An Introduction to the

Linux Command Shell

For Beginners

Presented by:
Victor Gedris
In Co-Operation With:
The Ottawa Canada Linux Users Group
and
ExitCertified
Copyright and Redistribution
This manual was written with the intention of being a helpful guide to Linux users who are trying
to become familiar with the Bash shell and basic Linux commands. To make this manual useful to
the widest range of people, I decided to release it under a free documentation license, with the
hopes that people benefit from it by updating it and re-distributing modified copies. You have
permission to modify and distribute this document, as specified under the terms of the GNU Free
Documentation License. Comments and suggestions for improvement may be directed to:
[email protected].

This document was created using an Open Source office application called Open Office. The file
format is non-proprietary, and the document is also published in various other formats online.
Updated copies will be available on Vic Gedris' web site [http://vic.dyndns.org/]. For
more information on Open Office, please visit http://www.openoffice.org/.

Copyright 2003 Victor Gedris.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU
Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is available from the Free Software Foundation's website:
http://www.fsf.org/copyleft/fdl.html

Document Version: 1.2, 2003-06-25

1.0 Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide the reader with a fast and simple introduction to using
the Linux command shell and some of its basic utilities. It is assumed that the reader has zero or
very limited exposure to the Linux command prompt. This document is designed to accompany an
instructor-led tutorial on this subject, and therefore some details have been left out. Explanations,
practical examples, and references to DOS commands are made, where appropriate.

1.1 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.

1.2 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.

1.3 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.
1.4 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, picJanuary2002,
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 &
1.5 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 colourized output
cat filename Show contents of a file
cat -n filename Show contents of a file, with line numbers
2.0 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.

2.1 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

2.2 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.
man man A manual about how to use the manual!
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 (1) - 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!

2.3 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.