Moving from Ubuntu 26.04 to Windows: Linux Commands vs PowerShell for Developer

Introduction

Recently, I migrated from Ubuntu 26.04 to Windows as my primary development environment. Since I had been using Ubuntu for development, I was already comfortable working with the Linux terminal.

On Ubuntu, I frequently used commands such as ls, cd, mkdir, touch, rm, and cat when navigating directories and managing project files.

However, after moving to Windows, I discovered that not all the commands I was familiar with worked in the same way.

For example, I tried creating an HTML file using:

touch index.html

But PowerShell returned an error:

touch : The term 'touch' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or operable program.

This made me realise that although Linux and Windows terminals share some similarities, they have different command-line tools and conventions.

In this article, I will share some of the differences I have encountered and the commands developers can use when transitioning from Ubuntu to Windows.

1. Understanding Windows PowerShell

Windows provides different command-line environments, but two common ones are:

• Command Prompt (CMD): The traditional Windows command-line interpreter.
• PowerShell: A more advanced command-line shell designed for system administration, automation, and scripting.

I was using PowerShell when I encountered the touch error.

Unlike Linux terminals, PowerShell uses cmdlets such as New-Item, Get-ChildItem, and Remove-Item to perform different operations.

2. Common Linux Commands and Their Windows Equivalents

Here are some commands I commonly used on Ubuntu and their equivalents in Windows PowerShell.

Listing files and directories

On Ubuntu, I would use:

ls

In PowerShell, I can also use:

ls

Alternatively, the native PowerShell command is:

Get-ChildItem

Both allow you to view files and directories in the current location.

Checking the current directory

On Ubuntu:

pwd

In PowerShell:

Get-Location

This displays the current working directory.

Creating a directory

On Ubuntu:

mkdir my-project

In PowerShell:

New-Item my-project -ItemType Directory

You can also use the shorter command:

mkdir my-project

Creating a file

This is where I encountered my first issue.

On Ubuntu:

touch index.html

In PowerShell, use:

New-Item index.html -ItemType File

Alternatively:

New-Item style.css -ItemType File

This creates an empty CSS file.

Deleting a file

On Ubuntu:

rm index.html

In PowerShell:

Remove-Item index.html

Reading file contents

On Ubuntu:

cat index.html

In PowerShell:

Get-Content index.html

Changing directories

On both Ubuntu and PowerShell, you can use:

cd my-project

To move one directory backwards:

cd ..

Clearing the terminal

On Ubuntu:

clear

In PowerShell:

Clear-Host

You can also use:

clear

3. Linux Commands vs PowerShell Commands vs CMD

It is important to understand that PowerShell and Command Prompt are different environments.

Here is a quick comparison:

Operation	Ubuntu	PowerShell	Windows CMD
List files	ls	ls	dir
Current directory	pwd	Get-Location	cd
Create directory	mkdir	mkdir	mkdir
Create file	touch file.txt	New-Item file.txt -ItemType File	type nul > file.txt
Delete file	rm file.txt	Remove-Item file.txt	del file.txt
Read file	cat file.txt	Get-Content file.txt	type file.txt
Change directory	cd folder	cd folder	cd folder
Clear terminal	clear	Clear-Host	cls

Notice that some commands work across multiple environments, while others require different syntax.

4. Creating a Simple Web Development Project in PowerShell

Let's say you want to create a simple web development project containing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.

On Ubuntu, I would normally do something like this:

mkdir my-website
cd my-website

touch index.html
touch style.css
touch script.js

ls

In PowerShell, I can achieve the same result using:

# Create the project directory
mkdir my-website

# Navigate into the directory
cd my-website

# Create the HTML file
New-Item index.html -ItemType File

# Create the CSS file
New-Item style.css -ItemType File

# Create the JavaScript file
New-Item script.js -ItemType File

# List the project files
ls

The resulting project structure will look like this:

my-website/
│
├── index.html
├── style.css
└── script.js

You can then open the project in Visual Studio Code using:

code .

5. Do I Need to Abandon Linux Commands Completely?

Not necessarily.

Windows offers several options for developers who prefer working with Linux commands.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

WSL allows developers to run a Linux environment directly on Windows without setting up a traditional virtual machine.

For example, you can install Ubuntu through WSL and continue using familiar commands:

touch index.html
ls
mkdir my-project

Git Bash

Git Bash provides a Bash-like terminal environment on Windows. It supports many familiar Linux commands, making it useful for developers transitioning from Linux.

PowerShell

PowerShell is also worth learning because it provides powerful tools for managing files, directories, applications, and development environments on Windows.

6. Lessons Learned from Migrating to Windows

One thing I have learned from this transition is that changing operating systems does not mean starting my development journey from scratch.

The underlying development concepts remain the same. What changes is how we interact with the operating system.

As developers, understanding different terminal environments makes it easier to work across operating systems, collaborate with other developers, and manage development projects.

Conclusion

Migrating from Ubuntu 26.04 to Windows has been an interesting learning experience. My first challenge was discovering that familiar Linux commands such as touch do not work directly in PowerShell.

However, learning commands such as New-Item, Get-Content, and Remove-Item has made the transition easier.

My takeaway is simple: Don't just memorise terminal commands; understand what they do. Once you understand the purpose of a command, learning its equivalent in another operating system becomes much easier.

As I continue developing on Windows, I also plan to explore PowerShell, WSL, and other tools that can improve my development workflow.