Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By : James Kent Lewis
Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By: James Kent Lewis

Overview of this book

<p>Linux is a stable, reliable and extremely powerful operating system. It has been around for many years, however, most people still don't know what it can do and the ways it is superior to other operating systems. Many people want to get started with Linux for greater control and security, but getting started can be time consuming and complicated. <br /><br />A practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear step-by-step examples to help you solve many of the questions that crop up when using an operating system you may not be familiar with.</p> <p>Presenting solutions to the most common Linux problems in a clear and concise way, this helpful guide starts with spicing up the terminal sessions by command retrieval and line editing, and shell prompt variables. We will then get to know the different desktops (GUIs) available for Linux systems and which is the best fit for you. We will then explore the world of managing files and directories, connectivity, and what to do when it goes wrong. We will also learn a range of skills, from creating and managing user accounts to securing your system, managing and limiting processes, and letting information flow from one process to another using pipes. Later, we will master disk management, working with scripts and automating tasks quickly, and finally, understand the need for a custom kernel and tips on how to build one.</p> <p><br />Based on the author's extensive experience, there is a section on best practices that every Linux user should be familiar with.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Linux Utilities Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Getting introduced to Perl


Perl is a programming language that can be used for text manipulation, web development, network programming, system administration, development of GUIs, and a whole lot more. It was designed to be easy to use and efficient, and you can use either a traditional procedural or object oriented approach in your scripts. Perl also has a rather large list of third-party add-on modules that give it even more functionality.

Getting ready

In this section, we will cover just the very basics of Perl. Most typical Linux systems come with it and the documentation already installed. To see a brief introduction, run perldoc perlintro on your system. The Perl introduction should come right up.

In order to run a Perl script, you can use the following Perl command:

perl filename.pl

The .pl parameter is the usual extension given to Perl scripts. You can also place the path to Perl in the script similar to how we did with bash. First run which perl to see where Perl is located and then...