Newbie Bash lessons for DevOps

Bash Beginner guide when starting with DevOps

1️⃣ You logged into a Bash shell

[ec2-user@ip-172-31-64-123 ~]$

It tells you:

• User: ec2-user

• Machine: your EC2 instance

• Location: ~ (your home directory)

• $ means normal user (safe)

2 Where am I?

pwd

Meaning:

• Shows your current directory

Example output:

/home/ec2-user

This is your home directory — your safe workspace.

3️⃣ how to see files

Commands:

ls
ls -la

• ls → lists files

• -l → detailed view

• -a → shows hidden files

Files starting with . are hidden config files

4️⃣ Identified important hidden files

In your home directory:

• .bashrc → runs every time Bash starts

• .bash_profile → runs when you log in

• .bash_logout → runs when you log out

• .ssh/ → SSH keys (very important, don’t touch yet)

5️⃣ reading a config file safely

cat .bashrc

6️⃣ learnt what PATH is

• A list of directories Bash searches for commands

• Order matters

• Your personal directories come first

• This is why you can type ls instead of /usr/bin/ls

🎯 Where am I now

I can confidently:

• Understand the shell prompt

• Navigate the filesystem

• Read configuration files

• Explore Linux without breaking anything

This is exactly the right foundation.