Basic Linux

Basic Linux Commands

Command	Action	Example
pwd	Print working directory (Show the directory which you reside in)	NA
ls	List the contents of a directory	NA
ls -lh	List the contents of a directory and show additional information about the files	NA
ls -lah	List all files including hidden files	NA
ls -ltrh	List all files in reverse date order	NA
ls -lrh	List all files in reverse order	NA
cd	Change directory	cd /Path/To/Directory
cd ..	Go to parent directory	NA
file	Determine the type of a file	file filename
cat	Display text file on screen	cat filename
less	View text file	less filename
cp	Copy a file	cp file1 file2
mv	Rename a file	mv file1 newname
mv	Move file from one location to another	mv file /To/Location/
rm	Remove/Delete a file	rm file1
rm -r	Remove/Delete a directory with it contents	rm -r directory
rm -i	Ask before deleting a file or directory (use with -r switch)	rm -ir directory
rmdir	Delete an empty directory	rmdir directory
mkdir	Create a directory	mkdir new_directory
tail -f	View output appended data as the file grows	tail -f filename

Man Pages

Man pages (short for manual pages) are a form of software documentation, which can be used either from the Linux terminal or on the web, by googling say for example man cp

Man Pages can be especially helpful in determining appropriate switches for commands. See below for examples of use

Example syntax to retrieve information about the cp "copy command"

man cp

would produce a similar representation to the image below. It details all of the associated switches which are possible with the cp command.

The man command can be used with nearly all commands to retrieve additional information about a command.