189 lines
7.4 KiB
Text
189 lines
7.4 KiB
Text
This is a jumping-off reference point for new users who may be
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completely unfamiliar with Linux commands. It does not contain all
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the information you need about using the Linux console, but instead
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just gives you enough information to get started finding the
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information you need.
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Linux Commands
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To run a command, type the command at the prompt, followed by any
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necessary options, and then press the Enter or Return key.
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Most commands operate silently unless they are specifically asked to
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say what they are doing. If there is no error message, the command
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should have worked.
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The operation of most commands can be changed by putting command
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options immediately after the command name. There are several styles
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of options used, and you have to check the documentation for each
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command to know what options it can take, and what they do.
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Linux commands are case-sensitive, and almost always are all
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lower-case. ls is a valid command; LS is not.
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In most cases you can use the tab key to ask the command shell to
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auto-complete the command, directory or filename you have started
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to type. If a unique completion exists, the shell will type it. If
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not, you can press tab a second time to obtain a list of the
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possible auto-completions.
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Commands for Reading Documentation
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In the following command examples, the [ ] characters are not
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typed, they mean that whatever is enclosed is optional. For
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example, you can also start `info' without any subject at all.
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When a given keyboard shortcut is preceded by ctrl- or alt- , that
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means hold the control or alt key down, and type the given key
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while holding it down (the same way you use the shift key). A
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shorthand notation for ctrl- is ^ (^C means ctrl-C).
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man subject
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man shows the manual page on the command (use q or ctrl-C to
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get out of it if it doesn't terminate at the end of the
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text).
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info [subject]
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A lot of Debian Linux documentation is provided in info
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format. This is similar to a hypertext format, in that you
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can jump to other sections of the documentation by following
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links embedded in the text. An info tutorial is available
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within info, using ctrl-h followed by h.
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help [subject]
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Use help for on-line help about the shell's built-in commands.
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help by itself prints a list of subjects for which you can
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ask for help.
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pager filename
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pager displays a plain text file one screen at a time.
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Additional screens can be displayed by pressing the space
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bar, and previous screens can be displayed by pressing the b
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key. When finished viewing the help, press q to return to
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the prompt.
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Using -h --help with | pager
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Most commands offer very brief built-in help by typing the
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command followed by
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-h or --help
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If the help scrolls up beyond the top of the screen before
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you can read it, add
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| pager
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to the end of the command.
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zmore document.gz
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zmore is a document pager -- it displays the contents of
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compressed documentation on your disk, one screenful at a
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time. Compression is signified by filenames ending in .gz .
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lynx [document] or lynx [directory] or lynx [url]
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lynx is a text-based web browser. It can display documents
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(plain-text, compressed, or html), directory listings, and
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urls such as www.google.com. It does not display images.
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Commands for Navigating Directories
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pwd
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Displays your current working directory. The p stands for
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print, which is a carryover from when unix was designed,
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before the advent of computer screens. Interactive computer
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responses were printed on paper by a connected electric
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typewriter instead of being displayed electronically.
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cd [directory]
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Change your current directory to the named directory. If you
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don't specify directory, you will be returned to your home
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directory. The `root' directory is signified by / at the
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beginning of the directory path ( / also separates directory
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and file names within the path). Thus paths beginning with /
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are `absolute' paths; cd will take you to an absolute path
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no matter what your current directory is. Paths not
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beginning with / specify paths relative to your
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current directory. cd .. means change to the parent
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directory of your current working directory.
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ls [directory]
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ls lists the contents of directory. If you don't specify a
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directory name, the current working directory's list is
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displayed.
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find directory -name filename
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find tells you where filename is in the tree starting at
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directory. This command has many other useful options.
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Documentation Indices
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The standard doc-linux-text package installs compressed text linux
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HOWTOs in
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/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/
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Particularly helpful HOWTOs for new users are
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/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/Unix-and-Internet-Fundamentals-HOWTO.gz
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/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/mini/INDEX.gz
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/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/Reading-List-HOWTO.gz
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/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-txt/META-FAQ.gz
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Individual package documentation is installed in
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/usr/share/doc/<package-name>
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New user website references include
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http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ
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http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP/gs/gs.html
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Recording User Sessions
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script filename
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Use script to record everything that appears on the screen
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(until the next exit) in filename. This is useful if you
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need to record what's going on in order to include it in
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your message when you ask for help. Use exit, logout or
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ctrl-D to stop the recording session.
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Turning Echo On/Off
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To turn off echoing of characters to the screen, you can use
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ctrl-S. ctrl-Q starts the echo again. If your terminal suddenly
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seems to become unresponsive, try ctrl-Q; you may have accidentally
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typed ctrl-S which activated echo-off.
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Virtual Consoles
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By default, six virtual consoles are provided. If you want to
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execute another command without interrupting the operation of a
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command you previously started, you can switch to another virtual
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console (similar to a separate window). This is very handy for
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displaying the documentation for a command in one console while
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actually trying the command in another. Switch consoles 1 through 6
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by using alt-F1 through alt-F6.
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Logging Out
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exit or logout
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Use exit or logout to terminate your session and log
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out. You should be returned to the log-in prompt.
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Turning Off the Computer
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Turning the computer on and off is really a system administration
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subject, but I include it here because it is something that every
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user who is his own administrator needs to know.
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halt or shutdown -t 0 -h now
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This command shuts the computer down safely. You can also
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use ctrl-alt-del if your system is set up for that. (If you
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are in X, ctrl-alt-del will be intercepted by X. Get out of
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X first by using ctrl-alt-backspace.)
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To display this file one screen at a time, type
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pager /usr/share/doc/doc-linux-text/README.commands
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