The linux command line

The Linux® Command Line

William E. Shotts, Jr.

A LinuxCommand.org Book

Copyright ©2008-2009, William E. Shotts, Jr. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. This book is part of the LinuxCommand.org project, a site for Linux education and advocacy devoted to helping users of legacy operating systems migrate into the future. You may contact the LinuxCommand.org project at http://linuxcommand.org. Printed copies of this book, in large, easy-to-read-format, are available for purchase from lulu.com. Orders may be placed at the following: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-linux-command-line/7594184 Release History Version 09.12 09.11 09.10 Date December 14, 2009 November 19, 2009 October 3, 2009 Description First Edition. Fourth draft with almost all reviewer feedback incorporated and edited through chapter 37. Third draft with revised table formatting, partial application of reviewers feedback and edited through chapter 18. Second draft incorporating the first editing pass. Completed first draft.

09.08 09.07

August 12, 2009 July 18, 2009

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Introduction.........................................................................1
1 – Introduction................................................................................................2
Why Use The Command Line?.......................................................................................2 What This Book Is About.................................................................................................3 Who Should Read This