Linux Certification Ch. 3

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Third Edition
Chapter 3 Exploring Linux Filesystems
Objectives
Understand and navigate the Linux directory structure using relative and absolute pathnames Describe the various types of Linux files View filenames and file types Use shell wildcards to specify multiple filenames
Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e
Objectives (continued)
Display the contents of text files and binary files Search text files for regular expressions using grep Use the vi editor to manipulate text files Identify common alternatives to the vi text editor used today
The Linux Directory Structure

Directory: Used to organize other files into a logical tree structure
Stored in a filesystem of a specific partition in the hard disk
Absolute pathname: Pathname from the root directory to a certain file or directory Root: The top level directory
Referred to using the / character Forms root of a hierarchical tree
Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e 4
The Linux Directory Structure (continued)
Figure 3-1: The Windows filesystem structure
Figure 3-2: The Linux filesystem structure

Changing Directories
Home directory: unique to each user
~ metacharacter used to refer to home directory
pwd (print working directory) command: displays current directory in the directory tree cd (change directory) command: change the current directory in the directory tree
Argument specifies the destination directory
Relative pathname: pathname of file or directory relative to current directory

Changing Directories (continued)

Parent directory: directory one step closer to the root of the tree
Referred to by .. (two dots)
Subdirectory: directory residing within another directory Tab-completion: pressing the Tab key fills in remaining characters of a unique filename or directory name
BASH shell feature Alerts user if there is more than one possible match
Viewing Files and Directories: File Types

Text files: store information in a readable text format, contain configuration information Binary data files: store information associated with executable programs Executable program files Directory files: serve as placeholders to organize other files
Viewing Files and Directories: File Types (continued)

Linked files: associated with another file Special device files: represent system devices Named pipes: identify channel that passes information between processes Socket files: allow a process on another computer to write to a local file
Filenames
Filename: identifier given to a file
Up to 255 characters Can use alphanumeric characters, dash (-), underscore (_), and dot (.)
Filename extensions: identifiers following a dot (.) at end of filename

Denote file type Most files on Linux do not have filename extensions
10
Table 3-1: Common filename extensions

Listing Files
ls command: List the files in a directory
May pass an argument indicating the directory to be listed
F option: Argument to indicate file types l option: Argument to list long file listings
12
Listing Files (continued)

Long listing for each file includes eight components
File type character List of permissions (mode of the file) Hard link count Owner Group owner File size Most recent modification time Filename
13

Alias: shortcut for a command
ll command: Alias for ls -l
File command: displays file type of any file

Argument indicates what file or files to analyze Identifies between different types of executable files Identifies empty files
Hidden files: files not normally displayed to user

Configuration files often hidden Filenames start with a dot (.) ls a command: displays hidden files
Table 3-2: Common options to the ls command

Table 3-2 (continued): Common options to the ls command

Wildcard Metacharacters
Wildcard metacharacter: used to simplify commands specifying multiple filenames
Can match the entire filename or portions of filenames Can be used with most Linux filesystem commands
17
Wildcard Metacharacters (continued)
Table 3-3: Wildcard metacharacters
18
Displaying Content of Text Files

Concatenation: joining text together cat command: displays (concatenates) contents of a text file to the screen
-n option: displays line number and contents
Log files: contain records of past system events

New events appended to end
tac command: displays contents of a text file in reverse order
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Displaying Content of Text Files (Continued)

head command: view first ten lines of a file tail command: view last ten lines of a file For head and tail commands
Line count includes blank lines Can provide numeric option to specify the number of lines to be displayed (e.g., head -2 filename)
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Displaying Content of Text Files (continued)

Large text files can not be viewed using the cat command, because the screen will only fit a portion of the file more command: displays text files page-by-page
Pressing Spacebar displays the next page Pressing Enter displays the next line
less command: same as more command, but can also use cursor to scroll
21
Displaying Content of Text Files (continued)

Users can use keyboard shortcuts to interact with shell while in more and less commands.
e.g., pressing h key gets Help screen e.g., pressing q key quits more and less commands
more and less can be used with output of other commands

If output is too large to fit on terminal screen, use | metacharacter and more or less command e.g., ls -l | more
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Displaying the Contents of Binary Files

Typically use program that created the file strings command: searches for and displays text characters in a binary file
Might indicate purpose of binary file
od command: displays contents of file in octal format (numeric base 8 format)

-x option displays contents of the file in hexadecimal format (numeric base 16 format)
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Searching for Text Within Files

Text tools: commands that search for and manipulate text Regular expressions (regexp): text wildcards that ease the search for specific text
Match patterns of text within a text document Used by many text tools and programming languages
Including grep, emacs, C++, PERL, and many more
24
Regular Expressions
Different from wildcard metacharacters
Wildcard metacharacters interpreted by shell; regexps interpreted by text tools Wildcard metacharacters match characters in filenames; regexps match characters within text files Wildcard metacharacters have different definitions that regexps More regexps than wildcard metacharacters
Regular expressions are divided into common regexps and extended regexps
Table 3-4: Regular expressions

The grep Command

grep (global regular expression print) command: displays lines in a text file that match common regexps egrep command: displays lines in a text file that match extended regexps
Can be written as grep -E
fgrep command: does not interpret any regular expressions

Returns results much faster than egrep Can be written as grep -F
The grep Command (continued)

grep requires two arguments
Text to search for
Can use regular expressions
Files in which to search
grep is case sensitive

For case-insensitive search, use i option
grep matches patterns of text, ignoring division into words

To search only for occurrences of a word, surround it by space characters
Editing Text Files: The vi Editor

One of the oldest and most popular text editors for UNIX OSs Vim: Linux equivalent of vi
Standard on most Linux distributions
Advantage is portability, not usability

Used on Unix and Linux
Bi-modal editor (two possible modes):

Command mode: Performs text editing tasks not related to inserting text Insert mode: Inserts text, but nothing else
User environment is customizable

Editing Text Files: The vi Editor (continued)
Table 3-5: Common keyboard keys used to change to and from insert mode
Table 3-6: Key combinations commonly used in command mode

Table 3-6 (continued): Key combinations commonly used in command mode

Table 3-6 (continued): Key combinations commonly used in command mode
33
Table 3-7: Key combinations commonly used at the command mode : prompt
Other Common Text Editors

Emacs (Editor MACroS) editor: comparable functionality to vi
Ctrl key combinations to perform special functions Supports LISP (LISt Processing) artificial intelligence programming language
Emacs editor is not easy to use

Must memorize key combination
Emacs can be run in a GUI environment to get a graphical version of the editor
Much easier to use; icons replace key combinations
Other Common Text Editors (continued)
Table 3-8: Keyboard functions commonly used in the GNU Emacs editor
Figure 3-3: A graphical Emacs session


Nano editor: text editor that uses Ctrl key combinations for performing functions
Based on the pine UNIX editor Ctrl key combinations listed at the bottom of the screen
Very basic and easy-to-use

Used by Linux administrators to modify files when advanced functionality is not needed
38

gedit editor: a graphical text editor functional in a GUI environment
Does not have advanced functionality like vi and Emacs Easiest editor to use Functionality is analogous to the Windows Wordpad and Notepad editors
39
Figure 3-4: The gedit text editor

Summary
The Linux filesystem is arranged hierarchically using a series of directories to store files Location of directories and files can be described using absolute or relative pathnames Linux filesystem can contain many types of files
text files, binary data, executable programs, directories, linked files, and special device files
The ls command is used to view filenames

Wide range of options to modify views
Summary (continued)
Wildcard metacharacters are special keyboard characters
can simplify selection of several files when using common Linux file commands
Text files are the most common file type whose contents can be viewed by several utilities, such as head, tail, cat, tac, more, and less
42
Summary (continued)
Regular expression metacharacters can be used to specify certain patterns of text
used with certain programming languages and text tool utilities such as grep
vi (vim) is a powerful, bimodal text editor that is standard on most UNIX and Linux systems
43

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Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Third Edition

Chapter 3 Exploring Linux Filesystems

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

The Linux Directory Structure

The Linux Directory Structure (continued)

Figure 3-1: The Windows filesystem structure

Figure 3-2: The Linux filesystem structure

Relative pathname: pathname of file or directory relative to current directory

Changing Directories (continued)

Viewing Files and Directories: File Types

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Viewing Files and Directories: File Types (continued)

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Filename extensions: identifiers following a dot (.) at end of filename

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Table 3-1: Common filename extensions

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Listing Files (continued)

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Listing Files (continued)

File command: displays file type of any file

Hidden files: files not normally displayed to user

Listing Files (continued)

Table 3-2: Common options to the ls command

Listing Files (continued)

Table 3-2 (continued): Common options to the ls command

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Wildcard Metacharacters (continued)

Table 3-3: Wildcard metacharacters

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Displaying Content of Text Files

Log files: contain records of past system events

tac command: displays contents of a text file in reverse order

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Displaying Content of Text Files (Continued)

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Displaying Content of Text Files (continued)

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Displaying Content of Text Files (continued)

more and less can be used with output of other commands

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Displaying the Contents of Binary Files

od command: displays contents of file in octal format (numeric base 8 format)

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Searching for Text Within Files

Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, 3e

Table 3-4: Regular expressions

The grep Command

fgrep command: does not interpret any regular expressions

The grep Command (continued)

Files in which to search

grep is case sensitive

grep matches patterns of text, ignoring division into words

Editing Text Files: The vi Editor

Advantage is portability, not usability

Bi-modal editor (two possible modes):

User environment is customizable

Editing Text Files: The vi Editor (continued)

Editing Text Files: The vi Editor (continued)

Table 3-6: Key combinations commonly used in command mode

Editing Text Files: The vi Editor (continued)

Table 3-6 (continued): Key combinations commonly used in command mode