Linux Commands

LINUX COMMANDS

I. DIRECTORY ORIENTED COMMANDS

1. LIST DIRECTORY COMMANDS

To list directories and files.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
aaaa pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms
pgrms prgm.sh programs

To list files and directories along with hidden files.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -a
. .bash_history .bashrc .sudo_as_admin_successful aaaa pgm1.sh
pgm3.sh pgm5.sh pgms prgm.sh
.. .bash_logout .profile .viminfo pgm pgm2.sh
pgm4.sh pgm6.sh pgrms programs

To list files and directories in long format.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l
total 12
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Dec 19 18:46 aaaa
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Aug 8 18:40 pgm
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 516 Aug 6 14:20 pgm1.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 775 Aug 7 17:52 pgm2.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 540 Aug 7 18:11 pgm3.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 576 Aug 7 18:34 pgm4.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 368 Aug 7 18:42 pgm5.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 910 Aug 8 18:40 pgm6.sh
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Aug 8 18:40 pgms
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Aug 8 18:40 pgrms
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 775 Aug 7 17:35 prgm.sh
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Aug 8 18:40 programs

To list files and directories in reverse order.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -r
programs prgm.sh pgrms pgms pgm6.sh pgm5.sh pgm4.sh pgm3.sh
pgm2.sh pgm1.sh pgm aaaa

To list files and directories according to their last modification

time.
afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -t
aaaa pgm6.sh programs pgrms pgms pgm pgm5.sh pgm4.sh pgm3.sh
pgm2.sh prgm.sh pgm1.sh

To recursively list files and sub-directories as well as the files in

the sub-directories.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -R
.:
aaaa pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms
pgrms prgm.sh programs

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 1
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

./aaaa:
college office

./aaaa/college:
bcom bsc

./aaaa/college/bcom:
b.txt

./aaaa/college/bsc:

./aaaa/office:
non-teaching teaching

./aaaa/office/non-teaching:
a.txt d.txt

./aaaa/office/teaching:
c.txt

./pgm:
./pgms:
./pgrms:
./programs:

To put a slash after each directory.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -p
aaaa/ pgm/ pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh
pgms/ pgrms/ prgm.sh programs/

To display the number of storage blocks used by a file/directory.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -s
total 12
0 aaaa 0 pgm 0 pgm1.sh 4 pgm2.sh 0 pgm3.sh 0 pgm4.sh 0 pgm5.sh
4 pgm6.sh 0 pgms 0 pgrms 4 prgm.sh 0 programs

To list contents by lines instead of by columns in sorted order.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -x
aaaa pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms
pgrms prgm.sh programs

To mark executable files with * and directories with /.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -F
aaaa/ pgm/ pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh
pgms/ pgrms/ prgm.sh programs/

To list files and directories in long format according to their last

modification time.
afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -lt
total 12
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Dec 19 18:46 aaaa
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 910 Aug 8 18:40 pgm6.sh
drwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 4096 Aug 8 18:40 programs
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 368 Aug 7 18:42 pgm5.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 576 Aug 7 18:34 pgm4.sh
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 540 Aug 7 18:11 pgm3.sh

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 2
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

2. WILD CARD CHARACTERS

1. * (ASTERISK) – REPRESENTS ANY NUMBER OF CHARACTERS.

Example 1: To Match all the file/directory names beginning with

the letter p.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls p*
pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh prgm.sh
pgm:

pgms:

pgrms:

programs:

Example 2: To Match all the file/directory names ending with the

letter s.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls *s
pgms:

pgrms:

programs:

2. ? – REPRESENTS A SINGLE CHARACTER.

Example 1: To Match all the file names ending with the pattern
‘gm1.sh’.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls ?gm1.sh
pgm1.sh

Example 2: To Match all the file names that matches the pattern
‘pgm?.sh’. (? holds place for a single character)

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls pgm?.sh
pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh

3. [] – REPRESENTS A SUBSET OF RELATED FILENAMES.

Example: To Match all the file names pgm1.sh through pgm5.sh.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls pgm[1-5].sh
pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh pgm5.sh

3. CREATING DIRECTORIES

mkdir [-p] <directory_name1> <directory_name2>

-p -> To create consequences of directories.

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 3
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

afzal@Afzal:~$ mkdir BCOM

afzal@Afzal:~$ mkdir firstsem firstsem/OS

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls firstsem
OS

afzal@Afzal:~$ mkdir -p bcomca/first/os

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls bcomca
first

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls bcomca/first
os

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -R bcomca
bcomca:
first
bcomca/first:
os
bcomca/first/os:

4. REMOVING/DELETING DIRECTORIES

rmdir [-p] <directory_name1> <directory_name2>

-p -> To remove consequences of directories.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
D1 D2 D3 aaaa bcomca firstsem pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms pgrms prgm.sh programs

afzal@Afzal:~$ rmdir -p D1 D2 D3

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
aaaa bcomca firstsem pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh pgm4.sh
pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms pgrms prgm.sh programs

5. CHANGE DIRECTORY COMMAND

cd <directory_name>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cd bcomca

afzal@Afzal:~/bcomca$ cd ..

afzal@Afzal:~$

6. PRINT CURRENT WORKING DIRECTORY

afzal@Afzal:~$ pwd
/home/afzal

7. FIND FILE COMMAND

find <path_list> <selection_criteria> <action>

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 4
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

Selection Criteria:
-name <file_name>
-type d
-mtime {n/+n/-n}
-mmin {n/+n/-n}
-atime {n/+n/-n}
-amin {n/+n/-n}

Action:
-print
-exec <command>

afzal@Afzal:~$ find -name "*.sh" -print

./pgm1.sh
./pgm2.sh
./pgm3.sh
./pgm4.sh
./pgm5.sh

II. FILE ORIENTED COMMANDS

1. CATENATED/CONCATENATE COMMAND

cat [-options] <file_name1> [<filename2> ..]

> -> To create a file.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat > a.txt
Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

To display the contents of a file.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat a.txt
Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

To number non-blank output lines.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat -b a.txt
1 Operating System Lab

2 First Semester B.Com - CA

3 FMKMC College, Madikeri

To number all output lines.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat -n a.txt
1 Operating System Lab
2
3 First Semester B.Com - CA
4

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 5
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

5 FMKMC College, Madikeri

To display the contents of multiple files using a single command.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat a.txt b.txt
Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

2. COPY COMMAND

To copy the contents of one file to another.

cp [-options] <source-file> <destination-file>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat a.txt

Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cp a.txt c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt

Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat a.txt

Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

-i -> To prompt before overwriting destination files.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cp -i a.txt c.txt
cp: overwrite 'c.txt'? yes

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt

Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

afzal@Afzal:~$ cp a.txt c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 6
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

Operating System Lab

First Semester B.Com - CA

FMKMC College, Madikeri

3. REMOVE/DELETE FILE COMMAND

rm [-options] <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ rm a.txt

To recursively delete the contents of the specified directory.

afzal@Afzal:~$ rm -r c.txt

To prompt before deleting.

afzal@Afzal:~$ rm -i b.txt
rm: remove regular file 'b.txt'? no

To remove write-protected files also, without prompting.

afzal@Afzal:~$ rm -f a.txt

4. MOVE/RENAME FILE COMMAND

mv <soure> <destination>

To rename a specified file or directory.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
aaaa b.txt bcomca firstsem pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms pgrms prgm.sh programs

afzal@Afzal:~$ mv b.txt c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
aaaa bcomca c.txt firstsem pgm pgm1.sh pgm2.sh pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh pgm5.sh pgm6.sh pgms pgrms prgm.sh programs

5. WORD/LINE/CHARACTER COUNT COMMAND

wc [-options] <filename>

To display the number of words, lines, and characters present in the

specified file.
afzal@Afzal:~$ wc c.txt
1 27 c.txt

To display the number of words present in the specified file.

afzal@Afzal:~$ wc -w c.txt
c.txt

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 7
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

To display the number of lines present in the specified file.

afzal@Afzal:~$ wc -l c.txt
c.txt

To display the number of characters present in the specified file.

afzal@Afzal:~$ wc -c c.txt
27 c.tx

6. FILE COMMAND

To display the general classification of a specifies file.

file <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ file c.txt

c.txt: ASCII text

afzal@Afzal:~$ file pgm1.sh

pgm1.sh: Bourne-Again shell script, ASCII text executable

afzal@Afzal:~$ file aaaa

aaaa: directory

7. COMAPARE COMMAND

cmp <filename1> <filename2>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat > abc.txt

good morning

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat > xyz.txt

good evening

afzal@Afzal:~$ cmp abc.txt xyz.txt

abc.txt xyz.txt differ: byte 6, line 1

8. FILE ACCESS PERMISSIONS

Types of file:
1. Ordinary file
2. Directory file
3. Device file (Special file)

Access modes:
1. Read mode (r)
2. Write mode (w)
3. Execute mode (x)
4. Denial of permission (–)

User symbols/Categories of users:

1. User (u)
2. User group (g)
3. Others (o)

Set/deny symbols:
1. + Assign permission
Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 8
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

2. – Remove permission
3. = Assign absolute permission

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt

9. CHANGE MODE COMMAND

Symbolic notation:

chmod user_symbols set/deny_symbol access_symbols <filename(s)>

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ chmod u+x a.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rwxrw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rwxrw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ chmod ugo=rwx a.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt

Octal notation:

chmod three-digit-number <filename(s)>

Digits and their meaning:

1. 0 No permission
2. 4 Read
3. 2 Write
4. 1 Execute

Mixing of permissions:
1. 3 Write and Execute (2+1)
2. 5 Read and Execute (4+1)
3. 6 Read and Write (4+2)
4. 7 Read, Write and Execute (4+2+1)

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l c.txt
-rw-rw-rw- 1 afzal afzal 27 Dec 22 13:15 c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ chmod 740 c.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l c.txt
-rwxr----- 1 afzal afzal 27 Dec 22 13:15 c.txt

10. TAIL COMMAND

To display the end of the specified file.

+n -> To display nth line to the end.

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 9
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

-n -> To display the last ‘n’ lines.

If ±n is not used, then the last 10 lines are displayed.

tail ±n <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ tail +20 s.txt

t
u
v
w
x
y
z

afzal@Afzal:~$ tail -2 s.txt

y
z

afzal@Afzal:~$ tail s.txt

q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

11. HEAD COMMAND

To display the top of the specified file.

-n -> To display the first ‘n’ lines.

If -n is not used, then the first 10 lines are displayed.

head [-n] <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ head s.txt

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j

afzal@Afzal:~$ head -3 s.txt

a
b
c

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 10
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

III. PROCESS ORIENTED COMMANDS

1. PROCESS COMMAND

To display the running processes.

ps
afzal@Afzal:~$ ps
PID TTY TIME CMD
7 tty1 00:00:01 bash
185 tty1 00:00:00 ps

To display the processes of all the users who are logged on to the
system.
afzal@Afzal:~$ ps -a
PID TTY TIME CMD
7 tty1 00:00:01 bash
186 tty1 00:00:00 ps

To display the processes which are running on the specified terminal.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ps –t <terminal_name>
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
6 tty1 Ss 0:00 /init
7 tty1 S 0:01 -bash
187 tty1 R 0:00 ps -t

To display the processes which are running for the specified user.
afzal@Afzal:~$ ps –u <username>
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME
COMMAND
afzal 7 0.0 0.0 16796 3420 tty1 S 12:07 0:01 -
bash
afzal 188 0.0 0.0 17380 1916 tty1 R 14:08 0:00 ps-u

To display the system processes.

afzal@Afzal:~$ ps -x
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
7 tty1 S 0:01 -bash
189 tty1 R 0:00 ps –x

IV. BACKGROUND PROCESSING COMMANDS

1. & (AMPERSAND)

To send the command for background processing.

afzal@Afzal:~$ sort a.txt&

[1] 190

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls -l a.txt
-rwxrwxrwx 1 afzal afzal 0 Dec 22 13:33 a.txt
[1]+ Done sort a.txt

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 11
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

2. KILL/TERMINATE PROCESS COMMAND

To terminate a process prematurely.

kill [-SignalNumber] <PID>

afzal@Afzal:~$ ps
PID TTY TIME CMD
194 tty1 00:00:00 bash
206 tty1 00:00:00 ps

afzal@Afzal:~$ kill -9 194

3. AT COMMAND

To execute the specified command at future time.

at <time>
<command(s)>
[Ctrl+d]

afzal@Afzal:~$ at 14:35
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
at> echo "hi"
at> <EOT>
job 1 at Sun Dec 22 14:35:00 2019
hi

4. BATCH COMMAND

To execute the specified commands when the system load permits.

batch
<commands>
[Ctrl+d]

afzal@Afzal:~$ batch
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
at> echo "hi"
at> cat a.txt
at> ls -l c.txt
at> <EOT>
job 3 at Sun Dec 22 14:37:00 2019
hi
-rwxr----- 1 afzal afzal 27 Dec 22 13:15 c.txt

V. COMMUNICATION ORIENTED COMMANDS

1. WRITE COMMAND

To write messages on another user’s terminal.

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 12
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

write <RecipienntLoginName>
<message>
[Ctrl+d]

afzal@Afzal:~$ write afzal

Hi
[Ctrl+d]

2. MAIL COMMAND

To perform offline communication.

mail <username>
<message>
[Ctrl+d]

3. WALL COMMAND

To send a message to all the logged-in users.

wall
<message>
[Ctrl+d]

afzal@Afzal:~$ wall
hello

VI. GENERAL PURPOSE COMMANDS

1. DATE COMMAND

To display the system’s date and time.

date +<format>

Format:
%H Hour (00 to 23)
%I Hour (00 to 12)
%M Minute (00 to 59)
%S Second (00 to 59)
%D Date (MM/DD/YY)
%T Time (HH:MM:SS)
%w Day of the week
%r Time in AM/PM
%y Last two digits of the year

afzal@Afzal:~$ date
Sun Dec 22 14:49:07 IST 2019

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%H

14

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%I

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 13
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

02

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%M

49

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%S

39

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%D

12/22/19

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%T

14:49:46

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%w

0

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%r

02:49:58 PM

afzal@Afzal:~$ date +%y

19

2. WHO COMMAND

To display the logged-in users.

who

3. WHO AM I COMMAND

To display the current terminal user details.

who am i

4. MAN COMMAND

To display the syntax and detailed usage of the Linux commands.

man <command>

afzal@Afzal:~$ man who

WHO(1) User Commands
WHO(1)

NAME
who - show who is logged on

SYNOPSIS
who [OPTION]... [ FILE | ARG1 ARG2 ]

DESCRIPTION
Print information about users who are currently logged in.

5. CALENDAR COMMAND

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 14
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

To display calendar for the specified month and year.

cal [<month>] <year>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cal 2019

2019
January February March
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 1 2
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

April May June

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 1
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
28 29 30 26 27 28 29 30 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30

July August September

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 29 30

October November December

Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 29 30 31

afzal@Afzal:~$ cal 12 2019

December 2019
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31

6. TEE COMMAND

To send the output of a command into standard output as well as to a

file.
command | tee <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 15
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

a.txt abc.txt c.txt pgm pgm2.sh pgm4.sh pgm6.sh pgrms

programs xyz.txt
aaaa bcomca firstsem pgm1.sh pgm3.sh pgm5.sh pgms prgm.sh
s.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls | tee list.txt

pgm1.sh
pgm2.sh
pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh
pgm5.sh

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat list.txt

pgm1.sh
pgm2.sh
pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh
pgm5.sh

7. SCRIPT COMMAND

To store the login session into a specified file.

script <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ script aa.txt

Script started, file is aa.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat b.txt

cat: b.txt: No such file or directory

afzal@Afzal:~$ exit
exit
Script done, file is aa.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat aa.txt

Script started on 2019-12-22 15:01:35+0530
afzal@Afzal:~$ cat c.txt
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
afzal@Afzal:~$ cat b.txt
cat: b.txt: No such file or directory
afzal@Afzal:~$ exit
exit

Script done on 2019-12-22 15:01:54+0530

8. TPUT COMMAND

To clear the screen content.

tput clear

9. SPLIT COMMAND

To split the file into several small files.

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 16
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

split -<number> <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ split -5 s.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls
a.txt aaaa bcomca firstsem pgm pgm2.sh pgm4.sh pgm6.sh
pgrms programs xaa xac xae xyz.txt
aa.txt abc.txt c.txt list.txt pgm1.sh pgm3.sh pgm5.sh pgms
prgm.sh s.txt xab xad xaf

10. EXPR COMMAND

To perform arithmetic operations on integers.

afzal@Afzal:~$ x=5

afzal@Afzal:~$ y=2

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x + $y
7

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x - $y
3

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x \* $y
10

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x / $y
2

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x % $y
1

afzal@Afzal:~$ expr $x + 10
15

11. BC COMMAND

To perform arithmetic operations on integers as well as on floats.

afzal@Afzal:~$ bc
10 + 20
30

VII. PIPE AND FILTERS

1. PIPE

To redirect the output of a command as an input to another command.

command1 | command2

afzal@Afzal:~$ ls | wc -w
27

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 17
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

2. REDIRECTION

1. Standard input (<) – 0

2. Standard output (>) – 1
3. Standard error (2>) – 2

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat < c.txt

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat z.txt 2> abc.txt

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat abc.txt

cat: z.txt: No such file or directory

3. FILTERS

1. SORT COMMAND

To sort the contents of a specified file based on the ASCII value

of characters.

sort [-options] <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat m.txt

pgm1.sh
pgm2.sh
pgm3.sh
pgm4.sh
pgm5.sh
pgm6.sh

To sort the contents in reverse order.

afzal@Afzal:~$ sort -r m.txt
pgm6.sh
pgm5.sh
pgm4.sh
pgm3.sh
pgm2.sh
pgm1.sh

2. GREP (GLOBAL SEARCH FOR REGULAR EXPRESSION) COMMAND

To search for a specified pattern from a specified file and display

those lines containing the pattern.

grep [-options] pattern <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat emp.dat

101 abc bca
102 def bcom
103 ghi ba
104 jkl bba
105 mno bsc
106 pqr bca
107 stu bcom

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 18
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

afzal@Afzal:~$ grep "bc" emp.dat

101 abc bca
102 def bcom
106 pqr bca
107 stu bcom

To display the resultant lines along with their line numbers.

afzal@Afzal:~$ grep -n "bc" emp.dat
1:101 abc bca
2:102 def bcom
6:106 pqr bca
7:107 stu bcom

To display only the lines that do not match the specified pattern.
afzal@Afzal:~$ grep -v "bc" emp.dat
103 ghi ba
104 jkl bba
105 mno bsc

To ignore case distinction for matching.

afzal@Afzal:~$ grep -i "bc" emp.dat
101 abc bca
102 def bcom
106 pqr bca
107 stu bcom

3. CUT COMMAND -> To cut the columns/fields of a specified file.

cut [-options] <filename>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cut -f 2 emp.dat

abc
def
ghi
jkl
mno

afzal@Afzal:~$ cut -f 2-3 emp.dat

abc bca
def bcom
ghi ba
jkl bba
mno bsc

4. PASTE COMMAND

To concatenate the contents of the specified file into a single

file vertically.

paste <filename1> <filename2>

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat > e1.dat

1

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 19
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

2
3

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat > e2.dat

a
b
c

afzal@Afzal:~$ paste e1.dat e2.dat

1 a
2 b
3 c

5. SED COMMAND

To perform line editing.

sed ‘EditCommands’ <filename>

Edit Commands:
q – To quit.
p – To print lines.
d – To delete lines.
c – To change lines.
a – To append after line.
i – To insert before line.

afzal@Afzal:~$ sed '2q' emp.dat

101 abc bca
102 def bcom

afzal@Afzal:~$ sed '2d' emp.dat

101 abc bca
103 ghi ba
104 jkl bba
105 mno bsc
106 pqr bca
107 stu bcom

afzal@Afzal:~$ sed '/bc/d' emp.dat

103 ghi ba
104 jkl bba
105 mno bsc

6. TR COMMAND

tr <CharacterSet1> <CharacterSet2> <Standard-Input>

To translate/change the case of alphabets.

afzal@Afzal:~$ cat aa.txt

ABCD
abcd
EFGH

afzal@Afzal:~$ tr "A,D" "a,d" < aa.txt

aBCd
abcd
Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 20
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.
 Linux Commands

EFGH

afzal@Afzal:~$ tr "E,F" "e,f" < aa.txt

ABCD
abcd
efGH

Prepared by: Afzal, Dept. of Computer Science, FMKMC College, Madikeri. Page 21
Contact: afzal285@outlook.com, s.afzlahmd@gmail.com.