Today’s “Newbie Tip” is learning some basics about the “Command Line Interface” or as it’s mostly referred to, “Command Line”. The command line gives the user the ability to interact with the operating system by typing via a text terminal.

Your GNU/Linux computer is an amazing machine. It can display images. It can run programs. It can perform dozens of functions all at the same time. How can you keep track of all this activity? By monitoring the processes that your computer runs, and one of the best ways to monitor and control processes is by using the command line.

I've shown previously how to use the more command to view text output. Today I'll show how to do the same thing with the less command. You can run the command simply by opening a terminal window and entering...

Admit it. You enjoy using the command line in Linux. You only have a graphical interface so people in the office don't look at you strangely. So why not embed a terminal window into the Gnome desktop and have a soothing desktop picture and the power of the command line all at once?

In addition to creating programming structures, you can also use the semi-colon to separate stand-alone commands that you want to execute from the same command entry. If you wanted to cd to a certain directory and then look at its contents, you could enter each command on its own line. Or, you could enter them both on the same line. This process is called command chaining.

There are many GUI based CD rippers available for the Linux desktop. While many of these applications do a great job of ripping, I like to understand the underlying technology. For that reason, I decided to figure out how to rip CD's from the command line.

If you work on Linux you’ll know that the command line is the way to go (in some cases at least). If you are in GUI mode than you can access the command line via the Terminal. Here are some applications/utilities that will transform your command line experience.

The trash project allows you to interact with your desktop trashcan from the command line. It lets users "undo" deletions made with the trash command in a similar manner to restoring files from the trashcan in a desktop environment. For experienced Linux users, the trash command comes in handy when you want to put a file into the trashcan from the command line.

I am personally a strong advocate of using the Command Line. However, I am coming from a more tech type of situation than some others do. For the 'average" user however, is the Command Line relevant to everyday use?