Topics for the Command Line Lecture for Newbies

Part 1: Command Line

1. Opening a terminal. (The Terminal Icon on KDE)
2. Exiting from a terminal. (exit or the X button)
3. The Command Loop
4. cd
5. pwd
6. ls
   
   Flags: -l -a -R
7. mkdir
   
8. cp
   
   Flags: -r -i -f
9. mv
   
   Flags: -i -f
10. rm
    
    Flags: -r -i -f
11. wildcards and their use (*, ?, [ ])
12. less/more
    
    1. Quitting with q
    2. Next Page with space/Page-Down
    3. Previous Page with b/Page-Up
    4. To the end with >
    5. To the beginning with <
    6. One line down with Down-Arrow/j
    7. One line up with Up-Arrow/k
    8. Moving Sideways: Right-Arrow/Left-Arrow
    9. Searching with / (forward) and ? (backward)
13. kdehelp
14. man
15. makewhatis + apropos
16. The "--help" and "-h" switches.
17. find
    Flags: -name
18. Piping:
    • >
    • |,
    • 2>&1
19. Shell Goodies:
    - The command history (up and down arrows)
    - TAB filename completion
    - Ctrl+A, Ctrl+E, ALT-F, ALT-B
    

Part 2: Job Control / Interaction With X

1. Ctrl+Z
2. Ctrl+C
3. &
4. bg

Part 3: vi

1. Invoking vi (vi/vim/gvim)
2. Exiting (:q and :q!)
3. Saving the file (:w)
4. Moving around:
   - The Arrow Keys + h-j-k-l
5. Adding text (i/a) and getting back to command mode (ESC)
6. Deleting text:
   - x/DEL
   - dd
7. Advanced movement commands:
   - 0 and $
   - gg and G
   - digits + movement
8. Getting help: (:help)

References and Links

The Linux Installation and Getting Started Guide

The Linux User's Guide

UNIX Help For Users