EMT 2390L
Lecture 3
Dr. Reyes
Reference: The Linux Command Line, W.E. Shotts
Outline
• Wildcards
• Commands
• Aliases
Wildcards
• Wildcards - allows you to select filenames based on
patterns of characters.
Character Classes
Wildcards examples
mkdir Command
• mkdir – creates a directory
o mkdir dir_name
o mkdir dir1, dir2, … , dirN
cp Command
• cp – copies a file or directory
cp examples
mv Command
• mv - performs file moving or file renaming
mv Examples
rm Command
• rm - used to remove files and directories
rm Examples
ln Command
• ln - used to create either hard or symbolic links
o Hard Links - ln file link
o Symbolic Link - ln -s item link
• Hard Links - The original Unix way of creating links. It
cannot reference a file outside its own filesystem
and cannot reference a directory.
• Symbolic Links - creates a special file with a pointer
to the referenced file or directory, similar to a
shortcut in Windows.
More commands
• type – given a command name it will display the
command the shell will execute
o type cd
• which – to find the location of a particular
executable
o which cd
• help – display information about a command
o help cd
• man – displays the manual of a command
o man cd
• apropos – displays appropriate commands
o apropos cd
More Commands
• whatis - displays the name and a one-line
description of a man page matching a specified
keyword
o whatis bash
• info – an alternative to man pages
o info cd
• alias – to create your own composite commands
o Usage: alias name=‘command1; command2; … ; commandN'
o e.g. alias foo='cd /usr; ls; cd -‘
Assignments
• Check the class OpenLab site for new Labs
• Check Blackboard for new Quizzes