Problem scenario
You are trying to run very long, complex Linux commands.  There are many case-sensitive flag options and convoluted DNS names.  It takes time to hold the left arrow to go to the beginning of the command.  Sometimes you want to comment out a line with a “#” at the beginning of the line as you draft these Linux commands.

Solution
Use ctrl-a to get to the first character of the command.

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Continue reading “How Do You Get to the First Character in a Linux Command Prompt?”

Problem scenario
You turn on an HP computer (e.g., a desktop or laptop) and press Esc to go to the Startup Menu.  You then press F10 or use the down key and press enter to get to the BIOS menu.  When you are there you see the option you need “Update BIOS Using Local Media” is grayed out.  You entered administrator-level credentials successfully. 

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Continue reading “How Do You Update the BIOS of an HP Computer When the Option You Need Is Grayed Out?”

Problem scenario
You have started some commands then used Ctrl-z while they were still processing.  You want to see which jobs have been suspended.  You may want to terminate or run the jobs. What do you do?

Solution
Use the builtin Linux command “jobs” like this:

jobs -l

# Sample output may look like this:

[1]- 26830 Stopped                

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Continue reading “How Do You Manage (List, Resume or Terminate) Suspended Linux Commands?”

Problem scenario
You want to test the $# built-in Linux variable. Every time you use it, it seems to return “0.” How do you see the number of arguments in the most recent command?

Solution
Create a bash script with the following lines “echo… to fi”:

echo “This script helps you learn about built-in variables in Linux.”
if [ $# -eq 1 ]
  

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Continue reading “How Do You Use the $# Builtin Linux Variable?”