An Introduction to the Linux Command Line

Posted by on 12/02 at 02:11 PM Permalink

One persistent, though entirely unfounded myth about Linux is that you need to use the command line to do ... well, just about everything. That’s just not true. Window managers—like KDE, GNOME, or xfce—give you a fully-graphical way of carrying out any number of tasks.

That said, even a cursory knowledge of the command line can make your life in Linux much easier. Sometimes, it’s just faster and easier to jump out to the command line, perform a task, and then return to the warm coziness of your window manager. Like when? Say, for example, you want to archive a bunch of files in a directory. Using the command line utility zip is often quicker than using a graphical archiving tool.

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Posted by $Bill on 12/02 at 07:29 AM

Regarding your “An Introduction to the Linux Command Line By Scott Nesbitt - Sunday, December 02, 2007”

The following was stated:

“So, to copy the file Your_Life_in_Web_Apps.pdf in your home directory to the directory eBooks, type cp Your_Life_in_Web_Apps.pdf eBooks/Your_Life_in_Web_Apps.pdf. You must always specify the target file name. If you don’t, the command won’t work.”

This isn’t true on any *NIX I’ve used.

You can leave the filename off and just specify eBooks as the target dir and the file will be copied to the eBooks dir. It’s possible that he meant ‘path’ rather than ‘filename’ in which case it would be true as the second argument to cp is mandatory.

I was surprised there was no mention of a shell in your commandline tutorial since the shell is what is actually processing the command line.

Posted by F on 12/02 at 08:28 AM

"Let’s say you want to move to a directory called pictures, which holds your photos. Just type cd photos and you’re there.”

Probably would be better to type the directory name you want to go to (in this case it’s actually pictures, not photos), not the one you’re thinking of.

Posted by Manuel A. MacLain on 12/03 at 06:26 AM

Your Tech-Tips article are excellent, thanks. However you are doing an even more commendable act by exposing Linux to your readers. Congratulations.

Happy Hollidays

Posted by njaneardude on 12/03 at 09:00 AM

Just installed Gutsy Gibbon to dual boot with my XP yesterday, this from a die hard double clicker.

Hope to master the commands and make me feel like a real Geek.

Enjoyed the tips.

Posted by Lee on 12/03 at 01:14 PM

Excellent!

But I would like to see articles on how to install linux drivers and what utilities are available (and how to run them). I know there are many flavors of the above, but a rudimentary way to do so would be helpful.