Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line for Beginners QuickStart

November 13, 2017 | By the+gnu+linux+evangelist.

Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line for Beginners

Hi! The Tutorial Presents you a Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line for Beginners Tutorial.

And the Command Line Ubuntu 17.10 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…

Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line for Beginners Quick Start - Featured
  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

    Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line for Beginners Quick Start - Open Terminal
  2. Most noteworthy: the Main Bash Shell Commands are simple Abbreviations of the Corresponding World.



  1. 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



  1. 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! :)

  2. 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



  1. 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 ;)



  1. 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 moved 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’ :))



  1. 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! :}



  1. 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! {{{:



  1. 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
  2. How to Set Permissions on Ubuntu File System

    Ubuntu Permissions Quick Start
  3. Congratulations, you are now Initiated to the awesome Linux Ubuntu 17.10 Command Line Shell. ;)

    Ubuntu Best Software Installation Guides:
    Best Software to Install on Ubuntu.


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