Linux manual

  1 Introduction
This is my own summary of useful Linux abbreviations, directories, files, and commands. I use my own annotations to recall useful options and arguments that are not necessarily documented in easy-to-find places. I quite often call up this file when I can't remember the syntax of a command that I use often (but not often enough to remember the syntax!). I also editorialize on therelative usefulness of different types of programs.
This document is work in progress. Send suggested changes and corrections to ambler.steven@uqam.ca
O'Reilly has just published online an alphabetical list of commands from Linux in a Nutshell. It is available here. It contains more detailed explanations of many of the commands listed here.
2  Shorthand at the Command Prompt
Some of theseare specific to the bash shell. I have not experimented enough with other shells to know which are common to all shells. See also the ``Bash Reference Card'', SSC (2000), available online.
* / - root directory
* ./ - current directory
* ./command_name - run a command in the current directory when the current directory is not on the path
* ../ - parent directory
* ~ - homedirectory
* $ - typical prompt when logged in as ordinary user
* # - typical prompt when logged in as root or superuser
* ! - repeat specified command
* !! - repeat previous command
* ^^ - repeat previous command with substitution
* & - run a program in background mode
* [Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available commands. This is just an example ofautocomplete with no restriction on the first letter.
* x[Tab][Tab] - prints a list of all available completions for a command, where the beginning is ``x''
* [Alt][Ctrl][F1] - switch to the first virtual text console
* [Alt][Ctrl][Fn] - switch to the nth virtual text console. Typically, there are six on a Linux PC system.
* [Alt][Ctrl][F7] - switch to the first GUI console, if thereis one running. If the graphical console freezes, one can switch to a nongraphical console, kill the process that is giving problems, and switch back to the graphical console using this shortcut.
* [ArrowUp] - scroll through the command history (in bash)
* [Shift][PageUp] - scroll terminal output up. This also works at the login prompt, so you can scroll through your boot messages.
*[Shift][PageDown] - scroll terminal output down
* [Ctrl][Alt][+] - switch to next X server resolution (if the server is set up for more than one resolution)
* [Ctrl][Alt][-] - change to previous X server resolution
* [Ctrl][Alt][BkSpc] - kill the current X server. Used when normal exit is not possible.
* [Ctrl][Alt][Del] - shut down the system and reboot
* [Ctrl]c - killthe current process
* [Ctrl]d - logout from the current terminal
* [Ctrl]s - stop transfer to current terminal
* [Ctrl]q - resume transfer to current terminal. This should be tried if the terminal stops responding.
* [Ctrl]z - send current process to the background
* reset - restore a terminal to its default settings
* [Leftmousebutton] - Hold down left mouse buttonand drag to highlight text. Releasing the button copies the region to the text buffer under X and (if gpm is installed) in console mode.
* [Middlemousebutton] - Copies text from the text buffer and inserts it at the cursor location. With a two-button mouse, click on both buttons simultaneously. It is necessary for three-button emulation to be enabled, either under gpm or in XF86Config.3  Typical Dot Files
There is some redundancy across these programs. For example, the look and behavior of emacs can be customized by usinng the .emacs file, but also by adding the appropriate modifications to the .Xdefaults file. Default versions of these files are often installed in users' home directories when the software packages that use them are installed. If a program doesn't find its...