Easiest way to have "DIR" work in Linux

monahanz · 05-22-2016, 01:07 PM

From the above I'm clearly a newbie and a windows user.

My simple question is: what is the absolutely easiest way to have some kind of script so the "DIR: on the command line displays the current Linux directory as in windows. I'm currently using the Edison "Yocto" Linux version. As a windows user - - - not wishing to flame --- I find the Linux command line names totally scrambled letters. How for example does "df" get to be show the current directory? Has anybody out there written a type of script that makes it easy for Windows/DOS "die-hards" to use their favorite commands like dir, copy, erase, show, type….. in Linux.

John

sean.ferguson · 05-22-2016, 01:31 PM

Have a look into aliases on linux, you can easily set 'Dir' to become an alias of 'ls'

HMW · 05-22-2016, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monahanz

From the above I'm clearly a newbie and a windows user.

My simple question is: what is the absolutely easiest way to have some kind of script so the "DIR: on the command line displays the current Linux directory as in windows. I'm currently using the Edison "Yocto" Linux version. As a windows user - - - not wishing to flame --- I find the Linux command line names totally scrambled letters. How for example does "df" get to be show the current directory? Has anybody out there written a type of script that makes it easy for Windows/DOS "die-hards" to use their favorite commands like dir, copy, erase, show, type….. in Linux.

John

Hi and welcome!

df does not show the current directory, pwd does however. Like the first answer says, you can alias commands to point to other commands.

For example, the aliases in my .bashrc under Arch Linux looks like this:

Code:

alias rm='rm -i'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -v'
alias cp='cp -v'
alias wm='sudo wifi-menu'

So, you could for instance make an alias that looks like this:

Code:

alias Dir='pwd'

Then when you enter Dir on the command line, you will in reality run pwd and get your current working directory.

Best regards,
HMW

af7567 · 05-22-2016, 02:26 PM

Make a few aliases like HMW says, but the correct command to make a dir alias like the DOS one would be

Code:

alias dir='ls -l'

To find out what a command does, use the man command from your terminal. Eg to read what the 'ls' command does try this

Code:

$ man ls

Some other commands you might want to check the man pages for are cd, mv, rm, cp, and cat

monahanz · 05-22-2016, 04:03 PM

Thanks guy's that helps a bit, the alias dir='ls -l' seem to be the closest. The first picture below is what I get.

It sort of gives me more information than I (normally) need. Is there a program out there that lists just the file names and the sub directories with something like a “/” in front of the sub directory? For example the Edison "Yocto" Linux version of "df" is shown in the second picture below

BTW there does not seem to be a “man ls” command. What is the equivalent of “Help xxx” in Linux?

Finally is there a logic to the letters used and the commands in Linux. How does one get show the directory from “ls”?
Please excuse the basic questions – these I think would be typical of a first time windows user.

sean.ferguson · 05-22-2016, 04:15 PM

files and sub-directories... try "ls -R" and see how this looks to you. It can get very messy but perhaps i missunderstand what you are trying to achieve.

af7567 · 05-22-2016, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monahanz

BTW there does not seem to be a “man ls” command. What is the equivalent of “Help xxx” in Linux?

Finally is there a logic to the letters used and the commands in Linux. How does one get show the directory from “ls”?
Please excuse the basic questions – these I think would be typical of a first time windows user.

The man command is the Linux equivalent of help

I would have expected all distributions to have it unless you are running a minimal installation. You could also try the info command. If you search google for "basic linux commands" you will probably find some explanations for the names. I didn't really think about it much but to me ls looks like it means LiSt, cp is CoPy, mv is MoVe.

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/..._ugbasics.html

Soadyheid · 05-22-2016, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Finally is there a logic to the letters used and the commands in Linux.

Of course... Here are a few others:

df is Disk File system space usage, usually with a -h switch so humans can read.

ls LiSt directory contents as mentioned above.

ps (with switches) report process status

pwd print name of Present Working Directory

cd change directory (Where have I seen this before?)

rm Remove or delete a file

shutdown Naw, you'll have to guess this one...

I'd say the commands are fairly similar to DOS in their quirkiness.

Play Bonny!

Krisburns · 05-22-2016, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monahanz

Is there a program out there that lists just the file names and the sub directories with something like a “/” in front of the sub directory? For example the Edison "Yocto" Linux version of "df" is shown in the second picture below

Code:

du -h --max-depth=1

This will give you a listing of your directories with a forward ./ in front of them along with a human readabe directory size on the left column.

Code:

ls -1F

This will give you a single column listing of your files and directories with a forward slash after a directory name.

Whichever code you use, pipe the code to either more or less because without it, the output will zoom quickly on the screen.

Code:

du -h --max-depth=1 | more
or
du -h --max-depth=1 | less

frankbell · 05-22-2016, 08:30 PM

Many Linux programs will display an abbreviated help, abbreviated when compared to the man page, when you enter the program name followed by "--help." For example:

Code:

~$ ls --help
Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
  -a, --all                  do not ignore entries starting with .
  -A, --almost-all           do not list implied . and ..
      --author               with -l, print the author of each file
  -b, --escape               print C-style escapes for nongraphic characters
      --block-size=SIZE      scale sizes by SIZE before printing them; e.g.,
                               '--block-size=M' prints sizes in units of
                               1,048,576 bytes; see SIZE format 
(remainder of output omitted)

As an aside, I would suggest that learning native Linux commands is ultimately the best way to learn Linux. My experience has been that native Linux commands are more versatile and powerful than their Windows equivalents. Just my two cents.

JJJCR · 05-22-2016, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monahanz

From the above I'm clearly a newbie and a windows user.

My simple question is: what is the absolutely easiest way to have some kind of script so the "DIR: on the command line displays the current Linux directory as in windows. I'm currently using the Edison "Yocto" Linux version. As a windows user - - - not wishing to flame --- I find the Linux command line names totally scrambled letters. How for example does "df" get to be show the current directory? Has anybody out there written a type of script that makes it easy for Windows/DOS "die-hards" to use their favorite commands like dir, copy, erase, show, type….. in Linux.

John

Try this pdf file it's quite clear on its explanation.

http://www.digilife.be/quickreferenc...x%20Manual.pdf
https://www.sans.org/media/security-...utorial-v1.pdf

monahanz · 05-22-2016, 11:00 PM

Thanks everybody, all the above has been a big help. I'm adjusting to the new word have come from the dark side!

John

monahanz · 05-23-2016, 12:09 AM

For other window users, I settled for:-
alias dir='ls -A -B -F -g -h'

Apparently in Linux you have to have a space before the '-' options!

monahanz · 05-23-2016, 02:09 PM

Looks like I not out of the woods yet, Today I brought up the Edison/Linux board and found to my delight that my alias for dir=’ls –A –B –F –g –h’ worked fine (no matter where is was in the disk files tree).

Excited today I tried for some other DOS/CPM commands like:-
Alias copy=’cp -I –r’
Alias stat=’df –H’

They seemed to work fine. However what I cannot understand is when I reboot the system they are no longer recognized – yet the original dir alias works. I tried doing the above two alias’es in the top directory by using cd / still no luck.
Help please
John

273 · 05-23-2016, 02:31 PM

It may be better to start getting used to using ls that way if you reinstall and forget to have your alias set up (for example) you'll still know what you're doing. I seem to recall that PowerShell will allow the use of ls on Windows (seem to recall using it in command prompt before that but not sure) so you can even take that habit back to modern Windows.