpreted
differently by all programs, or not at all.

4. Special Characters
Before we continue to learn about Linux shell commands, it is important to know that there are
many symbols and characters that the shell interprets in special ways. This means that certain
typed characters: a) cannot be used in certain situations, b) may be used to perform special
operations, or, c) must be escaped if you want to use them in a normal way.

Character
\

Description
Escape character. If you want to reference a special character, you
must escape it with a backslash first.
Example: touch /tmp/filename\*

Directory separator, used to separate a string of directory names.

Example: /usr/src/linux

Current directory. Can also hide files when it is the first character in
a filename.

..

Parent directory.

User's home directory.

Represents 0 or more characters in a filename, or by itself, all files in

a directory.
Example: pic*2002 can represent the files pic2002, icJanuary2002,
picFeb292002, etc.

Represents a single character in a filename.

Example: hello?.txt can represent hello1.txt, helloz.txt, but not
hello22.txt

[]

Can be used to represent a range of values, e.g. [0-9], [A-Z], etc.

Example: hello[0-2].txt represents the names hello0.txt, hello1.txt,
and hello2.txt

Pipe. Redirect the output of one command into another command.

Example: ls | more

>

Redirect output of a command into a new file. If the file already

exists, over-write it. Example: ls > myfiles.txt

>>

Redirect the output of a command onto the end of an existing file.

Example: echo .Mary 555-1234. >> phonenumbers.txt

<

Redirect a file as input to a program.

Example: more < phonenumbers.txt

Command separator. Allows you to execute multiple commands on a

single line.
Example: cd /var/log ; less messages

&&

Command separator as above, but only runs the second command if

the first one finished without errors.
Example: cd /var/logs && less messages

&

Execute a command in the background, and immediately get your

shell back.
Example: find / -name core > /tmp/corefiles.txt &

5. Executing Commands
The Command PATH

Most common commands are located in your shell's PATH, meaning that you can just
type the name of the program to execute it.
Example: Typing ls will execute the ls command.

Your shell's PATH variable includes the most common program locations, such as /bin,
/usr/bin, /usr/X11R6/bin, and others.

To execute commands that are not in your current PATH, you have to give the complete
location of the command.
Examples:

/home/bob/myprogram
./program (Execute a program in the current directory)
~/bin/program (Execute program from a personal bin directory)

Command Syntax

Commands can be run by themselves, or you can pass in additional arguments to make
them do different things. Typical command syntax can look something like this:
command [-argument] [-argument] [--argument] [file]
Examples:

ls List files in current directory

ls -l Lists files in long format
ls -l --color As above, with colorful output
cat filename Show contents of a file
cat -n filename Show contents of a file, with line numbers

Getting Help
When you're stuck and need help with a Linux command, help is usually only a few keystrokes
away. Help on most Linux commands is typically built right into the commands themselves,
available through online help programs (man pages and info pages), and of course online.
Using a Command's Built-In Help
Many commands have simple help screens that can be invoked with special command flags.
These flags usually look like -h or --help.
Example: grep -help
Online Manuals: Man Pages

The best source of information for most commands can be found in the online manual
pages, known as man pages for short. To read a command's man page, type man
command.
Examples:

man ls

- Get help on the ls command.

To search for a particular word within a man page, type /word. To quit from a man
page, just type the Q key.

Sometimes, you might not remember the name of Linux command and you need to
search for it. For example, if you want to know how to change a file's permissions, you
can search the man page descriptions for the word permission like this:
man -k permission

If you look at the output of this command, you will find a line that looks something like:
chmod
- change file access permissions
Now you know that chmod is the command you were looking for. Typing man
chmod will show you the chmod command's manual page!

Info Pages
Some programs, particularly those released by the Free Software Foundation, use info pages as
their main source of online documentation. Info pages are similar to man page, but instead of
being displayed on one long scrolling screen, they are presented in shorter segments with links
to other pieces of information. Info pages are accessed with the info command, or on some
Linux distributions, pinfo (a nicer info browser).
For example: info df
- Loads the df info page.

Linux File-System
The Linux file system is a tree-like hierarchy of directories and files. At the base of the file
system is the / directory, otherwise known as the root (not to be confused with the root
user). Unlike DOS or Windows file systems that have multiple roots, one for each disk drive,
the Linux file system mounts all disks somewhere underneath the / filesystem. The following
table describes many of the most common Linux directories.

1. The Linux Directory Layout

Directory
/

/bin

Description
The nameless base of the filesystem. All other directories, files,
drives, and devices are attached to this root. Commonly (but
incorrectly) referred to as the slash or / directory. The / is just a
directory separator, not a directory itself.
Essential command binaries (programs) are stored here (bash, ls,
mount, tar, etc.)

/boot

Static files of the boot loader.

/dev

Device files. In Linux, hardware devices are accessed just like other
files, and they are kept under this directory.

/etc

Host-specific system configuration files.

/home
/lib

Location of users' personal home directories (e.g. /home/susan).

Essential shared libraries and kernel modules.

/proc

Process information pseudo-filesystem. An interface to kernel data

structures.

/root

The root (superuser) home directory.

/sbin

Essential system binaries (fdisk, fsck, init, etc).

/tmp

Temporary files. All users have permission to place temporary files

here.

/usr

The base directory for most shareable, read-only data (programs,

libraries, documentation, and much more).

/usr/bin
/usr/include
/usr/lib
/usr/local

Most user programs are kept here (cc, find, du, etc.)
Header files for compiling C programs.
Libraries for most binary programs.
Locally installed files. This directory only really matters in
environments where files are stored on the network. Locally-installed
files go in /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, etc.). Also often used for

software packages installed from source, or software not officially

shipped with the distribution.
/usr/sbin

Non-vital system binaries (lpd, useradd, etc.)

/usr/share

Architecture-independent data (icons, backgrounds, documentation,

terminfo, man pages, etc.).

/usr/src
/usr/X11R6
/var

Program source code. E.g. The Linux Kernel, source RPMs, etc.
The X Window System.
Variable data: mail and printer spools, log files, lock files, etc.

2. Commands for Navigating the Linux File Systems

The first thing you usually want to do when learning about the Linux filesystem is take some
time to look around and see what's there! These next few commands will:
a) Tell you where you are,
b) Take you somewhere else, and
c) Show you what's there.
The following table describes the basic operation of the pwd, cd, and ls commands, and
compares them to certain DOS commands that you might already be familiar with.
Linux Command
pwd

DOS Command
cd

cd

cd, chdir

cd directory

cd directory

Description
Print Working Directory. Shows the current location in
the directory tree.
Change Directory. When typed all by itself, it returns
you to your home directory.
Change into the specified directory name.
Example: cd /usr/src/linux

cd ~

cd ..

~ is an alias for your home directory. It can be used as

a shortcut to your home, or other directories relative
to your home.
cd..

cd ls

dir /w

ls directory

dir directory

ls -l

dir

ls -a

dir /a

ls -ld
directory

ls /usr/bin/d*

dir d*.*

Move up one directory. For example, if you are in

/home/vic and you type cd .., you will end up in /home
Return to previous directory. An easy way to get back to
your previous location!
List all files in the current directory, in column format.
List the files in the specified directory
Example: ls /var/log
List files in long format, one file per line. This also
shows you additional info about the file, such as
ownership, permissions, date, and size.
List all files, including hidden files. Hidden files are
those files that begin with a ., e.g. The .bash_history
file in your home directory.
A long list of directory, but instead of showing the
directory contents, show the directory's detailed
information. For example, compare the output of the
following two commands:
ls -l /usr/bin
ls -ld /usr/bin
List all files whose names begin with the letter d in the
/usr/bin directory.

Piping and Re-Direction

The basic UNIX philosophy, therefore by extension the Linux philosophy, is to have many small
programs and utilities that do a particular job very well. It is the responsibility of the
programmer or user to combine these utilities to make more useful command sequences.

1. Piping Commands Together

The pipe character, |, is used to chain two or more commands together. The output of
the first command is piped into the next program, and if there is a second pipe, the
output is sent to the third program, etc. For example:
ls -la /usr/bin | less
In this example, we run the command ls -la /usr/bin, which gives us a long listing of all
of the files in /usr/bin. Because the output of this command is typically very long, we
pipe the output to a program called less, which displays the output for us one screen
at a time.

2. Redirecting Program Output to Files

There are times when it is useful to save the output of a command to a file, instead of
displaying it to the screen. For example, if we want to create a file that lists all of the
MP3 files in a directory, we can do something like this, using the > redirection
character:
ls -l /home/vic/MP3/*.mp3 > mp3files.txt
A similar command can be written so that instead of creating a new file called
mp3files.txt, we can append to the end of the original file:
ls -l /home/vic/extraMP3s/*.mp3 >> mp3files.txt

Other Linux Commands

The following sections describe many other commands that you will find on most Linux
systems. I can't possibly cover the details of all of these commands in this document, so don't
forget that you can check the man pages for additional information. Not all of the listed
commands will be available on all Linux or UNIX distributions.

1. Working With Files and Directories

These commands can be used to: find out information about files, display files, and manipulate
them in other ways (copy, move, delete).
Linux Command

DOS Command

Description

File

Find out what kind of file it is.

Cat

For example, file /bin/ls tells us that it is a Linux

executable file.
Display the contents of a text file on the screen.

type

For example: cat mp3files.txt would display the file

we created in the previous section.
Head

Display the first few lines of a text file.

Example: head /etc/services

Tail

Display the last few lines of a text file.

Example: tail /etc/services

tail f

Display the last few lines of a text file, and then

output appended data as the file grows (very
useful for following log files!).
Example: tail -f /var/log/messages

Cp

copy

Mv

rename,
ren, move

Copies a file from one location to another.

Example: cp mp3files.txt /tmp
(copies the mp3files.txt file to the /tmp directory)
Moves a file to a new location, or renames it.
For example: mv mp3files.txt /tmp
copy the file to /tmp, and delete it from the
original location.

Rm

del

Delete a file. Example: rm /tmp/mp3files.txt

Mkdir

md

Make Directory. Example: mkdir /tmp/myfiles/

Rmdir

rd, rmdir

Remove Directory. Example: rmdir /tmp/myfiles/

2. Finding Things
The following commands are used to find files. ls is good for finding files if you already know
approximately where they are, but sometimes you need more powerful tools such as these:

Linux Command
which

whereis

locate

find

Description
Shows the full path of shell commands found in your path. For
example, if you want to know exactly where the grep command is
located on the filesystem, you can type which grep. The output
should be something
like: /bin/grep
Locates the program, source code, and manual page for a command (if
all information is available). For example, to find out where ls and its
man page are, type: whereis ls The output will look something like:
ls: /bin/ls /usr/share/man/man1/ls.1.gz
A quick way to search for files anywhere on the filesystem. For
example, you can find all files and directories that contain the name
mozilla by typing: locate mozilla
A very powerful command, but sometimes tricky to use. It can be used
to search for files matching certain patterns, as well as many other
types of searches. A simple example is:
find . -name \*mp3
This example starts searching in the current directory . and all
subdirectories, looking for files with mp3 at the end of their names.

3. Informational Commands
The following commands are used to find out some information about the user or the system.
Linux Command

Explanation

ps

Lists currently running process (programs).

Show who is logged on and what they are doing.

id

Print your user-id and group id's

df

Report filesystem disk space usage (Disk Free is how I remember it)

du

Disk Usage in a particular directory. du -s provides a summary for

the current directory.

top

Displays CPU processes in a full-screen GUI. A great way to see the

activity on your computer in real-time. Type Q to quit.

free

Displays amount of free and used memory in the system.

cat /proc/cpuinfo
cat /proc/meminfo
uname -a

Displays information about your CPU.

Display lots of information about current memory usage.
Prints system information to the screen (kernel version, machine type,
etc.)

4. Other Utilities
Here are some other commands that are useful to know.
Linux Command
clear

Description
Clear the screen

echo

Display text on the screen. Mostly useful when writing shell scripts. For
example: echo Hello World

more

Display a file or program output one page at a time. Examples:

more mp3files.txt
ls -la | more

less

An improved replacement for the more command. Allows you to scroll

backwards as well as forwards.

grep

Search for a pattern in a file or program output. For example, to find out
which TCP network port is used by the nfs service, you can do this:
grep .nfs. /etc/services
This looks for any line that contains the string nfs in the file
/etc/services and displays only those lines.

lpr

Print a file or program output. Examples:

lpr mp3files.txt - Print the mp3files.txt file
ls -la | lpr
- Print the output of the ls -la command.

sort
su

Sort a file or program output. Example: sort mp3files.txt

Switch User. Allows you to switch to another user's account
temporarily. The default account to switch to is the root/superuser
account.
Examples:
su
- Switch the root account
su - Switch to root, and log in with root's environment
su larry - Switch to Larry's account

5. Shortcuts to make it all easier

When you start using the Bash shell more often, you will appreciate these shortcuts that
can save you very much typing time.
Shortcut
Up/Down Arrow Keys

Description
Scroll through your most recent commands. You can
scroll back to an old command, hit ENTER, and execute
the command without having to re-type it.

history command

Show your complete command history.

TAB Completion

If you type a partial command or filename that the shell

recognizes, you can have it automatically completed for
you if you press the TAB key. Try typing the first few
characters of your favorite Linux command, then hit TAB
a couple of times to see what happens.

Complete recent commands with ! Try this: Type ! followed by the first couple of letters
of a recent command and press ENTER! For example,
type:
find /usr/bin -type f -name m\*
...and now type:
!fi
Search your command history with
CTRL-R

Press CTRL-R and then type any portion of a recent

command. It will search the commands for you, and
once you find the command you want, just press ENTER.

Scrolling the screen with ShiftPageUp and PageDown

Scroll back and forward through your terminal.