Lesson 1

Date: 1/22/2014
User accounts, files and directories, processes, system commands.
Linux for Engineering and IT Applications


Linux shells


  • When you login to a Linux system, you get a command shell.

  • Shells are listed in /etc/shells. Default Linux shell: bash

  • System commands, scripts and applications run in the shell - they become child processes of the shell.

  • Shell variables are local to the shell.

  • A shell variable becomes an environment variable after executing command export on it: 
     svar=VAR_1  #initialize shell variable
 export svar #becomes environment variable
 env | grep svar
    Environment variables are inherited by the child shells and processes.

  • Commands executed in the shell should be either built-in shell commands, or addressed with the full path, or located in the PATH env. variable. 
      echo $PATH

    Exercise
    Create a new shell variable, svar: 
    svar=VAR_1
echo $svar
    Start a new child shell and see if svar is defined there: 
    bash
echo $svar
    Exit from the child shell, export the variable, and see if it is defined in a child shell: 
    exit
export svar
bash
echo $svar


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