Learn Linux commands: Part 1

Exploring the Linux Filesystem

wubie@D-T430:~$  [On the bash prompt the tilde character represent the home directory]

1. The pwd command for printing the working directory

Print the current working directory: with pwd command

/home/wubie  [  /   is the root, i.e the beginning of the hard drive; home is a directory or folder under root (/); then wubie is a directory under home folder]

• The ls –l command for long listing

Long listing the files in the root can give you what is inside in the root: wubie@D-T430:~$ ls -l /

• The cd command to change directory:

Use the cd command to change in to a different directory:

wubie@D-T430:~$ cd /  [here we change from the home directory (~) to root directory [/]]

• The ls command for list storage

Listing what is inside the root directory use the command ls (list storage):

• Let us change directory from root to home;
• Then print the working directory;
• Then list what is inside the home directory;
• Then change directory to Downloads folder and
• Print the working directory:
  

• The cd .. and cd . commands:

The cd .. command changes our directory one step backwards. The cd . command changes a directory to itself.

• The clear (Ctrl + l) command to clear the screen:
  

By doing a long listing of the root root of the file system:

The boot directory has important files that are used to boot up your machine.

wubie@D-T430:/$ ls  /boot to see the files inside the boot directory that are useful to boot up the server or workstation.

Get back to my home directory:

wubie@D-T430:/$ cd home/wubie/ and wubie@D-T430:/$ cd ~ are the same.

cd ~ wherever you are you can go back to your home directory using the cd tilde command.

• The mkdir command to create a directory:

Creating a folder cold test:

• The rm –r command to remove the directory ( -r is recursive):
  

• The touch command to create files if it does not exist: If it already exists, it will update only the modification time.

• The directories start with a d character and the files start with a hyphen (-)
  

1. The rm command to remove a file:

wubie@D-T430:~$ rm file1.txt  file2 this will remove the two files at onece.

• Running the touch command creates the file if it does not exist.
• If we run a touch command against a file that already exist, will update the modification time.
  

Note: When using commands use the Tab Key to Autocomplete file and directory names.