Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Chapter 1. Introduction

This document is an attempt to summarise the many command-line-based tools available to a GNU/Linux based operating system. This guide is not a complete listing (I doubt it's possible to document all available programs), this document lists many tools which are available to GNU/Linux systems and which are, or can be useful to the majority of users.

Each tool description provides a quick overview of it's function and some useful options for that individual tool.

The tools listed that require a GUI, usually the X windowing system, are those listed in the Graphics Tools section. All other tools are completely command-line-based and do not require a GUI to run.

If you are looking for information on GUI based tools you will need to look elsewhere.

Also note that a few of the tools in this guide are bash (the Bourne-Again-SHell) specific, tools specific to other shells are not listed in this document.

For some of the tools that are harder to use, or perform a more complex task, there are several mini-tutorials (or mini-guides; Chapter 20) within this document.

Where a mini-guide was considered unncessary, detailed descriptions that explain in detail how a particular tool works, and some examples of how to use it are provided.

Please note that the word "tool" is used interchangeably with the word "command", both have the same meaning (at least in this guide). For a more detailed explanation, read about the UNIX Tools Philosophy here: Chapter 3 or visit the links in the appendix, Section A.2.2.1.

Tip To find out which tools are bash specific
 

To find out which tools are bash specific you can type:

enable -a


 
 
  Published under the terms of the GNU General Public License Design by Interspire