Chapter 3

1 Exploring Linux
Filesystems
2

 Describe a file system?

 What types of file can you have?
 What is a binary file?
 How could you search a 4TB hard drive for a social
security number?
3 The Linux Directory Structure

 Directory: Used to organize other files into a logical tree structure

 Absolute pathname: Pathname from the root directory to a certain
file or directory
 Root: The top level directory
 the / character
 Forms root of a hierarchical tree
4 The Linux Directory Structure
5 Changing Directories

 Home directory: unique to each user account

 ~ metacharacter can be used to refer to home directory
 pwd (print working directory) command: displays current
directory in the directory tree
 cd (change directory) command: change the current directory in
the directory tree
 Relative pathname: pathname of file or directory relative to
current directory
6 Changing Directories

 Parent directory: directory one step closer to the root of the tree
 Referred to by .. (two dots)
 Subdirectory: directory residing within another directory
 Tab-completion: pressing the Tab key fills in remaining
characters of a unique filename, directory name, or executable
program
7 File Types

 Text files: store information in a readable text format, contain

configuration information
 Binary data files: store information associated with executable
programs
 Executable program files
 Directory files: serve as placeholders to organize other files
8 File Types

 Linked files: files that have an association with one another

 Special device files: represent devices on the system, such as
hard disks and serial ports
 Named pipes files: identify a channel that passes information
between processes
 Socket files: allow a process on another computer to write to a
local file
 A variant of a named pipe file
9 Filenames

 Filename: identifier given to a file

 Up to 255 characters (rarely longer than 20 characters)
 Can use alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), dash (-), and period
(.)
 Filename extensions: identifiers following a dot (.) at end of
filename
 Denote file type
 Most files on Linux do not have filename extensions
10 Filenames
11 Listing Files

 ls command: List the files in a directory

 May pass an argument indicating the directory to be listed
 –F option: Argument to view of list of files and their type
 –l option: Argument to provide a long listing for each file in a certain
directory
12 Listing Files

 File command: displays file type of any file

 Argument indicates what file or files to analyze
 Identifies between different types of executable files
 Identifies empty files
 Hidden files: files not normally displayed to user
 Configuration files often hidden
 Filenames start with a dot (.)
 ls –a command: displays hidden files
 To view all hidden files and their file types, type:
 ls -aF
13 Wildcard Metacharacters

 Wildcard metacharacter: used to simplify commands specifying

more than one filename on the command line
 Can match the entire filename or portions of filenames
 Can be used with most Linux filesystem commands
14 Displaying Content of Text Files

 Users can use keyboard shortcuts to interact with shell while

using the less command.
 e.g., pressing h key gets Help screen
 e.g., pressing q key quits the less command
 more and less can be used with output of other commands
 If output is too large to fit on terminal screen, use “|” metacharacter
and more or less command
 e.g., ls -l | more
15 Displaying the Contents of Binary
Files
 To view contents of binary files, you typically use the program
that created the file
 strings command: searches for and displays text characters in
a binary file
 Might indicate purpose of binary file
16 Regular Expressions

 Different from wildcard metacharacters

 Wildcard metacharacters are interpreted by shell; regexps interpreted
by text tools
 Wildcard metacharacters match characters in filenames; regexps
match characters within text files
 Wildcard metacharacters typically have different definitions than
regexps
 More regexps than wildcard metacharacters
17

If \d represents a digit, what is this? \d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}

18 The grep Command
 grep (global regular expression print) command: searches lines
in a text file that match common regexps

 grep is case sensitive

 For case-insensitive search, use –i option
 grep matches patterns of text, ignoring division into words
 To search only for occurrences of a word, surround it by space
characters

grep –i something /directory/filename

grep ^root /etc/passwd
 19 Editing Text Files
 Most system configuration is stored in text files
 Most Linux distributions come with several text editors
 Text editors come in two varieties:
 command line
 GUI
 Vi
 Advantage is portability, not usability
 Used on Unix and Linux
 supports regular expressions
 perform over 1000 different functions for the user

CompTIA Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Fourth Edition

 20 The vi Editor
 Command mode: Performs text editing tasks not related to inserting text
 Such as deleting text, copying text, saving changes to a file, and exiting the vi editor

 Insert mode: Inserts text, but nothing else

 Press the Esc key to return to command mode
21 The vi Editor
22 Other Common Text Editors
 gedit editor: a graphical text editor functional in a GUI
environment
 Does not have advanced functionality like vi and Emacs
 Easiest editor to use
 23 Summary
 The Linux filesystem is arranged hierarchically using a series of directories to store files
 Location of directories and files can be described using absolute or relative pathnames
 Linux filesystem can contain many types of files
 text files, binary data, executable programs, directories, linked files, and special device files
 The ls command is used to view filenames
 Wide range of options to modify views
 Wildcard metacharacters are special keyboard characters
 can simplify selection of several files when using common Linux file commands
 Text files are the most common file type whose contents can be viewed by several
utilities, such as head, tail, cat, tac, more, and less
 Regular expression metacharacters can be used to specify certain patterns of text
 When used with certain programming languages and text tool utilities such as grep
 Although many command-line and graphical text editors exist, vi (vim) is a powerful,
bimodal text editor that is standard on most UNIX and Linux systems