Linux has a file system---meaning by that ``the structure of directories and files therein''---very similar to that of DOS. Files have filenames that obey special rules, are stored in directories, some are executable, and among these most have command switches. Moreover, you can use wildcard characters, redirection, and piping. There are only a few minor differences:
NOTENOUG.TXT
. Under Linux we can do better. If you installed Linux
using a file system like ext2 or umsdos, you can use longer filenames (up to
255 characters), and with more than one dot in them: for example,
This_is.a.VERY_long.filename
. Please note that I used both upper and
lower case characters: in fact...
FILENAME.tar.gz
and filename.tar.gz
are two
different files. ls
is a command, LS
is a mistake;
$ # the following command makes a directory called "My old files"
$ mkdir "My old files"
$ ls
My old files bin tmp
Some characters shouldn't but can be used: some are !*$&
. I
won't tell you how, though.
*
'
at the end of their name when you issue the ls -F
command. For example:
$ ls -F
I_am_a_dir/ cindy.jpg cjpg* letter_to_Joe my_1st_script* old~
The files cjpg*
and my_1st_script*
are executable---``programs''.
Under DOS, backup files end in .BAK, while under Linux they end with a tilde
'~
'. Further, a file whose name starts with a dot is considered
as hidden. Example: the file .I.am.a.hidden.file
won't show up after
the ls
command;
/switch
, Linux
switches with -switch
or --switch
. Example: dir /s
becomes ls -R
. Note that many DOS programs, like PKZIP
or
ARJ
, use UNIX-style switches.
You can now jump to Section Translating Commands from DOS to Linux, but if I were you I'd read on.
UNIX has a type of file that doesn't exist under DOS: the symbolic link.
This can be thought of as a pointer to a file or to a directory, and can be
used instead of the file or directory it points to; it's similar to Windows
95 shortcuts. Examples of symbolic links are /usr/X11
, which points
to /usr/X11R6
; /dev/modem
, which points to either
/dev/cua0
or /dev/cua1
.
To make a symbolic link:
$ ln -s <file_or_dir> <linkname>
Example:
$ ln -s /usr/doc/g77/DOC g77manual.txt
Now you can refer to g77manual.txt
instead of /usr/doc/g77/DOC
.
Links appear like this in directory listings:
$ ls -F
g77manual.txt@
$ ls -l
(various things...) g77manual.txt -> /usr/doc/g77/DOC
DOS files and directories have the following attributes: A (archive), H (hidden), R (read-only), and S (system). Only H and R make sense under Linux: hidden files start with a dot, and for the R attribute, read on.
Under UNIX a file has ``permissions'' and an owner, who in turn belongs to a ``group''. Look at this example:
$ ls -l /bin/ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root bin 27281 Aug 15 1995 /bin/ls*
The first field contains the permissions of the file /bin/ls
, which
belongs to root, group bin. Leaving the remaining information aside (Matt's
book is there for that purpose), remember that -rwxr-xr-x
means, from
left to right:
-
is the file type (- = ordinary file, d = directory, l = link, etc);
rwx
are the permissions for the file owner (read, write, execute);
r-x
are the permissions for the group of the file owner (read,
execute); (I won't cover the concept of group, you can survive without it as
long as you're a beginner ;-) r-x
are the permissions for all other
users (read, execute).
This is why you can't delete the file /bin/ls
unless you are root:
you don't have the write permission to do so. To change a file's
permissions, the command is:
$ chmod <whoXperm> <file>
where who is u
(user, that is owner), g
(group), o
(other), X
is either +
or -
, perm is r
(read), w
(write), or x
(execute). Examples:
$ chmod u+x file
this sets the execute permission for the file owner. Shortcut: chmod +x
file
.
$ chmod go-wx file
this removes write and execute permission for everyone but the owner.
$ chmod ugo+rwx file
this gives everyone read, write, and execute permission.
# chmod +s file
this makes a so-called ``setuid'' or ``suid'' file---a file that everyone can execute with its owner's privileges. Typically, you'll come across root suid files.
A shorter way to refer to permissions is with numbers: rwxr-xr-x
can be
expressed as 755 (every letter corresponds to a bit: ---
is 0, --x
is 1, -w-
is 2, -wx
is 3...). It looks difficult, but with a bit
of practice you'll understand the concept.
root, being the so-called superuser, can change everyone's file permissions. There's more to it---RMP.
On the left, the DOS commands; on the right, their Linux counterpart.
COPY: cp
DEL: rm
MOVE: mv
REN: mv
TYPE: more, less, cat
Redirection and plumbing operators: < > >> |
Wildcards: * ?
nul: /dev/null
prn, lpt1: /dev/lp0 or /dev/lp1; lpr
- EXAMPLES -
DOS Linux
---------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\GUIDO>COPY JOE.TXT JOE.DOC $ cp joe.txt joe.doc
C:\GUIDO>COPY *.* TOTAL $ cat * > total
C:\GUIDO>COPY FRACTALS.DOC PRN $ lpr fractals.doc
C:\GUIDO>DEL TEMP $ rm temp
C:\GUIDO>DEL *.BAK $ rm *~
C:\GUIDO>MOVE PAPER.TXT TMP\ $ mv paper.txt tmp/
C:\GUIDO>REN PAPER.TXT PAPER.ASC $ mv paper.txt paper.asc
C:\GUIDO>PRINT LETTER.TXT $ lpr letter.txt
C:\GUIDO>TYPE LETTER.TXT $ more letter.txt
C:\GUIDO>TYPE LETTER.TXT $ less letter.txt
C:\GUIDO>TYPE LETTER.TXT > NUL $ cat letter.txt > /dev/null
n/a $ more *.txt *.asc
n/a $ cat section*.txt | less
Notes:
more
, press SPACE to read through the file, `q' or
CTRL-C to exit. less
is more intuitive and lets you use the arrow keys;
UNDELETE
, so think twice before deleting
anything;
< > >>
, Linux has 2>
to
redirect error messages (stderr); moreover, 2>&1
redirects
stderr to stdout, while 1>&2
redirects stdout to stderr;
[]
. Use: [abc]*
matches
files starting with a, b, c; *[I-N,1,2,3]
matches files ending with I,
J, K, L, M, N, 1, 2, 3;
RENAME
; that is, mv
*.xxx *.yyy won't
work. You could try this simple script; see Section
Shell Scripts for details.
#!/bin/sh # ren: rename multiple files according to several rules if [ $# -lt 3 ] ; then echo "usage: ren \"pattern\" \"replacement\" files..." exit 1 fi OLD=$1 ; NEW=$2 ; shift ; shift for file in $* do new=`echo ${file} | sed s/${OLD}/${NEW}/g` mv ${file} $new done
REN
, as it uses ``regular
expressions'' that you still don't know. Shortly, if you simply want to
change file extensions, use it as in: ren "htm$" "html" *htm
.
Don't forget the $
sign.
cp -i
and mv -i
to be warned when a file is going to be
overwritten.
To run a program, type its name as you would do under DOS. If the directory
(Section
Directories) where the program is
stored is included in the PATH (Section
System Initialisation), the program will start. Exception: unlike
DOS, under Linux a program located in the current directory won't run unless
the directory is included in the PATH. Escamotage: being prog
your
program, type ./prog
.
This is what the typical command line looks like:
$ command -s1 -s2 ... -sn par1 par2 ... parn < input > output
where -s1
, ..., -sn
are the program switches, par1
,
..., parn
are the program parameters. You can issue several commands on
the command line:
$ command1 ; command2 ; ... ; commandn
That's all about running programs, but it's easy to go a step beyond. One of the main reasons for using Linux is that it is a multitasking os---it can run several programs (from now on, processes) at the same time. You can launch processes in background and continue working straight away. Moreover, Linux lets you have several sessions: it's like having many computers to work on at once!
$ ALT-F1 ... ALT-F6
$ su - <loginname>
Example:
$ su - root
This is useful, for one, when you need to mount a disk (Section
Floppies): normally, only root can do that.
$ exit
If there are stopped jobs (see later), you'll be warned.
$ progname [-switches] [parameters] [< input] [> output]
&
'
at the end of the command line:
$ progname [-switches] [parameters] [< input] [> output] &
[1] 123
the shell identifies the process with a job number (e.g. [1]
; see
below), and with a PID (123 in our example).
$ ps -a
This will output a list of currently running processes.
$ kill <PID>
You may need to kill a process when you don't know how to quit it the right
way... ;-). Sometimes, a process will only be killed by either of the
following:
$ kill -15 <PID>
$ kill -9 <PID>
In addition to this, the shell allows you to stop or temporarily suspend a
process, send a process to background, and bring a process from background
to foreground. In this context, processes are called ``jobs''.
$ jobs
here jobs are identified by their job number, not by their PID.
$ CTRL-C
$ CTRL-Z
$ bg <job>
$ fg <job>
$ kill <%job>
where <job> may be 1, 2, 3, ... Using these commands you can format a
disk, zip a bunch of files, compile a program, and unzip an archive all at
the same time, and still have the prompt at your disposal. Try this with
DOS! And try with Windows, just to see the difference in performance.
To run a program on a remote machine whose IP address is
remote.bigone.edu
, you do:
$ telnet remote.bigone.edu
After logging in, start your favourite program. Needless to say, you must have an account on the remote machine.
If you have X11, you can even run an X application on a remote computer,
displaying it on your X screen. Let remote.bigone.edu
be the remote X
computer and local.linux.box
be your Linux machine. To run from
local.linux.box
an X program that resides on remote.bigone.edu
, do
the following:
xterm
or equivalent terminal emulator,
then type:
$ xhost +remote.bigone.edu
$ telnet remote.bigone.edu
remote:$ DISPLAY=local.linux.box:0.0
remote:$ progname &
(instead of DISPLAY...
, you may have to write setenv DISPLAY
local.linux.box:0.0
. It depends on the remote shell.)
Et voila! Now progname
will start on remote.bigone.edu
and will be
displayed on your machine. Don't try this over a ppp line though, for it's
too slow to be usable.