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Table des matières

Last updated on: 2020/01/30 03:28

Basic Shell Commands and Text Manipulation Tools

To do - You are currently the root user in your terminal. Before proceeding further, type exit and hit the ↵ Enter key.

Use of Basic Shell Commands

The stty Command

Using this command with the -a switch allows you to identify which combination of keys should be used to control a foreground process:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ stty -a
speed 38400 baud; rows 26; columns 80; line = 0;
intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = <undef>;
eol2 = <undef>; swtch = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R;
werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
-parenb -parodd -cmspar cs8 -hupcl -cstopb cread -clocal -crtscts
-ignbrk -brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl ixon -ixoff
-iuclc -ixany -imaxbel -iutf8
opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0
isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop -echoprt
echoctl echoke

The two most important combinations are intr = ^C and susp = ^Z. The former kills the process whilst the latter suspends its execution.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the stty command to view the command line switches.

The date command

This command's output gives the current system date and time. The command can also be used to set the system date:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ date
Thu 29 Sep 04:53:58 CEST 2016

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the date command to view the command line switches.

The who Command

This command's output shows who is currently connected to the system:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ who
trainee  pts/0        2016-09-28 23:29 (gateway)

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the who command to view the command line switches.

The df Command

This command's output shows the free space on each mounted block device:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ df
Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2       10229760 4274948   5954812  42% /
devtmpfs          236036       0    236036   0% /dev
tmpfs             250388       0    250388   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs             250388    4716    245672   2% /run
tmpfs             250388       0    250388   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs             250388      72    250316   1% /tmp
/dev/sda1         201388  201368        20 100% /boot
tmpfs              50080       0     50080   0% /run/user/1000

The units are shown as blocks. In order to humanize the output, it is possible to use the -h switch (also known as a parameter, option or flag):

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2       9.8G  4.1G  5.7G  42% /
devtmpfs        231M     0  231M   0% /dev
tmpfs           245M     0  245M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           245M  4.7M  240M   2% /run
tmpfs           245M     0  245M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           245M   72K  245M   1% /tmp
/dev/sda1       197M  197M   20K 100% /boot
tmpfs            49M     0   49M   0% /run/user/1000

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the df command to view the command line switches.

The free Command

This command's output shows the memory usage:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:         500780      192460       11580        3356      296740      245128
Swap:       2096124        3852     2092272

The units are shown as blocks. In order to humanize the output, it is possible to use the -h switch:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           489M        188M         11M        3.3M        289M        239M
Swap:          2.0G        3.8M        2.0G

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the free command to view the command line switches.

The whoami Command

This command's output indicates the user name associated with the current effective user ID:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ whoami
trainee

Now become the system administrator root:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ su -
Password: fenestros
Last login: Wed Sep 28 12:08:28 CEST 2016 on pts/0

Important : Note that the password will not be visible.

Now use the whoami command again:

[root@centos7 ~]# whoami
root
[root@centos7 ~]# 

Important : Note the current effective user ID is root.

Finally execute the exit command to return as trainee:

[root@centos7 ~]# exit
logout
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ 

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the whoami command to view the command line switches.

The pwd Command

This command's output shows the current working directory:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ pwd
/home/trainee

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the help command with pwd option to view the command line switches.

The cd Command

This command's output changes the current working directory to that specified by the argument:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ cd /tmp
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ pwd
/tmp
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ 

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the help command with cd option to view the command line switches.

The ls Command

This commands output lists information about the files in directory specified as an argument. If no argument is specified, the output lists the files in the current working directory:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ ls
hsperfdata_root  inode  systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the ls command to view the command line switches.

The lsof Command

This command's output shows information about open files:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ su -
Password: fenestros
Last login: Thu Sep 29 06:24:28 CEST 2016 on pts/0
[root@centos7 ~]# lsof | more
COMMAND     PID   TID           USER   FD      TYPE             DEVICE  SIZE/OFF       NODE NAME
systemd       1                 root  cwd       DIR                8,2      4096        128 /
systemd       1                 root  rtd       DIR                8,2      4096        128 /
systemd       1                 root  txt       REG                8,2   1494056   33607555 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     20032   17241167 /usr/lib64/libuuid.so.1.3.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    252696   20114965 /usr/lib64/libblkid.so.1.1.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     90632   18751025 /usr/lib64/libz.so.1.2.7
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     19888   17326380 /usr/lib64/libattr.so.1.1.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     19520   17239651 /usr/lib64/libdl-2.17.so
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    153192   18023397 /usr/lib64/liblzma.so.5.0.99
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    398272   18105157 /usr/lib64/libpcre.so.1.2.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2   2107816   17239525 /usr/lib64/libc-2.17.so
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    142304   17240882 /usr/lib64/libpthread-2.17.so
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     88720   17511831 /usr/lib64/libgcc_s-4.8.5-20150702.so.1
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     44096   17241011 /usr/lib64/librt-2.17.so
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    260784   20114966 /usr/lib64/libmount.so.1.1.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     91768   18023376 /usr/lib64/libkmod.so.2.2.10
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    118792   17326381 /usr/lib64/libaudit.so.1.0.0
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     61648   18105139 /usr/lib64/libpam.so.0.83.1
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2     20024   17326423 /usr/lib64/libcap.so.2.22
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    147120   18447456 /usr/lib64/libselinux.so.1
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2    164440   21744303 /usr/lib64/ld-2.17.so
systemd       1                 root  mem       REG                8,2   1333123   50334524 /etc/selinux/targeted/contexts/files/file_contexts.bin
--More--

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the lsof command to view the command line switches.

The touch Command

This command updates the access and modification times of one or several file(s) to the current time. If the file does not exist, the system creates an empty file:

[root@centos7 ~]# exit
logout
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ touch test
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ ls
hsperfdata_root  systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6
inode            test

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the touch command to view the command line switches.

The echo Command

This command writes the arguments to the standard output (i.e. the screen):

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ echo fenestros
fenestros

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the help command with echo option to view the command line switches.

The cp Command

This command is used to copy a source to a destination or multiple sources to a directory:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ cp test ~
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ ls -l ~
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Documents
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Music
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Public
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Templates
-rw-rw-r--. 1 trainee trainee   0 Sep 29 17:23 test
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Videos
-rw-rw-r--. 1 trainee trainee 442 Sep 29 00:53 vitext

Note the use of the ~ (tilde) character which is a shortcut to the current user's home directory. In the case of this example : /home/trainee.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the cp command to view the command line switches.

The file Command

This command determines a file type:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ file ~/test
/home/trainee/test: empty

Important - Note that in the case of the first line of the above output, tha command file is incapable of informing you of the type of file since test is empty.

Using the > key, redirect the output of echo fenestros into the /home/trainee/test file as follows:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ echo "fenestros" > ~/test

Now use the file command once again to determine the file type:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ file ~/test
/home/trainee/test: ASCII text

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the file command to view the command line switches.

The cat Command

This commands concatenate files, or standard input, to standard output. In the case of only one file as an argument, the effective result is to print the file contents to the screen:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ cat ~/test
fenestros

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the cat command to view the command line switches.

The mv Command

This command renames a source to a destination or moves sources to a directory:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ mv ~/test .
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ ls -l ~
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Documents
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Music
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Public
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Templates
drwxr-xr-x. 2 trainee trainee   6 Apr 30 11:54 Videos
-rw-rw-r--. 1 trainee trainee 442 Sep 29 00:53 vitext
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ mv test TeSt
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ ls -l
total 4
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root    root     80 Sep 28 10:52 hsperfdata_root
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root    root    100 Sep 28 12:30 inode
drwx------. 3 root    root     60 Sep 28 10:49 systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6
-rw-rw-r--. 1 trainee trainee  10 Sep 29 17:28 TeSt

Note the use of the shortcut . which indicates the current working directory.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the mv command to view the command line switches.

The mkdir Command

This command creates the directory(ies) if it (they) does (do) not exist:

[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ cd ~
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ mkdir testdir
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  testdir  Videos  vitext

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the mkdir command to view the command line switches.

The rmdir Command

This command removes the directory(ies) if it (they) is (are) empty:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ rmdir testdir
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos  vitext

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the rmdir command to view the command line switches.

The rm Command

This command removes a directory, empty of not, as well as files:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ mkdir testdir1
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ cd /tmp
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ echo "fenestros" > TeSt
[trainee@centos7 tmp]$ cd ~
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ mv /tmp/TeSt ~/testdir1
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls -lR testdir1/
testdir1/:
total 4
-rw-rw-r--. 1 trainee trainee 10 Sep 29 18:13 TeSt
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ rmdir testdir1/
rmdir: failed to remove ‘testdir1/’: Directory not empty
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ rm -rf testdir1/
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  Music  Pictures  Public  Templates  Videos  vitext

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the rm command to view the command line switches.

The sort Command

This command writes a sorted concatenation of all files to standard output:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ touch aac abc bca xyz
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls
aac  bca      Documents  Music     Public     Videos  xyz
abc  Desktop  Downloads  Pictures  Templates  vitext
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls | sort
aac
abc
bca
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Music
Pictures
Public
Templates
Videos
vitext
xyz
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ ls | sort -r
xyz
vitext
Videos
Templates
Public
Pictures
Music
Downloads
Documents
Desktop
bca
abc
aac

Important - Note the use of the | character, called a pipe. A pipe is used to channel the standard output of the command that precedes it into the standard input of the command that follows it.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the sort command to view the command line switches.

The more Command

This command is used to display a long file page by page:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ more /etc/services
# /etc/services:
# $Id: services,v 1.55 2013/04/14 ovasik Exp $
#
# Network services, Internet style
# IANA services version: last updated 2013-04-10
#
# Note that it is presently the policy of IANA to assign a single well-known
# port number for both TCP and UDP; hence, most entries here have two entries
# even if the protocol doesn't support UDP operations.
# Updated from RFC 1700, ``Assigned Numbers'' (October 1994).  Not all ports
# are included, only the more common ones.
#
# The latest IANA port assignments can be gotten from
#       http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers
# The Well Known Ports are those from 0 through 1023.
# The Registered Ports are those from 1024 through 49151
# The Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535
#
# Each line describes one service, and is of the form:
#
# service-name  port/protocol  [aliases ...]   [# comment]

tcpmux          1/tcp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
--More--(0%)

Important - The ↵ Enter key scrolls down line by line, the Space Bar key scrolls down page by page and the Q key comes back to the command line prompt.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the more command to view the command line switches.

The less Command

The less command produces a similar result to that of the more command. Practice using the less command and refer to the help using less –help. Which command seems the most powerful and versatile ?

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ less /etc/services
# /etc/services:
# $Id: services,v 1.55 2013/04/14 ovasik Exp $
#
# Network services, Internet style
# IANA services version: last updated 2013-04-10
#
# Note that it is presently the policy of IANA to assign a single well-known
# port number for both TCP and UDP; hence, most entries here have two entries
# even if the protocol doesn't support UDP operations.
# Updated from RFC 1700, ``Assigned Numbers'' (October 1994).  Not all ports
# are included, only the more common ones.
#
# The latest IANA port assignments can be gotten from
#       http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers
# The Well Known Ports are those from 0 through 1023.
# The Registered Ports are those from 1024 through 49151
# The Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535
#
# Each line describes one service, and is of the form:
#
# service-name  port/protocol  [aliases ...]   [# comment]

tcpmux          1/tcp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
/etc/services

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the less command to view the command line switches.

The find Command

This command is used to search for a specific file or directory. The default path is the current directory and default expression is -print:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ find acc
find: ‘acc’: No such file or directory
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ find aac
aac

Important : Note that when the file cannot be found, the find command informs you clearly. However when the file is found, the find command just prints the name of the file to standard output.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the find command to view the command line switches.

The su Command

This command is used to change the effective user id and group id to that of the user passed as an argument. When executed with no argument, the system assumes the destination user is root:

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ su -
Password: fenestros
Last login: Thu Sep 29 17:08:56 CEST 2016 on pts/0

Important : Note that the password will not be visible.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the su command to view the command line switches.

The updatedb and locate Commands

The locate command is used to list files in databases that match a pattern supplied as an argument to the command. The locate command uses a database. This database needs to be created using the updatedb command before using the locate command.

The default database is /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db:

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db
-rw-r-----. 1 root slocate 3887117 Sep 29 03:46 /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db

Important : For information concerning the database format, please see man 5 locatedb.

The updatedb command is configured by editing the /etc/updatedb.conf file:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat /etc/updatedb.conf
PRUNE_BIND_MOUNTS = "yes"
PRUNEFS = "9p afs anon_inodefs auto autofs bdev binfmt_misc cgroup cifs coda configfs cpuset debugfs devpts ecryptfs exofs fuse fuse.sshfs fusectl gfs gfs2 hugetlbfs inotifyfs iso9660 jffs2 lustre mqueue ncpfs nfs nfs4 nfsd pipefs proc ramfs rootfs rpc_pipefs securityfs selinuxfs sfs sockfs sysfs tmpfs ubifs udf usbfs"
PRUNENAMES = ".git .hg .svn"
PRUNEPATHS = "/afs /media /mnt /net /sfs /tmp /udev /var/cache/ccache /var/lib/yum/yumdb /var/spool/cups /var/spool/squid /var/tmp"

Use of these two commands is very simple:

[root@centos7 ~]# updatedb
[root@centos7 ~]# locate aac
/home/trainee/aac
/usr/lib/modules/3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid
/usr/lib/modules/3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko
/usr/lib/modules/3.10.0-327.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid
/usr/lib/modules/3.10.0-327.el7.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/aacraid/aacraid.ko
/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ipalib/plugins/caacl.py
/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ipalib/plugins/caacl.pyc
/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ipalib/plugins/caacl.pyo
/usr/share/gtk-doc/html/gst-plugins-good-plugins-1.0/gst-plugins-good-plugins-aacparse.html
/usr/share/gupnp-dlna-2.0/dlna-profiles/aac.xml
/usr/share/mime/audio/aac.xml
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64/drivers/scsi/aacraid
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64/drivers/scsi/aacraid/Makefile
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64/include/config/scsi/aacraid.h
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.el7.x86_64/drivers/scsi/aacraid
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.el7.x86_64/drivers/scsi/aacraid/Makefile
/usr/src/kernels/3.10.0-327.el7.x86_64/include/config/scsi/aacraid.h

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the updatedb and locate commands to view their command line switches.

The whereis Command

This command is used to show the full paths of the executable, the configuration files and the manuals associated with the argument:

[root@centos7 ~]# whereis passwd
passwd: /usr/bin/passwd /etc/passwd /usr/share/man/man1/passwd.1.gz /usr/share/man/man5/passwd.5.gz

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the whereis command to view the command line switches.

The which Command

This command searches the PATH variable and returns to standard output the first full path associated with the argument:

[root@centos7 ~]# which passwd
/bin/passwd

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the which command to view the command line switches.

The uptime Command

This command prints to standard output the current time, the length of time the system has been up, the number of users on the system and the average number of jobs in the run queue over the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes:

[root@centos7 ~]# uptime
 19:18:57 up 1 day,  8:30,  1 user,  load average: 0.10, 0.09, 0.07

Command Line Switches

The switches associated with this command are:

To do : Use the –help option of the uptime command to view the command line switches.

The w Command

This command outputs the same data as the uptime command on the first line and then complements this information with the details of each user connected to the system, including what each user is currently doing. This is the replacement under Linux for the Unix command whodo:

[root@centos7 ~]# w
 19:28:55 up 1 day,  8:40,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
trainee  pts/0    gateway          15:22    7.00s  0.16s  0.12s sshd: trainee [priv]

The JCPU time is the time used by all processes attached to the tty. It does not include past background jobs, but does include currently running background jobs.

The PCPU time is the time used by the current process, named in the what field.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the w command to view the command line switches.

The uname Command

This command prints system information to the standard output:

[root@centos7 ~]# uname -a
Linux centos7.fenestros.loc 3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Mar 31 16:04:38 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -s
Linux
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -n
centos7.fenestros.loc
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -r
3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -v
#1 SMP Thu Mar 31 16:04:38 UTC 2016
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -m
x86_64
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -p
x86_64
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -i
x86_64
[root@centos7 ~]# uname -o
GNU/Linux

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the uname command to view the command line switches.

The du Command

This command summarizes disk usage of each file, recursively for directories:

[root@centos7 ~]# du -sh /* 2>/dev/null
0	/bin
187M	/boot
0	/dev
33M	/etc
20M	/home
0	/lib
0	/lib64
0	/lost+found
0	/media
0	/mnt
173M	/opt
0	/proc
43M	/root
8.7M	/run
0	/sbin
0	/srv
0	/sys
64K	/tmp
3.6G	/usr
228M	/var

Important : Note the use of the 2>/dev/null redirection. This sends all eventual errors in the file descriptor 2 directly to /dev/null so that they do not appear in the output. File descriptors are covered in the The Command Line Interface unit.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the du command to view the command line switches.

The clear Command

This command is used to clear the current screen of the terminal:

[root@centos7 ~]# clear

[root@centos7 ~]# 

The exit Command

This command exits the current shell:

[root@centos7 ~]# exit
logou
[trainee@centos7 ~]$ 

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the help command with exit option to view the command line switches.

The logout Command

This command logs out a user from a login shell writing the utmp and wtmp entries in the log files.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the help command with logout option to view the command line switches.

The sleep Command

This command pauses for a number seconds. The number is specified as the first argument.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the sleep command to view the command line switches.

The wall Command

Wall sends a message to everybody logged in with their mesg(1) permission set to yes. The message can be given as an argument to wall, or it can be sent to wall's standard input. When using the standard input from a terminal, the message should be terminated with the EOF key (usually Control-D). The length of the message is limited to 20 lines. For every invocation of wall a notification will be written to syslog, with facility LOG_USER and level LOG_INFO.

Start a second session as trainee via ssh on your VM. Return to your first session as root and type :

[root@centos7 ~]# wall this is a message from root
[root@centos7 ~]# 
Broadcast message from root@centos7.fenestros.loc (pts/0) (Fri Sep 30 05:35:26 2016):

this is a message from root
[Enter]
[root@centos7 ~]# 

In the second session you should see the following message :

[trainee@centos7 ~]$ 
Broadcast message from root@centos7.fenestros.loc (pts/0) (Fri Sep 30 05:35:26 2016):

this is a message from root                                                                             

Now look at the end of the/var/log/messages file :

[root@centos7 ~]# tail /var/log/messages
Sep 30 05:31:08 centos7 sh: Sleeping '' ''
Sep 30 05:34:16 centos7 sh: Sleeping '' ''
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 systemd: Started Session 311 of user trainee.
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 systemd-logind: New session 311 of user trainee.
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 systemd: Starting Session 311 of user trainee.
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 dbus[515]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.problems' (using servicehelper)
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 dbus-daemon: dbus[515]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.problems' (using servicehelper)
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 dbus[515]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.problems'
Sep 30 05:35:13 centos7 dbus-daemon: dbus[515]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.problems'
Sep 30 05:35:26 centos7 wall[27550]: wall: user root broadcasted 1 lines (29 chars)

Important : La commande wall ignore la variable d’environnement TZ. L’heure affichée dans la première page est basée sur les paramètres de régionalisation du système.

The seq Command

The seq command prints numbers from FIRST to LAST, in steps of INCREMENT:

  • seq [OPTION]… LAST
  • seq [OPTION]… FIRST LAST
  • seq [OPTION]… FIRST INCREMENT LAST

For example :

[root@centos7 ~]# seq 10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
[root@centos7 ~]# seq 20 30
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
[root@centos7 ~]# seq 20 10 90
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
[root@centos7 ~]#  

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the seq command to view the command line switches.

The screen Command

Screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes (typically interactive shells). Each virtual terminal provides the functions of a DEC VT100 terminal and, in addition, several control functions from the ISO 6429 (ECMA 48, ANSI X3.64) and ISO 2022 standards (e.g. insert/delete line and support for multiple character sets). There is a scrollback history buffer for each virtual terminal and a copy-and-paste mechanism that allows moving text regions between windows.

The screen command is not installed by default under RHEL/CentOS 7:

[root@centos7 ~]#  which screen
/usr/bin/which: no screen in (/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin)
[root@centos7 ~]#  yum install screen
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: ftp.rezopole.net
 * extras: centos.mirror.ate.info
 * updates: centos.mirror.fr.planethoster.net
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package screen.x86_64 0:4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=================================================================================
 Package    Arch       Version                                 Repository   Size
=================================================================================
Installing:
 screen     x86_64     4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2      updates     552 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 552 k
Installed size: 914 k
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
screen-4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2.x86_64.rpm      | 552 kB  00:00:01     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
  Installing : screen-4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2.x86_64              1/1 
  Verifying  : screen-4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2.x86_64              1/1 

Installed:
  screen.x86_64 0:4.1.0-0.23.20120314git3c2946.el7_2                             

Complete!
[root@centos7 ~]# which screen
/bin/screen

Create a session with screen:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -S mysession

Important - When using RHEL/CentOS 7, you will notice that the title of the window holding the ssh session changes to [screen 0: root@centos7:~].

Now press the CTRL and A keys, release the A key and press the C key in order to create a second nested screen.

Important - When using RHEL/CentOS 7, you will notice that the title of the window holding the ssh session changes to [screen 1: root@centos7:~].

To return to the first screen, use the CTRL A A keys. This allows you to toggle between the last two screens used.

To see the status of all active screens, use the screen -ls command:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -ls
There is a screen on:
        25812.mysession (Attached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-root.

Now enter the following commands:

[root@centos7 ~]# sleep 9999 &
[1] 2272
[root@centos7 ~]# jobs
[1]+  Running                 sleep 9999 &
[root@centos7 ~]# 

In order to detach the current screen press the CTRL and A keys, release the A key and press the D key:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -S mysession
[detached from 25812.mysession]
[root@centos7 ~]# 

To re-attach the screen, execute the following command:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -r

Using the jobs command, check if the process created by the sleep command is still running:unit

[root@centos7 ~]# jobs
[1]+  Running                 sleep 9999 &

To move forward or backwards between screens press the CTRL and A keys, release the A key and press the N key or press the CTRL and A keys, release the A key and press the P key.

Once again detach the current screen by pressing the CTRL A keys, releasing the A key and then pressing D:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -S mysession
[detached from 25812.mysession]
[root@centos7 ~]# 

Now create a new, non-nested screen:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -S mysession1

Use the screen -ls command to see what has happened:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -ls
There are screens on:
        14942.mysession1        (Attached)
        25812.mysession (Detached)
2 Sockets in /var/run/screen/S-root.

To re-attach a specific screen, reference it by it's number:

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -r 25812

Finally, check out what has happened:

[root@centos7 ~]# sleep 9999 &
[1] 2272
[root@centos7 ~]# jobs
[1]+  Running                 sleep 9999 &
[root@centos7 ~]# jobs
[1]+  Running                 sleep 9999 &
[root@centos7 ~]# screen -ls
There is a screen on:
        25812.mysession (Attached)
1 Socket in /var/run/screen/S-root.

[root@centos7 ~]# screen -ls
There are screens on:
        14942.mysession1        (Attached)
        25812.mysession (Attached)
2 Sockets in /var/run/screen/S-root.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the screen command to view the command line switches.

Switches and Arguments

Switches under Linux can either be short or long. Several differences are important to note.

Firstly short options are generally preceded by a single dash -, whilst long options are preceded by a double dash - -.

An example is the help option used with most commands:

  • -h
  • –help

Secondly, Linux short switches can be combined whereas long switches cannot be combined. For example ls -l -a -i can also be written as ls -lai, ls -lia or ls -ali:

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -lai /tmp
total 244
  11071 drwxrwxrwt. 10 root root    260 Sep 30 06:24 .
    128 dr-xr-xr-x. 18 root root   4096 Dec 10  2015 ..
  13635 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .font-unix
  24858 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 30 06:05 hsperfdata_root
  13597 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .ICE-unix
 287056 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 28 12:30 inode
  24861 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3213
  25344 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3302
  16615 drwx------.  3 root root     60 Sep 28 10:49 systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6
  13595 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .Test-unix
  13590 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .X11-unix
  13629 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .XIM-unix
8098838 -rw-------.  1 root root 242724 Sep 30 05:45 yum_save_tx.2016-09-30.05-45.FF7KO4.yumtx
[root@centos7 ~]# ls -ali /tmp
total 244
  11071 drwxrwxrwt. 10 root root    260 Sep 30 06:24 .
    128 dr-xr-xr-x. 18 root root   4096 Dec 10  2015 ..
  13635 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .font-unix
  24858 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 30 06:05 hsperfdata_root
  13597 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .ICE-unix
 287056 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 28 12:30 inode
  24861 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3213
  25344 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3302
  16615 drwx------.  3 root root     60 Sep 28 10:49 systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6
  13595 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .Test-unix
  13590 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .X11-unix
  13629 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .XIM-unix
8098838 -rw-------.  1 root root 242724 Sep 30 05:45 yum_save_tx.2016-09-30.05-45.FF7KO4.yumtx

However ls -l –all –inode cannot be written ls -l –allinode:

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l --all --inode /tmp
total 244
  11071 drwxrwxrwt. 10 root root    260 Sep 30 06:24 .
    128 dr-xr-xr-x. 18 root root   4096 Dec 10  2015 ..
  13635 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .font-unix
  24858 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 30 06:05 hsperfdata_root
  13597 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .ICE-unix
 287056 drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root    100 Sep 28 12:30 inode
  24861 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3213
  25344 srw-------.  1 root root      0 Sep 28 10:52 .java_pid3302
  16615 drwx------.  3 root root     60 Sep 28 10:49 systemd-private-45071248a58f4fd2a4de940a5734c8ec-cups.service-ODc5L6
  13595 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .Test-unix
  13590 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .X11-unix
  13629 drwxrwxrwt.  2 root root     40 Sep 28 10:48 .XIM-unix
8098838 -rw-------.  1 root root 242724 Sep 30 05:45 yum_save_tx.2016-09-30.05-45.FF7KO4.yumtx

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l --allinode /tmp
ls: unrecognized option '--allinode'
Try 'ls --help' for more information

Important - You should not combine any short options that take an argument.

Manipulating Text Files

Text files play a very important role under Linux. For example, almost all configuration files are simple text files and being able to manipulate them is of great importance. Manipulating text files is essentially achieved by using Regular Expressions. There are two types of Regular Expressions:

  • The IEEE POSIX Basic Regular Expressions (BRE) understood by the commands vi, grep, expr and sed,
  • The IEEE POSIX Extended Regular Expressions (ERE) understood by the commands egrep ( grep -E ) and awk.

Regular Expressions

Regular Expressions use Metacharacters. Certain are common to both BREs and EREs:

Metacharacter Description
^string Match lines beginning with string
string$ Match lines ending with string
\Metacharacter Cancel any special effect associated with Metacharacter
[string] Match any of the characters within string
[^string] Exclude any of the characters in string
. Match any character except when at the end of a line
character* Match 0 or more occurrences of character
\< Match string at the beginning of a word
\> Match string at the end of a word

BREs

Certain Metacharacters are specific to BREs:

Metacharacter Description
\{x,y\} Match from x to y occurrences of the preceeding element
\{x\} Match exactly x occurrences of the preceeding element
\{x,\} Match x or more occurrences of the preceeding element
\(BRE) Commit to memory the BRE
\1 Recall the first BRE committed to memory
\2, \3 … Recall the second BRE committed to memory, recall the third BRE committed to memory …

EREs

Certain Metacharacters are specific to EREs:

Metacharacter Description
{x,y} Match from x to y occurrences of the preceeding element
{x} Match exactly x occurrences of the preceeding element
{x,}
? Matches 0 or 1 occurrence of the preceeding element
+ Matches 1 or more occurrence(s) of the preceeding element
| Matches either the expression before or the expression after the operator
() Combines the Reguler Expressions between the parentheses

Text-search Utilities

The grep Command

The grep command can be used to find lines containing a string of characters in a group of files. The -v or –invert-case option can be stipulated to find lines that do not contain the specified string.

The grep command is case sensitive. The -i or –ignore-case option can be specified in order to use grep in a non case sensitive search.

The grep command can also use BREs.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the grep command to view the command line switches.

The egrep Command

The egrep command is identical to the grep command when used with the -E switch. Both can use EREs.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the egrep command to view the command line switches.

The fgrep Command

The fgrep command is identical to the grep command when used with the -F switch. Both have no knowledge of Regular Expressions.

To do : Use the –help option of the fgrep command to view the command line switches.

LAB #1 - Using grep, egrep and fgrep

Download the following file by clicking on it's title:

greptest
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe
£

Move the file to the /tmp directory:

[root@centos7 ~]# mv /home/trainee/Downloads/greptest /tmp/greptest

Now use grep to search for lines containing at least one uppercase or lowercase letter:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '[a-zA-Z]' /tmp/greptest
fenestrOS
fenestros
f
.fenestros
.fe

Next use grep to search for lines containing at least one uppercase or lowercase letter or a number:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '[a-zA-Z0-9]' /tmp/greptest
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe

To search for the NNN-NNNN pattern where N is a number, use the following command:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '[0-9]\{3\}-[0-9]\{4\}' /tmp/greptest
555-5555

Lines containing just one character have that character both at the beginning (^) and at the end ($) of the line:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '^.$' /tmp/greptest
f
£

To search for a line containing a special character such as ., that character needs to be preceded by \:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '^\.' /tmp/greptest
.fenestros
.fe

The grep command can also be used to search for a string in all the files within a specific directory as follows grep -rnw 'directory' -e “pattern”. You can also search only within certain files by specifying the files extensions: grep –include={*.doc,*.xls} -rnw 'directory' -e “pattern”. Finally you can exclude certain file extensions as follows: grep –exclude=*.doc -rnw 'directory' -e “pattern”.

Download the following file by clicking on it's title:

greptest
# Starting comment
fenestrOS
fenestros
# Another comment
555-5555
f

.fenestros

.fe

£
# End comment

Move the file to the /tmp directory:

[root@centos7 ~]# mv /home/trainee/Downloads/greptest /tmp/greptest

Now use the grep command with the -E switch to remove all the comments and empty lines:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep -E -v '^(#|$)' /tmp/greptest
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe
£

The expression '^(#|$)' matches all lines beginning with the # character OR all lines with zero characters between the start and the end of the line.

Now use the egrep command to do the same thing, this time redirecting the output to the file /tmp/greptest1:

[root@centos7 ~]# egrep -v '^(#|$)'  /tmp/greptest > /tmp/greptest1
[root@centos7 ~]# cat /tmp/greptest1
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe
£

Important: The above command is very useful when you want to quickly ascertain which directives are active in a very long configuration file.

Download the following file by clicking on it's title:

greptest
# Starting comment
^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep
fenestrOS
fenestros
# Another comment
555-5555
f
 
.fenestros
 
.fe
 
£
# End comment

Move the file to the /tmp directory:

[root@centos7 ~]# mv /home/trainee/Downloads/greptest /tmp/greptest

Now use fgrep to match the line starting with the ^ character:

[root@centos7 ~]# fgrep '^' /tmp/greptest
^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep

Compare the above output to that when using the grep command:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '^' /tmp/greptest
# Starting comment
^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep
fenestrOS
fenestros
# Another comment
555-5555
f

.fenestros

.fe

£
# End comment

As you can see, grep matched every line that had a beginning. In order to get the same result as the grep command, you need to use the following command:

[root@centos7 ~]# grep '^\^' /tmp/greptest
^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep

The Stream EDitor SED

sed is an abbreviation of Stream EDitor and is a non-interactive text editor. sed's basic syntax is as follows:

sed [address] command [arguments] file

The specified commands are applied to each line in the file unless an address is specified. Sed prints all results to standard output and does not modify the source file. The address therefore specifies which lines are concerned by the command.

sed's addresses are as follows:

address Matching lines
x Line number x
$ The last line of the file
/BRE/ Lines matching the specified BRE
x,y From line x to line y
/ERb1/, /ERb2/ All lines from the first line that matches the first BRE to the first line that matches the second BRE

sed's commands are as follows:

command Description
d Do not show the matching line(s) on standard output
p Show the matching line(s) on standard output
s Do a substitution upon match
w Write the matching line(s) to a file
= Print the matching line's number
! Exclude the line(s) matching the address

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the fgrep command to view the command line switches.

LAB #2 - Using sed

Start by displaying the contents of the file /etc/services whilst inhibiting the display of the first 10 lines:

[root@centos7 ~]# sed '1,10d' /etc/services | more
# are included, only the more common ones.
#
# The latest IANA port assignments can be gotten from
#       http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers
# The Well Known Ports are those from 0 through 1023.
# The Registered Ports are those from 1024 through 49151
# The Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535
#
# Each line describes one service, and is of the form:
#
# service-name  port/protocol  [aliases ...]   [# comment]

tcpmux          1/tcp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
tcpmux          1/udp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
rje             5/tcp                           # Remote Job Entry
rje             5/udp                           # Remote Job Entry
echo            7/tcp
echo            7/udp
discard         9/tcp           sink null
discard         9/udp           sink null
systat          11/tcp          users
systat          11/udp          users
daytime         13/tcp
--More--                    

Now display the same file without any commented lines:

[root@centos7 ~]# sed '/^#/d' /etc/services | more

tcpmux          1/tcp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
tcpmux          1/udp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
rje             5/tcp                           # Remote Job Entry
rje             5/udp                           # Remote Job Entry
echo            7/tcp
echo            7/udp
discard         9/tcp           sink null
discard         9/udp           sink null
systat          11/tcp          users
systat          11/udp          users
daytime         13/tcp
daytime         13/udp
qotd            17/tcp          quote
qotd            17/udp          quote
msp             18/tcp                          # message send protocol
msp             18/udp                          # message send protocol
chargen         19/tcp          ttytst source
chargen         19/udp          ttytst source
ftp-data        20/tcp
ftp-data        20/udp
ftp             21/tcp
ftp             21/udp          fsp fspd
--More--                        

Important: Note that the BRE is preceeded and followed by the / character.

Continue by trying to just display the first two lines of /etc/passwd:

[root@centos7 ~]# sed '1,2p' /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
...

Important: As you can see in the above output, the command used displays not only the first two lines but also the entire file. As a result the first two lines are displayed twice.

To force sed to only display the lines you specify, use the -n switch:

[root@centos7 ~]# sed -n '1,2p' /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin

Now you want to use sed to strip out the comments from /etc/services and save the result to /tmp/sedtest without displaying anything on standard output:

[root@centos7 ~]# sed -n '/^#/!w /tmp/sedtest' /etc/services
[root@centos7 ~]# more /tmp/sedtest

tcpmux          1/tcp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
tcpmux          1/udp                           # TCP port service multiplexer
rje             5/tcp                           # Remote Job Entry
rje             5/udp                           # Remote Job Entry
echo            7/tcp
echo            7/udp
discard         9/tcp           sink null
discard         9/udp           sink null
systat          11/tcp          users
systat          11/udp          users
daytime         13/tcp
daytime         13/udp
qotd            17/tcp          quote
qotd            17/udp          quote
msp             18/tcp                          # message send protocol
msp             18/udp                          # message send protocol
chargen         19/tcp          ttytst source
chargen         19/udp          ttytst source
ftp-data        20/tcp
ftp-data        20/udp
ftp             21/tcp
ftp             21/udp          fsp fspd
--More--(0%)

Important: In the above command, we start by matching all lines in the /etc/services file that start with a #. We then tell sed to write all non-matching lines to the file /tmp/sedtest.

Finally, create a file containing user1,user2,user3. Replace the commas by spaces:

[root@centos7 ~]# echo "user1,user2,user3" > /tmp/sedtest1
[root@centos7 ~]# cat /tmp/sedtest1 | sed 's/,/ /g'
user1 user2 user3

Important: The above sed command has the following format s/what is to be replaced (character, string or BRE)/replacement/g. The use of the g character forces sed to replace all occurences that match. If g is not stipulated, only the first matching occurence is replaced.

The Text Processor AWK

Presentation

The awk command acts as a filter and uses the following syntax:

awk [-F seperator] '[condition] {action}' [file]

Field Separation

A file or a text stream is treated by awk as a sequence of records. By default each line is a record. Awk analyzes each record, separating that record into fields and then storing the record and fields in variables:

  • $0 contains the record,
  • $1 contains the first field,
  • $2 contains the second field,
  • e.t.c.

Awk interprets a space as a separator between fields unless a different separator is specified with the -F option.

Awk then checks if the condition is met for each record and if so, executes the action.

For example, the following command takes the standard output of ls -l and prints fields 8, 3 and 4 to standard output:

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l | awk '{print $8 $3 $4}'

2015rootroot
19:09270users
2015rootroot
2015rootroot

Since there is no condition, the action is applied to every record.

To make the output easier to read, you can include spaces between each field:

[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l | awk '{print $8 " " $3 " " $4}'
  
2015 root root
19:09 270 users
2015 root root
2015 root root

Conditions

A regular expression applied to a record
  • Format:
    • /regular expression/ {action}
  • Exemple:
    • /hello/ {print $0}
A regular expression applied to a field
  • Format:
    • $n ~/regular expression/ {action}
    • $n!~/regular expression/ {action}
  • Examples:
    • $1 ~/hello/ {print $0}
    • $1!~/hello/ {print $0}
Comparisons
  • Format:
    • $n operator criteria {action}
  • Example:
    • $1 > 20 {print $0}

Operators

Operator Condition
< Less than
Less than or equal to
== Equal to
!= Different
> Greater than
>= Greater than or equal to
Logical Operators
  • Format:
    • test1 logical operator test2 {action}
  • Example:
    • $1 ~/hello/ && $2 > 20 {print $0}

Operators

Operator Condition
|| OR
&& AND
! NO
Built-in Variables
  • Format:
    • expression1, expression2 {instruction}
  • Example:
    • NR==7, NR==10 {print $0}

Variables

Variable Description
NR Total number of records
NF Total number of fields
FILENAME Name of current input file
FS The field separator, by default a space or tab
RS The record separator, by default newline
OFS Output field separator, by default a space
ORS Output record separator, by default newline
OFMT Numeric output format, by default“%.6g”

Awk Scripts

To combine several clauses composed of conditions and actions in the same statement, it is advisable to create an awk script. Awk scripts are comprised of three sections:

  • BEGIN
    • This section is executed once, prior to executing the body of the script
  • BODY
    • This sections contains the clauses to be applied to each line
  • END
    • This section is executed once, after executing the body of the script

For example:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat > awkscript
BEGIN {
  print "List of the currently mounted file systems"}
{print $0}
END {
  print "=========================================="}
[^D]

Now apply the awk script to /etc/fstab :

[root@centos7 tmp]# awk -f awkscript /etc/fstab
Liste des systèmes de fichiers montés

#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Sun Mar  8 12:38:10 2015
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info
#
UUID=b35de665-5ec8-4226-a533-58a1b567ac91 /                       xfs     defaults        1 1
UUID=e8d3bd48-1386-411c-9675-41c3f8f1a309 /boot                   xfs     defaults        1 2
UUID=11a4d11d-81e4-46a7-82e0-7796cd597dc9 swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
=====================================

Important: Note the use of the -f switch which instructs awk to use the script.

The printf function

The integrated function printf is used to format output and has the following syntax:

printf ("string",expression1,expression2,...,expressionn)

string contains as many formats as there are expressions.

Examples of formats commonly used are:

Format Description
%30s Displays a right-justified string of 30 characters
%-30s Displays a left-justified string of 30 characters
%4d Displays a right-justified decimal number of 4 digits
%-4d Displays a left-justified decimal number of 4 digits

Control Statements

awk can use the following control statements:

if
if condition { 

    command
    command
    ...
}

else {

    command
    command
    ...
}

or:

if condition

    command

else

    command
for
for variable in list {

    command
    command
    ...

}

or:

for variable in list

    command

or in the case of a table:

for key in table {

    print key , table[key]

}
while
while condition {

     command
     command
     ...

}
do-while
do {

     command
     command
     ...

} while condition

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the awk command to view the command line switches.

LAB #3 - Using awk

Download the file sales.txt by clicking on the title below:

sales.txt
# FenestrOs.com
# Annual sales by French department
# 83
Desktops§100
Portables§50
Servers§21
Ipads§4
 
# 06
Desktops§99
Portables§60
Servers§8
Ipads§16
 
# 13
Desktops§130
Portables§65
Servers§12
Ipads§56

Now download the awk script sales.awk by clicking on the title below:

sales.awk
# BEGIN
BEGIN {
    FS="§"
}
# TABLE
$1 !~ /^#/ && $1 !~ /^$/ {
	sales[$1]+=$2
}
# END
END {
	for (pc in sales)
	printf("PC Type :  %s \t Sales (06+13+83) : %10d\n",pc,sales[pc]);
}

This script contains 13 lines. The purpose of this script is to calculate the total number of computers sold in the three French departments from the data present in the sales file:

     1	# BEGIN
     2	BEGIN {
     3		FS="§"
     4	}
     5	# TABLE
     6	$1 !~ /^#/ && $1 !~ /^$/ {
     7		sales[$1]+=$2
     8	}
     9	# END
    10	END {
    11		for (pc in sales)
    12		printf("PC Type :  %s \t Sales (06+13+83) : %10d\n",pc,sales[pc]);
    13	}

It is important that you understand the key lines in the above script:

  • Line 3,
    • Defines a new field seperator in a BEGIN section.
  • Line 6,
    • Discards all commented and empty lines.
  • Line 7,
    • The table's key is $1, in other words the different types of computers. Against each key, the number of each type of computer sold is stored in $2. The += characters indicate that the value stored in $2 is incremental.
  • Line 12,
    • Uses printf to format the output of each line in the table.

Now execute the script and check the output is correct:

[root@centos7 ~]# awk -f /home/trainee/Downloads/sales.awk /home/trainee/Downloads/sales.txt 
PC Type :  Portables 	 Sales (06+13+83) :        175
PC Type :  Ipads 	     Sales (06+13+83) :         76
PC Type :  Desktops 	 Sales (06+13+83) :        329
PC Type :  Servers 	     Sales (06+13+83) :         41

Other Useful Commands

The expand Command

The expand command converts tabulations in a file to spaces and prints the results to STDOUT. With no file as an argument or with the - character as an argument, the command takes it's input from STDIN.

Download the following file:

expand.txt
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq

Move the file to the /root folder:

[root@centos7 ~]# mv /home/trainee/Downloads/expand.txt /root/expand

Use the cat command to view the contents of the file:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat expand
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq
un	deux	trois	quatre	cinq

Now use the -vet switches of the cat command to view the non-printable characters:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat -vet expand
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$

Important : As you can see the tabulations are shown as ^I and the end o each line as a $.

Now use the expand command to convert the tabulations into spaces and send the result to the expand1 file:

[root@centos7 ~]# expand expand > expand1

View the resulting expand1 file with the cat command and the -vet switches:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat -vet expand1
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$

Important : As you can see, the tabulations have been changed into spaces.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the expand command to view the command line switches.

La Commande unexpand

The expand command converts spaces in a file to tabulations and prints the results to STDOUT. With no file as an argument or with the - character as an argument, the command takes it's input from STDIN.

Now use the expand command to convert the spaces in the expand1 file into tabulations and send the result to the expand2 file:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat -vet expand1
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
un      deux    trois   quatre  cinq$
[root@centos7 ~]# unexpand -a expand1 > expand2
[root@centos7 ~]# cat -vet expand2
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$
un^Ideux^Itrois^Iquatre^Icinq$

Important : Note that the spaces have been replaced by tabulations.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the unexpand command to view the command line switches.

The cut command

The cut command splits each line of a file into columns starting with column 1. Each column contains one character. The command can also be used to split lines into fields where the default seperator is a tablulation. The default seperator can be changed by using the -d switch.

Select the first 7 columns of the /etc/passwd file:

[root@centos7 ~]# cut -c1-7 /etc/passwd
root:x:
bin:x:1
daemon:
adm:x:3
lp:x:4:
sync:x:
shutdow
halt:x:
mail:x:
operato
games:x
ftp:x:1
nobody:
dbus:x:
polkitd
unbound
colord:
usbmuxd
avahi:x
avahi-a
saslaut
qemu:x:
libstor
rpc:x:3
rpcuser
nfsnobo
rtkit:x
radvd:x
ntp:x:3
chrony:
abrt:x:
pulse:x
gdm:x:4
gnome-i
postfix
sshd:x:
tcpdump
trainee
vboxadd
tss:x:5

In order to select columns 1 to 5, columns 10 to 15 and columns 30 and higher, us the following command:

[root@centos7 ~]# cut -c1-5,10-15,30- /etc/passwd
root:0:rootsh
bin:x:bin:/gin
daemo2:2:dain/nologin
adm:x:adm:/nologin
lp:x:lp:/vabin/nologin
sync:0:syncnc
shutdx:6:0::/sbin/shutdown
halt:0:haltalt
mail:12:maiail:/sbin/nologin
operax:11:0t:/sbin/nologin
games2:100:es:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x50:FTP:/sbin/nologin
nobod99:99:/nologin
dbus::81:Syus:/:/sbin/nologin
polki:999:9lkitd:/:/sbin/nologin
unbou:998:9 resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin
color997:99ord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin
usbmu:113:1r:/:/sbin/nologin
avahi0:70:ASD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
avahioipd:x IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
saslax:996:user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin
qemu:7:107:bin/nologin
libstemgmt:on account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin
rpc:x32:Rpcar/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin
rpcus:29:29ser:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
nfsno:x:655mous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rtkit72:172proc:/sbin/nologin
radvd5:75:rbin/nologin
ntp:x38::/eologin
chron994:99rony:/sbin/nologin
abrt:3:173:in/nologin
pulse71:171stem Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x42::/vin/nologin
gnometial-s::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postf:89:89ostfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd::74:Prted SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdu:72:72gin
train:1000:home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxa:992:1xadd:/bin/false
tss:x59:Acche trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

In order to select the 2nd, 4th and 6th column, use the following command:

[root@centos7 ~]# cut -d: -f2,4,6 /etc/passwd
x:0:/root
x:1:/bin
x:2:/sbin
x:4:/var/adm
x:7:/var/spool/lpd
x:0:/sbin
x:0:/sbin
x:0:/sbin
x:12:/var/spool/mail
x:0:/root
x:100:/usr/games
x:50:/var/ftp
x:99:/
x:81:/
x:998:/
x:997:/etc/unbound
x:996:/var/lib/colord
x:113:/
x:70:/var/run/avahi-daemon
x:170:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd
x:76:/run/saslauthd
x:107:/
x:994:/var/run/lsm
x:32:/var/lib/rpcbind
x:29:/var/lib/nfs
x:65534:/var/lib/nfs
x:172:/proc
x:75:/
x:38:/etc/ntp
x:993:/var/lib/chrony
x:173:/etc/abrt
x:171:/var/run/pulse
x:42:/var/lib/gdm
x:991:/run/gnome-initial-setup/
x:89:/var/spool/postfix
x:74:/var/empty/sshd
x:72:/
x:1000:/home/trainee
x:1:/var/run/vboxadd
x:59:/dev/null

Important: Note the use of the -d switch to change the default seperator.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the cut command to view the command line switches.

The uniq Command

The following command is used to extract the Primary Group GIDs from the /etc/passwd file:

[root@centos7 ~]# cut -d: -f4 /etc/passwd | sort -n | uniq
0
1
2
4
7
12
29
32
38
42
50
59
70
72
74
75
76
81
89
99
100
107
113
170
171
172
173
991
993
994
996
997
998
1000
65534

Important: Note the use of the uniq command to remove duplicates from the list.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the uniq command to view the command line switches.

The tr Command

The tr command is used to substitute certain characters by other characters. This command only accepts data from standard input (hence the pipe):

[root@centos7 ~]# cat /etc/passwd | tr "[a-z]" "[A-Z]"
ROOT:X:0:0:ROOT:/ROOT:/BIN/BASH
BIN:X:1:1:BIN:/BIN:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
DAEMON:X:2:2:DAEMON:/SBIN:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
ADM:X:3:4:ADM:/VAR/ADM:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
LP:X:4:7:LP:/VAR/SPOOL/LPD:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
SYNC:X:5:0:SYNC:/SBIN:/BIN/SYNC
SHUTDOWN:X:6:0:SHUTDOWN:/SBIN:/SBIN/SHUTDOWN
HALT:X:7:0:HALT:/SBIN:/SBIN/HALT
MAIL:X:8:12:MAIL:/VAR/SPOOL/MAIL:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
OPERATOR:X:11:0:OPERATOR:/ROOT:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
GAMES:X:12:100:GAMES:/USR/GAMES:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
FTP:X:14:50:FTP USER:/VAR/FTP:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
NOBODY:X:99:99:NOBODY:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
DBUS:X:81:81:SYSTEM MESSAGE BUS:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
POLKITD:X:999:998:USER FOR POLKITD:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
UNBOUND:X:998:997:UNBOUND DNS RESOLVER:/ETC/UNBOUND:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
COLORD:X:997:996:USER FOR COLORD:/VAR/LIB/COLORD:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
USBMUXD:X:113:113:USBMUXD USER:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
AVAHI:X:70:70:AVAHI MDNS/DNS-SD STACK:/VAR/RUN/AVAHI-DAEMON:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
AVAHI-AUTOIPD:X:170:170:AVAHI IPV4LL STACK:/VAR/LIB/AVAHI-AUTOIPD:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
SASLAUTH:X:996:76:"SASLAUTHD USER":/RUN/SASLAUTHD:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
QEMU:X:107:107:QEMU USER:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
LIBSTORAGEMGMT:X:995:994:DAEMON ACCOUNT FOR LIBSTORAGEMGMT:/VAR/RUN/LSM:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
RPC:X:32:32:RPCBIND DAEMON:/VAR/LIB/RPCBIND:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
RPCUSER:X:29:29:RPC SERVICE USER:/VAR/LIB/NFS:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
NFSNOBODY:X:65534:65534:ANONYMOUS NFS USER:/VAR/LIB/NFS:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
RTKIT:X:172:172:REALTIMEKIT:/PROC:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
RADVD:X:75:75:RADVD USER:/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
NTP:X:38:38::/ETC/NTP:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
CHRONY:X:994:993::/VAR/LIB/CHRONY:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
ABRT:X:173:173::/ETC/ABRT:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
PULSE:X:171:171:PULSEAUDIO SYSTEM DAEMON:/VAR/RUN/PULSE:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
GDM:X:42:42::/VAR/LIB/GDM:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
GNOME-INITIAL-SETUP:X:993:991::/RUN/GNOME-INITIAL-SETUP/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
POSTFIX:X:89:89::/VAR/SPOOL/POSTFIX:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
SSHD:X:74:74:PRIVILEGE-SEPARATED SSH:/VAR/EMPTY/SSHD:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
TCPDUMP:X:72:72::/:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
TRAINEE:X:1000:1000:TRAINEE:/HOME/TRAINEE:/BIN/BASH
VBOXADD:X:992:1::/VAR/RUN/VBOXADD:/BIN/FALSE
TSS:X:59:59:ACCOUNT USED BY THE TROUSERS PACKAGE TO SANDBOX THE TCSD DAEMON:/DEV/NULL:/SBIN/NOLOGIN
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the tr command to view the command line switches.

The paste Command

The paste command concatenates lines from n files. For example:

[root@centos7 ~]# paste -d: /etc/passwd /etc/shadow
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash:root:$6$r4px/s9L2uwGSFnI$NkK5mzNF.CMAFFqMcO.i.tnrMZQDkriDLYwICsimsPaDWKFwUHS3NhDwZY5e7P3glIu.gTBtaOE.SOOW/D.AU/:16502:0:99999:7:::
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin:bin:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin:daemon:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin:adm:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin:lp:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync:sync:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown:shutdown:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt:halt:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin:mail:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin:operator:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin:games:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin:ftp:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin:nobody:*:16231:0:99999:7:::
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin:dbus:!!:16502::::::
polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin:polkitd:!!:16502::::::
unbound:x:998:997:Unbound DNS resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin:unbound:!!:16502::::::
colord:x:997:996:User for colord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin:colord:!!:16502::::::
usbmuxd:x:113:113:usbmuxd user:/:/sbin/nologin:usbmuxd:!!:16502::::::
avahi:x:70:70:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin:avahi:!!:16502::::::
avahi-autoipd:x:170:170:Avahi IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin:avahi-autoipd:!!:16502::::::
saslauth:x:996:76:"Saslauthd user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin:saslauth:!!:16502::::::
qemu:x:107:107:qemu user:/:/sbin/nologin:qemu:!!:16502::::::
libstoragemgmt:x:995:994:daemon account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin:libstoragemgmt:!!:16502::::::
rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin:rpc:!!:16502:0:99999:7:::
rpcuser:x:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin:rpcuser:!!:16502::::::
nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin:nfsnobody:!!:16502::::::
rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin:rtkit:!!:16502::::::
radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin:radvd:!!:16502::::::
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin:ntp:!!:16502::::::
chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin:chrony:!!:16502::::::
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin:abrt:!!:16502::::::
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin:pulse:!!:16502::::::
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin:gdm:!!:16502::::::
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin:gnome-initial-setup:!!:16502::::::
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin:postfix:!!:16502::::::
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin:sshd:!!:16502::::::
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin:tcpdump:!!:16502::::::
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash:trainee:$6$tMd44tmmFiitAS7.$sJSua3jhyKm2k0mIifYuTpUO0d6q6/gS3PDyuxbHadHVYLsoVslZ3Pn8m5X93rr64oj.KK8OL6J.gvhxbQBrZ1:16502:0:99999:7:::
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false:vboxadd:!!:16691::::::
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin:tss:!!:16723::::::

Important: Note that you need to become root to be able to execute this command. The reason is that normal users do not have the right to read the /etc/shadow file.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the paste command to view the command line switches.

The split Command

The split command is used to divide a large file into smaller segments. Create an empty 250 MB file as follows:

[root@centos7 ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/file bs=1024k count=250
250+0 records in
250+0 records out
262144000 bytes (262 MB) copied, 0.215447 s, 1.2 GB/s

Now use the split command to divide the file into 5 smaller files each of 50:

[root@centos7 ~]# split -b 50m /file filepart
[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l | grep filepart
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  52428800 Oct 19 15:31 filepartaa
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  52428800 Oct 19 15:31 filepartab
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  52428800 Oct 19 15:31 filepartac
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  52428800 Oct 19 15:31 filepartad
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  52428800 Oct 19 15:31 filepartae

Important: Note that the 5 files were created in the current working directory.

You can re-construct the original file by using the cat command:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat fileparta* > newfile
[root@centos7 ~]# ls -l | grep newf
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root  262144000 Oct 19 15:31 newfile
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the split command to view the command line switches.

The diff Command

The diff command compares two fles and indicates what changes need to be made to the first file in order that it be identical to the second file.

Copy the /etc/passwd file to the /root directory:

[root@centos ~]# cp /etc/passwd /root

Edit the */root/passwd file as shown:

...
trainee10:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
...

Delete the tcpdump entry and add the following line to the end of /root/passwd:

...
Linux is great!

Now compare the two files:

[root@centos7 ~]# diff /etc/passwd /root/passwd
38,39c38
< trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
< vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
---
> trainee10:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
40a40
> Linux is great!

In this output you will notice the < and > characters. The first makes reference to the first file, /etc/passwd, whist the second makes reference to the second file, /root/passwd.

The output 38,39c38 means that line 39 needs to be changed in /etc/passwd so that is the same as line 38 in /root/passwd.

The output 40a40 means that at line 40 in /etc/passwd line 40 from /root/passwd needs to be added.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the diff command to view the command line switches.

The cmp Command

The cmp command compares two files character by character. By default, the command stops after finding the first difference:

[root@centos7 ~]# cmp /root/passwd /etc/passwd
/root/passwd /etc/passwd differ: byte 1873, line 38

The -l switch shows all of the differences in a three column format:

[root@centos7 ~]# cmp -l /root/passwd /etc/passwd | more
cmp: EOF on /root/passwd
1873  61  72
1874  60 170
1876 170  61
1877  72  60
1878  61  60
1880  60  72
1881  60  61
1882  72  60
1883  61  60
1885  60  72
1886  60 164
1887  72 162
1888 164 141
1889 162 151
1890 141 156
1891 151 145
1892 156 145
1893 145  72
1894 145  57
1895  72 150
1896  57 157
1897 150 155
1898 157 145
1899 155  57
1900 145 164
1901  57 162
1902 164 141
1903 162 151
--More--

The first column represents the character number, the second column represents the ASCII octal value of the character in the /root/passwd file and the third column represents the ASCII octal value of the character in the /etc/passwd file.

Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the cmp command to view the command line switches.

The patch Command

The patch command is used to apply modifications contained within a patch file to an older version of a file so that it becomes the newer version of the file.

The patch command is not installed by default in RHEL/CentOS 7:

[root@centos7 ~]# yum install patch
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.ibcp.fr
 * extras: mirrors.atosworldline.com
 * updates: mirror.ibcp.fr
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package patch.x86_64 0:2.7.1-8.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

======================================================================================================================================================
 Package                           Arch                               Version                                  Repository                        Size
======================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 patch                             x86_64                             2.7.1-8.el7                              base                             110 k

Transaction Summary
======================================================================================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 110 k
Installed size: 210 k
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
patch-2.7.1-8.el7.x86_64.rpm                                                                                                   | 110 kB  00:00:00     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
  Installing : patch-2.7.1-8.el7.x86_64                                                                                                           1/1 
  Verifying  : patch-2.7.1-8.el7.x86_64                                                                                                           1/1 

Installed:
  patch.x86_64 0:2.7.1-8.el7                                                                                                                          

Complete!

If you recall, you made some changes to the original greptest file that you downloaded:

[root@centos7 ~]# cat /tmp/greptest
# Starting comment
^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep
fenestrOS
fenestros
# Another comment
555-5555
f

.fenestros

.fe

£
# End comment

You also used egrep to remove all the comments and empty lines and save the result to /tmp/greptest1:

[root@centos ~]# cat /tmp/greptest1
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe
£

Now create a patch file containing the modifications that need to be applied to /tmp/greptest in order for it to be identical to /tmp/greptest1:

[root@centos7 ~]# cd /tmp
[root@centos7 tmp]# diff -u greptest greptest1 > greptest.patch

A look at the patch file shows the chnages that need to be made to the greptest file:

[root@centos tmp]# cat /tmp/greptest.patch
--- greptest	2013-01-07 15:14:03.646565259 +0100
+++ greptest1	2013-01-07 15:07:05.657375635 +0100
@@ -1,14 +1,7 @@
-# Starting comment
-^ This line will be used to demonstrate the use of fgrep
 fenestrOS
 fenestros
-# Another comment
 555-5555
 f
-
 .fenestros
-
 .fe
-
 £
-# End comment

Now apply the patch file:

[root@centos7 tmp]# patch < greptest.patch
patching file greptest

Finally, check the contents of the patched greptest file:

[root@centos7 tmp]# cat greptest
fenestrOS
fenestros
555-5555
f
.fenestros
.fe
£
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the patch command to view the command line switches.

The strings Command

The strings Command is used to extract any printable string in one or more object files or executables. An object fie is an intermediary file used when compiling.

The format of an object file is ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). This same format is also used for:

  • executables,
  • shared libraries,
  • core dumps.

Used as is, the command extracts all strings greater than 4 characters in length:

[root@centos7 tmp]# strings /usr/bin/passwd | more
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
{1~`
libuser.so.1
g_value_get_int64
is_selinux_enabled
_ITM_deregisterTMCloneTable
g_free
g_value_array_get_nth
__gmon_start__
g_value_get_string
g_type_check_value_holds
g_value_get_long
_Jv_RegisterClasses
freecon
_ITM_registerTMCloneTable
lu_ent_set_string
lu_ent_get_first_value_strdup
lu_error_free
lu_user_lock
_fini
_init
lu_strerror
lu_ent_free
lu_ent_new
lu_user_modify
lu_prompt_console
lu_start
lu_user_lookup_name
--More--

Print the offset within the file before each string:

[root@centos7 tmp]# strings -t d /usr/bin/passwd | more
    568 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    648 {1~`
   2833 libuser.so.1
   2846 g_value_get_int64
   2864 is_selinux_enabled
   2883 _ITM_deregisterTMCloneTable
   2911 g_free
   2918 g_value_array_get_nth
   2940 __gmon_start__
   2955 g_value_get_string
   2974 g_type_check_value_holds
   2999 g_value_get_long
   3016 _Jv_RegisterClasses
   3036 freecon
   3044 _ITM_registerTMCloneTable
   3070 lu_ent_set_string
   3088 lu_ent_get_first_value_strdup
   3118 lu_error_free
   3132 lu_user_lock
   3145 _fini
   3151 _init
   3157 lu_strerror
   3169 lu_ent_free
   3181 lu_ent_new
   3192 lu_user_modify
   3207 lu_prompt_console
   3225 lu_start
   3234 lu_user_lookup_name
--More--

The -t switch can take one of three arguments that specify the numbering system to use:

Argument Numbering System
d Decimal
o Octal
x Hexadecimal

The -n switch prints sequences of characters that are at least min-len characters long, instead of the default 4:

[root@centos7 tmp]# strings -t d -n 15 /usr/bin/passwd | more
    568 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
   2846 g_value_get_int64
   2864 is_selinux_enabled
   2883 _ITM_deregisterTMCloneTable
   2918 g_value_array_get_nth
   2955 g_value_get_string
   2974 g_type_check_value_holds
   2999 g_value_get_long
   3016 _Jv_RegisterClasses
   3044 _ITM_registerTMCloneTable
   3070 lu_ent_set_string
   3088 lu_ent_get_first_value_strdup
   3207 lu_prompt_console
   3234 lu_user_lookup_name
   3261 lu_ent_set_long
   3303 lu_user_removepass
   3322 libgobject-2.0.so.0
   3342 libglib-2.0.so.0
   3372 poptSetOtherOptionHelp
   3464 poptHelpOptions
   3503 audit_log_acct_message
   3599 libpam_misc.so.0
   3640 audit_log_user_avc_message
   3667 audit_log_user_message
   3690 libselinux.so.1
   3706 selinux_set_callback
   3727 selinux_check_access
   3759 libpthread.so.0
--More--

The -f switch prints the name of the file before each string:

[root@centos7 tmp]# strings -f /bin/* | grep "(c)"
/bin/btrace: # Copyright (c) 2005 Silicon Graphics, Inc.
/bin/cdda-player: (c) 1997,98 Gerd Knorr <kraxel@goldbach.in-berlin.de>
/bin/cdda-player: (c) 2005, 2006 Rocky Bernstein <rocky@gnu.org>
/bin/cd-drive: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/cd-info: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/cd-read: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/chcat:         if len(c) > 0 and ( c[0] == "+" or c[0] == "-" ):
/bin/chcat:                 if len(c) > 0 and c[0] == "+":
/bin/chcat:                 if len(c) > 0 and c[0] == "-":
/bin/crash:        (c) a pointer to the first item pointed to by the start address.
/bin/crash:        (c) a list_head that is embedded within a data structure that is
/bin/crash:                 switch(c)
/bin/csh: @(#) Copyright (c) 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
/bin/diffpp: # Copyright (c) 1996-1998 Markku Rossi
/bin/drill: Copyright (c) 2004-2008 NLnet Labs.
/bin/festival_server: ##                         Copyright (c) 1996                            ##
/bin/festival_server_control: ##                         Copyright (c) 1996                            ##
/bin/gcm-calibrate: Copyright (c)
/bin/gprof: @(#) Copyright (c) 1983 Regents of the University of California.
/bin/hpijs: Copyright (c) 2001-2004, Hewlett-Packard Co.
/bin/ibus-setup: # Copyright (c) 2007-2010 Peng Huang <shawn.p.huang@gmail.com>
/bin/ibus-setup: # Copyright (c) 2007-2010 Red Hat, Inc.
/bin/ibus-table-createdb: # Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Yu Yuwei <acevery@gmail.com>
/bin/iso-info: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/iso-read: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/lsusb.py: # (c) Kurt Garloff <garloff@suse.de>, 2/2009, GPL v2 or v3.
/bin/mmc-tool: Copyright (c) 2003-2005, 2007-2008, 2011-2013 R. Bernstein
/bin/orca: __copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2010-2012 The Orca Team" \
/bin/orca:                 "Copyright (c) 2012 Igalia, S.L."
/bin/pinentry: # Copyright (c) 2006 SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany.
/bin/pinentry: # Copyright (c) 2009 Fedora Project
/bin/ping: @(#) Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California.
/bin/ping6: @(#) Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California.
/bin/pod2usage: # Copyright (c) 1996-2000 by Bradford Appleton. All rights reserved.
/bin/qemu-img: qemu-img version 1.5.3, Copyright (c) 2004-2008 Fabrice Bellard
/bin/repoclosure: # seth vidal 2005 (c) etc etc
/bin/repodiff: # (c) 2007 Red Hat. Written by skvidal@fedoraproject.org
/bin/repo-graph: # (c) 2005 Panu Matilainen <pmatilai@laiskiainen.org>
/bin/repomanage: # (c) Copyright Seth Vidal 2004
/bin/repoquery: # (c) pmatilai@laiskiainen.org
/bin/repo-rss: # seth vidal 2005 (c) etc etc
/bin/repotrack: # (c) 2005 seth vidal skvidal at phy.duke.edu
/bin/rngtest: Copyright (c) 2004 by Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
/bin/saytime: ;;                       Copyright (c) 1996,1997                         ;;
/bin/sbcdec: Copyright (c) 2004-2010  Marcel Holtmann
/bin/sbcenc: Copyright (c) 2004-2010  Marcel Holtmann
/bin/screen: Copyright (c) 2010 Juergen Weigert, Sadrul Habib Chowdhury
/bin/screen: Copyright (c) 2008, 2009 Juergen Weigert, Michael Schroeder, Micah Cowan, Sadrul Habib Chowdhury
/bin/screen: Copyright (c) 1993-2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 Juergen Weigert, Michael Schroeder
/bin/screen: Copyright (c) 1987 Oliver Laumann
/bin/sliceprint: # Copyright (c) 1996-1999 Markku Rossi
/bin/soundstretch:     Copyright (c) Olli Parviainen
/bin/ssh-copy-id: # Copyright (c) 1999-2013 Philip Hands <phil@hands.com>
/bin/tcptraceroute: #   Copyright (c)  2007             Dmitry Butskoy
/bin/tcsh: @(#) Copyright (c) 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
/bin/text2wave: ;;                       Copyright (c) 1996,1997                         ;;
/bin/traceroute: Copyright (c) 2008  Dmitry Butskoy,   License: GPL v2 or any later
/bin/traceroute6: Copyright (c) 2008  Dmitry Butskoy,   License: GPL v2 or any later
/bin/verifytree: # copyright (c) 2008 Red Hat, Inc - written by Seth Vidal and Will Woods
/bin/wavpack:  Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009 Conifer Software.  All Rights Reserved.
/bin/wvdial: Copyright (c) 1997-2005 Net Integration Technologies, Inc.
/bin/wvdialconf: Copyright (c) 1997-2005 Net Integration Technologies, Inc.
/bin/wvgain:  Copyright (c) 2005 - 2009 Conifer Software.  All Rights Reserved.
/bin/wvunpack:  Copyright (c) 1998 - 2009 Conifer Software.  All Rights Reserved.
/bin/yum-debug-dump: ## (c) 2008 Red Hat. Written by skvidal@fedoraproject.org
/bin/yum-debug-restore: ## (c) 2008 Red Hat. Written by skvidal@fedoraproject.org
/bin/zip: ight (c)H
/bin/zip: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP.  All rights reserved.
/bin/zip: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type '%s "-L"' for software license.
/bin/zipcloak: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP.  All rights reserved.
/bin/zipcloak: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type '%s "-L"' for software license.
/bin/zipnote: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP.  All rights reserved.
/bin/zipnote: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type '%s "-L"' for software license.
/bin/zipsplit: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP.  All rights reserved.
/bin/zipsplit: Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type '%s "-L"' for software license.
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the strings command to view the command line switches.

The comm Command

This command compares two text files and prints the differences to standard output:

[root@centos7 tmp]# comm /etc/passwd /root/passwd
		root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
		bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
		daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
		adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
		lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
		sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
		shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
		halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
		mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
		operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
		games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
		ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
		nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
		dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
		polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin
		unbound:x:998:997:Unbound DNS resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin
		colord:x:997:996:User for colord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin
		usbmuxd:x:113:113:usbmuxd user:/:/sbin/nologin
		avahi:x:70:70:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
		avahi-autoipd:x:170:170:Avahi IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
		saslauth:x:996:76:"Saslauthd user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin
		qemu:x:107:107:qemu user:/:/sbin/nologin
		libstoragemgmt:x:995:994:daemon account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin
		rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin
		rpcuser:x:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
		nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
		rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
		radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin
		ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
		chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
		abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
		pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
		gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
		gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
		postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
		sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
		tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
	trainee10:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
	tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin
comm: file 2 is not in sorted order
	Linux est super!
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
comm: file 1 is not in sorted order
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

Important: The lines to the left are those that only appear in the first file. The lines on the right are those that exist in both files. The lines in the middle are those that only exist in the second file.

If you only want to see the lines common to both files, use the following command:

[root@centos7 tmp]# comm -12 /etc/passwd /root/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin
unbound:x:998:997:Unbound DNS resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin
colord:x:997:996:User for colord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin
usbmuxd:x:113:113:usbmuxd user:/:/sbin/nologin
avahi:x:70:70:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
avahi-autoipd:x:170:170:Avahi IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
saslauth:x:996:76:"Saslauthd user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin
qemu:x:107:107:qemu user:/:/sbin/nologin
libstoragemgmt:x:995:994:daemon account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin
rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin
rpcuser:x:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
comm: file 2 is not in sorted order
comm: file 1 is not in sorted order
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the comm command to view the command line switches.

The head Command

The head command is used to display the first x lines of a file. The default value of x is 10:

[root@centos7 tmp]# head /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin

You can change the default value of x by using the -n switch:

[root@centos7 tmp]# head -n 15 /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin

The command can also be used to display the first y bytes of a file by using the -c switch:

[root@centos7 tmp]# head -c 150 /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7[root@centos7 tmp]#  

If the value of y is negative, head displays all bytes in the file except the last y bytes:

lp:x:4:7[root@centos7 tmp]# head -c -150 /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin
unbound:x:998:997:Unbound DNS resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin
colord:x:997:996:User for colord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin
usbmuxd:x:113:113:usbmuxd user:/:/sbin/nologin
avahi:x:70:70:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
avahi-autoipd:x:170:170:Avahi IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
saslauth:x:996:76:"Saslauthd user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin
qemu:x:107:107:qemu user:/:/sbin/nologin
libstoragemgmt:x:995:994:daemon account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin
rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin
rpcuser:x:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/[root@centos7 tmp]# 

Both x and y can accept multipliers:

[root@centos7 tmp]# head -c 1b /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin[root@centos7 tmp]# 
[root@centos7 tmp]# head -c 512 /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin[root@centos7 tmp]#

The common multipliers are:

Multiplier Number of bytes
b 512
KB 1000
K 1024
MB 1000*1000
M 1024*1024
GB 1000*1000*1000
G 1024*1024*1024
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the head command to view the command line switches.

The tail Command

The tail command is used to display the last x lines of a file. The default value of x is 10:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail /etc/passwd
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

You can change the default value of x by using the -n switch:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -n 15 /etc/passwd
nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

The command can also be used to display the last y bytes of a file by using the -c switch:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -c 150 /etc/passwd
bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

If the value of y is positive, tail displays all bytes in the file after the yth byte:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -c +150 /etc/passwd
7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:x:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:x:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
operator:x:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
games:x:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/sbin/nologin
polkitd:x:999:998:User for polkitd:/:/sbin/nologin
unbound:x:998:997:Unbound DNS resolver:/etc/unbound:/sbin/nologin
colord:x:997:996:User for colord:/var/lib/colord:/sbin/nologin
usbmuxd:x:113:113:usbmuxd user:/:/sbin/nologin
avahi:x:70:70:Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/sbin/nologin
avahi-autoipd:x:170:170:Avahi IPv4LL Stack:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/sbin/nologin
saslauth:x:996:76:"Saslauthd user":/run/saslauthd:/sbin/nologin
qemu:x:107:107:qemu user:/:/sbin/nologin
libstoragemgmt:x:995:994:daemon account for libstoragemgmt:/var/run/lsm:/sbin/nologin
rpc:x:32:32:Rpcbind Daemon:/var/lib/rpcbind:/sbin/nologin
rpcuser:x:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
nfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rtkit:x:172:172:RealtimeKit:/proc:/sbin/nologin
radvd:x:75:75:radvd user:/:/sbin/nologin
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
chrony:x:994:993::/var/lib/chrony:/sbin/nologin
abrt:x:173:173::/etc/abrt:/sbin/nologin
pulse:x:171:171:PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

Both x and y can accept multipliers:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -c 1b /etc/passwd
PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin
[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -c 512 /etc/passwd
PulseAudio System Daemon:/var/run/pulse:/sbin/nologin
gdm:x:42:42::/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gnome-initial-setup:x:993:991::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/sbin/nologin
postfix:x:89:89::/var/spool/postfix:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
tcpdump:x:72:72::/:/sbin/nologin
trainee:x:1000:1000:trainee:/home/trainee:/bin/bash
vboxadd:x:992:1::/var/run/vboxadd:/bin/false
tss:x:59:59:Account used by the trousers package to sandbox the tcsd daemon:/dev/null:/sbin/nologin

The common multipliers are:

Multiplier Number of bytes
b 512
KB 1000
K 1024
MB 1000*1000
M 1024*1024
GB 1000*1000*1000
G 1024*1024*1024

A useful switch to use with the tail command is -f. This switch continually updates the output:

[root@centos7 tmp]# tail -f /var/log/messages
Oct 19 15:58:06 centos7 dbus-daemon: dbus[542]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.PackageKit' (using servicehelper)
Oct 19 15:58:06 centos7 dbus[542]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.PackageKit' (using servicehelper)
Oct 19 15:58:06 centos7 dbus-daemon: dbus[542]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.PackageKit'
Oct 19 15:58:06 centos7 dbus[542]: [system] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.PackageKit'
Oct 19 16:00:01 centos7 systemd: Created slice user-0.slice.
Oct 19 16:00:01 centos7 systemd: Starting Session 17 of user root.
Oct 19 16:00:01 centos7 systemd: Started Session 17 of user root.
Oct 19 16:01:01 centos7 systemd: Created slice user-0.slice.
Oct 19 16:01:01 centos7 systemd: Starting Session 18 of user root.
Oct 19 16:01:01 centos7 systemd: Started Session 18 of user root.
^C
Command Line Switches

To do : Use the –help option of the head command to view the command line switches.

LAB #4 - Use the grep, tr and cut to extract your IP address from the output of ifconfig

[root@centos7 tmp]# ifconfig enp0s3
enp0s3: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 10.0.2.15  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.2.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:febd:f523  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 08:00:27:bd:f5:23  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 7462  bytes 6158140 (5.8 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 4130  bytes 555287 (542.2 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[root@centos7 tmp]# ifconfig enp0s3 | grep "inet"
        inet 10.0.2.15  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.2.255
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:febd:f523  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

[root@centos7 tmp]# ifconfig enp0s3 | grep "inet" | grep -v "inet6"
        inet 10.0.2.15  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.2.255

[root@centos7 tmp]# ifconfig enp0s3 | grep "inet" | grep -v "inet6" | tr -s " " ":"
:inet:10.0.2.15:netmask:255.255.255.0:broadcast:10.0.2.255

[root@centos7 tmp]# ifconfig enp0s3 | grep "inet" | grep -v "inet6" | tr -s " " ":" | cut -d: -f3
10.0.2.15

Important : Note the use of the -s switch with the tr command. This switch replaces a string of x identical characters with a single character.


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