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Know your tools
This documentation is deprecated.
Knowing the toolset you use can make you develop web applications better and more efficiently. Investing time to get a deeper understanding of them is usually well spent.
Basic command-line commands
The popularity of the terminal or command-line interface (CLI) is explained by the fact that you can count on it being available on any system and the results of the commands being predictable. Despite novice developers might initially find it a bit awkward and tend to stick to their graphical user interface applications, once they start to interact with a remote server through SSH or find solutions to their problems on the internet fora using CLI commands, they usually gradually start to use it more.
Your system comes with a set of Linux/Unix Commands that are mainly used for file management. Whenever you run a command, it executes the corresponding program code, written for the command. Press Ctrl-Alt-T to open the terminal to use them.
There is such an overwhelming amount of good resources available online that it is suggested to do a Google search.
For most commands, you can get detailed instructions using man [command], for example, man mkdir will result in:
NAME
mkdir - make directories
SYNOPSIS
mkdir [OPTION]... DIRECTORY...
DESCRIPTION
Create the DIRECTORY(ies), if they do not already exist.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
-m, --mode=MODE
set file mode (as in chmod), not a=rwx - umask
-p, --parents
no error if existing, make parent directories as needed
-v, --verbose
print a message for each created directory
-Z set SELinux security context of each created directory to the default type
--context[=CTX]
like -Z, or if CTX is specified then set the SELinux or SMACK security context to CTX
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
AUTHOR
Written by David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report mkdir translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
mkdir(2)
Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/mkdir>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) mkdir invocation'
You can even save it in a file, for example using man mkdir > man_mkdir.txt.
When someone else shows you a series of commands to accomplish something, see what they did after by listing the latest commands with history.
An A-Z Index of the Linux command line | SS64.com
Useful .bashrc scripts
Add snippets to your .bashrc file to extend its functionality.
- Bash history without line numbers - Stack Overflow. This is handy when you want to copy-paste a sequence of commands to document or to include in a bash script.
- How do I show the git branch with colors in the Bash prompt? - Ask Ubuntu
- How can I get octal file permissions from the command line? - Ask Ubuntu (take the snippet in the comment to have directories colored).
All three of the above in one snippet
Open your terminal editor:
nano ~/.bashrcThen add to the bottom of it:
# Bash history without line numbers.
alias history="history | sed 's/^[ ]*[0-9]\+[ ]*//'"
# Show the git branch in color.
force_color_prompt=yes
color_prompt=yes
parse_git_branch() {
git branch 2> /dev/null | sed -e '/^[^*]/d' -e 's/* \(.*\)/(\1)/'
}
if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[01;31m\]$(parse_git_branch)\[\033[00m\]\$ '
else
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h:\w$(parse_git_branch)\$ '
fi
unset color_prompt force_color_prompt
# List files and directories with octal (three-digit numerical) permissions.
lso() { ls -alG "$@" --color | awk '{k=0;for(i=0;i<=8;i++)k+=((substr($1,i+2,1)~/[rwx]/)*2^(8-i));if(k)printf(" %0o ",k);print}'; }Remember to reload bash:
source ~/.bashrcAn example of the result:
The other command-line tools
Other Command Line tools you already should have if you did the previous part of this guide are Composer, Git, Drush and Drupal (Console). For each of them, you have a manual already provided for each command. See a list of available commands just by typing the tool name (composer, git, drush, drupal) followed by list or help (for git). For example composer list results in:
martin@martin-XPS-13-9370 /var/www/html/grey.localhost (develop=) $ composer list
______
/ ____/___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ________ _____
/ / / __ \/ __ `__ \/ __ \/ __ \/ ___/ _ \/ ___/
/ /___/ /_/ / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ (__ ) __/ /
\____/\____/_/ /_/ /_/ .___/\____/____/\___/_/
/_/
Composer version 1.7.2 2018-08-16 16:57:12
Usage:
command [options] [arguments]
Options:
-h, --help Display this help message
-q, --quiet Do not output any message
-V, --version Display this application version
--ansi Force ANSI output
--no-ansi Disable ANSI output
-n, --no-interaction Do not ask any interactive question
--profile Display timing and memory usage information
--no-plugins Whether to disable plugins.
-d, --working-dir=WORKING-DIR If specified, use the given directory as working directory.
-v|vv|vvv, --verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug
Available commands:
about Shows the short information about Composer.
archive Creates an archive of this composer package.
browse Opens the package's repository URL or homepage in your browser.
check-platform-reqs Check that platform requirements are satisfied.
clear-cache Clears composer's internal package cache.
clearcache Clears composer's internal package cache.
config Sets config options.
create-project Creates new project from a package into given directory.
depends Shows which packages cause the given package to be installed.
diagnose Diagnoses the system to identify common errors.
dump-autoload Dumps the autoloader.
dumpautoload Dumps the autoloader.
exec Executes a vendored binary/script.
global Allows running commands in the global composer dir ($COMPOSER_HOME).
help Displays help for a command
home Opens the package's repository URL or homepage in your browser.
i Installs the project dependencies from the composer.lock file if present, or falls back on the composer.json.
info Shows information about packages.
init Creates a basic composer.json file in current directory.
install Installs the project dependencies from the composer.lock file if present, or falls back on the composer.json.
licenses Shows information about licenses of dependencies.
list Lists commands
outdated Shows a list of installed packages that have updates available, including their latest version.
post-drupal-scaffold-cmd Runs the post-drupal-scaffold-cmd script as defined in composer.json.
prohibits Shows which packages prevent the given package from being installed.
remove Removes a package from the require or require-dev.
require Adds required packages to your composer.json and installs them.
run-script Runs the scripts defined in composer.json.
search Searches for packages.
self-update Updates composer.phar to the latest version.
selfupdate Updates composer.phar to the latest version.
show Shows information about packages.
status Shows a list of locally modified packages, for packages installed from source.
suggests Shows package suggestions.
u Upgrades your dependencies to the latest version according to composer.json, and updates the composer.lock file.
update Upgrades your dependencies to the latest version according to composer.json, and updates the composer.lock file.
upgrade Upgrades your dependencies to the latest version according to composer.json, and updates the composer.lock file.
validate Validates a composer.json and composer.lock.
why Shows which packages cause the given package to be installed.
why-not Shows which packages prevent the given package from being installed.
drupal
drupal:scaffold Update the Drupal scaffold files.Now, try yourself with another tool name (git, drush or drupal). Make sure you can run them without the .vendor/.. prefix by using the Drush Launcher and Drupal Console Launcher.
To have more detailed instructions for a single command, then use [tool name] help [command]. For example composer help why results in:
martin@martin-XPS-13-9370 /var/www/html/grey.localhost (develop=) $ composer help why
Usage:
depends [options] [--] <package> [<constraint>]
why
Arguments:
package Package to inspect
constraint Optional version constraint [default: "*"]
Options:
-r, --recursive Recursively resolves up to the root package
-t, --tree Prints the results as a nested tree
-h, --help Display this help message
-q, --quiet Do not output any message
-V, --version Display this application version
--ansi Force ANSI output
--no-ansi Disable ANSI output
-n, --no-interaction Do not ask any interactive question
--profile Display timing and memory usage information
--no-plugins Whether to disable plugins.
-d, --working-dir=WORKING-DIR If specified, use the given directory as working directory.
-v|vv|vvv, --verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug
Help:
Displays detailed information about where a package is referenced.
php composer.phar depends composer/composerNow, try yourself with another command.
Additionally, for Drush you have a bunch of documentation available from the command line:
martin@martin-XPS-13-9370 /var/www/html/yellow.localhost $ drush docs
Command "docs" is ambiguous.
Did you mean one of these?
docs:output-formats-filters Output formatters and filters: how to control the output produced by Drush commands
docs:readme README.md
docs:bisect Drush's support for Git Bisect.
docs:bashrc Bashrc customization examples for Drush.
docs:configuration Configuration overview with examples from example.drush.yml.
docs:config:exporting Drupal config export instructions, including customizing config by environment.
docs:aliases Creating site aliases for running Drush on remote sites.
docs:bootstrap Bootstrap explanation: how Drush starts up and prepares the Drupal environment.
docs:cron Crontab instructions for running your Drupal cron tasks via `drush cron`.
docs:commands Instructions on creating your own Drush commands.
docs:generators Instructions on creating your own Drush Generators.
docs:examplecommand Example Drush command file.
docs:example-sync-via-http Extend sql-sync to allow transfer of the sql dump file via http.
docs:policy Example policy file.
docs:repl Drush's PHP Shell.Just try one of them, for example drush docs:configuration.
Shell scripting
Many of the system-related tasks that can be automated are done with shell scripts. Think of a Git hook mentioned in the previous chapter that performs a series of tasks, for example before a commit or after a merge. Having some knowledge of Shell makes it less intimidating and makes your workflow more efficient.
The command-line toolset (including Git, Composer, Drush, and Drupal Console) may seem awkward to use but give a tremendous amount of flexibility. Putting it into a script facilitates the repetitive use of common tasks. To get an idea of the power, check out the more advanced commands:
- grep - Wikipedia
- sed - Wikipedia (Sed Editor cheatsheet)
- Command Line Tutorial - Redirection & Pipes | Quick Left
- Regular expression - Wikipedia
As you might have noticed, regular expressions are used in many program languages and also in Shell. In general, the best time investment is usually studying techniques that are used in multiple programming languages. Not only because you can reuse them but also because it is more likely they stick around for many years to come. Learning Regex is a good example.
The Chrome browser inspector
The browser inspector is another tool you already have because it comes with the browser that you use. It is used extensively by practically all web developers to inspect and debug anything that can be shown in a web browser. The most popular is the one that ships with Google Chrome. It can be accessed by pressing F12 when on any page.
Read Chrome DevTools | Tools for Web Developers | Google Developers for more info on all features.
Tip: Sass Source Maps + Chrome = Magic
Browser extensions
Most common use cases as a source of inspiration to start a web search. Links are given for authoritative tools.
- Create dummy content, like Lorem Ipsum text.
- Check elements on existing pages, like a color picker, getting sizes or see what fonts have been used.
- Pretty print raw data to make it human-readable, for example, JSON endpoints.
- Aid in API development with Postman. Read more at the POSTMAN Learning Center.
- LiveReload, so that CSS edits apply immediately.
IDE or code editor
PhpStorm
- Meet PhpStorm - Help | PhpStorm
- Drupal - Help | PhpStorm
- Configuring Xdebug - Help | PhpStorm
- Configuring PHPStorm for Drupal Development | GreenAcorn
- PHPStorm metadata | Drupal.org
Sublime Text 3
Repository management service
Because you likely interact with it from your local machine on a daily basis, it makes sense to read the appropriate documentation on it.
Automated Testing Tools
Based on the criteria being multi-platform and having a free license available that allows for all of the features in an unlimited way:
Online tools
As an example, to write more complex regular expressions testing it with an online regex tester is indispensable. Other common uses of online tools are converters, for example, going from one format to another (JSON to YAML).
Next: Troubleshooting and other resources >>
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