Linux Notes

## Getting Help in Linux

##########################

# MAN Pages
man command # => Ex: man ls

# The man page is displayed with the less command

# SHORTCUTS:
# h => getting help
# q => quit
# enter => show next line
# space => show next screen
# /string => search forward for a string
# ?string => search backwards for a string
# n / N => next/previous appearance

# checking if a command is shell built-in or executable file

type rm # => rm is /usr/bin/rm
type cd # => cd is a shell builtin

# getting help for shell built-in commands

help command # => Ex: help cd
command --help # => Ex: rm --help

# searching for a command, feature or keyword in all man Pages

man -k uname
man -k "copy files"
apropos passed
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## Keyboard Shortcuts
TAB # autocompletes the command or the filename if its unique
TAB TAB (press twice) # displays all commands or filenames that start with those letters

# clearing the terminal

CTRL + L

# closing the shell (exit)

CTRL + D

# cutting (removing) the current line

CTRL + U

# moving the cursor to the start of the line

CTRL + A
# moving the cursor to the end of the line
Ctrl + E

# stopping the current command

CTRL + C

# sleeping a the running program

CTRL + Z

# opening a terminal
CTRL + ALT + T
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## Bash History

# showing the history

history

# removing a line (ex: 100) from the history

history -d 100

# removing the entire history

history -c

# printing the no. of commands saved in the history file (~/.bash_history)

echo $HISTFILESIZE

# printing the no. of history commands saved in the memory

echo $HISTSIZE

# rerunning the last command from the history

!!

# running a specific command from the history (ex: the 20th command)
!20

# running the last nth (10th) command from the history

!-10

# running the last command starting with abc

!abc

# printing the last command starting with abc

!abc:p

# reverse searching into the history

CTRL + R
# recording the date and time of each command in the history
HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T"

# making it persistent after reboot

echo "HISTTIMEFORMAT=\"%d/%m/%y %T\"" >> ~/.bashrc
# or
echo 'HISTTIMEFORMAT="%d/%m/%y %T"' >> ~/.bashrc
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## Running commands as root (sudo, su)

# running a command as root (only users that belong to sudo group [Ubuntu] or wheel
[CentOS])
sudo command

# becoming root temporarily in the terminal

sudo su # => enter the user's password

# setting the root password

sudo passwd root

# changing a user's password

passwd username

# becoming root temporarily in the terminal

su # => enter the root password
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## Linux Paths

. # => the current working directory

.. # => the parent directory
~ # => the user's home directory

cd # => changing the current directory to user's home directory

cd ~ # => changing the current directory to user's home directory
cd - # => changing the current directory to the last directory
cd /path_to_dir # => changing the current directory to path_to_dir
pwd # => printing the current working directory

# installing tree
sudo apt install tree

tree directory/ # => Ex: tree .

tree -d . # => prints only directories
tree -f . # => prints absolute paths
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## File Timestamps and Date
# displaying atime
ls -lu

# displaying mtime
ls -l
ls -lt

# displaying ctime
ls -lc

# displaying all timestamps

stat file.txt

# displaying the full timestamp

ls -l --full-time /etc/

# creating an empty file if it does not exist, update the timestamps if the file exists
touch file.txt

# changing only the access time to current time

touch -a file

# changing only the modification time to current time

touch -m file

# changing the modification time to a specific date and time

touch -m -t 201812301530.45 a.txt

# changing both atime and mtime to a specific date and time

touch -d "2010-10-31 15:45:30" a.txt

# changing the timestamp of a.txt to those of b.txt

touch a.txt -r b.txt

# displaying the date and time

date

# showing this month's calendar

cal

# showing the calendar of a specific year

cal 2021

# showing the calendar of a specific month and year

cal 7 2021

# showing the calendar of previous, current and next month

cal -3
# setting the date and time
date --set="2 OCT 2020 18:00:00"

# displaying the modification time and sorting the output by name.

ls -l

# displaying the output sorted by modification time, newest files first

ls -lt

# displaying and sorting by atime

ls -ltu

# reversing the sorting order

ls -ltu --reverse
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## Viewing files (cat, less, more, head, tail, watch)

# displaying the contents of a file

cat filename

# displaying more files

cat filename1 filename2

# displaying the line numbers

can -n filename

# concatenating 2 files
cat filename1 filename2 > filename3

# viewing a file using less

less filename

# less shortcuts:
# h => getting help
# q => quit
# enter => show next line
# space => show next screen
# /string => search forward for a string
# ?string => search backwards for a string
# n / N => next/previous appearance

# showing the last 10 lines of a file

tail filename

# showing the last 15 lines of a file

tail -n 15 filename
# showing the last lines of a file starting with line no. 5
tail -n +5 filename

# showing the last 10 lines of the file in real-time

tail -f filename

# showing the first 10 lines of a file

head filename

# showing the first 15 lines of a file

head -n 15 filename

# running repeatedly a command with refresh of 3 seconds

watch -n 3 ls -l
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## Working with files and directory (touch, mkdir, cp, mv, rm, shred)

# creating a new file or updating the timestamps if the file already exists
touch filename

# creating a new directory

mkdir dir1

# creating a directory and its parents as well

mkdir -p mydir1/mydir2/mydir3
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### The cp command ###

# copying file1 to file2 in the current directory

cp file1 file2

# copying file1 to dir1 as another name (file2)

cp file1 dir1/file2

# copying a file prompting the user if it overwrites the destination

cp -i file1 file2

# preserving the file permissions, group and ownership when copying

cp -p file1 file2

# being verbose
cp -v file1 file2

# recursively copying dir1 to dir2 in the current directory

cp -r dir1 dir2/
# copy more source files and directories to a destination directory
cp -r file1 file2 dir1 dir2 destination_directory/

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### The mv command ###

# renaming file1 to file2
mv file1 file2

# moving file1 to dir1

mv file1 dir1/

# moving a file prompting the user if it overwrites the destination file

mv -i file1 dir1/

# preventing a existing file from being overwritten

mv -n file1 dir1/

# moving only if the source file is newer than the destination file or when the destination file is
missing
mv -u file1 dir1/

# moving file1 to dir1 as file2

mv file1 dir1/file2

# moving more source files and directories to a destination directory

mv file1 file2 dir1/ dir2/ destination_directory/

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### The rm command ###
# removing a file
rm file1

# being verbose when removing a file

rm -v file1

# removing a directory
rm -r dir1/

# removing a directory without prompting

rm -rf dir1/

# removing a file and a directory prompting the user for confirmation

rm -ri fil1 dir1/

# secure removal of a file (verbose with 100 rounds of overwriting)

shred -vu -n 100 file1
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## Piping and Command Redirection

## Piping Examples:

ls -lSh /etc/ | head # see the first 10 files by size

ps -ef | grep sshd # checking if sshd is running
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -n 3 # showing the first 3 process by memory consumption

## Command Redirection

# output redirection
ps aux > running_processes.txt
who -H > loggedin_users.txt

# appending to a file
id >> loggedin_users.txt

# output and error redirection

tail -n 10 /var/log/*.log > output.txt 2> errors.txt

# redirecting both the output and errors to the same file

tail -n 2 /etc/passwd /etc/shadow > output_errors.txt 2>&1

cat -n /var/log/auth.log | grep -ai "authentication failure" | wc -l

cat -n /var/log/auth.log | grep -ai "authentication failure" > auth.txt # => piping and redirection
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## Finding Files (find, locate)

## LOCATE ##
# updating the locate db
sudo updatedb

# displaying statistics
locate -S

# finding file by name

locate filename # => filename is expanded to *filename*
locate -i filename # => the filename is case insensitive
locate -b '\filename' # => finding by exact name

# finding using the basename

locate -b filename

# finding using regular expressions

locate -r 'regex'

# checking that the file exists

locate -e filename

# showing command path

which command
which -a command

## FIND ##
find PATH OPTIONS

# Example: find ~ -type f -size +1M # => finding all files in ~ bigger than 1 MB

## Options:
# -type f, d, l, s, p
# -name filename
# -iname filename # => case-insensitive
# -size n, +n, -n
# -perm permissions
# -links n, +n, -n
# -atime n, -mtime n, ctime n
# -user owner
# -group group_owner
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## Searching for text patterns (grep)

grep [OPTIONS] pattern file

Options:
-n # => print line number
-i # => case insensitive
-v # inverse the match
-w # search for whole words
-a # search in binary files
-R # search in directory recursively
-c # display only the no. of matches
-C n # display a context (n lines before and after the match)

# printing ASCII chars from a binary file

strings binary_file

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## VIM

Modes of operation: Command, Insert, and Last Line Modes.

VIM Config File: ~/.vimrc

# Entering the Insert Mode from the Command Mode

i => insert before the cursor
I => insert at the beginning of the line
a => insert after the cursor
A => insert at the end of the line
o => insert on the next line

# Entering the Last Line Mode from the Command Mode

:

# Returning to Command Mode from Insert or Last Line Mode

ESC

# Shortcuts in Last Line Mode

w! => write/save the file
q! => quit the file without saving
wq! => save/write and quit
e! => undo to the last saved version of the file
set nu => set line numbers
set nonu => unset line numbers
syntax on|off
%s/search_string/replace_string/g

# Shortcuts in Command Mode

x => remove char under the cursor
dd => cut the current line
5dd => cut 5 lines
ZZ => save and quit
u => undo
G => move to the end of file
$ => move to the end of line
0 or ^ => move to the beginning of file
:n (Ex :10) => move to line n
Shift+v => select the current line
y => yank/copy to clipboard
p => paste after the cursor
P => paste before the cursor
/string => search for string forward
?string => search for string backward
n => next occurrence
N => previous occurrence

# Opening more files in stacked windows

vim -o file1 file2

# Opening more files and highlighting the differences

vim -d file1 file2
Ctrl+w => move between files
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## Account Management

## IMPORTANT FILES
# /etc/passwd # => users and info: username:x:uid:gid:comment:home_directory:login_shell
# /etc/shadow # => users' passwords
# /etc/group # => groups

# creating a user account

useradd [OPTIONS] username
# OPTIONS:
# -m => create home directory
# -d directory => specify another home directory
# -c "comment"
# -s shell
# -G => specify the secondary groups (must exist)
# -g => specify the primary group (must exist)

Exemple:
useradd -m -d /home/john -c "C++ Developer" -s /bin/bash -G sudo,adm,mail john

# changing a user account

usermod [OPTIONS] username # => uses the same options as useradd
Example:
usermod -aG developers,managers john # => adding the user to two secondary groups

# deleting a user account

userdel -r username # => -r removes user's home directory as well

# creating a group
groupadd group_name

# deleting a group
groupdel group_name

# displaying all groups

cat /etc/groups

# displaying the groups a user belongs to

groups

# creating admin users

# add the user to sudo group in Ubuntu and wheel group in CentOS
usermod -aG sudo john

## Monitoring Users ##
who -H # => displays logged in users
id # => displays the current user and its groups
whoami # => displays EUID

# listing who’s logged in and what’s their current process.

w
uptime

# printing information about the logins and logouts of the users

last
last -u username
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## File Permissions

## LEGEND
u = User
g = Group
o = Others/World
a = all

r = Read
w = write
x = execute
- = no access

# displaying the permissions (ls and stat)

ls -l /etc/passwd
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2871 aug 22 14:43 /etc/passwd

stat /etc/shadow
File: /etc/shadow
Size: 1721 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 805h/2053d Inode: 524451 Links: 1
Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 42/ shadow)
Access: 2020-08-24 11:31:49.506277118 +0300
Modify: 2020-08-22 14:43:36.326651384 +0300
Change: 2020-08-22 14:43:36.342652202 +0300
Birth: -

# changing the permissions using the relative (symbolic) mode

chmod u+r filename
chmod u+r,g-wx,o-rwx filename
chmod ug+rwx,o-wx filename
chmod ugo+x filename
chmod a+r,a-wx filename

# changing the permissions using the absolute (octal) mode

PERMISSIONS EXAMPLE
ugo
rwx rwx rwx chmod 777 filename
rwx rwx r-x chmod 775 filename
rwx r-x r-x chmod 755 filename
rwx r-x --- chmod 750 filename
rw- rw- r-- chmod 664 filename
rw- r-- r-- chmod 644 filename
rw- r-- --- chmod 640 filename

# setting the permissions as of a reference file

chmod --reference=file1 file2

# changing permissions recursively

chmod -R u+rw,o-rwx filename

## SUID (Set User ID)

# displaying the SUID permission

ls -l /usr/bin/umount
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 39144 apr 2 18:29 /usr/bin/umount

stat /usr/bin/umount
File: /usr/bin/umount
Size: 39144 Blocks: 80 IO Block: 4096 regular file
Device: 805h/2053d Inode: 918756 Links: 1
Access: (4755/-rwsr-xr-x) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2020-08-22 14:35:46.763999798 +0300
Modify: 2020-04-02 18:29:40.000000000 +0300
Change: 2020-06-30 18:27:32.851134521 +0300
Birth: -

# setting SUID
chmod u+s executable_file
chmod 4XXX executable_file # => Ex: chmod 4755 script.sh

## SGID (Set Group ID)

# displaying the SGID permission

ls -ld projects/
drwxr-s--- 2 student student 4096 aug 25 11:02 projects/

stat projects/
File: projects/
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 805h/2053d Inode: 266193 Links: 2
Access: (2750/drwxr-s---) Uid: ( 1001/ student) Gid: ( 1002/ student)
Access: 2020-08-25 11:02:15.013355559 +0300
Modify: 2020-08-25 11:02:15.013355559 +0300
 Change: 2020-08-25 11:02:19.157290764 +0300
Birth: -

# setting SGID
chmod 2750 projects/
chmod g+s projects/

## The Sticky Bit

# displaying the sticky bit permission

ls -ld /tmp/
drwxrwxrwt 20 root root 4096 aug 25 10:49 /tmp/

stat /tmp/
File: /tmp/
Size: 4096 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 directory
Device: 805h/2053d Inode: 786434 Links: 20
Access: (1777/drwxrwxrwt) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)
Access: 2020-08-22 14:46:03.259455125 +0300
Modify: 2020-08-25 10:49:53.756211470 +0300
Change: 2020-08-25 10:49:53.756211470 +0300
Birth: -

# setting the sticky bit

mkdir temp
chmod 1777 temp/
chmod o+t temp/
ls -ld temp/
drwxrwxrwt 2 student student 4096 aug 25 11:04 temp/

## UMASK
# displaying the UMASK
umask

# setting a new umask value

umask new_value # => Ex: umask 0022

## Changing File Ownership (root only)

# changing the owner

chown new_owner file/directory # => Ex: sudo chown john a.txt

# changing the group owner

chgrp new_group file/directory

# changing both the owner and the group owner

chown new_owner:new_group file/directory

# changing recursively the owner or the group owner

chown -R new-owner file/directory

# displaying the file attributes

lsattr filename

#changing the file attributes

chatter +-attribute filename # => Ex: sudo chattr +i report.txt
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## Process Viewing (ps, pstree, pgrep)
# checking if a command is shell built-in or executable file
type rm # => rm is /usr/bin/rm
type cd # => cd is a shell built-in

# displaying all processes started in the current terminal

ps

# displaying all processes running in the system

ps -ef
ps aux
ps aux | less # => piping to less

# sorting by memory and piping to less

ps aux --sort=%mem | less

# ASCII art process tree

ps -ef --forest

# displaying all processes of a specific user

ps -f -u username

# checking if a process called sshd is running

pgrep -l sshd
ps -ef | grep sshd

#displaying a hierarchical tree structure of all running processes

pstree

# prevent merging identical branches

pstree -c
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## Dynamic Real-Time View of Processes(top)

# starting top
top
## top shortcuts while it's running
h # => getting help
space # => manual refresh
d # => setting the refresh delay in seconds
q # => quitting top
u # => display processes of a user
m # => changing the display for the memory
1 # => individual statistics for each CPU
x/y # => highlighting the running process and the sorting column
b # => toggle between bold and text highlighting
< # => move the sorting column to the left
> # => move the sorting column to the right
F # => entering the Field Management screen
W # => saving top settings

# running top in batch mode (3 refreshes, 1

----------------------------------------------