Linux Command Line Tools

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2023

This post introduces you to the most basic command line tools you need to know for the class.

How to open a terminal: ctrl+alt+t
How to copy/paste in a terminal: ctrl+shift+c/ctrl+shift+v

Copy the commands below and paste into the terminal, then hit ENTER to see similar result:

• How to check where we are at in current terminal:

    $ pwd
  

  For example:

    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ pwd
    /home/xssun
  

  • Here /home/xssun is current directory we are at
• How to create a new folder and confirm the creation:

    # create a new folder
    $ mkdir new_folder
    # list directory contents
    $ ls
  

  For example:

    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ mkdir parent_folder
    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ ls
    Desktop    Downloads  parent_folder  Public  Documents  
    Music      Pictures   Videos 
  

• How to navigate to certain folder:

    $ cd destination_folder
  

  For example:

    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ cd parent_folder/
    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~/parent_folder$ pwd
    /home/xssun/parent_folder
  

• More about nagivation:

    # move to home directory
    $ cd ~
    # move to parent directory
    $ cd ..
  

  • In filesystems, we use the double dot (..) to access the parent directory, whereas the single dot (.) represents the current directory.
• How to remove a file/folder:

    $ rm the_file
    $ rm -r the_folder
  

  • The -r option stands for recursive. When used with rm, it recursively deletes all the files and subdirectories within the specified directory, starting from the deepest level and moving up.

  For example:

    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ rm -r parent_folder/
    xssun@ROB-STAFF-10U:~$ ls  
    Desktop    Downloads  Public  Documents  Music      
    Pictures   Videos