Chapter 3
1 Exploring Linux
Filesystems
2
Describe a file system?
What types of file can you have?
What is a binary file?
How could you search a 4TB hard drive for a social
security number?
3 The Linux Directory Structure
Directory: Used to organize other files into a logical tree structure
Absolute pathname: Pathname from the root directory to a certain
file or directory
Root: The top level directory
the / character
Forms root of a hierarchical tree
4 The Linux Directory Structure
5 Changing Directories
Home directory: unique to each user account
~ metacharacter can be used to refer to home directory
pwd (print working directory) command: displays current
directory in the directory tree
cd (change directory) command: change the current directory in
the directory tree
Relative pathname: pathname of file or directory relative to
current directory
6 Changing Directories
Parent directory: directory one step closer to the root of the tree
Referred to by .. (two dots)
Subdirectory: directory residing within another directory
Tab-completion: pressing the Tab key fills in remaining
characters of a unique filename, directory name, or executable
program
7 File Types
Text files: store information in a readable text format, contain
configuration information
Binary data files: store information associated with executable
programs
Executable program files
Directory files: serve as placeholders to organize other files
8 File Types
Linked files: files that have an association with one another
Special device files: represent devices on the system, such as
hard disks and serial ports
Named pipes files: identify a channel that passes information
between processes
Socket files: allow a process on another computer to write to a
local file
A variant of a named pipe file
9 Filenames
Filename: identifier given to a file
Up to 255 characters (rarely longer than 20 characters)
Can use alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), dash (-), and period
(.)
Filename extensions: identifiers following a dot (.) at end of
filename
Denote file type
Most files on Linux do not have filename extensions
10 Filenames
11 Listing Files
ls command: List the files in a directory
May pass an argument indicating the directory to be listed
–F option: Argument to view of list of files and their type
–l option: Argument to provide a long listing for each file in a certain
directory
12 Listing Files
File command: displays file type of any file
Argument indicates what file or files to analyze
Identifies between different types of executable files
Identifies empty files
Hidden files: files not normally displayed to user
Configuration files often hidden
Filenames start with a dot (.)
ls –a command: displays hidden files
To view all hidden files and their file types, type:
ls -aF
13 Wildcard Metacharacters
Wildcard metacharacter: used to simplify commands specifying
more than one filename on the command line
Can match the entire filename or portions of filenames
Can be used with most Linux filesystem commands
14 Displaying Content of Text Files
Users can use keyboard shortcuts to interact with shell while
using the less command.
e.g., pressing h key gets Help screen
e.g., pressing q key quits the less command
more and less can be used with output of other commands
If output is too large to fit on terminal screen, use “|” metacharacter
and more or less command
e.g., ls -l | more
15 Displaying the Contents of Binary
Files
To view contents of binary files, you typically use the program
that created the file
strings command: searches for and displays text characters in
a binary file
Might indicate purpose of binary file
16 Regular Expressions
Different from wildcard metacharacters
Wildcard metacharacters are interpreted by shell; regexps interpreted
by text tools
Wildcard metacharacters match characters in filenames; regexps
match characters within text files
Wildcard metacharacters typically have different definitions than
regexps
More regexps than wildcard metacharacters
17
If \d represents a digit, what is this? \d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}
18 The grep Command
grep (global regular expression print) command: searches lines
in a text file that match common regexps
grep is case sensitive
For case-insensitive search, use –i option
grep matches patterns of text, ignoring division into words
To search only for occurrences of a word, surround it by space
characters
grep –i something /directory/filename
grep ^root /etc/passwd
19 Editing Text Files
Most system configuration is stored in text files
Most Linux distributions come with several text editors
Text editors come in two varieties:
command line
GUI
Vi
Advantage is portability, not usability
Used on Unix and Linux
supports regular expressions
perform over 1000 different functions for the user
CompTIA Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification, Fourth Edition
20 The vi Editor
Command mode: Performs text editing tasks not related to inserting text
Such as deleting text, copying text, saving changes to a file, and exiting the vi editor
Insert mode: Inserts text, but nothing else
Press the Esc key to return to command mode
21 The vi Editor
22 Other Common Text Editors
gedit editor: a graphical text editor functional in a GUI
environment
Does not have advanced functionality like vi and Emacs
Easiest editor to use
23 Summary
The Linux filesystem is arranged hierarchically using a series of directories to store files
Location of directories and files can be described using absolute or relative pathnames
Linux filesystem can contain many types of files
text files, binary data, executable programs, directories, linked files, and special device files
The ls command is used to view filenames
Wide range of options to modify views
Wildcard metacharacters are special keyboard characters
can simplify selection of several files when using common Linux file commands
Text files are the most common file type whose contents can be viewed by several
utilities, such as head, tail, cat, tac, more, and less
Regular expression metacharacters can be used to specify certain patterns of text
When used with certain programming languages and text tool utilities such as grep
Although many command-line and graphical text editors exist, vi (vim) is a powerful,
bimodal text editor that is standard on most UNIX and Linux systems
