Introduction to Command Line

University of Oregon

Oct 11, 13 (two-day workshop), Oct 21 (one-day workshop)

2-5 pm (two-day workshp). 1-5 pm (one-day workshop)

Instructors: Jake Searcy, Lillian Aoki

Helpers:

General Information

This workshop is run by the Oregon Data Science Collaborative, an NSF-funded collaborative institute between Oregon State University, University of Oregon, and Portland State University. For more information on ODSC and to explore other data science workshops, please visit the ODSC website.

The materials for this workshop have been adapted from the Software Carpentry curriculum. While this is not an official Software Caprentry workshop, participants are encouraged to explore the materials and other lessons from Software Carpentry.

Who: This workshop is for beginners new to using the command line or anyone needing a refresher on the basics. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop. Contact us if you have questions about the level of material presented in the workshop.

Where: Pacific Hall 204, 1258 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1258. Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

When: The 2-day workshop will be held on Oct 11 and Oct 13, 2022, from 2-5 pm each day.\n The 1-day workshop will be held on Oct 21, 2022, from 1-5 pm.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).

Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The physical space is wheelchair accessible, and accessible restrooms are available. Please notify the instructors in advance of the workshop if you require any accommodations or if there is anything we can do to make this workshop more accessible to you.

Contact: Please email jsearcy@uoregon.edu or laoki@uoregon.edu for more information.

Who can attend?: This workshop is open to students and researchers at University of Oregon


Collaborative Notes

We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.


Schedule

This workshop will be offered twice in Fall 2022. The first workshop will be held over two afternoons on Oct 11 and 13. The second workshop will be held over one afternoon on Oct 21. The same material will be covered in each workshop; participants can attend the format that works best in their schedule.

  • Software Carpentry Lesson Materials available here
  • Intro to Command Line

    Day 1 (two-day)

    02:00 PM Set-up and Installation
    02:30 PM Introduction to the Unix Shell
    03:10 PM break
    03:20 PM Working with Files and Directories
    04:00 PM Pipes and Filters
    04:30 PM END

    Day 2 (two-day)

    02:00 PM Review
    02:30 PM Loops
    03:10 PM break
    03:20 PM Shell scripts
    04:00 PM Finding things
    04:30 PM END

    Day 1 (one-day)

    12:30 PM Set-up and Installation
    01:00 PM Introduction to the Unix Shell
    01:40 PM break
    01:50 PM Working with Files and Directories
    02:40 PM Pipes and Filters
    03:10 PM break
    03:20 PM Loops
    03:50 PM break
    04:00 PM Shell scripts
    04:30 PM Finding things
    05:00 PM END

    Setup

    To participate in this Oregon Data Science Collaborative workshop, you will need access to software as described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

    We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

    The Bash Shell

    Bash is a commonly-used shell that gives you the power to do tasks more quickly.

    1. Download the Git for Windows installer.
    2. Run the installer and follow the steps below:
      1. Click on "Next" four times (two times if you've previously installed Git). You don't need to change anything in the Information, location, components, and start menu screens.
      2. From the dropdown menu, "Choosing the default editor used by Git", select "Use the Nano editor by default" (NOTE: you will need to scroll up to find it) and click on "Next".
      3. On the page that says "Adjusting the name of the initial branch in new repositories", ensure that "Let Git decide" is selected. This will ensure the highest level of compatibility for our lessons.
      4. Ensure that "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" is selected and click on "Next". (If you don't do this Git Bash will not work properly, requiring you to remove the Git Bash installation, re-run the installer and to select the "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software" option.)
      5. Select "Use bundled OpenSSH".
      6. Ensure that "Use the native Windows Secure Channel Library" is selected and click on "Next".
      7. Ensure that "Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings" is selected and click on "Next".
      8. Ensure that "Use Windows' default console window" is selected and click on "Next".
      9. Ensure that "Default (fast-forward or merge) is selected and click "Next"
      10. Ensure that "Git Credential Manager" is selected and click on "Next".
      11. Ensure that "Enable file system caching" is selected and click on "Next".
      12. Click on "Install".
      13. Click on "Finish" or "Next".
    3. If your "HOME" environment variable is not set (or you don't know what this is):
      1. Open command prompt (Open Start Menu then type cmd and press Enter)
      2. Type the following line into the command prompt window exactly as shown:

        setx HOME "%USERPROFILE%"

      3. Press Enter, you should see SUCCESS: Specified value was saved.
      4. Quit command prompt by typing exit then pressing Enter

    This will provide you with both Git and Bash in the Git Bash program.

    Video Tutorial

    The default shell in some versions of macOS is Bash, and Bash is available in all versions, so no need to install anything. You access Bash from the Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities). See the Git installation video tutorial for an example on how to open the Terminal. You may want to keep Terminal in your dock for this workshop.

    To see if your default shell is Bash type echo $SHELL in Terminal and press the Return key. If the message printed does not end with '/bash' then your default is something else and you can run Bash by typing bash

    If you want to change your default shell, see this Apple Support article and follow the instructions on "How to change your default shell".

    Video Tutorial

    The default shell is usually Bash and there is usually no need to install anything.

    To see if your default shell is Bash type echo $SHELL in a terminal and press the Enter key. If the message printed does not end with '/bash' then your default is something else and you can run Bash by typing bash.

    Git

    Git is a version control system that lets you track who made changes to what when and has options for easily updating a shared or public version of your code on github.com. You will need a supported web browser.

    You will need an account at github.com for parts of the Git lesson. Basic GitHub accounts are free. We encourage you to create a GitHub account if you don't have one already. Please consider what personal information you'd like to reveal. For example, you may want to review these instructions for keeping your email address private provided at GitHub.

    For macOS, install Git for Mac by downloading and running the most recent "mavericks" installer from this list. Because this installer is not signed by the developer, you may have to right click (control click) on the .pkg file, click Open, and click Open on the pop up window. After installing Git, there will not be anything in your /Applications folder, as Git is a command line program. For older versions of OS X (10.5-10.8) use the most recent available installer labelled "snow-leopard" available here.

    Video Tutorial

    If Git is not already available on your machine you can try to install it via your distro's package manager. For Debian/Ubuntu run sudo apt-get install git and for Fedora run sudo dnf install git.

    Text Editor

    When you're writing code, it's nice to have a text editor that is optimized for writing code, with features like automatic color-coding of key words. The default text editor on macOS and Linux is usually set to Vim, which is not famous for being intuitive. If you accidentally find yourself stuck in it, hit the Esc key, followed by :+Q+! (colon, lower-case 'q', exclamation mark), then hitting Return to return to the shell.

    nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. It is installed along with Git.

    nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. See the Git installation video tutorial for an example on how to open nano. It should be pre-installed.

    Video Tutorial

    nano is a basic editor and the default that instructors use in the workshop. It should be pre-installed.