Linux-Ubuntu/C2/Structure-of-Linux-Commands/English

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Title of the script: Structure of Commands

Author: EduPyramids Team.

Keywords: command structure, command name, options, arguments, ls command, man, apropos, whatis, man -k, ls --help, video tutorial.

Visual Cue Narration
Slide 1

Title Slide

Welcome to the Spoken tutorial on Structure of Linux Commands.
Slide 2

Learning Objectives

In this tutorial, we will learn about:

  • Structure of Linux commands
  • Command name, options, and arguments
  • Using help commands like man, apropos, and - -help
In this tutorial, we will learn about:
  • Structure of Linux commands
  • Command name, options, and arguments
  • Using help commands like man, apropos, and hyphen hyphen help.
Slide 3

System Requirements

To record this tutorial, I am using,

Ubuntu OS version 24 point 04.

Slide 4

Pre-requisites

https://EduPyramids.org

To follow this tutorial,

Learners should know basic Linux terminal commands.

For the prerequisite Linux tutorials please visit this website.

Slide 5

Code files

The following code file is required to practice this tutorial

1. sc-commands.txt

This file is provided in the Code Files link of this tutorial page

The following code file is required to practice this tutorial.

This file is provided in the Code Files link of this tutorial page.

Let us get started with the structure of Linux commands.
Screencast:

Press Ctrl, Alt and T keys on your keyboard

Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl, Alt, and T keys together.
Type: ls

press Enter

Highlight all the files shown in the terminal.

Type: ls.

ls command lists files and folders in a directory.

Commands may be single words or multiple words separated by spaces.

Press Enter.

Here we can see all the files and folders in the Home directory.

Type: clear

press Enter.

Type clear to clear the terminal window.

The clear command removes previous output from the terminal.

press Enter.

It gives a clean screen, making the terminal easier to read and work with.

Type: ls -a Type ls space hyphen a.

The ls space hyphen a command lists all files and directories.

Slide 6

Structure of Linux Commands.

  • A Linux command consists of multiple parts.
  • The first part is the command name; the remaining parts are called arguments.
  • Arguments can be options, expressions, or file names.
  • A command can perform different tasks depending on the option specified.
  • Options usually begin with a single(-) hyphen or a double(- -) hyphen sign.
  • A Linux command consists of multiple parts.
  • The first part is the command name; the remaining parts are called arguments.
  • Arguments can be options, expressions, or file names.
  • A command can perform different tasks depending on the option specified.
  • Options usually begin with a single hyphen or a double hyphen sign.
Press enter

Highlight all the files shown in the terminal.

Let me press Enter.

Here we can see all the files in the Home directory.

Type: clear and press Enter. Type clear and press Enter to clear the terminal window.
Type: ls --all

Highlight the list of directories.

Now type ls space hyphen hyphen all and press Enter.

ls space hyphen hyphen all

lists all files and directories, and also hidden files that start with a dot.

Type: clear and press Enter.

Type: ls -d and press Enter.

Again, type clear to clear the terminal .

Now type ls space hyphen d and press Enter.

Highlight the output: dot(.)

highlight -d

Notice that only a single dot appears as output.

The dot represents the current directory.

The hyphen d option tells Linux, show the directory itself, not what’s inside it.

Since we didn’t give a directory name, Linux shows the current directory as dot.

Type: ls -d ALL and press Enter.

Highlight ALL

Now, let’s try something different. Suppose we have a directory named ALL.

Type: ls space hyphen d space ALL and press Enter.

We can see in the output, Linux prints ALL.

It only shows the name of the directory.

It does not list the files or folders inside ALL.

Only Narration. In Linux we have a large number of commands.

Each command has many different options.

So how do we keep track of it?

In reality we don't have to.

This is because of the excellent online help facilities available in Linux.

The man command displays the manual pages for Linux commands.

Type man ls and press Enter.

Scroll up to show all the arguments

Press q

To learn more about the ls command,

type man space ls and press Enter.

man is the system’s manual pager that displays documentation for commands.

Arguments given to man are normally the name of a program, utility or function.

Press q to exit the manual.

man command provides the hyphen k option.

It takes a keyword and returns a list of commands and their brief purpose.

Type at the command prompt

man -k directories

For example, to create a directory, we may not know the exact command.

So we can type man space hyphen k space directories and press Enter.

Scroll down to show all the commands related to directories. Now we can search each of these commands to see what we actually need.
Type at the command prompt: apropos directories We can do the same search using the apropos command.

I have opened another terminal window.

Type apropos space directories and press Enter, to see the same output.

Scroll up to show all the commands related to directories.

Close the second terminal window.

Type clear and press Enter

The apropos command works similarly to man -k.

Both search for commands related to a keyword.

I will close the second terminal window.

Clear the screen.

Type whatis and press Enter.

Highlight the output

Type man -f and press Enter.

Type whatis and press Enter.

The output displays whatis space what question mark.

The whatis command gives a one-line description of a command.

Type man space hyphen f and press Enter.

Both give one line description about the command.

Type at the command prompt

whatis ls

Type whatis space ls and press Enter to see the output.
To know more options available for a command we can use the hyphen hyphen help option.
Type: ls --help

Scroll up to show all the options available

Type ls space hyphen hyphen help and press Enter.

Many commands also support the hyphen hyphen option.

It displays a brief list of options directly on the terminal.

Slide 7

Summary

In this tutorial, we learnt about:

  • Structure of Linux commands
  • Command name, options, and arguments
  • Using help commands like man, apropos, and - - help
With this we come to the end of this tutorial.

Let us summarise.

Slide 8

Assignment

As an Assignment,

Run the following commands and check the output:

  • ls -alh
  • ls -al
  • ls -s
As an Assignment, please do the following
Slide 9

Thank you

This Spoken Tutorial is brought to you by EduPyramids educational services private limited SINE IIT Bombay. Thank you.

Contributors and Content Editors

Ketkinaina