Bookpool: A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming

The essential reference for core commands that Linux users need daily, along with superior tutorial on shell programming and much moreSystem administrators, software developers, quality assurance engineers and others working on a Linux system need to work from the command line in order to be effective. Linux is famous for its huge number of command line utility programs, and the programs themselves are famous for their large numbers of options, switches, and configuration files. But the truth is that users will only use a limited (but still significant) number of these utilities on a recurring basis, and then only with a subset of the most important and useful options, switches and configuration files. This book cuts through all the noise and shows them which utilities are most useful, and which options most important. And it contains examples, lot's and lot's of examples. This is not just a reprint of the man pages.

And Linux is also famous for its "programmability." Utilities are designed, by default, to work wtih other utilities within shell programs as a way of automating system tasks. This book contains a superb introduction to Linux shell programming. And since shell programmers need to write their programs in text editors, this book covers the two most popular ones: vi and emacs.

Preface

A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming explains how to work with the Linux operating system from the command line. The first few chapters quickly bring readers with little computer experience up to speed. The rest of the book is appropriate for more experienced computer users. This book does not describe a particular release or distribution of Linux but rather pertains to all recent versions of Linux.

Command line interface (CLI). In the beginning there was the command line (textual) interface (CLI), which enabled you to give Linux commands from the command line. There was no mouse or icons to drag and drop. Some programs, such as emacs , implemented rudimentary windows using the very minimal graphics available in the ASCII character set. Reverse video helped separate areas of the screen. Linux was born and raised in this environment.

Naturally all of the original Linux tools were invoked from the command line. The real power of Linux still lies in this environment, which explains why many Linux professionals work exclusively from the command line. Using clear descriptions and lots of examples, this book shows you how to get the most out of your Linux system using the command line interface.

Linux distributions. A Linux distribution comprises the Linux kernel, utilities, and application programs. Many distributions are available, including Debian, Red Hat, Fedora Core, SUSE, Mandriva (formerly Mandrake), KNOPPIX, and Slackware. Although the distributions differ from one another in various ways, all of them rely on the Linux kernel, utilities, and applications. This book is based on the code that is common to most distributions. As a consequence you can use it regardless of which distribution you are running.

Overlap. If you read A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux,Second Edition: Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or a subsequent edition, you will notice some overlap between that book and the one you are reading now. The introduction, the appendix on regular expressions, and the chapters on the utilities (Chapter 3 of this book-- not Part V), the filesystem, and programming tools are very similar in the two books. The three chapters that cover the Bourne Again shell ( bash ) have been expanded and rewritten for this text. Chapters that appear in this book and but not in A Practical Guide to Red Hat Linux, Second Edition, include those covering the vim and emacs editors, the TC Shell ( tcsh ), the gawk and sed languages, and Part V, which describes 80 of the most useful Linux utility programs in detail.

Audience. This book is designed for a wide range of readers. It does not require programming experience, although some experience using a general-purpose computer is helpful. It is appropriate for the following readers:

Students taking a class in which they use Linux
Power users who want to explore the power of Linux from command line
Professionals who use Linux at work
System administrators who need a deeper understanding of Linux and the tools that are available to them
Computer science students who are studying the Linux operating system
Programmers who need to understand the Linux programming environment
Technical executives who want to get a grounding in Linux

Benefits. A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming gives you an in-depth understanding of how to use Linux from the command line. Regardless of your background, it offers the knowledge you need to get on with your work: You will come away from this book understanding how to use Linux, and this text will remain a valuable reference for years to come.

Mark G. Sobell is the author of three best-selling UNIX and Linux books: A Practical Guide to the UNIX System, UNIX System V: A Practical Guide, and A Practical Guide to Linux. He has more than twenty years of experience working with UNIX and Linux and is president of Sobell Associates Inc., a consulting firm that designs and builds custom software applications, designs and writes documentation, and provides UNIX and Linux training and support.

Nov 14, 2005 Oblomov from Washington, DC
Best book on Linux coming from Windows World
I am new to Linux. I've played around with it for a bit 3-4 years back, but haven't looked at it since. Recently I've had to start managing a few Linux boxes, and even with a lot of information available online, it was not quite enough.

This book provided easy and indexed descriptions and examples needed to get into Linux (CentOS specifically) quick and get going. It has excellent shell descriptoins and command examples. It's a much more useful book then Running Linux or the Fedora Bible book I got.

Preface

Table of Contents