Datasheet
21
Working with the Shell
21.1.3 Bash Functions
There are two important functions of the shell that can make your work a lot eas-
ier:
The history function — To repeat a command that has been entered before,
press
↑
until the previous command appears at the prompt. Move forward
through the list of previously entered commands by pressing
↓
. To edit the
command line, just move the cursor to the desired position using the arrow
keys and start typing. Use
Ctrl -
R to search in the history.
The expansion function — Expand a file name to its full length after typ-
ing its first letters until it can be uniquely identified. To do so, type the first
letters then hit
Tab . If there are several file names starting with the same
letters, obtain a list of them by hitting
Tab twice.
First Example: Managing Files
Now that you know what a command looks like, which directories exist in SUSE
LINUX, and how to speed up things when using Bash, put this knowledge into
practice with a small exercise.
1. Open a console from the KDE desktop by clicking the shell icon.
2. Enter the ls command to see the contents of your home directory.
3. Use the command mkdir (which stands for make directory) to create a new
subdirectory called test by entering mkdir test.
4. Now launch the KEdit editor by pressing
Alt -
F2 and entering kedit in the
input field. Type a few letters in the editor then save the file as Testfile
in your home directory. Linux distinguishes between uppercase and lower-
case. For this example, use an uppercase T.
5. View the contents of your home directory again. Instead of typing ls again,
just press
↑
twice and the ls command should reappear at the prompt. To
execute the command, hit
Enter . The newly created directory test should
appear in blue letters and Testfile in black. This is how directories and
files can be distinguished in a console.
259SUSE LINUX