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UsingTheTerminal - Community Help Wiki

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UsingTheTerminal
Whyusethecommandline?

Contents

1. Whyusethecommandline?
2. StartingaTerminal
1. InUnity
2. InGNOME
3. InXfce(Xubuntu)
4. InKDE(Kubuntu)
5. InLXDE(Lubuntu)
3. Commands
1. sudo:ExecutingCommandswith
TherearemanyvarietiesofLinux,butalmostallofthemusesimilarcommands
ElevatedPrivileges
thatcanbeenteredfromacommandlineinterfaceterminal.
2. File&DirectoryCommands
3. RunningaFileWithinaDirectory
Therearealsomanygraphicaluserinterfaces(GUIs),buteachofthemworks
4. SystemInformationCommands
differentlyandthereislittlestandardizationbetweenthem.Experiencedusers
5. AddingANewUser
whoworkwithmanydifferentLinuxdistributionsthereforefinditeasiertolearn
4. Options
commandsthatcanbeusedinallvarietiesofUbuntuand,indeed,inotherLinux
5. "Man"andgettinghelp
distributionsaswell.
1. Searchingformanfiles
6. OtherUsefulThings
Forthenovice,commandslineinterfacecommandscanappeardaunting:
1. PrettierManualPages
2. Pastingincommands
sudo gobbledegook blah_blah -w -t -h --long-switch aWkward/ComBinationOf
/m
ixedCase/underscores_strokes/and.dots
3.
Saveontyping
4. Changethetext
However,itisimportanttonotethatevenexperiencedusersoftencutandpaste
7. Morewaystorunaterminal
commands(fromaguideormanual)intothecommandlineterminaltheydonot
8. Anextremelyhandytool::Incrementalhistory
memorizethem.
searching
9. Howtocreateupsidedownand/orreversetext
Itisimportant,ofcourse,toknowhowtousethecommandlineterminaland
withyourterminal
anyonewhocanmanagetyping,backspacing,andcuttingandpastingcan
10. MoreInformation

"UnderLinuxthereareGUIs(graphicaluserinterfaces),whereyoucan
pointandclickanddrag,andhopefullygetworkdonewithoutfirstreading
lotsofdocumentation.ThetraditionalUnixenvironmentisaCLI
(commandlineinterface),whereyoutypecommandstotellthecomputer
whattodo.Thatisfasterandmorepowerful,butrequiresfindingoutwhat
thecommandsare."
frommanintro(1)

managethecommandlineterminal(itisnotmoredifficultthanthat).

Thispagewilloutlineafewcraftyshortcutswhichcanmakeusingacommand
lineinterfaceeasier.

StartingaTerminal
InUnity
Unityisthedefaultdesktopenvironmentusedasof11.04.WheresystemsarenotreadyforUnitytheyreverttoGNOMEwhichisalso
usedinpreviousreleasessuchasUbuntu10.04LTS(Lucid),seenextsubsection.
TheeasiestwaytoopentheTerminalistousethe'search'functiononthedash.Oryoucanclickonthe'MoreApps'button,clickonthe
'Seemoreresults'bytheinstalledsection,andfinditinthatlistofapplications.Athirdway,availableafteryouclickonthe'MoreApps'
button,istogotothesearchbar,andseethatthefarrightendofitsays'AllApplications'.Youthenclickonthat,andyou'llseethefull
list.ThenyoucangotoAccessories>Terminalafterthat.So,themethodsinUnityare:
Dash>SearchforTerminal
Dash>MoreApps>'SeeMoreResults'>Terminal
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Dash>MoreApps>Accessories>Terminal
KeyboardShortcut:Ctrl+Alt+T

InGNOME
GNOMEistheclassicdesktopenvironmentforUbuntu11.04(Natty)andisthedefaultdesktopenvironmentinearlierreleases,suchas
Ubuntu10.04LTS(Lucid).
Applicationsmenu>Accessories>Terminal.
KeyboardShortcut:Ctrl+Alt+T

InXfce(Xubuntu)
Applicationsmenu>System>Terminal.
KeyboardShortcut:Super+T
KeyboardShortcut:Ctrl+Alt+T

InKDE(Kubuntu)
KMenu>System>TerminalProgram(Konsole).

InLXDE(Lubuntu)
Menu>Accessories>LXTerminal.
KeyboardShortcut:Ctrl+Alt+T

Commands
sudo:ExecutingCommandswithElevatedPrivileges
Mostofthefollowingcommandswillneedtobeprefacedwiththesudocommand.Thiselevatesprivilegestotherootuser
administrativeleveltemporarily,whichisnecessarywhenworkingwithdirectoriesorfilesnotownedbyyouruseraccount.When
usingsudoyouwillbepromptedforyourpassword.Onlyuserswithsudo(administrative)privilegeswillbeabletousethis
command.Youshouldneverusenormalsudotostartgraphicalapplicationsasroot.(PleaseseeRootSudoformoreinformation
onusingsudocorrectly.)

File&DirectoryCommands
Thetilde(~)symbolstandsforyourhomedirectory.Ifyouareuser,thenthetilde(~)standsfor/home/user
pwd:Thepwdcommandwillallowyoutoknowinwhichdirectoryyou'relocated(pwdstandsfor"printworkingdirectory").
Example:"pwd"intheDesktopdirectorywillshow"~/Desktop".NotethattheGNOMETerminalalsodisplaysthisinformationin
thetitlebarofitswindow.Ausefulgnemonicis"presentworkingdirectory."
ls:Thelscommandwillshowyou('list')thefilesinyourcurrentdirectory.Usedwithcertainoptions,youcanseesizesoffiles,
whenfilesweremade,andpermissionsoffiles.Example:"ls~"willshowyouthefilesthatareinyourhomedirectory.
cd:Thecdcommandwillallowyoutochangedirectories.Whenyouopenaterminalyouwillbeinyourhomedirectory.Tomove
aroundthefilesystemyouwillusecd.Examples:
Tonavigateintotherootdirectory,use"cd/"
Tonavigatetoyourhomedirectory,use"cd"or"cd~"
Tonavigateuponedirectorylevel,use"cd.."
Tonavigatetothepreviousdirectory(orback),use"cd"
Tonavigatethroughmultiplelevelsofdirectoryatonce,specifythefulldirectorypaththatyouwanttogoto.Forexample,
use,"cd/var/www"togodirectlytothe/wwwsubdirectoryof/var/.Asanotherexample,"cd~/Desktop"willmoveyou
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totheDesktopsubdirectoryinsideyourhomedirectory.
cp:Thecpcommandwillmakeacopyofafileforyou.Example:"cpfilefoo"willmakeanexactcopyof"file"andnameit"foo",
butthefile"file"willstillbethere.Ifyouarecopyingadirectory,youmustuse"cprdirectoryfoo"(copyrecursively).(To
understandwhat"recursively"means,thinkofitthisway:tocopythedirectoryandallitsfilesandsubdirectoriesandalltheirfiles
andsubdirectoriesofthesubdirectoriesandalltheirfiles,andonandon,"recursively")
mv:Themvcommandwillmoveafiletoadifferentlocationorwillrenameafile.Examplesareasfollows:"mvfilefoo"will
renamethefile"file"to"foo"."mvfoo~/Desktop"willmovethefile"foo"toyourDesktopdirectory,butitwillnotrenameit.You
mustspecifyanewfilenametorenameafile.
Tosaveontyping,youcansubstitute'~'inplaceofthehomedirectory.
Notethatifyouareusingmvwithsudoyoucanusethe~shortcut,becausetheterminalexpandsthe~toyourhome
directory.However,whenyouopenarootshellwithsudoiorsudos,~willrefertotherootaccount'shomedirectory,
notyourown.
rm:Usethiscommandtoremoveordeleteafileinyourdirectory.
rmdir:Thermdircommandwilldeleteanemptydirectory.Todeleteadirectoryandallofitscontentsrecursively,usermr
instead.
mkdir:Themkdircommandwillallowyoutocreatedirectories.Example:"mkdirmusic"willcreateadirectorycalled"music".
man:Themancommandisusedtoshowyouthemanualofothercommands.Try"manman"togetthemanpageformanitself.
Seethe"Man&GettingHelp"sectiondownthepageformoreinformation.
sudo:ThesudocommandisusedtoperformfileoperationsonfilesthattheRootUserwouldonlybeallowedtochange.An
examplewouldbetryingtomoveoneofyourdocumentsthatanotheruseraccidentallymovedto/backtoyourdocuments
directory.Normally,tomovethefile,youwouldtypemv/mydoc.odt~/Documents/mydoc.odt,butyouarenotallowedto
modifyfilesoutsideofyourhomedirectory.Togetaroundthis,youwouldtypesudomv/mydoc.odt~/Documents/mydoc.odt.
Thiswillsuccessfullymovethefilebacktoitscorrectlocation,providedthatyouarenotastandarduser,whohasless
(administrative)abilitythananadministrator.Beaware,though,thatbyusingthesudocommand,youneedtobeextracareful.It
iseasiertodamageyoursystembyusingthesudocommand.Formoreinformationaboutthesudocommand,clickhere.

RunningaFileWithinaDirectory
Soyou'vedecidedtorunafileusingthecommandline?Well...there'sacommandforthattoo!
./filename.extension
Afternavigatingtothefile'sdirectory,thiscommandwillenableanyUbuntuusertorunfilescompiledviaGCCoranyotherprogramming
language.Althoughtheexampleaboveindicatesafilenameextension,pleasenoticethat,differentlyfromsomeotheroperatingsystems,
Ubuntu(andotherLinuxbasedsystems)donotcareaboutfileextensions(theycanbeanything,ornothing).Keepinmindthatthe
'extension'willvarydependinguponthelanguagethesourcecodeiswrittenin.Also,itisnotpossible,forcompiled
languages(likeCandC++)torunthesourcecodedirectlythefilemustbecompiledfirst,whichmeansitwillbetranslated
fromahumanreadableprogramminglanguagetosomethingthecomputercanunderstand.Somepossibleextensions:".c"forC
source,".cpp"forC++,".rb"forRuby,".py"forPython,etc.Also,rememberthat(inthecaseofinterpretedlanguageslikeRuby&
Python)youmusthaveaversionofthatlanguageinstalledonUbuntubeforetryingtorunfileswrittenwithit.
Finally,thefilewillonlybeexecutedifthefilepermissionsarecorrectpleaseseetheFilePermissionshelppagefordetails.

SystemInformationCommands
df:Thedfcommanddisplaysfilesystemdiskspaceusageforallmountedpartitions."dfh"isprobablythemostusefulituses
megabytes(M)andgigabytes(G)insteadofblockstoreport.(hmeans"humanreadable")
du:Theducommanddisplaysthediskusageforadirectory.Itcaneitherdisplaythespaceusedforallsubdirectoriesorthetotal
forthedirectoryyouruniton.Example:
user@users-desktop:~$ du /media/floppy
1032
/media/floppy/files
1036
/media/floppy/
user@users-desktop:~$ du -sh /media/floppy
1.1M
/media/floppy/

smeans"Summary"andhmeans"HumanReadable"
free:Thefreecommanddisplaystheamountoffreeandusedmemoryinthesystem."freem"willgivetheinformationusing
megabytes,whichisprobablymostusefulforcurrentcomputers.
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top:Thetop('tableofprocesses')commanddisplaysinformationonyourLinuxsystem,runningprocessesandsystemresources,
includingCPU,RAM&swapusageandtotalnumberoftasksbeingrun.Toexittop,press"q".
unamea:Theunamecommandwiththeaoptionprintsallsysteminformation,includingmachinename,kernelname&version,
andafewotherdetails.Mostusefulforcheckingwhichkernelyou'reusing.
lsb_releasea:Thelsb_releasecommandwiththeaoptionprintsversioninformationfortheLinuxreleaseyou'rerunning,for
example:
user@computer:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:
Ubuntu 11.10
Release:
11.10
Codename:
oneiric

ipaddrreportsonyoursystem'snetworkinterfaces.

AddingANewUser
"addusernewuser"commandwillcreateanewgeneralusercalled"newuser"onyoursystem,andtoassignapasswordforthe
newuseraccountuse"passwdnewuser".

Options
Thedefaultbehaviourforacommandmayusuallybemodifiedbyaddingaoptiontothecommand.Thelscommandforexamplehasan
soptionsothat"lss"willincludefilesizesinthelisting.Thereisalsoahoptiontogetthosesizesina"humanreadable"format.
Optionscanbegroupedinclustersso"lssh"isexactlythesamecommandas"lssh".Mostoptionshavealongversion,prefixed
withtwodashesinsteadofone,soeven"lssizehumanreadable"isthesamecommand.

"Man"andgettinghelp
mancommand,infocommandandcommandhelparethemostimportanttoolsatthecommandline.
NearlyeverycommandandapplicationinLinuxwillhaveaman(manual)file,sofindingthemisassimpleastyping"man"command""
tobringupalongermanualentryforthespecifiedcommand.Forexample,"manmv"willbringupthemv(move)manual.
Moveupanddownthemanfilewiththearrowkeys,andquitbacktothecommandpromptwith"q".
"manman"willbringupthemanualentryforthemancommand,whichisagoodplacetostart!
"manintro"isespeciallyusefulitdisplaysthe"Introductiontousercommands"whichisawellwritten,fairlybriefintroductiontothe
Linuxcommandline.
Therearealsoinfopages,whicharegenerallymoreindepththanmanpages.Try"infoinfo"fortheintroductiontoinfopages.
Somesoftwaredeveloperspreferinfotoman(forinstance,GNUdevelopers),soifyoufindaverywidelyusedcommandorappthat
doesn'thaveamanpage,it'sworthcheckingforaninfopage.
Virtuallyallcommandsunderstandtheh(orhelp)optionwhichwillproduceashortusagedescriptionofthecommandandit'soptions,
thenexitbacktothecommandprompt.Try"manh"or"manhelp"toseethisinaction.
Caveat:It'spossible(butrare)thataprogramdoesn'tunderstandthehoptiontomeanhelp.Forthisreason,checkforaman
orinfopagefirst,andtrythelongoptionhelpbeforeh.

Searchingformanfiles
Ifyouaren'tsurewhichcommandorapplicationyouneedtouse,youcantrysearchingthemanfiles.
mankfoowillsearchthemanfilesforfoo.Try"manknautilus"toseehowthisworks.
Notethatthisisthesameasdoingaproposcommand.
manffoosearchesonlythetitlesofyoursystem'smanfiles.Try"manfgnome",forexample.
Notethatthisisthesameasdoingwhatiscommand.
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OtherUsefulThings
PrettierManualPages
UserswhohaveKonquerorinstalledwillbepleasedtofindtheycanreadandsearchmanpagesinawebbrowsercontext,prettifiedwith
theirchosendesktopfontsandalittlecolour,byvisitingman:/commandinKonqueror'saddressbar.Somepeoplemightfindthislightens
theloadifthere'slotsofdocumentationtoread/search.

Pastingincommands
Often,youwillbereferredtoinstructionsthatrequirecommandstobepastedintotheterminal.Youmightbewonderingwhythetext
you'vecopiedfromawebpageusingCtrl+Cwon'tpasteinwithctrl+V.Surelyyoudon'thavetotypeinallthosenastycommandsand
filenames?Relax.ctrl+shift+VpastesintoaGNOMEterminalyoucanalsodomiddlebuttonclickonyourmouse(bothbuttons
simultaneouslyonatwobuttonmouse)orrightclickandselectPastefromthemenu.However,ifyouwanttoavoidthemouseandyet
pasteit,use"Shift+Insert",topastethecommand.Ifyouhavetocopyitfromanotherterminal/webpage,youcanuse"Ctrl+Insert"to
copy.

Saveontyping
UpArrow
orCtrl+ Scrollsthroughthecommandsyou'veenteredpreviously.
P
Down
Arrowor Takesyoubacktoamorerecentcommand.
Ctrl+N
Enter

Whenyouhavethecommandyouwant.

tab

Averyusefulfeature.Itautocompletesanycommandsorfilenames,ifthere'sonlyoneoption,orelsegivesyoualistof
options.

Searchesforcommandsyou'vealreadytyped.Whenyouhaveenteredaverylong,complexcommandandneedtorepeatit,
Ctrl+R usingthiskeycombinationandthentypingaportionofthecommandwillsearchthroughyourcommandhistory.Whenyou
findit,simplypressEnter.

History

Thehistorycommandshowsaverylonglistofcommandsthatyouhavetyped.Eachcommandisdisplayednexttoa
number.Youcantype!xtoexecuteapreviouslytypedcommandfromthelist(replacetheXwithanumber).Ifyouhistory
outputistoolong,thenusehistory|lessforascrollablelist.

Example:youranhistoryandfoundyouwanttousecommand1967.Simplyenter
!1967

Changethetext
Themousewon'twork.Usetheleft/rightarrowkeystomovearoundtheline.
Whenthecursoriswhereyouwantitintheline,typinginsertstextieitdoesn'tovertypewhat'salreadythere.
Ctrl+AorHome Movesthecursortothestartofaline.
Ctrl+EorEnd

Movesthecursortotheendofaline.

Esc+B

Movestothebeginningofthepreviousorcurrentword.

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Ctrl+K

Deletesfromthecurrentcursorpositiontotheendoftheline.

Ctrl+U

Deletesfromthestartofthelinetothecurrentcursorposition.

Ctrl+W

Deletesthewordbeforethecursor.

Alt+B

Goesbackonewordatatime.

Alt+F

Movesforwardonewordatatime.

Alt+C

Capitalizesletterwherecursorisandmovestoendofword.

Morewaystorunaterminal
Youcanalsogetitwithafunctionkey
Youcanrunmorethanoneintabsorseparatewindows.
Youcanalsoinstallguake(GNOME),tilda(XFCE/LXDE/Mate)oryakuake(KDE)andhaveaterminalwhichappearsandhideson
shortcutkey.Thiscanbeparticularlyusefulifyouuseterminalalot.Dropdownterminalscanmakethingsaloteasierifyouaretryingto
runadesktopenviromentwithanondefualtwindowmanagerandsomethinggoeswrongdropdownterminalscanruntheorginalwindow
managerreplacetorestoreapreviousoptiontomakethingsmuchlesspainful.

Anextremelyhandytool::Incrementalhistorysearching
Interminalenter:
gedit ~/.inputrc

Thencopypasteandsave:
"\e[A": history-search-backward
"\e[B": history-search-forward
"\e[C": forward-char
"\e[D": backward-char

Fromnowon,andmanyagreethisisthemostusefulterminaltool,itsavesyoualotofwriting/memorizing...
Allyouneedtodotofindapreviouscommandistoentersaythefirsttwoorthreelettersandupwardarrowwilltakeyoutherequickly:
SayIwant:
for f in *.mid ; do timidity "$f"; done

AllIneedtodoisenter:
fo

Andhitupwardarrowcommandwillsoonappear.

Howtocreateupsidedownand/orreversetextwithyour
terminal
Ifyouwishorneedtoeverfliptextupsidedown[verticalflip]"uoppsdnxd"or/andcreatereversetexthereisaterminalwayto
achievethis.
Copy/pasteandsavethefollowingasflip.plinyourhomefolder(thankstoLarsNoodnforscript).
#!/usr/bin/perl

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use strict;
use warnings;
use utf8;
binmode(STDOUT, ":utf8");
my %flipTable = (
"a" => "\x{0250}",
"b" => "q",
"c" => "\x{0254}",
"d" => "p",
"e" => "\x{01DD}",
"f" => "\x{025F}",
"g" => "\x{0183}",
"h" => "\x{0265}",
"i" => "\x{0131}",
"j" => "\x{027E}",
"k" => "\x{029E}",
"l" => "|",
"m" => "\x{026F}",
"n" => "u",
"o" => "o",
"p" => "d",
"q" => "b",
"r" => "\x{0279}",
"s" => "s",
"t" => "\x{0287}",
"u" => "n",
"v" => "\x{028C}",
"w" => "\x{028D}",
"x" => "x",
"y" => "\x{028E}",
"z" => "z",
"A" => "\x{0250}",
"B" => "q",
"C" => "\x{0254}",
"D" => "p",
"E" => "\x{01DD}",
"F" => "\x{025F}",
"G" => "\x{0183}",
"H" => "\x{0265}",
"I" => "\x{0131}",
"J" => "\x{027E}",
"K" => "\x{029E}",
"L" => "|",
"M" => "\x{026F}",
"N" => "u",
"O" => "o",
"P" => "d",
"Q" => "b",
"R" => "\x{0279}",
"S" => "s",
"T" => "\x{0287}",
"U" => "n",
"V" => "\x{028C}",
"W" => "\x{028D}",
"X" => "x",
"Y" => "\x{028E}",
"Z" => "z",
"." => "\x{02D9}",
"[" => "]",
"'" => ",",
"," => "'",
"(" => ")",
"{" => "}",
"?" => "\x{00BF}",
"!" => "\x{00A1}",
"\"" => ",",
"<" => ">",
"_" => "\x{203E}",
";" => "\x{061B}",
"\x{203F}" => "\x{2040}",
"\x{2045}" => "\x{2046}",
"\x{2234}" => "\x{2235}",
"\r" => "\n",
" " => " "
);
while ( <> ) {
my $string = reverse( $_ );
while ($string =~ /(.)/g) {
print $flipTable{$1};
}

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print qq(\n);

Thentosetitup:
sudo mv flip.pl /bin/
cd /bin/
sudo chown yourusername flip.pl && sudo chmod +x flip.pl

Thenopenterminalandenter:
flip.pl

else
perl /bin/flip.pl

Writewhatyouwantandhitreturn
CopyandpastewhereveryouwanttextdocumentorInternetforum,etc...
upuunonouuounopxunosdpudo
==================
Ifyouwanttoreversebacktofront,writeyourtextinatexteditorandsaveasmytexttothehomefolder.
Thenenter:
rev mytext

Copyandpastetheresult,tluserehtetsapdnaypoc.
Andofcourseyoucancombinebothfortrulycrypticresults,odupdssn

MoreInformation
AptGetHowtousingaptgettoinstallpackagesfromthecommandline.
CommandlineRepositoryEditingaddingtheUniverse/Multiverserepositoriesthroughthecommandline.
grepHowtogrepisapowerfulcommandlinesearchtool.
findHowtolocatefilesonthecommandline.
CommandlineHowtolongerandmorecompletethanthisbasicguide,butstillunfinished.
HowToReadlineinformationonsomemoreadvancedcustomizationforthecommandline.
FormoredetailedtutorialsontheLinuxcommandline,pleasesee:
http://linuxtutorial.todolistme.netAbeginnersguidetoeffectiveuseofthecommandline.
http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuideBashguidesuitableforbeginners.Oneofthefewtoalsoteachgoodpractice.
http://linuxcommand.org/BasicBashtutorials,includingBashscripting.
http://linuxsurvival.com/index.phpJavabasedtutorials.
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gzAmassiveonlinebookaboutsystemadministration,almostallfromthecommandline.
http://www.ss64.com/bash/Agoodlistacommands.
http://tinyurl.com/ycyg4mkListingofthreehelpfulsitesfrombeginnertoadvancedscripting.
UbuntuguideconciseanduptodateinformationforbothcommandlineandGUIusersofUbuntu.
KubuntuguideconciseanduptodateinformationforbothcommandlineandGUIusersofKubuntu
HeadbacktoUserDocumentation
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CategoryCommandLine
UsingTheTerminal(lastedited2015111321:00:37bywalterorlin@user0c9h109.cable.mindspring.com[24.152.132.9]:walterorlin)

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