terminal Archives - Complete, Concrete, Concise

How to Exit Vim

richardsplanet — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:59:27 +0000

While Vim has a steep learning curve, you can learn enough Vim in 5 minutes to not be completely lost when you use it.

To exit Vim you need to be in Normal Mode.

To get to Normal Mode press the Escape key twice. Your computer may beep at you, but that is OK.

Type :q! followed by the Enter key to quit without saving.

Type :x! followed by the Enter key to save changes and exit.

If you see recording in the lower left corner of the screen, press q to exit recording mode, then proceed as described above.


  
    
    This is some dummy content.
  

~
~
~
recording @q                            1,1           All

The post How to Exit Vim appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

5 Minute Vim Tutorial

richardsplanet — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 18:11:54 +0000

Vim works differently from other editors you are used to, but it only takes about 5 minutes to learn the basics you need to edit with Vim. You won’t be a Vim wizard, but you will be able to:

Open a file
Move around in a file
Edit text in a file
Save a File

The slightly longer Extended 5 Minute Tutorial you will show you how to search in a file, get help, and access Vim’s own built-in tutorial.

Vim in 5 Minutes (or less)
The Extended 5+ Minute Tutorial
Final Words

Vim in 5 Minutes (or less)

Vim operates in Modes. Vim always starts in Normal Mode.
Normal Mode is your base mode and you should always return to it.
All command / control keys are case sensitive.
If you are not in Normal Mode, you (usually) get back to Normal Mode by pressing the Escape key twice.
If you see recording in the lower left corner of the screen, press the q key to return to Normal Mode.
If you’ve messed stuff up, return to Normal Mode and type :q! followed by the Enter key to exit Vim without saving the file.
In Normal Mode you can navigate the file using the h, j, k, l keys (left, down, up, right). You might also be able to use the arrow keys on the keyboard¹.
When you have navigated to where you want to edit the file (inserting or deleting text), press the i key to enter Insert Mode.
In Insert Mode you can only enter or delete text from the current cursor position – you cannot navigate. To navigate, press the Escape key to return to Normal Mode.
To save (write) the file, return to Normal Mode and type :w followed by the Enter key.
To exit (quit) Vim, return to Normal Mode and type :q followed by the Enter key.

The Extended 5 Minute Tutorial

This adds searching and help to the 5 Minute Tutorial, but, otherwise, keeps the information to the bare minimum so you can quickly be functional in Vim instead of frustrated.
All command / control keys are case sensitive: h is not the same as H!

Normal Mode

Normal Mode is the default mode and it should be the mode you always go back to.
Most times, you press the Escape key once or twice² to return to Normal Mode.
If you see recording in the lower left corner of the screen, press the lowercase q key to return to Normal Mode.

Opening a File

The simplest way to open a file is to type vim at the command line followed by the name of the file:

user@COMPUTER:~$ vim file.txt

If it is a new file you should see something like this:


~
~
~
~
~
"file.txt" [New File]                       0,0-1          All

If it is an existing file, you should see something like this:



  
    
    Basic HTML5 Template
    
  
  
    
    This is some dummy content that is not lorem ipsum.
  

~
~
~
"basic.html" 12L, 290C                      1,1           All

The status line³ (at the bottom of the screen) displays the following information:

file name
total number of lines in the file
total number of characters in the file
current line the cursor is on
current column the cursor is in
percentage showing the position in the file (if All : the entire file is visible, Bot : at the bottom (end) of the file, Top : at the top of the file)

In Normal Mode load a file by typing :edit followed by the filename and then pressing the Enter key.:

:edit basic.html

This discards the current file (if any) and loads the specified file.
If the file to be discarded has been modified, but not saved, you will see the following warning in the status line:

E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)

If you don’t care about saving the file, simply append ! to the :edit command:

:edit! basic.html

The ! tells Vim to “just do it!” and ignore any warnings.

Saving a File

You need to be in Normal Mode to save a file.
Save a file by typing :w followed by the Enter key.
If you want to save the file with a different name, type :w followed by the new file name and then press the Enter key:

:w new-filename.txt

Exiting Vim

You need to be in Normal Mode to exit Vim.
Type :q followed by the Enter key to exit Vim.
If Vim warns you that the file has been modified, you can choose to save it or you can force Vim to exit without saving the file by typing :q! followed by the Enter key. The ! tells Vim to “just do it” and exit without saving the file.

Navigating a File {Navigating}

You need to be in Normal Mode to navigate a file.
The letters h, j, k, l navigate the cursor through the file. (You may also be able to use the arrow keys present on most keyboards.)
They act like arrow keys and are conceptually laid out like this:

h
←

j
↓

k
↑

l
→

When you navigate left (h) to the beginning of a line, the cursor will stop. It will not wrap around and up to the previous line.
When you navigate right (l) to the end of a line, the cursor will stop. It will not wrap around and down to the next line.
If you type a positive integer (which will not be displayed), followed by one of the navigation keys, the cursor will move that many characters / lines.
For example, in Normal Mode, if you type 10j, the cursor will move down 10 lines.

Inserting and Deleting Text

In Insert Mode the only thing you can do is insert or delete text. (You may be able to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate the text while in this mode, but there is no guarantee, navigating is supposed to be done in Normal Mode)
Enter Insert Mode by pressing the i, a, I, or A key.

i insert / delete before the cursor (what you would intuitively expect when entering or deleting text).
a append / delete after the current cursor position.
I insert / delete at the beginning of the line.
A append / delete at the end of the line.

You will (probably) be using i most frequently.
When you enter Insert Mode you will see – INSERT – displayed in the lower left corner:

The navigation keys are h, j, k, l.
h moves the̲ cursor one character left
l moves the cursor one character right
j moves the cursor one line down
k moves the cursor one line up
~
~
~
~
-- INSERT --                       3,11      All

Press the Escape key to return to Normal Mode.

Searching

You must be in Normal Mode to search.
In a large file, it is useful to locate items of interest by searching for them.
To search, type / followed by the text you want to find, followed by the Enter key.
Vim treats the search string as a regular expression – which means some characters have a special meaning. If you need to search for the following characters, you will need to type them as follows:

Name	Character	Need to Type
Period	.	.
Asterisk	*	\*
Backslash		\
Dollar Sign	$	$
Forward Slash	/	/

Searches are case sensitive.
You can navigate between search results by pressing n (next) or N (previous).

Getting Help

You need to be in Normal Mode to use help.
To get help on something in Vim, simply type :help followed by the thing you want help on.
For example, to get help on the navigation key h, type :help h followed by the Enter key.
You should see something similar to the following:

h         or          *h*
    or          **
CTRL-H    or          *CTRL-H* **
      [count] characters to the left.  |exclusive| motion.
          Note: If you prefer  to delete a character, use
          the mapping:
             :map CTRL-V    X
          (to enter "CTRL-V" type the CTRL-V key, followed
          by the  key)
          See |:fixdel| if the  key does not do what you
          want.
m̲o̲t̲i̲o̲n̲.̲t̲x̲t̲ ̲[̲H̲e̲l̲p̲]̲[̲R̲O̲]̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲1̲7̲2̲,̲1̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲1̲2̲%̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲ ̲
Vim will split the display into two panes. In the upper pane
you will see the help text. In the lower pane you will see your
current editing buffer.
Now you know that Vim supports multiple editing buffers - but
that is not the point of this tutorial.
~
~
~
~
a-file.txt                     4,5              All

The help can be pretty dense and not user friendly, but it may be helpful.
To close the help window, type :q followed by the Enter key.
If you type :help, it will bring up the general help file. You can navigate through it for topics of interest.
You might also try :help tutor for instructions on accessing the Vim tutor which is included with every Vim installation.

Final Words

Vim may not be the easiest or most intuitive editor you will come across. However, it (or its ancestor Vi) is quite ubiquitous and this tutorial gives you the basics you need so you are minimally functional with it.
The basics are simple:

Vim operates in Modes.
All command / control keys are case sensitive : k is not the same as K.
The base mode is Normal Mode. You (usually) get back to it by pressing the Escape key once or twice.
Navigating a file is done in Normal Mode using the h, j, k, l keys.
When the cursor is where you want to insert or delete text, you press the i key to enter Insert Mode.
Search in Normal Mode by typing / followed by the string you want to find and then the Enter key. Navigate the search results using the n and N keys.
Save a file by typing :w in Normal Mode.
Exit Vim by typing :q in Normal Mode.
In Normal Mode you can get help by typing :help

Vi (the precursor to Vim) was developed in 1976. Arrow keys were not commonly found on keyboards, so h, j, k, l were used.↩
Some modes require one key press, others require two. If you press it too many times, the computer will just beep at you. Vim newbies often repeatedly press the Escape key in the hopes of returning to Normal Mode↩
This is true for the default Status Line. It is always possible that someone has modified the Status Line to display different information, or in a different arrangement.↩

The post 5 Minute Vim Tutorial appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal as root

richardsplanet — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:06:59 +0000

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for other versions of Ubuntu and (probably) most other Linux distributions, but no guarantee is made.

Detailed instructions for opening a command line / terminal can be found here.

When you open a terminal in Ubuntu, you do not have administrative privileges. This means that there are some operations you cannot perform at the terminal.

Ubuntu provides the sudo command which temporarily grants you administrative privilege. However, you still have to type sudo before each administrative command you want to perform.

If you want to live dangerously and have full root access while at the terminal, enter the following command in the terminal:

sudo bash

After entering your password, you now be running with full root privilege at the command line:

Note: in order for this to work, you need to be a user who has the right to run sudo. In general, most users of Ubuntu have this right. However, user accounts can be created that do not have this right.

How it Works

Because some commands are potentially dangerous, unless you are root you are not allowed to run them. Using the sudo command temporarily elevates your status to root and allows you to run these commands.

When you run a terminal, it has the same privilege as the current user.

By running sudo bash you start another copy of the bash shell. However, you because you started it with sudo it runs with root privilege.

What is commonly called a terminal or command line is, in fact, a shell. There are many types of shells, bash is the default one with Ubuntu.

WARNING: running as root is a good way to mess up your system if you are not careful because there are no checks in place to prevent you from making catastrophic changes to your system.

I grant that by using the sudo command you can also irretrievably damage your system, but at least you had to type sudo (and possibly a password) before doing anything.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal as root appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 13.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques

richardsplanet — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:59:01 +0000

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for every other version of Ubuntu and all other Linux distros, but I make no guarantee.

Linux (on which Ubuntu is based) is fundamentally a command line driven operating system. While there are graphical interfaces to many of the available commands, sometimes you need (or have no choice) to work at the command line.

There are five fundamental things everyone working at the command line should know (or at least be aware of):

man
pipes
redirection
less (or more)
ls

man

man is short for manual

man is the help file.

When you want to know more about a command, you enter man to display information about the command. For example:

man ls

will bring up the man page for the command ls. You could also enter man man to display information about the man command. The man page for ls looks something like this:

To navigate through a man you use the following commands:

q – exit (quit) the man page
SPACE or f – forward to the next page
b – backward to the previous page
e – forward one line
y – backward one line

While there are man pages for pretty much every command, there is no man page for the command cd.

Pipes

Pipes allow you to send the displayed output from one command to another command.

In other words, when you enter a command that displays a bunch of information on the terminal (and maybe scrolls past the top of the terminal), you can use a pipe to send that information to another command.

The most common use of pipes is with the more (or, preferably, less) command. This is especially true when information scrolls past the top of the terminal.

The pipe is the vertical bar (or broken bar) symbol: ‘|‘.

For example, any of the following commands is likely display information that will scroll past the top of the terminal:

ls /bin
ls /etc
ls /lib

If we pipe the output to the more command, then we can scroll through the output one display page at a time:

ls /etc | more

Another common use of pipes is with the grep command. (grep is often used to filter out unwanted information – but I won’t be covering grep here.)

You can pipe together as many commands as you like. The output from the command on the left of the pipe is sent to the command on the right of the pipe.

Redirection

Sometimes you need to capture the information displayed by a command. This is done using redirection.

The output displayed by a command can be sent to a file instead of the display.

The redirection operator is the greater than symbol: ‘>’.

For example, suppose I want to dump a man page to file, so I can later look at (or print that file). I can do so by redirecting the man output to a file (you choose the name of the file):

man ls > ls.txt

The above command will send the output of the man page for ls to a file called ls.txt. I can then handle ls.txt the same way I handle any text file.

Another example, I could send a directory listing to a file as well:

ls > directory_list

The above command will send the output of ls to a file called directory_list. Again, the file can be handled the same way any other text file is handled.

Redirection always send stores the file in the current directory (normally, this will be your /home/ directory). You can write the file to another directory by either (1) changing to a different directory (using the cd command), or (2) specifying the path along with the file name. Note: you may not have permission to write in other directories, so the operation will fail.

less

less is an improved version of the more command. The main advantage of using less instead of more is that less lets you scroll backwards through data that has been piped to it; more only allows you to scroll forward through piped data. Other than that difference, less and more behave almost identically.

less is used to display information one page at a time.

Most often it is used in conjunction with pipes to prevent output from scrolling off the top of the terminal:

ls | less

less can be used to display the contents of a text file:

less

where is the name of the text file to display.

To navigate through text being displayed by less you use the following commands:

q – exit (quit) less
SPACE or f – forward to the next page
b – backward to the previous page (does not work if more is displaying text from a pipe and the main reason why less is preferred)

ls

ls is short for list

ls is used to display the contents of a directory.

Directory contents are colour coded. Different files have different colours.

The default colours (in the default Ubuntu 13.04 terminal) for common file types are:

Note: if you or someone has configured your system, or you are using a different terminal (or a different Linux distribution), the colours and their significance may be completely different.

There are other colour combinations in use and some colours (notably purple) are reused for other file types.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 13.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

richardsplanet — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:01:15 +0000

These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 using the Unity interface (although, hints are provided at the bottom of the article for those who have installed a different desktop).

Linux (of which Ubuntu is a flavour) and it’s inspiration Unix, have a strong emphasis and tradition of doing everything via typed commands.

Often, when searching the Internet for a solution to a problem, you often find terse (possibly cryptic) answers along the lines of:

Test if you can reach Google with ping -c 4 google.com

To recursively change your file permissions just: chmod 755 -R /opt/lampp/htdocs

In order to run those commands, you have to open a shell or command line or terminal (they are all synonymous, but shell is the preferred term in Linux and Unix circles).

There are many different shells, the original Unix shell is called the Bourne Shell (or sh), then came the C Shell (csh) and Korn Shell (ksh). Linux tends to use the Bourne Again Shell (bash). For the most part, they all do the same thing, so you don’t need to worry about which one you are using.

If you want to know which shell you are using, just enter echo $SHELL at the command line and press Enter.

Note: If you find a command line solution / trick / tip for a non-Ubuntu Linux distribution, there is a good chance (though not 100% guaranteed) that it might work with Ubuntu.

If you get a Permission denied or Are you root? response when you type in the command, try prefixing the command with sudo. Ubuntu requires administrator level privileges for certain commands. sudo temporarily gives administrator privileges (after you supply your password).

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

This is the default keyboard shortcut for Ubuntu 13.04 (and probably most Linux distros running a GNOME 3 based desktop), unless you (or someone else) has changed it, it should work.

This also the default keyboard shortcut if you have changed your desktop environment to GNOME Shell, LXDE, or the Lubuntu Desktop and will work unless you (or someone else) has changed it.

This will NOT work for the XFCE or Xubuntu Desktop unless you (or someone else) has added the keyboard shortcut.

1) Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal / command line / shell.

Note: pressing Ctrl + Alt + T means: while holding down both the Ctrl key and Alt key, press the T key as though you intend to type it.

DO NOT press the Shift key because Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T is different from Ctrl + Alt + T.

It does NOT matter if your Caps Lock is on or off.

The terminal should look something like this:

Opening a Terminal from Unity

1) Click the Dash icon (or use the keyboard shortcut by tapping the Windows / Super key – don’t hold it down, just tap it as if you were going to type it):

2) Type terminal into the entry field:

As you type, Unity will display matching results below the entry field. You can stop typing when what you are looking for is the leftmost item.

3) Press Enter / Return key to open the terminal:

You can also open the terminal by clicking on it with your mouse.

You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to it and then press the Enter key to select it (if you are using the arrow keys built into your numpad ensure that Num Lock is off):

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

Because there are many different types of desktops available for Linux, it is not possible to list all possible ways to start the terminal. However … the general technique is the same:

1) Open the Main Menu or Applications Menu (or whatever the main menu for your environment is called).

2) If you are lucky, there will be a menu entry for a terminal (it might be called Terminal or LXTerminal or something else with terminal in the name.

3) If you are unlucky, then you will have to look for it in a submenu. It is most likely to be found in a submenu called Accessories or System.

Note: You may have more than one terminal application installed or the terminal application may appear in more than one menu location.

How to (Almost) Always Get a Command Prompt

This works with pretty much any Linux distribution (unless they have been specially compiled to disable it).

If you need to access the command line and no terminal application has been installed, or you can’t find it, or the GUI has become unresponsive, you can press Ctrl + Alt + F1 to switch you to a full screen text terminal / command line / shell. To return to your GUI, press Ctrl + Alt + F7.

Note: pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1 means: while holding down both the Ctrl key and Alt key, press the F1 key as though you intend to type it.

The same is true when pressing Ctrl + Alt + F7.

It does NOT matter if your Caps Lock is on or off.

All Linux distributions (unless specially compiled otherwise), use Ctrl + Alt + F1 through Ctrl + Alt + F6 provide access to 6 full screen command line terminals. These 6 terminals are always available, so it doesn’t matter which one you access.

In the same way, Ctrl + Alt + F7 through Ctrl + Alt + F12 provide access to running X Servers. Normally, there is only one and it is found at Ctrl + Alt + F7 – unless you have additional X Servers running, F8 through F12 will be blank screens.

You will be required to login with your username and password (as with all command lines, your password is not echoed back to you):

Otherwise, it behaves exactly like any other terminal.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 12.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal with root Privilege / Access

richardsplanet — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:41:20 +0000

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 12.04.

It should be the same for other versions of Ubuntu and (probably) most other Linux distributions, but no guarantee is made./p>

Detailed instructions for opening a command line / terminal can be found here.

When you open a terminal in Ubuntu, you do not have administrative privileges. This means that there are some operations you cannot perform at the terminal.

Ubuntu provides the sudo command which temporarily grants you administrative privilege. However, you still have to type sudo before each administrative command you want to perform.

If you want to live dangerously and have full root access while at the terminal, enter the following command in the terminal:

sudo bash

After entering your password, you now be running with full root privilege at the command line:

How it Works

When you run a terminal, it has the same privilege as the current user.

By running sudo bash you start another copy of the bash shell. However, you because you started it with sudo it runs with root privilege.

What is commonly called a terminal or command line is, in fact, a shell. There are many types of shells, bash is the default one with Ubuntu.

WARNING: running as root is a good way to mess up your system if you are not careful because there are no checks in place to prevent you from making catastrophic changes to your system.

I grant that by using the sudo command you can also irretrievably damage your system, but at least you had to type sudo (and possibly a password) before doing anything.

The post Ubuntu 12.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal with root Privilege / Access appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 12.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques

richardsplanet — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:57:21 +0000

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 12.04.

It should be the same for every other version of Ubuntu and all other Linux distros, but I make no guarantee.

There are five fundamental things everyone working at the command line should know (or at least be aware of):

man
pipes
redirection
more
ls

man

man is short for manual

man is the help file.

When you want to know more about a command, you enter man to display information about the command. For example:

man ls

will bring up the man page for the command ls. You could also enter man man to display information about the man command. The man page for ls looks something like this:

To navigate through a man you use the following commands:

q – exit (quit) the man page
SPACE or f – forward to the next page
b – backward to the previous page
e – forward one line
y – backward one line

For some reason, there is no man page for the command cd.

Pipes

Pipes allow you to send the displayed output from one command to another command.

The most common use of pipes is with the more command. This is especially true when information scrolls past the top of the terminal.

The pipe is the vertical bar (or broken bar) symbol: ‘|‘.

For example, any of the following commands is likely display information that will scroll past the top of the terminal:

ls /bin
ls /etc
ls /lib

If we pipe the output to the more command, then we can scroll through the output one display page at a time:

ls /etc | more

Another common use of pipes is with the grep command. (grep is often used to filter out unwanted information – but I won’t be covering grep here.)

You can pipe together as many commands as you like. The output from the command on the left of the pipe is sent to the command on the right of the pipe.

Redirection

Sometimes you need to capture the information displayed by a command. This is done using redirection.

The output displayed by a command can be sent to a file instead of the display.<./p>

The redirection operator is the greater than symbol: ‘&gt’.

For example, suppose I want to dump a man page to file, so I can later look at (or print that file). I can do so by redirecting the man output to a file (you choose the name of the file):

man ls > ls.txt

The above command will send the output of the man page for ls to a file called ls.txt. I can then handle ls.txt the same way I handle any text file.

Another example, I could send a directory listing to a file as well:

ls > directory_list

The above command will send the output of ls to a file called directory_list. Again, the file can be handled the same way any other text file is handled.

more is used to display information one page at a time.

Most often it is used in conjunction with pipes to prevent output from scrolling off the top of the terminal:

ls | more

more can be used to display the contents of a text file:

more

where is the name of the text file to display.

To navigate through text being displayed by more you use the following commands:

q – exit (quit) more
SPACE or f – forward to the next page
b – backward to the previous page (does not work if more is displaying text from a pipe)

There is a slightly more useful command called less that allows you to scroll forwards and backwards through piped information. Aside from that difference less behaves very much like more.

You can use man less to learn about the less command

ls

ls is short for list

ls is used to display the contents of a directory.

Directory contents are colour coded. Different files have different colours.

The default colours (in the default Ubuntu 12.04 terminal) for common file types are:

There are other colour combinations in use and some colours (notably purple) are reused for other file types.

The post Ubuntu 12.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 12.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

richardsplanet — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:47:49 +0000

These instructions are for Ubuntu 12.10 using the Unity interface (although, hints are provided at the bottom of the article for those who have installed a different desktop).

Linux (of which Ubuntu is a flavour) and it’s inspiration Unix, have a strong emphasis and tradition of doing everything via typed commands.

Often, when searching the Internet for a solution to a problem, you often find terse (possibly cryptic) answers along the lines of:

Test if you can reach Google with ping -c 4 google.com

To recursively change your file permissions just: chmod 755 -R /opt/lampp/htdocs

In order to run those commands, you have to open a shell or command line or terminal (they are all synonymous, but shell is the preferred term in Linux and Unix circles).

If you want to know which shell you are using, just enter echo $SHELL at the command line and press Enter.

TIP: If you find a command line solution / trick / tip for a non-Ubuntu Linux distribution, there is a good chance (though not 100% guaranteed) that it might work with Ubuntu.

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

This is the default keyboard shortcut for Ubuntu 12.10 (and probably previous Ubuntu releases) running the GNOME / Unity desktop, unless you (or someone else) has changed it, it should work.

This also the default keyboard shortcut if you have changed your desktop environment to GNOME Shell, LXDE, or the Lubuntu Desktop and will work unless you (or someone else) has changed it.

This will NOT work for the XFCE or Xubuntu Desktop unless you (or someone else) has added the keyboard shortcut.

1) Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal / command line / shell.

NOTE: pressing Ctrl + Alt + T means: simultaneously hold down the Ctrl key and Alt key, then press the T key as though you intend to type it.

DO NOT press the Shift key because Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T is different from Ctrl + Alt + T.

It does NOT matter if your Caps Lock is on or off.

The terminal should look something like this:

Opening a Terminal from Unity

1) Click the Dash icon (or use the keyboard shortcut by pressing the Windows key – don’t hold it down, just tap it as if you were going to type it):

2) Type terminal into the entry field:

3) Click on the terminal icon:

Alternately, you can navigate to the terminal icon by using the arrow keys on your keyboard (if you are using the arrow keys built into your numpad ensure that Num Lock is off) and then pressing the Enter key to select it.

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

Because there are many different types of desktops available for Linux, it is not possible to list all possible ways to start the terminal. However … the general technique is the same:

1) Open the Main Menu or Applications Menu (or whatever the main menu for your environment is called).

2) If you are lucky, there will be a menu entry for a terminal (it might be called Terminal or LXTerminal or something else with terminal in the name.

3) If you are unlucky, then you will have to look for it in a submenu. It is most likely to be found in a submenu called Accessories or System.

NOTE: You may have more than one terminal application installed or the terminal application may appear in more than one menu location.

How to (Almost) Always Get a Command Prompt

This works with pretty much any Linux distribution (unless they have been specially compiled to disable it).

NOTE: pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1 means: simultaneously hold down the Ctrl key and Alt key, then press the F1 key as though you intend to type it.

The same is true when pressing Ctrl + Alt + F7.

It does NOT matter if your Caps Lock is on or off.

In all Linux distributions (unless specially compiled otherwise), Ctrl + Alt + F1 through Ctrl + Alt + F6 provide access to 6 full screen command line terminals. These 6 terminals are always available, so it doesn’t matter which one you access.

In the same way, Ctrl + Alt + F7 through Ctrl + Alt + F12 provide access to running X Servers. Normally, there is only one and it is found at Ctrl + Alt + F7 – unless you have enabled additional X Servers to be running F8 through F12 will be blank screens.

You will be required to login with your username and password (as with all command lines, your password is not echoed back to you):

Otherwise, it behaves exactly like any other terminal.

The post Ubuntu 12.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 12.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

richardsplanet — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:00:00 +0000

These instructions are for Ubuntu 12.04 using the Unity interface (although, hints are provided at the bottom of the article for those who have installed a different desktop).

Linux (of which Ubuntu is a flavour) and it’s inspiration Unix, have a strong emphasis and tradition of doing everything via typed commands.

Often, when searching the Internet for a solution to a problem, you often find terse (possibly cryptic) answers along the lines of:

Test if you can reach Google with ping -c 4 google.com

To recursively change your file permissions just: chmod 755 -R /opt/lampp/htdocs

In order to run those commands, you have to open a shell or command line or terminal (they are all synonymous, but shell is the preferred term in Linux and Unix circles).

If you want to know which shell you are using, just enter echo $SHELL at the command line and press Enter.

TIP: If you find a command line solution / trick / tip for a non-Ubuntu Linux distribution, there is a good chance (though not 100% guaranteed) that it might work with Ubuntu.

For more information on using a command line, see this tutorial on Basic Command Line Techniques.

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

This is the default keyboard shortcut for Ubuntu 12.04 (and probably previous Ubuntu releases) running the GNOME / Unity desktop, unless you (or someone else) has changed it, it should work.

This also the default keyboard shortcut if you have changed your desktop environment to GNOME Shell, LXDE, or the Lubuntu Desktop and will work unless you (or someone else) has changed it.

This will NOT work for the XFCE or Xubuntu Desktop unless you (or someone else) has added the keyboard shortcut.

1) Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a terminal / command line / shell.

NOTE: pressing Ctrl + Alt + T means: simultaneously hold down the Ctrl key and Alt key, then press the T key as though you intend to type it.

DO NOT press the Shift key because Ctrl + Alt + Shift + T is different from Ctrl + Alt + T.

It does NOT matter if your Caps Lock is on or off.

The terminal should look something like this:

Opening a Terminal from Unity

1) Click the Dash icon (or use the keyboard shortcut by pressing the Windows key – don’t hold it down, just tap it as if you were going to type it):

2) Type terminal into the entry field:

3) Click on the terminal icon:

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

Because there are many different types of desktops available for Linux, it is not possible to list all possible ways to start the terminal. However … the general technique is the same:

1) Open the Main Menu or Applications Menu (or whatever the main menu for your environment is called).

2) If you are lucky, there will be a menu entry for a terminal (it might be called Terminal or LXTerminal or something else with terminal in the name.

3) If you are unlucky, then you will have to look for it in a submenu. It is most likely to be found in a submenu called Accessories or System.

NOTE: You may have more than one terminal application installed or the terminal application may appear in more than one menu location.

The post Ubuntu 12.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

Ubuntu 11.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

richardsplanet — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:34:07 +0000

This article was updated for Ubuntu 12.04. The new article can be found here.

These instructions are for Ubuntu 11.10 using the Unity interface.

Linux (of which Ubuntu is a flavour) and it’s inspiration Unix, have a strong emphasis and tradition of doing everything via typed commands.

Often, when searching the Internet for a solution to a problem, you often find terse (possibly cryptic) answers along the lines of:

Test if you can reach Google with ping -c 4 google.com

To recursively change your file permissions just: chmod 755 -R /opt/lampp/htdocs

In order to run those commands, you have to open a shell or command line or terminal (they are all synonymous, but shell is the preferred term in Linux and Unix circles).

There are many different shells, the original Unix shell is called the Bourne Shell (or sh), then came the C Shell (csh) and Korn Shell (ksh). Linux tends to use the Bourne Again Shell (bash). For the most part, they all do the same thing, so you don’t need to worry about which one you are using.

If you want to know which shell you are using, just enter echo $SHELL and press Enter.

TIP: If you find a command line solution / trick / tip for a non-Ubuntu Linux distribution, there is a good chance (though not 100% guaranteed) that it might work with Ubuntu.

If you get a Permission denied or Are you root? response when you type in the command, try prefixing the command with sudo. Ubuntu requires administrator level privileges for certain commands. sudo temporarily gives administrator privileges (after you supply your password).

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

This is the default keyboard shortcut for Ubuntu 11.10 (and probably previous Ubuntu releases) running the GNOME / Unity desktop, unless you (or someone else) has changed it, it should work.

This also the default keyboard shortcut if you have changed your desktop environment to GNOME Shell, LXDE, or the Lubuntu Desktop and will work unless you (or someone else) has changed it.

This will NOT work for the XFCE or Xubuntu Desktop unless you (or someone else) has added the keyboard shortcut.

You can access the terminal by using the keyboard shortcut: ctrl + alt + T (while pressing down the ctrl and alt key at the same time, press the T key as if you were going to type the letter T, there is no need to hold it down).

Opening a Terminal from Unity

1) Click on the Dash icon (or use the keyboard shortcut by pressing the Windows key):

2) Type terminal into the entry field:

3) Click on the terminal icon:

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

Because there are many different types of desktops available for Linux, it is not possible to list all possible ways to start the terminal. However … the general technique is the same:

1) Open the Main Menu or Applications Menu (or whatever the main menu for your environment is called).

2) If you are lucky, there will be a menu entry for a terminal (it might be called Terminal or LXTerminal or something else with terminal in the name.

3) If you are unlucky, then you will have to look for it in a submenu. It is most likely to be found in either the submenu Accessories or System

NOTE: You may have more than one terminal application installed or the terminal application may appear in more than one menu location.

The post Ubuntu 11.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

terminal Archives - Complete, Concrete, Concise

How to Exit Vim

5 Minute Vim Tutorial

Contents

Vim in 5 Minutes (or less)

The Extended 5 Minute Tutorial

Normal Mode

Opening a File

Saving a File

Exiting Vim

Navigating a File {Navigating}

Inserting and Deleting Text

Searching

Getting Help

Final Words

Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal as root

How it Works

Ubuntu 13.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques

man

Pipes

Redirection

less

ls

Ubuntu 13.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

Opening a Terminal from Unity

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

How to (Almost) Always Get a Command Prompt

Ubuntu 12.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal with root Privilege / Access

How it Works

Ubuntu 12.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques

man

Pipes

Redirection

more

ls

Ubuntu 12.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

Opening a Terminal from Unity

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

How to (Almost) Always Get a Command Prompt

Ubuntu 12.04 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

Opening a Terminal from Unity

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity

Ubuntu 11.10 – How to get a Command Line, Shell, or Terminal

Opening a Terminal using a Keyboard Shortcut

Opening a Terminal from Unity

Opening a Terminal if You are not Using Unity