Linux Pocket Guide: Essential Commands

by Daniel J. Barrett

Overview

If you use Linux in your day-to-day work, then Linux Pocket Guide is the perfect on-the-job reference. This thoroughly updated 20th anniversary edition explains more than 200 Linux commands, including new commands for file handling, package management, version control, file format conversions, and more.

In this concise guide, author Daniel Barrett provides the most useful Linux commands grouped by functionality. Whether you're a novice or an experienced user, this practical book is an ideal reference for the most important Linux commands.

You'll learn:

• Essential concepts—commands, shells, users, and the filesystem
• File commands-creating, organizing, manipulating, and processing files of all kinds
• Sysadmin basics-superusers, processes, user management, and software installation
• Filesystem maintenance-disks, RAID, logical volumes, backups, and more
• Networking commands-working with hosts, network connections, email, and the web
• Getting stuff done-everything from math to version control to graphics and audio

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781098157968
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	349
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Daniel J. Barrett has been teaching and writing about Linux and related technologies for more than 30 years. He is an author of numerous O’Reilly books such as Efficient Linux at the Command Line, Linux Security Cookbook, SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide, Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide, and MediaWiki. Dan has also been a software engineer, heavy metal singer, system administrator, university lecturer, web designer, and humorist. He works at Google. Visit DanielJBarrett.com to learn more.

Table of Contents

	What's in This Book?	1
	What's Linux?	2
	What's Fedora Linux?	2
	What's a Command?	3
	Users and Superusers	4
	Reading This Book	5
	Getting Help	7
	Fedora: A First View	9
	The Role of the Shell	10
	How to Run a Shell	11
	Logins, Logouts, and Shutdowns	11
	The Filesystem	13
	Home Directories	14
	System Directories	15
	Operating System Directories	18
	File Protections	19
	The Shell	20
	The Shell Versus Programs	21
	Selected bash Features	21
	Job Control	29
	Killing a Command in Progress	32
	Terminating a Shell	33
	Tailoring Shell Behavior	33
	Installing Software	33
	Basic File Operations	37
	Directory Operations	41
	File Viewing	43
	File Creation and Editing	51
	File Properties	56
	File Location	65
	File Text Manipulation	71
	File Compression and Packaging	82
	File Comparison	86
	Disks and Filesystems	91
	Backups and Remote Storage	95
	File Printing	101
	Spelling Operations	102
	Viewing Processes	104
	Controlling Processes	108
	User and Their Environment	110
	Working with User Accounts	115
	Becoming the Superuser	118
	Working with Groups	119
	Basic Host Information	121
	Host Location	124
	Network Connections	128
	Email	132
	Web Browsing	136
	Usenet News	140
	Instant Messaging	142
	Screen Output	144
	Math and Calculations	149
	Dates and Times	152
	Scheduling Jobs	155
	Graphics and Screensavers	160
	Audio and Video	163
	Programming with Shell Scripts	166
	Whitespace and Linebreaks	166
	Variables	166
	Input and Output	167
	Booleans and Return Codes	167
	Conditionals	170
	Loops	172
	Break and Continue	174
	Creating and Running Shell Scripts	176
	Command-Line Arguments	177
	Exiting with a Return Code	178
	Beyond Shell Scripting	178
	Final Words	179
	Acknowledgments	179

Editorial Reviews

Linux's popularity continues to grow owing to its lower cost and better security. Multiple flavors and uses of the OS lead to multiple guides; those listed here mainly cover the popular licensed Red Hat Enterprise and freely downloadable Fedora, both distributed by Red Hat. Pocket Guide explains the common commands (organized by function), uses, and options of Fedora Linux, focusing on the command line; minimal attention is given to graphical interfaces. A succinct reference for larger libraries owning more comprehensive guides. For beginners, Learning Red Hat Enterprise addresses both Red Hat Enterprise and Fedora and includes the smaller publisher's edition of Fedora on CD. After an introduction and history, the book moves from installing the operating system to setting up networking and understanding shell scripts. This clear, well-organized guide is highly recommended for all libraries. For intermediate users, Linux Unwired mixes two hot topics in one short text, showing with humor and enthusiasm how to use Linux with several wireless protocols and standards, including 802.11, Bluetooth, cellular data, and GPS. The authors explain how wireless works as well as how to set up your Linux box for wireless and create your own access point. Given the increased popularity of both Linux and wireless in addition to the increased complexity of configuring wireless on Linux this is recommended for medium and larger libraries. Moving includes Knoppix on CD-ROM, which allows readers to run a Debian-based Linux distribution without installing it on their hard drives, plus open source application software. It targets Microsoft administrators wanting to switch their business networks to a Linux environment, covering both system administration for the most common distributions and applications (e.g., OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and KOrganizer) and focusing on the KDE desktop; for larger libraries. For beginners, Beginning Fedora 2 contains the publisher's edition on DVD (or downloadable for readers without DVD drives). Step-by-step instructions, chapter summaries, and exercises help teach the OS. A little more comprehensive but less clear than Learning Red Hat; appropriate for medium and larger libraries. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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