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LinuxBeginner

Linux and the command line

Master the Linux terminal from zero to advanced: shell, filesystem, file and permission management, processes, pipes and redirection, text processing (grep/sed/awk), shell scripting, packages, services and networking. The cross-cutting skill every developer, sysadmin and data engineer needs.

12 chapters36 lessons48 challenges

Course curriculum

Chapter 1: Introduction to Linux and the terminal

  • What Linux is and what the shell is
  • First commands: pwd, ls, cd
  • Getting help: man and --help

Chapter 2: The Linux filesystem

  • One single tree: the FHS hierarchy
  • Absolute and relative paths
  • Creating and inspecting folders

Chapter 3: Managing files and directories

  • Copy, move, delete
  • Wildcards: acting on many files at once
  • Symbolic links and hard links

Chapter 4: Reading and searching files

  • Viewing content: cat, less, head, tail
  • Searching text with grep
  • Finding files with find

Chapter 5: Permissions and ownership

  • Reading permissions: user, group, others
  • chmod: changing permissions
  • Ownership and sudo

Chapter 6: Pipes, redirection and filters

  • The three streams: stdin, stdout, stderr
  • Redirection: >, >>, 2>, <
  • Pipes and filters

Chapter 7: Text processing: grep, sed, awk

  • Regular expressions with grep -E
  • Replacing text with sed
  • Columns and calculations with awk

Chapter 8: Processes and jobs

  • Viewing processes: ps and top
  • Stopping a process: kill and signals
  • Job control: foreground and background

Chapter 9: Shell scripting: fundamentals

  • Your first script: shebang and permissions
  • Variables, quoting and substitution
  • Decisions: if, test and exit code

Chapter 10: Shell scripting: advanced

  • Loops and arguments
  • Functions and case
  • Robust scripts: set -euo pipefail

Chapter 11: Packages, services and environment

  • Installing software: package managers
  • Services with systemd
  • Environment, PATH, aliases and cron

Chapter 12: Networking, transfer and productivity

  • Remote access: ssh, scp, rsync
  • Downloading and inspecting the network
  • Archives, disk space and recap

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