UNIX/Linux Fundamentals and Shell Scripting

All HOTT courses are available face-to-face, remote-live, on-demand, or on site at your facility.

This hands on course provides training on standard UNIX/Linux commands and utilities used for day to day tasks including file manipulation, program execution and control, and effective use of the shell and desktop environments. 

The course presents the concepts necessary to understand the way UNIX works as well as the system's most commonly used commands. Data manipulation utilities and shell syntax for synthesizing command pipelines are emphasized. Bourne shell, Bash shell and Korn shell programming techniques are introduced so students will be able to read and modify existing shell scripts as well as create their own. Desktop environments are also introduced from a user's perspective, including common window managers, Open Office utilities and an introduction to configuration tools. Comprehensive hands on exercises are integrated throughout to reinforce learning and develop real competency.

Course Overview

Introduction to UNIX

• Design Philosophy
• System Components
• The Shell and Command Entry
• Documentation

Basic User Commands

• Logging In and Logging Out
• Command Line Editing
• Navigating the File System
• Viewing and Copying Files
• Controlling the Terminal
• Sending and Receiving Mail

Text Editing

• Types of Editors
• From ed to ex to vi
• Basic Editor Tasks with vi
• Editing Multiple Files
• Named Buffers
• vi Startup File

UNIX Processes

• The UNIX Process Model
• Process States
• Monitoring and Controlling Processes

The File System

• File System Organization
• File Types
• File and Directory Naming Rules and Conventions
• Commands for Navigating the File System
• Introduction to Inodes
• Ownership, Permissions, and Dates
• Manipulating Files and Links
• Manipulating Directories
• Determining Disk Usage
• Other File System Utilities

Introduction to Shells: sh, bash, and ksh

• Shell Functions
• I/O Redirection and Pipes
• Command Separation and Grouping
• Background Execution
• Filename Expansion
• Shell Variables
• Command Substitution
• Quoting and Escaping Metacharacters
• Bash Shell Features
• Korn Shell Features
• Command Execution
• Startup Files
• Customizing the User Environment

Printing

• Printing Under AT&T UNIX
• Printing Under BSD UNIX

Multitasking and Batch Processing

• Multitasking
• Scheduled Execution Using cron
• The at and batch Commands

Shell Programming

• Shell Script Features and Capabilities
• Creating and Running a Script
• Working With Variables
• Environment Variables
• Working With Data Types
  - Formatting
  - Base Conversion
  - Setting Special Attributes
• Input/Output Techniques
• Conditional Constructs
  - if/then
  - else/elif
• Looping Constructs
  - for, while, until
• Math Operators

Advanced Shell Features

• Manipulating Strings
• Writing and Calling Functions
• Controlling Process Priorities
• Interpreting Command Line Arguments
• Making Scripts Interactive
• Special Shell Variables
• Advanced I/O with Streams
• Improving Performance of Scripts

Text Manipulation Utilities

• Editing a File from a Script
• Scripting with ed or sed
• UNIX and Linux Utilities to Manipulate Files
• Regular Expressions
• grep and egrep
• The Stream Editor sed
• Sorting in Scripts
• Generating Reports with awk
• Splitting Large Files
• Counting Words, Lines, and Characters
• Transforming File Contents
• Extracting Text Strings

File Processing Utilities

• Examining and Comparing Files
• Reporting Differences Between Files
• Comparing Files of Any Format
• Displaying Data in Octal and Hex
• Compressing Data
• Converting File Formats

Backing Up Files

• Backup Media
• UNIX Device Names
• tar and cpio
• File Transport and Conversion with dd

Networking Commands

• UNIX Network Applications
  - Remote Execution Commands
  - Remote Activity Reporting
  - Communicating with Remote Users
• Internet Applications
  - ftp, tftp, telnet
• Remote Access Control Mechanisms
• Using the Secure Shell(ssh)

Note: 

Classes do not have fixed location. Prior to each class they examine the geographical location of the enrolled students and then select a venue that will provide most convenient overall access for the students. Classes are held in hotel conference rooms and exact location is determined 2 weeks prior to the course date