Philip Kirkbride - Basic Linux Terminal Tips and Tricks: Learn to Work Quickly on the Command Line

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the books product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484260340 . For more detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code .

Despite graphics being more advanced than ever, the Linux terminal, or command line, continues to be one of the most useful tools for software developers, system admins, and IT professionals to know. From the terminal, complex tasks can be launched in a few words, when the equivalent action would take several steps in a GUI. In other cases, things which can be done from the command line are simply not possible from the GUI of an operating system.

In a world where many devices are embracing mobile-style interfaces which limit users, the power of the Linux terminal can feel freeing. It gives you fine-grained control of your system and the tasks you run. The only requirement is that you learn the magic words that will manifest what you want to happen. This book is for those who want to learn about the Linux terminal, bash, and terminal-based utilities.

Much of what youll read here is applicable in many places due to the ubiquity of Linux. Whether it be your desktop OS, a remote server running a website, or physical hardware, if its running Linux, you can access the command line.

I'd like to thank the open source community and the developers of utilities explored in this book. Most of the ideas and techniques shared here have been learned with the help of the many developers online always willing to help with small and large problems. A number of people have contributed feedback and suggestions including Jason, Omm, and various users from the Unix SE and Telegram. Id also like to acknowledge my grandfather Douglas Kirkbride for encouraging my early interest in computers, my parents, family, friends Colin, Matt, my thesis advisor Dr. Fuhua (Oscar) Lin, and the tech community in Waterloo, Ontario (Communitech, BlackBerry, ect.) where I was able to meet many talented people like Taylor Brynes who introduced me to SSH and Qbo who increased my expectations of what a quality user experience is. As well as Jasmine Samaras whose antics kept me entertained during the process of writing this book.

I'd also like to thank the editors at Apress Louise Corrigan, Nancy Chen, and James Markham for helping to mold the idea into a book as well as the technical reviewer David Both who has provided great feedback and adjustments.

Most people growing up today are introduced to computers through a graphical interface, whether it be through a video game console, a laptop, or an iPad. For most peoples interactions with computers are done through a graphical interface of some sort. Despite the popularity of graphical interfaces , most serious programming and system administration are still done at the command-line level.

Graphics keep getting better. Innovations like voice-activated computing, wearables, and IoT are introducing even more ways to interact with computers. New versions of popular operating systems on both desktop and mobile are constantly changing. Yet it seems underneath most of these new systems from IoT to Android, there is a command-line world that exists in a stable state while everything built on top changes.