A brief introduction to the Unix command-line

• Introduction
  • What is the command-line?
  • How to access the command line
  • Basic Structure of a command
  • Dealing with spaces in arguments
  • Escaping special characters
• Specifying filenames: paths
  • Files and folders
  • Absolute paths
  • The working directory
  • Relative paths
  • Special filenames
  • Using wildcards
• Basic commands
  • pwd: print working directory
  • cd: change working directory
  • ls: list files
  • cp: copy files or folders
  • mv: move/rename files or folders
  • echo: output strings to the terminal
  • Examples of typical command use
• Useful tips
  • Previous command history - the up arrow key
  • Command completion - the tab key
• What’s going on under the hood?
  • The terminal
  • The shell
  • The command
  • Implications
• Advanced usage
  • Redirection
  • Pipes
  • Conditional execution
  • Variables
  • Iterating with for loops
  • Parameter substitution
• Customising the shell
  • Startup files
  • Useful ~/.bashrc customisations
  • Useful readline customisations