Learning DevSecOps

Appendix B. Command Reference

This appendix includes commands that will be helpful for the DevSecOps practitioner. The commands included here are not meant to be an exhaustive list of every command that you will ever need, but rather some commands that might be useful for troubleshooting. Some commands covered in this appendix are built into the shell, while others are dependent on other software being installed.

Basic Command-Line Navigation

For those coming from a graphical world, facing a blinking cursor at the command line can be slightly terrifying. Even knowing how to navigate to get a file list or how to get back to your home directory can be helpful, though. When you’re using an interactive shell program like bash or zsh, the prompt itself is usually informative and can be configured from system to system.

The command prompt will typically include some type of indication of the current directory. The tilde character (~) is usually an indication that the current directory is your home directory. You can always find out what directory you’re in with the pwd command. You can always get home by typing:

cd ~

View the manual for these or other commands with the man command. Certain commands, like cd, are built into the shell itself. In these cases, view the manual for the shell. For example, to view the manual for zsh, type:

man zsh

If you’re unsure what shell you’re using, there are a few ways to find out. First, the env command should have a line indicating SHELL=. Another ...