Working with a shell

Corel LINUX lets you work with a graphical interface, however, you can access the shell if you want to work at the shell command line. The shell interprets commands you enter, and communicates them to the Linux operating system, or kernel. The kernel then tries to execute the command. For information about accessing the shell command line from the desktop, see "Accessing the shell command line."

When you work at the shell command line, be careful if you are working as the root user as you can seriously damage the operating system, especially if you are not familiar with the Linux operating system. When you work as the root user, a number sign (#) displays at the shell command line, for example, Mabel:/#. For information about working as the root user, see "Using the root account."

Corel LINUX provides two shells for your Linux system: Bourne Again shell (bash), and C shell. Each shell has unique features, however, most shells support common commands. You can add other shells using Corel Update. For information about Corel Update, see "Installing, updating, and removing applications."

bash

Corel LINUX uses bash as its default shell. Based on the Bourne shell (sh), bash uses a command syntax similar to the original shell used on early UNIX systems. Bash also includes features from Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). Bash combines strong programming capability with an interactive, graphical interface. Some features of bash include command line completion, command history, and job control. For information about bash, see "Using bash."

csh

C shell gets its name because the programming language syntax that it uses resembles the C programming language. Some features of C shell include, command line completion, shell scripting, command history, and job control.

The following sections are based on the Bourne Again shell because Corel LINUX uses bash as its default shell. You can navigate the file system using the shell command line. You can also use commands to perform the same file operations from the shell command line, as you can from the desktop. For example, you can create a new directory or move a file to a different directory.