The Unix Shell: Pawsey Edition: Glossary

Key Points

Introducing the Shell
  • A shell is a program whose primary purpose is to read commands and run other programs.

  • The shell’s main advantages are its high action-to-keystroke ratio, its support for automating repetitive tasks, and its capacity to access networked machines.

  • The shell’s main disadvantages are its primarily textual nature and how cryptic its commands and operation can be.

  • Shell tips a) CTRL+C: to kill / exit current process b) Tab autocomplete: esp. useful to enter long complex filenames c) UP arrow: gives you previous commands entered

Navigating Files and Directories
  • The file system is responsible for managing information on the disk.

  • Information is stored in files, which are stored in directories (folders).

  • Directories can also store other directories, which forms a directory tree.

  • cd path changes the current working directory.

  • ls path prints a listing of a specific file or directory; ls on its own lists the current working directory.

  • pwd prints the user’s current working directory.

  • / on its own is the root directory of the whole file system.

  • A relative path specifies a location starting from the current location.

  • An absolute path specifies a location from the root of the file system.

  • Directory names in a path are separated with / on Unix, but \ on Windows.

  • .. means ‘the directory above the current one’; . on its own means ‘the current directory’.

Working With Files and Directories
  • cp old new copies a file.

  • mkdir path creates a new directory.

  • mv old new moves (renames) a file or directory.

  • rm path removes (deletes) a file.

  • Use of the Control key may be described in many ways, including Ctrl-X, Control-X, and ^X.

  • The shell does not have a trash bin: once something is deleted, it’s really gone.

  • Depending on the type of work you do, you may need a more powerful text editor than Nano.

  • Most files’ names are something.extension. The extension isn’t required, and doesn’t guarantee anything, but is normally used to indicate the type of data in the file.

Pipes and Filters
  • cat displays the contents of its inputs.

  • head displays the first few lines of its input.

  • tail displays the last few lines of its input.

  • sort sorts its inputs.

  • wc counts lines, words, and characters in its inputs.

  • * matches zero or more characters in a filename, so *.txt matches all files ending in .txt.

  • ? matches any single character in a filename, so ?.txt matches a.txt but not any.txt.

  • command > file redirects a command’s output to a file.

  • first | second is a pipeline: the output of the first command is used as the input to the second.

  • The best way to use the shell is to use pipes to combine simple single-purpose programs (filters).

Shell Scripts
  • Save commands in files (usually called shell scripts) for re-use.

  • bash filename runs the commands saved in a file.

  • $@ refers to all of a shell script’s command-line arguments.

  • $1, $2, etc., refer to the first command-line argument, the second command-line argument, etc.

  • Place variables in quotes if the values might have spaces in them.

  • Letting users decide what files to process is more flexible and more consistent with built-in Unix commands.

Finding Things
  • find finds files with specific properties that match patterns.

  • grep selects lines in files that match patterns.

  • --help is a flag supported by many bash commands, and programs that can be run from within Bash, to display more information on how to use these commands or programs.

  • man command displays the manual page for a given command.

  • $(command) inserts a command’s output in place.

Extra - Useful things to know
  • Use ls -l to view the permissions for a specific file.

  • Use chmod to change permissions on a file or directory.

  • SSH is a secure way to login to a remote computer, such as a Pawsey supercomputer

Glossary

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