UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I'm in college now and a part of a subject in this semester is learning UNIX, though the teacher failed to explain the basics, I feel, we got straight to the Unix Terminal and started putting in commands without much explanation what they were for. I quickly adapted to the basic ones, but in 5 days, I have a major test, not the finals, but I have to pass it to get to the finals. Basically, we'll be doing those basic commands, also pipes, which I'm admittedly not very good at, and I'm also unsure about the flags. My current 'opinion', so to speak is that flags define the way the command is executed. -f meaning it will be forced etc...

tl;dr - Where do I start learning UNIX? Need those commands explained in details.

Did you try these ones:

Unix Tutorials/Programming Tutorials/Shell Scripting Tutorials

You may also try Bruce Barnett's tutorials.
Start with sh for example.

Try also the manual pages:

Code:

man <command>

I know they are not easy to read, but you really need them.

Use any variant of UNIX or Linux everyday. There are tons of books on UNIX basics and shell scripting. I prefer books from O'Reilly.

If you encounter any issue or have trouble understanding certain things, this forum is the place where you will always get good help.

Install a nix virtual machine. Full screen that puppy and use it as much as you can. If you are daring, make it your main OS. You'll learn as you go. There's no point in memorizing the commands. Just use them until you are used to them.

Very good recommendation for the O'Reilly books on unix and Linux above. When you realise that the core subject matter can be condensed into a single paperback then it is much easier to comprehend.


Regarding command syntax. Unfortunately there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. Within unix syntax you may find that "-f" refers to "force" (say in the context of the "rm" command) or just the name of a file "-f filename" in the context of the "tar" command. This is where the "man" pages and a decent book are so useful.

You'll get used to it.

The one thing newcomers to unix find most difficult is the first principle of unix commands: "when the command has worked, say nothing".

This can be disturbing if you have been used to command languages which have to tell you that they have done a task.
To balance this many unix commands have the "-v" (verbose) switch to tell you that something happened. I rarely ever use it because I like the silence of unix.



If you have a command or a concept which you do not understand, please do post you question on this forum.

Code:

echo "I do not understand"|cut -d" " -f1-2,4

I do understand