Some more cool short cuts

Try this one: type   ls m   push the tab key. Linux is going to beep a couple of times, but you keep pushing. You will now see every file in the directory that begins with the letter 'm'

Now add an 'o' on to   ls m   so you get   ls mo   - now push the tab key. You should see 'motd'. This is a file that contains your startup message. SuSE has a famous one that says 'Have a lot of fun!'. I like that one so I haven't changed it, but you can change it so that Linux says anything you want when you log in.

Do you want to make sure that lilo.conf is still in there? You don't have to type 'lilo.conf' or even part of it and press the tab key anymore. You just have to press the up arrow. Your last commands will appear when you do that.

Your commands are saved in a history file located in your home directory. The more times you press the up button, the farther back in time you go. Pressing the down button gets you back to your most recent commands. Just stop on the command you want and press 'enter'. You can even type the command   history   and all of the last 400 or so commands you've typed will be presented. As you get more proficient in Linux, you'll find that this really comes in handy. You can often find out the answer to the question: How did I do that? by consulting your shell history.

The /usr directory

Let's talk about using some options with commands.

For example, typing:   ls -l   will give you more detailed information about the contents of a directory.

Try this: First let's go to the usr/ directory by doing   cd /usr   then type:   ls -l   . You will see more information, like dates, some numbers, letter combinations. It will say 'root' a lot. We'll get into more detail about what all of that means later in the course. You'll see mainly sub-directories here. The usr/ directory contains files and programs meant to be used by all of the users on the system.

[Previous] [Next]