Author Archives: dannSWashko

This episode the focus will be on two commands that go hand-in-hand: pgrep and pkill. Like the kill command, pkill is used to send a signal to a process usually with the intent to terminate or stop the process. Instead … Continue reading →

The kill command is used in the shell to terminate a process. Kill works by sending a signal to the process and typically this signal is either the SIGTERM or SIGKILL signal, but there are others that can be used. … Continue reading →

The ln command is used to create a link between an existing file and a destination, typically newley created, file. Some operating systems may all this creating a shortcut. Recall that Linux treats everything like a file, thus you can … Continue reading →

The split command is used to split up a file into smaller files. For example, if you need to transfer a 3GB file but are restricted in storage space of the transfer to 500 MB you can split the 3GB … Continue reading →

Due to family obligations (moving and what not) and work requirements, the show is on a short break but should return in November. I apologize for the delay.

This final installment on the top command will discuss the alternate displays for top. When starting top with the defaults one is presented with a full screen view of top containing the summary window at the top and the task … Continue reading →

The previous two episodes have covered the Summary Area and Task Area of top repesctively. This episode will detail how to control the output of top via shortcut keys and command line switches. There are a few modes in top … Continue reading →

Bottom of Top Last episode we explored the top of top, or the summary area. This episode will explore the rest of top, the bottom so to speak, or more accurately the Task Area. The task area takes up the lion share of the top interface … Continue reading →

The top command is a very complex and feature-full application. When executed from the command line the top command displays two sections of information: Summary information (contained in the yellow box in the screen shot below) and running application field … Continue reading →

The tail command is used to print out the last 10 lines of a file to standard out. This command is a staple in a system administrator’s tool kit and especially handy when monitoring log files. The basic syntax is: … Continue reading →