Skip to content

Standard Training: Unix-Like Systems

Textbook Reading

checklist: proficiency in level 1 bash commands
type commands
list files ls
getting text cat, head, tail, less
file operations cp, mv, rm
directories cd, pwd, mkdir, rmdir
paths ., .., ~, /
help man
redirection |, >, <, stdin, stdout,stderr
checklist: proficiency in level 2 shell/bash commands
type commands
environment echo, env, export
permission chmod, chgrp, chown
startup ~/.bashrc
archive/compress tar, gzip
text modification grep, awk, sed
directory jumping pushd, popd, dirs
synchronization rsync
checklist: proficiency in level 3 shell/bash commands
type commands
processes ps, pkill, pgrep, top
jobs jobs, Ctrl-c Ctrl-z, fg, bg
command macro commands in backquotes
search paths $PATH, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH
scripting for-loop, condition, arguments
TAB Completion of Partial Commands and Paths

When using interactive shell environments (e.g., Bash), one can do command/path completion by pressing TAB. More information can be found in this page.

KRG Additions

ls tricks
  • ls -a shows hidden files
  • ls -lh shows details of the files in a human readable manner
  • ls -lrt shows details of the files in chronological order (newest at the end)
  • ls -v use nature sort order (e.g., default order "1 100 2 3" becomes "1 2 3 100"); see also: this thread
cd tricks
  • cd or cd ~ goes to user home directory
  • cd - jumps to previous directory
  • cd .. goes to parent directory
fancier tools (typically need to be compiled before use)
Working with MS Windows