Essential Linux commands

In this section, we will learn more essential Linux Bash commands that every Linux user should know. Use the cat command to quickly cut columns out of text files. This is like a light version of awk.

We'll be discussing the following commands:

• cat
• sort
• awk
• tee
• tar
• Other miscellaneous commands

First, let's create a smaller version of the passwd file to work with the cat command:

-d sets the field delimiter; by default it's the tab character. -f uses a single field number or comma-separated list of field numbers that you want to extract. If using comma-separated lists also, the split input delimiter will be output, which can be changed using -- output-delimiter.

Next, let's create a smaller version of the services file without comments and empty lines. Using the cat command is very limited to the special use case that a file separator...