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The Command Line - Take Control Of Your Computer
By Rodney Sellers
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-11-11
One of the major complaints about UNIX is the command line. People say it's too hard, or that it's too complex. I will never understand this. The command line is your most powerful tool in the UNIX environment. Many times, I have seen Windows administrators using a GUI take 15 to 20 minutes to make simple updates to the network. On the other hand, I have made the same updates on a UNIX system in minutes.
I am not a Windows hater. I personaly have a windows systems so I am coming from experiences that I have had. When comparing the two, GUI or command line, I will choose command line every time.
I am not one of the command line elite, so I have one resource that I use for my more complex command line needs. It is a website called commandlinefu.com. It is a place where people post their commands that they use and people rate them. Not all are good, but they will show you many of the things you can do with the command line. I combined a few of the commands that I found on the site so I could update my twitter account from the command line. I wrote an article on this at stopgeek.com/twitter-fun.html. It requires a curl and is very simple at its root.
The simplest way to learn the command is to not be afraid and just use it. If you don't know what a command does, then your best friend is man. Man stands for manual. It displays all the options for a given command. Man ls will give you a brief description and a list of all the options for the command. Another resource that many people seem to overlook are forums. Between the Linux to the UNIX forums all your command line needs should be covered. Just beware of trolls and the phrase RTFM. There are some elitist that think you should know everything from the start. Ignore them and they go away.
In short, use the command line and after a short time, you will never know how you got along without it.
About the Author:
Rodney Is A Staff Writter for iEntry.
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