Ubuntu 17.04 Command Line for Beginners QuickStart

Ubuntu 17.04 Command Line for Beginners

Hi! The Tutorial Presents you a Ubuntu 17.04 Command Line for Beginners Tutorial.

And the Command Line Ubuntu 17.04 Tutorial is Step-by-Step and you Can Just Getting-Started Following and Practicing each Command without any Harm for your System :)

But this is Just a “Quick & Dirty” Introduction to the Command Line by Example on the Bash Shell.

Now I strongly Recommend you to “Take it Easy” but to continue Experimenting with constancy, because as always is only the “Practice Makes the Master“! ;)

Most noteworthy: it’s fundamental you “Get your Hands Dirty” following along this guide and Execute the Commands as they are harmless for your System.

Especially Relevant: at the same Time I should like you take some FUN by my creative writing, and uncover the Magical Powers of the Shell in making the arid Silicon blossom Poetically. :))

Finally, the Commands here included are valid for the Default Linux Bash Shell and also for the Bourne, C, TC and Korn Shells…

1. Open a Command Line Terminal Shell emulator
   Ctrl+Alt+t on Desktop
   Congratulations, you Achieved the 1st Step in Learning Linux!
   Press “Enter” to Execute Commands on Console

   

   In case first see: Terminal QuickStart Guide.






Most noteworthy: the Main Bash Shell Commands are simple Abbreviations of the Corresponding Word.

2. 2. Listing

   Now try to List the Directory’s Contents
   To List the Directory you are in execute:

   ls .

   The “.” is optional and meaning the Location you are in.
   [See how the Command “ls” is just an Abbreviation for Listing!]
   The default Location each time you open a New Terminal Window is the Home Folder.
   So the Output of the Command should be very similar to this:

   Desktop/    Downloads/  Pictures/   tmp/
   Documents/  Music/      Templates/  Videos/
   

   Here the Entities with a Trailing Slash are Directories.
   Again to List the Downloads Folder inside on your Home, run:

   ls ~/Downloads

   Or also:

   ls $HOME/Downloads

   Where “$HOME” is an Environment Variable always containing your User’s Home Path.
   Next to List the Main System’s Root Directory:
   (The Root of What? Of the System’s Directory Tree. The Trunk, all the other Directories are Branches.)

   ls /

   So possibly to List the “usr” Directory:
   [Again an Abbreviation for “User System Resources“]:

   ls /usr

   Finally, to List the “bin” Branch:
   [Again an Abbreviation for “Binaries” (The Executables)]

   ls /usr/bin

3. 3. Changing Folder

   Next practice the Change Directory directive
   Change to the Root Directory:

   cd /

   [Again find out how “cd” is an Abridgement for “Changing Directory“]
   Then Go to /usr/bin:

   cd /usr/bin

   Now to Navigate Back to the Parent use the “..” option.
   So non to Return to the Root of the Directory Tree you may play:

   cd ../..

   (It’s like to say: ‘One Step Back and then One Step Back’ again)
   Finally, to Return Home is simple as:

   cd  

   Then to Verify you are in that Location Use:

   pwd

   [In this case the “pwd” Command is a Shortcut for “Print Working Directory“]
   Hey Congratulations! you achieved the First, Step-by-step Walk into the Linux Directory Tree! :)

Especially relevant, about the Shell Terminology, there are 3 different Entities named as “Root”:

• The System’s Directory Tree Root: /
• The root User’s Directory: /root
• The root User: the SuperAdmin that can Execute Any Command

4. 4. Making Folders

   Again experiment yours Creative powers
   Making a test Directory like:

   mkdir $HOME/livingroom

   [See here again how “mkdir” is an Abbreviation for “Making Directory“].

   How you should have already understood, $HOME and ‘~‘ are both synonymous of your’s Home Folder.
   And the Home Directory is where your User Contents are Stored by Default.

   Moreover, to enhance your Memorization and Fun I rightly Use some Metaphoric term. So here you can Immagine a directory like a Room into your Home :)

   Try Making Multiple Directories at once with:

   mkdir $HOME/bedroom $HOME/bathroom $HOME/garden

   Try to use the “ls” Command to Check your creative Work:)

   ls ~

   Finally, use the ‘touch‘ Command to Make a New Empty File:

   touch $HOME/livingroom/box

   And how you could already have perceived, in my creative Examples I make use of the following Mnemonic Linking:

   • Directory -> Spatial Entity

   • File -> Thing

   And so in the Previous Command to an “Empty File” corresponds a natively “Empty Thing” like a “box”, or otherwise you may take it as a simple Label/Name ;)

5. 5. Copying Stuff

   Experiment How to Copy Directories and Files.

   • To Copy a Single File:
     * As in the other cases here ‘cp‘ is the Abbreviation for ‘Copy‘ *

     cp $HOME/livingroom/box $HOME/bedroom/

     You see how in this Example we copied our ‘box’ from the ‘livingroom’ to the ‘bedroom.’ :)

     Now verify the correctness of the operation Listing your’s bedroom contents:

     ls $HOME/bedroom/

     And the Output will exactly display as:

     box

   • Now for Instance to Copy a Single Directory inside to another do:

     cp -r $HOME/livingroom $HOME/garden

     List the ‘garden’ contents:

     ls $HOME/garden

     And you’ll Find:

     livingroom

     Now you have also a ‘livingroom’ copy into your ‘garden’ O:

     Moreover, to Copy-Duplicate-Rename a Directory:

     First, to be sure you are again into the $HOME area:

     cd 

     And then Make a newly duplicated room do:

     cp -r ./livingroom ./room

     Finally, to Copy-Displace-Rename at the same time:

     cp -r $HOME/livingroom $HOME/bedroom/wardrobe

     By the way with this “magically crazy” Command we have trasformed our ‘livingroom’ into a ‘wardrobe’ inside to the ‘bedroom’ :))

6. 6. Moving Stuff

   Next Experiments the Dynamics of Files and Directories
   And in this Moving dimension Files or Directories are taken as the Same.
   [Again find out here how the “mv” Command is a Contraction of “Moving“]
   So now for instance Make and Empty ‘bottle’:

   touch ~/livingroom/bottle

   And then we Displace it in another Room:

   mv ~/livingroom/bottle ~/bedroom/

   Then verify Listing the ‘bedroom’ contents:

   ls ~/bedroom/

   And what you Find? The:

   bottle

   Also if only an empty one, sorry :))

   Again you can Move & Rename at the same time like:

   mv ~/bedroom/bottle ~/bathroom/can

   Again we have “magically changed” an empty “bottle” inside the “bedroom” in an empty “can” inside to the “bathroom”. :))
   And as I said in the introduction the Command for Directories works the Same!
   So now again like “Alice in the Wonderland” we Reshape the Folder “livingroom” in the “garden” into a “teapot” in the bedroom! :}}

   mv ~/garden/livingroom ~/bedroom/teapot

   Patiently Verify it with:

   ls ~/bedroom/teapot

   Finding What?

   Simple :) Emptiness! :}

7. 7. Annihilating

   Finally, we try investigating our Magical Destroying Powers
   Deleting Directories and Files!

   Especially Releant: in a Working Environment you should Triple Check the Commands Before Execution…
   Because in the Shell Environment there’s No Trash Bin and so the stuff is directly Annihilated!!!

   [And as you may have already wittily perceived, here “Removing” is just Resumed in “rm“]

   • How Removing Files.

     First, we Wipe Out the ‘box’ in the ‘livingroom’ with:

     rm $HOME/livingroom/box

     Check it with:

     ls $HOME/livingroom/

     Now we try the same for Multiple Entities…
     First, we Make a Copy of the ‘can’ into then ‘bathroom’ in a ‘jar’ into the ‘bedroom’, Magically as before… :)) with:

     cp $HOME/bathroom/can $HOME/bedroom/jar

     And now how to brutally Get Rid of Both? Simply like that:

     rm $HOME/bathroom/can $HOME/bedroom/jar

   • How Removing Directories.

     Now we Start to furiously Destroying our nice Home… [[[:
     First, we Raze the ‘livingroom’:

     rm -rf $HOME/livingroom

     “-rf” is a combination of Flags. “r” for Recursively and “f” for Forced
     And finally, finally, we simply Desert All-in-one the Remaining Habitats:

     rm -rf ~/bathroom ~/bedroom ~/garden

   Sorry, we have Turned our Home into Empty Space, but What a JOKE! {{{:

8. 8. Getting Admin Power

   Last How to Get the Admin Super-Powers.

   To Login as SuperUser:

   sudo su

   If Got “User is Not in Sudoers file” then see: How to Enable sudo
   Then to Logout:

   exit

   To Protect your System from the potential Damage of an Hazardous Crazy Command Execution the Logout should be executed every Time your Setup is Achieved!
   Finally, to Execute a Single Command as SuperUser:

   sudo su -c 'myCommand'

   Or:

   sudo myCommand

   So for instance to List the Protected root Directory try to run:

   sudo ls /root

9. How to Set Permissions on Ubuntu File System

   Ubuntu Permissions Quick Start

   Setting Up Permissions on Ubuntu

Congratulations, you are now Initiated to the awesome Linux Ubuntu 17.04 Command Line Shell. ;)

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