A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming
Published on 14. July 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
1008 pages
978-0-13-147823-7 (ISBN)
Description
Praise for Mark Sobell's Books
"I keep searching for books that collect everything you want to know about a subject in one place, and keep getting disappointed. Usually the books leave out some important topic, while others go too deep in some areas and must skim lightly over the others. A Practical Guide to Red Hat (R) Linux (R) is one of those rare books that actually pulls it off. Mark G. Sobell has created a single reference for Red Hat Linux that cannot be beat! This marvelous text (with a 4-CD set of Linux Fedora Core 2 included) is well worth the price. This is as close to an `everything you ever needed to know' book that I've seen. It's just that good and rates 5 out of 5."
-Ray Lodato, Slashdot contributor"Mark Sobell has written a book as approachable as it is authoritative."
-Jeffrey Bianchine, Advocate, Author, Journalist"Excellent reference book, well suited for the sysadmin of a linux cluster, or the owner of a PC contemplating installing a recent stable linux. Don't be put off by the daunting heft of the book. Sobell has striven to be as inclusive as possible, in trying to anticipate your system administration needs."
-Wes Boudville, Inventor"A Practical Guide to Red Hat (R) Linux (R) is a brilliant book. Thank you Mark Sobell."
-C. Pozrikidis, University of California at San Diego"This book presents the best overview of the Linux operating system that I have found. . . . It should be very helpful and understandable no matter what the reader's background is: traditional UNIX user, new Linux devotee, or even Windows user. Each topic is presented in a clear, complete fashion and very few assumptions are made about what the reader knows. . . . The book is extremely useful as a reference, as it contains a 70-page glossary of terms and is very well indexed. It is organized in such a way that the reader can focus on simple tasks without having to wade through more advanced topics until they are ready."
-Cam Marshall, Marshall Information Service LLC, Member of Front Range UNIX Users Group FRUUG, Boulder, Colorado"Conclusively, this is THE book to get if you are a new Linux user and you just got into RH/Fedora world. There's no other book that discusses so many different topics and in such depth."
-Eugenia Loli-Queru, Editor in Chief, OSNews.comThe Most Useful Linux Tutorial and Reference Ever, with Hundreds of High-Quality Examples Covering Every Linux Distribution!To be truly productive with Linux, you need to thoroughly master the shells and the command line. Until now, you had to buy two books to gain that mastery: a tutorial on fundamental Linux concepts and techniques, plus a separate reference. Worse, most Linux references offer little more than prettied-up man pages. Now, there's a far better solution. Renowned Linux expert Mark Sobell has brought together comprehensive, insightful guidance on the tools system administrators, developers, and power users need most, and an outstanding day-to-day reference, both in the same book.
This book is 100 percent distribution and release agnostic: You can use it on any Linux system, now and for years to come. What's more, it's packed with hundreds of high-quality examples: better examples than you'll find in any other Linux guidebook. This is Linux from the ground up: the clearest explanations and most useful knowledge about everything from filesystems to shells, editors to utilities, and programming tools to regular expressions. And when you need instant answers, you'll constantly turn to Sobell's comprehensive command reference section-organized and tabbed for easy, fast access!
Don't settle for yesterday's Linux guidebook. Get the one book that meets today's challenges-and tomorrow's!
A Practical Guide to Linux (R) Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming is the most useful, most comprehensive Linux tutorial and reference you can find. It's the only book to deliver
Better, more realistic examples covering tasks you'll actually need to perform
Deeper insight, based on Sobell's immense knowledge of every Linux nook and cranny
More practical explanations of more than eighty core utilities, from aspell to xargs
Techniques for implementing secure communications using ssh and scp-plus dozens of tips for making your system more secure
A superior introduction to the Linux programming environment, including make, gcc, gdb, CVS, and much more
Expert guidance on basic and advanced shell programming using bash and tcsh
Tips and tricks for customizing the shell and using it interactively from the command line
Thorough guides to vim and emacs, designed to help you get productive fast and maximize your editing efficiency
Dozens of exercises to help you practice and gain confidence
Instructions for using Apt, yum, and BitTorrent for keeping your system up to date automatically
And much more, including coverage of gawk, sed, find, sort, bzip2, and regular expressions
"I keep searching for books that collect everything you want to know about a subject in one place, and keep getting disappointed. Usually the books leave out some important topic, while others go too deep in some areas and must skim lightly over the others. A Practical Guide to Red Hat (R) Linux (R) is one of those rare books that actually pulls it off. Mark G. Sobell has created a single reference for Red Hat Linux that cannot be beat! This marvelous text (with a 4-CD set of Linux Fedora Core 2 included) is well worth the price. This is as close to an `everything you ever needed to know' book that I've seen. It's just that good and rates 5 out of 5."
-Ray Lodato, Slashdot contributor"Mark Sobell has written a book as approachable as it is authoritative."
-Jeffrey Bianchine, Advocate, Author, Journalist"Excellent reference book, well suited for the sysadmin of a linux cluster, or the owner of a PC contemplating installing a recent stable linux. Don't be put off by the daunting heft of the book. Sobell has striven to be as inclusive as possible, in trying to anticipate your system administration needs."
-Wes Boudville, Inventor"A Practical Guide to Red Hat (R) Linux (R) is a brilliant book. Thank you Mark Sobell."
-C. Pozrikidis, University of California at San Diego"This book presents the best overview of the Linux operating system that I have found. . . . It should be very helpful and understandable no matter what the reader's background is: traditional UNIX user, new Linux devotee, or even Windows user. Each topic is presented in a clear, complete fashion and very few assumptions are made about what the reader knows. . . . The book is extremely useful as a reference, as it contains a 70-page glossary of terms and is very well indexed. It is organized in such a way that the reader can focus on simple tasks without having to wade through more advanced topics until they are ready."
-Cam Marshall, Marshall Information Service LLC, Member of Front Range UNIX Users Group FRUUG, Boulder, Colorado"Conclusively, this is THE book to get if you are a new Linux user and you just got into RH/Fedora world. There's no other book that discusses so many different topics and in such depth."
-Eugenia Loli-Queru, Editor in Chief, OSNews.comThe Most Useful Linux Tutorial and Reference Ever, with Hundreds of High-Quality Examples Covering Every Linux Distribution!To be truly productive with Linux, you need to thoroughly master the shells and the command line. Until now, you had to buy two books to gain that mastery: a tutorial on fundamental Linux concepts and techniques, plus a separate reference. Worse, most Linux references offer little more than prettied-up man pages. Now, there's a far better solution. Renowned Linux expert Mark Sobell has brought together comprehensive, insightful guidance on the tools system administrators, developers, and power users need most, and an outstanding day-to-day reference, both in the same book.
This book is 100 percent distribution and release agnostic: You can use it on any Linux system, now and for years to come. What's more, it's packed with hundreds of high-quality examples: better examples than you'll find in any other Linux guidebook. This is Linux from the ground up: the clearest explanations and most useful knowledge about everything from filesystems to shells, editors to utilities, and programming tools to regular expressions. And when you need instant answers, you'll constantly turn to Sobell's comprehensive command reference section-organized and tabbed for easy, fast access!
Don't settle for yesterday's Linux guidebook. Get the one book that meets today's challenges-and tomorrow's!
A Practical Guide to Linux (R) Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming is the most useful, most comprehensive Linux tutorial and reference you can find. It's the only book to deliver
Better, more realistic examples covering tasks you'll actually need to perform
Deeper insight, based on Sobell's immense knowledge of every Linux nook and cranny
More practical explanations of more than eighty core utilities, from aspell to xargs
Techniques for implementing secure communications using ssh and scp-plus dozens of tips for making your system more secure
A superior introduction to the Linux programming environment, including make, gcc, gdb, CVS, and much more
Expert guidance on basic and advanced shell programming using bash and tcsh
Tips and tricks for customizing the shell and using it interactively from the command line
Thorough guides to vim and emacs, designed to help you get productive fast and maximize your editing efficiency
Dozens of exercises to help you practice and gain confidence
Instructions for using Apt, yum, and BitTorrent for keeping your system up to date automatically
And much more, including coverage of gawk, sed, find, sort, bzip2, and regular expressions
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Upper Saddle River
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 188 mm
Thickness: 47 mm
Weight
1482 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-13-147823-7 (9780131478237)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
11/2009
2nd Edition
Prentice Hall
€39.60
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Mark G. Sobell is president of Sobell Associates Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in UNIX/Linux training, support, and custom software development. He is the author of many best-selling UNIX and Linux books and has more than twenty-five years of experience working with UNIX and Linux.
Content
Preface xxviiChapter 1: Welcome to Linux 1The GNU-Linux Connection 2
The Heritage of Linux: UNIX 5
What Is So Good About Linux? 6
Overview of Linux 10
Additional Features of Linux 15
Chapter Summary 16
Exercises 17
Part I: The Linux Operating System 19Chapter 2: Getting Started 21Conventions Used in This Book 22
Logging In 24
Working with the Shell 25
Curbing Your Power: Superuser Access 28
Getting the Facts: Where to Find Documentation 29
More About Logging In 35
Chapter Summary 38
Exercises 39
Advanced Exercises 39
Chapter 3: Command Line Utilities 41Special Characters 42
Basic Utilities 43
Working with Files 45
| (Pipe): Communicates Between Processes 52
Four More Utilities 53
Compressing and Archiving Files 56
Locating Commands 61
Obtaining User and System Information 63
Communicating with Other Users 67
Email 69
Chapter Summary 69
Exercises 72
Advanced Exercises 73
Chapter 4: The Linux Filesystem 75The Hierarchical Filesystem 76
Directory and Ordinary Files 77
Working with Directories 88
Access Permissions 91
Links 96
Chapter Summary 102
Exercises 103
Advanced Exercises 105
Chapter 5: The Shell 107The Command Line 108
Standard Input and Standard Output 113
Running a Program in the Background 125
Filename Generation/Pathname Expansion 127
Builtins 132
Chapter Summary 133
Exercises 134
Advanced Exercises 136
Part II: The Editors 137Chapter 6: The vim Editor 139History 140
Tutorial: Creating and Editing a File with vim 141
The compatible Parameter 148
Introduction to vim Features 148
Command Mode: Moving the Cursor 154
Input Mode 158
Command Mode: Deleting and Changing Text 160
Searching and Substituting 164
Miscellaneous Commands 170
Yank, Put, and Delete Commands 171
Reading and Writing Files 174
Setting Parameters 175
Advanced Editing Techniques 180
Units of Measure 184
Chapter Summary 188
Exercises 193
Advanced Exercises 194
Chapter 7: The emacs Editor 195History 196
Tutorial: Getting Started with emacs 198
Basic Editing Commands 204
Online Help 209
Advanced Editing 212
Language-Sensitive Editing 225
Customizing emacs 235
More Information 240
Chapter Summary 241
Exercises 248
Advanced Exercises 250
Part III: The Shells 253Chapter 8: The Bourne Again Shell 255Background 256
Shell Basics 257
Parameters and Variables 277
Processes 292
History 295
Aliases 312
Functions 315
Controlling bash Features and Options 318
Processing the Command Line 322
Chapter Summary 332
Exercises 334
Advanced Exercises 336
Chapter 9: The TC Shell 339Shell Scripts 340
Entering and Leaving the TC Shell 341
Features Common to the Bourne Again and TC Shells 343
Redirecting Standard Error 349
Working with the Command Line 350
Variables 355
Control Structures 368
Builtins 377
Chapter Summary 381
Exercises 382
Advanced Exercises 384
Part IV: Programming Tools 385Chapter 10: Programming Tools 387Programming in C 388
Using Shared Libraries 396
make: Keeps a Set of Programs Current 399
Debugging C Programs 407
Threads 417
System Calls 417
Source Code Management 420
Chapter Summary 430
Exercises 431
Advanced Exercises 432
Chapter 11: Programming the Bourne Again Shell 435Control Structures 436
File Descriptors 470
Parameters and Variables 474
Builtin Commands 487
Expressions 501
Shell Programs 510
Chapter Summary 520
Exercises 522
Advanced Exercises 524
Chapter 12: The gawk Pattern Processing Language 527Syntax 528
Arguments 528
Options 529
Notes 529
Language Basics 530
Examples 537
Advanced gawk Programming 554
Error Messages 559
Chapter Summary 560
Exercises 561
Advanced Exercises 561
Chapter 13: The sed Editor 563Syntax 564
Arguments 564
Options 564
Editor Basics 565
Examples 568
Chapter Summary 578
Exercises 579
Part V: Command Reference 581Standard Multiplicative Suffixes 586
Common Options 587
The sample Utility 587
sample: Very brief description of what the utility does 588
aspell: Checks a file for spelling errors 589
at: Executes commands at a specified time 593
bzip2: Compresses or decompresses files 596
cal: Displays a calendar 598
cat: Joins and displays files 599
cd: Changes to another working directory 601
chgrp: Changes the group associated with a file 603
chmod: Changes the access mode (permissions) of a file 604
chown: Changes the owner of a file and/or the group the file is associated with 608
cmp: Compares two files 610
comm: Compares sorted files 612
configure: Configures source code automatically 614
cp: Copies files 616
cpio: Creates an archive or restores files from an archive 619
crontab: Maintains crontab files 624
cut: Selects characters or fields from input lines 627
date: Displays or sets the system time and date 630
dd: Converts and copies a file 633
df: Displays disk space usage 636
diff: Displays the differences between two files 638
du: Displays information on disk usage by file 644
echo: Displays a message 647
expr: Evaluates an expression 649
file: Displays the classification of a file 653
find: Finds files based on criteria 655
finger: Displays information about users 661
fmt: Formats text very simply 664
fsck: Checks and repairs a filesystem 666
ftp: Transfers files over a network 671
gcc: Compiles C and C++ programs 678
grep: Searches for a pattern in files 683
gzip: Compresses or decompresses files 688
head: Displays the beginning of a file 691
kill: Terminates a process by PID 693
killall: Terminates a process by name 695
less: Displays text files, one screen at a time 697
ln: Makes a link to a file 702
lpr: Sends files to printers 705
ls: Displays information about one or more files 708
make: Keeps a set of programs current 715
man: Displays documentation for commands 721
mkdir: Creates a directory 724
mkfs: Creates a filesystem on a device 725
Mtools: Uses DOS-style commands on files and directories 728
mv: Renames or moves a file 732
nice: Changes the priority of a command 734
nohup: Runs a command that keeps running after you log out 736
od: Dumps the contents of a file 737
paste: Joins corresponding lines from files 742
pr: Paginates files for printing 744
ps: Displays process status 746
rcp: Copies one or more files to or from a remote system 750
rlogin: Logs in on a remote system 752
rm: Removes a file (deletes a link) 753
rmdir: Removes a directory 755
rsh: Executes commands on a remote system 756
scp: Securely copies one or more files to or from a remote system 758
sleep: Creates a process that sleeps for a specified interval 760
sort: Sorts and/or merges files 762
split: Divides a file in into sections 771
ssh: Securely executes commands on a remote system 773
strings: Displays strings of printable characters 777
stty: Displays or sets terminal parameters 778
tail: Displays the last part (tail) of a file 783
tar: Stores or retrieves files to/from an archive file 786
tee: Copies standard input to standard output and one or more files 791
telnet: Connects to a remote system over a network 792
test: Evaluates an expression 794
top: Dynamically displays process status 798
touch: Changes a file's access and/or modification time 801
tr: Replaces specified characters 804
tty: Displays the terminal pathname 807
tune2fs: Changes parameters on an ext2 or ext3 filesystem 808
umask: Establishes the file-creation permissions mask 810
uniq: Displays unique lines 812
w: Displays information about system users 814
wc: Displays the number of lines, words, and bytes 816
which: Shows where in PATH a command is located 817
who: Displays information about logged-in users 819
xargs: Converts standard input into command lines 821
Part VI: Appendixes 825Appendix A: Regular Expressions 827Characters 828
Delimiters 828
Simple Strings 828
Special Characters 828
Rules 831
Bracketing Expressions 832
The Replacement String 833
Extended Regular Expressions 834
Appendix Summary 835
Appendix B: Help 837Solving a Problem 838
Finding Linux-Related Information 839
Specifying a Terminal 844
Appendix C: Keeping the System Up-to-Date 847yum: Updates and Installs Packages 848
Apt: An Alternative to yum 850
BitTorrent 855
Glossary 859Index 913
The Heritage of Linux: UNIX 5
What Is So Good About Linux? 6
Overview of Linux 10
Additional Features of Linux 15
Chapter Summary 16
Exercises 17
Part I: The Linux Operating System 19Chapter 2: Getting Started 21Conventions Used in This Book 22
Logging In 24
Working with the Shell 25
Curbing Your Power: Superuser Access 28
Getting the Facts: Where to Find Documentation 29
More About Logging In 35
Chapter Summary 38
Exercises 39
Advanced Exercises 39
Chapter 3: Command Line Utilities 41Special Characters 42
Basic Utilities 43
Working with Files 45
| (Pipe): Communicates Between Processes 52
Four More Utilities 53
Compressing and Archiving Files 56
Locating Commands 61
Obtaining User and System Information 63
Communicating with Other Users 67
Email 69
Chapter Summary 69
Exercises 72
Advanced Exercises 73
Chapter 4: The Linux Filesystem 75The Hierarchical Filesystem 76
Directory and Ordinary Files 77
Working with Directories 88
Access Permissions 91
Links 96
Chapter Summary 102
Exercises 103
Advanced Exercises 105
Chapter 5: The Shell 107The Command Line 108
Standard Input and Standard Output 113
Running a Program in the Background 125
Filename Generation/Pathname Expansion 127
Builtins 132
Chapter Summary 133
Exercises 134
Advanced Exercises 136
Part II: The Editors 137Chapter 6: The vim Editor 139History 140
Tutorial: Creating and Editing a File with vim 141
The compatible Parameter 148
Introduction to vim Features 148
Command Mode: Moving the Cursor 154
Input Mode 158
Command Mode: Deleting and Changing Text 160
Searching and Substituting 164
Miscellaneous Commands 170
Yank, Put, and Delete Commands 171
Reading and Writing Files 174
Setting Parameters 175
Advanced Editing Techniques 180
Units of Measure 184
Chapter Summary 188
Exercises 193
Advanced Exercises 194
Chapter 7: The emacs Editor 195History 196
Tutorial: Getting Started with emacs 198
Basic Editing Commands 204
Online Help 209
Advanced Editing 212
Language-Sensitive Editing 225
Customizing emacs 235
More Information 240
Chapter Summary 241
Exercises 248
Advanced Exercises 250
Part III: The Shells 253Chapter 8: The Bourne Again Shell 255Background 256
Shell Basics 257
Parameters and Variables 277
Processes 292
History 295
Aliases 312
Functions 315
Controlling bash Features and Options 318
Processing the Command Line 322
Chapter Summary 332
Exercises 334
Advanced Exercises 336
Chapter 9: The TC Shell 339Shell Scripts 340
Entering and Leaving the TC Shell 341
Features Common to the Bourne Again and TC Shells 343
Redirecting Standard Error 349
Working with the Command Line 350
Variables 355
Control Structures 368
Builtins 377
Chapter Summary 381
Exercises 382
Advanced Exercises 384
Part IV: Programming Tools 385Chapter 10: Programming Tools 387Programming in C 388
Using Shared Libraries 396
make: Keeps a Set of Programs Current 399
Debugging C Programs 407
Threads 417
System Calls 417
Source Code Management 420
Chapter Summary 430
Exercises 431
Advanced Exercises 432
Chapter 11: Programming the Bourne Again Shell 435Control Structures 436
File Descriptors 470
Parameters and Variables 474
Builtin Commands 487
Expressions 501
Shell Programs 510
Chapter Summary 520
Exercises 522
Advanced Exercises 524
Chapter 12: The gawk Pattern Processing Language 527Syntax 528
Arguments 528
Options 529
Notes 529
Language Basics 530
Examples 537
Advanced gawk Programming 554
Error Messages 559
Chapter Summary 560
Exercises 561
Advanced Exercises 561
Chapter 13: The sed Editor 563Syntax 564
Arguments 564
Options 564
Editor Basics 565
Examples 568
Chapter Summary 578
Exercises 579
Part V: Command Reference 581Standard Multiplicative Suffixes 586
Common Options 587
The sample Utility 587
sample: Very brief description of what the utility does 588
aspell: Checks a file for spelling errors 589
at: Executes commands at a specified time 593
bzip2: Compresses or decompresses files 596
cal: Displays a calendar 598
cat: Joins and displays files 599
cd: Changes to another working directory 601
chgrp: Changes the group associated with a file 603
chmod: Changes the access mode (permissions) of a file 604
chown: Changes the owner of a file and/or the group the file is associated with 608
cmp: Compares two files 610
comm: Compares sorted files 612
configure: Configures source code automatically 614
cp: Copies files 616
cpio: Creates an archive or restores files from an archive 619
crontab: Maintains crontab files 624
cut: Selects characters or fields from input lines 627
date: Displays or sets the system time and date 630
dd: Converts and copies a file 633
df: Displays disk space usage 636
diff: Displays the differences between two files 638
du: Displays information on disk usage by file 644
echo: Displays a message 647
expr: Evaluates an expression 649
file: Displays the classification of a file 653
find: Finds files based on criteria 655
finger: Displays information about users 661
fmt: Formats text very simply 664
fsck: Checks and repairs a filesystem 666
ftp: Transfers files over a network 671
gcc: Compiles C and C++ programs 678
grep: Searches for a pattern in files 683
gzip: Compresses or decompresses files 688
head: Displays the beginning of a file 691
kill: Terminates a process by PID 693
killall: Terminates a process by name 695
less: Displays text files, one screen at a time 697
ln: Makes a link to a file 702
lpr: Sends files to printers 705
ls: Displays information about one or more files 708
make: Keeps a set of programs current 715
man: Displays documentation for commands 721
mkdir: Creates a directory 724
mkfs: Creates a filesystem on a device 725
Mtools: Uses DOS-style commands on files and directories 728
mv: Renames or moves a file 732
nice: Changes the priority of a command 734
nohup: Runs a command that keeps running after you log out 736
od: Dumps the contents of a file 737
paste: Joins corresponding lines from files 742
pr: Paginates files for printing 744
ps: Displays process status 746
rcp: Copies one or more files to or from a remote system 750
rlogin: Logs in on a remote system 752
rm: Removes a file (deletes a link) 753
rmdir: Removes a directory 755
rsh: Executes commands on a remote system 756
scp: Securely copies one or more files to or from a remote system 758
sleep: Creates a process that sleeps for a specified interval 760
sort: Sorts and/or merges files 762
split: Divides a file in into sections 771
ssh: Securely executes commands on a remote system 773
strings: Displays strings of printable characters 777
stty: Displays or sets terminal parameters 778
tail: Displays the last part (tail) of a file 783
tar: Stores or retrieves files to/from an archive file 786
tee: Copies standard input to standard output and one or more files 791
telnet: Connects to a remote system over a network 792
test: Evaluates an expression 794
top: Dynamically displays process status 798
touch: Changes a file's access and/or modification time 801
tr: Replaces specified characters 804
tty: Displays the terminal pathname 807
tune2fs: Changes parameters on an ext2 or ext3 filesystem 808
umask: Establishes the file-creation permissions mask 810
uniq: Displays unique lines 812
w: Displays information about system users 814
wc: Displays the number of lines, words, and bytes 816
which: Shows where in PATH a command is located 817
who: Displays information about logged-in users 819
xargs: Converts standard input into command lines 821
Part VI: Appendixes 825Appendix A: Regular Expressions 827Characters 828
Delimiters 828
Simple Strings 828
Special Characters 828
Rules 831
Bracketing Expressions 832
The Replacement String 833
Extended Regular Expressions 834
Appendix Summary 835
Appendix B: Help 837Solving a Problem 838
Finding Linux-Related Information 839
Specifying a Terminal 844
Appendix C: Keeping the System Up-to-Date 847yum: Updates and Installs Packages 848
Apt: An Alternative to yum 850
BitTorrent 855
Glossary 859Index 913