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terminal

A quick reference to common terminal commands.

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Moving around the file system.

pwd

Print working directory (shows your current location).

Terminal window
pwd

cd [directory]

Change directory.

Terminal window
cd Documents

ls

List files and directories.

Terminal window
ls

ls -l

List files and directories with details.

Terminal window
ls -l

ls -a

List all files and directories (including hidden ones).

Terminal window
ls -a

cd ..

Go up one directory.

Terminal window
cd ..

cd ~

Go to your home directory.

Terminal window
cd ~

File Manipulation

Creating, moving, and deleting files and directories.

touch [file]

Create an empty file.

Terminal window
touch myfile.txt

mkdir [directory]

Create a new directory.

Terminal window
mkdir mydirectory

cp [source] [destination]

Copy a file or directory.

Terminal window
cp myfile.txt mycopy.txt

mv [source] [destination]

Move or rename a file or directory.

Terminal window
mv myfile.txt newlocation/myfile.txt

rm [file]

Remove a file.

Terminal window
rm myfile.txt

rm -r [directory]

Remove a directory and its contents (recursive).

Terminal window
rm -r mydirectory

rm -f [file]

Force remove a file (use with caution!).

Terminal window
rm -f myfile.txt

rm -rf [directory]

Force remove a directory and its contents (use with extreme caution!).

Terminal window
rm -rf mydirectory

Viewing Files

Displaying the contents of files.

cat [file]

Display the contents of a file.

Terminal window
cat myfile.txt

less [file]

View a file one page at a time (use space to scroll, q to quit).

Terminal window
less myfile.txt

head [file]

Display the first few lines of a file.

Terminal window
head myfile.txt

tail [file]

Display the last few lines of a file.

Terminal window
tail myfile.txt

nano [file]

Open a file in the nano text editor.

Terminal window
nano myfile.txt

vi/vim [file]

Open a file in the vi/vim text editor.

Terminal window
vi myfile.txt

Searching

Finding files and content.

find [directory] [options] [expression]

Find files and directories.

Terminal window
find . -name "myfile.txt"

grep [pattern] [file]

Search for a pattern in a file.

Terminal window
grep "hello" myfile.txt

which [command]

Show the location of a command.

Terminal window
which ls

System Information

Getting information about the system.

uname -a

Display system information.

Terminal window
uname -a

df -h

Display disk space usage.

Terminal window
df -h

du -sh [directory]

Display directory size.

Terminal window
du -sh Documents

top

Display running processes.

Terminal window
top

ps aux

List all running processes.

Terminal window
ps aux

Networking

Commands related to network operations.

ping [host]

Check network connectivity to a host.

Terminal window
ping google.com

ifconfig

Display network interface information (macOS/Linux).

Terminal window
ifconfig

ipconfig

Display network interface information (Windows).

Terminal window
ipconfig

netstat

Display network connections.

Terminal window
netstat

curl [url]

Transfer data from or to a server.

Terminal window
curl https://www.example.com

wget [url]

Download a file from a URL.

Terminal window
wget https://www.example.com/file.zip

Package Management (macOS - Homebrew)

Managing software packages with Homebrew.

brew install [package]

Install a package.

Terminal window
brew install wget

brew uninstall [package]

Uninstall a package.

Terminal window
brew uninstall wget

brew update

Update Homebrew and its packages.

Terminal window
brew update

brew search [package]

Search for a package.

Terminal window
brew search wget

brew list

List installed packages.

Terminal window
brew list