2 - Basic Linux Commands

pwd

It stands for Print Working Directory. It shows you which directory you are currently working in.

cd

It stands for change directory. You can change your working directory using cd.

ls

Use the "Is" command to know what files are in the directory you are in.

You can see all the hidden files by using the command “ls -a”.

To see the permissions of the files in the directory we type “ls -l”

touch

The touch command is used to create a blank file.

mkdir

We use this command to create a directory.

rm

We use this command to delete a file. If we want to delete a directory, we use “rm -r dir_name”

cat

cat is a standard Unix utility that reads files sequentially, writing them to standard output.

The name is derived from its function to concatenate files.

cp

We use this command to copy a file.

mv

mv (short for move) is a Unix command that moves one or more files or directories from one place to another. If both filenames are on the same filesystem, this results in a simple file rename; otherwise the file content is copied to the new location and the old file is removed.

top

The top command allows users to monitor processes and system resource usage on Linux. It is one of the most useful tools in a sysadmin’s toolbox, and it comes pre-installed on every distribution.

Press Ctrl+C to exit.

chmod

The chmod command changes the access permissions of files and folders.

You can manipulate permissions for user, group and others.

nano filename.extension

The nano command opens up a terminal text editor. To exit we use ctrl+x

|

The | (pipe) command pipes the output of the previous command to the next command.

Every single program in the UNIX/Linux system has 3 built-in data streams.

STDIN (0) – Standard input

STDOUT (1) – Standard output

STDERR (2) – Standard error

grep

grep prints lines that contain a match for one or more patterns.

Given one or more patterns, grep searches input files for matches to the patterns.

When it finds a match in a line, it copies the line to standard output (by default), or produces whatever other sort of output you have requested with options.

Exercise

Create a Folder named Msc
Create a blank file named directory.txt
Now list the directories in the root directory and store the output in the directory.txt file
Now search for words in the directory.txt file which contains the alphabet e
Move the file named directory.txt from Msc to a directory named MscP2. Also rename the file to DirP2.txt
Finally remove the folder named Msc.
List the permissions for DirP2.txt
Also list the hidden files in your home directory
Make a hidden file named secrets.txt

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