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UNIX Tutorial for Beginners

A beginners guide to the Unix and Linux operating systems. Eight simple tutorials cover the basics of Linux / UNIX commands.

Windows users: click here for information on setting up a UNIX/Linux emulator or terminal in Windows.

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Introduction to the UNIX Operating System

• What is UNIX?
• Files and processes
• The Directory Structure
• Starting an UNIX terminal
• Setting up Microsoft Windows to work with UNIX

Tutorial One

• Listing files and directories
• Making Directories
• Changing to a different Directory
• The directories . and ..
• Pathnames
• More about home directories and pathnames

Tutorial Two

• Copying Files
• Moving Files
• Removing Files and directories
• Displaying the contents of a file on the screen
• Searching the contents of a file

Tutorial Three

• Redirection
• Redirecting the Output
• Redirecting the Input
• Pipes

Tutorial Four

• Wildcards
• Filename Conventions
• Getting Help

Tutorial Five

• File system security (access rights)
• Changing access rights
• Processes and Jobs
• Listing suspended and background processes
• Killing a process

Tutorial Six

• Other Useful UNIX commands

Tutorial Seven

• Compiling UNIX software packages
• Download source code
• Extracting source code
• Configuring and creating the Makefile
• Building the package
• Running the software
• Stripping unnecessary code

Tutorial Eight

• UNIX variables
• Environment variables
• Shell variables
• Using and setting variables

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Recommended UNIX and Linux books

• If you wish to continue learning Unix, here is a list of good Unix and Linux books, ranging from beginners to advanced.

Download

• Most of this tutorial is available for download so you can work offline. You can also copy and modify it for your own site. Please read the terms and conditions.

Useful Links

• Links to other UNIX resources.

M. Stonebank, 19 October 2001,     D.R. Reynolds, 13 January 2009