Introduction to Unix/Linux
Introduction: Why Unix/Linux?
Linux is free
It’s fully customizable
It’s stable (i.e. it almost never crashes)
These characteristics make it an ideal OS
for programmers and scientists
Connecting to a Unix/Linux system
Open up a terminal:
Connecting to a Unix/Linux system
Open up a terminal:
The “prompt”
The current directory (“path”)
The host
Help!
Whenever you need help with a command
type “man” and the command name
Help!
Help!
Help!
File Handling commands-mkdir
The “mkdir” (Make directory) command create a new directory.
If directory already exists, it will return an error message “cannot
create folder, folder already exists”.
Syntax: mkdir directory_name
Example: mkdir student
Command: mkdir
To create a new directory use “mkdir”
LS
Command: ls
To list the files in the current directory use “ls”
Command: ls
ls has many options
-l long list (displays lots of info)
-t sort by modification time
-S sort by size
-h list file sizes in human readable format
-r reverse the order
“man ls” for more options
Options can be combined: “ls -ltr”
Command: ls -ltr
List files by time in reverse order with long listing
cd
It is used for changing the directory.
Syntax: cd dir_name
Example: cd student
Command: cd
To change to a specific directory use “cd”
Command: cd
“~” is the location of your home directory
Command: cd
“..” is the location of the directory below
current one
pwd
It prints the current working directory with
full path name from terminal.
Syntax: pwd
pwd
To find your current path use “pwd”
cp
It copies a file from one location to another
location.
Syntax: cp src_file desti_file
Example: cp file1 file2
Command: cp
To copy a file use “cp”
mv
The “mv” command moves a file from one
location to another location.
Syntax: mv source destination
Example: mv file1 student
Command: mv
To move a file to a different location use “mv”
Command: mv
mv can also be used to rename a file
rm
rm remove
files or directories
Usage: rm [OPTION]... FILE...
eg. rm file1.txt , rm rf some_dir
Command: rm
To remove a file use “rm”
Command: rm
To remove a file “recursively”: rm –r
Used to remove all files and directories
Be very careful, deletions are permanent
in Unix/Linux
Command: rmdir
To remove and empty directory use “rmdir”
find & history
find – search for files in a directory
hierarchy
Usage: find [OPTION] [path] [pattern]
eg. find file1.txt, find name file1.txt
• history – prints recently used commands
Usage: history
Text Processing-cat
It is used to create a file with content.
And can concatenate two or more file contents.
Syntax: cat > filename
Example: cat > file1
echo
Prints a text on the standard output.
However in an interactive script, echo passes the message to
the user through terminal.
Syntax: echo message
Usage: echo [OPTION] [string] ...
Example: echo hello class
eg. echo I love India
echo $HOME
grep
It searches the given file for lines
containing a match to the given strings or
words.
Syntax: grep word filename
Example: grep m file2
Command: grep
To search files in a directory for a specific
string use “grep”
wc
wc print the number of newlines, words,
and bytes in files
Usage: wc [OPTION]... [FILE]...
eg. wc file1.txt
wc L file1.txt
A few examples of piping
sort
sort – sort lines of text files
Usage: sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
eg. sort file1.txt
sort r file1.txt
Unix Web Resources
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/
http://www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/show?help.be
ginners
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
