Handy Linux terminal commands for beginners
1. Accessing the help pages
Here are two ways to view the help or manual page of any Linux command.
a. man command – Manual.
This command is used to view the user manual page for any Linux command.
Syntax: man [command]
To run it simply type man followed by the command you want to view the manual page for.
eg. man man
– This will display the manual page for the man command
Press h in the man page to view the help section of the manual
To exit the man page, press q on the keyboard
b. --help command - This provides information on a particular command.
Syntax: [command] --help
Eg. man --help
2. Working with files and directories (folders)
One of the most common tasks we perform on our computers is navigating directories or folders using a GUI application like Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows or Finder in Apple MacOS. Below are some commands for performing common tasks when working with files and folders:
a. pwd command – Print working directory.
This command shows you the folder you are currently working in.
Command: pwd
From the image above, the pwd command shows that I am working in the /home/josh directory.
b. ls command – List
This command is used to display the contents of a folder
Command: ls
This will display the contents of the current folder.
c. mkdir command – Make directory
This command is used to create a folder or directory
Syntax: mkdir [foldername]
Eg. mkdir tutorials
In this example, I created a folder called tutorials, then I used the ls command to confirm that it was created.
d. cd command – change directory
This is used to navigate to a different directory or folder.
Syntax: cd [foldername]
Eg. cd tutorials
This will change my working directory to the tutorials directory. This means that my current working directory will change from /home/josh to /home/josh/tutorials
e. cp command – Copy
This command is used to create a copy of a file
Syntax – cp [source] [destination]
Eg. 1. cp file1.txt notes.txt
This will create a copy of file1.txt and name the copy notes.txt
Eg. 2. cp file1.txt tutorials/
This will create a copy of file1.txt in the tutorials folder.
f. mv command – Move
This command has two uses – It can be used to move files from one location to another. It can also used to rename files or directories.
Eg. 1. Moving file1.txt to the tutorials directory
Command: mv file1.txt tutorials
File1.txt is now in the tutorials directory
Eg. 2. Renaming a file with mv
Command: mv file1.txt renamed.txt
This changes the name of file1.txt to renamed.txt
g. rm command – Remove
This is used to delete files.
Syntax: rm [filename]
Eg. Deleting renamed.txt
Command: rm renamed.txt
You can view more information about all the commands used by accessing their respective help and manual pages.
