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Elizabeth Onyenekwe
Elizabeth Onyenekwe

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Basic Linux Commands

Linux Shell Or Terminal

A shell is a program that receives commands from the user and gives it to the OS to process, and it shows the output. Linux's shell is its main part. Its distros come in GUI (graphical user interface), but basically, Linux has a CLI (command line interface). In this article, I am going to cover the basic commands that we use in the shell of Linux.

Basic Linux Commands

pwd: This command shows the current directory that you are in.

~$ pwd
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ls: This command lists folders and files.

~$ ls
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cd [dirname]: This command opens a folder on the system

~$ cd Documents
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mkdir [dirname]: This command creates a folder.

~$ mkdir python-project
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touch [filename]: This command creates a file.

~$ touch main.py
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rm[filename]: This command deletes a file.

rm main.py
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cd..: This command navigates up a directory.

cd..
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rm -r [dirname]: This command deletes a folder

~$ rm -r python-project
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cd /: This command takes the user to the root folder

cd /
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clear: This command clears the terminal

~$ clear
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cd [dirname]/[dirname]/[dirname]: This command lets you navigate down the directories to a particular folder.

~$ cd usr/local/bin
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cd ../..: This command moves two hierarchies up the file system

cd ../..
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cd ~: This command takes the user back to the home directory

cd ~
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ls /[dirname]/[dirname]: This command lists all the files in the directory name after navigating to that particular directory.

ls /etc/network
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mv[dirname][new-dirname]: This changes the folder name

mv web-application java-app
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cp -r [dirname][new-dirname]: This copies the content of a particular folder into another folder.

cp -r java-app my-project
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cp [filename][new-filename]: This copies the content of a file into another file.

cp readme.md readme-test.md
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mv[filename][filename]: This changes the filename

mv readme.md readme-dev.md
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ls -r [dirname]: This shows the entire content of that directory.

ls -r Documents
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history: Gives a history of all past commands typed in the current terminal session

~$ history
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ctrl + r: This key combination searches for the history of a command a user recently used.

ctrl + c: This key combination stops the current command that is running.

history[number]: This shows the last set of commands that were typed. The last set is determined by the number the user inputs.

history 20
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ls -a: It shows all files including hidden files

ls -a
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cat[filename]: This displays the file content

cat main.py
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uname -a: This displays the system information and the kernel

~$ uname -a
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cat /etc/os-release: This shows the version of your operating system

~$ cat /etc/os-release
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lscpu: This shows the cpu information

~$ lscpu
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lsmem: This displays the memory information

~$ lsmem
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References

  1. Basic linux commands for beginners by Alok Naushad " https://maker.pro/linux/tutorial/basic-linux-commands-for-beginners "
  2. Techworld with Nana Devops Bootcamp

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