Erick Lumunge

The proc file system is a virtual file system generated on the fly when the system starts. In this article, we learn about the files and directories making up this file system.

We use the *watch* command to execute commands at regular intervals. We also use it for real-time logging of the command output. In this article, we discuss this command and understand it through various examples.

We use the dmesg command to print log messages stored in the kernel ring buffer. In this article, we learn about this command through various examples.

VIM is a powerful, light-weight open source text editor. In this article we learn how to split VIM screens, switch between them, changes sizes and close them.

The source command reads and executes the contents of a file in the current shell environment. In this article, we learn about this command through various examples.

VIM is one of the many Linux text editors. It is configurable and programmable. Usually, we open a single file with VIM. In this article, we demonstrate how to open multiple files in a single VIM session.

In Linux, everything is a file. We use links to access deeply nested files in a file system easily. We learn about soft and hard links in Linux, including how to create and remove them.

Globbing involves bash interpreting glob characters to perform filename expansion of pattern searching in Linux. In this article, we will learn about globbing through various examples.

In Linux we use the file command to determine the type of file. With this command we can know the type of file we are dealing with, this also includes compressed files and special files. In this article we learn about this command using various examples.

We use the look command to display lines in a file starting with a specified string. In this article, we learn about the look command through various examples.

As described in the manual page, the ar(archiver) command is used to create, modify, and extract from archives. In this article, we learn about this command through various use cases.

Some commands in Linux are long and repetitive. Aliases enable us to make them shorter by mapping a long command to a shorter one. In this article, we discuss aliases in Linux.

We use xargs to build an execution pipeline whereby we can send input to another command that does not accept piped input such as echo, mkdir, etc. In this article, we have learned the uses of xargs using various examples.

The tee command reads standard input and writes it to standard output and a file or multiple files. We use it in cases where we want to send the output of a command to a file and at the same time want to print it out to the standard output. Let's discuss it.

When executing commands in Linux, we may want to know how long it takes or how much of the system resources a command or program uses. We use the time command for such situations.

The sleep command delays execution of shell scripts and commands for a specified. This could be minutes, seconds, hours or even days. In this article we learn about this command through various examples.

In Linux, we use the wait command to wait for a process to terminate then print its exit status. This is very useful in cases where the exit status of a predecessor command determines the execution of the following command. In this article, we learn about this command through various examples.

In Linux, the expr command evaluates an expression passed to it and returns the corresponding value. We usually use it for basic arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, modulo operations, division, multiplication. We also use expr command to evaluate expressions.

We use the locate command to find files in Linux, unlike the find command that searches the entire file system, this command uses a local database to search for the file passed as an argument.

We use the read command to read from standard input or file descriptors. In this article, we learn to use the read command to get input from a user using a prompt, hiding input, limiting input, read command variables, arrays, timeouts, IFS, and more.

Linux is a multi-user system and as such there are occasions as system administrators we want to send a message to all logged in users seamlessly, in this case we use the wall command.

A here document is a special code block with multi-line strings that can be redirected to the command script or interactive program. In this article, we learn about here documents in Linux.

The finger command is used to get all information about system users. With it, we get information such as login name, user name, login time, idle time and much more. We look at commonly used finger commands in Linux.