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Linux Terminal: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

Mauro Garcia on January 25, 2021

If you're a Linux user, the Terminal is probably the most powerful tool you would ever have. But the thing about the Terminal is that you need to l...

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RobertSeidler • Jan 25 '21

Good overview!

For people who are used to using nano, I recently came across this editor: micro

It's in a similar vein as nano, in terms of simplicity, but with modern features like mouse-support, integrated terminal-emulator (and fitting splits).

I can only recommend you try it :D

Can Nuhlar • Jan 25 '21

I was afraid of using vim and instead used nano for almost 3 years. Changing to vim changed my workflow A LOT! I'd really suggest that new comers try to familiarize with vim. You don't have to be power user just Insert & save & quit commands would do fine. When you feel comfortable enough with terminal just switch to vim completely. If you are sshing into servers a lot It'll really make a difference.

Mauro Garcia • Jan 25 '21

You're talking with a big vim nerd here! 😄I plan to write about that in the future because it is insanely powerful, and, as you said, you just need to know the basics to use it as a regular text editor.

But I wanted to keep this post centered around the terminal.

Can Nuhlar • Jan 25 '21

Haha! My reply wasn't to you actually it was against Robert's "micro" suggestion, very good post keep up the good work! I'd really like to see an advanced Vim post here btw. :D

RobertSeidler • Jan 25 '21

I'm still afraid of using vim xD

Not knowing the quit-command in vim, is a beginners nightmare that can scar you. Someday I'll might look into vim aswell, I hear a lot of good things about it :D

Mauro Garcia • Jan 25 '21

I’ve been there! Once you learn the basics, it’s addictive to keep learning. But there is a lot of hate/love around Vim. Is not for everyone.

Mauro Garcia • Jan 25 '21

Thanks for your comments, Robert! I didn't hear about micro, but it looks amazing!! I will definitely try it!

Konstantin Bogomolov • Jan 25 '21

Try also Ctrl + R and type part of the used command. Insteat of the history command.

Can Nuhlar • Jan 25 '21

I was here to write the same comment. Reverse searching is awesome!

Mauro Garcia • Jan 25 '21

I didn’t know about that one! Thanks for sharing, Konstantin!

Samuel Abreu • Jan 27 '21

Useful shortcuts i like:
ctrl + p: Replace [up], last command
ctrl + a: Replace [Home], go to beginning of the line
ctrl + e: Replace [End], go to end of the line
ctrl + f: forward one char
ctrl + b: backward one char
ctrl + w: Deletes one word
esc + f: forward one word
esc + b: backward one word

Useful to who uses keyboard without arrows or just dont wanna move hands.

Mauro Garcia • Jan 28 '21

Thanks for your feedback, Samuel. I didn't know about those shortcuts. They are messing with my head because I'm used to hitting "ctrl + w" and "ctrl + b" to move backward and forward in vim 😂

Andrew Abraham • Jan 29 '21

Don't forget
ctrl - r : Search history for command

Bradley Nichol • Jan 25 '21

My newest favourite History command uses grep and is great for finding a command that you have a faint memory of.

history | grep "keyword"

Andrew Abraham • Jan 29 '21

just use ctrl - r
Does the same thing. :)

Mauro Garcia • Jan 29 '21

True! I included the ctrl + r shortcut in my second post about the Linux terminal (which will be published next Monday)

Mauro Garcia • Jan 25 '21

I love that approach! Btw, the grep command is one of the many that I decided to add in another post because this one was already too big 😂

Bradley Nichol • Jan 26 '21

Great stuff, look forward to reading your next mammoth post 😁

Felix Wolfsteller • Jan 28 '21

For most situations, I would prefer searching through the history with CTRL+r (you might consider adding that one), but yes sometimes you want to see the full list.