pipe Command in Linux

Syntax of pipe Command in Linux

The basic syntax of the pipe command in Linux is as follows:

Where:

• command1: This is the initial command whose output will serve as input to the next command.
• | (pipe symbol): This symbol is the pipe command itself. It facilitates the transfer of output from command1 into command2.
• command2: This is the subsequent command that receives the output of command1 as its input.

Options in pipe Command in Linux

Example Usages

• Pipe command to filter directory listing:

  Output:

  Explanation: This command uses 'ls -l' to list all files and directories in the current directory. The output is piped into 'grep' command, which filters out only those lines that contain '.txt'.

• Pipe command to sort process based on memory usage:

  Output:

  Explanation: This command first uses 'ps aux' to get a snapshot of current processes. The output is then piped into the 'sort' command, which sorts the processes based on the fourth field (memory usage).

Advanced Use Cases of pipe Command in Linux

• Pipe command to find the number of files in a directory:

  Output:

  Explanation: This command lists the files and directories, filters for files (using '^-' which matches lines starting with '-'), and then pipes the output to 'wc -l' to count the number of lines, thereby giving the number of files.

• Pipe command to display the five most CPU-intensive tasks:

  Output:

  Explanation: This command gets a snapshot of current processes, sorts them in descending order of CPU usage, and then uses 'head' to output the top five entries.

• Pipe command to check disk usage of directories:

  Output:

  Explanation: This command checks the disk usage of directories, sorts them in human-readable format in descending order, and then outputs the top 10 entries.