Efficient Linux at the Command Line

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Want to increase your Linux productivity to get more done in less time? This practical guide teaches the concepts you need to be quick and efficient at the command line. You’ll learn to create and run complex commands that solve real business problems, organize your files for quick access, efficiently process and retrieve information, and automate manual tasks.

No matter which Linux tools you use, Efficient Linux at the Command Line can help you become more effective in your daily work and more competitive in the job market.

You’ll learn:

How to invent powerful Linux commands on the fly that get your work done quickly
Which Linux features are handled by commands and which are built into the shell that launches those commands–and why it matters
A dozen different ways to run commands, including pipelines, subshells, command substitution, process substitution, and more–and when to use each for best advantage

Reviews

“Efficient Linux at the Command Line promises to make you more efficient at interacting with Linux, and it more than delivers. I highly recommend it for your library— you’ll benefit from it daily.” — Michael Hausenblas, Solution Engineering Lead at AWS

“This practical book is full of command line wisdom that you can start using today and continue to use throughout your career. Chapter 1 is worth the price of the book by itself.” —Ken Hess, System Administrator

What’s in the book

Preface

This book will take your Linux command-line skills to the next level, so you can work faster, smarter, and more efficiently. We assume you already know basic commands (ls, cp, mv, rm, etc.) and a Linux text editor. (If your skills are rusty, a quick Linux refresher is in the appendix.)

Chapter 1: Combining Commands

Starting with just six Linux commands, you’ll rapidly build multi-stage pipelines that solve diverse business problems.

Chapter 2: Introducing the Shell

When you type a command and press Enter, some parts of the command are the responsibility of the shell, and some are the responsibility of the program it invokes. Knowing which is which will make you a wiser Linux user.

Chapter 3: Rerunning Commands

Save tons of time and typing by leveraging three kinds of command history and three kinds of command-line editing.

Chapter 4: Cruising the Filesystem

Vastly speed up your use of the “cd” command via directory stacks, cd search paths, and other features for navigating the filesystem efficiently.

Chapter 5: Expanding Your Toolbox

A dozen more commands — some simple, some advanced — will help you produce, isolate, combine, and transform text files to achieve practical business goals quickly.

Chapter 6: Parents, Children, and Environments

Discover what happens behind the scenes when you run a command, and how you can leverage this knowledge to work more quickly and avoid superstitious beliefs.

Chapter 7: Eleven More Ways to Run a Command

Become more flexible at the command line by moving beyond pipes and redirection. You’ll learn command substitution, process substitution, job control, process replacement, and other powerful techniques for speed.

Chapter 8: Building a Brash One-Liner

Step by step, you’ll learn to create long, complex, one-line commands to solve a variety of business problems.

Chapter 9: Leveraging Text Files

On Linux, the common currency for programs is text. You’ll construct customized, structured text files for your data and create commands to process them.

Chapter 10: Efficiency at the Keyboard

Ten fingers are faster than one mouse. You’ll learn to work with windows, browse the web, and copy & paste into pipelines with the clipboard without taking your hands off the keyboard.

Efficient Linux at the Command Line

Reviews

What’s in the book

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