Intro To Command Line

Index :?

• CLI Vs GUI
• Directory Operation
• File Operations
• Navigating in the FileCLI Vs GUI
• Directory Operation
• File Operations
• Navigating in the File System
• More File and Directory Operations
• Some more useful Commands
• Why use CLI over GUI?
• Display OS Information?
• Execute Commands as a superuser System
• More File and Directory Operations
• Some more useful Commands
• Why use CLI over GUI?
• Display OS Information?
• Execute Commands as a superuser

GUI vs CLI

• GUI - A graphical user interface, where we have graphical elements that you can interact with like buttons-
• CLI - Command line interface, where users type in commands and see the results printed on the screen
• Terminal - The GUI window that you see on the screen. It takes commands and shows output.

When you open terminal you'll see something appear on the screen

example@exam-ubuntu:~ $

here terminology,

• example = username
• exam-ubuntu = computer name
• ~ = home directory
• $ = represents regular user
• if you see, # = sign for root user

???? Directory Operation ????

commands:

pwd

• print working directory?
• show the current directory

?

ls

• List folders and files

cd [dir name]

• Change directory to [dir]
• ex - cd documents

mkdir [dir name]

• make directory [dirname]
• ex - mkdir project-list

???? File Operations ????

touch [filename]?

• create [filename]
• ex : touch main.txt , touch index.py

rm [filename]?

• Delete [filename]
• ex : rm main.py , rm touch index.py

cd ..

• Go up a directory

for example :

• /home/documents/projects $ cd ..
• /home/documents?

rm -r [dirname]

• Delete a non-empty directory and all the files within it

rm -d [dirname] or rmdir [dirname]

• Delete an empty directory

clear

• Clears the terminal

Note :?

• Everything in Linux is a File
• Text documents, Pictures etc
• Directories
• Commands, like pwd, ls etc.
• Devices like Printer, Keyboard, USB , CD

???? Navigating in the File System????

• if I want to go inside the user > local > bin , then I can simply write?

cd user/local/bin

• If I want to go to usr

cd ../..

or

cd /usr

cd [absolute path]

• Move to any location by providing the full path
• ex : cd /etc/network/

cd ~

• From home directory (or being in a particular directory) you can watch the file of other directory?

• I'm at home directory right now for example but I Want to check list of network directory?

ls /etc/network

???? More File and Directory Operations????

mv [filename] [new_filename]

• Rename the file to a new filename
• ex : mv hello.txt main.txt

cp -r [dirname] [new_dirname]

• Copy dirname to new_dirname

cp [filename] [new_filename]

• Copy filename to new_filename

???? Some more useful Commands????

ls -R dirname?

• to show the contents of inside the folder Within the directory?

history

• Gives a list of all past commands typed in the current terminal session

history 20

• it will give us last 20 commands or any number you've specified?

ls -a

• Show all (including hidden)

cat [filename]

• Display the file content?

???? Why use CLI over GUI?????

• Work More efficient
• Instead of clicking through the file system, work in 1 terminal
• Easier for bulk operations
• CLI is more powerful?

GUI -

• Visual Tasks, like video editing?

???? Display OS Information ????

uname -a

• show system and kernel

cat /etc/os-release

• tell this is ubuntu distribution and this versions

lscpu

• Information about hardware?

lsmem

• Memory information

????execute commands as a superuser????

sudo?

• Allows regular users to run programs with the security privileges of the superuser or root

sudo adduser [name]

• to create a new user [require superuser permission]

su - [username]

• Switching between different users

???? Conclusion

• Practice the commands and post the screenshots of your practice.
• Make sure to tag me and mention as well in your post.
• My Geniuses, whoever is reading this article
• Make sure you all practice the commands over and over again.

This is just the basics. I will cover all the commands mentioned in this article in detail in the future.

?If you find my article useful and interesting, stay tuned for further updates and future articles?

-> Vijay Pandey

(Thumbnail credit to : Lauren Witte Girard)