Linux commands

This page details some common and useful Linux commands

Miscellany

• exit - end the terminal session
• clear - clear the terminal screen
• history - view your command history

Command information

• man command - read the manual page for command

Paths

In every file system files are organized into various folders or directories. A path describes the location of a file or directory and can be relative or absolute. For instance, suppose a file system has the following folders:

• /
• /dirA
• /dirB
• /dirB/files

If we wish to examine a file listing of /dirB/files and our current directory is /dirB then we can issue the command ls files (relative path) or /dirB/files (absolute path)

Additionally, there are special symbols with respect to paths that can be used:

• . - current directory
• .. - parent directory (one level up)
• ~ - home directory

Navigation

• pwd - print the current directory you are in
• ls - list files in the current directory
• ls -l - list files with complete details in the current directory
• ls -a - list all files in the current directory (including hidden files starting with .)
• ls directory - list files in directory
• cd directory - make directory the current directory
• cd .. - make the parent directory the current directory
• cd - make your home directory the current directory
• mkdir directory - create a subdirectory
• rmdir directory - remove a directory (only if empty)
• rm filename - remove a file
• rm -rf directory - delete a directory and all contents within
• rm * - remove all files in the current directory
• mv file1 file2 - move and/or rename file1 to file2
• cp file1 file2 - copy file1 to file2
  • Both cp and mv will overwrite the destination file if it already exists