This document contains a presentation by Topher DeRosia about learning the basics of using the command line interface. It introduces common commands for navigating directories, viewing and editing files, searching, remote access, and more. Throughout the presentation, it is emphasized to check the manual pages ("man pages") for help on how to use each command. The goal is to learn basic concepts and become comfortable with the command line.

1. Hi, my name is Topher
I’m a WordPress developer
from Grand Rapids MI
@topher1kenobe
Command Line Awesome
Topher DeRosia
@topher1kenobe

2. Command Line
AWESOME
Command Line Awesome
Topher DeRosia
@topher1kenobe
Learning the
command line.

3. 1. Concepts
2. Basic commands
3. Available Programs
4. A little fun
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4. The Shell
When you open the
terminal, you’re in a
shell. Bash is the
most common shell.
Others are Bourne, csh, zsh, ksh
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5. Your History
Every command you
type is saved in a
file called
.bash_history
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6. Your History
Arrow up to see past
commands. Ctrl-r and
start typing to
search your history.
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7. Moving Around
Ctrl-a takes you to
the beginning of the
line. Ctrl-e to the
end.
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8. Other Keybindings
Bash uses the same
keybindings as the
emacs editor.
http://wttools.sourceforge.net/emacs-
stuff/emacs-keybindings.html
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9. Documentation
“man” pages contain
docs for commands.
Ex: man cd
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10. Flags
Most commands accept
modifiers called
‘flags’ like this:
ls -al
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11. Change Directories
cd
cd path/
cd ~/path/
cd -
Check out the man page.
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12. Where am I?
pwd == Present Working
Directory
Man oh man.
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13. Make Directories
mkdir mycooldir
Check out the man page, -p is
cool.
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14. List Files
ls
ls -al
ls -latr
LOTS of good stuff in the man
page.
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15. Change Files
mv oldfile newfile
cp (-R) oldfile newfile
rm (-R) file-or-dir
Have I mentioned man pages?
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16. Examine Files
more
less
cat
man man man man man...
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17. Edit Files
nano
VIM
emacs
joe
Google knows Al ( ⅔ of All )
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18. Search Files
grep (-ir) keyword *
ack keyword --php
/ lets you search inside man
pages
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19. SSH
Encrypted connection to
a remote shell
ssh topher@derosia.com
scp (-r) files topher@derosia.com:~/path/
Oh look, there’s a man page.
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20. wget
Makes one http call and
returns the result
wget http://derosia.com/parchment.jpg
Man, I wish there were docs.
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21. Network Programs
whois
host
traceroute
ping
Nothing clever, read the man pages.
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22. Heads and Tails
Tail shows the last 10 lines of
a file.
Head shows the first 10 lines
of a file.
Guess how to change the number. (man)
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23. Tail -f
-f updates the results
as the file changes.
Use this to watch log files.
Ctrl-c quits.
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24. top
Shows processes,
resource use, etc.
Homework: read about ‘load
average’
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25. mysql
mysql -u username -p database
Puts you on a mysql command
line, lets you run SQL queries.
$ man mysql
No manual entry for mysql
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26. Fun stuff
cal - shows a calendar
date - Shows… the date
bc - basic calculator (basic)
sl - like ls, but… not
Man, the places you’ll go
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27. Voodoo
perl -pi -e ‘s#search#replace#g’ *
mysql -u user -p database < db_export.sql
tail -f ~/logs/error_log | grep -i exe
cat file | wc -l
(counts lines)
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28. Homework
chmod
chown
locate
kill
Google is your friend here.
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29. WP CLI
http://wp-cli.org/
Interact with the WP admin UI from
the command line
wp --help
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30. Resources
http://www.commandlinefu.com
http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/by/t
opher1kenobe
http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/bash_ch
eat_sheet.pdf
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31. THANKS FOR
LISTENING
Command Line Awesome
Topher DeRosia
@topher1kenobe
http://derosia.com/
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