Practical Linux

The List

The commands listed in this appendix are some of the most common commands used in Linux. In cases where the command seems ambiguous, an example is provided. With each of these commands, the man pages can provide additional information, as well as more examples.

The . command tells the shell to execute all the commands in the file that are passed an argument to the command. This works in the bash or pdksh. The equivalent in the tcsh is the source command. The following example will execute the commands in the file adobe:

. adobe

&

The & after any other command tells the computer to run the command in the background. By placing a job in the background, the user can then continue using that shell to process other commands. If the ...