Learning to use the bash command line

Vince53 · Jul 17, 2016

Folks, "bash" is a command-line program in Linux. In early August, it will be introduced to Windows 10. I am struggling to learn how to use it, although (being a geek) it is interesting.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, in your Linux program, find "Terminal." That will get you to the bash command line.

Since no one has written "Bash for Dummies," elementary suggestions are appreciated.

elytron · Jul 17, 2016

Vince53 said:
Folks, "bash" is a command-line program in Linux. In early August, it will be introduced to Windows 10. I am struggling to learn how to use it, although (being a geek) it is interesting.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, in your Linux program, find "Terminal." That will get you to the bash command line.

Since no one has written "Bash for Dummies," elementary suggestions are appreciated.

Some times I use the Terminal on Linux. The Command Line is a power full tool.

One basic example that I will share, to quickly install software on Ubuntu. Is the "sudo apt-get install" command. I find it faster than the graphical software centers. Just open a Terminal and type "sudo apt-get install packagename" replace "packagename" with the name of the package you wish to install.

It will prompt you for your password, then apt will download the packages from the Ubuntu software repository, and install them.

If you wish to remove the same package then "sudo apt-get remove packagename" should work.

Use some caution though, with some command examples posted on the Internet by malicious persons. Some malicious commands can delete your entire home folder and hard drive.

Vince53 · Jul 18, 2016

elytron said:
Use some caution though, with some command examples posted on the Internet by malicious persons. Some malicious commands can delete your entire home folder and hard drive.

Wow! Thanks for the warning.

Vince53 · Jul 19, 2016

I feel ridiculous, teaching readers how to use Bash when I don't understand it myself (yet). But let's give it a go.

Find "Terminal" in your Linux system and open it. It will give you the bash command line. Make sure that the line ends in a $. That means that none of your commands can change your system. If your command line ends in #, you need to get out. Something is wrong, and you have the ability to really foul yourself up.

Here are some harmless commands for getting information. Remember that these commands are case-sensitive:

pwd Print working directory

ls List files and directories

cd Change directory

ls -l List the files in the working directory in long format

ls /bin List the files in the bin directory, or in any other directory specified

less --help opens a list of possible less commands

cd /home takes you to the home file. The user is allowed to use this file.

cat /etc/shells opens a list of shells available on your system..Huh? Bash is a "shell." If you have bash, then you also have a simpler shell called "sh." You probably have other shells as well.

Vince53 · Jul 21, 2016

What, you haven't been able to find the terminal? Right-click any empty spot on your desktop and select "Open Terminal."

Vince53 · Jul 21, 2016

Okay, I need some help.

Typing vim :syntax enable onto the bash command line opens a word processor. It gives me a list of options:

The program 'vim' can be found in the following packages:
* vim
* vim-gnome
* vim-tiny
* vim-athena
* vim-athena-py2
* vim-gnome-py2
* vim-gtk
* vim-gtk-py2
* vim-gtk3
* vim-gtk3-py2
* vim-nox
* vim-nox-py2
Try: sudo apt install <selected package>

If I understand correctly, I only want one of these packages. If so, which one?

Vince53 · Jul 24, 2016

"Bash on Fire" is one of several harmless Bash programs that don't accomplish anything useful. They don't work on every computer. But this harmless program makes multi-colored symbols scroll across your terminal.

Open a terminal and cut and paste this into it, then press Enter. Let me know if it works on your rig. I've tried three others that don't work on mine.

#!/bin/bash
X=`tput cols` Y=`tput lines` e=echo M=`eval $e {1..$[X*Y]}` P=`eval $e {1..$X}`;
B=(' ' '\E[0;31m.' '\E[0;31m:' '\E[1;31m+' '\E[0;33m+' '\E[1;33mU' '\E[1;33mW');
$e -e "\E[2J\E[?25l" ; while true; do p=''; for j in $P; do p=$p$[$RANDOM%2*9];
done;O=${C:0:$[X*(Y-1)]}$p;C='' S='';for p in $M;do # _-=[ BruXy.RegNet.CZ ]=-_
read a b c d <<< "${O:$[p+X-1]:1} ${O:$[p+X]:1} ${O:$[p+X+1]:1} ${O:$[p+X+X]:1}"
v=$[(a+b+c+d)/4] C=$C$v S=$S${B[$v]}; done; printf "\E[1;1f$S"; done # (c) 2012

Vince53 · Jul 24, 2016

Go to http://www.techdrivein.com/2011/12/2-informative-linux-wallpapers-you.html

It gives you a wallpaper with a good list of Bash commands.

Vince53 · Jul 25, 2016

Okay, I didn't set a password when I set up Linux, but now I need one. Open the terminal and type this into the command line:

The traditional method to set a password is this command:
sudo passwd [user]
Where [user] is replaced with your username.
It should let you set a password without prompting for one since none currently exists.

My first successful Linux improvement with Bash!

Vince53 · Jul 27, 2016

Here are some more harmless Bash commands.:

top List all running processes

w Display who is online

info 7 gives you the main information menu

help gives you an online list of commands

skalle · Jul 28, 2016

Vince53 said:
top List all running processes

Get htop. You'll thank me later.

skalle · Jul 28, 2016

Vince53 said:
Okay, I need some help.

Typing vim :syntax enable onto the bash command line opens a word processor. It gives me a list of options:

The program 'vim' can be found in the following packages:
* vim
* vim-gnome
* vim-tiny
* vim-athena
* vim-athena-py2
* vim-gnome-py2
* vim-gtk
* vim-gtk-py2
* vim-gtk3
* vim-gtk3-py2
* vim-nox
* vim-nox-py2
Try: sudo apt install <selected package>

If I understand correctly, I only want one of these packages. If so, which one?

Go with vim. Any necessary dependencies will be handled by apt automatically. Note: vim is not a word processor. It is a text editor usually used to edit code, and the learning curve is very steep. Also, take it from a coder: emacs is better.

Vince53 · Jul 28, 2016

Skalle, you are correct. I doubt that I'll be using Vim. But what is an "emac"?

Qyöt27 · Jul 28, 2016

nano

skalle · Jul 28, 2016

Vince53 said:
Skalle, you are correct. I doubt that I'll be using Vim. But what is an "emac"?

Emacs is a venerable text editor created by the founder of the GNU Project himself, Richard Stallman (RMS). There is a long-standing feud among Unix coders over whether one should use vi(m) or emacs. Indeed, there is a way to use vim keybindings in emacs, which is done by enabling "evil mode." The whole thing has turned into something of a big joke; there's even a Church of Emacs. I go with emacs.

Vince53 · Jul 29, 2016

Skalle, it took me a couple of tries, but sudo apt install emacs will get it for you. I am studying the program now.

skalle · Jul 29, 2016

Don't get frustrated if it doesn't make a lot of sense. You're probably better served by something like gedit if you need to edit text. Emacs is something of an acquired taste, and honestly I don't know many coders who still use it. Personally I use Atom nowadays.

TheGoodLight · Aug 1, 2016

Ah... bash. Stuff I've studied for my Linux Essentials certification, and will keep studying for future certs.

Kinda wish I had a virtual terminal set up in which I could try out various bash commands and not actually blow anything up... !

skalle · Aug 2, 2016

TheGoodLight said:
Kinda wish I had a virtual terminal set up in which I could try out various bash commands and not actually blow anything up... !

Virtual machine? You can nuke that and not harm your actual system.

Qyöt27 · Aug 2, 2016

Really, just stay away from mv and rm and most of the threat is gone (not that the GNU userland has anything to do with the scripting language in the shell, though). What remains is not to redirect to an existing file, or for those tools that support it (sed), avoiding in-place writing.

Learning to use the bash command line

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