ops 102 reading 05 - ElodieReb/reading-notes GitHub Wiki

Reading Notes for Class 05, Self-Paced Ops 102

Title = Linux command line for beginner

Objective = The information covered in this reading is important for us to know as we start to experiment with the Unubu command line as this "shell" is the central place where all commands can be made to navigate the system. For this reason, understanding how to type commands and how the shell executes the commands is essential.

Reading Comprehension

  1. Explain the terms “shell”, “terminal”, “cli”, and “command prompt”. Why are these still used today, when we have graphical interfaces? These are all terms that refer to the Linux command line which is a text interface to your computer.
  2. What are the commands to change directories, list the file’s contents and rename/move files? To change directories (cd). To list their contents (ls). To rename or move files (mv).
  3. What are relative and absolute paths? What is special about starting with a ~ (tilde) or a / character in the path? Any path that starts with a / is an absolute path. An absolute path is one that makes sense regardless of your current working directory whereas a relative path only makes sense relative to your working directory. Using the ~ at the start of your path means "starting from my home directory".
  4. Explain what Linux is, using anything except English. Linux est un système d'exploitation "open source" qui gère le matériel et les ressources d'un système, comme le processeur, la mémoire et le stockage. (This prompt kind of confused me so I responded in French!)

Other Notes

  • The default keyboard shortcut to bring up the terminal is Ctrl-Alt-T
  • The bit of odd text that is included prior to the command you type into the terminal is there to tell you the computer is ready to accept a command — usually referred to as the prompt
  • A command line is just another way of talking about a shell running in a terminal
  • Unix systems have a single unified file system where individual drives can be attached ("mounted") to whatever location in the file system makes the most sense
  • The root directory is also referred to by using "/" and it is the base of the unified file system. From there everything else branches out to form a tree of directories and subdirectories.
  • To go up to the parent directory, use ..

Things I'd Like to Know More About

  • What is the working directory? The working directory is the default location in which the shell assumes file operations are taking place. To know what the current working directory is, use the pwd command.