Basic UNIX commands

Lately, I started learning commands lines. I mean, I used npm install or gulp, but no more.

So I started using commands lines and I have to say that I like it. A lot.

I wanted to share with you what I learned.

cd

The cd command is used to change the current directory.

cd stand for change directory

cd path/of/directory

To move up by one directory you can hit cd .. Source

ls

The ls command list all files of a type other than directory, found in the current directory.

ls stand for list segments

ls

man

The man command display the online manual pages. We can specify a section as parameter. The section is normally the command, function or file name.

man stand for manual.

man name_of_command

To exit the manual you can hit q, :q, Q, :Q or ZZ.

mkdir

The mkdir command is used to create a new directory. The directory would be create in the current directory.

mkdir stand for make directories.

mkdir name_of_directory

rmdir

The rmdir command is used to remove an empty directory.

rmdir stand for remove directories.

rmdir name_of_directory

We can pass an -p option. In this case each directory argument will be treated as a single path and will be removed if they are empty.

rmdir -p name/of/directory

mv

The mv command is used to move a file into a given directory.

mv stand for move.

mv name_of_file name/of/directory/destination/

open

The open command is used to open a file or a directory

open name_of_file

I know, it's very basic, but you have to start somewhere. 😅

I created a Gist where I add what I learn.

And you, what are your favorite commands?

Comments

[Afzal Cedrik Venkat Naidu]

how to delete all the records in the file at a time retaining the file / folder

[Philip Karlsson]

I'd like to recommend this NPM module: npmjs.com/package/tldr

It's basically like the 'man' command, but usually with a shorter description and example uses. For example, 'tldr tar' will tell you which flag combination you need to extract different types of compressed archives.

And I'll add another few commands that I use daily:
ls -a | Basically like ls, but also displays hidden files.
rm -rf

| When you want to delete a non-empty directory, use with caution!
mkdir dir/{subdir1,subdir2} | Use curly braces to create multiple subdirs at once.
cd | Just typing cd is the same as 'cd ~', which brings you to your home directory.
cat | Will print to contents of a file to the console, so you don't have to open the file just to view it.

Also, check out your .bashrc by typing cat ~/.bashrc, in there you'll find several bash aliases, as well as having the possibility to create your own.

And again, don't use rm -rf, if you're not 100% certain that you know what you're doing.

[David Pellegrini]

If you want to check a file quickly without having to deal with vim/emacs/nano and it's too long to use cat/echo, more is really useful but it only reads in one direction. For both directions check out less to read both directions

[Emily Cain]

Great post Jérémy!

Some more:

ps aux will show you the running processes.

netstat will show you the open network ports.

Both of these will have a very large output, so combine with grep to filter for a specific string:

$ ps aux | grep mysql is a good way to see what process represents a MySQL instance, for example.

NOTE: the $ is conventionally used to represent the start of a command you type into your bash terminal and run with return or enter. You don't type out the $ character.

This is useful when your application is not running as expected and you want to check than any requried processes have been started.

You can use this to figure out what is running on a particular port (and kill it if desired):

stackoverflow.com/questions/115835...

I end up using these a lot when working with introductory web development students -- they don't know how to check what is running, end up starting 2 or more instances of a server process, and then get confused when they can't connect to their web application.

[Philip Karlsson]

You mentioned the -p flag for rmdir. It can also be used with mkdir, as 'mkdir x/y/z'.

As a few people have mentioned, you can add aliases in your ~/.bashrc.

My favorite is:
mkdcd() {
mkdir $1
cd $1
}
Which makes creating and changing your cwd easy.

And also: cd.. for cd ..

[Aaron Santos]

Some time ago, I build a .sh where I put all my little scripts to semi-automitize some task: open certain programs with my configs, create my projects with git and makefile, update/upgrade my system, compress files... Other more complex to remember, like connecting to an external monitor via VGA/HDMI. 15 or 20 lil'scripts to make my life easier. Why? If there is a easiest way to do something, I will choose it.

[Promise Akpan]

Awesome start Jeremy. When I played with Unix terminal for the first time, I made a major mistake which was not going over the basics.

Add these especially if you are in a directory

cd .. takes you back
cd - takes you to the previous directory

ls -sh lists the files/directories with their sizes
ls -l lists the details including permissions.

There are lots more, but add these to yours

Have fun in your journey!

[krishraghuram]

grep is awesome way to search for stuff.

Particularly when combined with | operator to chain stuff.

For example, ls | grep my_file.txt

[Cary Reams]

save yourself.
unlearn rmdir.
now.

[Jérémy Levron]

There's something wrong with rmdir?

[Cary Reams]

nope, nothing at all

my bad

I saw "rmdir" and read "rm -rf"

[Promise Akpan]

rm -rf does incredible and irreparable damage except you have backups handy.

[Andrej Naumovski]

You can't restore a backup if you rm -rf /.

[Promise Akpan]

Exactly. You just wiped out the entire system..
Well except if you have an external backup of some sort. 😏

[Douglas R Andreani]

The find command is one of the most useful on your toolkit

find . -exec cp {} . \;
(Recusevely find all files in a path and copy to the root)

[jD91mZM2]

Although you should really be using fd