Chapter 6: Starting at the Command Line

Overview

While Red Hat Linux includes a number of integrated GUI tools, the best way to control Linux is from the command-line interface. Command-line tools have more options than GUI tools. Since they don t include the overhead of a desktop such as GNOME or KDE, they are faster. And there is still a strong bias in the Linux community toward the command line. Therefore, if you really want to learn Linux, you should learn how to use the command-line interface.

This chapter shows you the workings of a number of different commands based on the Bourne Again Shell (bash), discussed in Chapter 08 . Some commands help you navigate different Linux directories; others help you create and delete Linux files. Commands are available to help you read or search through files in different ways. Some commands allow you to use the characteristics of a file to your advantage.

One of the keys to the command-line interface is the vi editor, which may be the only editor you have available if you re troubleshooting problems such as boot failures. This chapter covers the following topics: