These are just some small tips when you're first moving to Linux from Windows/Mac. These are things that you are likely to use; so it may be helpful to have them all in one place.
| Item | on Windows | on Linux | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naming files. | Names are case insensitive | Case Counts!1 These are 3 different files: xyz.txt, XYZ.txt, Xyz.txt |
|
| Make a folder in the command prompt. | c:\>md | $ mkdir | |
| Start a program/.bat and return to the prompt. | c:\>start [program] | $ [program] & disown This will continue to send status messages to calling window. To suppress these messages (which can be useful), wrap the previous command in parenthesis. e.g. ( [program] & disown ) |
|
| List a text file out. | c:\>type xyz.txt | more | $ cat xyz.txt | less (less allows you to move through the file with the up/dn arrow keys) |
|
| Copy a file. | c:\ > copy | $ cp | |
| Remove a file. | c:\ > delete | $ rm | |
| ASK before overwriting or deleting. | $ cp -i $ rm -i (Here is how to do this "globally") |
||
| Check the version of most CLI2 commands. | $ [program] --version | ||
| Get quick help on using most CLI commands. | $ [program] --help | ||
| Get in-depth help on most programs. | $ man [program] | ||
| rm'd files are potentially recoverable. For greater security, see shred. |
see $ shred -- help | less | ||
| If you want Hillary Clinton-level hiding, see Bleachbit. | $ sudo apt-get install bleachbit |
To find your current OS version use lsb_release:
To find your current kernel version, use uname:
Although there are others, the most common Linux version of a Windows DOS .BAT file is a #Bash shell script. Unlike .BAT files, it is not the file extension that makes a bash script a bash script. It is the fact that it is executable and contains #!/bin/bash as the first line. That said, it is a common practice to name bash scripts with a .sh extension; so that you know what they are. #debian-ish distributions will also try to execute a .sh file as a bash script by default, even without the starting line of #!/bin/bash.
1 Case in Linux most often counts.
So for example, these "a"s are 2 different parameters:
$ tree -a # All files are listed.
$ tree -A # Print ANSI lines graphic indentation lines.
Comments in bash scripts (and python, and config files, and other places) are preceded with a "#" character.
2 CLI is Command Line Interface, which would be the command prompt/DOS on Windows.