Linux Phrasebook (2006)

Introduction

Among key Linux features, the command-line shell is one of the most important. If you run a Linux server, your main interface is more than likely going to be the shell. If you're a power user running Linux on the desktop, you probably have a terminal open at all times. If you're a Linux newbie, you may think that you'll never open up the command line, but you will sometime ... and the more you use Linux, the more you're going to want to use that shell.

The shell in many ways is the key to Linux's power and elegance. You can do things with the command line that you simply can't do with whatever GUI you favor. No matter how powerful KDE or GNOME may be (or IceWM or XFCE or any of the other kajillion windowing environments out there), you will always be able to do many things faster and more efficiently with a terminal. If you want to master Linux, you need to begin by mastering the Linux command line.

The traditional method has been to use the Linux man pages. While man pages are useful, they are often not enough, for one simple reason: They lack examples. Oh, a few man pages here and there have a few examples, but by and large, examples are hard to come by. This presents a real problem for users at all experience levels: It's one thing to see options listed and explained, but it's another thing entirely to see those options used in real world situations.

This book is all about those missing examples. I've been using Linux for over a decade and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about my favorite operating system. On top of that, I'm so addicted to the command line that I have KDE set up to automatically start Konsole, the KDE terminal, when I log in. But I'm always lamenting with other Linux users the dearth of examples found in man pages. When I was asked to write Linux Phrasebook, and told that it was to consist of hundreds of examples illustrating the most important Linux commands, I replied, "I can't wait! That's a book I'd buy in a heartbeat!"

You're holding the result in your hands: a book about the Linux commands you just have to know, with examples illustrating how to use each and every one. This is a reference book that will be useful now and for years to come, but I also hope you find it enjoyable as well, and even a little fun.
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