Module-2 & 3

Linux Commands
pwd – Print Working Directory
• Running pwd from the command line will show you exactly
where you are in the system directory tree. As you can see from
my example, I am in /home/mick – which is my user’s home
directory. This can be useful if you’re ever unsure exactly “where”
you are.
Who Are You?

• While you're logged into the system, you might be willing to know : Who am I?

• The easiest way to find out "who you are" is to enter the whoami command −

• $ who am i
pankaj465

• $ users
• $ who
• $ clear
Logging Out

• When you finish your session, you need to log out of the
system. This is to ensure that nobody else accesses your files.
• To log out
Just type the logout command at the command prompt, and the
system will clean up everything and break the connection.
Creating Directories

• We will now understand how to create directories. Directories are

created by the following command −

• $mkdir dirname
• Here, directory is the absolute or relative pathname of the directory
you want to create. For example, the command −

• $mkdir mydir
•$
 Changing Directories

You can use the cd command to do more than just change to a home directory. You can use it to change to any directory by
specifying a valid absolute or relative path. The syntax is as given below −
$cd dirname $
Here, dirname is the name of the directory that you want to change to. For example, the command −
Removing Directories

• Directories can be deleted using the rmdir command as follows −

• $rmdir dirname
•$
• Note − To remove a directory, make sure it is empty which means there should not be any file or sub-
directory inside this directory.

• You can remove multiple directories at a time as follows −

• $rmdir dirname1 dirname2 dirname3

•$
• The above command removes the directories dirname1, dirname2, and dirname3, if they are empty.
The rmdir command produces no output if it is successful.
Renaming Directories

• The mv (move) command can also be used to rename a directory. The

syntax is as follows −

• $mv olddir newdir

•$
• You can rename a directory mydir to yourdir as follows −

• $mv mydir yourdir

•$
Listing Files

• To list the files and directories stored in the current directory, use the following command −

• $ls
• Here is the sample output of the above command −

• $ls

• bin hosts lib res.03

• ch07 hw1 pub test_results
• ch07.bak hw2 res.01 users
• docs hw3 res.02 work
• The command ls supports the -l option which would help you to get more information about the listed files −

• $ls -l
• total 1962188

• drwxrwxr-x 2 amrood amrood 4096 Dec 25 09:59 uml

• -rw-rw-r-- 1 amrood amrood 5341 Dec 25 08:38 uml.jpg
• drwxr-xr-x 2 amrood amrood 4096 Feb 15 2006 univ
• drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 9 2007 urlspedia
• -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 276480 Dec 9 2007 urlspedia.tar
• drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Nov 25 2007 usr
• drwxr-xr-x 2 200 300 4096 Nov 25 2007 webthumb-1.01
• -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3192 Nov 25 2007 webthumb.php
• -rw-rw-r-- 1 amrood amrood 20480 Nov 25 2007 webthumb.tar
• -rw-rw-r-- 1 amrood amrood 5654 Aug 9 2007 yourfile.mid
• -rw-rw-r-- 1 amrood amrood 166255 Aug 9 2007 yourfile.swf
• drwxr-xr-x 11 amrood amrood 4096 May 29 2007 zlib-1.2.3
•$
• Here is the information about all the listed columns −
• First Column − Represents the file type and the permission
given on the file. Below is the description of all type of files.
• Second Column − Represents the number of memory blocks
taken by the file or directory.
• Third Column − Represents the owner of the file. This is the
Unix user who created this file.
• Fourth Column − Represents the group of the owner. Every
Unix user will have an associated group.
• Fifth Column − Represents the file size in bytes.
• Sixth Column − Represents the date and the time when this file
was created or modified for the last time.
• Seventh Column − Represents the file or the directory name.
Options used with ls command
Sr.No. Prefix & Description

1 -
Regular file, such as an ASCII text file, binary executable, or hard link.

2 b
Block special file. Block input/output device file such as a physical hard drive.

3 c
Character special file. Raw input/output device file such as a physical hard drive.

4 d
Directory file that contains a listing of other files and directories.

5 l
Symbolic link file. Links on any regular file.

6 p
Named pipe. A mechanism for interprocess communications.

7 s
Socket used for interprocess communication.
Metacharacters
Metacharacters have a special meaning in Unix. For example, * and ? are metacharacters. We use * to
match 0 or more characters, a question mark (?) matches with a single character.

For Example −

$ls ch*.doc
Displays all the files, the names of which start with ch and end with .doc −

ch01-1.doc ch010.doc ch02.doc ch03-2.doc

ch04-1.doc ch040.doc ch05.doc ch06-2.doc
ch01-2.doc ch02-1.doc c
Here, * works as meta character which matches with any character. If you want to display all the files
ending with just .doc, then you can use the following command −

$ls *.doc
Hidden Files
• An invisible file is one, the first character of which is the dot or the period character (.).
Unix programs (including the shell) use most of these files to store configuration
information.

• Some common examples of the hidden files include the files −

• .profile − The Bourne shell ( sh) initialization script

• .kshrc − The Korn shell ( ksh) initialization script

• .cshrc − The C shell ( csh) initialization script

• .rhosts − The remote shell configuration file

• To list the invisible files, specify the -a option to ls −

• $ ls -a

•. .profile docs lib test_results

• .. .rhosts hosts pub users
• .emacs bin hw1 res.01 work
• .exrc ch07 hw2 res.02
• .kshrc ch07.bak hw3 res.03
•$
• Single dot (.) − This represents the current directory.

• Double dot (..) − This represents the parent directory.

 Creating Files

• You can use the vi editor to create ordinary files on any Unix system. You simply need to give the following
command −

• $ vi filename
• The above command will open a file with the given filename. Now, press the key i to come into the edit mode. Once
you are in the edit mode, you can start writing your content in the file as in the following program −

• This is unix file....I created it for the first time.....

• I'm going to save this content in this file.
• Once you are done with the program, follow these steps −

• Press the key esc to come out of the edit mode.

• Press two keys Shift + ZZ together to come out of the file completely.

• You will now have a file created with filename in the current directory.

• $ vi filename
•$
Display Content of a File

• You can use the cat command to see the content of a file. Following is a simple example to see
the content of the above created file −

• $ cat filename
• This is unix file....I created it for the first time.....
• I'm going to save this content in this file.
•$
• You can display the line numbers by using the -b option along with the cat command as follows
−

• $ cat -b filename
• 1 This is unix file....I created it for the first time.....
• 2 I'm going to save this content in this file.
•$
Uses of cat command:
• To view multiple files  $cat file1 file2
•  To view contents of a file preceding with line numbers. 
Command: $cat -n filename
• Create a file $ cat >newfile
• Copy the contents of one file to another file. 
Command: $cat [filename-whose-contents-is-to-be-copied] >
[destination-filename]
• Cat command can append the contents of one file to the end of
another file. 
Command: $cat file1 >> file2
• Cat command can display content in reverse order using tac
command. 
Command: $tac filename
• Cat command can highlight the end of line. 
Command: $cat -E "filename“
•  Cat command if the file has a lot of content and can’t fit in the
terminal. 
Command: $cat "filename" | more
•  Cat command to merge the contents of multiple files. 
Command: $cat "filename1" "filename2" "filename3" >
"merged_filename"
Editing Files

• You can edit an existing file using the vi editor. We will discuss in short how to open an existing file −

• $ vi filename
• Once the file is opened, you can come in the edit mode by pressing the key i and then you can proceed by editing the
file. If you want to move here and there inside a file, then first you need to come out of the edit mode by pressing the
key Esc. After this, you can use the following keys to move inside a file −

• l key to move to the right side.

• h key to move to the left side.

• k key to move upside in the file.

• j key to move downside in the file.

• So using the above keys, you can position your cursor wherever you want to edit. Once you are positioned, then you can
use the i key to come in the edit mode. Once you are done with the editing in your file, press Esc and finally two keys
Shift + ZZ together to come out of the file completely.
 Counting Words in a File

• You can use the wc command to get a count of the total number of lines, words, and characters contained in a file. Following is
a simple example to see the information about the file created above −

• $ wc filename
• 2 19 103 filename
•$
• Here is the detail of all the four columns −

• First Column − Represents the total number of lines in the file.

• Second Column − Represents the total number of words in the file.

• Third Column − Represents the total number of bytes in the file. This is the actual size of the file.

• Fourth Column − Represents the file name.

• You can give multiple files and get information about those files at a time. Following is simple syntax −

• $ wc filename1 filename2 filename3

Copying Files

• To make a copy of a file use the cp command. The basic syntax of the
command is −

• $ cp source_file destination_file
• Following is the example to create a copy of the existing file filename.

• $ cp filename copyfile
•$
• You will now find one more file copyfile in your current directory. This
file will exactly be the same as the original file filename.
Renaming Files

• To change the name of a file, use the mv command. Following is the

basic syntax −

• $ mv old_file new_file
• The following program will rename the existing file filename to
newfile.

• $ mv filename newfile
•$
• The mv command will move the existing file completely into the new
file. In this case, you will find only newfile in your current directory.
Deleting Files

• To delete an existing file, use the rm command. Following is the basic syntax −

• $ rm filename
• Caution − A file may contain useful information. It is always recommended to be careful while
using this Delete command. It is better to use the -i option along with rm command.

• Following is the example which shows how to completely remove the existing file filename.

• $ rm filename
•$
• You can remove multiple files at a time with the command given below −

• $ rm filename1 filename2 filename3

•$
Standard Unix Streams

• Under normal circumstances, every Unix program has three streams

(files) opened for it when it starts up −
• stdin − This is referred to as the standard input and the associated
file descriptor is 0. This is also represented as STDIN. The Unix
program will read the default input from STDIN.
• stdout − This is referred to as the standard output and the
associated file descriptor is 1. This is also represented as STDOUT.
The Unix program will write the default output at STDOUT
• stderr − This is referred to as the standard error and the associated
file descriptor is 2. This is also represented as STDERR. The Unix
program will write all the error messages at STDERR.
Home Directory

• The directory in which you find yourself when you first login is called your home directory.

• You will be doing much of your work in your home directory and subdirectories that you'll be creating to organize your
files.

• You can go in your home directory anytime using the following command −

• $cd ~
•$
• Here ~ indicates the home directory. Suppose you have to go in any other user's home directory, use the following
command −

• $cd ~username
•$
• To go in your last directory, you can use the following command −

• $cd -
•$
The directories . (dot) and .. (dot dot)

• The filename . (dot) represents the current working directory; and the filename .. (dot
dot) represents the directory one level above the current working directory, often
referred to as the parent directory.

• If we enter the command to show a listing of the current working directories/files and
use the -a option to list all the files and the -l option to provide the long listing, we will
receive the following result.

$ls -la
drwxrwxr-x 4 teacher class 2048 Jul 16 17.56 .
drwxr-xr-x 60 root 1536 Jul 13 14:18 ..
---------- 1 teacher class 4210 May 1 08:27 .profile
-rwxr-xr-x 1 teacher class 1948 May 12 13:42 memo
•$
General Purpose Utilities
• Cal command show the calendar of current month.
• Date command show the current date and time
• Tty command: This command show the information about your
terminal
• Uname: Know your machine name
• Passwd- Change your password
• Echo- Display the message