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Basic Linux Commands

Basic Linux Commands

When starting out with linux, there are some basic commands everyone should know.

1. cd - change directory

cd followed by a directory or file path will take you inside that directory(folder).

2. ls - list command

Type ls and the contents of the current directory will be displayed.
Two common flags used with ls are -l and -a, they can be used together and chained as such: ls -la. The -l flag will show you files in list order and in long format including a display of permissions, -a will show dot type files which are typically hidden in a GUI file finder such as .env files
Flag ordering does not matter, so the previous command could be written as ls -al

3. man - manual command

Shows you the manual for the following command. This is very helpful when trying to figure out how an unfamiliar command works. For example, type man ls for everything you need to know about the ls command. Type q to exit.

4. pwd - path

5. mkdir - make directory

This command, followed by the name you wish to name your directory, creates a new directory. mkdir folder1 will make a new directory called folder1.

6. rmdir - remove directory

Removes the directory that follows the command. rmdir folder1 will delete the directory named folder1 if it exists.

7. rm - remove

This command removes files, not directories. rm file.txt will remove the file named file.txt as long as it exists and is in the current directory.

8. touch - creates file

The touch command is used to create a file. It can be anything, from an empty txt file to an empty zip file. 'touch new.txt' will create a new file with name new.

9. mv - move

Use the mv command to move files through the command line. We can also use the mv command to rename a file. For example, if we want to rename the file “text” to “new”, we can use 'mv text new'.

10. right-click - copy and paste

This one is less of a command and more of a how-to, however, it is very useful for doing almost anything in a terminal on linux. To begin, highlight text like normal and then "right-click" on your mouse to copy a selection. You should see the highlighted portion become un-highlighted, this means you copied the selection. Now "right-click" on where you want to paste the selection and you're done.

11. less - view file content

Use less filename.txt to view contents of a file and navigate through them. By default, less will go through the file page by page.

Use this command to display text from within a given file on your terminal. Entering cat myFile.txt in your terminal will display the contents of the file myFile.txt on screen. The cat command can be a very handy tool when used with the terminal pipes.

Use 'cp' to copy a file or a direcotry with files inside it to another location using command 'cp CURRENT_FILE-LOCATION DESTINATION_FOLDER'. Add '-r' flag to copy a directory that is not empty.

Shows the size, amount used, amount available and capacity percentage of mounted drives/partitions.