Using The Linux Console
From Some Wiki
Introduction: Using the Linux Console
Contrary to what many linux newbies may think, the linux shell is not just the place to enter an occasional command - it is a complete computing environment that you can use without ever starting up X and your favorite window manager/desktop environment. It is also orders of magnitude faster than a GUI, though on most modern computers you may not really notice the GUI being slow. This page will list text-mode tools for just about every task you can think of. It is inspired by this ubuntuforums post. Since I myself use Ubuntu, there are some parts that are Ubuntu (or Debian-based-distro) specific.
To get more information on using any these tools, try
man toolname
You may also be interested in a general introduction/tutorial for using the Linux command line.
The sections below categorize applications by task.
This is a work in progress. I encourage you to add things to the list, or to leave comments in the discussion section.
Manipulate files locally
View files
- cat: print entire content to screen
- zcat: same as cat, but able view zipped files
- more: view file content one page at a time
- zmore: same as more, but able to view zipped files
- less: same as more, but with more features
- strings: extract printable strings out of executable files
- tail: view the last n lines of a file (can also do live monitoring)
- head: view the first n lines of a file
I recommend less for a file pager.
Searching
- find: find files
- locate: find files (much faster than find because it uses a pre-built index)
- grep: find strings within files
Edit text files
- nano: newbie-friendly editor
- vi: a very powerful editor that is rather difficult to learn
- vim: like vi, but with more features
- emacs: another very powerful editor that is also difficult to learn
Install/remove/manage software from repositories
- apt-get
- aptitude: same as apt-get, but with more features
Seems that aptitude is recommended by many.
Install software from a downloaded .deb
- dpkg
- gdebi: same as dpkg, but automatically installs dependencies as well
I recommend gdebi.
Browse the internet
- lynx
- links
- links2
- w3m
- elinks
Of these, I recommend elinks, which is the most featureful.
Read email
- pine: powerful email client, but no longer actively developed
- alpine: successor to pine
- mutt: another very nice email client
Read news (UseNet)
View images (yes, it is possible)
- libcaca: very good text representation of images (ubuntu package caca-utils)
- zgv: svgalib-based image viewer
Windowing environment
- twin: a text-mode windowing environment (no longer actively developed)
Play audio
- mpg123
- cplay: a curses front-end for mpg123
- mp3blaster
- xmms-shell
- mpd with mpc or ncmpc
Download files
- wget
- curl
- scp
- ftp
- sftp
- lftp
Compress and extract files
- zip and unzip
- rar and unrar
- tar
- gzip and gunzip
- bzip2 and bunzip2
IRC chat
Instant Messaging
- centericq: AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber
- naim: AIM, ICQ, IRC
- bitlbee: plugin for irssi to connect to XMPP/Jabber (including Google Talk), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM and ICQ.
View system processes
- ps: simple process list output
- top: live process list view, with system resource usage info
- htop: like top, but with loads more features
Recommend htop.
Bittorrent
- btdownloadcurses
- btlaunchmanycurses
- rtorrent
Antivirus scan
Manage network
- iptables
- tracepath and traceroute
- ping
- whois
- finger
- netstat
- ifconfig
- iwconfig
Burn CDs and DVDs
- cdrdao: burn CDs in disc-at-once mode
- cdrecord: (now known as wodim) write CDs and DVDs
- growisofs: (ubuntu package dvd+rw-tools) write DVDs
Games
- freesweep: text-based minesweeper
Get help on commands
- man
- info
- apropos (same thing as "man -k")
To be categorized
- apt-cache(search for package)
- fdisk (partition info/tool)
- mkfs.X (make X filesystem)
- dd (duplicate a disk)
- cron/crontab (scheduling)
- gpg (add repo keys)
- screen (terminal screen manager)
- scanimage (use your scanner to scan from commandline)
