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Efficient Linux at the Command Line
Want to increase your Linux productivity to get more done in less time? This practical book teaches you how to be quick and efficient at the Linux command line. You'll learn to create and run complex commands that solve real business problems, organize your files for quick access, efficiently process and retrieve information, and automate manual tasks. You'll truly understand what happens behind the shell prompt.
Efficient Linux at the Command Line teaches general best practices and the concepts behind them, so no matter which Linux tools you use, you can become more effective in your daily work and more competitive in the job market.
You'll learn:
� How to invent powerful Linux commands on the fly that get your work done quickly.
� Which Linux features are handled by commands and which are built into the shell that launches those commands--and why it matters.
� A dozen different ways to run commands, including pipelines, sub-shells, command substitution, process substitution, and more--and when to use each for best advantage.
Efficient Linux at the Command Line teaches general best practices and the concepts behind them, so no matter which Linux tools you use, you can become more effective in your daily work and more competitive in the job market.
You'll learn:
� How to invent powerful Linux commands on the fly that get your work done quickly.
� Which Linux features are handled by commands and which are built into the shell that launches those commands--and why it matters.
� A dozen different ways to run commands, including pipelines, sub-shells, command substitution, process substitution, and more--and when to use each for best advantage.
245 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2022
60 people are currently reading
291 people want to read
About the author
Daniel J. Barrett
12books13followersDaniel J. Barrett, Ph.D., has been teaching and writing about Linux, the internet, and related technologies for more than 30 years. Dan has also been a software engineer, heavy metal singer, system administrator, university lecturer, birthday party magician, and humorist.
Note: If you are looking for "Daniel J. Barrett" the mystery writer, visit /author/show....
Note: If you are looking for "Daniel J. Barrett" the mystery writer, visit /author/show....
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 24, 2023
This is a very good book for beginners who want to become versatile at the command line. I say this as someone who's been using Linux (and various Unix-like systems) for almost 30 years, as well as having trained hundreds of people to come up to speed with Linux command line skills.
I really liked the narrow scope and the structure with a very clear goal: the author doesn't diverge into tangential topics and keeps the focus strictly on gradually showing the beginner how to find her way around command line and how to solve more and more complex tasks in each chapter.
The world of GNU/Linux and solving/automating stuff on the command line is vast and deep, but I don't think you can go wrong with this book, so if you are newbie, I highly recommend it.
Once you are comfortable with the tools and techniques with the book, you can probably continue your journey with books such as and .
Happy hacking! :)
I really liked the narrow scope and the structure with a very clear goal: the author doesn't diverge into tangential topics and keeps the focus strictly on gradually showing the beginner how to find her way around command line and how to solve more and more complex tasks in each chapter.
The world of GNU/Linux and solving/automating stuff on the command line is vast and deep, but I don't think you can go wrong with this book, so if you are newbie, I highly recommend it.
Once you are comfortable with the tools and techniques with the book, you can probably continue your journey with books such as and .
Happy hacking! :)
June 1, 2022
Most excellent. We needed a book on terminal skills that was about using the shell, not shell scripting, and this is it. Good of the author and the publisher to identify the gap, I have been looking for something approacheable to hand to new terminal jockeys for a few years now.
February 27, 2024
Very well explained, especially first half, so the learning curve is manageable and not too steep. Focused on a narrow topic without distractions.
May 25, 2022
Very good for beginners.
August 19, 2023
Why I read this book: I bought this book a while ago, because I felt that my command line skills and understanding of Unix systems is weaker than most of the other senior backenders I’ve worked with. The final push to reading it was moving to the platform backend team. There I encountered more tasks related to writing bash scripts and colleagues sighing deeply at me moving to the beginning of a terminal line by tapping arrow keys multiple times.
How I read this book: My initial idea was to read it while sitting at the computer and trying every single example given in the book. But my partner read the book first and his advice was to just read it and add sticky notes to the places that I actually want to explore in practice later. I tried this approach and it helped me to get through the book faster and enjoy it more. I did come back to some of the pages I marked, but I have to admit I lacked the willpower to go through everything I’ve intended.
What I liked about it:
My initial feeling when I started reading the book was “Where have you been all my life?!� as it explained a lot of the things I picked up from colleagues and google searches over the years, but never fully understood.
For example, occasionally I have to find a PID of a certain process and use it to kill it. But I never gave much thought to what the PIDs are. Some quotes from the book I found useful on this topic:
I also remember copy-pasting some snippets of a bash script and seeing $(..) syntax in them. I remember being curious what that means and when I should use it. But I never got to googling it. Yet thanks to this book I now know:
Another good thing about this book is that it promotes the idea of being as efficient with your work as possible. From key combinations to navigate the terminal faster to an entire chapter on being more efficient at the keyboard and minimizing how much you use the mouse. I’d like to pick up more of these habits. For now I got comfortable with jumping between the beginning and the end of the terminal line.
What I disliked:
This is not a specific thing I disliked about the book, but I read the first half eagerly and then I couldn’t force myself to pick it up again for a good month. It is only 200 pages, but it took me 2.5 months to read it cover to cover. It might be due to the fact that I put a bit too much pressure on what I can get out of this book - I planned to consider it finished only after I have read it, practiced all the things I highlighted and gone through an awk or a sed tutorial online. I got back to it once I agreed with myself that just reading it is good enough for now.
Despite that, I would recommend this book for any developer who doesn’t feel too comfortable at the command line. It is easy to read and really helps to fill the gaps in the basics.
P.S. You can also read this review and other reviews of work related books I've read on my
How I read this book: My initial idea was to read it while sitting at the computer and trying every single example given in the book. But my partner read the book first and his advice was to just read it and add sticky notes to the places that I actually want to explore in practice later. I tried this approach and it helped me to get through the book faster and enjoy it more. I did come back to some of the pages I marked, but I have to admit I lacked the willpower to go through everything I’ve intended.
What I liked about it:
My initial feeling when I started reading the book was “Where have you been all my life?!� as it explained a lot of the things I picked up from colleagues and google searches over the years, but never fully understood.
For example, occasionally I have to find a PID of a certain process and use it to kill it. But I never gave much thought to what the PIDs are. Some quotes from the book I found useful on this topic:
When you run a linux command, it launches one or more processes, each with a numeric process ID called PID. <...> Even when you run a simple command like ls, that command runs inside a new child process with its own (copied) environment. Any changes you make to a child, affect only the child and are lost when the child exists. Likewise, any changes to the parent won’t affect its children that are already running.
I also remember copy-pasting some snippets of a bash script and seeing $(..) syntax in them. I remember being curious what that means and when I should use it. But I never got to googling it. Yet thanks to this book I now know:
The syntax $(any command here) is called command substitution. It executes the command inside parentheses and replaces the command by its output.
Another good thing about this book is that it promotes the idea of being as efficient with your work as possible. From key combinations to navigate the terminal faster to an entire chapter on being more efficient at the keyboard and minimizing how much you use the mouse. I’d like to pick up more of these habits. For now I got comfortable with jumping between the beginning and the end of the terminal line.
What I disliked:
This is not a specific thing I disliked about the book, but I read the first half eagerly and then I couldn’t force myself to pick it up again for a good month. It is only 200 pages, but it took me 2.5 months to read it cover to cover. It might be due to the fact that I put a bit too much pressure on what I can get out of this book - I planned to consider it finished only after I have read it, practiced all the things I highlighted and gone through an awk or a sed tutorial online. I got back to it once I agreed with myself that just reading it is good enough for now.
Despite that, I would recommend this book for any developer who doesn’t feel too comfortable at the command line. It is easy to read and really helps to fill the gaps in the basics.
P.S. You can also read this review and other reviews of work related books I've read on my
March 14, 2023
It has a lot of tricks for you to be faster at your command line. The very last chapters are a bit hurried though; the author could have explained things or provided better examples of what he was mentioned.
October 14, 2024
Polished and well written. Even as a seasoned UNIX command line user, I picked up a lot of handy dandy, nifty tricks of the trade from this one, even if a lot of the material was a more of a refresher. We often forget just how sharp these small built-in utilities on Linux can be.
November 16, 2023
Une bonne revue des bases de Linux par la ligne de commande avec quelques constructions utiles et surtout la clarification pour moi sur quelques concepts clés.
July 21, 2024
A Great Read
This book gives a lot of great information on Linux. If you need to increase your Linux command line skills, this book is a great starter.
This book gives a lot of great information on Linux. If you need to increase your Linux command line skills, this book is a great starter.
July 23, 2024
I wish I had read such book 20 years ago :)
August 28, 2024
Very useful book with so many practical tips.
January 6, 2024
Fabien said it all!""
September 6, 2024
Good for beginners. Not a lot of lessons for me here.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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