3. Meet bash

Good news: with Linux you type much less at the prompt, because the bash shell types for you whenever possible, and features cool line editing capabilities. To begin with, the arrow-up key recalls previous command lines; but there's more. Pressing <TAB> completes file and directory names, so typing

$ ls /uTABloTABbTAB

is like typing

$ ls /usr/local/bin

If there were ambiguities, as typing

$ ls /uTABloTABiTAB

bash stops because it doesn't know if you mean /usr/local/info or /usr/local/include. Supply more characters then press <TAB> again.

Other useful key presses are <ESC-BACKSPACE> that deletes a word to the left, while <ESC-D> deletes a word to the right; <ESC-F> moves the cursor one word to the right, <ESC-B> to the left; <CTRL-A> moves to the beginning of the line, <CTRL-E> to the end. The <ALT> key is equivalent to <ESC>.

Enough for now. Once you get used to these shortcuts, you'll find the DOS prompt very annoying...

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Generated: 2007-01-26 17:58:00