Summary

The chapter introduced some of the very powerful tools used in the Linux/UNIX-based programming world. Because Linux originated from UNIX principles, most of the UNIX-based tools are available to the Linux developers, in addition to many enhancements and new tools.

The chapter began with an overview of text editors, focusing attention to the two most commonly used editors, vi and GNU Emacs. The reader is introduced to the power of both text editors in working with file buffers, navigation across the file, editing and saving the file, and so on. The features discussed are sufficient to enable a new Linux user to practice the commands and even master them. Usually, experts in these editors opine that the fewer the commands a user starts with, the easier and faster it is to master them.

The discussion continued on to another set of tools that exclusively work on features such as mass editing the files or extracting the files’ contents in a variety of ways, almost similar to querying database tables. This technique is known as pattern matching, and the most commonly used tools of this technique are grep, sed, and gawk. There are minor differences among these tools, but the majority of the pattern matching techniques are common across them. These tools are discussed in great detail, and the discussion should allow the reader to begin using the tools and attempting to master them. Examples are provided in appropriate situations.

The next chapter focuses on another very powerful feature of Linux/UNIX—shells and shell scripting languages.