SE2001 · Diploma / Programming · 3 credits

System Commands

The Unix command line — shells, files, processes, pipes, and the small tools that compose into large ones.

Instructor Prof. Gandham Phanikumar Term Every term Prereq none

§ 1Calendar

  • Quiz 1—
  • Quiz 2—
  • End-term examination—

§ 2Previous Year Questions

§ 3Resources

Course material7

Notes6

Books2

Cheat sheets6

Live sessions1

Tools and references6

Revision videos2

SE2001 · Diploma / Programming · 3 credits

Syllabus

The official course syllabus, transcribed from the IITM BS Data Science & Applications course booklet.

§ 1Course Description

This course introduces command-line usage and progresses to automating complex tasks in a Linux environment. With tools like WSL on Windows and bash on macOS, these concepts are widely applicable. Students learn to combine commands, use I/O redirection, and write shell scripts to solve complex problems efficiently - often without needing specialized programs or graphical interfaces. By the end, they will appreciate the power, brevity, and efficiency of the command line, while gaining deeper insight into how their systems work.

Lectures-Tutorials-Practicals-Credits: 3-0-0-3

§ 2Faculty

  • Prof. Gandham Phanikumar, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Madras

§ 3Week-by-week

Week 1: Linux virtual machine setup; Command-line environment; Basic Linux commands.

Week 2: Linux commands (advanced); Shell variables; Process management.

Week 3: Combining commands and file handling; Input/output redirection; Software management.

Week 4: Redirection and pipes; Regex (egrep); File search (find); Editors; Bash scripting.

Week 5: Shell scripting - variables, arguments; Conditionals, loops, functions; Scheduled tasks.

Week 6: AWK - text processing, data analysis; Regular expressions in AWK; AWK as a programming language; Introduction to sed; Pattern matching and substitution using regex.

Week 7: Build tools (make); File compression; Networking (IP , ports, DNS); Diagnostics; Log analysis.

Week 8: RAID; Git - workflow, branches, pull requests; Collaboration and issue management.

SE2001 · Diploma / Programming · 3 credits

OPPE

Practice material for the System Commands online proctored programming exam. No practice material has been shared for it yet. If you have some, please send it in.