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Unit 2 Using The System: Course Code LX13 Linux Basics

This unit covers the basics of using the Linux system, including logging in and out, understanding command structure, and executing basic commands. It introduces commands for checking the date, finding users on the system, sending and receiving mail, and communicating with other users. Additionally, it provides keyboard tips and command history management, along with checkpoints to assess understanding of the material.

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11 views22 pages

Unit 2 Using The System: Course Code LX13 Linux Basics

This unit covers the basics of using the Linux system, including logging in and out, understanding command structure, and executing basic commands. It introduces commands for checking the date, finding users on the system, sending and receiving mail, and communicating with other users. Additionally, it provides keyboard tips and command history management, along with checkpoints to assess understanding of the material.

Uploaded by

mhmdfoad66
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Unit 2 Using the System

Course code LX13


Linux Basics
Objectives

After completing this unit, students should be able to:


Log in and out of the system
State the structure of Linux commands
Execute basic Linux commands
Use Linux commands to communicate with other users
Logging In and Out

To log in
host1 login: tux1
Password: (the password does not appear)
Last Login: Fri Feb 26 17:35:14 on tty1
[tux1@host1 tux1]$

To log out
$ <ctrl-d>
or
$ exit
or
$ logout
Passwords

Creating or Changing

$ passwd
Changing password for tux1
(current) UNIX password:
New UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:

$
Command Format

Linux commands have the following format:


$ command option(s) argument(s)

For example:

$ ls
$ ls -l
$ ls /dev
$ ls -l /dev
Command Format Examples

RIGHT WRONG

1. Separation
$ mail -f personal $ mail - f personal
$ who -u $ who-u

2. Order
$ mail -f personal $ mail personal -f
$ who -u $ -u who

3. Multiple options
$ who -m -u $ who -m-u
$ who -mu $ who -m u
The date and cal Commands

Checking the date


$ date
Fri Mar 5 11:15:10 CET 1999

Looking at a month
$ cal 3 1999
March 1999
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

Looking at a year
$ cal 1999
Who Is on the System

Finding who is on the system


$ who
root tty1 Mar 5 11:10
peter tty2 Mar 5 11:04

$ finger
Login Name Tty Idle Login Time
peter 2 Mar 5 11:04
root root *1 7 Mar 5 11:10
Finding Information about Users

Finding who you are


$ who am i
host!peter tty2 Mar 5 11:04
or
$ whoami
peter

The finger command


$ finger peter
Login: peter Name:
Directory: /home/peter Shell: /bin/bash
On since Fri Mar 5 11:04 (CET) on tty2
No mail.
No plan.
The clear and echo Commands

The clear command


The clear command clears the terminal screen

$ clear

The echo command


The echo command writes the arguments to the screen

$ echo Hopefully, lunch is at 12:00


Hopefully, lunch is at 12:00
The wc Command

The wc command counts the number of lines, words and


bytes in a named file.

$ wc [-l][-w][-c] filename
-l counts the number of lines
-w counts the number of words
-c counts the number of bytes (characters)

$ wc .bash_profile
15 31 230 .bash_profile
Sending Mail

$ mail allet
Subject: Meeting
There will be a brief announcement meeting today.
<ctrl-d>
Cc: <enter>

$ mail team02@host1
Subject: Don't forget!
Don't forget this Linux course!!!
<ctrl-d>
Cc: <enter>
Receiving Mail
You have mail in /var/spool/mail/allet
$ mail
Mail version 8.1 6/6/93 Type ? for help
"/var/spool/mail/allet": 2 messages 1 new 2 unread
U 1 peter@host Thu Mar 4 16:10 35/1185 "Status"
>N 2 peter@host Fri Mar 5 11:34 13/350 "Meeting"
& 2
Message 2:
From peter Fri Mar 5 11:34:10 199
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 11:34:09 +0100
To: allet@host
Subject: Meeting

There will be a brief announcement meeting today.


& q
Write and Wall

Use write to display a text message on a user's terminal


$ write team02
Message
<ctrl-d>

Use wall to place a message on all logged in user's


displays

$ wall
I'm back
<ctrl-d>
Talk with Another User

If John wants to talk with Fred, John enters:


$ talk fred

If Fred also wants to talk with John, Fred enters:


$ talk john

JOHN FRED
The mesg Command

The mesg command controls whether other users can


send messages to you with the write, wall or talk
command or through output redirection.

$ mesg [y|n]

The root user can override the default permission


settings.
Keyboard Tips
Corrects mistakes
<backspace>

Terminates the current


command and returns to the
<ctrl-c>
shell

End of transmission or
end of line
<ctrl-d>
Temporarily stops output to
the screen

Resumes output
<ctrl-s>

Erase the entire line

<ctrl-q>

<ctrl-u>
Keyboard Tips (2)
Previous
<arrow up>
command
<arrow down>
<arrow left>
<arrow right>
One character
<shift page-up>to the left

<shift page-down>
One character to the right

Look at the output of


previous commands

Go back to your prompt


Command History

Command history can be viewed with history command


To retrieve commands, use !
$ wc .bash_profile Type command
16 33 238 .bash_profile
$ !-1 Redo previous
wc .bash_profile
16 33 238 .bash_profile
$ !!
wc .bash_profile
Redo previous, same as !-1
16 33 238 .bash_profile
$ history 5
998 clear Show history
999 wc .bash_profile
1000 wc .bash_profile
1001 wc .bash_profile
1002 history
$ !999
wc .bash_profile Redo command 999
16 33 238 .bash_profile
$ !wc:s/bash_profile/bashrc/
wc .bashrc
12 30 176 .bashrc Redo last wc command, substitute
"bash_profile" with "bashrc"
Checkpoint

1. What is the correct command syntax in Linux?


a. $ mail newmail -f
b. $ mail f newmail
c. $ newmail -f mail
d. $ mail -f newmail

2. What commands can be used to communicate with other


users?
Checkpoint (2)

3. Which commands would you use to find out when a


particular user logged in?
a. $ who am i
b. $ whoami
c. $ who
d. $ finger

4. What key sequence would you use to recall a command


from history?
Unit Summary

Linux commands can use multiple options and


arguments and must follow proper syntax rules.

There are many simple, yet powerful commands such as:


date
cal
who, who am i, whoami
finger
echo
clear
wc

Communicate with other Linux users using commands


such as mail, write, wall and talk.

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