Adventures with the Linux Command Line - First Internet Edition

Description

This volume is a sequel/supplement to my first book, The Linux Command Line (TLCL) and as such, we will be referring back to the first book frequently, so if you don’t already have a copy, please download one from LinuxCommand.org or, if you prefer, pickup a printed copy from your favorite bookseller or library. This time around we are going to build on our experience with the command line and add some more tools and techniques to our repertoire. Like the first book, this second volume is not a book about Linux system administration, rather it is a collection of topics that I consider both fun and interesting. We will cover many tools that will be of interest to budding system administrators, but the tools were chosen for other reasons. Sometimes they were chosen because they are “classic” Unix, others because they are just “something you should know,” but mostly topics were chosen because I find them fun and interesting. Personal computing, after all, should be about doing things that are fun and interesting just as it was in the early days. What this book is about Who should read this book What’s in the first Internet edition How to read this book Acknowledgments 1 Midnight Commander Features Availability Invocation Screen Layout Using the Keyboard and Mouse Navigation and Browsing Changing the Listing Format Setting the Directory on the Other Panel The Directory Hotlist Directory History Using the Mouse Viewing and Editing Files Editing Tagging Files Tagging Individual Files Tagging Groups of Files We Need a Playground Creating Directories Copying and Moving Files Creating Links Setting File Modes and Ownership Deleting Files Power Features Virtual File Systems Finding Files Panelizing Subshells The User Menu Editing the User Menu Menu File Format Macros Conditionals Summing Up Further Reading 2 Terminal Multiplexers Some Historical Context GNU Screen Availability Invocation Multiple Windows Copy and Paste Multiple Regions Detaching Sessions Customizing Screen tmux Availability Invocation Multiple Windows Multiple Panes Copy Mode Detaching Sessions Customizing tmux byobu Availability Invocation Usage Copy Mode Detaching Sessions Customizing byobu Summing Up Further Reading GNU Screen tmux byobu 3 Less Typing Aliases and Shell Functions Command Line Editing Control Commands Moving Around Using Command History Changing Text Cutting and Pasting Editing in Action Completion Programmable Completion Summing Up Further Reading 4 More Redirection What’s Really Going On Duplicating File Descriptors exec /dev/tty Noclobber Summing Up Further Reading 5 tput Availability What it Does/How it Works Reading Terminal Attributes Controlling the Cursor Text Effects Text Color Clearing the Screen Making Time Summing Up Further Reading 6 dialog Features Availability How it Works Method 1: Store the Results in a Temporary File Method 2: Use Command Substitution and Redirection Before and After Limitations Summing Up Further Reading 7 AWK History Availability So, What’s it Good For? How it Works Special Patterns Invocation The Language Program Format Patterns BEGIN and END relational-expression /regular-expression/ pattern logical-operator pattern ! pattern pattern, pattern Fields and Records Variables and Data Types Built-in Variables FS - Field separator NF - Number of fields NR - Record number OFS - Output field separator ORS - Output record separator RS - Record separator FILENAME FNR - File record number Arrays Arithmetic and Logical Expressions Flow Control if ( expression ) statement for ( expression ; expression ; expression ) statement for ( var in array ) statement while ( expression ) statement break continue next exit expression Regular Expressions Output Functions print expr1, expr2, expr3,… printf(format, expr1, expr2, expr3,…) Writing to Files and Pipelines Reading Data getline getline var getline