Basic Linux Commands

cal Command
to see calender for any specific month or a complete year
usage: cal [month] [year]
eg: cal sep 2010
date prints the date and time
date +"%D %H: %M: %S"
09/14/10 14: 19: 43
Options:
d The
date of the month (131)
y The
last two digits of the year
H,M,S Hour
Minute and second respectively
D the
date in mm/dd/yy
echo: Print message on the terminal
usage: echo <message>
eg: echo "Welcome to the workshop"
o/p: Welcome to the workshop
passwd allows
you to change your password
man displays the documentation for a command
usage: man <command name>
eg: man mkdir

Standard directory structure

Standard directory structure
/ the
topmost
/dev all
the devices are accessible as files
/var
variable data such as mails, log files, databases
/usr almost
all the packages installed
/etc configuration
files
/home home
directories for all the users
/root home
directory of the privileged user root
/mnt used
to mount other directories/partitions

Shell Metacharacters

Metacharacters These
are special characters that are recognised by the shell.
* matches
0 or more characters.
eg: ls *.c
? matches

any single character

eg: ls ab?.c
[] This
will match any single character in the range.
eg: ls tut[09].
m
This will find files such as tut0.m, tut9.m etc.,
> Redirect
standard output to a file.
echo hello world > hello.txt

Appends
standard output to a file.
eg: echo Hello Again >> hello.txt
< Takes
standard input from a file
| This
is pipe character. Sends the output of first command as
input for the
second command.
File System Commands
mkdir make directory
usage: mkdir <dirname>
eg: mkdir p
path/test/test1
p
>

no error if existing, make parent directories as needed

cd change
directories
Use cd to change directories. Type cd followed by the
name of a directory to
access that directory.
mvchange
the name of a directory
Type mv followed by the current name of a directory and
the new name of
the directory.
Ex: mv testdir newnamedir
cp copy
files and directories
usage: cp source destination
cp i
myfile yourfile
With the "i"
option, if the file "yourfile" exists, you will be prompted
before it is
overwritten.
cp r
srcdir destdir
Copy all files from the directory "srcdir" to the directory
"destdir" recursively.
rmdir Remove
an existing directory
rm remove
files or directories
Usage: rm r

name
Removes directories and files within the directories
recursively.
File Handling Commands
cat used
to display the contents of a small file on terminal
usage: cat <file name>
cat when supplied with more than one file will concatenate
the files without
any header information
more and less commands are used to view large files
one page at a time
usage: more <file name>
usage: less <file name>
wc command is used to count lines, words and
characters, depending on the
option used.
usage: wc [options] [file name]
You can just print number of lines, number of words or
number of charcters
by using following options:
l
: Number of lines
w
: Number of words
c
: Number of characters

Filters
Filters are commands which accept data from standard
input, manupulate it
and write the results to standard output.
Head displays
the lines at the top of the file
when
used without any option it will display first 10 lines of the
file
usage: head filename
n
>
print the first N lines instead of the first 10
tail displays
the lines at the end of the file. By default it will display last
10
lines of the file
usage: tail filename

cut & paste

cut command can be used to cut the columns from a

file with c
option.
eg: cut c
1,35
/etc/passwd

 With f
option you can cut the feilds delemited by some character
eg: cut d:
f2
/etc/passwd
d
option is used to specify the delimiter and f
option used to specify the
feild number
paste command will paste the contents of the file side
by side
eg: paste a.txt b.txt

Ordering a file
sort reorders
lines in the file
whitespaces first, then numerals, uppercase and finally
lowercase
you can sort the file based on a field by using t
and k
option.
Eg: sort t"
"k
2 students.txt
sorts the file based on the second field using the delimiter
as space
r
>reverses the result

Searching for a pattern

grep scans
its input for a pattern, displays the line containing that
pattern
usage: grep options pattern filename(s)
searching for a text string in one
grep 'boss' /etc/passwd
searches for the pattern boss in the /etc/passwd file
searching for a text string in multiple files
grep root *.txt
Caseinsensitive
file searching with the Unix grep command
grep i
hello hello.txt
Reversing the meaning of a grep search
grep v
boss /etc/passwd
Displays all the lines that do not contain the specified
pattern
Using grep in a Unix/Linux command pipeline
ls al
| grep ^d
print the lines that starts with d
Linux grep command to search for multiple patterns at
one time
egrep boss|root /etc/passwd
grep pattern matching and regular expressions (regex
patterns)

grep '[FG]oo' *
grep '[09][
09][
09]'
*
grep '^fred' /etc/passwd

sed
sed editor
for filtering and transforming text
i
>
edit the files in place
sed i
'1,10d' hello.txt
deleted the first 10 lines from hello.txt
sed i
2i hai hello.txt
Inserts the text hai in the second line
sed i
'/hello/d' hello.txt
Deleted the line containing the pattern hello.
sed 's/hello/world/' hello.txt
Replaces the first occurrence of hello on each line to
world.
sed 's/hello/world/g' hello.txt

Replaces all the occurrences of hello on each line to

world.

Linux Commands
pwd print
working directory
will show you the full path to the directory you are currently
in.
shred overwrite
a file to hide its contents
The result is that your file is so thoroughly deleted it is very
unlikely to ever be
retrieved again.
ln s
test symlink
Creates a symbolic link named symlink that points to the
file test
free Displays
the amount of used and free system memory
w show who is logged on and what they are doing
usage: w
who show
who is logged in
usage: who
who b
>
last system boot time

whoami prints the effective user id.

whereis ls Locates
binaries and manual pages for the ls command.
cat displays the contents of the file on the screen.
df report file system disk space usage
Usage: df h
h
>
print sizes in human readable format
du summarize
disk usage of each file, recursively for directories.
Usage: du h
find Find
locations of files/directories quickly across entire
filesystem
Usage: find / name
appname type
d xdev
type
d search
for the directory named appname
xdev
Don't descend directories on other filesystems.
search
against all directories below / for the appname found in
directories but only
on the existing filesystem.
Command to find and remove files
find . name

"FILETOFIND"
exec
rm rf
{} \;
lspci a
utility for displaying information about PCI buses in the
system and devices connected to them.
v
displays a detailed information.
lsusb a utility for displaying information about USB
buses in the
system and the devices connected to them.
v
displays a detailed information.
lshw list
the hardware
hwinfo probs for the hardware
cat /proc/cpuinfo gives information about cpu
cat /proc/meminfo gives
information about memory

ps command
ps (i.e., process status) command is used to provide
information about the
currently running processes, including their process
identification numbers
(PIDs).
ps lists all the processes
usage: ps aux

 kill to kill a process

ps is most often used to obtain the PID of a malfunctioning
process in order
to terminate it with the kill command
usage: kill 9
pid
where pid process id of the process to be killed.

Task Automation
Cron is the name of program that enables linux users
to execute commands
or scripts (groups of commands) automatically at a
specified time/date.
You can setup setup commands or scripts, which will
repeatedly run at a set
time.
The cron service (daemon) runs in the background and
constantly checks the
/etc/crontab file, /etc/cron.*/ directories.
It also checks the /var/spool/cron/ directory.
To edit the crontab file, type the following command at
the Linux shell
prompt:
crontab e
Syntax of crontab (Field Description)
m h dom mon dow /path/to/command arg1 arg2

where
m: Minute (059)
h: Hours (023)
dom: Date (031)
mon: Month (012
[12 == December])
dow: week days(07
[0 or 7 sunday])
/path/to/command Script
or command name to schedule
If you wished to have a script named /root/backup.sh run
every day at 3am,
your crontab entry would look like as follows:
0 3 * * * /root/backup.sh
Execute every minute
* * * * * /bin/script.sh
This script is being executed every minute.
Execute every Friday 1AM
To schedule the script to run at 1AM every Friday, we
would need the following
cronjob:
0 1 * * 5 /bin/execute/this/script.sh
The script is now being executed when the system clock
hits:
1. minute: 0
2. of hour: 1
3. of day of month: * (every day of month)
4. of month: * (every month)
5. and weekday: 5 (=Friday)

Execute on workdays 1AM

To schedule the script to run from Monday to Friday at 1
AM, we would need
the following cronjob:
0 1 * * 15
/bin/script.sh
The script is now being executed when the system clock
hits:
1. minute: 0
2. of hour: 1
3. of day of month: * (every day of month)
4. of month: * (every month)
5. and weekday: 15
(=Monday till Friday)
Execute 10 past after every hour on the 1st of every
month
10 * 1 * * /bin/script.sh
if you want to run something every 10 minutes:
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * /bin/script.sh
or
*/10 * * * * /bin/script.sh
Special Words
If you use the first (minute) field, you can also put in a
keyword instead of a
number:
@reboot Run once, at startup
@yearly Run once a year "0 0 1 1 *"
@annually (same as @yearly)
@monthly Run once a month "0 0 1 * *"
@weekly Run once a week "0 0 * * 0"

@daily Run once a day "0 0 * * *"

@midnight (same as @daily)
@hourly Run once an hour "0 * * * *
Eg: @daily /bin/script.sh
Storing the crontab output
To store the output in a separate logfile. Here's how:
*/10 * * * * /bin/script.sh 2>&1 >> /var/log/script_output.log

How to use vi editor

Starting vi
You may use vi to open an already existing file by typing
vi filename
vi Modes
vi has two modes:
* command mode
* insert mode
In command mode, the letters of the keyboard perform
editing functions

(like moving the cursor, deleting text, etc.). To enter

command mode, press
the escape <Esc> key.
In insert mode, the letters you type form words and
sentences. Unlike many
word processors, vi starts up in command mode.
Entering Text
In order to begin entering text in this empty file, you must
change from
command mode to insert mode. To do this, type
I
Deleting Words
To delete a word, move the cursor to the first letter of the
word, and type
dw
This command deletes the word and the space following it.
To delete three words type
3dw
Deleting Lines
To delete a whole line, type
dd
The cursor does not have to be at the beginning of the
line. Typing dd deletes
the entire line containing the cursor and places the cursor
at the start of the
next line. To delete two lines, type
2dd
To delete from the cursor position to the end of the line,
type

D (uppercase)
Replacing Characters
To replace one character with another:
1. Move the cursor to the character to be replaced.
2. Type r
3. Type the replacement character.
The new character will appear, and you will still be in
command mode.
Replacing Words
To replace one word with another, move to the start of the
incorrect word and
type
cw
You are now in insert mode and may type the
replacement. The new text does
not need to be the same length as the original. Press
<Esc> to get back to
command mode. To replace three words, type
3cw
Replacing Lines
To change text from the cursor position to the end of the
line:
1. Type C (uppercase).
2. Type the replacement text.
3. Press <Esc>.
Moving around in a file
H to top line of screen
M to middle line of screen
L to last line of screen

G to last line of file

1G to first line of file
Moving by Searching
To move quickly by searching for text, while in command
mode:
1. Type / (slash).
2. Enter the text to search for.
3. Press <Return>.
The cursor moves to the first occurrence of that text.
To repeat the search in a forward direction, type
n
To repeat the search in a backward direction, type
N
To save the edits you have made, but leave vi running and
your file open:
1. Press <Esc>.
2. Type :w
3. Press <Return>.
To quit vi, and discard any changes your have made since
last saving:
1. Press <Esc>.
2. Type :q!
3. Press <Return>.