Chapter 02

Using the Shell

What is a Command?

● A program executed on the command line.

● Sources of commands include:

○ Internal (built-in shell) commands
○ External commands stored in binary files
○ Aliases
○ Functions
○ Scripts
Aliases
● An alias can be used to map longer commands to shorter key sequences.

● To determine what aliases are set on the current shell use the alias
command.

● New aliases can be created using the following format:

alias name=command

● Aliases created this way only persist while the shell is open. Once the shell
is closed, the new aliases are lost.
Basic Command Syntax
● Command syntax:

command [options…] [arguments…]

● Commands, options and arguments are all case-sensitive.

● To execute a command, the first step is to type the name of the command.
sysadmin@localhost:~$ ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Music Pictures Public Templates Videos
Specifying Arguments
● Typically, arguments follow options.

command [options] [arguments]

● Arguments can be file or directory names.

● Some commands require arguments (i.e. the touch and cp commands).

● If an argument contains special (non-alphanumeric) characters, use single

quotes ‘ ’ around the argument.
Specifying Options
● Options can be used with commands to expand or modify the way a command
behaves.

command [options] [arguments]

● Short options are specified with a hyphen - followed by a single character (ie –a).

● Long options for commands are preceded by a double hyphen -- (i.e. --all).

● The lone double hyphen -- option can be used to indicate the end of all options for
the command.
● BSD style options do not use hyphens, just a single character (i.e. a)
Display System Information
● The uname command displays useful system information.

● There are many options available for the uname command. For example:

○ -a, --all – displays all information about the system

○ -s, --kernel-name – displays Kernel name

○ -n, --node-name – displays network node name

○ -r, --kernel-release – displays Kernel release

○ -v, --kernel-version – displays Kernel version

Current Directory
● The pwd command displays the current working directory.

sysadmin@localhost:~$ pwd
/home/sysadmin
sysadmin@localhost:~$ cd Documents/
sysadmin@localhost:~/Documents$ pwd
/home/sysadmin/Documents
Command Information
● The type command displays information about a command type.
sysadmin@localhost:~$ type -a ls
ls is aliased to `ls --color-auto’
ls is /bin/ls

● This command is helpful for getting information about commands,

the –a option will return all locations the files reside on the system.

● The which command searches for the location of a command in the system
by searching the PATH variable.
Command Completion

● The Bash shell provides the ability to complete commands and their
arguments automatically.

● Type a few characters of a command (or its file name argument) and then
press the Tab key twice, this will provide a list of files that match.

sysadmin@localhost:~$ ca
cal capsh cat cautious-launcher
calendar captoinfo catchsegv
caller case catman
Getting Help
● The man command will display documentation for commands:
sysadmin@localhost:~$ man pwd

● You can control the man page display by using movement commands such
as:
o Space bar = Go down one page
o b = Go up one page
o 1G = Go to beginning of man page
o G = Go to end of man page
o h = display help screen
o /term [Enter] = Search for term
Sections Within Man Pages

● The format of each man page is broken into sub-sections:

o NAME = Brief description.

o SYNOPSIS = How command is executed.

o DESCRIPTION = Provides a more detailed description of the command.

o OPTIONS = The options for the command.

o FILES = Which files are used for the command.

o AUTHOR= Provides the name of the person who created the man page and
(sometimes) how to contact the person.
Sections Within Man Pages

o REPORTING BUGS = Provides details on how to report problems with the

command.

o COPYRIGHT = Provides basic copyright information.

o SEE ALSO = Other resources for additional information.

LS(1) BSD General Commands Manual LS(1)

NAME
ls - list directory contents

SYNOPSIS
ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is speci-
fied.

-a, --all
do not ignore entries starting with .

-A, --almost-all
do not list implied . and ..
Output Omitted...

AUTHOR
Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS
GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report ls translation bugs to http://translationproject.org/team/

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'
Searching by Name or Keyword

● To return all man pages that match a name:

man –f name

sysadmin@localhost:~$ man –f passwd

● To return all man pages that match a keyword:

man –k keyword

sysadmin@localhost:~$ man –k password