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From Sfvlug

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Newbie Command line Essentials

If you don't know your commandline very well at least know the tools that you have at your disposal to find the information and operate most efficiently. This section will contain only the entries that will enable you to maximize your productivity at the command line.

Search and documentation tools are some of the most important tools you can learn on your box heres a brief list of a few of the most popular, all of which can be accessed through your terminal (xterm, rxvt, etc...) or console (<ctrl><alt>F1...F6). Note: Commands in no particular order examples not applicable in all distributions or setups.

Info

man - an interface to the on-line reference manuals (ex: man hier)
find - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex: find ~ -name '*.mp3')
locate - security Enhanced version of the GNU Locate (ex: locate hosts)
updatedb - update the slocate database (ex: updatedb&)
which - locate a command (ex: which ifconfig)
whereis - locate the binary, source, and manual page files for a command (ex. whereis ifconfig)
hier - description of the file system hierarchy (ex. man hier)
apropos - search the manual page names and descriptions (ex. apropos <keyword>)
less - page through text one screenful at a time allowing for forward and backward movement in the file (ex. less
/usr/share/doc/debian/debian-manifesto)
su - change user ID or become super-user (ex. su - <passwd>)
sudo - execute a command as another user (ex. sudo /etc/init.d/networking)
history - display the list of commands previously typed (ex. history)

Keystrokes

<ctrl>r - reverse keyword search of the command history (ex. <ctrl>r<keyword>
/ - search forward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. /<keyword>)
? - search backward for occurance of keyword in a manpage, many editors and pagers (ex. ?<keyword>)
n - continue to the next occurance of the keyword searches listed above (ex. n)

Network

ifconfig - configure a network interface (ex. ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2)
route - show / manipulate the IP routing table (ex. route add -net default gw 192.168.0.1)
iwconfig - configure a wireless network interface (ex. iwconfig eth2 essid GaylesPerk channel 11 mode auto)
iwlist - get more detailed wireless information from a wireless interface (ex. iwlist eth2 scan)
ifup - bring a network interface up (ex. ifup eth0)
ifdown - take a network interface down (ex. ifdown eth0)

Additional Useful Commands

Search, Documentation and General Information Related Tools:

alias
du
df
free
top
lsof
help  Display helpful information about the builtin commands

Networking Information and Related Tools:

hostname
ping
route
traceroute
arp
netstat

Files You Should Know Exist:

passwd
hosts
hosts.allow
hosts.deny
hostname
version
resolv.conf
groups
.bash_profile
.bashrc
.bash_aliases
fstab
modules.conf
dhclient.conf

Paths You Should Know Exist: Note: see man hier for general overview

/usr/share/doc
/usr/local/doc
/var/log
/etc
/etc/init.d
/etc/alternatives

Conveniences:

ssh-agent
keychains
screen

Basics:

cp
mv
rm
ls
cd
chmod
chown
cat

Essential Keystrokes:

?
*
~
.
./
|
n
<ctrl>r
!      Start  a  history substitution, except when followed by a blank,
!n
!-n
!!
!string
!?string/n
less v

addme

grep rgrep egrep fgrep
xargs
su 
sudo
package manager commands just names not all the options better kept in a different nonessential ref