Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Exercises on basic Unix (Linux) commands

1.1 Introduction

Hints:

  • green texts are comments/explanations,
  • gray text is what cames on the screen,
  • red text are the commands you have to type in (and [xyz] means to type the "xyz" key)

System configuration

shell bash;
different accounts ;
User needs to have personal groups (user radio belongs to group students, ..);
su;
virtual console


1.2 Access to the system and logout

Let's start with something wrong.

login: redio[Enter]

Even if the account doesn't exist you'll be asked for a password

Password: radio2001[Enter]

Login incorrect


Let's start again

login: radio[Enter]

Password: 2001[Enter]

Last login: Sun Nov 11 10:45:11 on tty1

You get information about your last access

The prompt shell means the system is ready to receive your commands.

$


1.2.1 Switching account

logging out and then logging in with a different account
using su.

$ su root[Enter]

Password: smr1301[Enter]

If it is the right password you get identity and the rights of the typed user.


1.2.2 Virtual Consoles

[Alt+Fn] (where n is in the range 1..6).

You can start another login session on a different console

1.2.3 Who am I?

When you have more then one account may be necessary to check which account you are using.

$ whoami[Enter]

root

whoami let you know under which identity you are working on.

$ logname[Enter]

radio

logname allows you to know what account you used when you first entered in the system (login).

1.2.4 Ending a session

Just need to end the shell, that is the program that shows the prompt.

$ whoami[Enter]

root

$ exit[Enter]

In case we had used su

$ whoami[Enter]

radio

This exit closes last shell, and logs the user out of the system.

$ exit[Enter]

login:



1.2.5 Shutting down

login: root[Enter]

Password: smr1301[Enter]

# shutdown -h now[Enter]

System is going down NOW!!

...

System halted

When this happens it is possible to reboot the system.

---------

You can use su to become root and shutdown the system.

$ su[Enter]

Password: smr1301[Enter]

# shutdown -h now[Enter]


1.3 Password management

1.3.1 User root changes password to regular user

# passwd radio[Enter]

New UNIX password: 123[Enter]

The password is too short, the system advises you but it doesn't stop you from using it.

BAD PASSWORD: it's a WAY too short

Retype new UNIX password: 123[Enter]

passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully


1.3.2 Regular user changes its password

$ passwd[Enter]

You'll be asked for the old password.

Changing password for radio

(current) UNIX password: 123[Enter]

New UNIX password: elpoep[Enter]

BAD PASSWORD: it is based on a (reversed) dictionary word

passwd: Authentication token manipulation error

$ passwd[Enter]

Changing password for radio

(current) UNIX password: 123[Enter]

New UNIX password: I cannot understand PCs[Enter]

Retype new UNIX password: I cannot understand PCs[Enter]

passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully


1.4 Moving around directories

The filesystem is organizated in directory and subdirectory.

1.4.1 Current Directory

$ cd /usr/bin[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/bin


1.4.2 Absolute and relative path

The absolute path starts from the root directory while the relative one starts from the current directory.

$ cd /usr/local[Enter]

This is an absolute path since it starts with /.

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/local

$ cd bin[Enter]

This is a relative one: it starts from the local directory moving downward to bin.

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/local/bin


1.4.3 Moving backward

Every directory holds two references to special subdirectory:

single (.) that is a reference to the current directory.

double (..) that is a reference to the previous directory.

These symbols are effective directory names.

$ cd ..[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/local

$ cd ../bin[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/bin


You may go backward for more then one level.

$ cd ../../var/tmp[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]


/var/tmp

$ cd /usr/bin/../local/bin/..[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/local

1.4.4 The precise reference to the current directory

The current directory can be seen as a single dot. In practice all relative paths can start with the prefix ./.

$ cd ./bin[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/usr/local/bin


1.4.5 Home Directory

Every user has his own personal directory, known as home, it keeps all the data owned by the user. Typing just cd the user can reach his home directory.

$ cd[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/home/radio

Some shells replace tilde (~) at the begging of a path with the path of the home directory of the working user.

$ cd ~[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/home/radio

In the same way if tilde is set before a user account it will be replaced with the path of user's home directory.

$ cd ~ftp[Enter]

$ pwd[Enter]

/home/ftp

Going back to home directory.

$ cd[Enter]

1.5 File content

1.5.1 Directory content

To list the directory content command ls is used

$ ls /bin[Enter]



arch dd gzip netconf sleep
ash df hostname netstat sort
ash.static dmesg igawk nice stty
aumix-minimal dnsdomainname ipcalc nisdomainname su
awk doexec kill ping sync
basename domainname linuxconf ps tar
bash echo ln pwd tcsh
bash2 ed loadkeys red touch
bsh egrep login remadmin true
cat ex ls rm umount
chgrp false mail rmdir uname
chmod fgrep mkdir rpm userconf
chown fsconf mknod rvi usleep
consolechars gawk mktemp rview vi
cp gawk-3.0.4 more sed view
cpio grep mount setserial vimtutor
csh gtar mt sfxload ypdomainname
date gunzip mv sh zcat

The command ls /bin lists the content of /bin/.

A more expressive listing can be obtened using option -l.

$ ls -l /bin[Enter]

-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         2612 Mar  7 11:29 arch
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 60592 Feb 3 20:12 ash
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 263064 Feb 3 20:12 ash.static
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9968 Feb 3 19:04 aumix-minimal
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Apr 13 23:28 awk -> gawk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5756 Mar 7 12:15 basename
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 316848 Feb 27 18:44 bash

... many lines ...

-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         4320 Mar  7 12:15 true
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 26608 Feb 3 15:14 umount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6196 Mar 7 12:15 uname
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 13 23:49 userconf -> /bin/linuxco
nf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16252 Mar 8 17:26 usleep
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 346352 Mar 7 18:18 vi
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 2 Apr 14 00:00 view -> vi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 362 Mar 7 18:18 vimtutor
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 13 23:51 ypdomainname -> hostname
-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 46384 Feb 15 17:04 zcat

$ cd[Enter]

$ ls[Enter]

To list hidden files

$ ls -a[Enter]

.              .bash_history  .enlightenment       .mc
.. .bash_logout .gnome .tcshrc
.ICEauthority .bash_profile .gnome-desktop .xsession-errors
.Xauthority .bashrc .gnome-help-browser
.Xdefaults .cshrc .gnome_private


1.5.2 File Content

In order to analyse the file content cat,less and more ca be used (it doesn't make sense if it is a binary file).

$ cat /etc/issue[Enter]

Red Hat Linux release 6.2 (Zoot)
Kernel 2.2.14-5.0 on an i586


1.5.3 Find out the file type

file is command the uses the so called magic number (Unix tradition) to figure out the file type..

$ file /etc/*[Enter]

/etc/CORBA: directory

/etc/DIR_COLORS:           English text
/etc/HOSTNAME: ASCII text
/etc/X11: directory
/etc/adjtime: ASCII text
/etc/aliases: English text

...many lines...

/etc/shells:               ASCII text
/etc/skel: directory
/etc/smb.conf: English text
/etc/smrsh: directory
/etc/snmp: directory
/etc/sound: directory
/etc/sysconfig: directory
/etc/sysctl.conf: English text
/etc/syslog.conf: English text
/etc/termcap: English text
/etc/up2date.conf: can't read `/etc/up2date.conf' (Permission denied).
/etc/vga: directory
/etc/yp.conf: English text
/etc/ypserv.conf: English text

This method is not realible but can be useful.

1.5.4 Used and free space

In order to check the free space on disk you can use df.

$ df[Enter]

The result maybe something similar to this one.

Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda5 1511968 805300 629860 56% /
/dev/hda1 99521 2482 91900 3% /boot

To check the directory used space: du.

$ du /bin[Enter]

5240 /bin

In this case the /bin/ directory holds files for a total amount of 5240KB.

1.6 File creation, copy and deletion

1.6.1 File creation

There are different ways to create a file. The easiest way to create an empty file si to use touch. First move to the home directory, the best place where to play.

$ cd[Enter]

$ touch myfile[Enter]

$ ls -l myfile[Enter]

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 23 10:49 myfile

The file was created..

You can use cat too:

$ cat > myfile2[Enter]

there are better ways to write[Enter]

text.[Enter]

This is a oneway writing.[Enter]

[Ctrl+d]

$ cat myfile2[Enter]

1.6.2 File copy

$ cp myfile2 myfile3[Enter]

Group copy is possible only if the last file is an existing directory.

$ cp myfile myfile2 myfile3 /tmp[Enter]

$ cp myfile* /tmp[Enter]

1.6.3 File deletion

Becareful when you delete something as root!!

$ rm myfile myfile2[Enter]

There is noway to recover deleted files.

You can use the wild chars:* and ?.

$ ls myfile*[Enter]

myfile3

$ rm myfile*[Enter]

1.7 Working with directory

1.7.1 Directory creation

$ cd[Enter]

$ mkdir mydir[Enter]

Let's check with ls.

$ ls -l[Enter]

...

drwxr-xr-x 8 radio radio 1024 Dec 23 12:11 mydir

...

The d character at the beginning of the string tells has that the file is a directory.


1.7.2 Directory copy

cp with option -r or-R.

$ cp -r mydir mydir2[Enter]


1.7.3 Directory deletion

You may delete an empty directory using rmdir.

$ rmdir mydir2[Enter]

Let's try with something more complex.

$ mkdir carbon[Enter]

$ mkdir carbon/hydrogen[Enter]

$ mkdir carbon/oxygen[Enter]

$ mkdir carbon/hydrogen/helium[Enter]

$ rmdir carbon[Enter]

rmdir: carbon: Directory not empty

$ rm -r carbon[Enter]

1.8 Moving around directories and linking files

In Unix environment rename and moving a file are the same thing.


1.8.1 Moving and renaming

The command used is mv.

$ touch white[Enter]

$ touch green[Enter]

$ mkdir purple[Enter]

Let's check.

$ ls -l[Enter]

...

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 white

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 green

drwxrwxr-x 2 radio radio 1024 Dec 25 12:46 purple

...


Let's rename white file to make it brown.

$ mv white brown[Enter]

$ ls -l[Enter]

...

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 brown

...




To move more file all in once the destination must be a directory.

$ mv brown green purple[Enter]

$ ls -l purple[Enter]

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 green

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 brown

$ mv purple /tmp[Enter]

1.8.2 Linking

Instead of copying a file we may want to create a reference to it. There are two kind of links that can be created hard links and soft links. Let's see the soft one

The command is ln with the option -s.


Let's set the environment.

$ touch one[Enter]

$ touch two[Enter]

$ mkdir three[Enter]

Checking ..

$ ls -l[Enter]

...

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 two

drwxrwxr-x 2 radio radio 1024 Dec 25 12:46 three

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 25 12:46 one

$ ln -s one one.bis[Enter]

$ ls -l[Enter]

...

lrwxrwxrwx 1 radio radio 3 Dec 25 12:47 one.bis -> one

It's the same for directories.

$ ln -s /tmp miatemp[Enter]

$ ln -s /home/radio/one* /home/radio/two three[Enter]

$ ls -l three[Enter]

lrwxrwxrwx 1 radio radio 15 Dec 25 15:21 two -> /home/radio/two

lrwxrwxrwx 1 radio radio 15 Dec 25 15:21 one -> /home/radio/one

lrwxrwxrwx 1 radio radio 19 Dec 25 15:21 one.bis -> /home/radio/one.bis


1.9 The shell

The shell is the way to interact with the operative systme. The shell bash is the one used in our exercises.

1.9.1 Automatic fulfilling

The shell can fulfill a command using [Tab], this feature is particularly useful when you have file with long names.

$ touch microprocessor[Enter]

$ touch microscopic[Enter]

$ touch supersonic[Enter]

$ ls sup[Tab]

$ ls sup[Tab]ersonic[Enter]

$ ls mic[Tab]ro

$ ls mic[Tab]rop[Tab]rocessor[Enter]

1.9.2 Substitution: wild char

This is an alternative way to fulfill a command, it is the the shell that changes symbols with the right information.

1.9.2.1 Asterisk *

That symbol can be replaced with a sequence, from 0 to infinity, of symbols.

$ ls[Enter]

$ ls *[Enter]


This command is different, the shell changes the * with the list of files and directory held in the current directory. This means that if there is any subdirectory its content

would be displayed.

ls micro*[Enter]

microprocessor microscopic

* can be changed with null string:

$ touch millimicro[Enter]

$ ls *micro*[Enter]

microprocessor microscopic millimicro


1.9.2.2 Question mark ?

The question mark ? can be change with just one symbol

Let's create some files.

$ touch xy123j4[Enter]

$ touch xy456j5[Enter]

$ touch xy789j111[Enter]

$ touch xy78j67[Enter]

$ ls [Enter]

xy123j4
xy456j5
xy789j111
xy78j67

$ ls ?????j?[Enter]

xy123j4
xy456j5

We would have a different result using *

$ ls *j*[Enter]

xy123j4 xy456j5 xy789j111 xy78j67


1.9.2.3 Square brackets [ ]

The square brackets are used to have a range of symbols from which to choose the substitution symbols. Just one symbol from the one listed is used.

$ ls xy????[4567]*[Enter]

xy123j4 xy456j5

$ ls xy????[4-7]*[Enter]

1.9.2.4 Escape

For some special symbols you need to use escape

$ touch six\*height[Enter]

$ ls[Enter]

...

six*height


If you create a filename with a space inside

$ touch my\ letter[Enter]

$ ls[Enter]

...

my letter

six*height

1.9.3 Input/Output redirection and pipeline

The shell allows you to redirect command output from the standard output (usually the screen). The same for the input.

1.9.4 Redirection

$ ls -l > mylist[Enter]

$ cat mylist[Enter]

For the input .. instead of using the standard input (keyboard).

$ cat < mylist[Enter]

Appending to a file.

$
ls -l /tmp >> mylist[Enter]

$ cat mylist[Enter]


1.9.5 Pipeline

The pipeline is a way of redirecting input and output commands.

$ cat mylist | sort[Enter]

$ cat <>

Make it easier but without using pipeline.

$ sort <>

1.9.6 Alias

Aliases allows you to create an alternative name to an existing command.

$ alias ll='ls -l'[Enter]

$ ll[Enter]

This alias take options as an ordinary command.

$ ll micro*[Enter]

It's the same as ls -l micro*.

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 26 10:19 microprocessor

-rw-rw-r-- 1 radio radio 0 Dec 26 10:19 microscopic

This are the aliases that are usually created to avoid mistake

$ alias rm='rm -i'[Enter]

$ alias cp='cp -i'[Enter]

$ alias mv='mv -i'[Enter]

Now try to remove a file.

$ rm microprocessor[Enter]

rm: remove `microprocessor'?:

n[Enter]

In this way the file was not removed.

1.10 Searching

Searching files or directories it's an important task in a filesystem as complex as the Linux (or Unix) one.

1.10.1 Find

Searching a file or directory using its name or other external feature find command is used.

$ find / -name bash -print[Enter]

This command search for files and directory named bash inside all the directory starting from the root directory (/).

/bin/bash

...

find: /var/run/sudo: Permission denied

find: /var/spool/at: Permission denied

find: /var/spool/cron: Permission denied

...

You can use wild chars, in this case it will be the find command that will have to manage them, without using shell.

$ find / -name \*sh -print[Enter]

The escape char \ tells the shell not to translate the * as wild char.

/bin/bash

/bin/ash

/bin/sh

...

1.10.2 Grep
To search inside the content of a file grep is used.

$ grep radio /etc/*[Enter]

/etc/group:radio::500:radio

/etc/passwd:radio:Ide2ncPYY1234:500:500:radiolab:/home/radio:/bin/bash
grep: /etc/skel: Is a directory
grep: /etc/sudoers: Permission denied
...


1.16 References

Matt Chapman, Frankie Blaskovic, The Guide -- A Beginners Guide to UNIX

http://www.belgarath.demon.co.uk/guide/

Christopher C. Taylor, Unix is a Four Letter Word... and Vi is a Two Letter Abbreviation

http://www.linuxbox.com/~taylor/4ltrwrd/

No comments: