Helpful cheat sheets for common Linux/Unix commands
Unix for Beginners

UNIX Tutorial for Beginners

by M.Stonebank@surrey.ac.uk

A beginners guide to the Unix and Linux operating system. Eight simple tutorials which cover the basics of UNIX / Linux commands.

Introduction to the UNIX Operating System

• What is UNIX?
• Files and processes
• The Directory Structure
• Starting an UNIX terminal
  

Tutorial One

• Listing files and directories
• Making Directories
• Changing to a different Directory
• The directories . and ..
• Pathnames
• More about home directories and pathnames
  

Tutorial Two

• Copying Files
• Moving Files
• Removing Files and directories
• Displaying the contents of a file on the screen
• Searching the contents of a file
  

Tutorial Three

• Redirection
• Redirecting the Output
• Redirecting the Input
• Pipes
  

Tutorial Four

• Wildcards
• Filename Conventions
• Getting Help
  

Tutorial Five

• File system security (access rights)
• Changing access rights
• Processes and Jobs
• Listing suspended and background processes
• Killing a process
  

Tutorial Six

• Other Useful UNIX commands
  

Tutorial Seven

• Compiling UNIX software packages
• Download source code
• Extracting source code
• Configuring and creating the Makefile
• Building the package
• Running the software
• Stripping unnecessary code
  

Tutorial Eight

• UNIX variables
• Environment variables
• Shell variables
• Using and setting variables
  

Recommended UNIX and Linux books

If you wish to continue learning Unix, here is a list of good Unix and Linux books, ranging from beginners to advanced.

Download

This tutorial is available for download so you can work offline. You can also copy and modify it for your own site. Please read the terms and conditions.

Useful Links

• Links to other UNIX resources.

Creative Commons License

This tutorial is licensed under a Creative Commons License.