ICTS

Linux: an introduction
A cheat sheet approach

Preliminary version - September 2021

Content

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 5
Some warning on the linux command line interface ...................................... 5
2 Linux......................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 Kernel ............................................................................................................. 6
2.2 Shell ................................................................................................................ 6
2.3 Linux command .............................................................................................. 6
3 Getting help ............................................................................................................. 8
4 Working with files and directories ........................................................................ 9
4.1 The file system................................................................................................ 9
4.2 ls command ................................................................................................. 10
4.3 Navigating the file system ............................................................................. 13
4.3.1 Working with directories ..................................................................... 13
4.4 Viewing file content ....................................................................................... 14
4.4.1 Viewing commands ............................................................................ 14
4.4.2 Less command ................................................................................... 15
4.5 File manipulation........................................................................................... 15
4.6 Search files ................................................................................................... 16
4.7 Archiving and compressing files ................................................................... 17
4.8 Check disk space.......................................................................................... 19
4.9 Links ............................................................................................................. 19
5 The shell revisited ................................................................................................. 20
5.1 Various commands ....................................................................................... 20
5.2 Bash shortcuts .............................................................................................. 21
5.3 Bash variables .............................................................................................. 21
5.4 IO Redirection ............................................................................................... 22
5.5 Pipes ............................................................................................................. 22
Command lists .............................................................................................. 23
6 Text editing ............................................................................................................ 24
6.1 Nano Quick Reference ................................................................................. 24
7 File security ........................................................................................................... 26
7.1 File Permissions ........................................................................................... 27
8 Process Management ........................................................................................... 28
9 Useful links ............................................................................................................ 30

CONTENT | 3
1 Introduction

Some warning on the linux command line interface

• The command line interface is case-sensitive, one wrongly typed character can
cause a lot of problems.

• There is no Recycle Bin, anything that you execute (run) in the command prompt
would need to be fixed manually. Double Check EVERY command that you type, to
make sure it is correct. The command line is a very powerful tool, and it requires a
little more finesse and learning than the GUI (Graphic User Interface).

INTRODUCTION | 5
2 Linux

The Linux operating system is not a monolithic block fixed once and for all. In reality,
many components work together, written by different people and assembled into
distributions. It is only from the outside that the Linux kernel appears to be an indivisible
unit. However, the distributions all have the same operating system kernel, and many
common applications.

2.1 Kernel

The kernel is the part of the code in memory. The kernel takes care of :

• Memory management. Physical memory is extended virtually. Unused programs

or program sections are offloaded to the hard disk and loaded into RAM when
required for execution.
• File management. Linux has a hierarchical file system whose internal structure
may vary. Disk space from other systems can be mounted.
• Device management. Access to devices is through files that form the interface
between the device drivers and the kernel.
• Program and process management. Linux ensures that each program runs
independently.
• Data access. Data stored in the file system must be protected from unauthorised
access.

2.2 Shell

The shell is the most basic link between the user and the operating system. The
commands entered on the command line will be interpreted by the shell and passed on to
the operating system. There are several versions of the shell:

• bash This is the standard Linux shell the Bourne Again Shell.
• sh The original Bourne shell.
• csh The C shell uses a different programming interface to bash.
• ksh The Korn shell is one of the most popular shells on Unix. It is compatible with
bash .
• tcsh The enhanced C shell.
• zsh A bash compatible shell.

2.3 Linux command

Telling the computer what to do is done by passing commands to the computer.

6 | LINUX
The anatomy of a command line interface is as follows:

A Linux command consists of 3 parts: the command itself, the command options, and its
arguments.
command [OPTIONS prefixed with – or --] [ARG1] […ARGX]

LINUX | 7
3 Getting help

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/108890/how-to-get-help-with-a-command-from-the-
linux-terminal-8-tricks-for-beginners-pros-alike/

Command Useful Common usage What does it?

options
run the command -h anycommand -h Show usage
with the -h or --help anycommand --help information and a
–help switches. list of options to be
used with the
command
Tab completion When in doubt
about about a
specific
command’s name,
an option, or a file
name, use tab
completion to help.
man man anycommand Loads manual
page for the
anycommand
command
The traditional
documentation
system
help help anycommand Shows help on the
bash built-in
commands
info info anycommand Another
documentation
system, behaving
more like a digital
book
apropos apropos keyword searches for man
pages containing
the keyword
whatis whatis anycommand a one-line
summary of a
command, taken
from its man page.
type type anycommand It shows how the
command would be
interpreted when
entered on the
command line.

8 | GETTING HELP
4 Working with files and directories

4.1 The file system

Common Linux directories

Source: http://linuxsuperuser07.blogspot.be/2011/09/rhel-6-file-system.html

directory
/ The root directory contains all subdirectories.
/boot When the system boots, the boot program will
examine the /boot. Among the objects it looks
for is the map file, by which the Linux boot
manager will determine the location of the
kernel on the hard disk.
/bin The binaries directory contains the most
important commands.
/dev The device directory contains device files
through which you communicate with the
devices connected to the computer.
/etc Only the configuration files should be there:
passwd, group, hosts, etc.
/home The users home directory will often be under
the /home/yourname directory.The advantage
of this is that the user will have their own file
system.
/lib Directory for shared libraries.

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 /opt Directory for additional programs that are not
part of Linux.
/root The administrator's directory. Not to be
confused with the root /.
/sbin This is the directory for administrative
commands.
/tmp The temporary files directory. It is accessible
for read and write.
/var This is the directory for variable data in which
Linux stores variable, rapidly or frequently
changing data.
/usr The sensitive data directory is a directory that
contains a series of directories in which where
Linux keeps very important data. Note the
presence of: /usr/doc which contains the Linux
documentation

4.2 ls command

Source: https://cheatography.com/davechild/cheat-sheets/linux-command-line/

Command Options Common usage What does it?

ls -a Show all (including
hidden)
ls -R Recursive list
ls -r Reverse order
ls -t Sort by last
modified
ls -S Sort by file size
ls -l Long listing
format
ls -1 One file per line
ls -m Comma-separated
output
ls -Q Quoted output

Tip:

• options can be combined

ls -ltr: long listing, most recent files at the end

• use wildcards

source: https://tldp.org/LDP/GNU-Linux-Tools-Summary/html/x11655.htm

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Wildcard Common usage What does it ?

? hel? any single character (a-z, 0-9).

* hel* any number of characters ( zero or

more characters).

[ ] k[a,e,x]m specifies a range. This is an OR

operation
k[f-h]m

[!] list[!9] similar to the [ ] construct, except

rather than matching any
characters inside the brackets, it'll
match any character, as long as it is
not listed between the [ and ]. This is a
logical NOT.

{ } ls {*.doc,*.pdf} terms are separated by commas and

each term must be the name of
list anything something or a wildcard.
ending with .doc or
.pdf. No spaces are not allowed after the
commas.

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 Column
1 File type + Permissions
File type :
(https://linuxconfig.org/identifying-file-
types-in-linux)
– : regular file
d: directory
c: character device file
b: block device file
s: local socket file
p: named pipe
l: symbolic link
Permissions:
User Group Other
w: read
w: write
x: execute
2 #of links
3 Owner
4 Group
5 Size
6 Modification date and time
7 Name

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4.3 Navigating the file system

4.3.1 Working with directories

A directory: a directory is just a file containing names of other files.

A path is a sequence of nested directories with a file or directory at the end, separated by
the / character

Relative path: documents/fun/file1

Relative to the current directory

Absolute path: /home/user/leuven/file2

/ : root directory.
Start of absolute paths for all files on the system

Symbol What does it mean?

. Current directory

.. Parent directory

~ Home directory

/ Root directory

Command Options Common usage What does it?

pwd pwd Print working

(current) directory

cd cd dir Change directory

Changes the
current position to
the specified
directory

cd .. Go up one level
(parent)

cd dir1/dir2 Relative pathname,

relative to the
current directory

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 cd /dir1/dir2 Absolute path,
starting from the
root

cd - Switch between
current dir and
previous dir

mkdir mkdir dir Make a directory

dir. Relative and
absolute path
specification
possible.

rmdir rmdir dir Remove a directory

dir, this directory
must be empty.

4.4 Viewing file content

4.4.1 Viewing commands

Command Options Common usage What does it?

cat cat anyfile Concatenate files

anotherfile and output

less less anyfile View and paginate

anyfile

head head anyfile Show first 10 lines

of anyfile

tail tail anyfile Show last 10 lines

of anyfile

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4.4.2 Less command

Source: https://linuxize.com/post/less-command-in-linux/

Action What does it?

Down arrow, enter, e, j Move forward one line.

Up arrow, y, k Move backward one line.

Space bar, f Move Forward one page.

b Move Backward one page.

/pattern Search forward for matching patterns.

?pattern Search backward for matching patterns.

n Repeat previous search.

N Repeat previous search in reverse direction.

g Go to the first line in the file.

G Go to the last line in the file.

q Exit less

4.5 File manipulation

Command Options Common usage What does it?

touch touch anyfile Create anyfile

cp cp anyfile Copy anyfile to

anotherfile anotherfile,
overwriting if the
file already exists

or multiple sources
to directory

-i cp -i anyfile Interactive option,

anotherfile prompts the user
before overwriting
the destination file

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 -v Verbose, displays
what is being
copied

-r

mv mv old new Move or rename

files and directories

rm rm anyfile Delete anyfile

4.6 Search files

Command Options Common usage What does it?

grep grep pattern files Search

for pattern in files

grep -i Case insensitive

search

grep -r Recursive search

grep -v Inverted search

grep -o Show matched part

of file only

find find /dir/ - Find files starting

name name* with name in dir

find /dir/ - Find files owned

user name by name in dir

find /dir/ - Find files modifed

mmin num less
than num minutes
ago in dir

whereis whereis command Find binary /

source / manual
for command

locate locate file Find file (quick

search of system
index)

file file anyfile Get type of anyfile

stat stat anyfile

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4.7 Archiving and compressing files

Tar stands for tape archive, the archive itself is a single file that can represent many files.
tar files do not have to be compressed but they often are, even a not zipped tar file will
often use less disk space than the files stored individually.

Command Options Common usage What does it?

tar -c create a new

archive.

-x extract an archive.
The files will
expand within the
current directory.

-t verify or test; list

the contents of the
archive.

-f specifies the file

name and must be
followed by this
name. Use the
extension .tar to
clearly indicate the
file type.

-k prevents existing
files being
overwritten.

-z use gzip for

compression and
gunzip for
decompressing the
file.

-j uses bzip2 for

compression and
bunzip2 for
decompressing.

-r tar rf Files or directories

my_archive.tar can be
example.txt added/updated to
the existing
archives

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 --delete tar –delete To remove
my_archive.tar files/directories
workshop/file1 from an existing tar
file.Make sure the
path of the
file/directory to
delete is the same
as the pathname
displayed by tar -
tvf

Recipes:

Explicitly archive and compress afterwards

1. Put all the files to archive in the same folder.

2. Create the tar file:
a. tar -cvf my_archive.tar workshop/ (archive the workshop
directory within the current directory)
i. -c : creates a .tar archive
ii. -v : tells what is happening (verbose)
iii. -f : assembles the archive into my_archive.tar
3. Once the tar file created, verify the file contents with the -t option
a. tar -tf my_archive.tar
4. Compress the tar, create gzip file (most current)
a. gzip my_archive.tar
b. to decompress:
gunzip my_archive.tar.gz

Archive and compress data the fast way

1. Compress with gzip:

a. tar -zcvf my_archive.tar.gz workshop/
b. decompress:
i. tar -zcvf my_archive.tar.gz destination/
2. Compress with bzip2:
a. tar -jcvf my_archive.tar.gz workshop/
b. decompress:
i. tar -jxvf archive.tar.bz2 destination/

Extract a file from a tar file

1. Check with -t option the path of the file

2. tar -xf my_archive.tar workshop/file1

tip:

the content of a tar file may be read directly with less , without extracting the file.

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4.8 Check disk space

Command Options Common usage What does it?

du Disk usage
Be careful when
running this
command on
directories with
large amounts of
data
-s Simplify the output
-h du -sh Human readable
output
du -sh Specify a directory
directory
df disk free, shows the
amount of space
taken up by different
drives.
df -h Human readable
output

4.9 Links

Source: https://ostechnix.com/explaining-soft-link-and-hard-link-in-linux-with-examples/

A symbolic or soft link is an actual link to the original file (similar to a shortcut in
Windows), whereas a hard link is a mirror copy of the original file.

If you delete the original file, the soft link will be useless since it points to a non-existent
file, the hard link will still have the data of the original file because it acts as a mirror copy
of the original file.

Command Options Common usage What does it?

ln -s ln -s Create a soft
source_file (symbolic) link
link_2_file
ln Create a hard link
source_file
link_2_file

Tip:
what is the difference between Hard link and the normal copied file?
• If you copy a file, it will just duplicate the content. So if you modify the content of
a one file (either original or hard link), it has no effect on the other one.
• However if you create a hard link to a file and change the content of either of the
files, the change will be seen on both.

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5 The shell revisited

Some useful features

5.1 Various commands

Source: https://cheatography.com/davechild/cheat-sheets/linux-command-line/

Command Options Common usage What does it?

uname -a Show system and

kernel

date Show system date

uptime Show uptime

whoami Show your

username

clear Clear terminal

history See your previously

entered commands,
the commands are
saved to a file in
your home directory
( .bash_history )

Use the up/down

arrows to scroll
through your
previous commands

history |
tail

history | Search for a

grep keyword keyword in the
commands

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5.2 Bash shortcuts

Source: https://cheatography.com/davechild/cheat-sheets/linux-command-line/

Command Options Common usage What does it?

CTRL-c Stop current

command

CTRL-r Recall the last

command
matching the
characters you
provide

!! Repeat last
command

!abc Run last command

starting with abc

!number Retrieve command

on line number in
the history

5.3 Bash variables

Source: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-read-and-set-
environmental-and-shell-variables-on-linux

Variables stores any user-defined or system-defined information that can be accessible

within the shell.

• useful for passing data to programs or being used in shell scripts.

• Defining a variable is very simple (do not put spaces around = symbol)

Command Options Common usage What does it?

env Show environment
variables
echo $NAME Output value
of $NAME variable
export NAME=value Set $NAME to value
export command
promotes a shell
variable to an
environment
variable

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 $PATH Executable search
path
$HOME Home directory
$SHELL Current shell

5.4 IO Redirection

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/435903/what-are-stdin-stdout-and-stderr-on-linux/

stdin, stdout, and stderr are three data streams.

• stdin: standard input stream. This accepts text as its input.

• stdout: text output from the command to the shell is delivered via the stdout
(standard out) stream.
• stderr: Error messages from the command are sent through the stderr (standard
error) stream.

The > redirection symbol works with stdout by default. You can use one of the numeric
file descriptors to indicate which standard output stream you wish to redirect.

Command Options Common usage What does it?

> cmd > file redirect standard
output of cmd to file
cmd > /dev/null Discard stdout
of cmd
>> cmd >> file Append stdout
to file
2> cmd 2> file Error output (stderr)
of cmd to file
1>&2 cmd 1>&2 stdout to same
place as stderr
2>&1 cmd 2>&1 stderr to same
place as stdout
&> cmd &> file Every output
of cmd to file
< cmd < file Input
of cmd from file
cmd1 <(cmd2) Output of cmd2 as
file input to cmd1

5.5 Pipes

Pipe is used to pass output to another program or utility.

Redirect is used to pass output to either a file or stream.

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 Command Options Common usage What does it?

cmd1 | cmd2 ls | grep stdout

keyword of cmd1 piped
to cmd2

Command lists

Command Options Common usage What does it?

cmd1 ; cmd2 Run cmd1 then cmd2

cmd1 && cmd2 Run cmd2 if cmd1 is

successful

cmd1 || cmd2 Run cmd2 if cmd1 is

not successful

cmd & Run cmd in a

subshell

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6 Text editing

Nano is very much like ‘Notepad’ but without mouse support. All commands are executed
through the use of the keyboard, using the Ctrl-key.

6.1 Nano Quick Reference

• Ctrl+X Exit the editor. If you’ve edited text without saving, you’ll be prompted as to
whether you really want to exit.
• Ctrl+O Write (output) the current contents of the text buffer to a file. A filename prompt
will appear; press Ctrl+T to open the file navigator shown above.
• Ctrl+R Read a text file into the current editing session. At the filename prompt, hit
Ctrl+T for the file navigator.
• Ctrl+K Cut a line into the clipboard. You can press this repeatedly to copy multiple
lines, which are then stored as one chunk.
• Ctrl+J Justify (fill out) a paragraph of text. By default, this reflows text to match the
width of the editing window.
• Ctrl+U Uncut text, or rather, paste it from the clipboard. Note that after a Justify
operation, this turns into unjustify.
• Ctrl+T Check spelling.
• Ctrl+W Find a word or phrase. At the prompt, use the cursor keys to go through
previous search terms, or hit Ctrl+R to move into replace mode. Alternatively you can
hit Ctrl+T to go to a specific line.

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• Ctrl+C Show current line number and file information.
• Ctrl+G Get help; this provides information on navigating through files and common
keyboard commands.

Manual: https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v4/nano.pdf

Cheat sheet: https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/latest/cheatsheet.html

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7 File security

Linux File Access permissions:

• Linux is a multiuser system, the files of all users are stored in a single file
structure
• Mechanism is required to restrict one user to access the files of another user.
User can impose access permission to each file to restrict its access

3 types of access rights

• Read access (r)

o reading, opening, viewing, and copying the file is allowed
• Write access (w)
o writing, changing, deleting, and saving the file is allowed
• Execute rights (x)
o executing and invoking the file is allowed. This is required for directories
to allow searching and access.

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7.1 File Permissions

Command Options Common usage What does it?

chmod chmod 775 file Change mode

of file to 775

-R chmod -R 600 Recursively chmod

folder folder to 600

chmod go+r add read

permissions to
group and others.

chmod u-w remove write

permissions from
user.

chmod a-x remove execute

permission from all
(a: all).

chown chown Change file owner

user:group file to user and group
to group

2 formats for permissions:

• octal format (3 digit octal form)

Calculate permission digits by adding numbers below.

4 read (r)

2 write (w)

1 execute (x)

• symbolic format
o action: r (read), w (write), x (execute
o u (user), g (group), o (other), a (all)

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8 Process Management

Processes

Source: https://linuxjourney.com/lesson/process-states

in the STAT column, you'll see lots of values. A linux process can be in a number of
different states. The most common state codes you'll see are described below:

• R: running or runnable, it is just waiting for the CPU to process it

• S: Interruptible sleep, waiting for an event to complete, such as input from the
terminal

• D: Uninterruptible sleep, processes that cannot be killed or interrupted with a

signal, usually to make them go away you have to reboot or fix the issue

• Z: Zombie, we discussed in a previous lesson that zombies are terminated

processes that are waiting to have their statuses collected

• T: Stopped, a process that has been suspended/stopped

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Command Options Common usage What does it?

ps Process status, showing a

snapshot of processes, By
default, it will only show you
the processes running in the
local shell

ps -elf Display detailed information

about running processes

ps -auxf a = show processes for all

users

u = display the process's

user/owner

x = also show processes not

attached to a terminal

f = forest view

pstree Information presented in a

forest view, less informative
than ps -auxf

pstree -pn Show extra informatio

top Show real time processes

kill kill pid Kill process with id pid

pkill pkill name Kill process with name name

killall killall name Kill all processes with names

beginning name

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9 Useful links

• William Shotts: The Linux Command Line - https://linuxcommand.org/tlcl.php

• The Linux Documentation Project - https://tldp.org/

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 UNIT
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3000 LEUVEN, België
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fax + 32 16 00 00 00
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